The Epic of Baal: The God of Thunder

Thousands of years ago there was a great conflict that has affected the lives of everyone living today. This conflict was between the worshipers of the Baal pantheon and the worshipers of Jehovah (Yahweh) in Canaan. In this region, the worshipers of Yahweh ultimately prevailed. This struggle is alluded to in several places in the Holy Bible. Now, due to archeological discoveries, we are able to reconstruct many of the beliefs of the pagan Canaanites. Knowing these stories helps us to understand the story of the Bible fully and in a way it enables us to read the Bible like the ancients. There is a great deal of confusion regarding and also false information about the Canaanite gods that are mentioned in several places in the Bible. Due to archeological discoveries we now know that Dagon was a god of grain and not a fish god. (The rabbis made this mistake because a Hebrew word for "fish" is "dag.") Tammuz was a shepherd god and not a sun god. Baal was a god of thunder and of the rain and not a sun god. Asherah was a mother goddess and the Asherah pole was most likely a sacred tree or a symbol of a sacred tree and not a phallus symbol. These misunderstandings of Canaanite religion often cause people to be confused in their reading of the Bible and knowing the Canaanite myths can clarify some Bible stories.