Baal (2) ba'-al ba`al, ("lord," "master," "possessor"):
(1) A descendant of Reuben, Jacob's first-born son, and the father of Beerah, prince of the Reubenitcs, "whom Tiglath-pileser (1 Chronicles 5:5, 1 Chronicles 5:6) king of Assyria carried away captive."
(2) The fourth of ten sons of Jeiel (King James Version "Jehiel"), father and founder of Gibeon. His mother was Maacah; his brother Kish father o� Saul (1 Chronicles 8:29, 1 Chronicles 9:35, 1 Chronicles 9:36, 1 Chronicles 9:39; compare 1 Samuel 14:50). These passages identify Jeiel and Abiel as the father of Kish and thus of Baal. For study of confusions in the genealogical record, in 1 Chronicles 9:36, 1 Chronicles 9:39, see KISH; ABIEL; JEIEL.
(3) In composition often the name of a man and not of the heathen god, e.g. Baal-hanan, a king of Edom (Genesis 36:38, 1 Chronicles 1:49); also a royal prefect of the same name (1 Chronicles 27:28). Gesenius thinks that Baal in compound words rarely refers to the god by that name. See BAAL (deity).
(4) A city of the tribe of Simeon (1 Chronicles 4:33). See BAALATH-BEER.
Dwight M. Pratt