Modern Culture vs Bible Culture - Canaanite Religion

There are many ways in which our culture is different from the culture of the Bible times. This can cause difficulty for us in understanding the Bible. In many cases, we know things that people in the Bible times did not know. In some cases, they knew things that we no longer know. This article discusses a subject well understood by everyone knew in Old Testament times, but which was lost to us until recently.
   The Bible is not interested in teaching the reader anything about pagan Canaanite religion. Canaanite religion exists in the Bible only as a detestable alternative to the worship of God. Nevertheless, contemporaries of Elijah through Jeremiah understood Canaanite religion very well, and some understanding of it enlightens some of the Bible's most interesting stories.
   Near modern Latakia, Syria, lay the ancient port city of Ugarit. In 1929 an ancient library was discovered there, containing a rich collection of semitic language literature from around 1300 B.C. Among other things, this library shed much light on the ancient Canaanite religion. It explains much about Baal, Asherah, and other Canaanite gods.
   The god Baal was the god of the thunderstorm. Each spring, Baal would die, leading to the dry season (in Israel it does not rain in the summer). Each fall he would return to life, bringing the rainy season with him. This process would involve relations with his female consort, Asherah, who was a goddess of fertility, and humans could participate in and encourage the process by involving themselves with priests or priestesses of these Canaanite religions. Now one could memorize the whole Bible and never know this, but it sheds extra light on the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel. Thunderstorms are more common on a mountain than a plain. Elijah set up a contest during a drought to see which god would answer by fire from heaven on Mount Carmel. In so doing, he was challenging Baal, the thunderstorm god, at his own game and giving him the home field advantage.
   Hebrew is very closely related to the other Canaanite languages (Isaiah 19:18). Biblical scholars figured this out even prior to modern archeology, since the names of Canaanite kings often are Hebrew names. In Hebrew, the word "baal" means husband. Hebrew scholars prior to the discovery of the Ugarit library probably believed this was a coincidence, just as in English the word "bear" can be a verb meaning "to carry" or a noun meaning a large furry mammal. In reality, though, the words are connected - Baal is the husband or consort of Asherah. The Ugaritic library also revealed that the Canaanite god of the sea was named "Yam." The Hebrew word for sea is "yam." The Canaanite god of death is named "Mot." The Hebrew word for death is "mot." In retrospect, it is remarkable that one could read the Bible through and never get even a hint that these Hebrew words for sea and death are also names for Canaanite gods of those things. The Bible's emphasis on monotheism is so pronounced that those Canaanite gods do not even get a nod. These words also show how deeply religious, in a pagan sense, the non-Israelite Canaanite culture of the day was, and shed some light on how difficult it must have been to be faithful to God in such a pervasive pagan climate.