BAAL-BERITH

Pagan god worshiped in central Canaan around the city of Shechem (Jgs 9:1-4, 44-46). Baal-berith (“lord of the covenant”) was probably a local form of Baal, the leading Canaanite fertility god. During the period of the judges, the people of Israel turned from the Lord to worship the idols Baal and Baal-berith (Jgs 8:33). See Canaanite Deities and Religion.