Lord of the Breakthrough
Have you ever been in a place of absolute need? Are the difficulties mounted up
to the ceiling, with no visible way through? Have you been penned in by
insurmountable problems like a raging animal? There are days on the battlefield
when all seems lost, when hope is gone and death stalks a man.
Then somehow, inexplicably, there is a breakthrough. There is a change in the
wind direction, a shift in the dynamics, a movement of the tide toward you and
you see a glimmer of hope again. David knew God as the Lord of the
Breakthrough - but I am getting ahead of myself.
What is Baal?
Baal is mentioned in many writings from Sumer, Egypt, Canaan and the Chaldees. Ball is usually mentioned in connection with Asherah and idol worship. There are many commands in Scripture for the Israelites to put away their false Gods, and stop worshiping at the temple of Baal. Baal was a demonic god worshipped in Canaan. The god's name was used as a prefix in many cases to people's names. Baal-chanan from Edom meant "possessor of grace"; Baal-tsephown from Egypt meant "the destroyer" and Gideon (Jerubba'al) meant, "Baal will contend". This was a common cultural thing, done also in the Euphrates region and in Babylonia.
Baal was a Phoenician deity worshipped in many forms across the land. The
Moabites worshiped ba'al peor or the god of Peor; the Jordanians worships ba'al
meon, the god of Meon and the Syrians worshipped ba'al gad, the Baal of fortune.
But the word "Baal" itself simply means lord, master or ruler.
Meeting with a different Baal
One day David and his armies came to the Valley of Gibeon. There he confronted
and completely defeated the Philistines. "David said, 'As waters break out, the
LORD has broken out against my enemies before me.' So that place was called Baal Perazim" (2 Sam 5:20). David named the place ba'al_peratsiym (in Hebrew). He gave the place a name taken from the Philistine language and culture - calling
Jehovah 'Baal Perazim' or "Lord of the Breakthrough," possessor of the breaches.
It is difficult to get inside David's mind to understand why he named a place
using a foreign deity's title. It is difficult to understand why David referred
to His God with the prefix forbidden by Moses. Perhaps the context of the fight
and the context of the chapter gives us some insight.
You see only a few verses before this encounter in the valley of Baal Perazim we
find David and his mighty men attacking a walled city. It was not just any
walled city. David took his prized city - he had taken Jerusalem! It was
inhabited by the Jebusites, who David annihilated, "David captured the fortress
of Zion, the City of David.... David then took up residence in the fortress and
called it the City of David" (2 Sam 5:7-8).
The way they took the fortress was not by violence, sheer force of numbers of
starving them out. David literally "broke through" into the city by sending his
men in through the water shaft (well or aqueduct). "As waters break out," he
said in the valley battle. "As my men broke out from the waters and stormed the
city, so I have watched you break out against the Philistines". Perhaps he had
this in mind when he watched God do the very same thing - his God 'broke
through' in surprise and defeated them...
Lord of the breakthrough
Two Scriptures pick up on this idea - mentioning God as one who 'breaks through'
or breaks out against the enemy. The word for breaking out 'perazim' is a
Canaanite invention - a descriptor used for their god ba'al. Here is Isaiah
describing God, "The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse
himself as in the Valley of Gibeon-- to do his work, his strange work, and
perform his task, his alien task" (Isa 28:21).
The language lying behind this passage is difficult to translate. 'Strange work'
and 'alien task' are both awkward phrases. Strange here is 'zuwr' meaning "to
turn aside for lodging; to be a foreigner, a profane thing; to come from another
place". Likewise alien comes from 'nokriy' meaning, "completely foreign,
strange, different, wonderful, surprising, outlandish".
Isn't that a great way to describe God? Do you know the Lord of the
Breakthrough, the one who comes in an alien or unexpected way? Do you know God as one who performs outlandish, surprising, wonderful things that are completely misunderstood by the carnal mind? Have you seen God do something that others might even consider 'profane' or illegal?
The final descriptor comes from Micah. His God is "One who breaks open the way
and will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their
king will pass through before them, the LORD at their head" (Mic 2:13).
God as Baal
Remember Baal simply means master or lord. There will come a time when we shall no longer call Him master, but rather 'friend'. This is not just New Testament
theology; it comes from the heart of the Father from ages past. He promises, "In
that day, you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.'
I will remove the names of the Baal's from your lips; no longer will their names
be invoked" (Hosea 2:16,17). God literally says here, "You shall no longer call
me ba'al" and he shall remove the name 'lord' from our lips. He invites us to
rejoice not only in his amazing and often times left-handed victories - but also
to draw near into intimacy with Him.
Bless you
Robert Holmes
(c) 1999 Sheep Trax Ministries and (c) 1999 Storm-Harvest Ministries
Email Bryan: bryanh@igateway.net and Robert: shm@storm-harvest.asn.au
Sheep Trax web site http://members.igateway.net/~bryanh
Storm-Harvest web site http://www.storm-harvest.asn.au
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