Bel

Bel (lord, master) In Near Eastern mythology (Babylonian-Assyrian), earth god; a form of the title Baal (lord) applied to various gods, especially to Enlil, the lord of the underworld, and to Marduk, the patron god of Babylon.

Bel, as god of the earth, was associated with Anu, as god of heaven, and Ea, as god of the watery deep, forming a triad that embraced the whole universe. When the three gods were invoked, it was equivalent to naming all of the powers that influenced the fate of man. Bel’s wife was the goddess Belit.

The tale of Bel and the Dragon, which is part of the Old Testament Apocrypha, tells how the Hebrew prophet Daniel proved to King Cyrus of Persia that a statue of Bel could not possibly eat the food provided for it.

Every day, according to the tale, the statue of the god was provided with “twelve great measures of fine flour, and forty sheep, and six vessels of wine.” The king would come to the temple and worship the idol. One day he said to Daniel, “Why dost not thou worship Bel?”

Daniel replied: “Because I may not worship idols made with hands, but the living God, who hath created the heaven and the earth, and hath sovereignty over all flesh.”

“Thinkest thou not that Bel is a living god?” said the king. “Seest thou not how much he eateth and drinketh every day?”

Then Daniel laughed, saying the king was deceived, that the idol did not eat any food because it was made of clay and brass. The king then got angry and called his priests.

“If ye tell me not who this is that devoureth these expenses, ye shall die. But if ye can certify me that Bel devoureth them, then Daniel shall die; for he hath spoken blasphemy against Bel.”

The priests and Daniel agreed to a contest. Food and wine were brought to the chamber. The priests, however, had a private entrance under the table by which each night they entered with their wives and children, eating all of the food. Daniel knew of this and asked that his servants bring ashes and strew them throughout all of the temple in the presence of the king alone before the room was sealed. When they went out, the door was sealed with the king’s signet.

That night the priests came with their wives and children and ate the food. When the king and Daniel returned the next morning they opened the seal. The king looked at the table and said, “Great art thou, O Bel, and with thee is no deceit at all.”

Then Daniel said to the king: “Behold now the pavement, and mark well whose footsteps are these.”

“I see the footsteps of men, women, and children,” the king replied.

Angry at being deceived by his priests, “the king slew them, and delivered Bel into Daniel’s power, who destroyed him and his temple.”

According to ancient historians, however, it was not Daniel, the Hebrew prophet, but King Xerxes, a pagan, who destroyed Bel’s temple.