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ART RESOURCE, NY

BATTLE OF THE GODS. In the Bible, the Omride kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel are frequently condemned for casting aside Israel’s God Yahweh in favor of the Phoenician storm god Baal. A particularly dramatic episode is found in 1 Kings 18, where the prophet Elijah challenges the royally supported priests of Baal to a contest of burnt offerings on Mt. Carmel to determine which god—Yahweh or Baal—is the true God, a scene depicted in this wall painting from the third-century CE synagogue at Dura-Europos in eastern Syria. A closer look at the biblical, historical, and archaeological evidence, however, indicates that far from abandoning Yahweh, the Omrides were devoted followers of their patron deity.