Eshbaal
Esh'baal
[some Esh-ba'al] (Hebrew Esba'al, אֶשׁבִּעִל, in pause אֶשׁבָּעִל, man of Baal; Sept. Α᾿σαβάλ v.r. Ι᾿εβάλ and Βαάλ, Vulg. Esbaal), the appropriate name of the fourth son of king Saul, according to the genealogy of 1Ch 8:33; 1Ch 9:39. He is doubtless the same person (see 1Sa 31:2, compared with 2Sa 2:8) as ISH-BOSHETH SEE ISH-BOSHETH (q..v.), since it was the practice to change the obnoxious name of Baal into Bosheth or Besheth, as in the case of Jerub-besheth for Jerub-baal, and (in this very genealogy) of Merib-baal for Mephi-bosheth: compare also Ho 9:10, where Bosheth (A.V. "shame") appears to be used as a synonym for Baal. SEE BAAL.
