 Scholars propose that, as the cult of Hadad increased in importance, his true name came to be seen as too holy for any but the high priest to speak aloud and the alias "Lord" ("Baʿal") was used instead, as "Bel" was used for Marduk among the Babylonians and "Adonai" for Yahweh among the Israelites.A minority propose that Baʿal was a native Canaanite deity whose cult was identified with or absorbed aspects of Adad's.Regardless of their original relationship, by the 1st millennium BCE, the two were distinct