BEELZEBUB, BEELZEBUL, BAALZEBUB

This article appears in Volume V03, Page 642 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: BEC-BER

BEELZEBUB, BEELZEBUL, BAALZEBUB . In 2 Kings i. we read that Ahaziah ben Ahab, king of

Israel

ISRAEL (Hebrew for " God strives " or " rules "; see Gen. xxxii. 28; and the allusion in Hosea xii. 4)

, fell sick, and sent to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of the Philistine city Ekron,
Usually Zebub is identified with a Hebrew common noun zebub=flies,' occurring twice in the Old Testament,2 so that Baalzebub "is the Baal to whom flies belong or are holy. As children of the summer they are symbols of the warmth of the sun, to which . . . Baal stands in close relation. Divination by means of flies was known at Babylon." 1 There are other cases of names compounded of Baal and an

element

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

equivalent to a descriptive epithet, e.g. Baalgad, the Baal of Fortune.4 For the "Fly-god," sometimes interpreted as the "averter of insects," cf. Zeus &aopvws, pviaypos, and the Hercules ,uvia-ypos. Clemens Alexander speaks of a Hercules &irbpvcos as worshipped at Rome. It has been suggested that Baalzebub was the dung-beetle, Scarabaeus pillularius, worshipped in Egypt.
A name of a deity on an Assyrian inscription of the 12th century B.C. has been read as Baal-zabubi, but this reading has now been abandoned in favour of Baal-sapunu (Baal-Zephon).1

Cheyne

CHEYNE, THOMAS KELLY (1841— )

considers that Baalzebub is a " contemptuous uneuphonic Jewish modification of the true name Baalzebul." 8
In the New Testament we meet with Beelzebul,' which some of the versions, especially the Vulgate and Syriac, followed by the Authorized Version, have changed to Beelzebub, under the influence of 2 Kings. In Matt. x. 25, Christ speaks of men calling the master of the

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

, i.e. Himself, Beelzebul.8 In Mark iii. 22-27,9 the scribes explain that Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul10 and is thus enabled to cast out devils. The passage speaks of Beelzebul as Satan and as the prince of the demons.
The origin of the name Beelzebul is variously explained. (a) It is " a phonetic corruption, perhaps a softening of the

original

ORIGINAL

word"; as Bab-el-mandel is a corruption of Bab-elmandeb. (b) Zebul is from zebel, a word found in the Targums in the sense of "dung," so that Beelzebul would mean "Lord of Dung," a term of contempt. The further suggestion has been made that zebul itself in the sense of "dung" is a term for a heathen deity, cf. the Old Testament use of "

abomination

ABOMINATION (from Lat. ab, from, and orninare, to .fore-bode)

" &c, for heathen deities, so that Beelzebul would mean "

Chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

of false gods," and so arch-fiend. (c) Zebul is found in 1 Kings viii. 13 in the sense of "height," beth-zebullofty

house

HOUSE
HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in
Gothic
- GOTHIC
it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)

, and in Rabbinical writings in the sense of "house" or "temple,1' or "the fourth heaven";" and Beelzebul may equal "Lord of the High House" or "Lord of Heaven." This view is perhaps favoured by Matt. x. 25, "if they have called the lord of the house Beelzebul." It appears, however, that Rabbinical writings use yom (day-of) zebul for the festival of a heathen deity; and Jastrow connects this usage with the meaning " house" or " temple," so that the meaning "Lord of the False Gods" might be arrived at in a different way.
The names Zebulun, 'Izebel (Jezebel), suggest that Zebul may be an ancient name of a deity; cf. the names SaiK 5v~ (B'L 'ZBL), S~tor, (ShMZBL) in Punic and Phoenician
1 So Clarendon Press, Hebrew Lexicon, p. 127, with LXX. 2Ecc1. x. 1; Isaiah vii. 18.
Baethgen, Beitrage z::+ semitischen Religionsgeschichte, p. 25, ef. pp. 65, 261.
Josh. xii. 7.
6 Art. " Baalzebub," Black and

Cheyne

CHEYNE, THOMAS KELLY (1841— )

's Ency. Bibl.
6 With various spellings (e.g. Belzebul, and in XB, Beezebul), all variants of Beelzebul. Cf. Deissmann, Bible Studies, 332. ' There is a variation of reading, which has been held to support the view that the passage means that men reproached Jesus with His supposed connexion with Beelzebul; cf. A. B. Bruce, in loco. 6 And in the parallel passages, Matt. xii. 22-29; Luke xi. 14-22.
9 Cf. John vii. 20, viii. 48, 52, x. 20.
10 Swete, in loco.
11 Jastrow, Diet. of the Trrgumim, &c.,, sub voce.
1T,

inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

.' The substitution of Beelzebub for Beelzebul by the Syriac, Vulgate and other versions implies the identification of the New Testament arch-fiend with the god of Ekron; this substitution, however, may be due to the influence of the Aramaic B'el-debaba, " adversary," sometimes held to be the

original

ORIGINAL

of these names.
There is no trace of Beelzebul or Beelzebub outside of the Biblical passages mentioned, and the literature dependent on them. If we assume a connexion between the two names, there is nothing to show how the god became in later times the devil.
In Paradise Lost, Book ii., Beelzebub appears as second only to Satan himself.

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