beelzebub Summary and Overview

(Gr. form Beel'zebul), the name given to Satan, and found only in the New Testament (Matt. 10:25; 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22). It is probably the same as Baalzebub (q.v.), the god of Ekron, meaning "the lord of flies," or, as others think, "the lord of dung," or "the dung-god."

[See BEELZEBUL]

BEEL'ZEBUB . The name properly should be Beelzebul in all the N. T. passages. Matt 10:25; Matt 12:24, Matt 12:27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 1 Sam 30:18, Acts 1:19. But this is, some say, merely because to the Greek tongue the latter form was easier. This name was in common use among the Jews in Christ's day as a title of Satan as the "prince of the demons." It means "lord of the house." Those who regard Beelzebul as a corruption of Baalzebub (lord of flies), the god of the Ekronites, 2 Kgs 1:3, worshipped as the patron deity of medicine, interpret it "lord of dung" or "filth," and explain the change in the name by the contempt of the Jews.

(See BAALZEBUB.)

Beelzebub or more accurately Baalzebub. Worshipped at Ekron; consulted by Ahaziah as to his recovery, for which Jehovah by Elijah declared he should die (2 Kings 1:2-3; 2 Kings 1:16). "Lord of flies," i.e., averter of the plague of flies, which often caused such ravages. A seal found near Gaza by DeHass represents a human figure with four wings like those of a fly, in low relief, probably the god of Ekron. Beelzebul was the Jewish contemptuous term, by a slight alteration, for Beelzebub; i.e., "god of dung"