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Beelzebub
Alternatively Beelzebuth,
Belzebuth, Baalzebub, Beelzeboul, Baalsebul,
Belzaboul, Belzebud, Beezelbub, Beezlebub,
Baalzebubg, Beelzebus, and Ba'al-zebub.
The name of a
demon
mentioned in the
New Testament as chief of the demons
(Matthew 12:24-27;
Mark 3:22;
Luke 11:15-18).
Beelzebub was also known as Achor by the
Cyreneans, which probably meant
'Lord of the High House', referring to the
Canaanite chief god 'Baal the
prince'. This title could only properly apply to Solomon
in his temple, so the Jews changed the name to Beelzebub which
translates as 'Lord of Flies', possibly because of his supposedly role
as creator and controller of the flies in the
Philistine city of
Ekron.
One of the oldest and most famous demonic figures,
Beelzebub also had command over disease — flies congregate around the corpses of
the dead, and spread disease from the dead to the living — and his role is to
tempt men with pride.
According to demonology's
lore, when
Satan
first rebelled, he recruited several very powerful seraphim, Beelzebub
among them, to fight at his side. Once he took up his new residence in
Hell, Beelzebub learned to tempt men
with pride. When summoned by witches or
sorcerers, he appeared in the form of a
fly, because "Lord of the Flies" was his nom de guerre, as it were. He'd
acquired it by visiting a plague of flies upon the harvest of
Canaan, or,
perhaps, simply because flies were once believed to be generated in the flesh of
decaying corpses. Another tale suggests that God created every creature, except
the fly — which was made by the Devil.
Beelzebub came to be
regarded as the leading representative of the fallen gods, referred to
as the Devil himself; in
Matthew 12:24 he is mentioned as 'Prince of the Devils' and this
appellation has stuck, even though Milton
has him next in rank to
Satan
(Paradise Lost, I, 79).
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