BEELZEBUB. The name of the supreme god among all the Syro-Phoenician peoples was Baal, i.e., lord or owner; and by adding to it zebub, insect, the proper name Baalzebub was formed, the god of Ekron according to 2 Kings i. 2, the fly-god, the averter of insects, similar to the Zeυs α7r0∕zυιoς, μυiaγpoς, and the Hercules μνίαγρος ; SO that Clemens Alexandrinus speaks of a Hercules άττόμνιος worshipped in Rome. Hug’s hypothesis that this Philistine god was the dung-beetle, the Scarabaeus pillularius, worshipped in Egypt, cannot be accepted. Beelzebub was so named not from his form, but from his supposed power of driving away noxious flies. In the New Testament the word is applied to Satan, the ruler or prince of the demons (Matt. x. 25, xii. 24, 27; Mark iii. 22; Luke xi. 15, 18, 19). But the best Greek MSS. read B∈cλ^∈- βoυλ, Beelzebul, in the Gospels,—an orthography followed by the latest critical editions, though the Syriac and Vulgate versions have Beelzebub, which is also recommended by Jerome. What is the origin of Beelzebub 1 The most obvious derivation of it is ⅛∙1M"⅛2, Baal (or lord) of the dwelling, a name of Saturn among the Phoenicians, according to Movers, synonymous with pJfD"Sps. So it may mean Baal of the heavenly dwelling or habitation, just as Satan is termed in the epistle to the Ephesians (ii. 2) “prince of the power of the air.” Others suppose that Beelzebul arose from Beelzebub by a pun on the part of the later Jews, who wished to throw ridicule on idols by forming the appellation lord of dung,— or ⅛T meaning dung in the Targumic and Talmudic dialects. This is improbable, because Beelzebul was not a current name in J ewish literature. Somewhat different is the opinion of Lightfoot, based upon ...

Matt. x, 25. See BAALZEBUB.