2 Kings 1:2. He sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease.
Baal-zebub is, literally, “the fly-god”; but whether this name was given in honor or in contempt is not known. It may have been at first a name of contempt, which afterward, by general use, lost its original significance. Some suppose this god to have been one of the medical idols of the Philistines, receiving its title from its imaginary influence over pestiferous insects which are said to infest Philistia. In Taylor’s Calmet there is a curious picture of an antique paste representing a head of Jupiter, and having the appearance of a huge fly.
Gale says: “The Phenicians styled their principal god Baal Samen, ‘the lord of heaven,’ (in the Phenician language.) The Jews called him Baal-zebub, lord of a fly.’ Scaliger supposes that the original name was Baal-zebahim, lord of sacrifices,’ contracted, by way of contempt, to Baal-zebub, lord of flies,’ that is, he could not keep flies away from his sacrifices” (Court of the Gentiles, book 2, c. 7, p. 80).
It is thought that Beelzebul is a contemptuous designation of this Philistine Baal, by it being called dung-god. See Matthew 10:25; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15,18-19, where, according to the best authorities, Beelzebub should read Beelzebul. The Jews, being fond of playing upon words, may have intentionally altered the name of this god. Some, however, define Beelzebul to mean “the lord of the dwelling,” and deny any connection between Beelzebul of the New Testament and Baalzebub of the Old.