H1176 H1176
Baal-Zebub; the deity of Ekron whose name means 'lord of the flies,' consulted by King Ahaziah.
A compound divine name meaning 'lord of the flies,' designating the Philistine deity worshipped at Ekron. All four occurrences appear in 2 Kings 1:2-16, where King Ahaziah of Israel, after falling through a lattice, sends messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub whether he will recover. Elijah intercepts them with a stinging rebuke: 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal-Zebub?' The name may be a deliberate Hebrew distortion of an original 'Baal-Zebul' ('lord of the exalted dwelling'), turned into 'lord of flies' as a polemical insult against the foreign god.
Senses
1. sense 1 — The Philistine deity of Ekron, 'lord of the flies' (בַּעַל זְבוּב), consulted by the injured King Ahaziah in 2 Kings 1:2, 3, 6, 16. Every translation tradition preserves the compound name: Spanish 'Baal-zebub,' French 'Baal-Zebub,' German 'Baal-Zebub,' English 'Baal-Zebub.' The prepositional form (לבעל זבוב, 'to Baal-Zebub') marks Ahaziah's act of seeking an oracle from a foreign god rather than from the LORD — the central offense that Elijah denounces. Scholars suspect the original name was Baal-Zebul ('lord of the exalted place'), deliberately corrupted by Hebrew writers to the derisive 'lord of flies.' 4×
AR["بَعْلَ-زَبُوبَ"]·ben["বাল-সবূবের-কাছে"]·DE["von-Baal-Zebub"]·EN["of-Baal-Zebub"]·FR["de-Baal-Zebub"]·heb["ב-בעל-זבוב"]·HI["बाल-ज़बूब-से"]·ID["kepada-Baal-Zebub"]·IT["di-Baal-Zebub"]·jav["dhateng-Baal-Zebub"]·KO["바알-세붑-에게"]·PT["a-Baal-Zevuv"]·RU["у-Бааль-Зевува"]·ES["a-Baal-zebub"]·SW["kwa-Baal-Zebubu"]·TR["de-Baal-Zevuv"]·urd["بعل-زبوب-سے", "بَعل-زبوب-سے"]
Related Senses
H3548 1. priest, cultic officiant (750×)G5547 1. Christ, Messiah, Anointed One (540×)H5030 1. Prophet, divine spokesperson (317×)H5930a 1. burnt offering (sacrifice) (286×)H3881 1. Levites (priestly class) (283×)G4396 1. prophet, spokesperson of God (146×)H6944 1. sanctuary, holy place (129×)G0749 1. high priest, chief priest (123×)H6944 2. holiness, sacredness (abstract quality) (123×)G5330 1. Pharisee (99×)G4336 1. pray to God (86×)H6944 3. holy things, sacred offerings (plural) (86×)H3722a 1. make ritual atonement (Piel) (85×)H6912 1. bury (Qal active) (82×)H6419 1. pray (Hitpael) (80×)H6944 4. holiness (with possessive pronoun) (77×)H6942 1. sanctify, consecrate (Piel factitive) (76×)H2930a 1. Qal: be/become unclean (75×)H7819a 1. slaughter an animal (Qal active) (72×)H1486 1. lot (object cast for decisions) (71×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† I. בַּעַל166 n.m. owner, lord (Ph. בעל; Palm. id. husband Vog62 cf. BaeRel. 72 ff.; Assyrian bêlu l.c. DlGram. Gloss.; Arabic بعْلٌ husband etc., v. especially NöZMG 1886, 174, Sab. בעל CISiv. 1, 2)—Gn 20:3 + 92 times; sf. בַּעְלִי Ho 2:18; בַּעְלָהּ Dt 24:4 + 5 times; pl. בְּעָלִים Ju 2:11 + 17 times; cstr. בַּעֲלֵי Gn 14:13 + 27 times; sf. בְּעָלָיו Ex 21:29 + 14 times; בְּעָלֶיהָ Jb 31:39 +…