BEELZEBUB

BEELZEBUB. - A form of the Vulgate based on the reading of a few Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, to which Beelzebul, the form attested by the best manuscripts (Mt. 12, 24; Mc. 3, 22; Lc. 11, 15), is to be preferred. This name (from ba'al and zēbhūbh) denotes the prince of evil spirits, by whose power Jesus is accused by the Pharisees of having worked miracles. In II Reg. 1, 2 he is mentioned as the god Accaron (v.): Ochozia (v.) turns to this deity.

The Septuagint version interprets it as “god of the flies” (Heb. zēbhūbh = fly), which would have a parallel in Ζεὺς ἀπέμυτος (Pausanias, V, 14, 2) and in Myiagrus deus (Solinus, 1); he would be worshipped because, as master, he drives away the danger of flies. In rabbinic times this name was interpreted as “Lord of dung” (Aram. zēbhīd' “dung”). Others understood it as “Lord (god) of the dwelling” (zēbhūl). The term zbl has now been found in the Ugaritic texts of Rās Samrah (v.). It is generally translated as “prince, ruler” (C. H. Gordon, Ugaritic Grammar, Roma 1940, p. 90).

Some have thought of the Assyrian bel dababi (Syriac bē'eldbābā), “adversary in judgment”: in our case it would have an eschatological meaning. B. would be the adversary at the final judgment. But it is preferable to regard the term zēbhūl as a phonetic variation of the Canaanite zbl, “prince.”

Bint.: W. Baudissin, B., in Realenc. für prot. Theol. u. Kirche, 3ª ed., II. Lipsia 1897, pp. 514-16; Ch. Virolleaud, in Syria, 12 (1931), pp. 350-51; W. Foerster, Beelzebul, in Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament, I, Stoccarda 1933, pp. 605-606. Angelo Penna