Beelzebul or Baalzebub?

Perhaps I am the only person alive who find’s amusing passages in the Bible. I hope not. But there is one particular play on words that seems almost funny. It deals with two titles used in the Bible for one god created then worshipped by the Canaanites, and I suspect those people did not like what like what they heard. Someone was poking fun at their number one, el supremo god.

The Canaanites named him ‘Beelzebul,’ often spelled in English translations as Baalzebul or Beelzebul. Most of us recognize that the Bible’s recording of ‘el,’ ‘al,’ or ‘ul’ sounds in names usually implied ‘god’ or ‘God.’ To these pagans, their god’s name meant ‘lord of lords,’ a Satanic concoction attempting to place him on the same level as the Jewish and Christian terms of ‘King of Kings,’ or ‘Lord of Lords.’ This ‘lord of lords’ was the presumed boss of several local lords all asking for parents to ‘pass their children through the fire,’ burning them on an altar to receive in return a better, more blessed parents.

In the New Testament writers used the correct Canaanite name, Baalzebul to designate the pagan god.

But when the Pharisees heard this they said, “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons!”

Matthew 12:24

But that was not the name used in the Old Testament. Why the change? The prophet Jeremiah is accepted as the author of First and Second Books of Kings, and his writings substituted the word ‘Baalzebub,’ almost the same except for that last syllable. Was this just an incorrect spelling on his part?

Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, Go, inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron?

2 Kings 1:2-3

Perhaps Jeremiah got it wrong—but I do not think so. Even though I am not a Bible scholar, after a few minutes of searching the infinite internet I found something to chuckle about: Jeremiah knew exactly what he was doing, and he deliberately misspelled it! When he used the name ‘Baalzebub’ instead of ‘Baalzebul,’ the slight adjustment changed the meaning from ‘Lord of Lords’ to ‘Lord of the Flies.’ That was a Canaanite term they applied to a fly-covered, rotting carcass. The Canaanites knew the prophet had implied that both names describe something that has no life, but stinks to high heaven. What an insult!

I’ve often said I want to have a long talk with Jeremiah when I get to Heaven. While we are chatting, I’ll congratulate him on being endowed by God with a great sense of humor that still flows down the ages!