22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
The source for the name Beelzebub is in the Books of Kings (2 Kings 1:2–3, 6, 16), written Baʿal zəvuv, referring to a deity worshipped by the Philistines in the city of Ekron.[2]
This passage notes that King Ahaziah of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, after seriously injuring himself in a fall, sent messengers to inquire of Baʿal-zəvuv, the god of the Philistine city of Ekron, to learn if he would recover.
Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber at Samaria and was injured. So he sent messengers, whom he instructed: "Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury."
— "II Kings 1:2".
The title Baal "Lord", is a Ugaritic and Cananitic term used in conjunction with a descriptive name of a specific god. Opinions differ on what the name means. In one understanding, Baʿal zəvuv is translated literally as "lord of (the) flies".[3][4][5][6] It was long ago suggested that there was a relationship between the Philistine god, and cults of flies—referring to a view of them as pests, feasting on excrement—appearing in the Hellenic world, such as Zeus Apomyios or Myiagros.[7] This is confirmed by the Ugaritic text which depicts Ba'al expelling flies, which are the cause of a person's sickness.[7]
According to Francesco Saracino (1982), this series of elements may be inconclusive as evidence, but the fact that in relationship to Baʿal zəvuv, the two constituent terms are here linked, joined by a function (ndy) that is typical of some divinities attested to in the Mediterranean world, is a strong argument in favor of the authenticity of the name of the god of Ekron, and of his possible therapeutic activities, which are implicit in 2 Kings 1:2–3, etc.[8]
Alternatively, the deity's actual name could have been Baʿal zəvul, "lord of the (heavenly) dwelling", and Baʿal zəvuv could have been a derogatory pun used by the Israelites.[9][10][11]
The Septuagint renders the name as Baalzebub (Βααλζεβούβ) and as Baal muian (Βααλ μυῗαν, "Baal of flies"). However, Symmachus may have reflected a tradition of its offensive ancient name when he rendered it as Beelzeboul.
Beelzebub is also identified in the New Testament as the Devil, "the prince of demons".[16][17] Biblical scholar Thomas Kelly Cheyne suggested that it might be a derogatory corruption of Ba'al-zəbûl, "Lord of the High Place" (i.e., Heaven) or "High Lord".[18]
In Arabic translations, the name is rendered as Baʿl-zabūl (بعلزبول).
Zababa (Sumerian: 𒀭𒍝𒂷𒂷) was the tutelary deity of the city of Kish in ancient Mesopotamia. He was a war god.[1] While he was regarded as similar to Ninurta and Nergal, he was never fully conflated with them. His worship is attested from between the Early Dynastic to the Achaemenid periods, with the Old Babylonian kings being particularly devoted to him. Starting with the Old Babylonian period, he was regarded as married to the goddess Bau.
Zababa and Ninurta shared many epithets, and references to the former using weapons normally associated with the latter or fighting his mythical enemies can be found in various texts.[6] Late lexical texts sometimes apply the names Shulshaga and Igalim to the weapons of Zababa.[22] In sources from the Early Dynastic period, these names instead belonged to the sons of Ningirsu (Ninurta) and Bau, at the time regarded as his wife.[23] A reference to Zababa as "Nergal of Kish" is known too,[6] though this title also could designate a different deity worshiped in the same city, Luhusha ("angry man").[24] Despite the associations between them, no full equation of Ninurta, Nergal and Zababa occurred, and the same texts, for example hymns and laments, could refer to all three of them as distinct from each other.[6]
Nērgal; (Aramaic: ܢܸܪܓܲܠ; , Sumerian: 𒀭𒄊𒀕𒃲, Hebrew: נֵרְגַ) was a Mesopotamian god worshiped through all periods of Mesopotamian history, from Early Dynastic to Neo-Babylonian times, with a few attestations indicating that his cult survived into the period of Achaemenid domination. He was primarily associated with war, death, and disease, and has been described as the "god of inflicted death".[4] He reigned over Kur, the Mesopotamian underworld, depending on the myth either on behalf of his parents Enlil and Ninlil, or in later periods as a result of his marriage with the goddess Ereshkigal. Originally either Mammitum, a goddess possibly connected to frost, or Laṣ, sometimes assumed to be a minor medicine goddess, were regarded as his wife, though other traditions existed, too. His primary cult center was Kutha, located in the north of historical Babylonia. His main temple bore the ceremonial name E-Meslam and he was also known by the name Meslamtaea, "he who comes out of Meslam". Initially he was only worshiped in the north, with a notable exception being Girsu during the reign of Gudea of Lagash, but starting with the Ur III period he became a major deity in the south too. He remained prominent in both Babylonia and Assyria in later periods, and in the Neo-Babylonian state pantheon he was regarded as the third most important god, after Marduk and Nabu.
A first millennium BCE god list identifies Zababa as "Marduk of the war."[25]
Zababa's name has no plausible Sumerian or Semitic etymologies, similar to these of deities such as Alala, Bunene and Bau.[2] His two primary roles were these of a war god and a tutelary deity of Kish. He was already worshiped there in the Early Dynastic period, and references to him as the "king" of that city can be found in texts from Ebla from the third millennium BCE.[3] His status was particularly high during the reign of Hammurabi, when according to Walther it was seemingly Zababa, rather than Ninurta, who should be understood as the primary warrior god in the state pantheon.[4]
Zababa's symbol was an eagle, and he was depicted in symbolic form as a standard with this bird on top.[5]
Zababa's main temple was Edubba, located in Kish.[3] Emeteursag, commonly referenced in texts, was a cella dedicated to him rather than a separate temple.[6] A text from the reign of Artaxerxes I mentions the existence of a temple meant for an akitu festival connected to Zababa in Kish as well.[7]
Outside Kish, Zababa temples are attested in Ur (built by Warad-Sin of Larsa), in Tabira, a town near Babylon, and in Assur.[5] He was also among the gods said to "arrive" in Babylon during the city's akitu, alongside deities such as Nabu, Bau, Nergal, Mammitum and Las.[8]
A number of texts praising Hammurabi mention Zababa. In a hymn, he is one of the deities enumerated as responsible for his success, following Anu, Enlil, Shamash, Adad and Marduk, and preceding Inanna. In another hymn, Zababa is referred to as the king's helper. A text from the reign of his successor Samsu-Iluna credits the king with rebuilding the walls of Kish with the help of Zababa and Ishtar, and states that these two deities helped him defeat his enemies. Wilfred G. Lambert notes that these sources are significant as evidence proving "there is no hint of any supremacy of Marduk within the pantheon" in the Old Babylonian period.[9]
A boundary stone (kudurru) of Nebuchadnezzar I mentions Zababa in a sequence of gods, alongside Anu, Enlil, Marduk, Nabu, Ishtar, Ninurta, Gula, Nergal, Papsukkal, Ishara and "Anu Rabu" (Ishtaran).[10]
Mesopotamian kings named in honor of Zababa include Ur-Zababa ("man of Zababa") of Kish, famous due to his role in the so-called "Sumerian Sargon legend,"[11] and Zababa-shuma-iddin, a twelfth century BCE Kassite king of Babylon deposed after a single year on the throne by the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte.[12]
In Kish, Zababa was a popular deity in theophoric names well into Achaemenid times.[13] It has been argued that similar names from other cities can be assumed to indicate emigration of the inhabitants of Kish to other parts to Mesopotamia, similar to Lagamal names pointing at origin of the families of persons bearing them in Dilbat.
