Baal-zebub

Baal-zebub (meaning lord of flies) was the god of the Philistines at Ekron, consulted by the Israelite king Ahaziah when he fell through a lattice in his upper chamber and was injured. Ahaziah sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub whether he would recover from his injury — a consultation the prophet Elijah intercepted with a divine counter-message: because the king had sent to inquire of Baal-zebub rather than of the God of Israel, he would not leave his bed but would die (2 Kings 1:2–3, 16). The king died as prophesied.

The name reappears in the New Testament as Beelzebub (the Greek form), used by the Pharisees as a designation for the prince of demons (Matthew 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15). Jesus's opponents accused him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub, prompting his famous argument that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. The transformation from a local Philistine deity into a name for Satan's leadership reflects the evolution of Jewish angelology and demonology in the intertestamental period.