Fly

Fly (Hebrew zebub) was a significant pest in the ancient Near East, so troublesome in Syria and Phoenicia that the Canaanites had a god named Baal-zebub ("lord of flies") worshipped at Ekron, whose oracle Ahaziah sought in 2 Kings 1:2-16 — an act condemned by Elijah. The influence of this deity's name persisted into the New Testament as Beelzebul, applied to Satan (Matthew 12:24-27).

The fourth Egyptian plague sent by God through Moses was a plague of flies (or a swarm of insects, 'arob) upon Egypt, while Goshen was spared (Exodus 8:21; Psalm 78:45; 105:31) — one of the distinguishing miracles that separated Israel from their Egyptian oppressors. The brevity and fragility of the fly is exploited in Ecclesiastes 10:1: "Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour" — a small thing can corrupt something valuable. Isaiah 7:18 employs flies symbolically: the LORD will "whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt" — summoning the Egyptian armies as irresistible as a swarm of flies.