The
source for the name Ba‘al Zebûb,
variants include Belzebud, Beezelbub,
Belzaboul, Beelzeboul, Baalsebul, Baalzebubg,
Beelzebuth, Baal-Zevuv and Beelzebus.
Beelzebub is in 2 Kings 1.2–3,6,16
where King Ahaziah of Israel, after
seriously injuring himself in a fall,
sends messengers to inquire of Ba‘al
Zebûb, the god of the Philistine
city of Ekron, to learn if he will recover.
Elijah the Prophet then condemns Ahaziah
to die by Yahweh's words because Ahaziah
sought council from Ba‘al Zebûb
rather than from Yahweh.
Lucifer
is commonly thought to refer to Satan,
however this is in reference to another
deity and an artifact of translation
from Hebrew into Latin. Lucifer is not
mentioned in the original Hebrew. Beelzebub
is another deity from the Bible often
erroneously associated with Satan.
In Christian writings,
the name Beelzebub or Beelzebul may
appear as an alternate name for Satan
(or the Devil) or may else appear to
refer to the name of a lesser devil.
As with several religions, the names
of any earlier foreign or "pagan"
deities often became synonymous with
the concept of an adversarial entity.
Old
Testament
Beelzebub, or
Baalzebûb, the Philistine god
of Accaron (Ekron), scarcely 25 miles
west of Jerusalem, whose oracle King
Ochozias (Ahaziah) attempted to consult
in his last illness, IV (II) Kings,
i, 2. It is only as an oracle that the
god is known to us; no other mention
of him occurs in the Old Testament.
The name is commonly translated "the
lord of the flies", and the god
is supposed to be so called either because
as a sun god he brings the flies, though
the Ba'al was probably not a sun god,
or more likely because he is invoked
to drive away the flies from the sacrifice,
like the Zeus Apomuios, who drove them
from Olympia, or the hero Myiagros in
Arcadia. Halévy and Winckler
interpret the name, according to the
analogy of very many names compounded
with baal, as "the lord of Zebub",
supposed to be a locality in Accaron;
there is no proof, however, for the
existence of such a locality, and besides
Beelzebub is called the god of Accaron.
Cheyne thinks the original form of the
name is Ba'al Zebul, "the lord
of the mansion," or high house,
which would refer to the god's temple
or to the mountain on which the gods
dwelt, or rather, in his opinion, to
both. But the textual evidence, as Lagrange
objects, is entirely in favour of Zebub.
Cheyne, admitting this, holds that the
title "lord of the high house",
which would suggest to the writer of
Kings a reference to Yahweh's temple
or to His heavenly dwelling place, would
be considered offensive, and would induce
him, in contempt, to change it to Ba'al
Zebub, the lord of flies. The tradition
of the true name, lingering on, accounts
for its presence in the Gospels (Zeboul).
This conjecture, which has a certain
plausibility, leaves unexplained why
the contempt should lead to the particular
form, Baal Zebub, a name without parallel
in Semitic religions. It seems more
reasonable, then, to regard Baalzebub
as the original form and to interpret
it as "lord of the Flies".
New
Testament
In the New Testament,
there is question of an evil spirit,
Beelzeboul. On account of the great
similarity of names, he is usually identified
with Baalzebub, beel being the Aramaic
form of baal, and the change from the
final b to l such as might easily occur.
But there were numberless names for
demons at that time, and this one may
have been newly invented, having no
relation to the other; the fact that
one element of the compound is Aramaic
and the other Hebrew would not disprove
this. The meaning of the term is "lord
of the mansion" or dwelling, and
it would be supposed by the Jews of
this time to refer to the nether regions,
and so be an appropriate name for the
prince of that realm. Beelzeboul (Beelzebub)
is used, then, merely as another name
for Satan (Matthew 12:24-29; Luke 11:15-22)
by whom the enemies of Our Lord accused
Him of being possessed and by whom they
claimed He cast out demons. Their charge
seems to have been that the good Our
Lord did was wrought by the Evil One
in order to deceive, which Jesus showed
to be absurd and a wilful blindness.
If the New Testament name be considered
a transformation of the old, the question
arises as to how the god of the little
town of Accaron came to give a name
to the Prince of Darkness. The mission
on which Ochozias sent his followers
seems to show that Beelzebub already
had a wide renown in Palestine. The
narrative (2 Kings 1) was a very striking
one, well known to the contemporaries
of Our Lord (Luke 9:54); from it might
easily be derived the idea of Beelzebub
as the special adversary of God, and
the change in the final letter of the
name which took place (ex hypothesi)
would lead the Jews to regard it as
designating the prince of the lower
regions. With him was naturally connected
the idea of demoniacal possession; and
there is no need of Cheyne's conjecture
that Beelzebub's "name naturally
rose to Jewish lips when demoniacal
possession was spoken of, because of
the demoniacal origin assumed for heathen
oracles". How can we account for
the idea of Beelzebub exorcizing the
demons? On the assumption that he is
to be identified with the Philistine
god, Lagrange thinks the idea is derived
from the special prerogative of Beelzebub
as fly-chaser (chasse-mouche). In the
Babylonian epic of the deluge, "the
gods gather over the sacrificer like
flies" (see Driver, Genesis, 105).
It was easy for the heathen Semites,
according to Lagrange, to come to conceive
of the flies troubling the sacrifice
as images of spirits hovering around
with no right to be there; and so Beelzebub,
the god who drove away the flies, became
the prince of demons in whose name the
devils were exorcised from the bodies
of the possessed. Others think the idea
naturally arose that the lord of the
demons had power to command them to
leave the possessed. It seems much more
reasonable, however, to regard this
faculty of Beelzebub not as a tradition,
but simply as a change invented by Our
Lord's enemies to throw discredit on
his exorcisms. His other miracles were
probably accounted for by ascribing
them to Beelzebub and so these likewise.
Allen (Comm. on Matt., 107, 134) has
endeavored to simplify the problem by
the use of higher criticism. According
to him, the role of Beelzebub as arch-demon
and exorcist was not a Palestinian belief;
in Mark's Gospel, Beelzebub is simply
the demon said to possess Our Lord.
Matthew and Luke by mistake fuse together
two independent clauses of Mark, iii,
22 and identify Beelzebub and Satan,
to whom the faculty of exorcism is ascribed.
The fusion, however, seems to be justified
by the next verse of Mark, which is
more naturally interpreted in the sense
of Matthew and Luke, though Allen's
interpretation may be admitted as possible.
Beelzebub does not appear in the Jewish
literature of the period; there we usually
find Beliar (Belial) as an alternative
name for Satan.
| Beelzebub
as depicted in Collin de Plancy's
Dictionnaire Infernal (Paris,
1863).
Jacques Auguste Simon Collin
de Plancy (1793-1887) was a
French occultist, demonologist
and writer; he published several
works on occultism and demonology.
He was born in 1793 in Plancy-l'
Abbaye and died in 1887.
The Dictionnaire Infernal is
a book on demonology that includes
the names and description of
many demons relating to demonology,
organised in hellish hierarchies.
It was written by Collin de
Plancy and first published in
1818. There were several editions
of the book, but perhaps the
most famous is that of 1863,
in which sixty-nine illustrations
were added to the book. These
illustrations are very creative
drawings trying to portray the
descriptions of the appearance
of several demons. Many of these
images were later used in S.
L. MacGregor Mathers book The
Lesser Key of Solomon though
some of the images were removed.
In 1818 his most known work,
Dictionnaire Infernal, was published
for the first time in 1818,
and in 1863 there were added
some images that made famous
the edition; this is a book
on demonology, which contains
some imaginative drawings concerning
the appearance of certain demons.
It is considered one of the
greatest works to document the
books, facts, things, people,
beings, appearance, magic, trade
in hell, divinations, secret
sciences, black books, wonders,
errors, prejudices, traditions,
tales, superstitions beliefs,
the surprising, mysterious and
the supernatural.
Collin de Plancy is also a
historical, romantic and central
character in the collective
work (directed by Eric Poindron)
"Mysteries, Diableries
& Merveilles, out of Champagne,
the Ardennes, and in the rest
of the world" (Editions
du Coq à l'Ane, Reims)
On another occasion Jesus said
to his disciples: "If they
have called the master of the
house [that is, himself] Beelzebub,
how much more (shall they so
call) them of his household"
[that is, the disciples] (Matt.
x. 25).
|
Mentioned in the New Testament
as chief of the demons (Matt.
xii. 24-27; Mark iii. 22; Luke
xi. 15-18). When the Pharisees
heard (of the cures performed
by Jesus), they said: "This
man doth not cast out demons
but by Beelzebul, the prince
of the demons"; whereupon
Jesus answered: "If Satan
casts out Satan, he is divided
against himself; how then shall
his kingdom stand? And if I
by Beelzebul cast out demons,
by whom do your sons cast them
out? But if I cast out demons
by the spirit of God, then the
kingdom of God is come unto
you."
|
In Mark 3.22, the
Pharisees accuse Jesus of driving out
demons by the power of Beelzeboul, prince
of demons, the name also appearing in
the expanded version in Matthew 12.24,27
and Luke 11.15,18–19. The name
also occurs in Matthew 10.25. It is
unknown whether Symmachus was correct
in identifying these names or not since
we otherwise know nothing about either
of them. Zeboul might derive from a
slurred pronunciation of zebûb;
from 'zebel', a word used to mean 'dung'
in the Targums; or from Hebrew zebûl
found in 1 Kings 8.13 in the phrase
bêt-zebûl 'lofty house'
and used in Rabbinical writings to mean
'house' or 'temple' and also as the
name for the fourth heaven.
In any case the form
Beelzebub was substituted for Belzebul
in the Syriac translation and Latin
Vulgate translation of the gospels and
this substitution was repeated in the
King James Version of the Bible, the
result of which is the form Beelzebul
was mostly unknown to western European
and descendant cultures until some more
recent translations restored it. In
summary, it is unknown if either or
both of these names were a title applied
to persons, to divinities exclusively,
or otherwise were a corruption of such
a title, possibly as a denigration.
Beelzebub is commonly
described as placed high in Hell's hierarchy;
he was of the order of cherubim. According
to the renowned 16th century occultist
Johannes Wierus, Beelzebub is the chief
lieutenant of Lucifer, the Emperor of
Hell, and presides over the Order of
the Fly. Similarly, the 17th century
exorcist Sebastian Michaelis, in his
Admirable History (1612), placed Beelzebub
among the three most prominent fallen
angels, the other two being Lucifer
and Leviathan, whereas two 18th century
works identified an unholy trinity consisting
of Beelzebub, Lucifer, and Astaroth.
John Milton featured Beelzebub as seemingly
the second-ranking of the many fallen
cherubim in the epic poem Paradise Lost,
first published in 1667. Wrote Milton
of Beelzebub "than whom, Satan
except, none higher sat." Beelzebub
is also a character in John Bunyan's
The Pilgrim's Progress, first published
in 1678.
Sebastien Michaelis
associated Beelzebub with the deadly
sin of pride. However, according to
Peter Binsfeld, Beelzebub was the demon
of gluttony, one of the other seven
deadly sins, whereas Francis Barrett
asserted that Beelzebub was the prince
of false gods. In any event, Beelzebub
was frequently named as an object of
supplication by confessed witches. After
being accused by the Pharisees of possessing
Jesus, he has also been held responsible
for at least one famous case of alleged
demon possession which occurred in Aix-en-Provence
in 1611 involving a nun by the name
of Sister Madeleine de Demandolx de
la Palud who named one Father Jean-Baptiste
Gaufridi as a bewitcher of young nuns.
Beelzebub was also imagined to be sowing
his influence in Salem, Massachusetts:
his name came up repeatedly during the
Salem witch trials, the last large-scale
public expression of witch hysteria,
and afterwards Rev. Cotton Mather wrote
a pamphlet entitled Of Beelzebub and
his Plot.
Ba‘al
Zebûb might mean 'Lord of Zebûb',
referring to an unknown place called
Zebûb or 'Lord of things that
fly' (zebûb being a Hebrew collective
noun for 'fly' its also commonly misinterpruted
for being 'Lord of the Flies'). This
may mean that the Hebrews were denigrating
their enemies' god by referring to him
as dung. Thomas Kelly Cheyne suggested
that it might be a corruption of Ba'al
Zebul, 'Lord of the High Place'. The
SeptuagintA renders the name as Baalzeboub,
SeptuagintB as Baal myîan 'Baal
of flies', but Symmachus the Ebionite
may have reflected a tradition of its
offensive ancient name when he rendered
it as Beelzeboul (Cath.Ency.).
Early
demonologists, unaware of Hadad or that
"Baal" in the Bible referred
to any number of local spirits, came
to regard the term as referring to but
one personage. Baal (usually spelt "Bael"
in this context; there is a possibility
that the two figures aren't connected)
was ranked as the first and principal
king in Hell, ruling over the East.
According to some authors Baal is a
duke, with 66 legions of demons under
his command.
During the English
Puritan period, Baal was either compared
to Satan or considered his main lieutenant.
According to Francis Barrett, he has
the power to make those who invoke him
invisible, and to some other demonologists
his power is stronger in October. According
to some sources, he can make people
wise, and speaks hoarsely.
While the Semitic
high god Baal Hadad was depicted as
a human, ram or a bull, the demon Bael
was in grimoire tradition said to appear
in the forms of a man, cat, toad, or
combinations thereof. An illustration
in Collin de Plancy's 1818 book Dictionnaire
Infernal rather curiously placed the
heads of the three creatures onto a
set of spider legs.
Baal
The Dictionnaire
Infernal illustration of Baal.
There
have been many attempts throughout
the history of Christianity
to classify demons into categories.
These systems of classification
of demons are a part of Christian
demonology. Classification
systems are based on the nature
of the demon, the sin with
which they tempt humans, the
month in which their power
was strongest, the saints
that were their adversaries,
or other characteristics.
Binsfeld's classification
of demons was prepared in
1589 by Peter Binsfeld. His
demon classification based
on the seven deadly sins,
establishing that each one
of the mentioned demons tempted
people by means of one of
those sins.
Lucifer: arrogance (pride)
Leviathan: envy
Satan: wrath
Belphegor: sloth (laziness)
Mammon: avarice (greed)
Beelzebub: gluttony
Asmodai: lust
|
Baal (ba-al)
is a Semitic title and honorific
meaning lord that is used for
various gods, spirits and demons
particularly of the Levant.
"Baal" can refer
to any god and even to human
officials; in some mythological
texts it is used as a substitute
for Hadad, a god of the sun,
rain, thunder, fertility and
agriculture, and the lord of
Heaven. Since only priests were
allowed to utter his divine
name Hadad, Baal was used commonly.
Nevertheless, few if any Biblical
uses of "Baal" refer
to Hadad, the lord over the
assembly of gods on the holy
mount of Heaven, but rather
refer to any number of local
spirit-deities worshipped as
cult images, each called baal
and regarded as an "idol".
Therefore, in any text using
the word baal it is important
first to determine precisely
which god, spirit or demon is
meant.
Other spellings: Bael, Baël
(French), Baell.
Baal is also seen as a Christian
demon. This is a potential source
of confusion.
Until archaeological digs at
Ras Shamra and Ebla uncovered
texts explaining the Syrian
pantheon, the demon Ba‘al
Zebûb was frequently confused
with various Semitic spirits
and deities entitled ba‘al,
and in some Christian writings
it might refer to a high-ranking
devil or to Satan himself.
In the ancient world of the
Persian Empire, from the Indian
Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea,
worship of inanimate idols of
wood and metal was being rejected
in favor of "the one living
God." In the Levant the
idols were called "baals",
each of which represented a
local spirit-deity or "demon."
Worship of all such spirits
was rejected as immoral, and
many were in fact considered
malevolent and dangerous.
At first the name Baal was
used by the Jews for their God
without discrimination, but
as the struggle between the
two religions developed, the
name Baal was given up in Judaism
as a thing of shame, and even
names like Jerubbaal were changed
to Jerubbesheth: Hebrew bosheth
means "shame". Zondervan's
Pictorial Bible Dictionary (1976)
|
In the Bible
the one named Devil and Satan is shown
to be an angel who rebelled against
God - the one who spoke through the
serpent and seduced Eve into disobeying
God's command. He is also identified
therein as the accuser of Job, the tempter
of the Gospels, and the dragon in the
Book of Revelation. It is widely believed
that before his betrayal he was the
highest of all angels and the "brightest
in the sky." His pride is considered
a reason why he would not bow to God
as all other angels did, but sought
to rule heaven himself. He is called
"the ruler of the demons"
(Matt. 12:24); "the ruler of the
world" and even "the god of
this world." (2Cor. 4:4) The Bible
book of Revelation describes how Satan
is cast out of Heaven, down to the earth,
having "great anger" and waging
war with those "who have the work
of bearing witness to Jesus" until
he is destroyed forever in the "lake
of fire." (Rev. 12:7-17; 20:10)
THE DEVIL
<MORE
HERE>
Because the word Baal
is used as a common substitute for the
sacred name Hadad, confusion often arises
when the same word is used for other
deities, physical representations of
gods and even people.
Historically, this
confusion was resolved the nineteenth
century as new archaeological evidence
indicated multiple gods bearing the
title Ba‘al and little about them
that connected them to the sun. In 1899,
the Encyclopædia Biblica article
Baal by W. Robertson Smith and George
F. Moore states:
That Baal was primarily
a sun-god was for a long time almost
a dogma among scholars and is still
often repeated. This doctrine is connected
with theories of the origin of religion
which are now almost universally abandoned.
The worship of the heavenly bodies is
not the beginning of religion. Moreover,
there was not, as this theory assumes,
one god Baal, worshipped under different
forms and names by the Semitic peoples,
but a multitude of local Baals, each
the inhabitant of his own place, the
protector and benefactor of those who
worshipped him there. Even in the astro-theology
of the Babylonians the star of Bel was
not the sun : it was the planet Jupiter.
There is no intimation in the OT that
any of the Canaanite Baals were sun-gods,
or that the worship of the sun (Shemesh),
of which we have ample evidence, both
early and late, was connected with that
of the Baals ; in 2 K. 235 cp 11 the
cults are treated as distinct.
Dictionnaire Infernal
- Collin de Plancy (1863) (paraphrased)
Belzebuth (aka Belzebub, Beelzebuth),
whose name means "lord of the flies"
is prince of demons according to the
Scriptures. Milton calls him foremost
in power & crime after Satan, and
most demonographers call him supreme
chief of hell. Bodin claims he is no
longer seen in his temple. Belzebub
was the god of the Canaanites, who represented
him with the figure of a fly or with
attributes of a sovereign power. He
was known to give oracles, as King Ochozias
was reprimanded by Elijah for consulting
him. Belzebuth is also known to rid
harvests of flies.
Demonologists present
him in different ways. Milton said he
was imposing with a wise face. Some
say he is as high as a tower or of similar
size to us. Some say he has the figure
of a snake with feminine traits.
Palingene wrote in
Zodiaco vitae that as the monarch of
hell, was of a prodigious size with
a swollen chest & a bloated face
with flashing eyes and raised eyebrows.
He also gives a menacing aura &
sits on a throne surrounded by fire.
He is black as a Moor, with large nostrils
and 2 horns on his head. He has 2 bat-like
wings attached to his shoulders, 2 duck
feet, a lion's tail, and is covered
from head to foot in shaggy fur.
Porphyrus confused
Belzebuth with Baccas, while others
say Priapus is greater. Others claim
he is associated with the Slavic god
Belbog or Belbach (white god), because
his images were always covered in flies,
like Belzebuth among the Syrians. Sometimes
he was associated with Pluto, or possibly
identified with Bael, whom Wierus made
emperor of hell. The name Belzebuth
is not found in Wierus' infernal monarchy.
In Solomon's Clavicules,
Belzebuth appeared as an enormous calf
or a goat with a long tail, but with
the face of a fly. Belzebuth appeared
to Faust 'dressed like a bee and with
two dreadful ears and his hair painted
in all colors with a dragon's tail.'
The Marechal of Retz described him as
a leopard. He breathed fire and howled
like a wolf when angry. Sometimes Astaroth
appears with him in the form of an ass.
THE
KING OF HELL
Or
a prince of the demons
Some
scholars have suggested that
Baal Zebul which means "lord
the prince" was deliberately
changed by the worshippers
of Yahweh to Baal Zebub (lord
of the flies) in order to
ridicule and protest the worship
of Baal Zebul. (NIV Study
Bible published by Zondervan)
Beelzebub
is commonly described as placed
high in Hell's hierarchy;
he was of the order of cherubim.
According to the renowned
16th century occultist Johannes
Wierus, Beelzebub is the chief
lieutenant of Lucifer, the
Emperor of Hell, and presides
over the Order of the Fly.
Similarly, the 17th century
exorcist Sebastian Michaelis,
in his Admirable History (1612),
placed Beelzebub among the
three most prominent fallen
angels, the other two being
Lucifer and Leviathan, whereas
two 18th century works identified
an unholy trinity consisting
of Beelzebub, Lucifer, and
Astaroth. John Milton featured
Beelzebub as seemingly the
second-ranking of the many
fallen cherubim in the epic
poem Paradise Lost, first
published in 1667. Wrote Milton
of Beelzebub "than whom,
Satan except, none higher
sat." Beelzebub is also
a character in John Bunyan's
The Pilgrim's Progress, first
published in 1678.
Sebastien
Michaelis associated Beelzebub
with the deadly sin of pride.
However, according to Peter
Binsfeld, Beelzebub was the
demon of gluttony, one of
the other seven deadly sins,
whereas Francis Barrett asserted
that Beelzebub was the prince
of false gods. In any event,
Beelzebub was frequently named
as an object of supplication
by confessed witches. After
being accused by the Pharisees
of possessing Jesus, he has
also been held responsible
for at least one famous case
of alleged demon possession
which occurred in Aix-en-Provence
in 1611 involving a nun by
the name of Sister Madeleine
de Demandolx de la Palud who
named one Father Jean-Baptiste
Gaufridi as a bewitcher of
young nuns. Beelzebub was
also imagined to be sowing
his influence in Salem, Massachusetts:
his name came up repeatedly
during the Salem witch trials,
the last large-scale public
expression of witch hysteria,
and afterwards Rev. Cotton
Mather wrote a pamphlet entitled
Of Beelzebub and his Plot.
In the mid
20th Century, the founder
of a type of Gnosticism who
called himself Samael Aun
Weor, wrote a book called
"The Revolution of Beelzebub"
in which he claimed that through
astral projection he paid
visits to Beelzebub in various
regions of the astral plane
for the purpose of trying
to convince him to renounce
demonic ways in order to become
an angel again. Weor claims
in the book to have been successful.
A vision
of hell from Dante’s
Divine Comedy, Gustave Doré's
illustration.
In polytheistic
religions, the politics of
Hell can be as complicated
as human politics. Many Hellenistic
Neopagans believe in Tartarus,
which may also be considered
a version of Hell.
The antiquity
of the worship of the god
or gods of Baal extends back
to the 14th century BCE among
the ancient Semitic peoples,
the descendants of Shem, the
oldest son of Biblical Noah.
Semitic is more of a linguistic
classification than a racial
one. Thus, people speaking
the same or similar languages
first worshiped Baal in his
many forms. The word Baal
means "master" or
"owner". In ancient
religions the name denoted
sun, lord or god. Baal was
common a name of small Syrian
and Persian deities. Baal
is still principally thought
of as a Canaanite fertility
deity. The Great Baal was
of Canaan. He was the son
of El, the high god of Canaan.
The cult of Baal celebrated
annually his death and resurrection
as a part of the Canaanite
fertility rituals. These ceremonies
often included human sacrifice
and temple prostitution.
Baal, literal meaning is "lord,"
in the Canaanite pantheon
was the local title of fertility
gods. Baal never emerged as
a rain god until later times
when he assumed the special
functions of each. Although
there is no equivalent in
Canaan of the sterile summer
drought that occurs in Mesopotamia,
the season cycle was marked
enough to have caused a concentration
on the disappearing fertility
god, who took with him the
autumn rain clouds into the
neither world.
After defeating
the sea god Yam, and building
a house on Mount Saphon, and
taking possession of numerous
cities, Baal announced that
he would no longer acknowledge
the authority of Mot, "death."
Baal not only excluded Mot
from his hospitality and friendship,
but also told him that he
could only visit the deserts
of the earth. In response
to this challenge, Mot invited
Baal to his abode to taste
his fare, mud. Being terrified
and unable to avoid the dreadful
summons to the land of the
dead, Baal coupled with a
calf in order to strengthen
himself for the ordeal, and
then set out. El and the other
gods donned funeral garments,
poured ashes on their heads,
and mutilated their limbs,
while Anat, aided by the sun
goddess Shapash, brought the
corpse back for burial. El
placed Athtar, the irrigation
god, on the vacant throne
of Baal, but Anat bitterly
missed her dead husband. She
begged Mot to restore Baal
to life, but her pleas went
without avail, and Anat's
attempts to interest the other
gods in helping her were met
with cautious indifference.
Thus, Anat assaulted Mot,
ripping him to pieces "with
a sharp knife," scattering
his members "with a winnowing
fan," burning him "in
a fire," grinding him
"in a mill," and
"over the fields strewing
his remains." El, in
the meantime, had a dream
in which fertility returned,
which suggested that Baal
was not dead. Afterwards,
he instructed Shapash to keep
watch for him during her daily
travels. In the due course
of time Baal was restored,
and Athtar fled from his throne.
Yet Mot was able to arrange
another attack, but on this
occasion all of the gods supported
Baal, and neither combatant
could gain the victory. Finally
El intervened and dismissed
Mot, leaving Baal in possession
of the field.
The above
myth, fragments of which are
on the Ras Shamra tablets,
relates to the alteration
of the seasons. Baal is the
god of rain, thunder, and
lightening. "At the touch
of his right hand, even colors
wilt." Yam, the owner
of salt water, gave place
to Baal as the genius of rainfall
and vegetation, a displacement
that left Mot as sole contender
under the mighty El. Torrid
heat, sterility, the arid
desert, death, the neither
world: these were Mot's irresistible
realm till Anat threshed,
winnowed, and ground the harvested
corn, the fecundity of Baal's
land, just as the siding of
El with the resurrected rain
god ensured the continuation
of the annual cycle. A parallel
of the magical rites can be
found in Psalms, where "they
that sow in tears shall reap
in joy. He that go forth and
weepeth, bearing precious
seed, shall doubtless come
again with rejoicing, bearing
sheaves with him." This
is sympathetic magic the tears
shed were expected to induce
drops of rain.
Baal was
the son of El, or Dagon, an
obscure deity linked by the
Hebrews with the Philistine
city of Ashdod. Dagon was
perhaps associated with the
sea, as a coin found in the
vicinity portrays a god having
a fish tail. Although Baal
personally overcame Yam, it
is uncertain whether or not
he fought Lotan, the Leviathan
of the Old Testament, but
it is known that Anat "crushed
the writhing serpent, the
accused one of the seven heads."
Another echo of the Mesopotamian
thought patterns are nestled
in these reasons advanced
by Baal for needing a "house."
His food offerings were too
meager for a god "that
rides on the clouds."
As far apart as Carthage and
Palmyra were temples dedicated
to Baal-Hammon, "the
lord of the altar of incense,"
whom the Greeks identified
with Cronos. On Mount Carmel
it was the prophet Elijah
who discredited King Ahab's
belief in the power of Baal,
when at his request "the
fire of the Lord fell, and
consumed the burnt sacrifice,"
and the wood, and the stones,
and the dust, and licked up
the water that was in the
trench. Afterwards Elijah
had the people slay "the
prophets of Baal," thereby
assuring the survival of the
worship of Yahweh in Israel.
The worship
of Baal extended from the
Canaanites to the Phoenicians
who also were partially an
agricultural people. Both
Baal and his cohort Ashtoreth,
or Astarte, who is equivalent
to the Greek goddess Aphrodite,
were both Phoenician fertility
symbols. Baal, the sun god,
was fervently prayed to for
the protection of livestock
and crops. Priests instructed
the people that Baal was responsible
for droughts, plagues, and
other calamities. People were
often worked up into great
frenzies at the prospects
of displeasing Baal. In times
of great turbulence human
sacrifices, particularly children,
were made to the great god
Moloch.
Since the
Phoenicians also were superb
ship builders the religion
and cults of Baal spread throughout
the Mediterranean world. The
worship of Baal was found
among the Moabites and their
allies Midinites during Moses'
time. It was also introduced
to the Israelites.
The religion
of the god Baal was widely
accepted among the ancient
Jews, and although it was
put down at times, it was
never permanently stamped
out. Kings and other royalty
of the ten Biblical tribes
worshiped the god. The ordinary
people ardently worshipped
this sun god too because their
prosperity depended on the
productivity of their crops
and livestock. The god's images
were erected on many buildings.
Within the religion there
appeared to be numerous priests
and various classes of devotees.
During the ceremonies they
wore appropriate robes. The
ceremonies included burning
incense, and offering burnt
sacrifices, occasionally consisting
of human victims. The officiating
priests danced around the
altars, chanting frantically
and cutting themselves with
knives to inspire the attention
and compassion of the god.
In the Bible
Baal is also called Beelzebub,
or Baalzebub, one of the fallen
angels of Satan.
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According to Christian tradition,
Original sin is the general
and non-personal condition
of sinfulness (lack of holiness)
into which human beings are
born. It is also called hereditary
sin or birth sin. Used with
the definite article ("the
original sin"), it refers
to the first sin committed
by humans, seen as the seed
of future evil effects for
the whole human race. Christians
usually refer to this first
sin as "the Fall".
The account in Genesis 2-3
implies that Adam and Eve
initially lived in a state
of intimate communion with
God. The narrative reads that
God "made various trees
grow that were delightful
to look at and good for food,
with the tree of life in the
middle of the garden and the
tree of the knowledge of good
and bad (Genesis 2:9, NAB)."
God then forbid Adam to eat
the fruit of the tree of knowledge
warning him that he would
surely die if he did so. Man
was not forbidden to eat from
the tree of life initially,
but was after breaking the
commandment to not eat of
the tree of knowledge. God
said "The man has now
become like one of us, knowing
good and evil. He must not
be allowed to reach out his
hand and take also from the
tree of life and eat, and
live forever." (Genesis
3:22-23). See "The Tree
of Life and "The Tree
of Knowledge of Good and Evil"
(Genesis 2:15-17). The serpent
persuaded Eve to eat from
the tree and "she also
gave some to her husband,
who was with her, and he ate
it (Genesis 3:6b, NAB)."
After eating the fruit Adam
became aware of his nakedness
(Genesis 3:1-7). God bestowed
a curse upon each of the active
participants. First the earth
is cursed with thorns. Next
the serpent's physical form
is altered and God sets up
an eternal enmity between
Eve and the serpent and all
their offspring (Genesis 3:9-15).
God then pronounces two curses
upon Eve. First, she is to
suffer the difficulties of
pregnancy. Second, her husband
will henceforth rule over
her. God then tells Adam that
he will now struggle for his
sustenance (Genesis 3:16-21).
Note that Adam and Eve are
not expelled from the garden
for their disobedience. Literally,
the narrative reads that God
did not want them to eat from
the Tree of Life and so expelled
them. Garden of Eden(Genesis
3:22-24).
The seven deadly sins, also
known as the capital vices
or cardinal sins, are a classification
of vices used in early Christian
teachings to educate and protect
followers from basic human
instincts. The Church divided
sin into two types: venial
(forgiven through any sacramental)
and capital or mortal (meaning
they can kill the life of
grace and risk eternal damnation
unless absolved in the sacrament
of confession).
Beginning in the early 14th
century, the popularity of
the seven deadly sins with
artists of the time engrained
them in human culture around
the world. The generally accepted
deadly sins are superbia (hubris/pride),
avaritia (avarice/greed),
luxuria (extravagance, later
lust), invidia (envy), gula
(gluttony), ira (wrath), and
acedia (sloth). Each deadly
sin is opposed by one of the
corresponding Seven Holy Virtues.
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The nominative
satan (meaning "adversary"
or "accuser"), and
the Arabic shaitan, derives
from a Northwest Semitic root
štn, meaning "to
be hostile", "to
accuse". In the New Testament,
Satan is a proper name, and
is used to refer to a supernatural
entity who appears in several
passages.
The most common synonym
for Satan, "the Devil",
entered Modern English from
Middle English devel, from
Old English deofol, from
Latin diabolus, from Late
Greek diabolos, from Greek,
"slanderer", from
diaballein, "to slander"
: dia-, dia- + ballein,
"to hurl"; which
ultimately derives from
PIE *gwel-(meaning "to
throw").In Greek, the
term diabolos, "slanderer"),
carries more negative connotations
than the Hebrew satan, "accuser",
"obstructer").
Lucifer is commonly thought
to refer to Satan, however
this is in reference to
another deity and an artifact
of translation from Hebrew
into Latin. Lucifer is not
mentioned in the original
Hebrew. Beelzebub is another
deity from the Bible often
erroneously associated with
Satan.
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Baal was primarily
a sun-god was for a long time
almost a dogma among scholars
and is still often repeated.
This doctrine is connected
with theories of the origin
of religion which are now
almost universally abandoned.
The worship of the heavenly
bodies is not the beginning
of religion. Moreover, there
was not, as this theory assumes,
one god Baal, worshipped under
different forms and names
by the Semitic peoples, but
a multitude of local Baals,
each the inhabitant of his
own place, the protector and
benefactor of those who worshipped
him there. Even in the astro-theology
of the Babylonians the star
of Bel was not the sun : it
was the planet Jupiter. There
is no intimation in the OT
that any of the Canaanite
Baals were sun-gods, or that
the worship of the sun (Shemesh),
of which we have ample evidence,
both early and late, was connected
with that of the Baals ; in
2 K. 235 cp 11 the cults are
treated as distinct.
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Other spellings:
Bael, Baël (French), Baell.
Baal is also seen as a Christian
demon. This is a potential source
of confusion.
Until archaeological digs at
Ras Shamra and Ebla uncovered
texts explaining the Syrian
pantheon, the demon Ba‘al
Zebûb was frequently confused
with various Semitic spirits
and deities entitled ba‘al,
and in some Christian writings
it might refer to a high-ranking
devil or to Satan himself.
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In the Testament of
Solomon (1st-3rd centuries CE), Solomon
learns that Beelzeboul is one of the
fallen angels who destroys by means
of tyrants, causes demons to be worshipped,
arouses desires in priests, brings about
jealousies and murders, and instigates
wars. The other demon he refers to as
being imprisoned in the Red Sea is the
one-winged demon, Abezethibou, Moses'
adversary in Egypt.
"Then I summoned
Beelzeboul to appear before me again.
When he was seated, I thought it appropriate
to ask him, 'Why are you alone Prince
of the Demons?' He replied, 'Because
I am the only one left of the heavenly
angels (who fell). I was the highest-ranking
angel in heaven, the one called Beelzeboul.
There is also accompanied me another
ungodly (angel) whom God cut off and
now, imprisoned here, he holds in his
power the race of those bound by me
in Tartarus. He is being nurtured in
the Red Sea; when he is ready, he will
come in triumph."
"I said to him,
'What are your activities?' He replied,
'I bring destruction by means of tyrants;
I cause the demons to be worshiped alongside
men; and I arouse desire in holy men
and select priests. I bring about jealousies
and murders in a country, and I instigate
wars." - TSol 6:1-4
Beelzeboul then prophecizes that the
wind demon, Ephippas will bind the demon
imprisoned in the Red Sea and bring
him out of the abyss. He then tells
Solomon that he is thwarted by the Almighty
God and the oath "the Elo-i".
"Then I said,
'Tell me which angel thwarts you.' 'The
Almighty God,' he replied. 'He is called
by the Hebrews Patike, the one who descends
from the heights' he is (called) by
the Greeks Emmanouel. I am always afraid
of him, and trembling. If anyone adjures
me with the oath (called) 'the Elo-i',
a great name for his power, I disappear."
- TSol 6:8
Another manuscript (MS P) of the passage
found includes the numeric sum of the
name of God. The letters translate as
follows. E = 5, m = 40, m = 40, a =
1, n = 50, o = 70, u = 400, e = 8, l
= 30.
"I, said to him,
'Tell me by what angel you are thwarted.'
And he replied, 'By the holy and precious
name of the almighty God, the one called
by the Hebrews by a row of numbers,
or which the sum is 644, and among the
Greeks, it is Emmanouel. And if one
of the Romans adjure me by the great
name of power, Eleeth, I disappear.
" - TSol 6:8 MS P
Finally, Beelzeboul informs Solomon
about heavenly things.
"Listen,
King, if you burn oil of myrrh, frankincense,
and bulbs of the sea along with spikenard
and saffron, and light seven lamps during
an earthquake, you will strengthen (your)
house. And if, being ritually clean,
you light (them) at the crack of dawn,
just before the sun comes up, you will
see the heavenly dragons and the way
the wriggle along and pull the chariot
of the sun." - TSol 6:10-11
Check
out the Succubus female of the species
THE SHE DEVILS:
DAUGHTERS
OF DARKNESS
Lilith
is a female Mesopotamian night demon
believed to harm male children.
In Isaiah 34:14, Lilith (Hebrew
Lilit) is a kind of night-demon
or animal, translated as onokentauros;
in the Septuagint, as lamia; "witch"
by Hieronymus of Cardia; and as
screech owl in the King James Version
of the Bible. In the Talmud and
Midrash, Lilith appears as a night
demon. She is often identified as
the first wife of Adam and sometimes
thought to be the mother of all
incubi and succubi, a legend that
arose in the Middle Ages. Lilith
is also sometimes considered to
be the paramour of Satan. < More
>
PART
TWO: SUCCUBI AND MARA, THE HANDMAIDENS
OF HELL
The
physical appearance of succubi varies
just about as much as that of demons
in general; there is no single definitive
depiction. However, they are almost
universally depicted as alluring
women with unearthly beauty, often
with demonic batlike wings; occasionally,
they will be given other demonic
features (horns, a tail with a spaded
tip, snakelike eyes, hooves, etc).
Occasionally they appear simply
as an attractive woman in dreams
that the victim cannot seem to get
off their mind. They lure males
and in some cases, the male has
seemed to fall "in love"
with her. Even out of the dream
she will not leave his mind. She
will remain there slowly draining
energy from him. <More>
SONS
OF PERDITION: INCUBI AND DEMON LOVERS
“And
they are called Incubi from their
practice of overlaying, that is
debauching. For they often lust
lecherously after women, and copulate
with them…the foulest venereal
acts are performed by such devils,
not for the sake of delectation,
but for the pollution of the souls
and bodies of those to whom they
act as . . . Incubi [and] through
such action complete conception
and generation by women can take
place.” <
more here>
THE
DEVIL ALWAYS GETS HIS DUE ROBERT
JOHNSON’S DEAL WITH THE DEVIL
AND THE CROSSROADS CURSE
The
story of Robert Johnson and his
infamous crossroads deal with the
devil – in which he traded
his immortal soul for musical genius
– is deeply ingrained in the
mythology and legend of the rural
South and is one of the best-known
tales of American folklore. <
more here>
And don't forget
the spawn of hell
THE
DEVIL BABY
“I
thought it was a little kid, you
know? Like, it needed some help.
It was just sitting there, hunched
over in the gutter. It sounded like
it was gasping, or having an asthma
attack or something. When I bent
down to it and it turned around,
I almost died on the spot! It was
horrible! And what was worse was
how it ran away – it scittered,
you know, like a roach on paper!
It ran off toward Dauphine [Street]!
I tell you what: I don’t walk
down there alone anymore!”
--
A real-life encounter with the Devil
Baby of Bourbon Street <MORE>
Notes on sources:
The Dictionary of
Angels by Gustav Davidson, © 1967.
Fallen Angels...and Spirits of the Dark
by Robert Masello ©1994.
The Access Bible. New Revised Standard
Version. Oxford University Press. ©1999
The Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage,
Book I, II, & III. Translated By:
S. L. MacGregor Mathers.
Grimoirium Verum or The True Grimoire.
The Most Approved Keys of Solomon The
Hebrew Rabbi. Translated From The Hebrew
by Plangiere, Jesuit Dominicane. Edited,
With A Preface By James Banner, Gent.
Originally Published By Alibeck The
AEgyptian at Memphis 1517. PDF edition,
1999 Phil Legard.
The Catholic Encyclopedia,
Volume II
Copyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton
Company
Online Edition Copyright © 2003
by K. Knight
Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop
of New York
HAVE YOU HAD AN ENCOUNTER
WITH THE DEVIL?
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WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!!
PLEASE
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AND LILITH AND ADAM, DEVIL BABAY OF
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