Beelzebub
Still
another fallen angel who
is confusing. He is Beelzebub, a god of the Philistines
who in the Jewish thinking becomes the chief of the nine
hierarchies of devils and demons
in Hell.
To
three of the evangelists (Matthew, Mark, Luke) Beelzebub
is the chief of the demons and Matthew XII:24 calls
him the 'prince of the devils,' but Beelzebub is not the
Prince of Darkness, not Satan
himself.
In
the Gospel of Nicodemus there is a story about the
Harrowing of Hell in which Christ, during his three-day
stay in the underworld, makes a deal with Beelzebub and
allows him to be chief of the demons, despite the objection
of Satan, because Beelzebub agrees to permit Christ to take
Adam and others who went to
Hell before the birth of Christ with Him out of Hell to
dwell henceforth in Heaven.
To
complicate matters, Dante's Inferno equates Beelzebub
with Satan himself.
Satan
& Beelzebub
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See also Baal
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