Lord of Flies

Sometimes things are named after what they look like. Such as the color orange is named after the fruit, the orange, the name of the fruit which is derived from Sanskrit nāranga "orange tree", and not used as a name for the color until the 1540s.

Fly on Orange, pencil and marker drawing by Julie O. /chthonickore

Sometimes things are named after what they do as well. Like the insect, the fly, originally from Proto-Germanic *fleugon "flying insect", literally "the flying (insect)". 

Beelzebub or Beelzebul, referred to as Lord of Flies, is derived from the Philistine god known as Ba'al Zevûv or Ba'al Zebub, Baal of Flies, literally Lord (Ba'al) of Flies (Zebub). 

"Beelzebub and them that are with him shoot arrows" from John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress (1678)

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince (ruler) of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."  Matthew 12:24

Lord of Hosts is one of the names of God as translated from the Old Testament. "Hosts" meaning organized body of angels. A transliteration to English being YHWH Sabaoth. 

However, Satan or Beelzebub, is Lord of the hosts as well, i.e., the army of demons, which could be called his nasty "flies". Flies in this sense is meant to be derogatory showing that this host is made up of demons and not angels of God. They are a host of flyers, metaphorically a swarm of flies. Swarm, in Hebrew is arob "swarm, swarm of flies". It is used to describe the fourth plague inflicted upon Egypt in the book of Exodus, known as The Plague of Flies. 

And the LORD did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh's palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by flies [arob].  Exodus 8:24

Because the kings of Israel were said to have fallen away from true worship of the one God, YHWH / YHVH (Yahweh), God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, and to have fallen into idolatry and were leading the people astray, their LORD, Ba'al Zebub, Beelzebub (also associated with the Canaanite god, Ba'al as well), came to be bosheth "shameful thing", and their "LORD" labeled as a major demon associated with Satan. Whereas, YHWH is often translated as LORD. Ba'al, which also means Lord, is left as Ba'al, not translated. So the more complex context is lost in English because not many people know that Ba'al simply means "Lord" in a different language.

The stele of Baal with Thunderbolt found in the Ruins of Ugarit

It is clear from this translation, below, of a passage from Hosea, how this word Ba'al was at times even used to refer to YHWH (the Tetragrammaton often translated as the LORD [Hebrew "Adonai"], instead of the supposed transliteration Yahweh). 

"And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.' Hosea 2:16, ESV

It is a confusing passage to translate because the words translated here as "My Husband" ish (man), and "My Baal" bali (my master), have similar definitions. So why is it that YHWH is making a distinction between the two nouns? 

It is true that ish sometimes translated as "husband" as in Genesis, Adam is ish "man, male, husband", and Eve (isha)"woman, wife, female", however these words are differentiated from THE ADAM "man, mankind, all men and women", the creature that God (Elohim) made having two sides, i.e., ish-masculine and isha-feminine, out of the dust or from adamah (f.) "the ground, earth, red earth, blood of the earth".

      Adam and Eve, Lucas The Elder Cranach, 1533

                             

And Baal, also, can be translated as "husband, master, lord, owner". So, rather than it being important so much how the words are are translated into English, it seems that the connotation of meaning behind the words is important. Maybe the passage is meant to distance YHWH from erroneous concepts which sprang up around the use of the title Baal, meaning LORD. Baal having a harsher ownership, i.e., master to slave understanding, than ish, the complimentary masculine half of an intimate partnership, i.e., husband of Israel? So, YHWH is talking about a free partnership [love], not owneship [dominance].

But back to Beelzebub . . .
Ahaziah, son of Ahab and Jezabel, followed after his parents in the worship of Ba'al Zebub, and when Ahaziah was injured in an accident and sought to consult this god, the Angel of YHWH then sent Elijah to condemn Ahaziah and tell him he would die.

Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice [sebakah] of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, "Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury." 

But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?' 2 Kings 1:2-3

This passage states that Ahaziah fell through the lattice. In Hebrew the word used is sebakah "lattice-work, network" the feminine form of sobek "lattice, network of boughs, nets of network, networks, webbing."  Lattices are built for shade, and privacy. They can also oppositely be used for peering, lurking, and spying. 

The Who / Tommy album cover, 1969

Sobek can even be a trap or snare as in the case of Absolam, son of King David, who was entagled in the branches of a tree and was then easy prey for Joab, comander of the king's army.

Now Absalom happened to meet David's men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches [sobek] of a large oak, Absalom's hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept going. 2 Samuel 18:9

It is interesting then that Sobek, Sbk is also the name of an Ancient Egyptian deity / god [nTr] associated with the Nile crocodile. Sobek was often depicted with the head of a crocodile. Crocodile skin has a definite lattice [sobek] print to it. 

Hermès Graphite Shiny Porosus Crocodile Birkin 35 PHW

Sobek is also a Lord of Hosts, associated with pharaonic sovereign power, military prowess, patron of armies / hosts, and additionally a protective deity. He symbolized raw strength, known as "The Rager", a formidable patron for the army. He also was seen as an assister of the just dead, and associated with the fertility, known as "The Lord of the Waters".

... many scholars believe that the name Sobek, Sbk, is derived from s-bAk, "to impregnate", others postulate that it is a participle form of the verb sbq, an alternative writing of sAq, "to unite", thereby meaning Sbk could roughly translate to "he who unites (the dismembered limbs of Osiris)." Sobek: Character and Surrounding Mythologies 

Alex Grey’s Cardiovascular System: Painting 1980, Oil on Linen

Our bodies are joined together by many systems or networks, like the lattice (sobek) of the cardiovascular system. It may be fitting then that Sobek helped to united the body of Osiris. Sobek was at certain times considered to be an aspect of Horus taking the form of a crocodile to retrieve the parts of Osiris' body lost in the Nile after being murdered by his brother Set / Seth, in this way helping the healer, Isis, in her quest to restore her husband's, Osiris', body (knit it back together). So in this way, he IS Sobek "he who unites", or it could also be translated perhaps as he who "collects, pulls together". This uniting may not be unlike the tangled collection or network [lattice] of branches in a river jumbled together along the shore which make an excellent place for an ambush predator, like a crocodile, to hide. 

Since their speed and agility on land is rather outmatched by most terrestrial animals, they must use obscuring vegetation or terrain to have a chance of succeeding during land-based hunts. wikipedia, Nile Crocodile

Whether on land or in the water, crocodiles rely on stealth to surprise and capture their prey. Grass, reeds, sticks, and branches serve as a lattice or network which the crocodile can silently peer through waiting for the right moment to strike. Think of those crocodile eyes just above the surface of the water as it waits patiently, then suddenly erupts, the rager!

A crocodile lurks amid the rushes along the Nile at Murchison Falls in Uganda.

ERNST HAAS/ERNST HAAS/GETTY IMAGES

There is a kind of sewing together or knitting involved with this lattice like uniting. Nit, Neith, Net is the primordial goddess of war and mother goddess of Ancient Egypt, and the mother of Sobek. She is the network (lattice) of the universe, the mother of all the gods who wove the universe (matrix) on her loom (some more neat things about Neith in this post). 

Neith, From the Tomb of Khaemwaset, Valley of the Queens, Luxor

And interesting! Her son is named Sobek, which has the meaning of "network," in Hebrew, and his skin, in his association with the crocodile displays his very name. 

Perhaps it is even possible that this Hebrew word was somehow influenced by the name of the Egyptian god. Not unlike how the color name "orange" was influenced by the orange (fruit). The Israelites spent a long and intimate time in Egypt. Think of the high positions of Joseph, second only to Pharaoh Genesis 41:40, and Moses who grew up in the house of Pharaoh. They would have seen Sobek depicted as a crocodile, and crocodiles sport lattice print hides, therefore it is possible that the name Sobek could come to be associated with the look of the crocodile skin, i.e., lattice patterned skin, or Sobek-like.

Sobek in his crocodile form, 12th Dynasty. Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst, Munich. Photo:Einsamer Schütze

Sobek did not have the title "Lord of Flies", however swarms of flies generally would be associated with the marshy areas along the Nile where crocodiles live, so in that sense Sobek would be Lord of Flies. He was somewhat a chaotic god, both protective, but also fearful.

Scene in the Nile Marshes, Louvre Museum, Paris

Another creature that might be found along the Nile are snakes, such as the Egyptian cobra, a deadly venomous snake, definitely to be respected, as much as the Nile crocodile. The Ancient Egyptian goddess Wadjet was a snake goddess. Wadjet was synonymous with the Eye of Horus or Eye of Ra, she is the risen (like a cobra) one, the open eye, like the Sun, Ra, opening his eye in the morning at the break of day, from darkness then suddenly the world is illuminated. She is this mysterious, mystical, powerful, enlightening, searing, penetrating, fearful / awesome energy. She has certain similarities with the concepts of Kundalini, from Sanskrit, meaning "coiled (snake) one", and the third eye, and / or Ajna chakra. In fact Wadjet, depicted as a cobra (Uraeus) is often seen at the third eye point on the crowns of the Pharaohs. She sat as "the raised / risen one" on their brows denoting protection, wisdom, and right of rulership.

                                                Uraeus(Wadjet) on the Crown of burial mask of Tutankhamen

                                             The Eye of Horus (AKA Wadjet) Bracelet, c 890 BC- Cairo Museum

Winged Uraeus(Wadjet) with Sun Disk

Bronze Uraeus(Wadjet) with Sun Disk

With an understanding of this snake goddess symbolism, the story of the Israelites and the bronze snake in the wilderness Numbers 21:9  takes on new meaning and makes a lot more sense. What kind of sense does it make for God to command Moses to put a serpent on a pole?

When the people speak against God, YHWH sends nachash ("serpents") seraph (fiery serpents") Num. 21:6, generally translated as "venomous snakes", and they nashak ("bite") the people. Then when the people speak to Moses about the serpents Num. 21:7, they refer to the snakes simply as nachash ("serpents"), then YHWH tells Moses Num. 21:8 to make a seraph (?) and to put the seraph on a pole . . . so then what does Moses do? Moses makes a nachash ("serpent") nechosheth ("bronze") and puts it on a pole! So this seraph is represented by a bronze snake? Just as Wadjet is often represented in bronze and gold as the Uraeus? [The Israelites were out of gold probably because of the golden calf incidence, amirite?] And was not Wadjet a seraph ("fiery serpent"), one of her title's being "Lady of Flame"? Basically Moses makes something that resembles Uraei and puts it on a pole . . . and these people have just recently left their home in Egypt.

Then when you look at all the extended meanings of these words related in Hebrew, having to do with nachash and seraph things get even more interesting.

Nachash: phonetic spelling (naw-khawsh') "serpent, serpents, snake"

Nachash: (naw-khash') "to practice, divination, observe signs”

Nachash:  (nakh'-ash) "divination, enchantment, omen"

Nechash:  (nekh-awsh') "copper, bronze”

Seraph: (saw-raf') “to burn”

Seraph: (saw-rawf') "fiery serpent, seraph"

From saraph; burning, i.e. (figuratively) poisonous (serpent); specifically, a saraph or symbolical creature (from their copper color) -- fiery (serpent), seraph - Strong’s Concordance 

Seraph / Seraphim: in Isaiah chapter 6, six-winged, fear inducing, heavenly beings flying around with hot coal 

Serappim: (sar-af') “disquieting thoughts, anxious thoughts”

Whatever you want to say about it, there is definitely more to the story than people simply being bitten by venomous snakes. I'm not saying that the people in the story were necessarily not being bitten by literal snakes, but then again, is the story something that necessarily literally took place? What else could this story be alluding to possibly? When you look at the connotation of serpents having to do with divining, enchantment, cunning (as the serpent in the garden of Eden), and, then, these serpents being the cause of certain, mental distress, falling into darkness, or anxiety, it begins to look a lot like a testing or a dark night of the soul. 

They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! Revelation 6:16

". . . he drove out the man (the adam) . . . And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life." Genesis 3:24

According to this understanding, just as Jesus went out into the wilderness to be tested and had all sorts of "hallucinations" of demons and angels, so too, the Israelites were tested in the wilderness when they spoke against God. Intense stuff! That bites! 

Jesus and the Devil (Beelzebul [?]), The Children's Bible, copyright 1965, Western Publishing Co., photo by Julie O. /chthonickore

Perhaps this is why Jesus says, "Lead us not to the test (or temptation, Gk. peirasmos/perasmon), but deliver us from evil (or the evil one)" Mt. 6:13. It is because it is fearful and not just anyone can survive it, and you certainly DO NOT want to bring it upon yourself by speaking against God like the Israelites did. 

Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. Numbers 21:6

So after God sends the Israelites this "punishment" (at least it was perceived as punishment because they were guilty of sin), or could we say this "teaching moment", he then gives to the people the seraph, as a sign of hope, a savior of sorts, for, " . . . anyone who is bitten can look at it and live" Numbers 21:8. It had to be something they could believe would have power to save them, a savior with a face so to speak. However, YHWH was wanting them to understand that the power to heal from this seraph came from him. 

For when the dire venom of beasts came upon them and they were dying from the bite of crooked serpents, your anger endured not to the end.

But as a warning, for a short time they were terrorized, though they had a sign of salvation, to remind them of the precept of your law.

For he who turned to it was saved, not by what was seen, but by you, the savior of all. Wisdom 16:5-7

If we are to suppose that this punishment / consequence of unbearably disturbing, anxious thoughts, searing, was brought upon the Israelites because of their grumblings, who do we say is the author of these thoughts, these biting snakes? Are the fiery serpents the devil, Satan "the accuser", Lord of Lies, Beelzebub? Are they the goddess Wadjet, Lady of flame, the risen eye of Ra? Are the biting serpents Seraphim, the fiery Angels of God? Or is the difference only in your mind? 

In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper. Your eye will see strange sights and your mind will imagine confusing things.  Proverbs 23:32-33

Neo stops the flying bullets, Lord of Fliers, The Matrix