The following excerpt is taken from What Every Christian Should Know About Satan. Order your copy in print, Kindle, or Audible versions here.

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When you think about crime bosses, whose name rises to the top? Perhaps your first impulse is to go with Vito Corleone. However, the character in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather is mostly a composite figure based on real Mafia kingpins Frank Costello, Don Joe Profaci, and Carlo Gambino. Besides, Vito Corleone fades into the shadows of his ascending son Michael, who eclipses his father at the top of the Corleone family and runs it with calculating brutality. 

Well then, let’s consider Vito Genovese, a real mobster who distinguished himself during Prohibition. Another good choice: Lucky Luciano, the father of modern organized crime. Or, take your pick of Al Capone, better known as “Scarface” and leader of the Valentine’s Day Massacre; Bugsy Siegel, the Jewish-American mobster who helped put Las Vegas on the map; Carlo Gambino, who took over the Mangano family and renamed it after himself; John Gotti, also known as “The Teflon Don” until throat cancer took his life; or Vincent Louis Gigante, a heavyweight boxer who became a brutal mob enforcer. Any of these colorful characters might lay claim to being the most feared crime boss in the underworld.

But they all take a back seat to Salvatore Toto Riina, perhaps the most notorious mobster of all time. Born in Corleone, Sicily, Riina became boss of the Sicilian Mafia. During his criminal career, Riina personally murdered at least forty people and ordered hits on hundreds of others, including several anti-Mafia prosecutors. Long after his death in Parma Prison, just a day after his eighty-seventh birthday, Riina is considered the most dangerous mob boss ever.

One common characteristic of these infamous men is their ability to lead. Leveraging their larger-than-life personalities, they ply persuasion, intimidation, and elimination to rise to the top of their organizations. In the process, they rally a host of like-minded criminals to carve out a kingdom in their chosen areas of interest – money laundering, bookmaking, drugs, prostitution, and a host of other lucrative enterprises. 

These men are known mostly as incendiary leaders who seem as enthralled with the twisted means of their businesses as they are with the results. They lead fiercely loyal families in a dangerous world. And, in a certain way, they are flesh-and-blood images of a true underworld lord the Bible sometimes calls Beelzebul.

Beelzebul / Beelzebub 

The name Beelzebul (or Beelzeboul, Beelzebub) appears seven times in the Gospels (Matt. 10:25; 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 18, 19), as well as in the pseudepigraphal Testament of Solomon. The etymology of Beelzebul is uncertain, although it might be traced to the Philistine god Baal-zebub, who was worshiped in Ekron. We get an indication of this in the Book of 2 Kings, where King Ahaziah incurs God’s wrath after requesting an oracle from Baal-zebub:

After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel. Ahaziah had fallen through the latticed window of his upstairs room in Samaria and was injured. So he sent messengers, instructing them, “Go inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”

But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?  Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die.’” Then Elijah left.

The messengers returned to the king, who asked them, “Why have you come back?”

They replied, “A man came to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and declare to him, “This is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you’re sending these men to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore, you will not get up from your sickbed; you will certainly die”’” (2 Kings 1:1-6, emphasis added).

In the pseudepigraphal Testament of Solomon, God sends Michael the archangel to give Solomon a ring with power over demons. Armed with the ring, Solomon subdues Beelzebul and other demons. The story doesn’t end well for Solomon, however. He falls prey to beautiful women who lead him to sacrifice to Baal, Rapha, Moloch, and other gods, resulting in the departure of God’s Spirit from Solomon (vv. 5, 12-16, 128-130).

The name Baal-zebub, used in 2 Kings 1, means “lord of the flies” and may be a derisive renaming of the Canaanite deity Baal-zebul, or “Baal (lord) the Prince.” If that’s true, Baal the Prince is unceremoniously recast as lord of the flies. Even worse, as Leon Morris notes, “The Jews may have further corrupted this into … ‘lord of dung,’ which would be a way of further insulting the heathen deity.”

Theodore Lewis notes that the etymology of Beelzebul has proceeded in other directions, as well. For example, some scholars connect zebul with a noun meaning “abode” or “dwelling,” suggesting Beelzebul is master of the heavens and thus a chief rival to Yahweh. Perhaps this is why Jesus pointedly refers to himself as “the head of the house,” pitting himself against Beelzebul and his domain in Matthew 10:25. Yet another view connects the name Beelzebul with the Aramaic be el debaba, which means “enemy” or “adversary,” which might help explain the equation of Beelzebul with Satan.

Whichever view is correct, the New Testament clearly identifies Beelzebul as Satan, the prince of demons. Jesus and the religious leaders who oppose him use the name Beelzebul as a synonym for Satan in numerous places in the Gospels. Let’s survey these Scripture passages.

Matthew 10:25 

Jesus prepares his followers for persecution. He warns that he is sending the disciples out as sheep among wolves, so he urges them to be as shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. The Savior further predicts they will be handed over to local courts and flogged in the synagogues. Further, they are going to be brought before governors and kings for Messiah’s sake. Family members will betray one another, even giving them up to death. Everyone will hate the disciples because of Jesus’ name. 

So, how does Jesus instruct his disciples to respond? “When they persecute you in one town, flee to another,” he says. “For truly I tell you, you will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes” (Matt. 10:23). 

Then, Jesus teaches them: “A disciple is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master. It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more the members of his household” (Matt. 10:24-25)!

Clearly, Christ’s opponents slander his disciples and attribute their good works to an evil source. If the religious leaders call Jesus Beelzebul (prince of demons), and accuse him of performing miracles in the power of the evil one, then ungodly men and women will reject the gospel message and accuse Christ’s servants of demonically inspired mischief. As R. T. France observes, “The disciple who has the privilege of sharing Jesus’ work and representing him must also expect to share his unpopularity.”

As noted earlier, Jesus’ reference to himself as “the head of the house” may be a pointed contrast between himself, the true Lord, and Beelzebul, the falsely worshiped lord of heaven. 

Next: “If I drive out demons …” (Matt. 12:24, 27)