>>21568783>It is in this conjoined aspect that Hauron can be seen as a unification of the death-god Mot and the fertility god Ba'al in a single form. As such, he may be simultaneously considered as Ba'al Zebub, the underworld Lord of corpse-eating Flies, whose city's linguistic root רקע reflects Mot's "barrenness," and Ba'al Zeboul, the Lord of the High Mansion, whose nature is celestialZevul means "High House/Mansion" and was associated with feces like Peor/Pharaoh. This cult was linked to immortality, in a way. Worshipers saw that when a person died or food rotted, it attracted flies. So they thought that if they worshiped the Lord of the Flies, they would be protected, the Baal-Zebub would not send his flies. So, then, their food would be protected and their dead bodies too.
>Since flies were often regarded as responsible for plagues (e.g. Kohelet 10:1), ancient people had high regard for a “god” who could overcome the flies>Baal is accompanied by his “seven pages, eight boars” (5, V, 9). Tammuz is killed by 7 demons from the underworld. Resheph, “the burning one”, kills Adonis in the shape of a boar. The hunter is often followed by 7 helpers seen as boars. A text from Ugarit refers to the demons as “flies”, so the title “Lord of the Flies” (Baal Zebub) is “Lord of the swarm of flying demons”The very passage of the Bible, in 2 Kings 1:2, already implies why a person seeks to consult this god. Also, it is interesting to note his resemblance to an epithet of Zeus, known as Zeus Apomyius/Myiagros (Zeus Scares Flies). The Philistines were Minoans/Mycenaeans (Proto-Greeks), also knows as Pelasgians.
