{"id":63136,"date":"2019-09-18T17:43:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T14:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=63136"},"modified":"2023-04-11T16:15:29","modified_gmt":"2023-04-11T13:15:29","slug":"lord-of-the-flies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/lord-of-the-flies\/","title":{"rendered":"Lord Of The Flies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For many of us, Lord of the Flies is a book we have had to read in school. The famously horrifying 1954 novel by William Golding (his first!) tells the story of a group of boys who are stranded on an uninhabited, paradise-like island, and their descent into savagery.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the book, the Lord of the Flies is a pig\u2019s head, mounted on a sharpened stick, which is soon swarmed by flies. It\u2019s disgusting but it reveals the truth to one of them: the beast, whom they are trying to offer the pig\u2019s head to, is really not outside, but rather, inside them all. The boy who discovers this, rushes to tell the other boys, but ends up being mistaken for the beast; attacked and killed by them. Even though Lord of Flies tells the truth, it is a truth that can\u2019t be handled safely, and becomes part of the confusing, dangerous world they all live in.<\/span><\/p>\n

The book, which was originally entitled <\/span>Strangers From Within<\/span><\/em>, was initially rejected by a reader at <\/span>Faber and Faber<\/span> as “rubbish & dull. Pointless.” The title was considered “too abstract and too explicit”. Following a further review, the book was eventually published as <\/span>Lord of the Flies<\/span><\/em>. In Hebrew it\u2019s been translated as <\/span>Baal Zvuv<\/span><\/em>, and it\u2019s hard not to think of the Philistine god mentioned in the second verse of this chapter:<\/span><\/p>\n

Ahaziah\u2026 sent messengers, whom he instructed: \u201cGo inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this injury.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Baal literally means owner, master, and is the name of the Canaanite god, while zvuv<\/em> means fly. Malbim and Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch think that <\/span>there was a relationship between the Philistine god and cults of flies\u2014referring to seeing them as pests, feasting on excrement\u2014symbolizing the power to heal and destroy, affect life and death, as is also evident by our verse.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Others think, that its original name was actually Baal Zevul<\/em> (like Zevulun, son of Leah and Jacob) which could have meant \u201cLord of (heavenly) dwelling\u201d, and <\/span>zvuv<\/span><\/em> might have been a derogatory pun on it.One more possibility is that its name is associated with the fly\u2019s small size, based on the Babylonian Talmud (Shabbat 183b), where is says that \u201ceach and every person made for themselves an image and put it in their pocket; when they remembered it, they would pull it out and kiss it\u201d. Indeed, archeologists have found little statutes of flies near Ekron.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lord of the Flies appears in religious Christian literature from the New Testament and onwards throughout the centuries as Satan or the devil. It even made its way into Queen\u2019s \u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d: \u201c<\/span>Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go; <\/span>Beelzebub<\/span> has a devil put aside for me\u201d\u2026.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Ultimately, Ahaziah\u2019s efforts to be healed through this Lord of Flies, did not succeed. His reign lasts only this one chapter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image by Ben Schachter, courtesy of the artist.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":63138,"id":63138,"title":"2kings1-Schachter-LordofFlies","filename":"2kings1-Schachter-LordofFlies.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/2kings1-Schachter-LordofFlies.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/lord-of-the-flies\/2kings1-schachter-lordofflies\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2kings1-schachter-lordofflies","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":63136,"date":"2019-09-18 14:42:58","modified":"2019-09-18 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