William Golding Enjoys a Good Joke!

     Some of you may be familiar with the name William Golding. Some of you however, may be more aware of his best selling work entitled The Lord of the Flies.  Back in Old Testament times there was a famous group of gods called the Baals. These Baals were Canaanite gods, whose name literally translated into lord.There were also different Baals for different cities and  one particular town was called Zebul. The god of Zebul was naturally called Baal Zebul (alternatively spelled Bel Zebul) and the Hebrews who lived in the area began mocking him and calling him Bel Zebub, which means the Lord of the Flies.

    So it appears Mr. Golding had found himself enjoying a good Hebrew joke and voila!... the book title is born! Had Golding not known a little bit of Jewish history he may have come up with something much less catchy and perhaps we would have never heard of his book.

If you ever find yourself stranded on an island like in Lord of the Flies,  remember it could be worse.  Actually, no...that is pretty horrible!

-Jason

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