In demonology, Belphegor (or Beelphegor) is a demon who helps people to make discoveries. He seduces people by suggesting to them ingenious inventions that will make them rich. According to some 16th century demonologists, his power is stronger in April. Bishop and witch-hunter Peter Binsfeld believed that Belphegor tempts by means of laziness.^[2] Demonology is the systematic study of demons or beliefs about demons. ... St. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... This article is about a title or office in religious bodies. ... A witch-hunt is a search for suspected witches; it is a type of moral panic. ... Peter Binsfeld ( 1545 - 1598 or 1603) was a Suffragan Bishop of Trier and a witch hunter who wrote the treatise De confessionibus maleficorum et sagarum, The Confession of Warlocks and Witches, translated into several languages (Trier, 1589). ...

Belphegor originated as the Assyrian Baal-Peor, the Moabitish god to whom the Israelites became attached in Shittim (Numbers 25:3), which was associated with licentiousness and orgies. It was worshipped in the form of a phallus. The term Assyrian language can mean one of: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: a language spoken in Israel, Syria, and Mesopotamia from perhaps 700 BC until now. ... In the Tanach Baal Peor (Hebrew בעל פעור Ba‘al Pə‘ôr), in the Septuagint Beelphegôr, was a god associated with Mount Pe‘or in Moab whom many Israelites began to worship under the influence of Moabite women as told... Moab (Hebrew: מוֹאָב, Standard Tiberian  ; Greek Μωάβ ; Arabic مؤاب, Assyrian Muaba, Maba, Maab ; Egyptian Muab) is the historical name for a mountainous strip of land in modern-day Jordan running along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Shittah-tree is Hebrew for acacia. ... This article is about the symbol of the erect penis. ...

As a demon, he is described in Kabbalistic writings as the "disputer", an enemy of the sixth Sephiroth "beauty." When summoned, he can grant riches, the power of discovery and ingenious invention. His role as a demon was to sow discord among men and seduce them to evil through the apportionment of wealth. Kabbalah (Hebrew: ‎, Tiberian: , Qabbālāh, Israeli: Kabala) literally means receiving, in the sense of a received tradition, and is sometimes transliterated as Cabala, Kabbala, Qabalah, or other permutations. ... The tree of life. ...

Belphegor (Lord of the Opening) was pictured in two quite different fashions: as a beautiful naked woman and as a monstrous, bearded demon with an open mouth, horns, and sharply pointed nails. Belphegor also figures in Milton's Paradise Lost and in Victor Hugo's The Toilers of the Sea. For other persons named John Milton, see John Milton (disambiguation). ... Title page of the first edition (1667) Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. ... Victor-Marie Hugo (pronounced in French) (26 February 1802 — 22 May 1885) was a French poet, novelist, playwright, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights campaigner, and perhaps the most influential exponent of the Romantic movement in France. ... Toilers of the Sea is the English translation of Les Travailleurs de la mer, the title of a novel by Victor Hugo. ...

According to legend, Belphegor was sent from Hell by Lucifer to find out if there really was such a thing on earth as married happiness. Rumor of such had reached the demons but they knew that people were not designed to live in harmony. Belphegor's experiences in the world soon convinced him that the rumor was groundless. The story is found in various works of early modern literature, hence the use of the name to apply to a misanthrope or a licentious person. Lucifer, as depicted in Collin de Plancys Dictionnaire Infernal (1863). ... Misanthropy is a general dislike of the human race. ...

References

1. ^ Krista Baker. Deliriumsrealm.com. 
2. ^ Wendy Doniger (1999). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. ISBN 0877790442. 

External links

• Belphegor in comic form
• Belphegor as drawn by Matthew Ritchie