Belfegor is a lieutenant of hell, mentioned several times in the Bible, who had been sent to Earth on a mission from the devil. In doing so, he found a particular affinity for Paris, France. He is a shape-shifter, who delights in using this ability to deceive mortals.
His most common forms are polarized in his appearance. He will take the form of a beautiful woman, naked in all her glory, to seduce those who would fall for his tricks. He also appears as a terrible demon, with leathery flesh, large horns, long, sharp teeth and nails, and an open mouth.
Origin
Belfegor is one of many demons with the attribute “Baal,” in this case Baal-Peor. As such, before he was known as Belfegor, he is mentioned in the Bible as the patron of Moab in Assyria, and was one of the false gods whom Moses imposed the death penalty for worshipping.
As one of the fallen angels, he was originally a member of the order of principalities, and after his fall he became a demonic counterpart to one of the ten Sephirotes who oversee the Tree of Life.
History
As already mentioned, Belfegor was the patron of Moab, a kingdom known to have been located along the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, in what is now Jordan. He was a phallic deity associated with sex, orgies, and all forms of debauchery in general.
Belfegor, you are my idol.
During the Exodus, still as Baal Peor, some factions of the Israelites began to make sacrifices to him. The reason for this is because they began to have relations with the women of Moab, who seduced them to their local god. Regardless of the reason, these sacrifices angered Moses so much that he began condemning those who worshipped Belfegor to death. By the time the sacrifices to Belfegor were eliminated, 24,000 people had been killed. The only thing that is disputed in this is whether they were actually killed, or if Moses imposed a plague on them that caused their deaths.
He is the biblical enemy of the 6th Sephirote, the patron angel of beauty. As the demon patron of strife, perhaps his adversarial relationship exists because beauty should never be disputed, as it is in the eye of the beholder and some may find beauty in everything. If this demon were to become too influential in the world, then the beauty of it all would be tainted, causing ruin.
I am on a mission from… Satan
In his form as a demon and servant in hell, Belfegor was sent to Earth by Satan to discover whether conjugal love was real or a fallacy that could be exploited by his minions. Belfegor searched everywhere and reported back to Satan that he could find none on his travels.
What he found was France, and in particular, Paris. As a former deity of all debauchery, he apparently fell in love with the seedy side of the nation in general, and the city in particular. This is probably why, in addition to being an adversary of the 6th Sephiroth, he is considered an adversary of Mary Magdalene, who is a patron saint of France.
Current influence
Belfegor is summoned by people who wish to find fame and wealth through invention, often with as little effort as possible. These desires, like almost any demonic summoning, are doomed to failure, because his true mission is to lure the lazy into the sin of sloth. Through the failure of anything Belfegor provided to the invoker, he lures them into procrastination and idle dreaming instead of productivity, thus condemning them.
