It is not necessary to understand בְּבַעַל זְבוּב (bĕbaʿal zĕbûb) as referring to the name of place rather than the name of a god.
According to Gesenius,1 sometimes the verb דָּרַשׁ (dāraš) takes an object prefixed with the preposition ב. For example, in 1 Sam. 28:7, to indicate that Saul would enquire of the witch, it is written, וְאֶדְרְשָׁה בָּהּ (wĕʾedrĕšâ bāh)—“and I shall enquire of her.” Likewise, in 1 Chr. 10:14, it is written, וְלֹא דָרַשׁ בַּיהְוֶה (wĕlōʾ dāraš bayhweh)—“and he did not enquire of Yahveh.” Neither of these would be intelligible if understood as indicating places.
##References
References
Gesenius, Heinrich Friedrich Wilhelm. Gesenius’s Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures. Trans. Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux. London: Bagster, 1860.
##Footnotes
Footnotes
1 p. 209