Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 12:24
But when the Pharisees heard [it,] they said, This [fellow] doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
24 30. The Charge, “He casteth out devils by Beelzebub.” The Answer of Jesus
Mar 3:22-27; Luk 11:17.
24. Beelzebub ] See ch. Mat 10:25.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 24. Beelzebub] See Mt 10:25.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
We met with the same blasphemous calumny from the same persons, Mat 9:34. The Pharisees, not acknowledging the Deity of Christ, nor that he was the Messiah, were for their interest concerned not to acknowledge, and as much as in them lay to keep others from believing, that he did that from his own power which God alone could do. But yet they might have allowed him to have by a power derived from God done these miraculous things, as Elijah and Elisha of old did. But they blaspheme at the highest rate imaginable, ascribing that to the devil which was proper to God alone. Christs miracles were exceeding many, and it was a time when the Messiah was expected. The sceptre was departed from Judah, and, as it appears from Joh 7:31, (whatever the Jews now say impudently), they heard that when the Messiah did come he should work many miracles. These things put them into a rage. This remarkable piece of history is recorded by three evangelists: by Matthew in this place; by Mark, Mar 3:22-30; and by Luke, Luk 11:15-20.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
24. But when the Pharisees hearditMark (Mr 3:22) says,”the scribes which came down from Jerusalem”; so that thishad been a hostile party of the ecclesiastics, who had come all theway from Jerusalem to collect materials for a charge against Him.(See on Mt 12:14).
they said, This fellowanexpression of contempt.
doth not cast out devils, butby Beelzebubrather, “Beelzebul” (see on Mt10:25).
the prince of the devilsTwothings are here impliedfirst, that the bitterest enemies of ourLord were unable to deny the reality of His miracles; and next, thatthey believed in an organized infernal kingdom of evil, underone chief. This belief would be of small consequence, had not ourLord set His seal to it; but this He immediately does. Stung by theunsophisticated testimony of “all the people,” they had noway of holding out against His claims but by the desperate shift ofascribing His miracles to Satan.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But when the Pharisees heard it,…. Very probably not the same that went out, and held a council against Christ to destroy him,
Mt 12:14 but others that were come from Judea and Jerusalem, and were with him in the house, and saw the miracle: these, when they heard what the people said, and how ready they were to believe, and own Jesus to be the Messiah, in order to prevent it, being filled with envy and malice,
they said, this fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. They could not deny the miracle, or that it was one; but to deprive him of the glory of it, and even reproach him for it, and to bring him into contempt with the people, they not only speak of him in a scornful manner, , “this” sorry man, “this” vile fellow; but ascribe the miracle he wrought to familiarity with the devil, to diabolical influence and skill in magic art: they pretended he was in confederacy with Satan, and was carrying on his interest: and therefore, that he might gain credit and reputation, the prince of devils suffered the inferior ones to remove at his word: and of these their ancestors, the Jews have learnt to fix this vile imputation, and blasphemous piece of slander upon Christ; who, they say o, brought enchantments, or witchcrafts, out of Egypt, in the cuttings of his flesh, whereby he performed the things he did. Concerning Beelzebub, See Gill “Mt 10:25” here called “the prince of devils”; it being a prevailing notion among the Jews, that there is one devil who is the head of all the rest, and who is by them sometimes called Asmodeus: they say p, when Solomon sinned against the Lord, he sent to him
, “Asmodeus the king of the devils”, and drove him from his throne, and so elsewhere q: and sometimes Samael, who is styled r Samael the prince, , “the king of devils”; and the angel Samael, the wicked, , “the head of all the Satans”, or devils s: and we often read t of , “the prince of hell”; by whom the same is meant, as here, by Beelzebub; for if anyone devil is more wicked, odious, and execrable than the rest, the chief of them may be thought to be so; for which reason he is here mentioned.
o T. Hieros. Sabbat, fol. 13. 4. T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 104. 2. p Targum in Eccl. i. 12. q T. Bab. Pesach, fol. 110. 1. Gittin, fol. 68. 1. & Raziel, fol. 41. 2. r Zohar in Deut. fol. 120. 3. s Debarim Rabba, fol. 245. 3. t T. Bab. Sanhedrim, fol. 52. 1. Imre Binah in Zohar in Gen. fol. 22. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Pharisees ( ). Already (Mt 9:32-34) we have had in Matthew the charge that Jesus is in league with the prince of demons, though the incident may be later than this one. See on 10:25 about “Beelzebub.” The Pharisees feel that the excited condition of the crowds and the manifest disposition to believe that Jesus is the Messiah (the Son of David) demand strenuous action on their part. They cannot deny the fact of the miracles for the blind and dumb men both saw and spoke (12:22). So in desperation they suggest that Jesus works by the power of Beelzebub the prince of the demons.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “But when the Pharisees heard it, they said,” (hoi de Pharisaioi akousantes eipon) “Then the Pharisees, upon hearing what the people said,” those who came down from Jerusalem, responded with the following derogatory charges, to add their uncertainty and skepticism to the wonder of the masses, Mr 3:22,30.
2) “This follow doth not cast out devils,” (houtos ouk ekballei ta daimonia) “This man (Jesus) does not expel the demons;” With contemptuous expression they admitted he cast out demons. But their prejudice and murderous bigotry is evident in their false charge that follows, Mat 12:14.
3) “But by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.” (ei me em to Beelzeboul arahonti ton daimonion) “Unless it is by means, instrument, or agency of Beelzebub, who is the chief ruler of the demons,” or unless he is the Devil himself, Mat 10:25. Note First, that the enemies could not deny that His miracles were genuine, and Second, that they believed in the existence of an organized band of evil or fallen spirits called demons, perhaps fallen angels, Mat 9:34; Luk 11:15; Luk 11:20.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
24. But when the Pharisees heard it. The scribes cannot withhold the acknowledgment of a fact so open and manifest, and yet they maliciously carp (105) at what Christ did by Divine power. Not only do they obscure the praise of the miracle, but endeavor to turn it into a reproach, as if it were performed by magical enchantment; and that work, which could not be ascribed to a man, is alleged by them to have the devil for its author. Of the word Beelzebub I have spoken under the Tenth Chapter, (106) and of the prince of the devils I have said a little under the Ninth Chapter. (107) The opinion expressed by the scribes, that there is a prince among wicked spirits, did not arise from a mistake of the common people, or from supposition, but from a conviction entertained among the godly, that the reprobate have a head, in the same manner as Christ is the Head of the Church.
(105) “ Ils ne laissent pas toutesfois de ronger, comme par despit et d’un vouloir malicieux;” — “and yet they do not fail to carp as with spite, and with a wicked disposition.”
(106) Harmony, volume 1. p. 459.
(107) Harmony, volume 1: p. 419. The reader must have observed that, when our Author has explained a phrase or illustrated a fact, he seldom repeats what he had said, but refers to the earlier portions of his work, in which the information may be found. It is not improbable that this may have been his leading motive for adopting the plan of a Harmony, instead of writing a separate Commentary on each Gospel. He had made some observations on Mat 9:34, But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils by the prince of the devils; and takes for granted, that the terms which occur in that passage require no farther elucidation. But it would appear to have escaped his recollection that, on the occasion alluded to, he satisfied himself with general remarks on the “wicked slander” of the Pharisees, and took no notice of the phrase, prince of the devils. The deficiency is partly supplied by an explanation which he now makes. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(24) Beelzebub the prince of the devils.(See Notes on Mat. 9:34; Mat. 10:25.) The words appear to have been whispered by the Pharisees among the people. They were not addressed to Jesus. The charge is significant as showing that the Pharisees admitted the reality of the work of healing which they had witnessed, and were driven to explain it by assuming demoniacal agency.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. Pharisees heard it The miracle was reported doubtless to them for explanation. They felt that if his pure doctrines should prevail, their influence was at an end. The miracle they do not deny, but ascribe it to an infernal power.
Beelzebub the prince of the devils So great and numerous are the miracles that they cannot ascribe them to any one less than the prince. Beelzebub was worshipped at Ekron, (2Ki 1:1-2,) as the god of flies; that is, as the god who protected the inhabitants from the annoyance of gnats and flies. See note on Mat 10:25.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This one does not cast out demons, except by Beelzeboul, the prince of the demons.”
Note the contemptuous ‘this one’. In direct contrast to the crowds the Pharisees in effect said, ‘Is not this the son of Beelzeboul?’, but in their case they had no doubts. They were truly spiritually blind, and spiritually dumb. They had had to acknowledge that Jesus did cast out evil spirits. That could not be denied. Thus if He had taught the same things as them, there would have been no problem. They would undoubtedly have hailed it as a sign that God’s hand was with Him. However, when He opposed them on so much, they were put into a position where they had to find something bad to say about Him, and involvement with demons was a sure way to do that. It was always a safe bet in those superstitious days to accuse someone who disagreed with you, and could do things that you could not do, of ‘the black arts’. They thus claimed that it was on the authority of the prince of demons that He cast out evil spirits. But that was in fact inconsistent with their normal teaching, and they were denying the Kingly Rule of God as openly revealed (Mat 12:28), simply because of their own prejudice.
This clear disagreement between the crowds and the Pharisees may well be intended to draw out to his readers that here was a ‘divided kingdom’ of the kind Jesus would now speak about. It would therefore contain within itself the indication that Israel too was heading for destruction.
‘Beelzeboul.’ Compare Mat 10:25; Luk 11:15. Different manuscripts and versions present the full name differently It is given as ‘Beelzebub’ in the Syriac and Vulgate versions – probably as taken from the name of the oracular god in 2Ki 1:2-3, and as ‘Beelzeboul’ in most manuscripts. It is given as ‘Beezeboul’ in only a few manuscripts, but these include weighty ones (Aleph, B). The latter may, however, simply have dropped the ‘l’ because ‘lz’ was difficult to Greek speakers.
The correct name may well thus be Beelzeboul. ‘Zeboul’ may represent ‘zebel’ (dung) or ‘zebul’ (dwelling). Thus the name may mean ‘lord of the house (or dwelling)’ (see Mat 12:25 b which seems to confirm this). Or it may be ‘lord of dung’ as an insulting name for Satan. The former would explain the stress on ‘house’ in Jesus’ repudiation (Mat 12:25; Mat 12:28). The name Zbl is also found in a Ugaritic text, linked with baal, where it may be a proper name or mean ‘prince’, and thus ‘Prince Baal’ (but why is it then changed to ‘zeboul’?). Mat 12:25 b thus suggests that Beelzeboul is seen as master over a household of demons (compare its meaning as ‘Lord of the house’). The thought was horrific. Jesus being compared to the Prince of Demons, and His household therefore a household of demons (which is later seen as absurd when we learn that His household in fact consists of those who do the will of His Father – Mat 12:50). But it was clearly set policy for His opponents (Mat 9:34; Mat 10:25). They had to have some explanation for the wonders that they saw in front of their eyes and could not explain away. As the narrative goes on we learn that this is a synonym for Satan, as we would gather from him being the prince of the demons.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 12:24. This fellow doth not cast out, &c. The Pharisees affirmed, that Jesus performed his miracles, particularly on possessed persons, by the assistance of Beelzebub, for two reasons; first, Jesus had all along been at great pains to oppose those superstitions which most of the teachers and people of that age looked upon as the essentials of religion, and extolled as the principal branches of piety. Hence they considered him, who decried them, as a very flagitious person; and because it is supposed, Deu 13:1-3 that a false prophet might work signs and wonders, with an intention to turn men from the worship of God, they thought our Lord was a deceiver of that kind; affirming that he performedall his miracles by the assistance of evil spirits, and with a view to seduce the people from their obedience to God. Secondly, The demons, in addressing Jesus, honoured him with the title of Messiah. This, it is probable, his enemies said the devils would never have done, had he not been in compact with them. Hence we see the reason why our Lord, on several occasions, strictlycharged the devils not to make him known: he would not have their testimony, because he foresaw that a bad use would be made of it by men of evil minds. The truth is, that the account which the Pharisees gave of Christ’s miracles, and which they endeavoured to propagate, in order to prevent the effect which they might have had upon the people, though it was altogether false and malicious, and even absurd, in the sight of impartial judges; yet, placed in the light just now mentioned, had some shew of argument in it, at least to persons whose prejudices and interests were favoured by it. Accordingly, among other causes, it contributed not a little to the infidelity of the Jews, which, to any thinking mind, cannot but be matter of great wonder, considering what multitudes were witnesses of the many miracles which Jesus performed on the sick of all sorts; on the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the maimed, and the lame; on paralytics, lunatics, demoniacs, and other miserable objects; nay, and on dead persons, whom he raised again to life; on the winds, and on the seas; in a word, on every part of nature. See the note on ch. Mat 10:25. It may be proper to observe once for all, that the word fellow is not in the Greek, but inserted by our translators. In the original it is , he, or this man; the term is certainly used contemptuously
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
“But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. (25) And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: (26) And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? (27) And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. (28) But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. (29) Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. (30) He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”
I pray the Reader to observe in these verses, several weighty things. First: the testimony here given to Christ’s Godhead. Jesus knew their thoughts. A thing impossible had he not been God. All the Churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts. Rev 2:23 . Secondly.–Observe the several persons of the Godhead mentioned in the casting out of devils. Jesus saith, if I by the Spirit of God cast them out. I; that is, God the Son, The Spirit; that is, God the Holy Ghost. And God; that is, God the Father. Thirdly.–When Jesus, in answer to the blasphemy of the Pharisees, who ascribed his work of casting out devils to the power of Beelzebub, saith, by whom do your children cast them out? he did not admit the thing, as if any, in reality, had cast out devils among them, for it was impossible: but the Lord took occasion to reprove them on their own principles. Magic was an old practice, Exo 7:11 ; Num 24:1 . And even after Christ’s return to glory, we read of exorcists. Act 19:18-19 . But the dispossessing devils, was the prerogative of Jesus only. 1Jn 3:8 .
But when the Reader hath paid all due notice to these things, I would beg his attention yet a little further, to what the Lord Jesus hath here said, of the kingdom of Satan. It is a point rightly to apprehend, of great importance, in the doctrines of the Gospel; and no child of God should be ignorant of it.
That Satan hath set up, and maintained an empire of sin, in the every heart of man, is a truth too certain to be questioned, and the awful effects of it, too well known to be denied. Holy Scripture, gives many sad relations of it. In fact, it was the setting up this kingdom against God and his Christ, for which the devil and his angels are said to have been cast out of heaven, and to have left their own habitation. Rev 12:7-12 ; Jud 1:25 . At his expulsion from heaven, he seduced our first parents, and in them involved the whole of their posterity in the fall. And from that hour to the present, it is he which worketh in the children of disobedience. Hence the several names by which he is known: the Great Dragon; that old Serpent, the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; the strong man armed; the Prince of the power of the air; the God of this world; and whose vassals are led captive by him at his will. Rev 12:7 , etc. Eph 2:2 ; 2Co 4:4 ; 2Ti 2:26 .
Now the whole purpose and design of the Gospel is directed to overthrow this kingdom of Satan, and to introduce and restore perfect order, among all the works of God. Hence it is said, that for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. 1Jn 3:8 . And hence we find the Lord Jesus entering upon this service, immediately on his entrance into his ministry. First, by his own personal conquest over him on the cross. Heb 2:14-15 ; Col 2:15 . Secondly, at the conversion of his members; when, as in the scripture, the stronger than the strong man armed, even Christ’s, cometh upon him, destroyeth all his armor, and divideth the spoils. In every single instance of the saving conversion of a soul to God, this may be said to have been wrought, when that soul is translated from the kingdom of darkness, into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Joh 16:7-11Joh 16:7-11 ; 1Jn 4:41Jn 4:4 . And a complete victory is promised to the Church in the end. 1Co 10:13 ; Rom 16:22 . Thirdly, there is a promise also of another triumph of Jesus, when a more signal display of victory will be shewn, in the Lord Jesus setting up a kingdom in the earth, before the day of judgment, and when Satan’s power will be shut up and restrained. Rev 20:1-7 . And, finally, at the universal judgment, the total and everlasting destruction of Satan’s kingdom will take place. See Rev 20:10 , etc. Such are the views scripture holds forth of these momentous truths!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 50
Prayer
Almighty God, thou hast set us here a little while, and thou hast required great things at our hands. Is not thy demand upon us a proof of the divinity that is within us, and of the great capacity with which thou hast endowed and blessed our life? Surely thou wouldst not gather grapes of thorns: thou hast planted us a goodly vine, and thou dost look that we should bring forth good grapes. Teach us to find in ourselves what thou wouldst find in us; thus may we answer the divine demand, and with all diligence and faithfulness of industry do those things to which thou hast called us, and act with a loyal spirit in all the engagements and endurances of time. We bless thee that now and again we obtain some glimpses of our true selves, and we trace our ancestry back to thine own hand, thou Mighty One, for there is in us a stirring of divinity, and there is within us a yearning which all thy heavens fail to satisfy and which thyself alone canst bless with sweet content. Enable us at all times to realise our sonship, to claim our inheritance, to walk worthy of our origin and of our destiny. These things we know through Jesus Christ our Saviour: he only hath brought life and immortality to light in the gospel: he called us with a great calling and clothed us with a great power he is our Priest, and he. will make our prayer prevail; he is our Redeemer, so we will draw our right hand from our own protection; he is our atonement and our sacrifice, so will we hide our sin in his infinite grace.
We bless thee for all the kindness which has made the week rich: thou hast kept our eyes from tears, our feet from falling, and our soul from death. Thou hast watched the return of our hunger, and thou hast anticipated with satisfaction the pain of its demand. Thou hast made our bed in our affliction. Thou hast comforted us with all healing solaces. Thou hast touched our tears, and they have been filled with light, and in all things thou hast been unto us sweeter than honey, yea, sweeter than the honeycomb. So have we come to thine house with a multitude of hymns and many psalms and desires after thee, keen as the passion of love and resolved as the determination of the whole heart. Thou wilt not disappoint us; thou hast no rude answer to those who pray to thee from the shadow of the Cross; thine answers are plentiful in love, and gracious and condescending and all pitiful, and in the look of thine eye is there hope for mankind, as in every tone of thy voice there is a gospel for the trusting and penitent heart. What shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards us? We have nothing of our own to give; the flowers of the field were thine before they were ours; we are not our own, we ourselves are bought with a price, so we have nothing to give thee, on thine altar we can lay no sacrifice that is primarily our own what then shall we render to the Lord for all his benefits towards us? We can only take of the offered cup, and find in it salvation; standing with it in our hand before thee we must call upon the name of the Lord.
We bless thee for the revelation of thyself which we find in Jesus Christ; though we cannot understand one word of it, yet it is music without words, it is tenderness without expression that we can comprehend. Thou dost tell us in thy Book that God is love, but what love is thou dost not tell us. Behold the explanation is a mystery, and the answer a difficulty. God is light, but we know not what light is, so how can we tell what God is? Behold, to these words there is no explanation, they are not equal words, we are lost in them, and yet we feel borne up by them as by subtle and infinite strength.
Enable us to read thy word again and again in the light of every day, that at last we may come to have somewhat of the music breathing in our souls, and giving us the order and command of life. Wondrous word, never to be explained, always to be as a sun that may not be looked at too closely, and yet always as a sun giving the light in which alone we can safely walk.
Give unto us all we need, we humbly pray thee, especially that pureness of heart, that modesty of mind which can see God and follow him in all the darkness of his way. Strip us of everything that intercepts our view of thy providence, blind us to every fascination but the attraction of thine own wisdom, love, purity, and grace; give us full satisfaction of the presence of Christ in the soul without explanation, an eternal mystery, yet an eternal joy. Thou hast set us in a circle of mysteries: we are mysteries to ourselves, the light is a mystery, and every season of the year, and every outgoing of the heart, the throb of every impulse and the passion of every desire to these we have no answers, we are smitten with daily amazement, and our amazement brings us into the spirit and posture of prayer. Gladden us for a little while, for the clouds are often thick; help us up the hill, for it is steep beyond the power of our climbing; give us answers to some of the riddles that vex our daily inquiry, lest we be discouraged and fall a prey to impious dejection. Give us lifting up in the day of trouble; when life is narrowed into a point or becomes but one great cloud, then speak to us as we fear to enter into the darkness, and let a voice from heaven call us to hope and confidence and joy. Bless the stranger within our gates today, and give him to feel that he is in his Father’s house and therefore is no stranger here. Speak to the desolate heart and bring back some memory that shall be precious as a light of hope. Take up every little child in thine arms, thou lover of children, bless each with the kiss of thine affection and the seal of thy care, and return each to the father and the mother, anointed with the unction from on high.
Speak to our sick ones and they shall be sick no more: though the body itself have written upon it the condemnation of death, there shall be resurrection in the soul and life immortal in the heart. Speak to the wayward one, the hard-hearted, those who are set against thee in cruel obstinacy, breathe thy gospel upon such. O, thou who hast the all-melting fire, do thou bring to tears and to contrition those who have hardened themselves against thee.
Pity our infirmity, and call it a cloud: pity our sin and call it a thick cloud, and cast our sin behind thee as a cloud and our transgression as a thick cloud, thou God of the Cross, of the atoning blood, of the uplifted Lamb, of the eternal, the infinite Sacrifice. Amen.
Mat 12:14-37
Mighty Words and Mighty Judgments
“Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him,” because he had broken the Sabbath day. The penalty would seem too much, but it is the way with passionate men that they should overleap themselves, and show by the severity of their penalties some sign of the errors of their own supposed piety. You will generally find that a man’s condemnation of other people is meant to be a recommendation of himself. Study this law of social penalties, and you will be amazed, I think, to find how constantly it operates in this direction. A man severely condemns this or that offence on the part of his fellow-creatures. Is it a really honest judgment upon the offence or the sin? Is it not oftentimes a backhanded compliment to himself, as who should say, “What a virtuous man I am: how my indignation burns like an oven against such offences. Trust me, I am judge and purist and honourable man?”
The Pharisees sought to destroy Christ because he had broken the Sabbath day. This was the exaggeration of piety a piety that, by its own exaggeration, broke itself, and became impiety, so that extremes met. But what could you expect from men who actually wrote in plain letters this doctrine, that to eat with unwashen hands was more criminal than homicide? That to eat with unwashen hands, let me explain to the children, was worse than to kill a man. It is thus that good doing falls into Pharisaical impiety when it is left without a divine and living centre; this is what we come to in the absence of a legitimate and adequate authority: our morality becomes offensive; we rearrange it: we put it in new lights, and place it at new angles, and we make experiments of it, and we run it through all the gamut of our own imagination, until at last it becomes the wildest farce, the most consummate and intolerable nuisance. We want a standard authority, a court of appeal, a law that says, “Thou shalt and thou shalt not,” and a spirit which interprets that law with all the breadth of poetry, and yet with all the clearness and narrowness of the highest rectitude. This law and this spirit we find in him only who is the Son of man.
“But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence.” This was the true courage; it was no use opposing physical force to physical force. The man whose life is founded upon a great plan does not live by mere surprises, nor does he trust to what is called the fool’s Bible, namely, the chapter of accidents. He removes the occasion; he will not even lead his enemies into temptation; he can always get out of the way. No man could hide himself so impenetrably as Jesus Christ, no man could look so dumb. He looked at Herod until Herod was glad to call in a score of servants to keep him company. No man could be so silent as Christ, could withdraw himself to such infinite distances as Christ, even whilst he stayed and looked at you. He frightened Pilate like a ghost leering out of the darkness.
This was part of the wisdom of Christ, that he should not bring his enemies into temptation to kill him. He kept back force by that subtlest and mightiest of all forces, true prudence. Force, thou fool, is not in thy fist; that is the meanest of weapons; it is in wisdom, compassion, abstention from violence, in the negativeness that simply withdraws and calmly awaits.
Yet Jesus Christ could not withdraw alone under such circumstances. “Great multitudes followed him.” The multitudinous heart knew Christ, the sectarian heart hated him. Which is yours which is mine the heart that would slay him because of his violation of a rule, or the heart that would trust him because of the pain of a great necessity?
“But Jesus Christ was so distressed with his official reception, or reception by the official mind, that he paid no heed to the multitudes, fell into a great gloom his lips were shut up in stubborn silence, and his hand, that had never been put out but to bless, fell in paralysis at his side.” The story might well have read so, but it reads wholly different. “He healed them all.” But there was a council whispering away yonder in the city, and the meaning of the whisper was the death of this healing Man. He nevertheless kept on with his healing. Let that be your policy and mine; if men hate us, let us heal all who come lovingly within our influence. Beware of the evil influences of mere disgust. Never be disgusted. Look at the work, and not at the difficulties of the way; look at the Master, and not at the provocations given you by many of his servants have the end in view. Jesus Christ endured the cross, despising the shame, looking onward to the glory that was to come. This is the secret of steady, continuous, and divine work. Little natures fly off on little excuses. Little natures gather up all the provocations that have been launched against them until they become one great agony which the mind can no longer bear. Jesus Christ kept on healing the multitudes, though councils gathered against him, and officers of the Church made it their one business to shed his blood. Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be the fellow of God, but emptied himself and became a servant and obedient obedient unto the death of the cross.
“And charged them that they should not make him known,” that a great prophecy might be fulfilled. Jesus Christ did not want to be made known through his miracles only; it was a poor thing to be known as the chief of magicians, which he might have been mistaken for by those who had not the true reading of the signs and wonders which he came to perform. He knew that they would take the narrow view, they would read the lines upon the surface, they would not hear the inner music nor see the inner light, nor feel the inner pathos; they would talk about miracles and wonders and startling signs, and thus would feed their curiosity, and pay no attention to the deeper hunger of the heart.
Jesus Christ never made much of his miracles, except in an introductory and illuminative sense. He never wished to be known through his miracles. You cannot point to an instance in which he said, “This miracle is enough to astound the world and bring it to a spiritual conviction regarding my Messiahship.” If ever he referred to them it was to satisfy vulgar curiosity, and not to satisfy a deep spiritual instinct. Now and again he had to point to his miracles, but it cost him something to stoop to such condescension as to indicate the mere issues of his power. His friends were always tempting him in this direction. They took the low, vulgar, and narrow view, which we are all inclined to take of great souls. We wonder how they do not do more; we could show them how to come more boldly out, and to take the age so as to incite in it a profounder amazement and a keener surprise. We know what to do, though these great souls know it not themselves. So Jesus Christ’s friends came round about him once and said, “If thou do these things show thyself to the world.” That is the vulgar Christianity of this day, not seeing its spiritual aspect, not feeling its tender unction, not knowing the meaning of the compulsion of pure love. Tell me if the world or the Church has got one inch beyond this programme of the friends and relatives of Jesus Christ, namely, “If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. Make a show of the miracles, publish a list of them, take the greatest place that is at liberty, and repeat these miracles night by night to thronging multitudes. Take thy position at the front.” That is the programme which makes a splutter at the first, but that dies like a spark in the river. There is no solidity in it, nothing lasting. The true programme is Be true, love the truth, move in God, be silent because of the very majesty of thy faith. Less faith would mean noise and crying and great demonstration; completeness means quietness.
Herein are so many mistakes that are made about men and things. I have observed as men grow in education and in wisdom, and in all moral and spiritual refinement, they grow in composure. The last result of education is peace, quietness, rest. The vulgar man looks at the man of deep thought and great learning, and says, “Not very happy looking, is he? His eyes were nearly shut, his mouth was firmly set, and he seemed to be looking at nothing.” The man was beyond the appearance of looking, he was absorbing everything all the while, and, as he added feeling to feeling and line to line in the upper progress of his soul, he lost the fuss, the noise, the love of demonstration which belonged to the earlier period of progress than the one which he had attained. Jesus would influence the world on permanent lines and from permanent centres; he was not an acrobat that would fling himself into fantastic attitudes in the air to cause a moment’s laugh or shout, and then die away he takes the ages to grow in, he takes all time for his summer and his harvest, and he reveals himself not to our surprise or curiosity or haste, but to the ages, in all the vastness of their compass and all the profoundness of their solemnity.
By a very beautiful figure is the peacefulness of his disposition indicated. “A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.” What is this bruised reed? Is it as a bulrush, crushed by some great beast as he moves towards the river! Jesus Christ takes it up and rejoints it, or spares it, or makes nature pitiful to it with extra nursing and love for nature is a great mother, healing every scar and hiding every wound and working a great wizardry of concealment around all the great gashes and bruises of the world. Or is the reed the musical instrument of the primitive kind, on which the shepherd played upon the hills and in the valleys, and had it got out of order so that the tune would no longer come out of it? Jesus Christ says, “Give it to me, and I will repair it, and that bruised reed shall be as musical as ever.” He did not come to destroy but to save, and the exquisiteness and the perfectness of his saving purpose are indicated in this analogy, that even the bruised reed, not worthy the saving, is one of the fragments that he will gather up that nothing be lost.
“The smoking flax he will not quench.” Is it some poor man’s one candle just going out, an inch of wick and no more, and will he take it and shield it, or wave it gently in the air so as to renew its life? Is it the one mean spark on which everything depends, and will he put his arms all round about it like a great defence, or will he breathe upon it so as to save its flickering flame till it burst out and seize the entire substance and consummate the purpose for which it was lighted? Take it in any way, it means this that the Son of man is not come to destroy but to save. He is mighty to save: he came into the world to save sinners. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save. This being the purpose of his life, the whole meaning of his incarnation, you will find that everything falls into its proper place in relation to the sovereignty of this aim. Do not read the life of Jesus Christ as if it were a series of unrelated anecdotes; find the central purpose of it, and see how everything sets itself in happy crystallisation around that purpose, and helps to explain and commend it.
Having been engaged with great multitudes and healing them all, the Saviour is next engaged with an individual instance. “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb.” Sometimes the one case is the multitudinous instance, sometimes you find in one case the adding up of a host of cases. Devil, blind, dumb, pronounced incurable, written down amongst the hopeless it seemed to be a single instance. In reality it was a multitude of cases all in one. Every one of us is a multitude in this sense. Life is not all in little drops of ink or blood, which can be indicated by brief names and summed up in an etcetera. In my heart, in your heart is there a legion of devils, and yet the plural and the singular come together in most suggestive conjunction in the delivery of that fact. “What is thy name?” said Christ. The answer was, “My name is legion.” Not our name is legion my. “I am many in one, I am one in many. I am not broken up into a multitude of incoherences, but I am one.” Study human history and get from it what hints you can of the diabolic administration, and they will all help you to understand that the crowning characteristic of the diabolic monarchy is persistent and indestructible unity. You never find Satan divided against himself.
Now the Pharisees come again upon him. They heard of this instance, and they said, “This fellow doth not cast out devils but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.” They have been unable to kill him, but it is still within the compass of their malignity to traduce him. Once your Saviour was called “This fellow,” once a reed was taken and with it he was smitten on the head, once that face was spat upon, once that unwrinkled cheek was smitten, and the work was never given up for a moment. He endured the cross, despising the shame, because of the glory that was set before him. Poor hasteful man, thou dost want to be a king all at once, not knowing that any kingdom that is worth having is entered by a strait gate and approached by a narrow path. Enter ye in at the strait gate, for strait is the gate and narrow is the road that leadeth unto life.
This instance, however, gives us a new view of the ministry of Jesus. He seldom condescended merely to argue with his opponents, he simply pursued his work and allowed his work to be his witness. In this case, however, he turns round upon those who traduce him and answers them argumentatively. Let us be present when he answers his enemies there is always a treat in store then. There was no such replicant as Christ: his answers admitted of no retort; no man, according to this history, ever ventured to reply to his answers. Collect the answers of Christ to his enemies, and tell me if anything can exceed the polish of their wit or the pathos of their feeling. Here is a case in point. Having read the thoughts of the Pharisees and understood the case, he answered them logically. “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. But if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself how then shall his kingdom stand?” As if he had said, “See the absurdity of your position from a merely logical point of view. If Satan were to cast out Satan, his kingdom would be overthrown by his own hand, and if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children, or your countrymen, cast them out? You are making a fool of the very devil you seek to credit with this mystery of wonder.”
Thus he reduces to absurdity the thought or suggestion of the Pharisees. The devil is one, and he works with all the strength of unity. Do you know what the supreme prayer of the Turk is? You may be surprised to hear it, but it is a wise prayer from the Turk’s altar. He prays to his God that the discords of the Christians may never be settled. Wise Turk, cunning Turk, he prays that we as Christians may never settle our controversies, for whilst we are fighting he is safe. It is the devil’s prayer, if ever he turn his eyes of smoke and flame to the blue heavens, that the Churches may never settle their grievances, and never bring to a happy harmonious reconciliation the differences which trouble and vex them. He lives upon our discordances; there is joy in the presence of the angels of hell over every fight that divides and enfeebles the Church, Having answered his assailants logically, he proceeds to answer them judicially. Standing and looking at them as a scourging fire, he says, “Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” So then Christianity is more than an argument; an argument it certainly is, having command of all the forces of logic and wit, swift repartee and complete reply; but Christianity is not a battle of words, it is a judgment upon the spirit, it is an anathema or it is a benediction, it is the savour of life unto life or the savour of death unto death. When you touch this Christianity, you touch something more than a mere competitor for your intellectual appreciation and your intellectual confidence: it is as a stone which, if a man fall upon, he shall be broken to pieces happy breaking or if it fall upon the man it will grind him to powder, and there are no hands with skill and strength enough to re-constitute that powder into the solid stone.
Beware of this unpardonable sin: not one of us has yet committed it: it lies within the power of the meanest of us now to do it. Take care how you lie unto the Holy Ghost or deny his ministry or insult his beneficent majesty; take care how you cut yourself off from the currents of life. If a tree could seize itself and drag every fibre of its root out of the earth, what would become of the tree? All nature would fight against it and kill it, its juices would be sucked out, its veins would be dried up with an everlasting desiccation, and never more would the birds of the air tenant themselves in its leafy boughs; it has cut itself out of the grooves along which nature sends her life-currents.
Take care how you uproot yourself and seek isolation; take care how you say you will not have the light, and you will not have the dew, and you will not be dependent upon the earth. If a man could so cut himself out of the ministry of nature, what would become of him? Rottenness and putridity would be his lot, and because of his very noisomeness men would hide them away. It is even so spiritually. A man can put the knife through every filament that binds him to the universe, he can cut down his veneration, his imagination, his impulses towards the morning, and all its blue and tender light, he can snatch himself away from the altar and never pray another prayer, he can thrust his face into his chest and look downward to the dust to find what he can in the mean stones beneath his feet, he can separate himself from all social charities and all happy fellowships, he can rebuke the child that would kiss him and run away from all the influences that would redeem him, and having done so, what has become of him? He is twice dead, plucked up by the roots, he is a cloud without water, he has offended the spirit of the universe, he has sought to live alone, and that is the impossibility of human life.
Hear the gospel then this day, men of business, men of toil, women, children, whole families, masters, servants here is a man who heals on the Sabbath day, and today is the Sabbath: here are those who object to him and still he proceeds with his gracious work: here are those who carry their objection to black blasphemy, and they are told that one step further and they go into a new gravitation and never can arise again.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
24 But when the Pharisees heard it , they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
Ver. 24. This fellow doth not cast out devils, &c. ] The devil that was cast out of the demoniac’s body seems to have gotten into these men’s hearts. But he was not his master crafts: for what a senseless slander hear we? He should have acted it a little better, to have been believed. Tenue mendacium pellucet, saith Tacitus. This was such a lie as might be easily looked through. But envy never regards how true, but how mischievous. Witness the Popish Pharisees, who tell the poor misled and muzzled people in their sermons that the Protestants are blasphemers of God and all his saints; that the English are grown barbarous, and eat young children; that ever since the pope excommunicated us we are as black as devils; that the gunpowder treason was plotted, and should have been acted, by the Puritans; that the fall of Blackfriars in London likewise was wrought by the Puritans, who had loosened the rafters, &c. a That these are the opinions we hold and teach: 1. To worship no God. 2. To frame our religion to the times. 3. To account gain godliness. 4. To pretend public liberty to our private lusts. 5. To break our oaths, when it makes for our advantage. 6. To cover hatred with flattery. 7. To confirm tyranny with bloodshed, &c. These and the like, that Cacodaemon Joannes, the black mouthed Jesuit, tells the world in print are our tenets and practices. Now “the Lord rebuke thee, Satan.” But what reward shall be given to thee, thou false tongue? Even sharp arrows, with hot burning coals; yea, those very coals of hell from whence thou wert enkindled.
a Ex dissolutis per Puritanos continationibus, &c. D. Prid. Lect.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
24. . . ] St. Mark states ( Mar 3:22 ) that this accusation was brought by the . Luke ( Luk 11:15 ), by , i.e. . On the charge itself, Trench remarks, ‘A rigid monotheistic religion like the Jewish, left but one way of escape from the authority of miracles, which once were acknowledged to be indeed such, and not mere collusions and sleights of hand. There remained nothing to say but that which we find in the N.T. the adversaries of our Lord continually did say, namely, that these works were works of hell.’
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 12:24 . . They of course have a very different opinion. In Mark these were men come down from Jerusalem, to watch, not to lay hold of Jesus, Galilee not being under the direct jurisdiction of the Sanhedrim then ( vide on Mark). , etc.: theory enunciated for second time, unless Mat 9:34 be an anticipation by the evangelist, or a spurious reading. What diversity of opinion! Christ’s friends, according to Mark, thought Him “beside himself” mad, Messiah, in league with Beelzebub! Herod had yet another theory: the marvellous healer was John redivivus , and endowed with the powers of the other world. All this implies that the healing ministry was a great fact. : the negative way of putting it stronger than the positive. The Pharisees had to add . They would gladly have said: “He does not cast out devils at all”. But the fact was undeniable; therefore they had to invent a theory to neutralise its significance. , without article, might mean, as prince , therefore able to communicate such power. So Meyer, Weiss, et al. But the article may be omitted after as after , or on account of the following genitive. So Schanz. Whether the Pharisees believed this theory may be doubted. It was enough that it was plausible. To reason with such men is vain. Yet Jesus did reason for the benefit of disciples.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Pharisees. See App-120.
This fellow = this [man]. Not emphatic.
devils = demons.
but = except.
by = in [the power of]. Greek. en.
Beelzebub. See note on Mat 10:25.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
24. . .] St. Mark states (Mar 3:22) that this accusation was brought by the . Luke (Luk 11:15), by , i.e. . On the charge itself, Trench remarks, A rigid monotheistic religion like the Jewish, left but one way of escape from the authority of miracles, which once were acknowledged to be indeed such, and not mere collusions and sleights of hand. There remained nothing to say but that which we find in the N.T. the adversaries of our Lord continually did say, namely, that these works were works of hell.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 12:24. , when they heard) sc. what the people said.-, this) man. A contemptuous mode of expression.[569] [E. V. This fellow].- , except) A vehement affirmation.- , by Beelzebub the prince of the devils) They call Satan thus. In the Old Testament this was the name of an idol. Cf. 1Co 10:20.
[569] Of what great moment a very few words may be.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Slander from Evil Hearts
Mat 12:24-37
Spite and hatred absolutely blind the eyes and distort the judgment. They reached their climax in this effort of the Pharisees to discredit Christ. They could not deny His miracles, so they imputed them to a collusion between Him and Satan. On the face of it, this charge was absurd. But our Lord showed clearly that in making the allegation, His enemies were violating their spiritual sense and deliberately blinding their eyes and dulling their ears to Gods Spirit. This is the sin that hath never forgiveness, because the soul that acts thus ceases to wish for or seek it.
What a glimpse is given of our Saviors sore temptations and glorious victory in Mat 12:29! He had already bound the strong man, and for this reason was able to spoil his house and deliver his captives. Let Jesus into your heart, and no foe, though he may batter the door, shall break in to destroy!
The one test that Jesus proposes is fruit. The nature of a man or doctrine or movement can be rightly estimated only when the results have had time to develop. How splendidly Christianity has stood this test!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
devils
demons. (See Scofield “Mat 7:22”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
when: Mat 9:34, Mar 3:22, Luk 11:15
Beelzebub: Gr. Beelzebul, and so, Mat 12:27
Reciprocal: 2Ki 1:2 – Baalzebub 2Ch 18:26 – this fellow Psa 22:6 – a reproach Psa 31:18 – speak Psa 35:20 – quiet Psa 89:51 – footsteps Psa 94:4 – shall Psa 109:20 – them Mat 3:7 – the Pharisees Mat 5:22 – Whosoever Mat 10:25 – If Mat 12:45 – seven Mat 26:61 – This Luk 2:35 – that Luk 11:20 – the kingdom Joh 7:20 – Thou Joh 7:32 – Pharisees heard Joh 8:48 – thou Joh 9:29 – as for Heb 12:3 – contradiction Jam 2:7 – blaspheme Jam 3:6 – a world
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
OPPONENTS OF RELIGION
This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
Mat 12:24
There are many difficulties associated with the interpretation of this chapter, yet not a few lessons stand out clearly.
I. Opponents of religion.There is nothing too blasphemous for hardened and prejudiced men to say against religion. Our Lord casts out a devil; and at once the Pharisees declare that He does it by the prince of the devils. This was an absurd charge. Our Lord shows that it was unreasonable to suppose that the devil would help to pull down his own kingdom, and Satan cast out Satan. But there is nothing too absurd and unreasonable for men to say when they are thoroughly set against religion. The Pharisees are not the only people who have lost sight of logic, good sense, and temper, when they have attacked the Gospel of Christ.
II. The servant not above his master.Strange as this charge may sound, it is one that has often been made against the servants of God. Their enemies have been obliged to confess that they are doing a work, and producing an effect on the world. The results of Christian labour stare them in the face: they cannot deny them. What then shall they say? They say the very thing that the Pharisees said of our Lord, It is the devil. Such things will be said as long as the world stands. We must never be surprised to hear of dreadful charges being made against the best of men without cause. If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household? It is an old device.
III. A plea for patience.When the Christians arguments cannot be answered, and the Christians works cannot be denied, the last resource of the wicked is to try to blacken the Christians character. If this be our lot, let us bear it patiently: having Christ and a good conscience, we may be content; false charges will not keep us out of heaven. Our character will be cleared at the last day.
Bishop J. C. Ryle.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2:24
The Pharisees could not deny the fact of the casting out of the devil, for the people were there and saw the evidence of it. They thought of robbing Jesus of his proper credit by reflecting against the power by which he did it. It was known that Beelzebub (Satan) had displayed supernatural power, hence it seemed convenient to reason that he could be working through Jesus, little realizing how their inconsistency would soon be exposed and turned against them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
But when the Pharisees heard it; they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.
[By Beelzebub; the prince of the devils.] For the searching out the sense of this horrid blasphemy, these things are worthy observing:
I. Among the Jews it was held, in a manner, for a matter of religion, to reproach idols, and to give them odious names.
“R. Akibah saith, Idolatry pollutes, as a menstruous woman pollutes: as it is said, ‘Thou shalt cast away the [idol] as something that is menstruous, and thou shalt say to it, Get thee hence’ (Isa 30:22). R. Lazar saith, Thou shalt say to it, Get thee hence: that which they call the face of God; let them call the face of a dog; that which they call the fountain of a cup; let them call the fountain of toil [or of flails]: that which they call fortune; let them call a stink; etc. That town which sometimes was called Beth-el; was afterward called Beth-aven.” See also the tract Schabbath; where these same words are.
All jeering is forbidden, except the jeering of idolatry. This also is repeated in the tract Megillah; where this is added, “It is lawful for a Jew to say to a Cuthite, Take your idol, and put it under your buttocks.”
II. Among the ignominious names bestowed upon idols, the general and common one was Zebul, dung; or a dunghill. “Even to them who have stretched out their hands in a dunghill [that is, in an idol-temple, or in idolatry], there is hope. Thou canst not bring them [into the church], because they have stretched forth their hands in a dunghill; but yet you cannot reject them, because they have repented.” And a little after, “He that sees them ‘dunging’ [that is, ‘sacrificing’] to an idol, let him say, Cursed be he that sacrifices to a strange god.”
Let them therefore, who dare, form this word in Matthew into Beelzebub. I am so far from doubting that the Pharisees pronounced the word Beelzebul; and that Matthew so wrote it, that I doubt not but the sense fails if it be writ otherwise.
III. Very many names of evil spirits or devils occur in the Talmudists, which it is needless here to mention. Among all the devils, they esteemed that devil the worst, the foulest, and, as it were, the prince of the rest, who ruled over the idols, and by whom oracles and miracles were given forth among the heathens and idolaters. And they were of this opinion for this reason, because they held idolatry above all other things chiefly wicked and abominable, and to be the prince and head of evil. This demon they called Baal-zebul; not so much by a proper name, as by one more general and common; as much as to say, the lord of idolatry; the worst devil, and the worst thing: and they called him the “prince of devils,” because idolatry is the prince (or chief) of wickedness.
We meet with a story, where mention is made of the prince of spirits. Whether it be in this sense, let the reader consult and judge. Also in the Aruch we meet with these words, the demon Asmodeus, the prince of spirits.
IV. The Talmudists, being taught by these their fathers, do give out, horribly blaspheming, that Jesus of Nazareth our Lord was a magician, a broacher of strange and wicked worship; and one that did miracles by the power of the devil, to beget his worship the greater belief and honour.
“Ben Satda brought magic out of Egypt, by cuttings which he had made in his flesh.” By Ben Satda; they understand Jesus of Nazareth, as we have said before; whom they dishonour by that name, that they might, by one word and in one breath, reproach him and his mother together. For Satda; or Stada; sounds as much as an adulterous wife; which the Gemara shews after a few lines, She went aside from her husband. They feign that Jesus travelled with Joshua Ben Perachiah into Egypt, when the said Joshua fled from the anger and sword of Janneus the king, which we have mentioned at the second chapter; and that he brought thence magical witchcrafts with him, but under the cutting of his flesh, that he might not be taken by the Egyptian magicians, who strictly examined all that went out of that land, that none should transport their magic art into another land. And in that place they add these horrid words, Jesus practised magic, and deceived, and drove Israel to idolatry. Those whelps bark, as they were taught by these dogs.
To this, therefore, does this blasphemy of the Pharisees come; as if they should say, “He casts out devils indeed; but he doth this by the help of the devil, the lord of idols, that dwells in him; by him, that is the worst of all devils, who favours him and helps him, because it is his ambition to drive the people from the worship of the true God to strange worship.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 12:24. But when the Pharisees heard it. According to Luke, some who were present; according to Mark, the scribes which came down from Jerusalem, probably sent to spy out his actions. A public declaration of war against our Lord on the part of the Pharisees, and an answer to the question of the people (Mat 12:23). The Pharisees admit the miracles, but explain them in another way as the work of Satan. Consistency required this explanation.
This man. This fellow is too strong. This, in the question of the people, was an expression of surprise; the word is here taken up and turned against Jesus.
But by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. The word devil, is applied to but one person in the Scriptures, namely, Satan. On the word Beelzebub, see chap. Mat 10:25. The sense lord of dung, implies coarse wit. The sense: lord of the habitation, referring to rule over the possessed, agrees well with the phrase here added: the prince of demons. By, literally in, i.e., in intimate fellowship.