Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 12:25
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:
25. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation ] Not that civil disputes destroy a nation, but a nation disunited, rent by factions, in the presence of a common enemy must fall. Here Satan’s kingdom is regarded as warring against the kingdom of God.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 25. Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation] Our Lord’s argument was thus:-“The welfare of any kingdom, city, or family, depends on its concord and unanimity; Satan, like every other potentate, must wish to rule his empire in peace and security; how then can he be in league with me, who oppose his authority, and am destroying his kingdom?”
The reasoning of the Pharisees, Mt 12:24, was not expressed, and Jesus, knowing their thoughts, gave them ample proof or his omniscience. This, with our Lord’s masterly confutation of their reasonings, by a conclusion drawn from their own premises, one would have supposed might have humbled and convinced these men; but the most conclusive reasoning, and the most astonishing miracles, were lost upon a people who were obstinately determined to disbelieve every thing good, relative to Christ. How true the saying-He came unto his own, and his own received him not!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is our Lords first argument. Mark relates it, Mar 3:23-26, with little alteration in the phrase; so doth Luke, Luk 11:17,18. The sum of the argument is, The devil is so wise, that he will look to the upholding of his own kingdom in the world. This will require an agreement of the devils amongst themselves, for if they be divided they cannot uphold their kingdom, nor stand, any more than a house, city, or kingdom in the world so divided can stand; therefore the prince of devils will not forcibly cast out the inferior devils. There is but one imaginable objection to this: Do we not see the contrary to this in peoples going to cunning men for help against those that are bewitched, to get help for them? And is there no truth in those many stories we have of persons that have found help against the devil for some that have traded with the devil? I answer, It is one thing for the devils to play one with another, another thing for them to cast out one another. One devil may yield and give place to another, to gain a greater advantage for the whole society, but one never quarrels with another. The first may be for the enlarging of Satans kingdom. This must be to destroy it. When a poor wretched creature goeth to one who dealeth with the devil for help for one who is vexed with some effect of the devil, one devil here doth but yield and give place to another by compact, voluntarily, and for the devils greater advantage; for it is more advantage to the devil (who seeks nothing so much as a divine homage) to gain the faith of one soul, than to exercise a power to afflict many bodies. In such cases as these, the devil, for the abatement of a little bodily pain, gains a power over the soul of him or her who cometh to implore his help, and exerciseth a faith in him. This is an establishing, promoting, and enlarging his kingdom. But Christ forced the devils out of persons; they did not yield voluntarily, for a greater advantage, but forcibly, for no advantage. He did not pray the devils to come out, nor make use of any of the devils sacraments, upon the use of which, by some original compact, he was obliged to come out upon a souls surrender of itself by faith to him; but they came out unwillingly, upon the authoritative words of Christ, without the use of any magical rites and ceremonies testifying the least homage done to him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. And Jesus knew theirthoughts“called them” (Mr3:23).
and said unto them, Everykingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and everycity or house divided against itself shall not stand“house,”that is, “household”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Jesus knew their thoughts,…. He not only heard their blasphemous words, but was privy to their secret thoughts; he knew their vile malicious intentions and designs, with what view they expressed themselves in this manner, on purpose to reproach him, and set the people against him, contrary to the inward light of their minds, and dictates of their consciences; who must, and did know the contrary of what they said: and regarding the inward frame of their minds, as well as their words, and which is a proof of his omniscience, and so of his deity, and consequently of his Messiahship,
said unto them the following parables, as Mark calls them, Mr 3:23 or proverbial expressions:
every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; a government, in which there is a disagreement between the chiefs of it, and the body of the people, or where one part is opposed to the other, or in which a civil and intestine war is begun and prosecuted, cannot continue in any comfortable situation, and flourishing state, but must come to nothing: this is a maxim that has been so often fatally verified, that no one will doubt the truth of it; and the same holds true of lesser communities, of cities, and families:
and every city, or house, divided against itself, shall not stand. If citizens fall out with their magistrates, or one with another, and turn out, and disfranchise each other; and if the heads of families, and the respective branches thereof, quarrel with, and divide from one another, a dissolution of the whole must ensue; and the same may be said of the kingdom and government of Satan. These, it is very likely, were common sayings among the Jews, and they might be very easily understood by them; and are very appropriately produced by Christ to illustrate the present case, and confute the vile and blasphemous suggestions of the Pharisees: a proverbial expression, much like to these, is to be read in the writings of the Jews, , “every house, in which there is a division, at the end shall come to desolation” u.
u Derech Eretz, c. 5.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Knowing their thoughts ( ). What they were revolving in their minds. They now find out what a powerful opponent Jesus is. By parables, by a series of conditions (first class), by sarcasm, by rhetorical question, by merciless logic, he lays bare their hollow insincerity and the futility of their arguments. Satan does not cast out Satan. Note timeless aorist passive in 26, in 28 (simple sense of arriving as in Php 3:16 from ). Christ is engaged in deathless conflict with Satan the strong man (29). “Goods” () means house-gear, house furniture, or equipment as in Lu 17:36 and Ac 27:17, the tackling of the ship.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them,” (eidos de tas enthumesis auton eipen autois) “Then Jesus, who knew their thoughts, said directly and openly to them,” Ps 139:2,25; Mat 9:4; Luk 5:22; Luk 6:8. When they saw that He knew their thoughts, and they knew His miracles were real, would they not have been convinced, except blinded by their own prejudice and bigotry, by the god of this world? 2Co 4:4.
2) “Every kingdom divided against itself,” (pasa basileia meristheisa kath’ heautes) “Every kingdom arrayed or divided against itself,” with fighting among its own citizens. This He said to counter their thoughts, Mr 3:24.
3) “Is brought to desolation;” (eremoutai) “is brought to dissolution,” desolation, or disintegration, or to be broken up. The argument is irrefutable. No organized society can stand when turned against itself. It rather self-destructs, destroys itself.
4) “And every city or house divided against itself,” (kai pass polls a oikia meristheisa kath’ heautes) “And every city or household divided against itself,” with dissension and strife, has fatal instability, even in governments and kingdoms, Mr 3:25.
5) “Shall not stand.” (ou stathesetai) “Simply will not stand,” a thing abundantly -evident, and illustrated from history of families and nations, Luk 11:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Mat 12:25
. But as Jesus knew their thoughts. Though Christ knew sufficiently well, and had often learned by experience, that the scribes, in the exercise of their malice (116) were in the habit of putting an unfavorable construction on every thing that he did, yet Matthew and Luke, I have no doubt, mean that Christ was a discerner of their hearts. (117) And indeed it is probable, that they spoke so openly against Christ, that their calumnies reached his ears; but Christ knew by his Divine Spirit the dispositions which led them to slander him. For it frequently happens that erroneous judgments are formed by men who do not intentionally, after all, oppose what is right, but err through ignorance; who do not cherish a hidden and concealed venom, but whose rashness carries them headlong. (118) The meaning therefore is, that Christ reproved them with the greater severity, because he was a witness and judge of their inward malice.
Every kingdom divided against itself. In refuting the calumny alleged against him, he first quotes a common proverb. This refutation may appear to be not quite satisfactory. We know what subtle methods Satan sometimes employs, presenting all the while an appearance of discord, in order to entrap the minds of men by superstitions. Thus, for example, the exorcisms of Popery are nothing else than feats of dexterity, in which Satan pretends to fight with himself. But no suspicion of this nature fell on Christ; for he cast out devils in such a manner, as to restore to God the men in whom they dwelt sound and whole. Whenever Satan enters into a collusion with himself, he pretends to be vanquished, and yet it is himself that triumphs. But Christ attacked Satan in open combat, threw him down, and left him nothing remaining. He did not lay him low in one respect, that he might give him greater stability in another, but stripped him completely of all his armor. Christ therefore reasons justly, that there is no community of interest between him and Satan, because that father of cunning (119) keeps one object in view — the preservation of his kingdom.
But perhaps it will be objected, that the devils are often hurried along, by giddiness and blind madness, to destroy themselves. The answer is easy. The words of Christ mean nothing more than that it was absurd in the scribes to maintain, that the devil, who endeavors by every method to make men his slaves, should, of his own accord, destroy the power which he possessed over them. Besides, it ought to be remembered, that common proverbs were employed by Christ in such a manner, as to be merely probable conjectures, and not solid arguments; and that, when he speaks of what is known and well attested, he finds it easier to reach the conscience of his adversaries. (120) Everybody knew that Christ had driven Satan from his possession, and nothing was plainer than that all his miracles tended to this object; and hence it was easy to conclude, that his power, which was so much opposed to Satan, was divine.
(116) “ Comme c’estoyent gens tout pleins d’un malin vouloir;” — “as they were people entirely full of a wicked disposition.
(117) “ Que Christ a cognu ce qui estoit cache dedans leur coeurs;” — “that Christ knew what was concealed within their hearts.”
(118) “ Mais se laissent trop aisement transporter d’une temerite ne voyans pas le mal qu’ils font;” — “but allow themselves too easily to be carried away by rashness, not perceiving the evil that they do.”
(119) “ Ce pere de toute finesse et malice;” — “that father of all dexterity and malice.”
(120) “ Il ne va pas chercher fort loin les choses pour poindre les consciences de ses adversaires;” — “he does not go far to see things fitted to affect the consciences of his adversaries.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(25) Jesus knew their thoughts.The Searcher of Hearts saw the meaning of the whispers and the looks of real or affected horror, and now enters on a full answer to the charge. Of all the accusations brought against Him this was the one that caused the greatest Pain, and drew forth the most indignant answer. He had restored peace and joy, freedom of reason and will to those who had lost them, had been doing His Fathers work on earth, and He was accused of being in league with the powers of evil. The work of healing was represented as the bait of the Tempter luring men to their final destruction.
Every kingdom divided against itself.The answer assumes, as the teaching of the New Testament does from first to last, the existence of a kingdom of evil, compact and organised, with a distinct unity of purpose. The laws which govern the life of other kingdoms are applicable to that also. Its head and ruler was not likely to enter on a work which was self-destructive. Reason, calmness, peace, these were not his gifts to men.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Every kingdom divided against itself Our Lord proceeds to refute the slander that he is confederated with the prince of darkness. It is plain that he is working against the evil power, He is driving the infernal power from his strongest posts, and beating him back from his boldest incursions into the world. Now this would imply that the kingdom of evil was working against itself, and that Satan was in the act of self-destruction. No doubt the kingdom of evil is the kingdom of confusion, but it cannot be conceived that it should divide against itself and one half fight for the good.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And knowing their thoughts he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand, and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?”
Jesus replies by showing up their false logic. Kingdoms where civil war is continually in progress always collapse. Households which are always at loggerheads do the same. Thus if Satan actually casts out Satan, he is in a similar state, and therefore his kingdom also will collapse. But everyone knew that Satan’s kingdom was in fact to grow stronger towards the end, not weaker. How then could that be if it was subject to civil war? And besides, Satan had too much common sense for that. Thus it was quite clear that their assertions must be untrue.
Note the thought that Satan’s kingdom is one kingdom made up of all the kingdoms of the world (see Mat 4:8). The idea is that whole world lies in the evil one (1Jn 5:19), apart from those in the Kingly Rule of God (compare Col 1:13).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Christ takes them to task:
v. 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:
v. 26. and if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how, then, shall his kingdom stand?
v. 27. And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.
v. 28. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Christ not only knew of the efforts of the Pharisees to discredit Him, but as He that searches hearts and minds He knew their very words, and therefore immediately shows the foolishness of such talk, the absurdity of the accusation and its implication. Just as it is proverbially true that lack of unity and harmony disrupts a nation, and that the same condition in a household or in a community will sever the relations which make for growth and prosperity, so it is true of the kingdom of Satan. There seems to be a lurking implication in the expression of Christ: Such follies are sometimes committed by communities, civil wars being by no means unknown, although history shows the fatal consequences in scores of cases. But Satan, wicked as he is, is not such a fool. The thought that Satan would try to evict Satan or any of the devils is the height of absurdity. Give him credit for greater sharpness of wit. And Jesus strengthens His argument by showing how their accusation against Him condemns themselves. The Pharisees had children, or disciples, whom they trained to be exorcists, Act 9:13-14, who made a practice to journey through the country and attempt to drive out demons from those possessed. They used certain medicines, but depended mainly upon magical formulas, in which the name of Jehovah was freely used. The reference to these performances effectually blocked the Pharisees. To answer now meant to condemn themselves and their own practices. They were silenced, judged, and condemned by their own criticism. Jesus, however, in His extraordinary success in expelling demons, demonstrated beyond doubt that the Spirit of God was on His side, the same Spirit who, in and through Him, had brought the kingdom of God to them and sought to work faith in their hearts.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 12:25-26. And Jesus knew their thoughts, &c. It frequently happens that, through ignorance or weakness, men form wrong judgments of things; a misfortune which, because it necessarily springs from the imperfection of human nature, does not deserve the very harshest censure; but when wrong judgments proceed from evil dispositions, they become highly culpable: therefore, to shew that the judgment which the Pharisees passed at this time upon our Lord’s miracles was of the latter kind, the Evangelist observes, that Jesus knew their thoughts; knew that the wickedness of their hearts, and not the weakness of their understandings, had led them to form the opinion they had uttered, if it was their real opinion; or rather to affirm it contrary to their conviction; which was the reason that at the conclusion of his defence he reprimanded them in the sharpest manner. Accordingly, addressing himself both to them and the people, he demonstrated the absurdity of their calumny, by an argument drawn from the common affairs of life:Every kingdom, &c. as much as to say,”If evil spirits assist me in working miracles for the confirmation of mydoctrine, they do what they can to promote the spiritual worship and ardent love of the true God, and as effectually as possible excite men to the practice of universal justice, benevolence, temperance,andself-government;allthesevirtuesbeingpowerfullyrecommendedby my doctrine. But thus to make the evil spirits fight against themselves, is evidently to make them ruin their own interest; unless it can be thought that the strength and welfare of a society is advanced by jarring discord, and destructive civil wars: your judgment, therefore, of my conduct,is palpably malicious and absurd. This answer of our Lord’s demonstratively proves, that Beelzebub and Satan are names of the same person; and consequently that Satan was considered as the prince of those demons who were cast out by Christ, and who are elsewhere represented as his angels, It may not be improper to add here, that the Jewish rabbis call every demon by the name of Satan, and often use the name in the plural number. So they call Sammael (which is but another name for Beelzebub) the head or prince of all the Satans.” See Casaubon on the place, and Archbishop Tillotson’s Sermons, vol. 3: p. 545.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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:
Ver. 25. And Jesus knew their thoughts ] That they blasphemed in this sort, out of the devilish venom of their hearts fully possessed by Satan, who drew them into this unpardonable sin, which himself every day, nay, every moment, committeth. As one that had fallen into that sin, wished that his wife and children and all the world might be damned together with him; so doth the devil, out of his deep and desperate malice to mankind, draw some into this sin, that he may drown them in the same destruction with himself.
And said unto them ] He could, as he did often, no doubt, have answered them with silence or punished them with contempt, committing his cause to him that judgeth righteously, he could have turned them off, as one did his railing adversary, with Tu linguae, ego aurium Dominus. (Tacitus, Seneca.) But, inasmuch as God’s glory was highly concerned, and his cause might have suffered if this cursed calmnny had not been confuted. Our Saviour makes a most grave apology in the behalf of his doctrine and miracles, which he maintains and makes good by many demonstrative arguments.
Every kingdom divided against itself ] Divide et impera, saith Machiavel. Make division and get dominion. Every subdivision, saith another, is a strong weapon in the hand of the adverse party. “Where strife is” (saith James. Jam 3:16 ) “there is confusion;” as Castor and Pollux, if they appear not together, it presageth a storm. Si collidimur frangimur, If we clash we cleave, said the two earthen pots in the fable, that were swimming down the stream together. The daughter of division is dissolution, saith Nazianzen. a This the Jesuits know, and therefore do what they can to keep up the contentions between the Lutherans and the Calvinists. This the Turks know, and therefore pray to God to keep the Christians at variance. Discord was the destruction of our ancestors, as Tacitus testifieth, who was here in this island with his father-in-law Agricola, and saw it. And the Lord Rich in his speech to the Justices of England, in Edward VI’s reign, could say, Never foreign power could yet hurt, or in any part prevail in this realm, but by disobedience and disorder in themselves. This is the way wherewith God will plague us, if he mind to punish us. And so long as we do agree among ourselves and be obedient to our prince, and to his godly orders, we may be sure that God is with us, and that foreign power shall not prevail against us, nor hurt us.
a Omne divisibile est corruptibile, ait philosophus. Camer. Medit. Histor. cent. 2. cap. 23.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25. ] The Pharisees said this covertly to some among the multitude; see Luk 15:1-32 ; Luk 17:1-37 . “There is at first sight a difficulty in the argument which our Saviour draws from the oneness of the kingdom of Satan: viz. that it seems the very idea of this kingdom, that it should be this anarchy; blind rage and hate not only against God, but each part of it warring against every other part. And this is most deeply true, that hell is as much in arms against itself as against Heaven: neither does our Lord deny that in respect of itself that kingdom is infinite contradiction and division: only He asserts that in relation to the kingdom of goodness it is at one: there is one life in it and one soul in relation to that. Just as a nation or kingdom may embrace within itself infinite parties, divisions, discords, jealousies, and heart-burnings: yet, if it is to subsist as a nation at all, it must not, as regards other nations , have lost its sense of unity; when it does so, of necessity it falls to pieces and perishes.” Trench, Miracles, p. 58. We may observe (1) that our Lord here in the most solemn manner re-asserts and confirms the truths respecting the kingdom of evil which the Jews also held. The are so set parallel with one another, that the denial of the reality of the one with its , or the supposing it founded merely in assent on the part of our Lord to Jewish notions, inevitably brings with it the same conclusions with regard to the other. They are both real , and so is the conflict between them. (2) That our Lord here appeals not to an insulated case of casting out of devils, in which answer might have been made, that the craft of Satan might sometimes put on the garb and arts of an adversary to himself, for his own purposes, but to the general and uniform tenor of all such acts on his part, in which He was found as the continual Adversary of the kingdom of Satan. (3) That our Lord proceeds to shew that the axiom is true of all human societies, even to a family, the smallest of such. (4) That He does not state the same of an individual man, ‘ Every man divided against himself falleth ,’ rests upon deeper grounds, which will be entered on in the notes on Mat 12:30-31 .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 12:25-30 . The theory shown to be absurd .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 12:25 . . Jesus not only heard their words , but knew their thoughts, the malicious feelings which prompted their words, and strove so to present the case as to convict them of bad faith and dishonesty. , etc.: statement of an axiom widely exemplified in human affairs: division fatal to stability in kingdoms and cities. : 1st future passive with an intransitive sense, vide Winer, 38, 1.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 12:25-30
25And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 27If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God. then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
Mat 12:25-32 Jesus used a logical, analytical argument to show the ridiculousness of the Pharisees’claim (cf. Mar 3:23-27; Luk 11:17-22). There were four examples used: (1) Mat 12:25; (2) Mat 12:27; (3) Mat 12:28; and (4) Mat 12:29. There is a series of first class conditional sentences, which are usually assumed to be true from the author’s perspective or for his literary purposes, but here they are false (Mat 12:26-27). However, the first class conditional sentence in Mat 12:28 is true to reality! Context, context, context!
Mat 12:25 “And knowing their thoughts” It is uncertain whether Jesus was using His supernatural ability to read men’s thoughts or whether he saw them talking and overheard their comments (cf. Mat 9:4). See note at Mat 12:1.
“Jesus” The oldest Greek manuscripts omit the name (i.e., P21, , B, D, and some Old Latin, Syrian, and Coptic manuscripts).
Mat 12:27
NASB, NKJV”by whom do your sons cast them out”
NRSV”by whom do your own exorcists cast them out”
TEV”who gives your followers the power to drive them out”
NJB”through whom do your own experts drive them out”
The Jews (i.e., “your sons”) practiced exorcism by magical formulas and oaths (cf. Mar 9:38; Act 19:13). The unusual account in Mat 12:43-45 seems to relate to this Jewish exorcism which cast out the demons, but did not replace it with faith in God, leaving a spiritual vacuum.
Mat 12:28 “If. . .then the kingdom of God has come upon you” This is a first class conditional sentence, assumed to be true by the author for his literary purposes. This is another veiled Messianic reference. It is also highly unusual for Matthew to use the phrase “the kingdom of God,” which is usually found in Mark and Luke. Matthew usually used the phrase ” kingdom of heaven.” There are only four exceptions: (1) this passage; (2) Mat 19:24; (3) Mat 21:31; and (4) Mat 21:43. Jesus asserted that His exorcisms demonstrated that His Messianic power proved the arrival of the new age of the Spirit! See a good brief discussion of “realized eschatology” in F. F. Bruce, Answers to Questions, p. 198. See SPECIAL TOPIC: THE KINGDOM OF GOD at Mat 4:17.
Mat 12:29 This verse is often used to support the modern practice of casting Satan out of worship services. But in context this is not a ” promise” text to be used for corporate exorcisms. Believers are not given the authority to bind Satan (i.e., “the strong man”). Even Michael the Archangel of Israel does not speak judgment against Satan (cf. Jud 1:9). The Apostles and the Seventy were given the power of exorcism over the demonic (cf. Mat 10:1; Luk 10:17-20). However this is never listed among the gifts of the Spirit given to the Church. This parable is paralleled in Mar 3:22-27 and Luk 11:21-23.
Mat 12:30 “He who is not with Me is against Me” A clear, radical choice must be made (cf. Mar 9:40; Luk 9:49-50; Luk 11:23). Jesus brings the New Age, mankind must respond to Him. Not to respond is to choose!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Jesus = He. All texts omit “Jesus” here.
shall = will.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
25.] The Pharisees said this covertly to some among the multitude; see Luk 15:1-32; Luk 17:1-37. There is at first sight a difficulty in the argument which our Saviour draws from the oneness of the kingdom of Satan: viz. that it seems the very idea of this kingdom, that it should be this anarchy; blind rage and hate not only against God, but each part of it warring against every other part. And this is most deeply true, that hell is as much in arms against itself as against Heaven: neither does our Lord deny that in respect of itself that kingdom is infinite contradiction and division: only He asserts that in relation to the kingdom of goodness it is at one: there is one life in it and one soul in relation to that. Just as a nation or kingdom may embrace within itself infinite parties, divisions, discords, jealousies, and heart-burnings: yet, if it is to subsist as a nation at all, it must not, as regards other nations, have lost its sense of unity; when it does so, of necessity it falls to pieces and perishes. Trench, Miracles, p. 58. We may observe (1) that our Lord here in the most solemn manner re-asserts and confirms the truths respecting the kingdom of evil which the Jews also held. The are so set parallel with one another, that the denial of the reality of the one with its , or the supposing it founded merely in assent on the part of our Lord to Jewish notions, inevitably brings with it the same conclusions with regard to the other. They are both real, and so is the conflict between them. (2) That our Lord here appeals not to an insulated case of casting out of devils, in which answer might have been made, that the craft of Satan might sometimes put on the garb and arts of an adversary to himself, for his own purposes,-but to the general and uniform tenor of all such acts on his part, in which He was found as the continual Adversary of the kingdom of Satan. (3) That our Lord proceeds to shew that the axiom is true of all human societies, even to a family, the smallest of such. (4) That He does not state the same of an individual man, Every man divided against himself falleth, rests upon deeper grounds, which will be entered on in the notes on Mat 12:30-31.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 12:25. , thoughts) most bitter ones; cf. Mat 12:34-35.–, kingdom) First the kingdom of Satan is treated of, then his house, and, in ver 26, Satan himself; whose kingdom contains wicked men, whose house, devils.- , shall not be established, shall not be made to stand) sc. by its master or lord. Ammonius[570] says: , , , i.e. is to stand by means of another, but is to stand by its own strength and will.
[570] Not the author of the Ammonian Sections, but AMMONIUS, the son of Hermias, a Peripatetic philosopher, disciple of Proclus, who flourished in the sixth century. His work, De differentia dictionum, is to be found in a Greek dictionary, published in folio at Venice in 1497; and it is also printed in a collection of ancient Grammarians which appeared in quarto at Leyden in 1739.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Jesus: Mat 9:4, Psa 139:2, Jer 17:10, Amo 4:13, Mar 2:8, Joh 2:24, Joh 2:25, Joh 21:17, 1Co 2:11, Heb 4:13, Rev 2:23
Every kingdom: Isa 9:21, Isa 19:2, Isa 19:3, Mar 3:23-26, Luk 11:17, Luk 11:18, Gal 5:15, Rev 16:19, Rev 17:16, Rev 17:17
Reciprocal: Num 23:23 – no enchantment Jdg 12:6 – there fell 1Ki 16:21 – divided Isa 66:18 – their thoughts Dan 11:4 – and shall be Luk 5:22 – perceived Luk 11:20 – the kingdom Phi 1:27 – that ye
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2:25
Jesus knew their thoughts. The Pharisees did not always express themselves directly to Jesus because they were too cowardly to do so, but they would make their remarks to the multitude. But they could not escape exposure in that way because the Lord always knows what people are thinking. He therefore made this argument based on the unreasonableness of their statement. For Beelzebub to assist Jesus in casting out the devils, beings in the same wicked moral class as Satan himself, would be like a kingdom engaging in conflict with itself which would certainly bring it to ruin.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
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:
[But Jesus knowing their thoughts.] Behold, O Pharisee, a sign of the true Messias, for a sign you would have: he smells out a wicked man.
“It is written of Messias, The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, and shall make him smell in the fear of the Lord. Rabba said, he shall smell and judge; as it is said, he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, etc. Ben Cozba reigned two years and a half, and said to the Rabbins, I am the Messias: they said to him, It is written of Messias that he shall smell and judge (the Gloss is, he shall smell out the man, and shall judge and know whether he be guilty). Let us see whether thou canst smell and judge. And when they saw that he could not smell and judge, they slew him.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 12:25. And knowing their thoughts. He perceived not only that they opposed, but their very thoughts. Their words had been addressed, not to Him, but in reply to the multitudes (Mat 12:23). The best authorities omit the word Jesus.
Every kingdom divided against itself. The assertion of the Pharisees assumed that there was an organized kingdom of evil with a personal ruler. Our Lord uses this assumption, as a terrible fact, which, however, proves the absurdity of the charge made against Himself. This organized kingdom of darkness, because it is only evil, is racked with discords and hatred, but against the kingdom of God (Mat 12:28) it is a unit. The point of the argument here is: not that discords are fatal, which is not always the case, but that an organization which acts against itself, its own distinctive aims, must destroy itself. Their accusation implied this.The rest of the verse applies the same principle to the smaller organizations of a city and a house.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our blessed Saviour, to clear his innocence, and to convince the Pharisees of the unreasonableness of this their calumny and false accusations, offers several arguments to their consideration.
1. That it was very unlikely that Satan should lend him this power to use it against himself. As Satan has a kingdom, so he has wit enough to preserve his kingdom, and will do nothing to weaken his own interest. Now if I have received my power from Satan for destroying him and his kingdom, then is Satan divided against himself.
2. Our Saviour tells them, they might with as much reason attribute all miracles to the devil, as those that were wrought by him. There were certain Jews among themselves, who cast out devils in the name of the God of Abaraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Christ asks the Pharisees, by what power these their children cast them out?
They acknowledged that those did it by the power of God; and there was no cause but their malice, why they should not acknowledge that what he did was by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you: that is, the Messias is come, because he wrought these miracles to prove that he was the Messias.
3. Another argument to prove that the miracles which Christ wrought were by the power of God, and not by the help of Satan, is this: The devil is very strong and powerful, and there is no power but God’s only that is stronger than his: Now, says Christ, If I were not assisted by a divine power, I could never cast out this strong man, who reigns in the world as in his house: it must be a stronger than the strong man that shall bind Satan: and who is he but the God of strength?
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 12:25-26. And Jesus knew their thoughts It often happens, that through ignorance or weakness men form wrong judgments of things; a conduct which, though censurable, admits of some excuse: but when wrong judgments proceed from evil dispositions, then, indeed, do they become highly culpable. Therefore, to show that the judgment which the Pharisees passed at this time upon our Lords miracles was of the latter kind, the evangelist observes, that Jesus knew their thoughts: he knew that the wickedness of their hearts, and not the weakness of their understandings, had led them to form the opinion they had uttered, if it was their real opinion; or rather, to affirm it contrary to the conviction of their minds, which was the reason that, at the conclusion of his defence, he reprimanded them in the sharpest manner. And said, Every kingdom divided against itself &c. He proceeds to demonstrate the absurdity of their calumny, by an argument drawn from the common affairs of life:
As if he had said, If evil spirits assist me in working miracles for the confirmation of my doctrine, they do what they can to promote the spiritual worship and ardent love of the true God, and, as effectually as possible, excite men to the practice of universal justice, benevolence, temperance, and self-government; all these virtues being powerfully recommended by my doctrine. But thus to make the evil spirits fight against themselves, is evidently to make them ruin their own interest; unless it can be thought that the strength and welfare of a society is advanced by jarring discord and destructive civil wars. Your judgment, therefore, of my conduct, is palpably malicious and absurd. Macknight. The word Beelzebub signifies the lord or master of flies. This was the great idol of the Ekronites; and from his name we may infer that they considered him as having the command of the various insects wherewith, in those warm climates, they were infested, and which ofttimes gathered into such swarms as proved both a noisome and a deadly plague. The Greeks, likewise, had a god, whose title was , Muscarum venator, The destroyer of flies. But he was in no great reputation among them, their country not being subject to this sort of calamity. The Ekronites being near neighbours to the Jews, the great veneration which they had for this idol made him the object both of the horror and detestation of the devout worshippers of the true God. Accordingly, to express in what detestation they held him, they appropriated his name to the most hateful being in the universe, calling the devil, or the prince of the evil angels. Beelzebub; for the next verse shows, that Beelzebub and Satan are different names of the same person; and consequently that Satan was considered as the prince of those demons who were cast out by Christ, and who are elsewhere represented as his angels. The word in the Greek is Beelzebul, which signifies, the lord of a dunghill, and seems to be a contemptuous change of the former name, by which it was intimated, that the noblest of the heathen deities were more fit to dwell on a dunghill than to be worshipped in a magnificent temple.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12:25 {5} 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:
(5) The kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the devil cannot abide together.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus’ reply in view of the response 12:25-37
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Probably Jesus’ knew His critics’ thoughts as anyone else who had suffered such an attack would (cf. Mat 9:4). Alternatively this may be a statement of Jesus’ omniscience. Any kingdom, city, or household that experiences internal conflict will destroy itself eventually if the strife continues. This holds true for the domain over which Satan rules as well. For Satan to cast out demons would amount to his casting out himself since the demons do his work.