(24) Beelzebub the prince of the devils.--(See Notes on Matthew 9:34; Matthew 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.

Verse 24. - (On the relation of this verse to Matthew 9:34, see notes there.) But when the Pharisees. Not further defined here, but in Mark 3:22 spoken of as "the scribes that had come down from Jerusalem." Heard it, they said, This fellow; man (Revised Version); οῦτος (cf. Matthew 9:3, note). Observe that οῦτος (in Matthew only) here answers to the οῦτος of ver. 23. "This man" is at once the object of hope in the minds of the multitudes, and of the deepest opposition on the part of the Pharisees. Doth not cast out devils, but. In the parallel passages there is merely a direct assertion that he does it by Beelzebub; here there is a denial of his power to do it by any other agency. Does Matthew's version express rather the process of their deliberation, and that of Mark and Luke the final result? (On the Jewish tradition that our Lord performed miracles by magic, see Matthew 2:14, note, and Lightfoot, 'Hor. Hebr.,' here.) By; in, Revised Version, margin (Matthew 9:34, note). Beelzebub (Matthew 10:25, note). The prince. Better omit the article, ἄρχοντι giving, so to speak, his official title. Of the devils.

12:22-30 A soul under Satan's power, and led captive by him, is blind in the things of God, and dumb at the throne of grace; sees nothing, and says nothing to the purpose. Satan blinds the eyes by unbelief, and seals up the lips from prayer. The more people magnified Christ, the more desirous the Pharisees were to vilify him. It was evident that if Satan aided Jesus in casting out devils, the kingdom of hell was divided against itself; how then could it stand! And if they said that Jesus cast out devils by the prince of the devils, they could not prove that their children cast them out by any other power. There are two great interests in the world; and when unclean spirits are cast out by the Holy Spirit, in the conversion of sinners to a life of faith and obedience, the kingdom of God is come unto us. All who do not aid or rejoice in such a change are against Christ.But when the Pharisees heard it,.... Very probably not the same that went out, and held a council against Christ to destroy him, Matthew 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 on Matthew 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.