NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWELVE

Part III

Verse 24: When the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man is using the power of Beelzebub, the devil’s prince of evil spirits to force demons out of people.”

The healing of the man with the withered hand resulted in the people’s faith growing in Jesus as the Anointed One. But for others it was just another incident in their futile effort to classify Him as a fraud rather than a genuine Messiah. They were thereby risking the same end as what we find in Ezekiel.¹ This incident here is not a repeat of what we previously read in Chapter 9:32. In the former incident the demon-possessed were not blind. However, the outright dismissal of the miracle by the Pharisees was the same.

On this occasion Christ felt the necessity to give an exposition on the subject. One thing the devil cannot do is expel his own demons, anymore than he can save himself. Unfortunately, while we know of no civil war going on in the kingdom of darkness which threatens the devil’s authority and dominion over evil, there has been occasional wars in the kingdom of light here on earth where Christ’s authority and dominion over sin and righteousness have been challenged.

What Jesus said would happen to the devil’s kingdom should there be fighting amongst themselves, is true for heaven’s kingdom as well. As the old saying goes about wisdom: “What is good for the goose is good for the gander.” And why shouldn’t the people believe that Jesus was the Anointed One. Did not Isaiah say, “The deaf will hear the words in the book. The blind will see through the darkness and fog. The Lord will make poor people happy. The poorest people will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel?”²

Having just been embarrassed by our Lord, you would think that the Pharisees might reconsider and start examining the Scriptures to prove that He was the Messiah instead of looking for ways to disprove His claims. But their hearts were like that of Pharaoh. Even after all the miracles performed by Moses and Aaron in God’s name, he still would not believe. Look at all the good Jesus was doing! Look at all the people He helped and gave hope to! Look at the lives He changed through healing! Why wouldn’t they open their hearts to the light standing before them. Just like Pharaoh, the door to their hearts was too rusty from long periods of non-use and neglect.

So again they turn a blind eye and deaf ear to the wonders that Jesus is doing to glorify His Father in heaven. So they reach for the same lame explanation they used before about His using the power of the evil one to do His miracles.³ But despite of their stubbornness, they could not deny the miracle that just took place. So their effort here was to deprive our Lord of any recognition that He had such power. To do that, they naturally turned to attributing it to works of magic, which were often attributed to the power of Beelzebub. We find in Jewish writings that this denouncement of Jesus continued long after our Lord ascended into heaven.

One Jewish rumor that found its way into print comes from what one Rabbi was telling everyone: “Now, did not Ben Stada perform magic in this manner?” They said to them, 'Just because of one fool should we make all intelligent folk liable?”⁴ Later, another Rabbi asked: “Did not Jesus (using the code name Ben Stada) bring witchcraft up from Egypt by means of marks on his flesh? He was a fool, answered they. and you cannot offer as evidence what you gather from fools.”⁵ In an earlier edition of the Talmud we find this exchange: “Was he then the son of Stada the adulterer? surely he was the son of Pandira the virgin - Said Rabbi Hisda: The husband was Stada, the paramour was Pandira. But the husband was Pappos ben Judah? — His mother was Stada, an adultress. But his mother was Miriam the hairdresser? — It is as we say in Pumbeditha: 'This one has been unfaithful to her husband'.”⁶ When looking at all this jabber, it is clear these Rabbis made a self-fulfilling prophecy when they said, “You cannot present evidence gathered from fools.”

While their words are surely cryptic, it was the argument that Mary had been intimate with an adulterer and Joseph tried to cover it up with his story of an angel telling him that the child was the result of the Holy Spirit. But it shows how critics continued trying to destroy any evidence that might support Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. Would it not be noteworthy to stop and contemplate at this point that the critics and skeptics who argued that the story of Jesus was just an allegory, or at best an hyperbole about someone who pretended to be the Messiah, would continue to discuss and debate such nonsense years and years after He disappeared into the sky? Once you prove something is wrong, you don't keep on arguing over it.

Also, their choice of Beelzebub was not that unusual. One Jewish commentator stated: “Solomon, having departed from the words of the Law in the pride of his heart, was dethroned by Ashmodai, king of the demons.”⁷ In fact, in the Chaldean paraphrase of this scripture it reads: “When King Solomon was sitting upon the throne of his kingdom, his heart became elated with riches, and he transgressed the word of God; and he gathered many horses and chariots and riders, and he amassed much gold and silver, and he married wives from foreign nations. Whereupon the anger of the Lord was kindled against him, and He sent to him Ashmodai, the king of the demons, and he drove him from the throne of his kingdom.”⁸ Ashmodai (also Asmodeus) was the Greek name of a prince of demons. Jews believed that Beelzebub, also a prince, united the demonic kingdom and became the crown prince under Lucifer. As a matter of fact, a classification system was developed based on the Seven Deadly Sins that listed Ashmodai as the demon of lust.⁹

The recognition of demonic power by the Jews was legendary. One Rabbi claimed to have spoken to them: “Rabbi Joseph said: 'The demon Joseph told me that Ashmedai the king of the demons is appointed over all those who drink in pairs,’ and a king is not designated a harmful spirit since it is beneath his dignity to cause harm. Others explain it in the opposite sense: On the contrary, a king is quick-tempered and does whatever he wishes, for a king can break through a wall to make a pathway for himself and none can keep him from doing so.”¹⁰ This may explain why the Jews were willing to attribute the good deeds of Jesus to Beelzebub, since, although they were demonically inspired, they caused no harm. They also believed that there were three hundred kinds of demons, and they were divided into males and females.¹¹

Jews also referred to “the God of this world” as being the one who poisons all within and was the one who came to tempt Adam and Eve. They gave his name as, “Samael,”¹² which means “God's Poison.” They also call him the “angel of darkness, the great transgressor.”¹³ In a story by German Jews he is referred to as: “Fürst des Feindes” or “Prince of Enemies.”¹⁴ Also, Rabbis call him, “Prince of Gehenna.” Meaning, he was the demon prince in charge of this burning dump who voraciously demanded multitudes of victims.¹⁵ And Jewish messianic writers called him the angel “Duma,” the ruler of hell.¹⁶ I mentioned all of these because Jesus was fully aware of their belief in the hierarchy of demonic power under Satan's rule. We see this in His ensuing answer.

At this point we can clearly see a principle used and a method applied by those in Jesus's day, and continuing until this day, and that is to try and hide one's own disbelief and unwillingness to accept reality and truth by offering a distraction, and claiming that the person involved is not really doing what they say they are doing by the method they claim to be using. We often hear this argument by those who attempt to prove that magicians and mentalists are not really using magic – which does not exist, but are employing deception. Since many of Jesus' critics accused Him of being a magician, we can see why they took this path in their opposition to His miracles.

Verse 25: Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking. So He said to them, 'Every kingdom that fights against itself will be destroyed. And every city or family that is divided against itself will not survive.”

Out of this there comes one clear concept about the kingdom of Satan: although he and all his demons are wicked, evil and destructive, they don't fight each other. Unfortunately, we can't say the same about man's version of the kingdom of heaven here on earth. The demonic kingdom is one of cooperation and harmony in carrying out their evil mission. Therefore, it makes no sense for the devil to approve the casting out one of his own demonic princes who is doing a good job. This does not mean that Jesus was agreeing that this man had a demon who caused blindness and muteness, He was only pointing out that when confronted with such an illness even if it was caused by demonic power, Satan would not cure the man by getting rid of the demonic cause. Therefore, since Jesus did cure him, it was obvious that the devil did not have enough power to resist.

To point out His facts, Jesus parallels the inward workings of the kingdom of Satan in contrast with those of human kingdoms, where citizens have issues with their magistrates and as a result one tries to ousts the other. Likewise in large families, where the heads of different branches quarrel, fight and argue with each others so as to divide and conquer and thus become the matriarch or patriarch of the family. This the Jews were very familiar with. Even the schools founded by leading Rabbis tried to supplant one another in the minds of the people by claiming one as superior over the others. We see this illustrated in a vignette recorded in Jewish literature:

It happened with these four elders: Rabban¹⁷ Gamaliel, Rabbi Jehoshua, Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, and Rabbi Aqiba, who went to the interior cities of Rome, in one of which there lived a friend of theirs, a philosopher – Rabbi Jehoshua asked Rabban Gamaliel if he would like to go and see their friend the philosopher, and he answered he would not. On the next morning, however, he asked him again, and he said he would. They then went, and Rabbi Jehoshua knocked at the door of the philosopher, and at once the philosopher concluded that this knock was in the manner of a wise man. When he knocked again, the philosopher arose and washed his face, hands, and feet. When he knocked the third time, the philosopher opened the door, and saw that the sages of Israel were coming from both sides of the street; namely, Rabban Gamaliel in the center, Rabbi Jehoshua and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah to his right, and Rabbi Aqiba to his left, and the philosopher was somewhat puzzled as to the manner in which to greet them. He said to himself: “Whom of the sages shall I greet first? If I greet Rabbi Gamaliel first, I might thereby offend the other sages; and if I should address my greeting to all of them (without naming the one in charge), I will offend Rabban Gamaliel.” He therefore concluded to address them this way: “Peace to you, sages of Israel, and to Rabbi Gamaliel first”.¹⁸

On the other hand, an early church Bishop around 350 AD saw another factor here that would certainly connect these Jewish opponents of Jesus that came from their own history. He writes: “The Lord declared that a kingdom or city or house divided against itself could not stand. This was said in reference to the kingdom that the Jews themselves occupied under the rule of Jeroboam, the servant of Solomon, which was judged as abandoned before being divided. The Jews would lose entirely the city of Jerusalem, to which Samaria had been hostile. They would lose the dwelling place of God’s temple against which golden calves and the house of idols had been erected. He showed them that they ought rather to follow that kingdom that cannot be divided—that is, the heavenly and eternal one. The spiritual city of Jerusalem always remains fixed and immovable. No hostile power ever has been or will be able to overcome the true house of God. That house which is protected by the Son of God is quite safe.”¹⁹