Matthew 12:22-32

Beelzebul will recur in 12:24, 27 as the name of the demon to whose power Jesus’ enemies attributed his miracles. Here it is applied as an insult to Jesus himself (as Jesus himself called Peter ‘Satan’, 16:23!). It probably derived from the Canaanite god mentioned in 2 Kings 1:2 in the form Baal-zebub (‘lord of flies’), whose official title may have been Baal-zebul, ‘Baal the prince’ or possibly ‘Lord of the height’ or ‘of the dwelling’; but in popular Jewish usage it had become the name of a senior demon; 12:24ff. shows that it could be used as a synonym of ‘Satan’. It is thus an insult which carries a hint of the charge of satanic inspiration brought in 9:34 and 12:24, a charge Christians themselves have not been slow to throw at other Christians from whom they differ.

“Beelzeboul” (NIV marg.) most likely meant lord of the high abode, i.e., of the home of pagan deities, which Jews believed were demons. Hence some textual variants use “Beelzebub”—lord of the flies—the common Hebrew parody of Beelzeboul.

Jesus refers to the fact that his enemies have called him Beelzebul (again in 12:24, 27; the form Beelzeboul also occurs, and the Vulgate has Beelzebub), which raises further problems. But whatever the precise form of the name, it certainly indicates rejection. The god of Ekron was called “Baal-zebub” (2 Kings 1:2, 3, 6, 16; the name does not occur in the LXX text), a term that means “lord of flies” and that apparently was a Hebrew pun on the name of a Philistine god. The Jews may have further corrupted this into “Baal-zebul,” “lord of dung,” which would be a way of further insulting the heathen deity. This name, however, occurs in the Ras Shamra tablets as the name of a Canaanite deity, and it appears to mean “lord of the dwelling” or “lord of the high place” in Canaanite. Taking all this into consideration, it seems likely that the Hebrews took the name of a heathen deity that they could interpret contemptuously as “lord of flies” or “lord of dung” and that they applied to evil beings. In time it came to signify a very important demon, probably the being we call Satan.

Verse 25 contains a play on words: by reading “Beelzebul” as if it meant “master” (Aramaic be‘el) of the house (Hebrew zebul), Jesus spoke of the “master of the house.”

Gr., “Beelzeboul,” which is evidently derived from Heb. words meaning “lord of the house” or “lord of the heights”; cf. 9:34; 12:24, 27.