A malicious explanation.
"This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils." The Pharisees must have been very hard driven indeed in order to invent such an explanation. Perhaps what was in their minds was this: "He orders the evil spirits about as if he were a master, or prince, of them. He must be himself possessed with a devil, and it evidently is Beelzebub the prince of the devils." Our Lord had no difficulty in showing up the folly and malice of such suggestions.
1. Masters do not spoil the characteristic work of their servants; a prince of devils was not likely to prevent devils doing devils' work.
2. Jewish exorcists claimed power to cast out devils; these Pharisees claimed such power; then their argument was readily turned round on themselves—they too must be possessed by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. "According to the Book of Henoch, the demons are the souls of the giants who corrupted themselves with the daughters of men; but Josephus regarded them as the spirits of dead men. They were so numerous that every man has ten thousand on his right hand, and one thousand on his left. The chief of the diabolical empire was Beelzebub." "The rabbis, scribes, and doctors of the Law undertook the casting out demons, and some of them were considered very skilful in the art. The healing art was simply exorcism." Dean Plumptre ventures to remind us that "we need not assume that such power was always a pretence, or rested only on spells and incantations. Earnestness, prayer, fasting, faith,—these are always mighty in intensifying the power of will, before which the frenzied soul bows in submission or yields in confidence; and these may well have been found among the better and truer Pharisees."
I. AN EXPLANATION MAY BE GOOD IF IT IS OFFERED IN A MALICIOUS SPIRIT. Its value, as an explanation, should be fairly weighed, without prejudice. We may often learn most valuable things from the bitter words of our enemies. They reveal to us what otherwise we might never have discovered.
II. AN EXPLANATION IS LIKELY TO BE BAD WHEN IT IS OFFERED IN A MALICIOUS SPIRIT. It is better to suspect it; better not to make too much of it. Malice spoils eyesight, and certainly spoils judgment. These Pharisees fashioned a bad argument just because they felt angry with Jesus.—R.T.