Mark 3.22-27, Matthew 9.32-34, 12.22-30, Luke 11.14-23.
In between Jesus’s family fearing he was overworked, Mark inserts this story about the Jerusalem scribes (or Pharisees, in Matthew) accusing him of performing his exorcisms through the power of the devil.
Matthew and Luke tell the story in the context of an exorcism Jesus had just performed. Matthew even tells it twice. Likely this accusation took place more than once.
- Mark 3.22 KWL
- Scribes who came down from Jerusalem
- were saying Jesus has Baal Zevúl—
- that he throws out demons by the chief demon.
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- Matthew 9.32-34 KWL
- 32 As they leave, look:
- People bring Jesus a mute person, a demoniac.
- 33 Once Jesus throws out the demon,
- the mute man speaks.
- The crowd is amazed, saying, “This never appears in Israel like this!”
- 34 Yet Pharisees are saying,
- “Jesus throws out demons by the chief demon.”
-
- Matthew 12.22-24 KWL
- 22 Then they bring Jesus a blind and deaf demoniac.
- Jesus cures him,
- so the deaf man is speaking and seeing.
- 23 The whole crowd is overwhelmed and is saying,
- “Isn’t this the Son of David?”
- 24 Yet Pharisees who hear of it say,
- “This man doesn’t throw out demons—
- unless by Baal Zevúl, the chief demon.”
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- Luke 11.14-16 KWL
- 14 Jesus is throwing out a mute demon,
- and it happens when the demon comes out,
- the mute man speaks.
- The crowd is amazed.
- 15 Yet some of them say,
- “By Baal Zevúl the chief demon, he throws out demons.”
- 16 Others, to test Jesus,
- are seeking a heavenly sign from him.
Baalism is what we tend to call all the pagan religions which cropped up in ancient Canaan, or Palestine. They’re not all the same god, but they were all called
בַּעַל/bahál,
“master,” so they were generally lumped together as the “baals.” The Baal in this story is Baal Zevúl, the god of Ekron, Philistia. You might remember him as the god whom Ahaziah ben Ahab tried to contact when he wanted to know if he’d recover from his injuries.
- 2 Kings 1.2 KJV
- 2 And Ahaziah fell down through a lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick: and he sent messengers, and said unto them, Go, enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron whether I shall recover of this disease. 3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? 4 Now therefore thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die. And Elijah departed.
I think more people remember when Ahaziah sent soldiers to arrest Elijah, and the LORD set the soldiers on fire. 2Ki 1.9-15 Not so much the god Ahaziah worshiped.
זְבוּל/Zevúl
means “dwelling,” probably referring to the heavenly dwelling which the god supposedly lived in. But just for fun, the Hebrews started swapping zevúl for the similar
זְבוּב/zevúv,
“gnat” or “fly.” And it stuck. In the Septuagint, Baal Zevúl is translated Βααλ μυῖαν θεὸν/Vaäl myían theón, “Baal [the] fly god.” But by Jesus’s day, they were back to calling it Baal Zevúl… ’cause in Aramaic, zevúl had come to mean “feces.” Hence the New Testament calls the god Βεελζεβούλ/Veëlzevúl (KJV “Beelzebub,” NIV “Beelzebul”). Y’might notice Pharisees were using the term as a euphemism for Satan.
Christian mythology, particularly John Milton’s Paradise Lost, imagines Beelzebub as a whole other devil than Satan. Sometimes it’s Satan’s vice-devil. Sometimes it’s a devil who rebelled against Satan and went its own way. Sometimes it’s the devil who supervises idolatry; sometimes the devil who tempts humans with gluttony; sometimes the devil who specializes in demonizing people. Meh; a devil’s a devil.
The Galilean Pharisees didn’t know what to make of Jesus. They hated that he violated their customs, especially the ones about Sabbath. But they couldn’t deny he actually performed miracles and exorcisms—and they correctly understood you simply can’t do such things unless the Holy Spirit empowers you. But they didn’t wanna acknowledge this; they wanted some way to condemn Jesus. Likely they sent for Jerusalem scribes in order to help ’em sort this out, and provide an expert position. Remember, the custom in Pharisaism isn’t to declare what the bible means on your own authority, like Jesus does; it’s to defer to experts. (Whereas Evangelicals like me tend to figure we have enough horse sense to interpret the bible ourselves, and don’t need experts… although sometimes we really do, which is why I still look stuff up in commentaries. But yeah, not every Evangelical does likewise. They just judge someone as heretic immediately, simply because they don’t care for their teachings, or their person, or their politics. But I digress.)
Jesus wouldn’t look for bible verses, biblical loopholes, and rulings from biased elders; he’d say look for the fruit. As he does in this very story.