But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow does not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons.
All Commentaries on Matthew 12:24 Go To Matthew 12
Remigius of Rheims
AD 533
The word “Then” refers to that above, where having healed the man who had the withered hand, He went out of the synagogue. Or it may be taken of a more extended time; Then, namely, when these things were being done or said.
Beelzebub is the same as Beel or Baal, or Beelphegor. Beel was father of Ninusking of Assyria; Baal was so called because he was worshipped on high; he was calledBeelphegor from the mountain Phegor; Zebub was the servant of Abimelech the son of Gedeon, who, having slain his seventy brothers, built a temple to Baal, and set him up as Priest therein, to drive away the flies which were collected there by the abundant blood of the victims; for Zebub means, a fly. Beelzebub therefore is interpreted, The man of flies; wherefore from this most unclean worship they called him the Prince of the daemons. Having therefore nothing more mean to cast upon the Lord, they said that He cast out daemons by Beelzebub. And it should be known that this word is not to be read with d or tat the end, as some corrupt copies have, but with, b.
