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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Matthew 10:25 - 10:25
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Beelzebub (βεελζεβοὺλ, Beelzebul)
There is a coarse witticism in the application of the word to Christ. Jesus calls himself “the Master of the house,” and the Jews apply to him the corresponding title of the Devil, Hebrews, Beelzebul, Master of the dwelling. (The phrase reappears in German, where the Devil is sometimes called Herr vom Haus. See Goethe, “Faust,” sc. xxi.). Dr. Edersheim's explanation, though ingenious, seems far-fetched. He says that szebuhl, in Rabbinic language, means, not any ordinary dwelling, but specifically the temple ; so that Beelzebul would be Master of the Temple, an expression having reference to the claims of Jesus on his first purification of the temple. He then conceives a play between this word and Beelzibbul, meaning Lord of idolatrous sacrifice, and says: “The Lord of the temple was to them the chief of idolatrous worship; the representative of God, that of the worst of demons. Beelzebul was Beelzibbul. What, then, might his household expect at their hands?” (“Life and Times of Jesus”).