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Mat_10:25. ʼΑρκετὸν τῷ μαθητῇ , ἵνα , κ . τ . λ .] It is enough for the disciple he should be as his Master, i.e. let him satisfy himself with being destined to share the same fate; a better he cannot claim. For ἵνα , comp. Joh_6:29 and the note upon it.
κιὰ ὁ δοῦλος , κ . τ . λ .] by attraction for καὶ τῷ δούλῳ , ἵνα γένηται ὡς ὁ Κύρ . αὐτοῦ . Winer, p. 583 [E. T. 783].
Βεελζεβούλ , name of the devil, which the majority of modern critics (Kuinoel, Fritzsche, de Wette, Bleek, Grimm) agree, with Lightfoot and Buxtorf, in deriving from áÌÇòÇì and æÆáÆì , dominus stercoris, an expression intended to designate with loathing the prince of all moral impurity. It is supposed, at the same time, that the name Beelzebub, the Philistine god of flies, by being changed into Beelzebul (god of dung), came to be employed, in a jocular way, as a name for the devil. See below on the reading Βεελζεβούβ . But, as against the meaning god of dung, there is (1) the form of the name itself, which, if derived from æÆáÆì , should have been spelt Βεελζαβήλ , or Βεελζάβελ , according to the analogy of Ἰεζαβήλ ( àÄéæÆáÆì ), or Ἰεζάβελ (Rev_2:20). (2) The fact that Jesus’ own designation of Himself as οἰκοδεσπότης is evidently chosen with reference to the meaning of Βεελζεβούλ , as indeed is clear from δεσπότης = áòì , and that, accordingly, the name Βεελζεβούλ must contain something corresponding to οἶκος as well. This being so, it is preferable to derive the word from áÌÇòÇì and æÀáåÌì , a dwelling (Gusset, Michaelis, Paulus, Jahn, Hitzig, Philistäer, p. 314; Hilgenfeld, Volkmar), according to which the devil, as lord of his domain, in which the evil spirits dwell, was called Dominus domicilii (but neither tartari, as Paulus, nor domicilii coelestis, as Hilgenfeld, Keim, suppose). Jesus was, in relation to His disciples ( τοὺς οἰκιακοὺς αὐτοῦ ), the Herus domesticus, áÌÇòÇì äÇáÌÇéÄú (Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 333); but, in malicious jest, they applied to Him the corresponding name of the devil: Herus domicilii. Jerome wrote Βεελζεβούβ , from æÀáåÌá , musca, i.e. Dominus muscarum. Such was the name given to a fortune-telling divinity of the Ekronites (2Ki_1:2; 2Ki_1:16), which during an illness was consulted by King Ahaziah, and to which, in connection with the very ancient heathen worship of flies, was ascribed the dominion over those insects, and which therefore was supposed, at the same time, to have the power of averting this scourge of the East. Plin. N. H. x. 28; Pausan. viii. 26, 27; Aelian. H. A. v. 17; Solin. Polyh. 1. But critical testimony most decidedly preponderates in favour of the reading Βεελζεβούλ , which might easily have been changed into Βεελζεβούβ , on account of what is found in 2 Kings 1; and the greater the correspondence between the meaning of the former name and that of οἰκοδεσπότης , it is also the more likely to be the correct form.
That the Jews really called Jesus Βεελζεβούλ , is not elsewhere stated in any of the Gospels, though from our present passage the fact cannot be doubted, while it is probably connected with the accusation in Mat_9:34, Mat_12:34, though going rather further.