Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 5 Study # 1
November 12, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(122)
1901 ASV
22 And the scribes that came down from Jerusalem said, He hath
Beelzebub, and,
By the prince of the demons casteth he out the demons.
23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
26 And if Satan hath risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
27 But no one can enter into the house of the strong [
man], and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong [
man]; and then he will spoil his house.
28 Verily I say unto you, All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and their blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
29 but whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin:
30 because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
- I. Having Begun His Record of Those Who Were "Alongside" of Him, Mark Suddenly Switches to His Record of The "Official Decision" Regarding Jesus.
- A. The record of those who were "alongside of Him" is the record of the family's declaration that "He stands outside of Himself" (He is mentally unstable).
- 1. His use of "alongside of Him" is ironic: He is pictured as being "alongside" when choosing His disciples, but the family is not of His disciples. They who should have been His most devoted disciples were, instead, trying to get Him to stop His activities by telling those around Him that He didn't know what He was doing and saying.
- 2. This decision of the family is totally unacceptable: it does not give any foundation whatsoever for His undeniable abilities (exorcisms and healings).
- B. The sudden interruption does a couple of things.
- 1. First, it presents the family's "departure" from where they were to go to Him, where He is, with the intention in mind to attempt to get Him to "cease and desist", but they are not yet "there".
- 2. Second, it inserts the more dramatic, and deadly, decision to accuse Him of being in league with the one whose understood desire is to lead Israel into eternal darkness.
- II. Mark's Description of the "Official" Decision.
- A. It comes from "the scribes". These are they who claim to understand the Word of God aright by reason of their exhaustive studies (John 5:39). This is their "claim to fame", literally. It is their goal in life to be held in the highest of esteem by men and their method is "extreme education".
- 1. According to Mark, these "scribes" were well known to have "no authority" in their teaching; i.e. their teaching does not come across as "Truth" and their only real "authority" is their ability to ostracize, and perhaps even eliminate, any who dare to disagree with them (1:22).
- 2. Prior to this reference, Mark mentioned the "scribes" (beyond 1:22) only in 2:6 (where they try to charge Jesus with blasphemy, at least in their own minds -- but keeping it to themselves because they are surrounded by "Jesus-enthusiasts" and would risk their own well-being if they actually revealed what they were thinking in that setting) and in 2:16 (where they tried to drive a wedge between Him and His disciples because He was eating in the house of Levi).
- B. These "scribes" are described by Mark as "having descended from Jerusalem". Because of Mark's earlier use of this verb in 1:10 in his record of God's Spirit "descent" from the opened heavens, there is a deliberate and strong contrast between those who are recorded as "descending". These arrogant scribes think that by "descending from Jerusalem", they can impress the people with their identity as "spokesmen for the only true religion of the only true God". Alternatively, God's Spirit "descends from the open heavens" as One Who actually represents "the only true religion of the only true God", and His "descent" is upon Jesus Whom He qualifies, by testing, for His identity as the Real Spokesman for God.
- 1. In every sense that matters, this is Mark telling his readers that "Official Judaism" has come to its decision regarding Jesus of Nazareth.
- 2. From this "Official Decision", Mark will turn back to the issue of the family's attitude and then will pivot to his record of the "with Him" section (3:14) of Jesus' discipleship of "those whom He wanted" (3:13).
- C. The "Official Decision".
- 1. They "were saying" (imperfect tense; presenting an on-going declaration to any and all) that their decision is "doctrine".
- 2. "He has Beelzebul" (the translators chose to spell the word "Beelzebub" to suit its spelling in Hebrew (Baalzebub: Lord of the Fly), but the underlying Greek is transliterated Beelzeboul (Lord of Dung) and twists the name, most likely to denigrate "the Lord of the Fly" by making reference to how "dung" attracts flies rather than the likely sense that "he that has authority over flies can bring healing by sending them away from the wound". This would make this "lord" a "lord of healing" as is strongly implied in the only Old Testament references to this "deity", which are 2 Kings 1:2, 3, 6, and 16.
- a. Mark, himself, expands the meaning of this accusation in 3:30: "He has an unclean spirit". The "He has..." statements are equivalent to our "demon possessed" though stated in opposite terms: He possesses Beelzeboul is turned around with our "Beelzeboul possesses Him". The actual words imply the demon is possessed by a human whereas we speak of the human being possessed by the demon because the demon is expressing himself through the human rather than the opposite.
- b. Additionally, Jesus, Himself, calls "Beelzebul" "Satan" (3:23), the one who opposed Him in the wilderness in 1:13 (the first of five references by Mark).
- c. But, their choice of Beelzebul is significant. Beelzebul is used in both Matthew and Luke as the "prince of the demons" (Matthew 12:24 and Luke 11:15), just as it is here in Mark by the declaration that He is ruler of the demons. Though Mark only uses the word in this one place in his record, he uses it as a well-known person/concept in the culture. In the Hebrew, "Baal/Beel" is a "Lord" or "Master" and "zebub" is "a fly". The "zeboul" of Mark's record twists it into "Lord of Dung" (which gathers the flies). It is a mocking derogation of a Canaanite/Phoenician deity by the "superior" scribes.
- d. Interestingly, Isaiah 7:18 presents Yahweh as an actual "Lord over the flies" because He "hisses" for them and they come for judgment at His demand.
- 3. By the ruler of the demons he casts out the demons.
- a. This was the scribes' attempt to explain away Jesus' obvious authority over the spirit world (this was better than the family's "He is emotionally unstable", which answers nothing).
- b. The word translated "prince" (Authorized Version) is only used by Mark in this one text (though it is found in 36 texts of the New Testament). But Mark's record makes them accusing Jesus of "casting out demons by (using the power of) the prince of the demons".
- c. The switch from "an unclean spirit" in 1:23, 26, and 27 to "a demon" was first made in 1:32, and then repeated in 1:34, and 39, and the uses of "unclean spirit" (used in 11 texts by Mark) and "demon" (used in 11 texts by Mark as a noun and used in 4 texts in a verbalized form) are selective in Mark's record depending upon whether he wished to focus on the "uncleanness" of the motivating "spirit" or upon the "power" of the "spirit" involved (to direct one's destiny as in Strong's "to distribute fortunes" in 5:12).