14 It was dumb - That is, it made the man so. Mt 12:22.
15 But some said, He casteth out devils by Beelzebub - These he answers,
Lu 11:17. Others, to try whether it were so or no, sought a sign from heaven.
These he reproves in Lu 11:29 and following verses. Beelzebub signifies
the lord of flies, a title which the heathens gave to Jupiter, whom they
accounted the chief of their gods, and yet supposed him to be employed
in driving away flies from their temple and sacrifices. The Philistines
worshipped a deity under this name, as the god of Ekron: from hence the
Jews took the name, and applied it to the chief of the devils. Mr 3:22.
16 Mt 12:38.
17 A house - That is, a family.
20 If I cast out devils by the finger of God - That is, by a power manifestly
Divine. Perhaps the expression intimates farther, that it was done without
any labour: then the kingdom of God is come upon you - Unawares, unexpected:
so the Greek word implies.
21 The strong one armed - The devil, strong in himself, and armed with
the pride, obstinacy, and security of him in whom he dwells.
26 The last state of that man becometh worse than the first - Whoever
reads the sad account Josephus gives of the temple and conduct of the Jews,
after the ascension of Christ and before their final destruction by the
Romans, must acknowledge that no emblem could have been more proper to
describe them. Their characters were the vilest that can be conceived,
and they pressed on to their own ruin, as if they had been possessed by
legions of devils, and wrought up to the last degree of madness. But this
also is fulfilled in all who totally and finally apostatize from true faith.
