Matthew Chapter 10 verse 25 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 25. - It is enough (ἀρκετόν); Matthew 6:34, note. It will quite content him; it is sufficient for his aims and wishes (Hebrews 13:5: John 14:8). So Talm. Bab., 'Berach.,' 58b, R. Ula comforts Rub Hisda for the desolation of a friend's house which he formerly knew in its prosperity, by reminding him that the temple too is in ruins, and "It is sufficient for the servant that he be as his master (דיו לעבד שיהא כרבו)." For the disciple. Here (unlike ver. 24) pictured before the mind. That he be. Eventually (ἵνα γένηται). (For the weakened relic force of ἵνα here, cf. Ellicott on 1 Corinthians 4:3.) As his master, and the servant as his lord. That the pronoun was added to "lord" in ver. 24 was perhaps due to the unconscious desire on the part of the reporter to, avoid any possible ambiguity arising from the familiar phrase ὁ κύριος: in these two clauses the insertion of the pronoun is rather due to the fact that "disciple" and "servant" are both defined by the article. If they have called. A typical example of the treatment his disciples will sometimes receive - complete rejection of their message, with deliberate accusation of the worst of crimes. Observe that it is implied that the opprobrious term had already been used of our Lord, although St. Matthew has not yet related it (Matthew 12:24). (On Matthew 9:34, cf. note there.) Called. By no mere chance expression, but by purposely giving him the title (ἐπεκάλεσαν); cf. Hebrews 11:16. The master of the house. Hebrews 3:2-6 may be compared, even though not Christ but God is there probably spoken of as the owner of the house. Beelzebub; "Gr. Beel-zebul; and so elsewhere" (Revised Version margin). The original meaning of the title was probably "Lord of flies" (zebub, 2 Kings 1:3), or possibly "of bees" (zebul, equivalent to zebar, cf. Neubauer, 'Stud. Bibl.,' 1st series, p. 55); but there cannot but be here a play upon the sense, "Lord of the dwelling" (zebul, e.g. Isaiah 63:15), and probably a further reference to the similar sound zebel, Neo-Hebr. for "dung" (cf 2 Kings 17:12, and Wetstein's curious note in Delitzsch, on REFERENCE_WORK:Keil & DelitzschJob 30:12).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(25) It is enough.--Here also we note a tone of grave and tender sympathy, not without the gentle play of feeling which the words seem to betoken. To be as their Master in anything, even in shame and suffering, might well be enough for any scholar.Beelzebub.--The Greek gives the form Beel-zebul. Its history illustrates some interesting phases of Jewish thought. (1.) It appears in the form Baal-zebub, the "Lord of flies" (probably as sending or averting the swarms of flies or locusts that are one of the plagues of the East), as the name of a god worshipped by the Philistines at Ekron, and consulted as an oracle (2Kings 1:2) in cases of disease. (2.) Later Jews, identifying all heathen deities with evil spirits, saw in the god of their nearest and most hated neighbours the chief or prince of those "demons," and in their scorn transformed the name into Baal-zebel, which would mean "Lord of dung," or Baal-zebul, "Lord of the dwelling"--i.e., of the house of the evil spirits who are the enemies of God. Our Lord's connection of the name with "the master of the house" seems to point to the latter meaning as that present to our Lord's thoughts. The reference is clearly made to the charge that had already been implied in Matthew 9:34. We do not indeed find the name of Beel-zebub there, nor indeed do we meet with the direct application of that name to our Lord anywhere in the Gospel history; but there was obviously but a single step, easily taken, between the language they had actually used and that which is here reported of them.