Confrontations with demons is another day at the office for Jesus, as we’ve seen throughout Luke’s account thus far.1 So, at this point in the narrative, we shouldn’t be shocked that Jesus has another confrontation with a demonic entity:
Luke 11:14 Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed.
Liberating people from demonic captivity is the name of his game. Although, many in the crowd marveled at Jesus’ work, you know he had some haters lurking around, too:
15 But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” 16 Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.
In addition to the amazement of some crowd members, we have two additional responses: (1) some in the crowd claim that Jesus’ power source is “Beelzebul,” and (2) others attempt to “test” him by asking for a heaven-sourced sign. In the following passages, Jesus addresses each of these responses in order.
But before we get to Jesus’ first address, who in the world is “Beelzebul?!”
“Beelzebul” (sometimes spelled, “Beelzebub”) is related to the name Baal-Zevuv (Baal-Zebub), which means “lord of the fly [flies]” in Hebrew/Aramaic. It’s possible that the spelling “Baal-Zevuv” is an intentional “misspelling” on the part of Israelites in order to mock the name Baal-Zevul (Baal-Zebul), which means “lord of the house.”
In other words, the Israelites could have shifted the spelling of the name to make it mean, “lord of the flies, ” since it is way less flattering than the meaning, “lord of the house.”
Baal-Zevuv (Baal-Zebub) is first mentioned in the biblical story as a Philistine god in 2 Kings 1:2-3:
2 Kings 1:2 Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.” 3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’
As you can imagine, this doesn’t go well for King Ahaziah.
But as time went on in Israelite history, Baal-Zevuv got integrated within early Jewish demonology. So, by the time we get to Jesus’ day in Luke 11, it wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary for people to conceive of Baal-Zevuv/Beelzebul as an evil spiritual being. Therefore, some in the crowd accuse Jesus of being empowered by said being. So, Jesus responds:
17 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. 18 If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. 19 Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
21 “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. 22 But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.
23 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
In a few words, Jesus exposes the absurdity of their accusation—why would Satan sabotage his own reign by forcing his minions to leave a person he wants to harm? It doesn’t make sense at all, to Jesus’ point. So, it’s apparent that Jesus operates by a different spiritual power—that of the Spirit of God. Therefore, Beelzebul hates to see King Jesus coming because Jesus is the true King who is destroying the dark kingdom piece by piece, which looked like freeing a muted man from his demonic oppression, in this case.
Now, let’s fast forward a bit to Jesus’ address to the second response of some people in the crowd—those who want to test Jesus by asking for a sign.
Interestingly, the Greek word for “test” here comes from the root peirazō, which is only used once more in Luke’s account…back in Luke 4:2! This is when the devil “tempts” Jesus for 40 days.
On one level, those who are attempting to “test” Jesus are participating in the way of the devil—they are seeking to cause Jesus to veer away from what he was divinely appointed to do. He doesn’t give “signs” to satisfy the demands of people or spiritual beings, he does so when the Father leads him to. On another level, the people are asking for something that LITERALLY just happened—a muted, demonically oppressed man was set free by Jesus. This was a sign from heaven, they don’t need another one. Let’s see how Jesus addresses this:
29 As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. 30 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. 31 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here. 32 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here.
The sign that they will receive is “the sign of Jonah.” In Matthew’s parallel account, there’s a mention of Jonah’s three-day experience in the fish’s belly, which is implicitly set in analogy to Jesus’ future burial and resurrection (see Matt 12:40). However, Luke’s account omits this detail from Jonah’s story. Even still, Luke showcases Jesus using the Jonah story to emphasize the error of his opposers in the crowd.
In the days of Jonah, he traveled to Nineveh in the land of Assyria to call the Ninevites to repent or else God’s judgment would come upon them. The Ninevites took heed to Jonah’s words and responded appropriately. They repented and were spared from God’s judgment.
To further emphasize the error of his opposers, Jesus also includes the story of the Queen of Sheba, who traveled to Jerusalem to “test” Solomon’s wisdom (see 1 Kings 10:1-3). As she heard Solomon answer her questions, the Queen was astonished and honored God as the source of Solomon’s notoriety and wisdom.
Yet, in Luke 11, a greater prophet than Jonah is standing before the crowd. A greater, wise-King is standing before them. Yet, unlike the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba, the opposers in the crowd are not responding appropriately to Jesus. They’re not trusting his words. They are choosing not to repent of their mistaken ways of living. Consequently, God’s judgment will befall upon them.
Jesus has come to bind the “strong man,” and clean house! But it’s up to his listeners to choose if they will fill their “houses” with Jesus, his teachings, his Spirit, and his community. Or they can choose to leave their “house” empty to be invaded once again by the strong man and his collaborators.
See Luke 4:31-37; 41; 6:18; 7:21; 8:26-39; 9:37-43.