Still written three decades or more later. 

The interesting thing is they say Beelzebul–a pagan deity referenced in the OT (variant name for Baal), who was sometimes considered a high-ranking demon by Jews, who couldn’t acknowledge any God other than Yahweh.  And Jesus insists on calling Beelzebul Satan.  Jesus was reading the same books they were (I believe he could read, but either way, he clearly knew the source material pretty well).  Satan isn’t a chief devil in the OT, but a servant of God, a sort of prosecutor-general of heaven.  Obviously there would be different takes on him in the larger Jewish literature, as there are for all such beings in all mythologies (Loki is sometimes a sympathetic character). 

So did Jesus have a different idea of who Satan is, perhaps influenced by John and the Essenes–or did that idea develop later, and they put it in his mouth.  In other words, Mark has the older story, where Jesus is talking the same language as his accusers–which makes more sense–but he doesn’t think Christians who aren’t Jewish will understand .  He’s trying once again to translate between cultures.  Make it all fit together.  Beelzebul, Satan–same thing.  But I’m not sure Jesus would have agreed. 

I think most people who believed in such entities believed there were more and less powerful demons.  A hierarchy–but to make one the King of all demons, would be somehow equating that entity with God, which for a devout Jew, is a serious problem.  For the pagan converts (some of whose ancestors might have worshiped Beelzebul) no problem at all. 

Jesus didn’t believe Hell was a place people went to.  I’m not sure if he believed there was some infernal realm demons hailed from (it’s possible), he definitely did believe demons tempted and maddened human beings, but I don’t think he saw them as fallen angels ruled by His Satanic Majesty.  We tend to project later Christian beliefs back onto him.  Well, so did the gospel authors, at times.  But we’re projecting stuff onto them as well. 

Btw. Be very careful not to say Beelzebul three times in succession.  Unless you’re Winona Ryder.  And if you are, can I have your number?  (Hey, stranger things have happened.)

Wynonna is a Judd, and I was more into her sister, but it’s all moot now.

It’s not about what you or I would think–I simply don’t believe Jews of that period thought in terms of God having a powerful but still weaker demonic counterpart–Morgoth to his Iluvatar.  An inferior rival is still a rival, but Yahweh has none.  

I think Jesus was simply responding to his Jewish detractors as a Jew, making a lively counter-argument–why would a demon-lord undermine his underlings by letting a mere mortal oust them?  Since we’re not talking about a being who is all-powerful (over demons at least) that would lead to rebellion and chaos in the ranks.  A house divided against itself cannot stand.  

Is this a conclusive argument?  How can there be a conclusive argument about beings that only exist in our imaginations?  Is what I think every time I read one of those “Who would win?  Darkseid or Thanos?” type threads on Quora.

(The answer is Darkseid, because Kirby outranks Starlin.  Box office returns don’t count.)

Okay, let’s try again–the problem is that our popular culture is full of All-powerful and perpetually scheming Demon Kings, and not just Satan.  But to Jesus, that’s not who Beelzebul would be.  If he was, then Jesus’ argument makes no sense.  If all demons are at Mr. B’s beck and call, and he says “Let this punk Jesus exorcise you, fool the suckers into following him, to further my evil plan” they’d be like “Okay, boss!”  

In this understanding, there are more and less powerful and influential spirits.  A loose-knit mob with petty bosses, not a disciplined army.  This is perfectly in keeping with what people believed then.  It’s more anarchic–more like what’s described in C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters.  (Lewis being influenced by his reading of scripture, which he correctly sees is not at all like the modern image of Satan and his willing thralls).  They will defer to a more powerful spirit, but not unconditionally.  They are not united under a single unquestioned authority like the Emperor–more like a horde of barbaric nomads, or pirates (both familiar concepts to people then) who will disobey or abandon their leader if they feel he’s not playing straight with them.  They have no loyalties to each other.  They are beings of pure malice and discord, and they don’t make plans.  That’s why madmen are assumed to have a demon.  

This is Jesus’ argument, made to counter the (apparently common) accusation that his miracles come from the demonic realm, not from God.  That if you could use devils to cast out devils, that would split their ranks, make it impossible for these already disordered creatures to work together.  A house divided.  

Now I’m inferring to beat the band here, and there’s no avoiding that.  But I think this is more consistent with what someone of Jesus’ background is likely to have believed, and again, his argument makes no sense if he’s talking about Satan in the later sense of an unquestioned king of hell, God’s opposite number.  To Jesus, God has no opposites.  His authority is unquestioned in all realms.  Beelzebul’s grip over other demons is conditional and easily lost.  He can’t make them act against their own interests, and they are interested in possessing humans.  

If Jesus believed in a King of Hell, who commands all evil spirits, he sure did a good job hiding it.  The stories about him and demons sound more like later Muslim stories about djinn–not surprisingly, since there are many commonalities to Middle Eastern superstitions about such creatures.  

It’s very hard to know exactly what Jesus meant–we don’t even know exactly what his accusers meant.  Or if he really was accused.  We just know this is a story early Christians had heard and believed in.  And we can be pretty sure that their ideas of devils were already quite different from what Jesus believed.  

Think about it from his point of view.  He really doesn’t talk about devils that much.  Most of his faith healing isn’t related to exorcism.  He doesn’t seem to believe that the main problem is Beelzebul, Satan, evil spirits, whatever.  And those stories are all really hard to imagine happening in real life (whereas we know faith healings occur today, even if we have different ideas about how they work, when they work, if they work).  

Yeah, Jesus could have–and would have–talked to people who were believed to have evil spirits.  Because he’d talk to anyone–he was especiallly interested in those who were in some way despised or shunned by society.  The last shall be first.  And just talking to and listening to people who are mentally ill can help them sometimes, as was established much later.  Not widely understood then.  So it could give you a rep.  Both good and bad.  

We have every reason to believe all the exorcism stories are very heavily embellished.  Perhaps this began very early, perhaps not (Bart questions whether Jesus even had a reputation as a miracle worker).  But we can agree that it seems unlikely Jesus said some words and then a herd of swine spontaneously ran over a cliff into the sea.  Pigs are smart.

What does ring true is Jesus doing exorcisms, and then being accused of witchcraft.  And he has to come up with an argument as to why that isn’t true.  It’s going to be based on his understanding of what demons are, and he believes they are disordered creatures who are sometimes the cause of disordered behavior among humans (a truly ancient belief, common to many if not all cultures, going back far into prehistory).  

I don’t need to know exactly what he thought to know that the underlying story being told doesn’t make any sense as later interpreted.  I don’t think Jesus believed the problem was Satan.  I think he believed the problem is that by being sinners, living in a sinful world, we let demons take control of us.  

Look around you.  Isn’t that true? 

Jesus was figuring stuff out as he went along.  Just like the rest of us.  More questions than answers, and he put on a brave front for the disciples, but he knew very well he was whistling in the dark a lot of the time.  

Us moderns with our pampered privileged media-saturated lives who think we’re smarter than him–I gotta roll my eyes a bit.  So I will.  🙄