Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 12:24

"But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This man doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub the prince of the demons." — Matthew 12:24 (ASV)

But when the Pharisees heard it. It was necessary for the Pharisees, who had determined to reject Jesus of Nazareth, to account in some way for the miracles he had performed. Here was a manifest miracle, an exertion of power unquestionably superior to what men could do. The common people were quickly drawing the proper conclusions from it and coming to believe that this was the Messiah. The authority and power of the Pharisees were declining and about to become extinct.

Unless, therefore, they devised some way of accounting for these facts, their influence would end. Whatever way of accounting for them they adopted, they had to acknowledge that there was superhuman power. The people were fully persuaded of this, and no one could deny it. They therefore ascribed it to the Prince of the devils—to Beelzebub. In this, they had two objects:

1. To concede to the people that here was a miracle, or a work above mere human power.
2. To throw all possible contempt on Jesus. Beelzebub was a contemptuous name, given to the worst and vilest even of the devils . It denoted the god of flies or the god of filth, and hence the god of idolatry, as being, in their view, filth and abomination.