But the Pharisees said Hence it is evident with what rage and fury they were filled, who did not scruple to assail with wicked slander so illustrious a work of God. We ought to observe the contrast between the applause of the people and the blasphemy of those men. The saying of the people, that nothing like it ever happened in Israel, is a confession arising from a sense of the divine glory: which makes it the more evident, that those persons were utterly mad who ventured, as it were, to curse God to his face. We learn from it also, that, when wickedness has reached the height of blindness, there is no work of God, however evident, which it will not pervert. It is, no doubt, monstrous and incredible that mortal men should cry against their Creator: but there is so much the greater reason for dreading that blindness, which arises from the Lord's vengeance on the wicked after long-suffering.

But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils - That is, Beelzebub. See the notes at Matthew 12:24. They did not deny the reality of the miracle or the facts in the case, but they ascribed what was done to the power of the great leader of the fallen host, as if Jesus were in league with him. For the manner in which the Saviour met that reasoning, see the notes at Matthew 12:25-28.

He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils - This verse is wanting in both the Greek and Latin of the C. Bezae, in another copy of the Itala, and in Hilary and Juvencus. But see on Matthew 12:24 (note).
It is a consummate piece of malice to attribute the works of God to the devil. Envy cannot suffer the approbation which is given to the excellencies of others. Those whose hearts are possessed by this vice speak the very language of the devil. Calumny is but a little distance from envy. Though all persons may not have as much envy as the Pharisees, yet they should fear having some degree of it, as all have the principle from whence it proceeds, viz. sin.

But the Pharisees said,.... Who were the sworn enemies of Christ, and were filled with envy at him, and malice against him: these men could not bear, that so much honour and glory should be given to Christ; and therefore said,
he casteth out the devils through the prince of the devils: they could not deny matter of fact, that he had cast out a devil; nor could they say he had done an ill thing in so doing; they could not but own that it was a preternatural action, more than human; nor could they contradict what the multitude said, that no such thing had been ever seen, or known, in Israel: but that Christ might not have the glory of the action, and to fix a mark of infamy upon him, foolishly impute it to a diabolical influence, as if one devil would eject another; and to Christ's familiarity with, and the assistance he had from, not a common devil, but the prince of them. In Beza's most ancient manuscript, and in some others, this whole verse is wanting; and were it not, for the general consent of copies, one should be tempted to think these words were not said at this time, because Christ returns no answer to them; and what is observed by Luke 11:15 as following this miracle, is the selfsame as was spoken by Christ in Matthew 12:24 and where this passage is more thoroughly considered.

But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils--"the demons through the prince of the demons." This seems to be the first muttering of a theory of such miracles which soon became a fixed mode of calumniating them--a theory which would be ridiculous if it were not melancholy as an outburst of the darkest malignity. (See on Matthew 12:24, &c.).

The Pharisees said. With their usual perverseness they gave a sinister explanation.
By the prince of the devils. In other words: He gets power from the devil, instead of God, to cast out demons.