3.4. Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

Listen to commentary on Mark 3 (22-30)

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying,

"He is possessed by Beelzebul,"

and

"by the prince of demons he casts out the demons."

23　And he called them to him and said to them in parables,

"How can Satan cast out Satan? 24　If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25　And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26　And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27　But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.

28　"Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29　but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"

— 30　for they were saying,

"He has an unclean spirit."

2 Kings 1: 2-8 (2 Kings is a history book of ancient Israel now included in the Old Testament in Christian Bibles. Along with 1 Kings it covers the history of the monarchy between 970 BC and 586 BC. In this extract King Ahaziah - a worshipper of Baal (meaning "Master" or "Lord") - seeks advice, around BC 852, from "Baal - zebub" (meaning "Master of the flies"). It is likely that the Israeli writers of 2 Kings deliberately wrote this to discredit Baal whose proper name was "Baal-zebul" (meaning "Master of the house" or "Master the Prince"). 2　Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, "Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover from this sickness." 3　But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, "Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? 4　Now therefore thus says the Lord, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’　" So Elijah went. 5　The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, "Why have you returned?" 6　And they said to him, "There came a man to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus says the Lord, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’　" 7　He said to them, "What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?" 8　They answered him, "He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist." And he said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

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