*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The disciple is not above his master By his own example he now exhorts them to perseverance; and, indeed, this consolation is enough to banish all sadness, if we consider that our lot is shared with the Son of God. To make us feel deeper shame, he borrows a twofold comparison from what is customary among men. The disciple reckons it honorable to be placed on a level with his master, and does not venture to wish a higher honor, and again, servants do not refuse to share that condition to which their masters willingly submit. In both respects, the Son of God is far above us: for the Father has given to him the highest authority, and has bestowed on him the office of a teacher. We ought, therefore, to be ashamed of declining what he did not scruple to undergo on our account. But there is more need to meditate on these words than to explain them: for, in themselves, they are sufficiently clear.
The disciple is not above his master - That is, you must expect the same treatment which I have received. They have called me, your Master and Teacher, Beelzebub, the prince of the devils (see Matthew 12:24; Luke 11:15; John 8:48), and you must expect that they will call all of the family by the same name. "Beelzebub" was a god of the Ekronites. See 2-Kings 1:2. The word literally means "the god of flies," so called because this idol was supposed to protect them from the numerous swarms of flies with which that country abounded. The correct reading here, as in Luke 11:15, Luke 11:18-19; Mark 3:22, is supposed to be, not "Beelzebub," but "Beelzebul" (Griesbach, Hahn, Robinson, Lexicon) an Aramean form of the word meaning the "god of dung" or "filth." The name, thus altered by the Jews by changing a single letter, was given to Satan to express supreme contempt and aversion. The Jews seem to have first given to Satan the name of a pagan god, and then, to express their sense of the character of Satan, to have changed that name by altering a single letter so as to express their aversion in the most emphatic manner. By giving the name to Christ, they poured upon him the greatest possible abuse and contempt.
The disciple is not above his master - Or in plainer terms, A scholar is not above his teacher. The saying itself requires no comment, its truth and reasonableness are self-evident, but to the spirit and design we should carefully attend. Jesus is the great teacher: we profess to be his scholars. He who keeps the above saying in his heart will never complain of what he suffers. How many irregular thoughts and affections is this maxim capable of restraining! A man is not a scholar of Christ unless he learn his doctrine; and he does not learn it as he ought unless he put it in practice.
The disciple is not above his master,.... So far from it, that he is inferior to him; as in knowledge, so in reputation and character; and cannot expect the same honour to be given him, and the same respect shown to him, as to his master; and therefore if his master is not used with that decency, and in that becoming manner he ought to be, he must not think it any hardship if he is treated in the same way. Our Lord hereby intends to fortify the minds of his disciples against all the reproach and persecution they were to meet with from the world, by observing to them the treatment he himself met with; wherefore, if he who was their master, a teacher that came from God, and taught as never man did, and was worthy of the utmost deference that could be paid, was maligned and evilly treated by men, it became them who were his disciples, to look for, and patiently bear such indignities; since they could expect no better usage than he himself had: the same doctrine is suggested in the next clause,
nor the servant above his Lord; and both seem to be proverbial expressions. The Jews have a saying (h) much like unto them, , "no servant is worthier than his master"; and Christ might make use of such common, well known expressions, that he might be the more easily understood, and in the most familiar manner convey what he intended, into the minds of his disciples; as, that since he was their Lord, and they were his servants, if his superior character and dignity did not secure him from the obloquy and insults of men, it could not be thought by them, who were inferior to him, that they should escape them.
(h) T. Hieros. Maaser Sheni, fol. 55. 1.
The disciple is not above his master--teacher.
nor the servant above his lord--another maxim which our Lord repeats in various connections (Luke 6:40; John 13:16; John 15:20).
The disciple is not above his master. The disciples must expect to be treated like the master.
Call the master . . . Beelzebub. The prince of evil, Satan, is meant.
*More commentary available at chapter level.