When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
43. dry places ] The waterless desert uninhabited by man was regarded by the Jews as the especial abode of evil spirits.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
43 45. A Figure to illustrate the surpassing Wickedness of the day
Luk 11:24-26, where the connection is different. St Luke, as usual, omits the direct application to Israel.
The connection is not clearly marked. It seems to be this: Christ has been speaking of “this generation;” He now contrasts it with past generations. The Jews of former times were like a man possessed by a demon, the Jews of this day are like a man possessed by many demons.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When the unclean spirit … – The general sentiment which our Saviour here teaches is much more easily understood than the illustration which he uses. The Jews had asked a sign from heaven that should decisively prove that he was the Messiah, and satisfy their unbelief. He replies that, though he should give them such a sign a proof conclusive and satisfactory, and though for a time they should profess to believe and apparently reform, yet such was the obstinacy of their unbelief and wickedness, that they would soon return to their former course. and become worse and worse. Infidelity and wickedness, like an evil spirit in a possessed man, were appropriately at home in them. If driven out, they would find no other place so comfortable and undisturbed as their bosoms. Everywhere they would be, comparatively, like an evil spirit going through deserts and lonely places, and finding no place of rest. They would return, therefore, and dwell with them.
He walketh through dry places – That is, through deserts – regions of country unwatered, sandy, barren, desolate. That our Saviour here speaks according to the ancient belief of the Jews that evil spirits had their abodes in those desolate, uninhabited regions, there can be no doubt; nor can there be any doubt that the Bible gives countenance to the opinion. Thus Rev 18:2; Babylon – is become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit; that is, has become desolate – a place where evil spirits appropriately dwell. So Isa 13:21; And satyrs shall dance there: i. e. according to the ancient Greek translation, devils or demons shall dance there. See also Jer 50:39. Compare the Isa 34:4 note; Deu 32:17 note.
Seeking rest, and findeth none – These desolate and dry regions are represented as uncomfortable habitations; so much so, that the dissatisfied spirit, better pleased with a dwelling in the bosoms of people, as affording an opportunity of doing evil, seeks a return there.
Mat 12:44
Then he saith, I will return into my house … – The man is called his house, because the spirit had dwelt in him.
He findeth it empty … – There is here a continuance of the reference to the dwelling of the spirit in people.
The man was called his house. By the absence of the evil spirit the house is represented as unoccupied, or empty, swept, and garnished; that is, while the evil spirit was away, the man was restored to his right mind, or was freed from the influence of the evil spirit.
Garnished – Adorned, put in order, furnished. Applied to the man, it means that his mind was sane and regular when the evil spirit was gone, or he had a lucid interval.
Mat 12:45
Then goeth he … – Seeing the state of the man; dissatisfied with a lonely dwelling in the desert where he could do no evil; envious of the happiness of the individual, and supremely bent on wickedness, he resolved to increase his power of malignant influences and to return.
He is therefore represented as taking seven other spirits still worse than himself, and returning to his former habitation. Seven denotes a large but indefinite number. It was a favorite number with the Jews, and was used to denote completeness or perfection, or any finished or complete number. See 1Sa 2:5. Compare Rev 1:4. Here it means a sufficient number completely to occupy and harass his soul.
Even so shall it be with this generations – This shows the scope and design of this illustration. The state of that man was a representation of that generation of people. Much might be done to cure their unbelief, much to reform them externally; but such was the firm hold which the principles of infidelity and wickedness had taken of their minds as their proper habitation, that they would return, after all the means used to reform them, and they would be worse and worse. And this was literally accomplished. After all the instructions and miracles of the Saviour and his apostles; after all that had been done for them by holy people and prophets, and by the judgments and mercies of God; and after all their external temporary reformations – like the temporary departure of an evil spirit from a man possessed – yet such was their love of wickedness that the nation became worse and worse. They increased in crime, like the seven-fold misery and wretchedness of the man into whose bosom the seven additional evil spirits came. They rejected Gods messengers, abused his mercies, crucified his Son, and God gave their temple, and capital, and nation into the hands of the Romans. and thousands of the people to destruction.
It is not proved by this passage that evil spirits actually dwell in deserts It is proved only that such was the opinion of the Jews; that that opinion was drawn from some expressions in the Bible; and that such expressions were sufficiently clear to justify the Saviour in drawing an argument from them to confound those who firmly believed that such was the case. Nor is there any absurdity in the opinion; for,
- There are evil spirits. See the notes at Mat 8:33.
- They must exist in some place.
- There is as much propriety that they should be located about our earth as anywhere.
- The clear doctrine of the Bible is, that many of them have much to do with our world.
- It is as reasonable that they should dwell commonly in desolate and uninhabited regions as anywhere else.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 12:43; Mat 12:45
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man.
Furnished, but vacant
The central lesson of this text is this: that reformation is not necessarily salvation-that, indeed, reformation without godliness may bring a curse rather than a blessing. And it is not the history of the Jewish nation only which illustrates this principle. Look at the reaction which, in our own country, followed the Puritan Reformation. Again, there are not a few in our day who have lost all faith in the gospel of Christ, but who are firm relievers is the power of science and material civilization to elevate and bless mankind. Science may expel the devils of ignorance and superstition; it may sweep the house, and garnish it with information on a thousand subjects. But can it supply the house with a tenant strong enough to keep out the seven worse devils when they come? I do not know that ignorance is more dangerous than intellectual pride. I do not know that a superstitious idolatry is worse than an atheistic materialism. Nay, it may perhaps be more healthful for a man to worship the stars than to worship his own telescope, it is surely better to feel after God in the darkness, than to cease caring for Him in the light. Coming nearer home, my text also teaches us a pratical lesson as to our dealings with individuals whom we are seeking to save and BLESS. AS a parent you endeavour by earnest discipline to expel from your child the demons of disobedience, untruthfulness, self-will. You do well in thus sweeping the house; but this is not salvation. One deed done by your boy through the love of God or Christ or goodness, is worth all the sweeping and garnishing in the world; for it indicates that the house is tenanted. Take another case. Here, let us suppose, is a drunkard whom you are anxious to reform. He is ruining his body, breaking his wifes heart, injuring his family. You succeed in reforming him. This a matter for rejoicing. You have done well in sweeping the house from one vice; but that vice had its root in ungodliness, and if after his reformation the man continues ungodly, there is danger of that ungodliness breaking out in worse sins than ever. Finally, the text has a solemn application to the state of our own souls. The grand question is: Are our souls inhabited by the principles of godliness? Is the spirit of God dwelling within us? Let us choose and cherish all things good. (T. C. Finlayson)
To let, furnished
You may perhaps have seen some large mansion filled with substantial and elegant furniture, and surrounded with a beautiful and well kept garden, and having in its windows a placard bearing the words To let, furnished. I fear there is many a man in modern Christendom of whom such a house is only too fitting an emblem! He may have been well instructed in the truths of Christianity; his mind may be richly stored with the fruits of modern culture; he may be brilliant and accomplished; his acquirements may be substantial, his manners gentlemanly, his tastes refined, his conduct decorous: but the well-furnished rooms are all vacant: they are not tenanted by the spiritual life; they are sadly too open to the incursions of evil; and one day, perhaps, the seven devils may come and abuse to their own purposes all those intellectual and aesthetic treasures. (T. C. Finlayson.)
Reaction
I suppose there never was a time in the history of England which equalled in licentiousness and profanity the period ushered in by the Restoration. And doubtless the chief cause of this is to be found in the endeavour of the Puritans, when they were in power, to force upon the nation both their own theology and their own code of morals. The Puritans, in their intense eagerness to reform the nation, fell into the great mistake of supposing that they could make the people orthodox and virtuous by Acts of Parliament. At least, their deeds were in accordance with some such theory. The Book of Common Prayer was forbidden, under penalty, to be used either in churches or in private houses. Punishments were threatened against such as should find fault with the Calvinistic mode of worship. Public amusements were attacked. Theatrical representstions were proscribed. One statute ordered that all the maypoles in England should be cut down. The Long Parliament gave orders that Christmas Day should be strictly observed as a fast-a day of national humiliation. No person was to be admitted into the public service until the House of Legislature should be satisfied as to his real godliness. Thus the Puritans set themselves most vigorously to sweep England and to garnish it. And it cannot be denied that to some extent they succeeded. The country did present an aspect of greater devoutness and morality. But all such Acts of Parliament could not communicate one spark of religious life; they could sweep away much visible dust, they could garnish the house with external observances, but they could not send the indwelling tenant. And so, in due time, to the untenanted house came the seven devils:-first, hypocrisy and all manner of cant, and secret debauchery, even during the Protectorate; and then, at the Restoration, an unblushing profanity sand licentiousness, the like of which England had never seen before. The king and his courtiers set the example of profligacy. The statesmen of the land became mere selfish tricksters. Literature draggled itself in the mire of pollution. The stage became utterly corrupt. Conventicles were proscribed. John Bunyan was only one of many who were sent to prison for preaching the gospel. (T. C. Finlayson.)
The return of the dispossessed spirit
And if we look to England at the period of the Reformation, we find that men, raised up by God, and endowed of Him with singular boldness, and wisdom, and piety, exorcised the unclean spirit of Romish superstition, and ejected from amongst us the corruptions of Popery. It was a sublime moral revolution, and never did the human mind struggle free from a more oppressive shackle, never was there thrown off from a people a mightier weight, than when Reformers had won the hard-fought battle, and Protestantism was enthroned as the religion of these realms. But we should like to have it carefully considered, whether there has been no receiving back the unclean spirit. The human mind, long enslaved, was intoxicated with its freedom, and, in place of stopping at liberty, went on to lawlessness. Hence the overspreading of the land with a thousand sects and a thousand systems; as though, in casting out the one spirit of ecclesiastical tyranny, we had taken in the seven of ecclesiastical disunion. And over and above this melancholy disruption of the visible Church, Popery itself has too often found a home in our Protestantism: for whenever formality has insinuated itself into religion, or self-righteousness, or the substitution of means for an end, then has there been introduced the very essence of Romanism: the ejected spirit has come back, the same in nature, though less repulsive in appearance. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
The genius of moral evil
I. Amazing audacity-My house.
II. Unscrupulous dishonesty.
1. Not a particle of its materials belong to him.
2. Not an effort in its workmanship was his.
III. Intense selfishness. Why does he return to the house, for injury.
IV. Egregious folly. Possession precarious. (Dr. Thomas.)
Transient religious impressions
I. The withdrawal of the evil spirit,
II. His restless anxiety to return.
III. The re-entrance he at length effects.
1. Of the state in which he found it. Empty. Garnished but not furnished.
2. The possession he again takes.
IV. The affecting ,consequence of his repossession.
1. He will now run greater lengths in impiety than before.
2. He is less likely than ever to be recovered from Satanic dominion.
3. It must prove the occasion of more severe and aggravated suffering. (H. Bromley.)
The house swept and garnished
I. A miserable condition indicated. It is that of a man under the influence of an evil spirit.
1. This influence is powerful. It is inward, controlling, directing.
2. It is defiling.
II. An agreeable deliverance experienced. Men may undergo considerable change for the better, without being really converted.
1. In the Word of God this truth is frequently set forth.
2. It is confirmed by innumerable instances.
3. This subject demands serious thought, and vigorous self-examination.
III. A fearful relapse described.
1. When the evil spirit returned he found the house unoccupied.
2. His return under these circumstances was easily effected.
3. The consequences attending this re-possession were truly awful. (Expository Outlines.)
The dangers of relapse
Evil, in every form or stage, is dangerous. But if one comes out of these evils, and lapses back into them, the dangers are increased. This is well understood in disease. When the fever has subsided, and pulse and temperature have become normal, if then, through some indiscretion or exposure, the disease returns, the physician looks for a wider variation of pulse and temperature, and greater danger. The forces of nature are weakened; the house of the body was swept clean of all those gracious energies that filled it full of life and health, and now the disease runs riot through all its undefended chambers and passages. So one may dwell in a marsh at the foot of a mountain-a miserable existence, it may be, in malarious damps and under fatal shades; but it is better to stay there than to climb the mountain and heedlessly slip over a precipice. Life may be maintained below, though under wretched conditions; but the fall may cripple or end it. So one may live a contented life in rude poverty; the single room of the hut, water from the spring, the wild forest around, the homespun suit, the plain diet, the unhelped toil, the dull and narrow routine-a picture for pity, perhaps, and not representing the best forms of life; but if one escapes it, and comes into finer and larger ways of living, and then is driven back to the old place and ways, the lapse breeds a discontent and misery before unknown. To venture forth and then return; to rise and fall back; to promise and not fulfil; to undertake and not do-this is the tragedy of character.
I. One who lapses from religious earnestness does not easily regain it; and if the lapses are frequent there is danger of losing it altogether. The Divine flame cannot often go out and be re-kindled. Once out, it is apt to stay out. The religious nature cannot be tampered with, and retain its integrity. It is largely made up of emotions and passions that lose their quality, and turn into scourges, if treated fitfully. You may bend a bar of iron, and straighten it again; but after repeating this process a few times it suddenly parts in your hands, and only fusing fire can weld it. Take a finer passion-love. You cannot give and take back love without ceasing to love; it is, by its nature, a continuous thing. Violate its nature as such, and it becomes a name and a disgust. One cannot fall in love many times, and have a heart left Fire always burns; water seeks its level; the crystal keeps its angle; light extinguishes darkness. So in spiritual matters; we cannot trifle with these great passions of love and reverence, devotion, fidelity and enthusiasm without destroying them It is dangerous, because self-destructive to say, I will do a thing, and then not do it; to take a place of responsibility, and shirk its duties when they begin to press hard and grow monotonous. If we trifle with truth and duty, we do not merely lose them; we change them into avenging spirits that return to us with consuming power.
II. One who takes up and lays off a duty, and is fitful in religious habits and feelings, grows sceptical of the reality of these things. A religious life gets its vindication and comes to a full proof of its reality, only as it is continuous and lived out to the full. One cannot in a year test the full power of a single Christian quality. A personal vindication of the faith is a life-work, and requires all its years. Thus only does one come to know in whom and what one believes. But if the test is a short or vacillating one; if you try prayer, worship, self-denial, meekness, charity, forgiveness, self-control, devotion for a while, and lapse out of them, you doubt their reality. Why should you not? They bore you no fruit, gave you no proof. But alas for him who reaches such a conclusion by such a process. It is something to believe in goodness, though we may not be good; to believe that honest men walk the streets, though we may not be honest; that the light which shines from the downcast eves of modesty is not a false light, though it may have died out in our own; that when men speak of prayer and faith, they speak of realities and powers, though we may be strangers to them. But to doubt them, to disbelieve their existence-that is perdition. Then the soul begins to depart from all things, the glory of humanity fades Out; inspiration ceases to play within us; nobility is gone out of all our life.
III. The reasons for stedfastness. Only one true goal of human effort-character. To know its conditions and obey them is the sum of all knowledge and duty. Regularity, bending the powers to one end, doing always the right thing under the right motive-it is thus that character takes shape and becomes a reality. A habit of religious thought may be formed as truly as a trade can be learned, and under the same law of repetition, guided by will and sympathetic purpose. Lapse, alternations, fluctuations, now earnest, now slothful, now up and doing, and now doing nothing, now alive with religious enthusiasm, now sunk down in apathy-such a history is the defeat and the denial of character. There is still hope no doubt, for one who has had such a history; but he must take care not to repeat it. Character is justly adjudged by its faults and vices, rather than from its virtues; just as it is the weakest spot in the iron that measures the strength of the bar, and just as the rope will hold only the weight that the frayed and chafed strands can endure. In character, the vice blackens the virtue; the virtue cannot whiten the vice And so, when we turn to the Bible, we find all the promises and all the rewards poured out on those who are faithful unto the end. The patience of the saints is the burden of its exhortation. Be thou faithful unto death, and thou shalt win the crown of life. And in keeping with this, the picture of heavenly perfection, is that of constancy-serving God day and night in His temple; and so they reign for ever and ever. (T. T. Munger.)
The empty life
As wealth increases, as we multiply men-servants and maid-servants in our houses, as life becomes less primitive and more artificial, there come to be found a large number of persons, both men and women, who have little or nothing to do, unless they seek or make an occupation for themselves. It is out of such a condition of things that there is sure to arise, sooner or later, every imaginable evil that can afflict society or ruin the individual soul. Given the growth of wealth, luxury and indolence, and straightway you have prepared a nest in which a whole brood of vices will soon and swiftly be hatched. When one home is clouded or shattered by the shame of some wretched intrigue, and another stung and wounded by the cruelty of some causeless calumny, and a third dishonoured and disbanded perhaps by some foolish and criminal extravagance, have we ever paused to consider amid what idleness, what aimlessness, amid what vapid seeking for a fresh excitement in the dead dull level of an unemployed and uninterested life, these manifold forms of evil were conceived and initiated? Ah! if we could trace back some crime or baseness to its incipient beginning, how often should we find it true that, into the life, empty, swept and garnished, there had entered, just because it was so empty, its hands so idle and unemployed, its heart so uninterested and indifferent, a whole legion of devils to drag it down to hell. (Bishop H. C. Potter.)
The entrance of evil
It is not here said that the evil spirit breaks open the door, or that he does so much as draw the latch; but that he finds it empty and open already, and all things ready for his entertainment; so that, if we reach not out our hands to welcome him when he comes, and set not our doors open to let him in when he knocks, his temptations can never do us hurt; he can but entreat us, as he did Christ; and, if we fall, the fault is our own; we cast ourselves down headlong into misery and sin. (Bishop Cosin.)
The heart a house
So the malicious heart is a house for the spirit of envy: the drunken for the spirit of sobriety: the proud for the spirit of pride: the unchaste for the spirit of uncleanness: usurer for the spirit of covetousness. (T. Adams.)
Satanic disquietude when cast out of man
The discontented devil cast out of man seeks about for a new lodging; and finds all places dry: he esteems every place, but in mans heart, irksome and unpleasant, as a dry, barren, and healthy wilderness. Now, as when a man hath long lived in a fertile valley, abounding with delightful fruits, and necessary comforts, the grounds standing thick with corn, and a pleasant river running along, to glad his heart with a welcome moisture; it cannot be other than a displeasing change to be banished into a mountainous desert, where the scorching sun burns up the grass, and withers the fruit; or the unhindered force of the wind finds a bleak object to work upon; where the veins of blood, the springs of water, rise not, run not, to modify the earth, and cherish her plants. Such is Satans case and cause of perplexity. The wicked heart was his delighted orchard, where the fruits of disobedience, oaths, lies, blasphemies, oppressions, cozenages, contentions, drunken, proud, covetous actions and habits made him fat.
The concealed occupant
The devil may be within the grate, though he thrust not out his apparent horns, or say, he be walked abroad, yet be returns home at night: and in the mean time, like a mistrustful churl, locks the door after him; spares up the heart with security, that his treasure be not stolen. Thus as a snail, he gathers up himself into his shell and house of the heart, when he fears discovery, and puts not forth his horns. Sometimes he plays not in the sun actually, but burrows deep in the affections. The fox keeps his den close, when he knows that Gods huntsmen be abroad to seek him. (T. Adams.)
Satanic relaxation not expulsion
Nero is still in Rome, though he remits taxations, and forbears massacres for a season. (T. Adams.)
The apostate, or black saint
Man compared to a fort, and the devil to its captain.
I. The unclean spirits egress, forsaking the hold.
1. His unroosting:
(a) the person going out;
(b) the manner;
(c) the measure, of his going out.
2. His unresting: which is seen in
(a) his travel;
(b) his trial;
(c) his trouble;
(d) the event-finding none.
II. His regress, striving for a re-entry into that which he lost.
1. Intentively:
(a) his resolution;
(b) his revolution;
(c) the description of the seat;
(d) his affection to the same place.
2. Inventively: for he findeth in it,
(a) Clearness;
(b) Cleanness:
(c) Trimness.
III. His ingress: manifest by-
1. His associates;
(a) their number;
(b) their nature;
(c) the measure of their malice.
2. His assault:
(a) the invasion;
(b) the inhabitation;
(c) the cohabitation. (T. Adams.)
Partial Sweeping
For like as a lazy and slothful housewife uses to sweep a little of the loose dust and filth in the open and middle of the room, and lets many secret corners lie foul as before, and maybe leaves the dirt behind the door out of the public view of people: so the false and counterfeit Christian reforms his life in the sight of men; or, like the Pharisees, makes clean the outside of the cup and platter, but their hearts are still polluted, and as vile as ever. (B. Keach.)
A natural improvement, not a saving operation
And remarkable is the phrase of our Saviour, garnished, which we know is commonly a curious piece of art, men by their ingenuity strive to imitate nature; they will draw the face of a man, etc., with curious painting, very exact, so that it much resembles the persons natural face, yet it is not the same, it is but a piece of paint, an artificial invention. Even so in like manner by the improvement of mans natural parts, common grace, light and knowledge, he may appear in the view and sight of men, as a true child of God, and may talk and discourse like a saint, read and hear Gods Word-nay, and pray also with much seeming devotion and piety, and may likewise bridle many unruly lusts, and gross enormities of life, and give alms to the poor, insomuch that he may very exactly resemble a true and sincere Christian, and be taken by all godly people to be indeed such an one; but notwithstanding all, it is but an artificial piece, it is but like a curious paint, or vainglorious garnish; it is not the image of God, it is not the new creature; though it looks like it, much resembles it, yet is not the same; for the man is a mere hypocrite, a counterfeit Christian, the work upon him being only the product of natural improvements, and not the effects of the saving operations of the Holy Spirit. (B. Keach.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 43. When the unclean spirit] If there had been no reality in demoniacal possessions, our Lord would have scarcely appealed to a case of this kind here, to point out the real state of the Jewish people, and the desolation which was coming upon them. Had this been only a vulgar error, of the nonsense of which the learned scribes and the wise Pharisees must have been convinced, the case not being one in point, because not true, must have been treated by that very people with contempt for whose conviction it was alone designed.
He walketh through dry places] ‘ . There seems to be a reference here to the Orphic demonology, in which evil spirits were divided into various classes, according to the different regions of their abode, or places in which they delighted. These classes were five:
1. , Celestial demons.
2. , Aerial.
3. , Aquatic.
4. , Terrestrial.
5. , And subterranean demons.
See Orph. ad Mus. ap. Schott. The Platonists, the followers of Zoroaster, and the primitive Jews, made nearly the same distinctions.
Seeking rest] Or refreshment. Strange! a fallen corrupt spirit can have no rest but in the polluted human heart: the corruption of the one is suited to the pollution of the other, and thus like cleaves to like.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The speech appeareth parabolical, the persons concerned in it are expressed in the last words, the men of that wicked generation. The text is thought to be well expounded by Peter, 2Pe 2:20, If after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. Our Lord here compares the Jews to a man out of whom the unclean spirit was gone. The devil is called the unclean spirit, both in regard of his own impure nature, and because his work is to tempt men to sin, which is spiritual filthiness. The Jews were a people holy to the Lord, a people distinguished from pagans by a visible profession; so as the devil in a great measure had left them. Now, saith he, the devil is an unquiet spirit, and findeth no rest if he cannot be doing mischief to men. For the phrase, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, we must know, that in parabolical speeches we must not make a severe scrutiny upon every phrase. Dry places are for the most part places least inhabited, for want of the conveniences of water. The devil cannot be at rest where he hath no mischief to do to men.
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out: the devil so leaveth none, but he will be attempting to come into them again; and he ordinarily succeeds where Christ hath not prepossessed the soul: all other reformation proves but a sweeping and a garnishing, while the soul is empty of Christ. It may be swept from the filth of flagitious sins, and garnished with the paint of religion, or some habits of moral virtue; but none of these will keep out the devil.
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. Seven, that is, many. The meaning is, he makes that man much worse than before. So (saith he) it shall be to these Jews. God gave them his laws, and so delivered them from such a dominion as the devil doth exercise over pagans. In force of this law, the scribes and Pharisees amended many things, so as they were like a house swept and garnished. God sent his Son to dwell amongst them, but him they rejected; so the house was empty, though swept and garnished. The devil will come again, and they will be ten times worse.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
43-45. When the unclean spirit isgone out of a man, c.On this important parable, in connectionwith the corresponding one (Mt12:29) see on Lu 11:21-26.
A charminglittle incident, given only in Luk 11:27Luk 11:28, seems to have itsproper place here.
Lu11:27:
Andit came to pass, as He spake these things, a certain woman ofthe company out of the crowd.
liftedup her voice and said unto Him, Blessed is the womb that bare Thee,and the paps which Thou hast suckedWith true womanly feeling she enviesthe mother of such a wonderful Teacher. And a higher and better thanshe had said as much before her (see on Lu1:28). How does our Lord, then, treat it? He is far fromcondemning it. He only holds up as “blessed rather” anotherclass: Lu 11:28:
But hesaid, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word ofGod, and keep itin other words, the humblest realsaint of God. How utterly alien is this sentiment from the teachingof the Church of Rome, which would doubtless excommunicate any one ofits members that dared to talk in such a strain!
His Mother and Brethren Seek toSpeak with Him and the Answer (Mt12:46-50).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man,…. By “the unclean” spirit, is meant Satan, the old serpent, the devil; who by the Jews, is wont to be called as here, , “the unclean spirit” x; and that, because he is by sin become so, though he was not so originally; is the cause of uncleanness in men, and delights in unclean persons, places, and things: his “going out of a man”, is not to be understood of his being dispossessed of the bodies of men; nor of the ejection of him, and his going by force, through the power of divine grace, out of the souls of men; but either of his leaving the Jews for a while, in some sort, whilst Christ and the Gospel continued among them; and of his going out of the Scribes and Pharisees; not really, but putting on another form, appearing as an angel of light, and under the guise of holiness and righteousness: and so he may be said to go out of men, when any outward reformation is made in them; and they take up a profession of religion, though destitute of the grace of God:
he walketh through dry places; referring to a prevailing notion, that unclean spirits walk in, and haunt, desert and desolate places; and may have regard to the Gentiles, among whom Satan might go, seeking rest and satisfaction among them, in their idolatries and other wickedness, till he was there also disturbed by the Gospel sent among them: or by these “dry places” may be meant the saints, whom he takes his walks among, in order, by tempting, to distress them, being secure of pharisaical persons: and these may be so called, not for what they are in themselves; not because the sun of righteousness shines upon them: or because thirsty and desirous of divine and spiritual things; much less as if they had no moisture, since they have a well of living water in them, and are watered by the Lord; or were unfruitful, as dry places usually are; but for what they were to the unclean spirit, there being nothing in their grace, and the exercise of it, and in their spiritual performances, grateful to him; nothing to quench his thirst, and satisfy his sinful appetite; nor were there in them the mire and dirt of iniquity to roll in, as in unregenerate persons: wherefore he is represented as
seeking rest, and findeth none: his view in walking in these places, or among such persons, is rest; not the rest of the saints, he seeks their disturbance, but his own rest; which is to do all the mischief he can, by stirring up corruption, tempting to sin, and discouraging the exercise of grace; but is not able to do so much mischief as he would, and so cannot find the rest he seeks for, nor satisfy his envious, spiteful, and malicious temper: and this being the case, it follows,
x Zohar in Gen. fol. 77. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
SELF-REFORMATION FOR SALVATION IS
WORTHLESS V. 43-45
1) “When the unclean spirit Is gone out of a man,” (hotan de to akatharton pneuma ekelthe apo tou anthropou) “Now when the unclean spirit (demon spirit) goes out from a man, of his own choice,” Luk 11:24-26. Jesus turns here, from the Pharisees, back to the subject of Mat 12:30; These unclean spirits are described, Mat 10:1; Mr 1:27; 3:11; 5:13; 6:7; Luk 4:36; Act 5:16; Act 8:7.
2) “He walketh through dry places,” (dierchetai di’ anudron topon) “He goes through dry places as he wills,” much as the Devil “goeth about,” seeking whom he may devour,” 1Pe 5:8; Job 1:6-12. Restlessly he stalks about, unsettled, with fear, like unsaved, wicked men, Isa 57:20-21.
3) “Seeking rest,” (zetou anapausin) “Seeking a place to settle down or abide, seeking a person or place of occupancy for himself as “an unclean, demon, or deranged spirit being, like, an unsaved man, Job 15:20-21.
4) “And findeth none.” (kai ouch heurikei) “And he finds not a place,” on his own, or by his own seeking, Luk 11:24; restlessness, and sounds of fear follow him wherever he goes, so much like it does a sinner held in his power, Heb 2:14-15; Pro 4:14-16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
43. But when the unclean spirit hath gone out. He speaks of scribes and hypocrites of a similar character, who, despising the grace of God, enter into a conspiracy with the devil. Against such persons he pronounces that punishment which their ingratitude deserves. To make his doctrine more extensively useful, he points out, in a general manner, the condemnation that awaits those who, despising the grace offered to them, again open the door to the devil. But as almost every particle has great weight, there are some points that must be noticed in their order, before we come to treat the substance of the parable.
What Christ says about the going out of the devil is intended to magnify the power and efficacy of the grace of God. Whenever God draws near to us, and, above all, when he approaches us in the person of his Son, the design is, to rescue us from the tyranny of the devil, and to receive us into his favor. This had been openly declared by Christ in the miracle which he had lately performed. As it is the peculiar office of Christ to banish wicked spirits, that they may no longer reign over men, the devil is justly said to go out of those men to whom Christ exhibits himself as a Redeemer. Though the presence of Christ is not efficacious to all, because unbelievers render it useless to them, yet he intended to point out why he visits us, what is implied in his coming, and how it is regarded by wicked spirits; for in every case in which Christ operates on men, the devils are drawn into a contest with him, and sink beneath his power. Let us, therefore, hold it to be a settled point, that the devil is cast out of us, whenever Christ shines upon us, and displays his grace towards us by some manifestation.
Secondly, the wretched condition of the whole human race is here described to us; for it follows that the devil has a residence within man, since he is driven from it by the Son of God. Now what is here said relates not to one individual or to another, but to the whole posterity of Adam. And this is the glory of our nature, that the devil has his seat within us, and inhabits both the body and the soul. So much the more illustrious is the display of the mercy of God, when we, who were the loathsome dens of the devil, are made temples to Himself, and consecrated for a habitation of His Spirit.
Thirdly, we have here a description of Satan’s nature. He never ceases to do us injury, but is continually busy, and moves from one place to another. In a word, he directs all his efforts to accomplish our destruction; and above all, when he has been vanquished and put to flight by Christ, it only tends more to whet his rage and keenness to do us injury. (144) Before Christ makes us partakers of his energy, it seems as if it were in sport and amusement that this enemy reigns over us; (145) but when he has been driven out, he conceives resentment at having lost his prey, collects new forces, and arouses all his senses to attack us anew.
He walketh through dry places. This is a metaphorical expression, and denotes that to dwell out of men is to him a wretched banishment, and resembles a barren wilderness. Such, too, is the import of the phrase, seeking rest, so long as he dwells out of men; for then he is displeased and tormented, and ceases not to labor by one means or by another, till he recover what he has lost. (146) Let us, therefore, learn that, as soon as Christ calls us, a sharper and fiercer contest is prepared for us. Though he meditates the destruction of all, and though the words of Peter apply to all without exception, that he
goeth about as a roaring lion, and seeketh whom he may devour, (1Pe 5:8,)
yet we are plainly taught by these words of Christ, that Satan views with deeper hatred, and attacks with greater fierceness and rage, those who have been rescued from his snares. Such an admonition, however, ought not to inspire us with terror, but to arouse us to keep diligent watch, and to put on the spiritual armor, that we may make a brave resistance.
(144) “ Il aiguise tant plus son appetit enrage de nous mal-faire;” — “so much the more does it whet his enraged appetite to do us injury.”
(145) “ Ce mal-heureux ennemi nous manie tout a son aise, et regne en nous comme en se iouant;” — “this unhappy foe governs us altogether at his ease, and reigns over us, as it were, in sport.”
(146) “ Iusques a ce qu’il retrouve la proye qu’on luy a ostee d’entremains;” — “till he recover the prey that has been snatched out of his hands.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(43) When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man.The parable comes in abruptly, possibly because here, as elsewhere, we have a part and not the whole of a discourse, striking passages noted and put together, now in this order, now in that, while the links that joined them are missing. The inner connection of thought is, however, clear enough. How was it, it might be asked, that Israel had sunk to such a depth of evil? and the answer was found in the similitude which thus opens. The phenomena which furnish the comparison were probably familiar enough. So far as possession was identical in its phenomena, wholly or in part, with insanity, there might be sudden and violent relapses after intervals of calmness and apparent cure. The spirit of the man, under the influence of exorcisms, or prayers, or the sympathy of friends, might assert its freedom for a time, and then yield again to the oppressor. In the history of such a demoniac, which our Lord narrates in the language of the popular belief, He sees a parable of the history of the Jewish people.
Walketh through dry places.The description reflects the popular idea that the parched deserts of Syria and Arabia and Egypt were haunted by demons, who thence came to invade the bodies and the souls of men. So in the book of Tobit (Tob. 8:3), the demon Asmodeus flees to the upper parts of Egypt.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
43. When the unclean spirit Our Lord draws a picture of the present apostate generation, (including the blaspheming Pharisees,) from the demoniac whom he had dispossessed before the commencement of this discourse, and whose case had given rise to it, (Mat 12:22.) That generation had melted, and been transiently converted, under the preaching of John.
They were precisely like the man he had just dispossessed. But how had the devil again possessed them! Dry places Waterless, and therefore uninhabited deserts. Walketh through dry places The demon, driven by divine power from the hearts of men, is pictured by our Lord as not going to hell directly, but as lingering in the unpeopled regions of the dry desert. Seeking rest, and findeth none Because he pants for a residence in a human being.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it.’
In Mat 10:11 the disciples were given power to cast out ‘unclean spirits’ (elsewhere in Matthew ‘demons’). Jesus now takes the example of a man out of whom an unclean spirit has been cast. The use of ‘unclean spirit’ is almost certainly intended to contrast with the Spirit of God, the ‘Holy’ Spirit.
Like the man in Mat 12:22 this man has been ‘healed’. He has been made clean, at least as far as having an unclean spirit is concerned. But the spirit is not necessarily finished with. It goes off, wandering in waterless places. Demons were regularly seen as living in deserts (Isa 13:20-21; Isa 34:14). It is looking hopelessly for rest. Matthew probably intends us to contrast this with the rest that Jesus gives to those who are His (Mat 11:28). But unclean spirits can find no rest, and it therefore does not find it. There is no peace to the wicked, they are like the troubled sea that finds no rest (Isa 57:20-21).
This journey of the unclean spirit is probably intended to be contrasted with the journey of God’s exiled people for whom in the coming days there will be water in the wilderness and springs in the desert (Isa 35:6; Isa 41:18; Isa 43:20). Even the screech owl may find rest in the wilderness (Isa 34:14), but not the unclean spirit.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Sad Plight of This Generation (12:43-45).
This short illustration takes up the themes that have previously been presented and is firmly in context. Compare (Mat 12:1) the being healed from an evil spirit (Mat 12:22) which represents the inbreaking of the Kingly Rule of God (Mat 12:28). (Mat 12:2) The ‘evil generation’ which has rejected such signs (Mat 12:34; Mat 12:39; Mat 12:41-42; Mat 11:16, and compare Mat 16:4; Mat 17:17; Mat 23:33; Mat 23:36). (Mat 12:3) The unwillingness of Israel to accept the Kingly Rule of God which results in the house still being empty because they have not received His messengers (compare Mat 10:14) and do not do the will of His Father in Heaven (Mat 12:50). (Mat 12:4) The contrast with those who now are Jesus ‘family’, and therefore within His household (compare Mat 10:25), and thus in an occupied ‘house’ (Mat 12:46-50) safe from such intrusion.
The general idea behind the picture is made clear in Mat 12:45. It applies to the evil generation among whom He is preaching. As previously revealed He has bound the strong man (Mat 12:29) and put evil spirits to flight (Mat 12:27) and their house is now empty. By His very preaching He has swept and furnished it (compare how often He compares the Kingly Rule of God to a household – Mat 20:1; Mat 21:33; Luk 12:42; Luk 13:25; Luk 14:21-23). But if they leave Him out of their house, and refuse to enter His household, because they are still playing in the streets regardless (Mat 11:16-17), then they must expect the forces of darkness to regather themselves and re-enter their house with the result that they will be even worse off than before He came (Mat 23:38), and Satan will have a firmer grip on them.
Note how the restlessness of the evil spirit is emphasised in contrast with the One Who has come to give rest (Mat 11:28). If they do not receive His rest, they will receive the restless spirit who can find no rest, along with his companions. If they do not receive the cup of cold water as a believer (Mat 10:42) and the One Who is a spring of water (Joh 4:1-14) they will receive those who come from waterless places.
Analysis.
a
b Then he says, “I will return into my house from where I came out” (Mat 12:44 a).
c And when he is come, he finds it empty, swept, and furnished (Mat 12:44 b).
b Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there (Mat 12:45 a).
a And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first, even so will it also be to this evil generation (Mat 12:45 b).
Note that in ‘a’ the unclean spirit goes out relieving the man’s terrible state, and in the parallel the man’s state becomes worse than it originally was. In ‘b’ the spirit determines to return to the house and in the parallel he does so with seven other spirits. In ‘c’, and centrally, is the reason for the man’s fate. He has left the house fully ready for habitation, because his house having been cleansed and restored he has failed to receive the ‘Stronger than he’ (Luk 11:22) so that He might possess it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
A comparison:
v. 43. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none.
v. 44. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
v. 45. Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. The last words give the key to the entire passage. The people of that generation were like demoniacs, from whom the evil spirits have been driven. They had their opportunity now to be rid of the Evil One’s influence forever. If they would continue to despise His message, their experience would be like that of the man whom He describes. The deserts were represented as the habitation of the devils, Job 30:3; Lev 16:21, Banished into the wilderness of desolation, but continually moving in search of a resting-place, and failing to find relief from the tediousness and monotony, the evil spirit resolves to return to his former habitation. The recital is dramatic: Coming, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished; no good spirit has been permitted to make his home there; all love, meekness, and every good impulse has been thrust out, and vain, showy trifles of fashion and folly are decorating the heart. With so much encouragement the result is easily seen. Seven associates the evil spirit chooses, all of them morally even lower than himself; and all of the devils together make such a person their lasting home. Such is the damnable self-surrender of such as deliberately harden their heart in rejection of Christ and in voluntary unbelief. Theirs is the sin of sins. The fate here pictured by Christ is the one which will overtake all that despise the merciful visitation of Christ in and through His Gospel, that have heard His message of love, but have forgotten and despised His gifts. They are children of destruction in a twofold sense, by nature and by choice. And their end is damnation.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 12:43-45. When the unclean spirit, &c. Our Lord here finishes his defence, alluding to the occasion of the dispute, Mat 12:22 with a parable of a possessed person who, having had a devilor demon expelled out of him, received him back again, with many others, or was taken possession of by them, and thereby was brought into a worse condition than ever. By , dry places, are meant deserts. See Psa 106:14; Psalms 70. Dr. Whitby and some others interpret this of the devils being cast out of Judaea, yet finding no rest in the deserts of heathenism, because there also the apostles cast them out: which drove them to return again to the Jews, and to make them worse than before. Dr. Doddridge thinks, that after the devil was driven out, he would be under a kind of restraint for a while; and that the circumstance of his going into desert places is beautifully imagined, to represent those malignant beings as impatientatthe sight of mankind, when restrained from hurting them, and as choosing on such occasions to seek their rest in the prospect of a sandy desert: but it is needless perhaps thus to stretch the minute circumstances of a parable: if the moral intended be clearly expressed by the chief strokes of it, a variety of lesser circumstances may without any particularsignification be added, to unite and enliven the principal members of the composition. In the interpretation of a parable, therefore, we are not under the least necessity of assigning a moral meaning to every particular circumstance; at the same time, if all of them naturally suggest such a meaning, the parable is so much the more perfect: in this of the ejected demon, the circumstance of his going away to deserts after he was dispossessed, may be one of the kind above mentioned. They who have read the sad account which Josephus gives of the temper and conduct of the Jews after the ascension of Christ, and just before their final destruction by the Romans, must acknowledge that no emblem could have been more proper to describe them, than that which our Saviour here uses. Their characters are the vilest that can be conceived, and they pressed on to their own ruin, as if they had been possessed by legions of devils, and wrought up to the last degree of madness. See Macknight, Calmet, and Chemnitz.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 12:43-45 . Having foretold that the existing generation would be condemned on the judgment day by the Ninevites and that queen from the South, Jesus now proceeds according to the account in Matthew, which is undoubtedly original (comp. Weiss, 1864, p. 84 f.) to explain in an allegorical way the condition of things on which this melancholy certainty is founded. The case of this generation, He says, will be very much like that of a demoniac, into whom the demon that has been expelled from him is ever seeking to return. The demon finds his former abode ready for his reception, and, reinforced by seven others still more wicked than himself, he again enters the demoniac, making his latter condition worse than the former. So will it be with this generation, which, though it should happen to undergo a temporary amendment, will relapse into its old state of confirmed wickedness, and become worse than before. The reason of this is to be found in the fact that the people in question have never entered into true fellowship with Christ, so that their amendment has not proved of a radical kind, has not been of the nature of a new birth. Comp. Luk 11:23-24 ff., where the words are connected with what is said in Mat 12:30 , and are equally allegorical, and not intended literally to describe a case in which demons have actually returned after their expulsion.
] the explanatory autem . It is quite gratuitous to suppose that in our present Matthew something has dropped out before Mat 12:43 (Ewald).
] in whom he had had his abode.
] because deserts ( , the desert , in Herod. iii. 4) were reputed to be the dwelling-place of the demons. Tob 8:3 ; Bar 4:35 ; Rev 18:2 .
, Mat 12:44 (see the critical remarks), is due to the fact that the is viewed in the light of a , in accordance with a construction, , of which classical writers also make a similar use; see Khner, II. 1, p. 48 f.; Bornemann in the Schs. Stud . 1846, p. 40.
, . . .] empty (unpossessed), swept and garnished , a climax by way of describing the man’s condition as one that is calculated to induce re-possession, not to indicate (Bengel, de Wette, Bleek) that healthy state of the soul which forms such an obstacle to the demon in his efforts to regain admission, that he is led to call in the assistance of others. This would be to represent the state of the case in such a way as to make it appear that the demon had found the house barred against him ; but it would likewise be at variance with the whole scope of the allegory, which is designed to exhibit the hopeless incorrigibility of the , so that what is pragmatically assumed is not the idea of moral soundness, but merely that of a readiness to welcome the return of evil influence after a temporary amendment. The reinforcement by seven other spirits is not to be ascribed to the need of greater strength in order to regain possession, but rather (hence , not ) to the fiendish desire now to torment the man much more than before; and so, according to our interpretation, it is no more necessary to impute the calling in of those others to the noble motive of sympathetic friendship (de Wette’s objection) than it would be in the case of the legion with its association of demons.
] the last, i.e . the condition in which he finds himself under the latter possession; : when there was only one demon within him. 2Pe 2:20 ; Mat 27:64 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1358
THE RELAPSED DMONIAC
Mat 12:43-45. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out, and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
THOUGH the general scope of the parables is, for the most part, plain and obvious, it is often difficult to see the precise meaning of some circumstances contained in them. This is the case with the parable before us; the minuter incidents of which may possibly be considered as ornamental; but I think rather that they are essential parts of the parable itself [Note: Our Lord had cast out a devil; and this was by the Pharisees imputed to a confederacy with Beelzebub. After shewing the absurdity of such a notion, he contrasted their state with that of the Ninevites and the Queen of Sheba; and compared them to a relapsed dmoniac, who would be in a worse state than if Satan had never gone out of him at all. Now what is here spoken respecting the unclean spirit, we must interpret of Satan, ejected from the Jews, and going in dry, that is, unfrequented places, or places not watered by the Gospel, to find rest among the Gentiles; and, upon being pursued thither by the preaching of the Apostles, returning to take more full possession of the Jews than ever; since, however reformed some of them might be, they were, as a nation, perfectly prepared, through their inveterate lusts and prejudices, to receive him.]. Its import, on the whole, suggests the following observations:
I.
Persons, once delivered from Satan, are again open to his assaults
Satan certainly has power over the hearts of men
[There is much ascribed to his agency in the holy Scriptures. He blinds the eyes of all unbelievers [Note: 2Co 4:4.] and rules in all their hearts [Note: Eph 2:2.] Though he has not the same power over mens bodies as he once had, he evidently possesses their souls, and drives them to perdition [Note: Mar 9:22. with Joh 8:44.]]
But he often loses, his dominion through the preaching of the Gospel
[Paul was commissioned to turn men from the power of Satan unto God [Note: Act 26:18.]: and the weapon whereby he rescued them from his dominion was the Gospel [Note: 2Co 10:4.]. The same divine energy also attends it, when used by us [Note: 2Ti 2:25-26.] Though conversions are more rare than in the Apostles days, they are not less real.]
Yet they who have been delivered from him, are still open to his assaults
[How often did he repeat his attacks on Peter [Note: Mat 16:23. Luk 22:31.]! With what envious malice did he buffet Paul [Note: 2Co 12:7.]! How did he renew his attempts even on Christ himself [Note: Compare Luk 4:13. Joh 14:30. Luk 22:53.]! Thus he still watches for his opportunity to destroy us [Note: 1Pe 5:8.] Nor shall we be wholly out of his reach, till we are finally discharged from our warfare [Note: Eph 6:11-12.].]
We had need therefore to watch against this subtle enemy; for,
II.
If we be a second time subjected to Satans dominion, our last state will be worse than the first
It is certain that Satan can never finally prevail against the elect
[This is evidently implied in the character which is given of them [Note: 1Jn 2:13-14; 1Jn 5:18.]. The promises of God also ensure to them the victory over him [Note: Rom 16:20]. Hence they are authorized to defy all the powers of darkness [Note: Rom 8:38-39.].]
They, into whom he may return, are described in the text
[The true children of God desire to be ever filled with the Spirit; nor will they suffer the things that please Satan to abide quietly in their hearts; but self-deceivers are satisfied, like Herod, with a partial change [Note: Mar 6:20.], and continue with their old affections and lusts unmortified [Note: Psa 78:36-37.]. Judas, Ananias, Demas, no doubt retained their love of this world. Hence Satan found their hearts swept indeed, and emptied of gross sin, but still furnished for his reception [Note: Many there are who embrace the Gospel, and experience its power so far as to turn them from open gross sin; but they afterwards imbibe false doctrines, or engage in matters of doubtful disputation; and thus change their outward lusts for others that are still more malignant, such as superstition, pride, bigotry, intolerance. Their service is different; but their Master is the same; and their dispositions invite the return of Satan as strongly as the most inveterate lusts could do.] Wherever this is the case, he will surely, however expelled for a season, return ere long with increased power.]
On his return to them their state will be worse than ever
[The Holy Spirit will be grieved, provoked, quenched [Note: Eph 4:30. Isa 63:10. 1Th 5:19.]; and when once men are beguiled from the simplicity that is in Christ, their minds will be more closed against the truth than ever. Their consciences will be silenced, and made callous [Note: 1Ti 4:2.];. Their evil habits also will return, and gain an irresistible dominion; and the deliverance, which they have neglected to improve, will fearfully aggravate their final condemnation [Note: 2Pe 2:20-21.].]
Inquire
1.
Whether ye have ever yet been delivered from Satan
[Perhaps many doubt whether they have ever been possessed by Satan; but this alone is sufficient to prove, that they are yet under his dominion. That usurper reigns in all till he is vanquished and expelled by Jesus Christ; and it is only in answer to fervent prayer, that the adorable Saviour puts forth his power to drive him out. Examine then whether ye have ever thus resisted Satan, and obtained deliverance from him through the power and grace of Christ.]
2.
Be daily maintaining a strict watch against him
[If he has been cast out of us, he is seeking an opportunity to return; nor can he be kept away, but by constant prayer and watchfulness. Let us then guard every avenue of our hearts. Let us implore the aid of our divine inhabitant. The exertion of our own powers in dependence on the intercession and grace of Christ, will ensure us a successful issue of the conflict [Note: Jam 4:7. with Luk 22:31-32.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Ver. 43. When the unclean spirit ] Unclean the devil is called: 1. Affectione (saith Jacobus de Voragine), because he loveth uncleanness. 2. Persuasione, because he persuades men to it. 3. Habitatione, because he inhabits unclean hearts; he finds them foul, he makes them worse. Wheresoever the Great Turk sets his foot once, no grass grows, they say, ever after. Sure it is no grace grows where the devil dwells. Pura Deus mens est, saith one. And religion loves to lie clean, saith another. The Holy Spirit will be content to dwell in a poor but it must be a pure house. The devil, on the contrary, delights in spiritual sluttishness. Harpy-like, a he defileth all he toucheth; and camel-like, drinks not of that water that he hath not first fouled with his feet.
Is gone out of a man ] In regard to inward illumination and outward reformation, 2Pe 2:20 ; such as was found in Bishop Bonner, that breathing devil, who at first seemed to be a good man, a favourer of Luther’s doctrines, a hater of Popery, and was therefore advanced by the Lord Cromwell; to whom he thus wrote in a certain letter: “Stephen Gardiner, for malice and disdain, may be compared to the devil in hell, not giving place to him in pride at all. I mislike in him, that there is so great familiarity aud acquaintance, yea, and such mutual confidence, between him and M., as naughty a fellow, and as very a Papist, as any that I know, where he dare express it.” Who can deny but that the devil was gone out of this man, for a time at least?
He walketh through dry places ] Here the proverb holds true, Anima sicca sapientissima, sensual hearts are the fennish grounds that breed filthy venomous creatures. Job 40:21 , Behemoth lieth in the fens. This, Gulielmus Parisiensis applieth to the devil in sensual hearts. b Contrariwise, the spirits of God’s saints, which burn with faith, hope, and charity, and have all evil humours dried up in them by that spirit of judgment and of burning, these the devil likes not. The tempter findeth nothing in them, though he seek it diligently. He striketh fire, but this tinder takes not. Cupid complained he could never fasten upon the Muses, because he could never find them idle. So here. Or thus, “he walketh through dry places;” i.e. he is discontented and restless (see the like, Jer 17:5-6 ), for otherwise dry and wet is all one with him.
a A fabulous monster, rapacious and filthy, having a woman’s face and body and a bird’s wings and claws, and supposed to act as a minister of divine vengeance. D
b In locis dormit humentibus, hoc est, in omnibus deliciis madentibus.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
43. ] , not ‘ whenever; ’ the indefinite conj. does not assert universality, but is hypothetical; connects strictly with what has preceded. This important parable, in the similitude itself, sets forth to us an evil spirit driven out from a man, wandering in his misery and restlessness through desert places, the abodes and haunts of evil spirits (see Isa 13:21-22 ; Isa 34:14 ), and at last determining on a return to his former victim, whom he finds so prepared for his purposes, that he associates with himself seven other fiends, by whom the wretched man being possessed, ends miserably. In its interpretation we may trace three distinct references, each full of weighty instruction. (1) The direct application of the parable is to the Jewish people , and the parallel runs thus: The old dmon of idolatry brought down on the Jews the Babylonish captivity, and was cast out by it. They did not after their return fall into it again, but rather endured persecution, as under Antiochus Epiphanes. The emptying, sweeping, and garnishing may be traced in the growth of Pharisaic hypocrisy and the Rabbinical schools between the return and the coming of our Lord. The re-possession by the one, and accession of seven other spirits more malicious ( ) than the first, hardly needs explanation. The desperate infatuation of the Jews after our Lord’s ascension, their bitter hostility to His Church, their miserable end as a people, are known to all. Chrysostom, who gives in the main this interpretation, notices their continued infatuation in his own day: and instances their joining in the impieties of Julian. (2) Strikingly parallel with this runs the history of the Christian Church. Not long after the Apostolic times, the golden calves of idolatry were set up by the Church of Rome. What the effect of the captivity was to the Jews, that of the Reformation has been to Christendom. The first evil spirit has been cast out. But by the growth of hypocrisy, secularity, and rationalism, the house has become empty, swept, and garnished: swept and garnished by the decencies of civilization and discoveries of secular knowledge, but empty of living and earnest faith. And he must read prophecy but ill, who does not see under all these seeming improvements the preparation for the final development of the man of sin, the great re-possession, when idolatry and the seven shall bring the outward frame of so-called Christendom to a fearful end. (3) Another important fulfilment of the prophetic parable may be found in the histories of individuals. By religious education or impressions, the devil has been cast out of a man; but how often do the religious lives of men spend themselves in the sweeping and garnishing (see Luk 11:39-40 ), in formality and hypocrisy, till utter emptiness of real faith and spirituality has prepared them for that second fearful invasion of the Evil One, which is indeed worse than the first! (See Heb 6:4 ; Heb 6:6 ; 2Pe 2:20-22 .)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 12:43-45 . A comparison. Cf. Luk 11:24-26 . Formerly Jesus had likened the evil race of Pharisaic religionists to children playing in the market-place (Mat 9:16-19 ). Now He uses expelled demons to depict their spiritual condition. The similitude moves in the region of popular opinion, and gives a glimpse into the superstitions of the time. We gather from it, first, that the effects of the arts of exorcists were temporary; and, second, the popular theory to explain the facts: the demon returned because he could not find a comfortable home anywhere else. On this vide Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. The parable was naturally suggested by the cure of the demoniac (Mat 12:22 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 12:43 . : the haunts of demons, as popularly conceived, were places uninhabited by men, deserts and graveyards. The demon in Tob 8:3 flies to the uppermost parts of Egypt; and in Bar 4:35 a land desolated by fire is to become tenanted by demons. : the spirit keeps moving on in quest of a resting place; like a human being he feels ill at ease in the monotonous waste of sand. : in Luke . The change from participle to finite verb is expressive. The failure to find a resting place was an important fact, as on it depended the resolve to return to the former abode.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 12:43-45
43″Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”
Mat 12:43 “the unclean spirit” See the two Special Topics: Demonic (Unclean Spirits) at Mat 10:1.
“waterless places” In the OT the desert was the haunt of the demonic (i.e., Azazel in Leviticus 16 and desert animals in Isa 13:21; Isa 34:14).
Mat 12:44-45 This passage has three possible meanings.
1. the Jewish exorcists performed exorcisms without personal faith, and the demonic spirit returned
2. it is an allusion to national Israel in the sense of their rejection of idol worship, but without replacing it with a faith relationship to YHWH
3. it referred to the preaching of John the Baptist, whom they accepted as being from God, while rejecting Jesus
The last condition was far worse than the immediate problem (cf. 2Pe 2:20-22).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
When = But when. Introducing the allegory.
the = an. The Art. being inclusive and hypothetic as “a man”, which also has the Art. and is rendered “a”.
spirit. Greek. pneuma. See App-101.
is gone out. If of its own accord, it have gone out, it returns (Mat 12:44). But not when it is “bound” and cast out, as in Mat 12:29.
out of = away from (Greek. apo. App-104.) temporarily, as at the proclamation of John.
a = the.
he = it.
walketh. = roameth. Compare Act 8:4.
dry = waterless: i.e. where no human beings. are.
findeth none = findeth [it] not; has no respite. Greek. ou, as in Mat 12:2.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
43.] , not whenever; the indefinite conj. does not assert universality, but is hypothetical; connects strictly with what has preceded. This important parable, in the similitude itself, sets forth to us an evil spirit driven out from a man, wandering in his misery and restlessness through desert places, the abodes and haunts of evil spirits (see Isa 13:21-22; Isa 34:14), and at last determining on a return to his former victim, whom he finds so prepared for his purposes, that he associates with himself seven other fiends, by whom the wretched man being possessed, ends miserably. In its interpretation we may trace three distinct references, each full of weighty instruction. (1) The direct application of the parable is to the Jewish people, and the parallel runs thus:-The old dmon of idolatry brought down on the Jews the Babylonish captivity, and was cast out by it. They did not after their return fall into it again, but rather endured persecution, as under Antiochus Epiphanes. The emptying, sweeping, and garnishing may be traced in the growth of Pharisaic hypocrisy and the Rabbinical schools between the return and the coming of our Lord. The re-possession by the one, and accession of seven other spirits more malicious () than the first, hardly needs explanation. The desperate infatuation of the Jews after our Lords ascension, their bitter hostility to His Church, their miserable end as a people, are known to all. Chrysostom, who gives in the main this interpretation, notices their continued infatuation in his own day: and instances their joining in the impieties of Julian. (2) Strikingly parallel with this runs the history of the Christian Church. Not long after the Apostolic times, the golden calves of idolatry were set up by the Church of Rome. What the effect of the captivity was to the Jews, that of the Reformation has been to Christendom. The first evil spirit has been cast out. But by the growth of hypocrisy, secularity, and rationalism, the house has become empty, swept, and garnished: swept and garnished by the decencies of civilization and discoveries of secular knowledge, but empty of living and earnest faith. And he must read prophecy but ill, who does not see under all these seeming improvements the preparation for the final development of the man of sin, the great re-possession, when idolatry and the seven shall bring the outward frame of so-called Christendom to a fearful end. (3) Another important fulfilment of the prophetic parable may be found in the histories of individuals. By religious education or impressions, the devil has been cast out of a man; but how often do the religious lives of men spend themselves in the sweeping and garnishing (see Luk 11:39-40), in formality and hypocrisy, till utter emptiness of real faith and spirituality has prepared them for that second fearful invasion of the Evil One, which is indeed worse than the first! (See Heb 6:4; Heb 6:6; 2Pe 2:20-22.)
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 12:43. , …, when, etc.) Having rebuked and dismissed the interruption of the Pharisees, Jesus pursues those matters which depend upon Mat 12:30; cf. Luk 11:23-24.-, has gone out) as had been said in Mat 12:29.-, he goeth through) one after another.-, without water) Where there is no water, men do not dwell; see Psa 107:35-36.-, rest) Rest is wished for by every created being. The devils think that man is their proper resting-place.- , findeth none) sc. except in man. It is miserable always to seek and never to find it.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Our King unveiling the Tactics of the Arch-enemy
Our Lord was mindful to deal a finishing stroke to the notion of his being aided by Satanic co-operation, by returning to his parable ( Mat 12:29), and declaring that, even if the contingency should occur of the evil spirit leaving a man of its own accord, the man would be none the more a subject of hope; for the enemy would return before long.
Mat 12:43. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, 8ee7eing rest, and findeth none.
Well is the devil named ” the unclean spirit”: he loves that which is foul, and makes the man in whom he dwells filthy in heart. In the incident described above, the devil has been in possession “of a man”, and he “is gone out” for purposes of his own. He has quitted the man of his own accord, without conflict of any kind. This is a case which frequently occurs: the devil does in this way leave the madly immoral to become decent and orderly. The crafty spirit takes the key of the house with him, for he means to return. He has quitted occupancy, but has not given up ownership. He has gone out that he might not be turned out. Who can understand the subtlety of the old serpent?
The evil spirit is, however, uneasy when he is not ruling a human mind. He wanders seeking rest and finding none. He finds nothing to cheer him on this earth, or in heaven, or in hell; these are all dry places to him. Within the sinful heart he was at home, and found some little content; but outside in nature he finds a desert for his unclean desires.
“Every prospect pleases
And only man is vile!”
And hence only man affords a suitable lodging for the vile spirit.
Mat 12:44. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
The foul fiend calls the man, “My house.” His audacity is amazing. He did not build or buy that house, and he has no right to it. He speaks of his leaving the man as a mere coming out: “I came out.” He says, as if it were an easy matter, “I will return.” Evidently he considers that he has the freehold of man’s nature, and can go and come at his pleasure. If Satan quits a man of his own will, he is sure to return just when it suits his purpose. Only the divine force which ejects him can secure his non-return. Reformations which are not the work of conquering grace are usually temporary, and often lead up to a worse condition in after years.
The unclean spirit carries out his resolve: he returns, “and when he is come, he findeth it empty “: no one else has taken possession, and so no one hinders his entrance into his own tenement. It is true it is swept from certain grosser sins, and garnished with some pretty moralities; but the Holy Spirit is not there, and no divine change has been wrought, and therefore the unclean spirit is as much at home there as ever he was. The parable needs no further explanation; temporary reformation is well pictured. The devil has no objection to his house being swept and garnished; for a moralist may be as truly his slave as the man of debauched habits. So long as the heart is not occupied by his great foe, and he can use the man for his own purposes, the adversary of souls will let him reform as much as he pleases.
Mat 12:45. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
He takes another walk; he is so pleased with his elegant mansion that he calls upon other demons and invites them to his garnished home. The evil ones join him, and the inhabitants of the house are as eight to one of their former number. They “enter in and dwell there”: they take the fullest possession and make a permanent stay. Their residence is secured beyond future likelihood of removal; and now the man is worse than at the first; for the unclean spirits are more numerous and more wicked. The sinful man becomes more proud, and more unbelieving, or he becomes more vicious and more blasphemous than at the beginning. So much for a hopeful reformation, which indeed from the very first was hopeless, because Jesus was not there, and the Holy Spirit had no hand in it. Cunningly the unclean spirit submits to an apparent giving up of power that he may establish his dominion the more firmly. No doubt, relapses into sin are, like relapses in disease, even more dangerous than the original malady.
In Christ’s day the Pharisees and others were in this case. The spirit which led the Jews to idolatry was gone, but the true God was not spiritually loved nor even known; and so the demon power held them still in possession. In the future, even in that wicked generation, in the form of hatred to Christ, and fanatical contempt of other nations, the evil spirit which had depraved Judaism, would yet display itself in a still more hideous shape; as it did from our Lord’s day and onward till the destruction of Jerusalem, when the race seemed to have gone fairly mad, under a diabolical influence which made them “hateful, and hating one another.” “We may fear that our present age of “culture “and advancement will go onward till it reaches a similar goal. It is progressing towards infidelity, and advancing towards absurdity; while at the same time worldliness is rampant, and holiness is ridiculed.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom
when: Had there been no reality in demoniacal possessions, as some have supposed, our Lord would scarcely have appealed to a case of this kind here, to point out the real state of the Jewish people, and their approaching desolation. Had this been only a vulgar error, of the nonsense of which the learned scribes and wise Pharisees must have been convinced, the case, not being in point, because not true, must have been treated with contempt by the very people for whose conviction it was designed.
the unclean: Luk 11:24, Act 8:13
he: Job 1:7, Job 2:2, 1Pe 5:8
dry: Psa 63:1, Isa 35:6, Isa 35:7, Isa 41:18, Eze 47:8-12, Amo 8:11-13
seeking: Mat 8:29, Mar 5:7-13, Luk 8:28-32
Reciprocal: 1Sa 16:23 – Saul 1Sa 19:10 – sought Pro 2:13 – leave Isa 44:3 – dry ground Jer 34:11 – General Eze 3:20 – and his Eze 18:24 – and doeth Zec 13:2 – unclean Mat 7:27 – General Mat 22:1 – General Mar 1:23 – a man Luk 6:49 – immediately Eph 2:2 – the spirit Heb 10:26 – if Heb 10:38 – but 2Pe 2:20 – after
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE DEVIL DETHRONED
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man the last state of that man is worse than the first.
Mat 12:43-45
When the unclean spirit is gone out, Christ tells what takes place if the heart be left empty. When the unclean spirit is gone out, is not this the thing we wish? The man is possessed by an evil spirit; he is avaricious; he is ill-tempered; he is sensual; he is discontented. Suppose that we can banish the evil spirit. What, then? Mans heart is unoccupied. What a dull, monotonous existence we have doomed him to! We see the force of the parable.
I. Religion positive, not negative.Religion must not come with prohibitions only; she must put before men what will appeal to some of the real and active powers of their being. Religion, then, in its highest form does not limit herself to prohibition, to the task of rebuking the pleasant vice which is so interesting to its victim. Religion in its highest form seeks to create new interests; it does not deal in prohibitions merely; it knows that the heart of man must be interested in something, and it presents to the heart all that is worthy of love and all that appeals to the higher affections of men.
II. Live with Christ.We are not to be daunted by difficulties. It is easier, no doubt, to build an embankment than it is to divert a stream; but it is not impossible to divert a streamit is not impossible to cultivate the love of the better instead of the love of the baser. Live with noble thoughts; read only what elevates the taste; keep before you the best ideals. By degrees the taste for what is low will pass from you. The man who lives with Christ, thinks the thoughts of Christ, drinks of the Spirit of Christ, will hardly tolerate the presence of a selfish spirit.
Bishop W. Boyd Carpenter.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
NEGATIVE RELIGION
I. A negative religion is an imperfect one.
(a) It is good so far as it goes. When a man has been the victim of an unclean spirit, it cannot but be a distinct advantage and spiritual advance for him to be rid, if it be even for a while, of his foul visitor.
(b) But such an experience is useful chiefly as preparing for something higher. Its whole value and significance is prospective. Ceasing to do evil is a step, but just a step, towards learning to do well.
II. A negative religion is a dangerous one.
(a) Because it may be made the substitute for a positive one. The Jews had come to look upon the requirements of the law as fulfilling all righteousness. They gloried in it, and made their boast of it. Anything higher or more spiritual was indignantly repudiated. For them, therefore, there was no beauty in Jesus that they should desire Him.
(b) Because it leaves the soul unoccupied. It is empty, swept, and garnished, but the door is left open, or at least, the avenues of return are not strongly enough barred. Human nature cannot long remain a blank; as a matter of fact, it is never a mere blank.
(c) Because it lacks the supporting principle of spiritual life. Such pure desires and impulses are due not to the natural man within us, but to the Spirit of God.
III. A negative religion is a disastrous one.
(a) Because it does not save. Where the law exercised a saving power it was through the Spirit of God and the hope of Messiah.
(b) Because when it fails to save it the more effectually destroys. The description of the process in the passage is very striking. Sins are not abstractions. They imply demoniacal possession. The demon is represented as walking through dry places, seeking rest, and finding none. Such a conception suggests the fatal affinity which sin has for the nature in which it once has lodged, and how certain it is to return if there be any unguarded place. And when it does return, it returns with sevenfold power. It develops fresh vitality, and multiplies its spiritual force: the last state of that man is worse than the first.
Illustration
The worse state, of which Christ speaks, is the state in which a man sins, as we say, with his eyes open; then he is one who is ready to enlist in his service a spirit of wilful blindness. He resolves to fill his heart with evil, knowing it to be evil; he knows that it brings a sort of pleasure, in so far as it stimulates some passion into activity, but he knows that it is evil, and yet he does it. It is the step by which a man commits himself to a course which he well knows to lie fatal; in doing so, he deliberately weakens the forces of good and strengthens the forces of evil: he resigns himself into the guidance of the evil. How much lower his condition is than that of the young, thoughtless, and pleasure-loving man, who finds himself immersed in wrong when he only meant to enjoy himself a little!
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2:43
Jesus made some arguments based on the practices and beliefs of the people without necessarily endorsing those beliefs. (See comments at verse 27). The Jews believed that the devils haunted the deserts, but made raids into the places of civilization to torment human beings. One of those devils was cast out of a man and it went back to its regular dwelling place (according to the Jewish notion) but could not find a satisfactory spot to rest.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 12:43. The figure in Mat 12:43-45 refers primarily to the Jewish people, but is applicable also in the history of Christianity and to individuals (see on Mat 12:45).
When. The original indicates a supposed case.
Gone out. How, is altogether immaterial.
Passeth through dry places, i.e., unwatered, desert regions, such as demons inhabited according to the popular notion. Our Lords words, while in one sense an accommodation to this view, allude to the place whither the demons go, without stating where it is. The return into the man is against the view that the abode of the wicked is meant; but a state of greater dissatisfaction and unrest is plainly indicated.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The design and scope of this parable is to show that the Pharisees, by rejecting the gospel and refusing to believe in Christ, were in a seven-fold worse condition than if the gospel had never been preached to them, and a Saviour had never come among them; because by our Saviour’s ministry Satan was in some sort cast out: but for rejecting Christ and his grace, Satan had got a seven-fold stronger possession of them now than before.
From this parable, learn, 1. That Satan is an unclean spirit; he has lost his original purity, his holy nature, in which he was created, and is become universally filthy and unclean nature. Nay, he is a perfect enemy to purity and holiness, maligning all that love it, and would promote it.
2. That Satan is a restless and unquiet spirit; being cast out of heaven, he can rest nowhere; when he is either gone out of a man through policy, or cast out of a man by power, he has no content or satisfaction, till he returns into a filthy heart, where he delights to be as the swine in miry places.
3. That wicked and profane sinners have this unclean spirit dwelling in them: their hearts are Satan’s house and habitation; and the lusts of pride and unbelief, malice and revenge, envy and hypocrisy, these are the garnishings of Satan’s house. Man’s heart was God’s house by creation, it is now Satan’s by usurpation and judiciary tradition.
4. That Satan by the preaching of the gospel may seem to go out of persons, and they become sober and civilized; yet may he return to his old habitation, and the last end of that man may be worse than the beginning.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 12:43-45. When the unclean spirit, &c. In these verses, with a view to show how dreadful the state of the Jewish people would be, if they continued to reject him and his gospel, our Lord introduces a parable, borrowed from the late subject of his dispute with the Pharisees. He compares their condition to that of a man, who, after having had an evil spirit expelled out of him, is again, through Gods permission, as a punishment of his continuing in sin, taken possession of by that spirit, with seven others still more wicked, and is thereby brought into a worse condition than ever. The parable evidently supposes the existence of demoniacal possessions, for if there had been no reality in them, the comparison would have meant nothing; and it supposes, also, that the Pharisees allowed their existence, otherwise our Lords words, instead of convincing or instructing them, must have been treated by them with contempt. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man Not of his own accord, or willingly, but compelled by one that is stronger than he; he walketh Wanders up and down, through dry places Barren, dreary, desolate; or places not yet watered with the gospel. The words contain a plain allusion to the common notion, that evil demons had their haunts in deserts and desolate places. Compare Isa 13:21; where, instead of satyrs, the LXX. read , demons. See also Rev 18:2. Seeking rest To his own malignant nature, in observing barren wastes and desolations, rather than such agreeable scenes as might present to his view the memorials of Gods goodness to the human race: and findeth none How should he find any, while he carries with him his own hell? And is it not the case of his children, too? Reader, is it thy case? Then he saith, I will return into my house He resolves to make another attack on the person out of whom he had been expelled: whence I came out He speaks as if he had come out of his own accord: see his pride! And when he is come, he findeth it empty Of truth and grace; of wisdom and piety; of God, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit: swept and garnished That is, prepared to receive him: swept, from love, lowliness, meekness, and all the fruits of the Spirit, and adorned with levity and folly, vanity and sin. In other words, he finds the miserable sinner unaffected with his late affliction and deliverance, and still a slave to those vices which render him an agreeable dwelling for Satan. Then goeth he and taketh seven other spirits That is, a great many, the number seven denoting perfection, whether of good or bad things; more wicked than himself Whence it appears that there are degrees of wickedness among the devils themselves. And they enter in, finding easy access, and dwell there Namely, for ever, in him that is forsaken of God. And the last state, &c., is worse than the first The devils having taken a sevenfold stronger possession of him than they had before. So shall it be also unto this wicked generation Who resist the convictions which my doctrine and miracles have raised in them. Instead of growing wiser and better, they will become seven times more foolish, sinful, and miserable, as both the natural and judicial consequence of their rejecting the methods used by divine grace for their recovery; till, as if they were possessed by a multitude of devils, they are madly hurried on to their irrecoverable ruin in this world and the next. They who have read the sad account, given by Josephus, of the temper and conduct of the Jews after the ascension of Christ, and just before their final destruction by the Romans, must acknowledge that no emblem could have been more proper to describe them. Their characters were the vilest that can be conceived, and they pressed on to their own ruin, as if they had been possessed by legions of devils, and wrought up to the last degrees of madness. Doddridge. But this parable is also designed to teach men, in every age, the danger and awful consequences of resisting the convictions produced in their minds by the truth and grace of God; or of grieving, quenching, and doing despite to the Holy Ghost, by breaking through their resolutions, and relapsing into their former sins; the effect being commonly to render them more obdurate and abandoned than before.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
AWFUL STATE OF THE BACKSLIDER
Mat 12:43-45. When the unclean spirit may go out from a man, he goeth through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Here we see the man is converted; this unclean spirit licentiousness, drunkenness, or profanity, his besetting sin having evanesced with this filthy demon, which had long polluted his soul by his slimy tread. Now that the demon is cast out, he goes tramping about, hunting a human soul to enter; meanwhile the elements around are dry, uninteresting, and affording him no sustenance, and giving him no satisfaction. Then he says, I will return to my own house whence I came out. Now the camp-meeting is over, and his victim has gone back home, exposed to the contaminating influence of his old companions in vice and folly; so this demon, weary and disconsolate of his tramp life around through dry and dreary places, resolves to give up his quest after others, and go back to the soul out of which he was ejected, when the Power fell on that crowded altar. And having come, he finds it empty, having been swept and beautified. The man has been genuinely and gloriously converted, the filthy demon cast out, and vast cart-loads of dead frogs, snakes, and immense debris swept away by the mighty bosom of pardoning love, the incoming tide of regenerating grace embellishing every chamber of his soul with the beauty and brightness of the heaven-born life. But there is no inhabitant, as the man has not yet received the second work of grace, in which the blessed Holy Spirit comes and takes up His abode in this beautiful new mansion of His own creation, simultaneously administering a deeper expurgation, eliminating out of the heart the old, sinful trend, transmitted from Adam the First, and always keeping the door ajar for every tramping demon that may chance to pass that way, not only saluting him Welcome! but making his quarters exceedingly comfortable. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and having come in, they dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. This ejected demon, coming back, reconnoiters the situation of his old home, and finds that it has been swept and beautified; i.e., a great and wonderful change has taken place since he was driven out, all of which was much against him; yet there is one thing decisively in his favor, and that is, the house is empty. If the young convert had only pressed on into sanctification, and been filled with the Holy Ghost, this old demon, recognizing the house so wonderfully renewed, beautified, and purified, and then the Prince of Glory dwelling in it, his courage utterly failing, he would have skedaddled away, and gone in quest of an easier subject. But now that the house is empty, he is much encouraged, rendezvouses his forces, taking with him seven desperate and formidable demons. They effect an entrance; old habits are resumed; and the poor backslider not only floats on the very wave of vice, but rides the topmost billow, as his comrades now are not simply those impure demons, such as he had before he was converted, but the more formidable devils of skepticism and infidelity carry him away in a tornado, precipitating him far away into the bleak wilds of unbelief, contempt, and mockery, turning on him an avalanche of black darkness, and plunging him into hell. So it shall be to this generation. These wonderful deliverances of our Savior have not only a personal, but a social, collective, and ecclesiastical interpretation. The besetting sin of the Jewish Church, through all the intervening centuries, was idolatry. They got worse and worse, and seemed utterly incorrigible, till they were carried into Babylonian captivity. That terrible ordeal cast out the demon idolatry. Consequently, after the return from captivity, the Jews never again went into the idolatries of the Gentile world. But what was their history? They retrogressed into cold, dead formality and bleak, hollow hypocrisy, which were seven times worse than their old idolatry. Consequently they rejected their own Christ, and put Him to death, imputing all of His mighty works to the devil, thus grieving away the Holy Spirit, committing the unpardonable sin, provoking the righteous indignation of the Almighty, bringing on them the Roman armies, precipitating their own swift destruction.
Do not the prophecies reveal a similar course and doom appertaining to the Gentiles? So long as the Apostolic Church held fast to the glorious experience of entire sanctification, she remained pure, despite the burning stake and the ferocious lion. After the Emperor Constantine promoted her from martyr fires and the lions mouth to Caesars palace, she became worldly, plunging headlong into the idolatries of Romanism. The Lutheran Reformation cast out the demon of idolatry, so the Protestant Churches have never gone into image worship, Mariolatry, or the adoration of saints and angels; but she has drifted away into the same dead formality, cold ritualism, human ecclesiasticism, and lifeless, empty hypocrisy, which expedited the ruin of Judaism, and which is doubtless more abominable in the sight of God than papistical idolatry, thus ripening for the terrible fate of the foolish virgins.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 12:43-50. The connexion of Mat 12:43 is with Mat 12:30, as is shown by Lk.; neutrality in the spiritual life cannot last. The point of the illustration is that the Jews had felt the influence of John and Jesus, but were in danger of relapsing into a worse state than ever, if they did not submit themselves entirely to that coming of the Holy Spirit which was the proper continuation of the work begun by the two preachers.
Mat 12:44. empty: i.e. free from lumber and rubbish; garnished: either furnished or beautified.
Mat 12:46-50 : cf. Mar 3:31-35* For the brethren of Jesus cf. Mat 1:25*. By changing Mk.s God into my Father which is in heaven, Mt. rather pointedly limits Jesus earthly spiritual relation to brothers, sisters, and mothers. Mat 12:47 is not found in the best texts. Lk. (Luk 8:19-21) puts the incident after the Parable of the Sower.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The point of these verses that describe demon possession goes back to Jesus’ warning about the peril of being neutral toward Him (Mat 12:30). A demon cast out of a person initially goes through arid places seeking rest. This statement affirms the Jewish belief that demons prefer dry places (Tob 8:3; cf. Rev 18:2). [Note: Cf. Tasker, p. 133. See Edersheim, 2:748-63, and 2:770-76, for the Jewish views of angels and demons.] Eventually they seek to inhabit human bodies through which they can do more damage.
Jesus implied the possibility of demonic repossession (Mat 12:44). The demon’s house is a human body in Jesus’ story. The demon returns to the person it had left discovering that he or she is still receptive to the demon’s presence because no superior power occupies that person. Consequently the demon invites seven other demons, a full complement, and they take up residence in the person.
Jesus compared the unbelieving Jews of His day to the demon-possessed person. John the Baptist and Jesus had purified the lives of many in Galilee by calling them to repentance, but not all of them had embraced Jesus in faith. Jesus had cast demons out of many people, but they did not all believe that He was the Messiah. This neutral condition left them vulnerable to an even worse invasion from Satan to say nothing about judgment from God. These neutral individuals represented the nation as a whole.
Many Christians believe that Jesus’ teaching here gives evidence that demons cannot possess a true believer. That may be so, but demons can afflict believers greatly. Believers are no more immune against attack from Satan and his demons than we are from attacks from the world and the flesh. The line between demon possession and demon affliction is a thin one that is very hard to identify.