Mar 1:23-28 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 23 A man with an unclean spirit - This demoniac is only mentioned by Mark and Luke, . It seems the man had lucid intervals; else he could not have been admitted into the synagogue. Unclean or impure spirit - a common epithet for those fallen spirits: but here it may mean, one who filled the heart of him he possessed with Lascivious thoughts, images, desires, and propensities. By giving way to the first attacks of such a spirit, he may soon get in, and take full possession of the whole soul.

Mark 1:23-28

Verse 23

A man with an unclean spirit - This demoniac is only mentioned by Mark and Luke, Luk 4:33. It seems the man had lucid intervals; else he could not have been admitted into the synagogue. Unclean or impure spirit - a common epithet for those fallen spirits: but here it may mean, one who filled the heart of him he possessed with Lascivious thoughts, images, desires, and propensities. By giving way to the first attacks of such a spirit, he may soon get in, and take full possession of the whole soul. Verse 24

What have we to do with thee - Or, What is it to us and to thee? or, What business hast thou with us? That this is the meaning of the original, τι ἡμιν και σοι, Kypke has sufficiently shown. There is a phrase exactly like it in 2Sam 16:10. What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? מה לי ולכם בני צרויה ma li v'lacem beney Tseruiah, What business have ye with me, or, Why do ye trouble me, ye sons of Tseruiah? The Septuagint translate the Hebrew just as the evangelist does here, τι εμοι και ὑμιν; it is the same idiom in both places, as there can be no doubt that the demoniac spoke in Hebrew, or in the Chaldeo-Syriac dialect of that language, which was then common in Judea. See on Mat 8:29 (note).

Art thou come to destroy us? - We may suppose this spirit to have felt and spoken thus: "Is this the time of which it hath been predicted, that in it the Messiah should destroy all that power which we have usurped and exercised over the bodies and souls of men? Alas! it is so. I now plainly see who thou art - the Holy One of God, who art come to destroy unholiness, in which we have our residence, and through which we have our reign in the souls of men." An unholy spirit is the only place where Satan can have his full operation, and show forth the plenitude of his destroying power. Verse 25

And Jesus rebuked him - A spirit of this cast will only yield to the sovereign power of the Son of God. All watchings, fasting, and mortifications, considered in themselves, will do little or no good. Uncleanness, of every description, will only yield to the rebuke of God. Verse 26

And when the unclean spirit had torn him - And had thrown him down in the midst, Luk 4:35, και σπαραξαν, and convulsed him. Never was there a person possessed by an unclean spirit who did not suffer a convulsion, perhaps a total ruin of nature by it. Sins of uncleanness, as the apostle intimates, are against the body; they sap the foundation of life, so that there are very few of this class, whether male or female, that live out half their days: they generally die martyrs to their lusts. When the propensities of the flesh are most violent in a person who is determined to serve God, it is often a proof that these are the last efforts of the impure spirit, who has great rages because he knows his time is but short. Verse 27

What thing is this? - Words of surprise and astonishment.

And what new doctrine - I have added the particle and, from the Syriac, as it helps the better to distinguish the members of the sentence; but there is a vast diversity in the MSS. on this verse. See Griesbach.

For with authority - They had never heard such a gracious doctrine, and never saw any teaching supported by miracles before. How much must this person be superior to men! - they are brought into subjection by unclean spirits; this person subjects unclean spirits to himself. Verse 28

And immediately his fame spread abroad - The miracle which he had performed was -

1. great;

2. evidenced much benevolence in the worker of it; and

3. was very public, being wrought in the synagogue.

The many who saw it published it wherever they went; and thus the fame of Christ, as an incomparable teacher, and unparalleled worker of miracles, became soon spread abroad through the land.

The word, ευθεως, immediately, occurs more frequently in this evangelist than in any other writer of the new covenant: it is very often superfluous, and may often be omitted in the translation, without any prejudice to the sense of the passage in which it is found. It seems to be used by St. Mark, as our ancient writers used forsooth, and such like words.