Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 19:16
And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
16. And the man in whom the evil spirit was leapt on them ] With that power, more than natural, so often displayed by madmen.
and overcame them ] Here we have a singular variation from the texts of the oldest MSS. These read, both of them, a reading which seems to preserve for us the information that only two of the seven sons were present on this occasion. This reading is not likely to have been substituted for the more simple one, but it is easy to see how the simpler pronoun would come in after the mention of the seven, and when there was in the story only this hint that five of them were not there. It is no objection to the acceptance of this old reading, that other words in the verse referring to these brethren are plural, and not dual. Plural verbs and adjectives are not unfrequently used of dual subjects. The verb is more closely translated in the Rev. Ver. mastered.
and prevailed, &c.] He tare their clothes to shreds, and left marks of the fierce tearing on their bodies.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Leaped on them – Several such instances are recorded of the extraordinary power and rage of those who were possessed with evil spirits, Mar 5:3; Mar 9:29; Luk 9:42.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. And the man in whom the evil spirit was, c.] Thus we find that one man was more powerful than these seven brothers so that he stripped them of their upper garments, and beat and wounded the whole! Was not this a proof that he derived his strength from the evil spirit that dwelt in him?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Leaped on them, &c.; by the power of the evil spirit, which by the permission of God did act in him, Mat 8:28; Mar 5:4; Luk 8:29. Satan retains still his natural power, though he hath wholly lost his moral or spiritual power unto any good: and that his violence proceeded no further, is to be ascribed only to the bounds which God had set him, which he, being in chains, could not exceed or go beyond; not for his want of malice, but power.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. And the man in whom the evilspirit wasMark the clear line of demarcation here between “theevil spirit which answered and said” and “the man inwhom the evil spirit was.” The reality of such possessionscould not be more clearly expressed.
leaped on them . . . so thatthey fled . . . naked and woundedThis was so appalling atestimony at once against those profane impostors and in favor ofPaul and the Master whom he preached, that we wonder not that itspread to “all the Jews and Greeks at Ephesus, that fear fell onthem,” and that “the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the man in whom the evil spirit was,…. Being agitated by him:
leapt upon them; with great agility and force, and laid hold on them, and struggled with them, and beat and wounded them, and stripped them naked:
and overcame them, and prevailed against them; the Alexandrian copy, Beza’s most ancient one, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin version read, “and overcame both”; as if only two of these seven sons had made this attempt, and were so used; though the Ethiopic version reads, “and overcame them all”; all the seven sons:
so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded; having their clothes tore off, and their bodies beat and bruised.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Leaped on them ( ‘ ). Second aorist (ingressive) middle participle of , old verb to spring upon like a panther, here only in the N.T.
Mastered (). First aorist (effective) active participle of , late verb from and , to become lord or master of.
Both (). Papyri examples exist where means “all” or more than “two” (Robertson, Grammar, p. 745). So here includes all seven. “Both” in old English was used for more than two.
So that (). Another example (verses Acts 19:10; Acts 19:11) of with the infinitive for result.
Naked (). Probably with torn garments,
Wounded (). Perfect passive participle of , old verb to wound, from (a wound). In the N.T. only here and Lu 20:12.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Prevailed against [] . See on Luk 14:30; Luk 16:3.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
FRUITS OF TRUE AND FAKE MIRACLE WORKING, V. 16-22
1) “And the man in whom the evil spirit was,” (kai ho anthropos en hon en to pneuma to poneron) “And the man in whom the wicked spirit was,” in whom he existed, had his habitation, place of obsession; For demons, wicked spirits, to do damage to God’s creation, seem to have to inhabit some created, living creature, Luk 8:29-33.
2) “Leaped on them,” (ephelomenos epi autous) “Leapinhem,” repeatedly leaping on all seven of the young men who had attempted to drive the wicked spirit out of him. Their magic art deception back-fired. These fake miracle workers got an earthly foretaste of their final punishment in hell, with all who “fake it” thru life, Mat 7:22-23; Gal 6:7-8; Ecc 12:13-14.
3) “And overcame them and prevailed against them,” (katakurieusas amphoteron ischusen kat’ auton) “Both over-mastering them and was strong against them;- He literally “beat the tar” out of all seven of the “fake healers,” who had attempted to cast the wicked spirit from him.
4) “So that they fled out of that house,” (hoste ekphugein ek tou oikou ekeinou) “So that they escaped, all seven of them, out of the house (residence) where they cornered him,” hemmed him in, Act 19:14.
5) “Naked and wounded.” (gumnous kai tetra umatismenous) “Both naked and wounded,” beat up, black and blue all over, with their garments torn or ripped to shreds, wounded and naked or near naked, all seven of them, a near massacred mess in appearance. This contrasts the sorcery and magic of fake Jew healers in Paul’s day with true miracles that Peter, Paul, and other apostles performed in New Testament days, before the Bible was finished, and the special spiritual gifts all ceased except the gifts of faith, hope, and charity, 1Co 13:13; Eph 4:11-14; 2Ti 3:16-17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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16. The man running upon them. That is attributed to the man which the devil did by him. For he had not been able to do such an act of himself, as to put to flight seven strong young men being wounded and naked. And to set down for a certainty how the devil doth dwell in men, we cannot, save only that there may be − (374) a contrariety between the Spirit of God and the spirit of Satan. For as Paul teacheth that we be the temples of God, because the Spirit of God dwelleth in us; so he saith again that Satan worketh effectually in all unbelievers. Notwithstanding, we must know that Luke speaketh in this place of a particular kind of dwelling; to wit, when Satan hath the bridle so much that he doth possess the whole man. −
Furthermore, God meant to show such a token, that he might declare that his power is not included in the sound of the voice, and that it is not lawful superstitiously to abuse the name of his Son. And when he suffereth Satan to deceive us, let us know that we be more sharply punished than if he should wound us in the flesh. For the false show and color of miracles is an horrible enchantment to bewitch and besot the unbelievers, that they may be drowned in deeper darkness, because they refused the light of God. −
(374) −
“
Nisi quod statui potest,” unless that it may be held there is.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them.The demoniacal possession brought with it, as in the case of the Gadarene, the preternatural strength of frenzy, and the seven impostors (men of that class being commonly more or less cowards) fled in dismay before the violent paroxysms of the mans passionate rage.
Naked and wounded.The first word does not necessarily imply more than that the outer garment, or cloak, was torn off from them, and that they were left with nothing but the short tunic. (See Notes on Mat. 5:40; Joh. 21:7.) It may be noted, as an indication of truthfulness, that the narrative stops here. A writer inventing miracles would no doubt have crowned the story by representing the man who baffled the impostors as healed by the power of the Apostle.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. Leaped on them With such demoniac force upon the seven that their loose oriental garments are torn off, and they rush from the house naked and wounded, and glad to save their lives. Yet a well-sustained reading substitutes both for them; indicating that but two of the seven were involved.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and mastered both of them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.’
The possessed man was then moved to violence, leaping on the seven men and ‘mastering them and prevailing against them’. This suggests that he had supernormal strength, although he would have been helped by the element of surprise and the fears that his condition aroused. But the fact that he was able to tear off their robes and wound them demonstrates the fierceness of the attack. The result was that they fled from the house, bleeding, leaving their robes behind, their discomfort and defeat clear for all to see. We can compare this possessed man with the Gadarene demoniac who also revealed his possession by violence (Luk 8:26-39).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Act 19:16 . (see the critical remarks) . . .] having leaped upon them, after overpowering both he so prevailed against them, that , etc. The mode of representation is not exact, as we only see from that here of those seven but two were active, whom Luke has already conceived to himself in . According to Ewald, . is neuter: on both sides , i.e. from above and from below . This would be , ., , .
] whether entirely naked, or merely divested of their upper clothing (see on Joh 21:7 ), remains an undecided point.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Ver. 16. So that they fled out, &c. ] Non omnia possumus omnes. Albeit the eagle in the fable did bear away a lamb in her talons with full flight, yet a raven endeavouring to do the like was held entangled, and fettered in the fleece. Every exorcist must not think to do as Paul did, nor every preacher as Latimer did. He had my fiddle and my stick, said he of one that preached his sermons, but wanted my resin.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16. ] The weight of manuscript evidence for this reading is even surpassed by its internal probability. There would be every reason, as seven have been before mentioned, for altering it into : but no imaginable one for substituting it for . Two only , it would seem, were thus employed on this particular occasion: and Luke has retained the word as it stood in the record furnished to him. Whether any similar occurrence happened to the rest, we are not informed: this one is selected as most notorious.
] With their clothes torn off them.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Act 19:16 . ; only here in N.T.; in LXX, 1Sa 10:6 ; 1Sa 11:6 ; 1Sa 16:13 . .; only here in Luke; Mat 20:25 , Mar 10:42 , 1Pe 5:3 ; frequent in LXX. , see critical note. There is no real difficulty if we read after , Act 19:14 ; St. Luke had mentioned that seven of the sons of Sceva made the attempt to imitate Paul, but the incident which he describes introduces two of them only. . cannot be taken distributively, or with Ewald, neuter, as if = . : may mean with torn garments, not literally naked, so Grimm-Thayer, sub v ., and Alford. : the pronoun seems to imply that the writer had a definite place before his eyes, although it is not fully described. But it is surely a mark of truthfulness that the narrative ends where it does; a forger, we may well believe, would have crowned the story by a picture of the man, after baffling the impostors, healed by the word or touch of Paul (see Plumptre’s remarks, in loco ). The marked contrast between the New Testament in its description of the demonised and their healing, and the notions and practices which meet us in the Jewish Rabbi, may be seen in Edersheim’s valuable appendix, Jesus the Messiah , ii., 770 ff., and the same decisive contrast is also seen between the N.T. and the prevailing ideas of the first century in the cures of the demonised attributed to Apollonius of Tyana in this same city Ephesus and in Athens; Smith and Wace, Dictionary of the Christian Biography , i., 136. Ramsay is very severe on the whole narrative, St. Paul , p. 273, and regards it as a mere piece of current gossip; so, too, very similarly, Wendt (1899), note, p. 313, who refers, as so many have done, to the analogy between the narrative in Act 19:11 and that in Act 5:12 ; Act 5:15 ; in other words, to the parallel between Peter and Paul (which the writer of Acts is supposed to draw on every possible occasion; see introd.). So too Hilgenfeld ascribes the whole section Act 19:11-20 to his “author to Theophilus,” and sees in it a story to magnify St. Paul’s triumph over sorcery and magic, as St. Peter’s over Simon Magus in Act 8:13 . Clemen with Spitta, Van Manen, and others regard the whole section as interrupting the connection between Act 19:10 ; Act 19:21 but even here, in Act 19:14 , Clemen sees in addition the hand of his Redactor Antijudaicus, as distinct from the Redactor to whom the whole narrative is otherwise attributed.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
man. Greek. anthropos. App-123.
leaped. Greek. ephallomai. Only here.
overcame = having over powered. Greek. katakcurieuo. Here, Mat 20:25. Mar 10:42. 1Pe 5:3.
them. The texts read “them both”. So it would seem only two of them were acting.
and prevailed. Literally were strong. Greek. ischuo. See note on Act 15:10.
wounded. Greek. traumatizo. Only here and Luk 20:12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
16. ] The weight of manuscript evidence for this reading is even surpassed by its internal probability. There would be every reason, as seven have been before mentioned, for altering it into : but no imaginable one for substituting it for . Two only, it would seem, were thus employed on this particular occasion: and Luke has retained the word as it stood in the record furnished to him. Whether any similar occurrence happened to the rest, we are not informed: this one is selected as most notorious.
] With their clothes torn off them.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Act 19:16. , having prevailed against) They irritated the evil spirit.-, both) More recent copies have , from the alliteration to the immediately following.[112] The seven sons of Sceva were wont to do that: two did so in this instance, which Luke records; comp. with this Act 19:13, where the refers to the seven: the word , certain persons, refers to the two. Often there lies hid some such hint in one little word of the text, which, without that word, no one would have suspected from the circumstance (fact) itself.
[112] The reading is approved of by the margin of Ed. 2: and the word is exhibited also by the Germ. Vers. The decision of the larger Ed. had been different.-E. B.
is supported by ABDd Vulg. later Syr. is read by the Rec. Text. Ee omit the words altogether.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
overcame The sons of Sceva sought to imitate a power to which they were strangers, only to their own confusion. This striking witness from another side caused fear to fall on all.
prevailed Luk 11:21; Luk 11:22; 1Jn 4:4.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Mar 5:3, Mar 5:4, Mar 5:15, Luk 8:29, Luk 8:35
Reciprocal: 1Sa 4:4 – Hophni 1Sa 16:14 – evil spirit Job 22:30 – pureness Isa 20:2 – naked Mal 1:9 – will he Mat 17:16 – and they Luk 8:34 – they fled
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE SEVEN SINS OF SCEVA
They fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Act 19:16
There is a striking analogy between these circumstances and the failure of Gehazi to bring back life to the son of the Shunamite woman. Why did Gehazi fail whereas Elisha succeeded? Subsequent events proved that Gehazi was a man steeped in covetousness and falsehood. Such a character had no spiritual power, but just because Elisha was a pure, holy man, who lived in close spiritual communion with God, he had the power which the other lacked. So it was with the exorcists and St. Paul. They failed because they were worldly, carnal men. St. Paul possessed a power which they had not. It was gained by communion with God, Who could use him as His agent, because he was holy and pure in heart.
I. In our modern life we have daily experience of many forms of evil.We see people in utter bondage under evil influences, the origin of which we cannot explain. The magistrates and the police can and do restrain much evil-doing, but we are not asking about evil desires and evil habits which have been bound with the chain of the law, but about such desires and habits as have been so cast out of the man that he can live again in true liberty and freedom as master of himself. That power can come only from God, but He sends it generally through the hands of some faithful and good person who works as His agent.
II. Systems of human law and secular philosophy seem to be most helpless.Many a criminal, if he had the power, would leap on the judge and rend him, as he hears the sentence pronounced which is intended for his reformation. Often when the discipline of a prison has failed, the Prison gate mission has succeeded, yet the latter is the work mostly of quiet, gentle, good women whose power is only this, that they are holy and pure in heart, and that their lives are reflections of the life of Christ. Philosophy has no message for the wretched.
III. The battle between Christ and the powers of darkness was fought out once for all on the cross at Calvary, and the Lord emerged from the conflict a conqueror for ever. His pleasure is to make His people who believe in Him and who obey Him partakers in His victory. His power alone gave that spiritual strength to St. Paul so that he could face evil and subdue it by a word.
IV. Ought it not to be our highest ambition to be possessed in some measure of this strength? There could be no more glorious use made of our one earthly life than to be in our own persons by the strength of our words and examples, a source of firmness to the weak, of bravery to the coward, and of hope to the despairing. And this may be our possession if we ask the Lord to give it to us out of the treasury of His eternal strength.
Dean Ovenden.
Illustration
I have received personal testimony from missionaries who have worked in China that they have met there cases in every way analogous to the possessions referred to in the Gospels and the Acts, which cases were entirely distinct from lunacy, mania, or epilepsy, and much more like a dual personality in one individual. At the present time the people bring these cases of possession to the Christians, who simply pray for them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the missionaries testify that they have witnessed many cases in which the possessed persons were delivered by this means alone from the dreadful bondage which they hated, and how rejoiced and thankful they were at this deliverance, and how many were thus led to believe in the spiritual power of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have no reason to doubt the validity of this testimony, even though it is altogether outside my personal experience. No more reason have we to reject the honest record of the events which took place in the times of the Apostles, which were moreover very different from the age in which we live.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
6
Act 19:16. Being possessed with a devil did not have the same effect on every person. In the present instance it produced unusual physical strength and activity. Acting through the man in whom the devil was dwelling, it pounced upon these pretenders and they fled from the house in fright and stripped of their clothing.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Act 19:16. And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them. Strong, like the poor man at Gadara (Mar 5:3-4), whom no man could bind, because the chains and fetters had been often plucked asunder by him, so now, this one, before whom the impostor exorcists were standing, threw himself in a wild fury on the wretched imitators of Paul. The reading of the older authorities, leaped on them, having overcome both, seems to imply that only two of the seven sons of Sceva were attempting to cast out the evil spirit. Ewald suggests another way of rendering the Greek, and preserving the old idea of the seven sons standing before the demoniac, leaped on them and mastered them on both sides, that is, when they stood before him, and afterwards from behind when they fled from him.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
See notes on verse 13
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
16. And the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaping on them and prevailing against them both, overcame them, so that they fled naked and wounded from the house. In this notable way the Holy Spirit utilized these unbelieving Jewish exorcists to glorify the Lord Jesus. God has in all ages permitted the devil to demonstrate his personality refutatory of that subtle infidelity which denies the existence of a personal devil, and then soon musters the audacity to deny the existence of a personal God. Here we see a confirmation of the great Bible truth that this world is thronged by disembodied spirits, both angelic and demoniacal. These excarnate spirits see much farther into the spirit world around us than we who dwell in houses of clay. Here we have a confirmation that while Jehovah, the excarnate Christ, cast out the demons in the old dispensation, since His incarnation this work is done by the personal Jesus, to whom the devils are all subject, and even to His ambassadors in His name.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and {g} prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
(g) He prevailed against them, though they struggled ever so much.