Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 17:18
And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
And Jesus rebuked the devil – The word rebuke has the combined force of reproving and commanding. He reproved him for having afflicted the child, and he commanded him to come out of him. Mark Mar 9:25 has recorded the words which he used words implying reproof and command: Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee come out of him, and enter no more into him. And the spirit cried, and with a mighty convulsion came out, leaving the child apparently dead. Jesus lifted him up by the hand (Mark), and gave him to his father (Luke).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. Jesus rebuked the devil] Deprived him of all power to torment the child; and obliged him to abandon his present usurped habitation.
There are some souls whose cure God reserves to himself alone, and to whom all the applications of his ministers appear to be utterly ineffectual. He sometimes does all without them, that they may know they can never do any good without him. QUESNEL.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And Jesus rebuked the devil,…. The words may indeed be rendered, “and Jesus rebuked him, and the devil departed out of him”; so the Vulgate Latin, and the Oriental versions; but the sense our version gives is certainly right; for it was not the father of the child Christ rebuked for his unbelief; this he had done already; nor the lunatic himself, as some have thought, either for his unbelief, or because he was possessed by the devil, for some sins of his own; which is not likely, since he was so from a child, and perhaps not now in his right mind, and capable of any rebuke: besides, the Evangelists Mark, and Luke expressly say, that he “rebuked the foul”, or “unclean spirit”: for though it was a natural disease which attended this child, yet he was afflicted with it in a preternatural way, by the means of Satan; who, by divine permission; had a power of inflicting bodily diseases: and that this disease was effected by him, is clear from the manner of curing, by the dispossession of him; for when
he departed out of him; at the command of Christ, whose power he could not withstand, but was obliged, whether he would or not, to obey;
the child was cured from that very hour; directly, immediately, and continued well, and in good health. Hence the word rendered lunatic, in Mt 17:15 is in several Oriental versions, translated in the sense of “demoniac”, or one possessed with a devil. The Arabic version renders it, “he is with a demon”: the Persic thus, “on whom a demon hath power”; and the Ethiopic after this manner, “an evil demon takes hold on him”. And it is usual with the Jews, to ascribe diseases to evil spirits; and perhaps this uncommon dispensation in the times of Christ, may give rise to such a notion; particularly, they ascribe this very same disease of the “epileptic”, or “falling sickness”, to the same cause, which they call x “Kordicus”, or “Cardiacus”, the “Cardiac” passion, which one of their commentators y explains thus.
“It is a disease which proceeds from the repletion of the vessels of the brain, whereby the understanding is confounded; wherefore it is one of the sorts , “of the falling sickness”.”
Says another z of them,
“It is , “the name of a demon”, that rules over such, that drink much wine out of the vat.”
To which others agree, saying a, that one attended with this disorder, is one,
“whose understanding is confounded, , “by means of a demon”, who rules over such, that drink new wine; and lo! the spirit’s name is “Kardiacus”.”
From whence it is clear, that with them, the disease and the demon go by the same name; and that the former is from the latter.
x Misn. Gittin, c. 7. sect. 1. y Maimon. in ib. z Gloss. in T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 67. 2. a Bartenora & Yom Tob. in Misn. Gittin, c. 8. sect. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(18) Jesus rebuked the devil.Better, demon, as elsewhere in these cases of possession.
The child was cured.Better, the boy. Mar. 9:21 implies, as indeed the Greek does here, that the sufferer had passed beyond the age of childhood. St. Mark gives the words of the rebuke, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out from him, and enter no more into him. This was followed by a great cry and another convulsion; then he fell down, as it were, dead, and many cried out, He is dead. Then Jesus took him by the hand, and raised him up, and the work of healing was accomplished. Calmness, and peace, and self-possession were seen instead of the convulsive agony. The spiritual power of the Healer had overcome the force, whether morbid or demoniac, which was the cause of his sufferings. Our Lords words, it need hardly be said, assume it to have been the latter; and those who deny the reality of the possession must, in their turn, assume either that He shared the belief of the people, or accepted it because they were not able to receive any other explanation of the mysterious sufferings which they had witnessed. Each hypothesis presents difficulties of its own, and we may well be content to confess our inability to solve them. (See Note on Mat. 8:28.) Speaking generally, the language of the New Testament seems to recognise, if not in all diseases, yet at least in all that disturb the moral equilibrium of mans nature, an infraction of the divine order, and therefore rightly sees in them the work, directly or indirectly, of the great antagonist of that order. All our Lords works of mercy are summed up by St. Peter in the words that He went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil (Act. 10:38), and on this supposition the particular phenomena of each case were logically ascribed to demoniac forces.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon went out of him, and the boy was cured from that hour.’
Then Jesus rebuked the evil spirit and it came out of him. There was no spirit, whatever its power and importance, that could do anything but obey Jesus. He had bound their master, He had no problem, even as a human being, in controlling his minions. Matthew stresses the instantaneous nature of the healing. This might suggest that as one of the disciples he was very conscious of how long they had tried to do it and had failed.
For ‘from that hour’ compare Mat 8:13; Mat 9:22; Mat 15:28 referring to the centurion’s servant, the woman with constant bleeding, and the Canaanite woman, in each case concerning people with insistent faith, and people who came to Him against the odds. He always responded promptly to determined faith.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 17:18 . . ] He rebuked him , namely, the demon (Fritzsche, Ewald), reproached him for having taken possession of the boy. Comp. Mat 8:26 . For this prolepsis in the reference of (which Vulgate, Theophylact, de Wette, Winer, Bleek, refer to the lunatic), see Fritzsche, Conject . p. 11 f.; Bornemann, ad Xen. Symp . viii. 34.
. .] as in Mat 15:28 , Mat 9:22 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Ver. 18. And he departed out of him ] Though with a very ill will, for he tore the child and well nigh killed him. So when we do, by the prayer of faith, conjure and charm the devil out of our hearts (prayer is called a “charm,” Isa 26:16 ), he will make all the hurly burly he can, but out he must, though never so ill-willing.
And the child was cured ] By his father’s faith. What wonder, then, that the parents’ faith be beneficial to the baptized infant?
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 17:18 . : the first intimation in the narrative that it is a case of possession, and a hint as to the genesis of the theory of possession. Epilepsy presents to the eye the aspect of the body being in the possession of a foreign will, and all diseases with which the notion of demoniacal possession was associated have this feature in common. “Judaeis usitatissimum erat morbos quosdam graviores, eos praesertim, quibus vel distortum est corpus vel mens turbata et agitata phrenesi, malis spiritibus attribuere.” Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., ad loc. The after naturally refers to the demon. This reference to an as yet unmentioned subject Weiss explains by the influence of Mk.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
the devil = it, or him.
he = it: i.e. the demon.
out of = away from. Greek. apo. App-104. Not the same as Mat 17:5.
child = boy. Greek. pais. App-108.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 17:18. , He rebuked it) as an enemy.-, it) sc. the devil.-, of him) sc. the child.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
devil
demon. (See Scofield “Mat 7:22”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
rebuked: Mat 12:22, Mar 1:34, Mar 5:8, Mar 9:25-27, Luk 4:35, Luk 4:36, Luk 4:41, Luk 8:29, Luk 9:42, Act 16:18, Act 19:13-15
from: Mat 9:22, Mat 15:28, Joh 4:52, Joh 4:53
Reciprocal: Mat 4:24 – possessed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:18
When anyone is being dealt with because of some condition brought on by his own sin, he is the person who is rebuked. Being possessed with a devil was not a sin but an affliction, hence the Lord rebuked the- devil. The child was cured from that very hour which was unlike the performances of professed miracle workers today who insist on having “plenty of time.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 17:18. And the demon went out from him. Mark describes the process. The lad lay as is usual after a very severe epileptic fit. But an entire cure followed. The multitude marvelled (Luk 9:43), but probably did not believe.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, With what facility and ease our Saviour cured this poor man, who was bodily possessed by Satan: with one word speaking, he delivered the distressed person from the malice and power of Satan.
Thence learn, That how long soever, and how strong soever Satan’s possession has been in a person, Christ can eject and cast him out both easily and speedily.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 18
The devil. It is observable that this sufferer is, in Matthew 17:15, called lunatic.