Luke 11:14

And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14, 15) He was casting out a devil.—See Notes on Matthew 9:32-34.

Benson Commentary

Luke 11:14-23. And he was casting out a devil — See on Matthew 9:32-34; and Matthew 12:22-23. Some said, He casteth out devils through Beelzebub — These he answers, Luke 11:17. Others, to try whether it were so or not, sought a sign from heaven — These he reproves, in the 29th and following verses. Beelzebub signifies the lord of flies, a title which the heathen gave to Jupiter, whom they accounted the chief of their gods, and yet supposed him to be employed in driving away flies from their temples and sacrifices. The Philistines worshipped a deity under this name as the god of Ekron: from hence the Jews took the name, and applied it to the chief of the devils. He, knowing their thoughts, &c. — See this whole paragraph explained, on Matthew 12:25-30. A house divided against a house — That is, one part of a family divided against, and contending with, an other part, falleth, cometh to inevitable ruin. If I cast out devils by the finger of God — That is, by a power manifestly divine. Perhaps the expression intimates further that it was done without any labour: no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you — Unawares, unexpectedly; so the expression, εφθασεν εφ’ υμας, implies. When a strong man armed — Alluding to Satan, strong in himself, and armed with the pride, obstinacy, and security of him in whom he dwells.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:14-26 Christ's thus casting out the devils, was really the destroying of their power. The heart of every unconverted sinner is the devil's palace, where he dwells, and where he rules. There is a kind of peace in the heart of an unconverted soul, while the devil, as a strong man armed, keeps it. The sinner is secure, has no doubt concerning the goodness of his state, nor any dread of the judgment to come. But observe the wonderful change made in conversion. The conversion of a soul to God, is Christ's victory over the devil and his power in that soul, restoring the soul to its liberty, and recovering his own interest in it and power over it. All the endowments of mind of body are now employed for Christ. Here is the condition of a hypocrite. The house is swept from common sins, by a forced confession, as Pharaoh's; by a feigned contrition, as Ahab's; or by a partial reformation, as Herod's. The house is swept, but it is not washed; the heart is not made holy. Sweeping takes off only the loose dirt, while the sin that besets the sinner, the beloved sin, is untouched. The house is garnished with common gifts and graces. It is not furnished with any true grace; it is all paint and varnish, not real nor lasting. It was never given up to Christ, nor dwelt in by the Spirit. Let us take heed of resting in that which a man may have, and yet come short of heaven. The wicked spirits enter in without any difficulty; they are welcomed, and they dwell there; there they work, there they rule. From such an awful state let all earnestly pray to be delivered.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 12:22-30.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Lu 11:14-36. Blind and Dumb Demoniac Healed—Charge of Being in League with Hell, and Reply—Demand of a Sign, and Reply.

(See on [1635]Mt 12:22-45.)

14. dumb—blind also (Mt 12:22).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The devil is here called dumb, from his effect upon the demoniac, in restraining the use of his tongue.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he was casting out a devil,.... At a certain time, either the same that is recorded in Matthew 9:32 or in Matthew 12:22 for both of them were attended with the same effect upon the people, and with the same calumny of the Pharisees, mentioned here:

and it was dumb. The Ethiopic version reads, "deaf and dumb"; that is, the devil, which possessed the man, made him both deaf and dumb; if the same as in Matthew 12:22 he was blind, as well as dumb:

and it came to pass, when the devil was gone out; of the man possessed by him, by the command of Christ:

the dumb spake; as other men did, and as he had done before; the cause being removed, the effect ceased:

and the people wondered; at the power of Christ, and concluded that he must be the Messiah, the son of David.

Geneva Study Bible

And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 11:14-22. See on Matthew 12:22-29; Mark 3:22 ff. Luke agrees with Matthew rather than with Mark.

ἦν ἐκβάλλ.] he was busied therein.

καὶ αὐτό] and he himself, the demon, by way of distinguishing him from the possessed person.

κωφόν] See on Mark 9:17.

Luke 11:16. A variation from Matthew in the connection of this (in Luke premature) demand for a sign (see on Matthew 12:38), and in its purport (ἑξ οὐρανοῦ).

Luke 11:17. καὶ οἶκος ἐπὶ οἶκον πίπτει] a graphic description of the desolation just indicated by ἐρημοῦται: and house falleth upon house. This is to be taken quite literally of the overthrow of towns, in which a building tumbling into ruins strikes on the one adjoining it, and falls upon it. Thus rightly Vulgate, Luther, Erasmus, and others, Bleek also. Comp. Thucyd. ii. 84. 2 : ναῦς τε νηῒ προσέπιπτε. This meaning, inasmuch as it is still more strongly descriptive, is to be preferred to the view of Buttmann, which in itself is equally correct (Neut. Gr. p. 291 [E. T. 338]): House after house. Many other commentators take οἶκος as meaning family, and explain either (Bornemann), “and one family falls away after another” (on ἐπί, comp. Php 2:27), or (so the greater number, Euthymius Zigabenus, Beza, Grotius, Valckenaer, Kuinoel, Paulus, de Wette) they supply διαμερισθείς after οἶκον, and take ἐπὶ οἶκον as equivalent to ἐφʼ ἑαυτόν: “et familia a se ipsa dissidens salva esse nequit” (Kuinoel). It may be argued against the latter view, that if the meaning expressed by ἐφʼ ἑαυτόν had been intended, the very parallelism of the passage would have required ἐφʼ ἑαυτόν to be inserted, and that οἶκος ἐπὶ οἶκον could not in any wise express this reflexive meaning, but could only signify: one house against the other. The whole explanation is the work of the Harmonists. It may be argued against Bornemann, that after ἐρημοῦται the thought which his interpretation brings out is much too weak, and consequently is not sufficiently in accordance with the context. We are to picture to ourselves a kingdom which is devastated by civil war.

Luke 11:18. καὶ ὁ Σαταν] Satan also, corresponding with the instance just referred to.

ὅτι λέγετε κ.τ.λ.] the reason of the question.

Luke 11:20. ἐν δακτύλῳ Θεοῦ] Matthew: ἐν πνεύματι Θεοῦ. Luke’s mode of expressing the divine agency (Exodus 8:19; Psalm 8:3; Philo, Vit. Mos. p. 619 C; Suicer, Thes. I. p. 820) appeals more to the senses, especially that of sight. It is a more concrete form of the later tradition.

Luke 11:21. ὁ ἰσχυρός] as τοῦ ἰσχυροῦ, Matthew 12:29.

καθωπλισμένος] not the subject (Luther), but: armed.

τὴν ἑαυτοῦ αὐλήν] not: his palace (see on Matthew 26:3), but: his own premises, at whose entrance he keeps watch.

ἐν εἰρήνῃ ἐστί κ.τ.λ.] This is the usual result of that watching. But the case is otherwise if a stronger than he, etc. See what follows. Thus in me has a stronger than Satan come upon him, and vanquished him!

τὰ σκῦλα αὐτοῦ] the spoils taken from him.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 11:14-16. Brief historical statement introducing certain defensive utterances of Jesus.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14-26. The dumb Devil. Blasphemy of the Pharisees.

14. it was dumb] i.e., of course, the possession by the spirit caused dumbness in the man. If this incident be the same as in Matthew 12:22, the wretched sufferer seems to have been both dumb, and blind, and mad.

the people wondered] Exorcisms, and attempted exorcisms (Acts 19:14), were indeed common among the Jews (see on Luke 9:49. Gfrorer, Jahrh. d. Heils, I. 413), but apparently only in the simplest cases, and never when the possession was complicated with blindness and dumbness.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 11:14. Ἦν ἐκβάλλων, He was casting out) that is to say, He was actually at the time engaged in that miracle. These things took place before mid-day. Comp. Luke 11:37.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 14-36. - The bitter attack of the Pharisees. Their accusation of the Lord that he was in league with the evil one. His reply. The grave and terrible charge which was formally made by persons evidently of rank and position sent down from the capital to watch, and if possible to entrap, the hated Galilaean Teacher, was a charge no doubt brought against the Lord on more than one occasion. Of this we have clear evidence in the Gospel narratives. Puzzled and dismayed by the marvellous acts of power worked by Jesus, it was only too easy to say that he had friends and helpers among these spirits of evil which the Jew knew well were working unseen on earth. The circumstances under which the accusation was made, and the reply of the Lord spoken, were as follows: The scene is still in the provinces, the time somewhere in the period between October and the spring of the last Passover the period which the Master spent in that slow solemn progress, through as yet unvisited places, towards Jerusalem. Learned and experienced members of the Pharisee party, scribes and doctors of the Law, had been told off to watch the dangerous and popular Galilaean Teacher, and, whenever it was possible, to lessen his influence among the people. Jesus (ver. 14) had been occupied in one of his (probably) daily works of healing. He had expelled an evil spirit from a sufferer whose malady had assumed the grave form of insanity which refused to speak. The people around were wondering at this gracious act of power; then broke in voices of accusation, voices to challenge him to show them some sign from heaven, saying that his power was only derived from evil sources. To this the Master replies with consummate skill, knowing the trained minds with whom just then he had to do. He is interrupted by murmurs of approval from the crowd (vers. 27, 28). He notices these for a me-merit, and then proceeds in detail to reply to that subtle request that he would prove his claims by showing them some sign from heaven. Verse 14. - And he was casting out a devil, and it was dumb. Some very terrible and apparently helpless form of possession which manifested itself in a mute, possibly in a motionless, melancholy insanity. And the people wondered. Not improbably the professional exorcists had tried here and signally failed; hence the special wonder of the people. Luke 11:14

Vincent's Word Studies

Dumb (κωφόν)

See on Matthew 9:32.