16 Jan 2015

Matthew 9:32-33

Posted by joncooper

Matthew 9:32: “As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil.
33 And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel.”

For a long time I did not realize the significance of this. It turns out that in Jewish exorcism ceremonies, the priest had to find out the name of the demon. Once he knew the demon’s name he could use it to cast the demon out. This obviously meant that the priest had to talk to the demon and discover his name. However, people who could not talk had no way of saying the name of the demon, and therefore they could not be exorcised.

Now, Jewish tradition taught that the Messiah would be able to cast out even these kind of demons. Therefore, when Jesus cast a demon out of a person who was mute, it was a clear demonstration of divine power. He was doing something that only the Messiah could do – a fact that even their traditions testified to. He claimed to be the Messiah and he proved it by healing the sick, raising the dead, and even casting demons out of people who could not talk. Jesus could not have made His identity any plainer.

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