Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Matthew

[Kata Plasma]

Why do exorcised unclean spirits travel through "waterless" places and what kind of "rest" are they looking for there?

Why do exorcised unclean spirits travel through "waterless" places and what kind of "rest" are they looking for there?

43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation.”

[jimwalton]

Our first clue to meaning is the context. This teaching, in both Mt & Lk, is connected with the accusation of Beelzebub and the teaching about the sign of the prophet Jonah, which means it has to do with the rebellious unfaithfulness of the Jews as represented by their leaders (Mt. 12.39). Therefore it’s not about salvation and losing your salvation. He even caps it off with the “moral” of his story: “That is how it will be with this wicked generation” (Mt. 12.45).

Jesus is returning the accusation. It is they, not he, who are the servants of Satan. Jesus’s point is that although he is casting out demons, this wicked generation is inviting them right back in. Two steps forward, two (or three) steps backward.

The text is like a parable. It’s not teaching us anything about demon possession, rehabitation, or conversion. It’s about a wicked generation that rejects the message of truth and gets worse for it—as when Jesus says that he says things in parables so people will fall away. For some people, the more truth they hear the worse they fall into lies. Weird, but true.

Their accusation of Mt. 12.22-37 shows how little they understand about demons. But Jesus answers not about demons but about the condition of the people (12.45)—just as to Nicodemus he was talking about spiritual things, not birth, in the parable of the sower he was not talking about farming, and to the woman at the well he was talking about spiritual life, not water. In Mt. 12.43-45 he’s not talking about demons but about the conditions of the heart.

Jesus, as teacher, is removing the unclean spirits from their souls and minds. This godless worldview, however, can find no rest unless it is deceiving and menacing. It returns to the shallow soil and finds life and growth there (notice the Parable of the Sower comes in the next chapter, Matthew 13). It chokes out the growing life, and they become more entrenched in their blindness and more aggressive in their hostility against the truth.

So it is with those who fall away (Heb. 6.4-8).So it is with those who harden their hearts (Pharaoh). So it is with the spiritually blind and darkened (Rom. 1.18-32).

[Kata Plasma]

What in the parable suggests the man is inviting the demon back in? If that is the main point, Jesus doesn't make it explicit. Jesus says this will happen to the current generation but he doesn't really say why.

The reason the spirit returns is because it does not find rest in the dry places.

[jimwalton]

> What in the parable suggests the man is inviting the demon back in?

The context tells us this. It's the lack of repentance that functions as an invitation. The men of Nineveh will be a witness against these evil people because the men of Nineveh had the good sense to repent (12.41). Even a "pagan," the Queen of the South, had the good sense to recognize when she was in the presence of wisdom, but these religious leaders don't, and they open themselves up to greater deceit. If there's a spiritual void in your life (12.44), if you don't fill it with something true and wise, it will be filled by another with deceit and foolishness.

> If that is the main point, Jesus doesn't make it explicit. Jesus says this will happen to the current generation but he doesn't really say why.

He implies why. (1) They fail to repent. (2) They fail to recognize wisdom when it's right in front of their eyes. (3) They fail to turn their spiritual attention to truth.

> The reason the spirit returns is because it does not find rest in the dry places.

It's a parable, not an allegory. In an allegory, every piece has a metaphoric meaning. In a parable, what counts is the point (the moral of the story), not the details.

But still, why would Jesus choose this image of the "dry places"? In the ancient world, the wilderness (along with the sea and darkness, et al.) were considered to be places of non-order: chaos. Therefore a place like the desert was considered to be "the haunt of demons," and was populated by other elements of non-order, such as jackals and scorpions. It lacked life-giving water. It was a place of danger.

In making this analogy, Jesus is saying that this man in the parable is a more suitable dwelling place for the demon, he has made his life so fitting for the demon's occupation, even more fitting than the desert itself! As the WWI song goes, why would you live on the farm after you seen Paris? (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Ya_Gonna_Keep_%27em_Down_on_the_Farm_(After_They%27ve_Seen_Paree)%3F)

Jesus's point is that this person has allowed their life to be the perfect and comfortable living quarters for this demon and his buds. And He likens that to the religious leaders He's talking to.