The Ministry Continues ~ Part 5

We continue our study of The Ministry Continues, beginning in Luke 8:1-3. We will be interspersing quotes from Mattityahu, Luke, and Mark in this post. Thus the footnotes for the citation.

Women Accompanying Yeshua

¹ After this, Yeshua traveled about from town to town and village to village [in the Galil], proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God. With Him were the Twelve, ² and a number of women who had been healed from evil spirits and illnesses – Miryam (called Magdalit), from whom seven demons had gone out; ³ Yochanah the wife of Herod’s finance minister Kuza; Shoshanah; and many other women who drew on their own wealth to help him. ^[1]

Miryam (called Magdalit), that is, Miryam from the village of Magdala, on the west shore of Lake Kinneret north of Tiberias and south of Ginosar. In a patriarchal culture, such as Yeshua’s, women were often mistreated and undervalued; in contrast, Yeshua welcomes them among His followers. This seems unusual for a rabbi; it seems rabbis mainly had male talmidim.

Blasphemy Against the Ruach

Then He entered a house, and once more, such a crowd came together that they couldn’t even eat. ^{[2] 22} Then some people brought Him a man controlled by demons who was blind and mute, and Yeshua healed him so that he could both speak and see. ²³ The crowds were astounded and asked, “This couldn’t be the Son of David, could it?”

While there were Jewish exorcists (v. 27, Acts 19:13), casting out a blind, deaf and dumb demon was a significant miracle only the Messiah could be expected to perform (see Mattityahu 8:1–4) because, unlike the legion of demons (Mark 5:1–20), one couldn’t talk with it. Compare Yeshua’s answer to Yochanan’s talmidim (Mattityahu 11:5), “the blind are seeing … the deaf are hearing.”

²⁴ But when the P’rushim heard of it, they said, “It is only by Ba‘al-Zibbul” – the ruler of the demons – “that this man drives out demons.” ²⁵ However, knowing what they were thinking, Yeshua said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not survive. ²⁶ If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself; so how can his kingdom survive? ²⁷ Besides, if I drive out demons by Ba‘al-Zibbul, by whom do your people drive them out?

By whom do your people expel them? The implied answer is: Also, by the Adversary. Satanic healings and miracles are possible, and many are led astray by them (Exodus 7:22, 8:7). Because of the miracles and healings they see, those involved in the occult and false religions have found the broad road that leads to destruction, not the narrow gate and rugged road that leads to life.

So, they will be your judges! ²⁸ But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you! ²⁹ “Or again, how can someone break into a strong man’s house and make off with his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? After that, he can ransack his house. ³⁰ “Those who are not with me are against me, and those who do not gather with me are scattering. ^[3]

In our next post, we will pick up where we left off in Mattityahu 12:31-37.

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^[1] Luke 8:1–3.
^[2] Mark 3:20. (the scene now shifts to Capernaum and may have been the home of Kefa and Andrew.)
^[3] Mattityahu 12:22–30. (see also Luke 11:14-23)