Matthew Chapter 12 verse 45 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 45. - Then. On seeing that this is the case (cf Matthew 3:5, note). Goeth he (πορεύεται). Part of the figure; the others would not be far off. And taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked (evil, πονηρότερα) than himself. Christ emphasizes the force and the malignity of a spiritual relapse. And they enter in. Into the heart, and thence into the whole body and soul. And dwell there. Permanently. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Our Lord's words are apparently quoted in 2 Peter 2:20. Observe that the idea of pollution is found there as well as here. (For the form of the expression, comp. also Matthew 27:64.) Is; becometh (Revised Version), as the result. Even so shall it be, This is more than a warning; it is a verdict. Also unto this wicked generation. Observe Christ's solemn addition of "wicked" (evil, Revised Version; cf. ver. 340; τῇ γενέᾳ ταύτῃ τῇ πουηρᾷ The twofold use of "evil" in this verse is not accidental; this evil generation is already fit for the coming of the evil spirits.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(45) Seven other spirits more wicked than himself.--The number seven, as in the case of Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2), represents a greater intensity of possession, showing itself in more violent paroxysms of frenzy, and with less hope of restoration.In applying the parable to the religious life of the Jewish people, we have to ask, (1) What answers to the first possession and the expulsion of the evil spirit? (2) What to the seven other spirits joined with the first, and yet more evil? (3) What is the last state, yet future at the time our Lord spoke, which was to be worse than the first? The answer to the first question lies on the surface of their history. Their besetting sin from the time of the Exodus to that of the Captivity had been idolatry and apostasy. The worship of other gods exercised a strange and horrible fascination over them, deprived them, as it were, of light, reason, and true freedom of will. They were enslaved and possessed. Then came the return from the Exile, when, not so much by the teaching of the prophets as by that of the scribes and the Pharisees, idolatry seemed banished for ever. But the house was "empty, swept, and garnished." There was no in dwelling presence of the enthusiasm of a higher life, only an outward ceremonial religion and rigid precepts, and the show of piety. The hypocrisy of the scribes was the garnishing of the house. And then the old evil came back in the form of Mammon-worship, the covetousness which is idolatry (Ephesians 5:5), and with it, bitterness and hate, and the license of divorce, and self-righteousness, and want of sympathy, and that antagonism to good which had come so terribly near to "the sin against the Holy Ghost." That state was bad enough as it was, but our Lord's words point to a future that should be yet worse. We must turn to the picture drawn by the Jewish historian of the crimes, frenzies, insanities of the final struggle that ended in the destruction of Jerusalem, if we would take an adequate measure of the "last state" of that "wicked generation."