Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746-1763) | Matthew 17:14
When they came to the multitude, which was on the next day, as in Luke 9:37 when Christ & His three disciples, Peter, James, & John, came down.
Luke 9:37 | The next day, when they came down from the mountain, Jesus was met by a large crowd.
Luke adds "for he is mine only child"
A larger account of this child's disorder, & of the circumstances of his cure, are related by Mark 9:17 where this case will be more fully considered.
[See Gill on Mark 9:17; See Gill on Mark 9:18]
Mark 9:17 | Someone in the crowd replied, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a spirit that makes them mute.
Mark 9:18 | Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, & becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”
This He said, partly to show the malignity & stubbornness of the disease, & partly to accuse the disciples of weakness; when He himself was as much in fault as they, as the following words show.
It is clear from Mark, that when he came to Christ, he had but little faith; he says to Him, "if you can do anything, help us"; & after Christ had talked with him about his faith, he could only say, "Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief".
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"O faithless & perverse generation"; a way of speaking, which is never used of the disciples, & indeed could not be properly said of them; for though they often appeared to be men of little faith, yet not faithless; nor were they so rebellious, stubborn, & perverse, as here represented, though there was a great deal of perverseness in them: but the characters better suit the body of the Jewish nation, who, on account of the incredulity of this man, & those that were present, being of the same temper with them, are exclaimed against in words, which were long ago spoken of their ancestors, Deuteronomy 32:5 & from whence they seem to be taken.
Deuteronomy 32:5 | His people have acted corruptly toward Him; the spot on them is not that of His children, but of a perverse & crooked generation.
How long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? Upbraiding them with the length of time He had been with them, in which so many wonderful works had been done among them, & yet they remained unbelieving & incorrigible.
Intimating, that His patience & longsuffering would not always continue; & that in a short time, He should be gone from them, & they should no longer enjoy the benefit of His ministry & miracles, but wrath should come upon them to the uttermost.
But however, whilst He was with them, notwithstanding all their unbelief & obstinacy, He should go on to do good; & therefore says, “bring him hither to Me,” meaning the lunatic child.
These words also are directed, not to the disciples, but to the father of the child; for so it is said in Luke 9:41 "bring your son hither"; & so the Syriac renders it here "bring you him"; though, as expressed in the plural number, may very well be thought to intend him, & his friends.
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"It is, "the name of a demon" that rules over such, that drink much wine out of the vat.
''To which others agree, saying [a], that one attended with this disorder, is one,
"whose understanding is confounded, , "by means of a demon", who rules over such, that drink new wine; & lo! the spirit's name is "Kardiacus".
''From whence it is clear, that with them, the disease & the demon go by the same name; & that the former is from the latter.
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“Why could not we heal him?" Fearing they had lost the power which Christ had bestowed on them, & wanted to know what they had done, which had deprived them of it; & what should be the cause of their unsuccessful attempt?
Though they might have learned from the answer Christ gave to the father of the lunatic, & the general character of the Jewish nations in that answer, the true reason of their own inability; but this they took no notice of, imagining it belonged entirely to others, & not to them.
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And Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief, the Arabic & Ethiopic versions read, "because of your little faith", or "the smallness of your faith"; & so does one Greek manuscript; & which is what is doubtless meant by their unbelief; for they were not altogether destitute of faith, but their faith was very low, & their unbelief very great.
Christ says, not because of the unbelief of the parent of the child, & those that were with Him, though that also was a reason; but because of their unbelief, being willing to convince them of their unbelief.
As He had done the father of the child, who had confessed it, & desired it might be removed from him: but lest they should think they had lost their power of doing miracles, Christ adds:
for verily I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed; which was a very small seed, the least of all seeds, & is used very often proverbially by the Jews, to signify anything of a small quantity or weight [b], & is sometimes used of faith, as here; so speaking of the congregation of Edom, meaning the Christians, they say, "they have not, "faith as a grain of mustard seed".'
And it is used in like sense in other eastern nations; & by Mahomet in His Alcoran, who says, "We will appoint just balances in the day of resurrection, neither shall any soul be injured at all, although the merit or guilt of an action be of the weight of "a grain of mustard seed".
So that it has no reference to the quality of mustard seed, being hot & acrimonious; which has led some interpreters wrong, to compare faith to it, for its liveliness & fervency: when our Lord only means, that if His apostles had ever so small a degree of faith in exercise, which might be compared for its smallness to this least of seeds, such an effect as He after mentions would follow; & which therefore is to be understood,
not historical faith, by which men assent to all that is in the Bible as true;
nor special, spiritual faith, by which souls believe in Christ, as their Saviour & Redeemer
for of neither of these can the following things in common be said; but of a faith of miracles, peculiar to certain persons in those early times.
They should be able to do things equally difficult, & as seemingly impossible, if they had but faith, when the glory of God, & the good of men, required it.
Faith of miracles, by "removing mountains", 1 Corinthians 13:2
1 Corinthians 13:2 | If I have the gift of prophecy & can fathom all mysteries & all knowledge, & if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
By doing things which are difficult, seems impossible: wherefore Christ adds,
& nothing shall be impossible to you; you shall not only be able to perform such a wonderful action as this, were it necessary, but any, & everything else, that will make for the glory of God, the enlargement of My kingdom & interest, the confirmation of truth, & the good of mankind.
the worst sort, of a fierce & obstinate kind; & having had long possession, was not easily ejected: & that there is a difference in devils, some are worse & more wicked than others, is clear from Matthew 12:45 & not of that kind of miracles, or kind of faith to the working of such miracles.
Matthew 12:45 | Then it goes & brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, & they go in & dwell there; & the final plight of that man is worse than the first. So will it be with this wicked generation.”
Moreover, the above versions, as they fitly express the word here used; see Mark 9:17 compared with Matthew 15:17.
Matthew 15:17 | “Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach & then is eliminated?
By fasting & prayer: that is, in the exercise of a miraculous faith, expressed in solemn prayer to God, joined with fasting.
It seems that Christ not only suggests, that faith was greatly wanting in His disciples; for which reason they could not cast out the devil, & heal the lunatic; but they had been wanting in prayer to God, to assist them in the exercise of their miraculous gifts; & that while Christ, & the other three disciples were on the mount, they had been feasting & indulging themselves with the people, & so were in a very undue disposition of mind, for such extraordinary service, for which our Lord tacitly rebukes them.
