The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

130 Jesus
After naming his 12 disciples—to whom he gave the
power to cast out demons also—Jesus returned home,
welcomed by great crowds of the faithful and curious.
Some of his friends believed he was temporarily insane,
and some of the Jewish scribes considered him possessed
by BEELZUBUB. Matthew (12:24–29), Mark (3:22–27, as follows),
and Luke (11:14–22) recount the incident:
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of
demons he casts out the demons.” And he called them to
him, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast
out Satan? If a kingdom be divided against itself, that
kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against
itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan
has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot
stand but is coming to an end. But no man can enter into
a strong man’s house, and plunder his goods, unless he
first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder
his house.”
The name Beelzebub, or “Lord of the Flies,” is a distortion
of Baal-zebul, referring to the chief Canaanite or
Phoenician god, meaning “lord of the divine abode” or
“lord of the heavens.” In the prophet Elijah’s day, the god
Baal was the main rival to the Israelite god Yahweh (Jehovah),
and his name would represent Satan to the Jews
(1 Kings 18; 2 Kings 1:3). This incident also presents the
idea of binding Satan to the will of God before he can be
thrown out of the “house,” or the body of the possessed
victim.
The episode most often told about Jesus’ casting out
demons concerns the Gerasene or Gadarene demoniac,
according to Mark (5:1–13) and Luke (26–33), and the
two demoniacs in Matthew (8:28–32). Although identified
differently, the story is the same. After delivering the
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus and his disciples traveled
by boat to the country of the Gerasenes, or Gadarenes.
There they met a man possessed of an unclean spirit, as
told in Mark:
And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into
the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come
out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the
tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling
among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no,
not with chains: Because that he had been often bound
with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked
asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces; neither
could any man tame him. And always, night and day, he
was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting
himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off,
he ran and worshipped him, And cried with a loud voice,
and said, “What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son
of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou
torment me not.” For he said unto him, “Come out of
the man, thou unclean spirit.” And he asked him, “What
is thy name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is
Legion: for we are many.” And he besought him much
that he would not send them away out of the country.
Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great
herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him,
saying, “Send us into the swine, that we may enter into
them.” And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the
unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine and
the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea,
(they were about two thousand;) and were choked in
the sea.
As did other possessed souls, the Gerasene demoniac
suffered great physical pain and spiritual anguish. He
ran to Jesus for help, but the demon within denied Jesus’
power and adjured Jesus not to cast him out. Another important
part of this story is the naming of the demon,
a vital point in the exorcism ritual. A legion is a major
unit in the Roman army (who were considered demons
by many) consisting of 4,000–6,000 men. An estimate of
2,000 may be low. Finally, however, the demons could
not stand up to Jesus any longer and begged to enter the
herd of swine. Because pigs were already deemed unclean
animals in Jewish law, the choice was appropriate. People
in Jesus’ day believed that demons hated water, so when
the pigs drowned, the demons were destroyed.
Jesus continued to cast out demons during his ministry,
even cleansing the unclean spirit from the daughter
of a Gentile woman who accepted him as the messiah
(Mark 7:25–30, which follows; Mt. 15:21–28).
But immediately a woman, whose little daughter was
possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came
and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Greek, a
Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the
demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, “Let the
children first be fed, for it is not right to take the children’s
bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered
him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the
children’s crumbs.” And he said to her, “For this saying
you may go to your way; the demon has left your daughter.”
And she went home, and found the child lying in
bed, and the demon gone.
Such acts were crowd pleasers, and the disciples told
Jesus of an exorcist who claimed to cast out demons in his
name (Luke 9:49–50):
John answered, “Master, we saw a man casting out
demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he
does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not
forbid him; for he that is not against you is for you.”
Later, 70 other followers, sent out as disciples but not
specifically given the power to exorcise, found they were
also able to cast out demons. Jesus reminded them that
the joy was not that they were able to exorcise, but that
God had found them worthy (Luke 10:17–20):
The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the
demons are subject to us in your name!” and he said
unto them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.