§ 8. Jesus' Ministry in Galilee Continued

† 37. The Return of the Unclean Evil Spirit

Overview

This episode describes the mechanics of an evil spirit leaving someone only to return.

Although it’s being treated as a separate episode by our reading schedule, this episode properly belongs with the previous episode. This episode is the third illustration of a point Jesus began to make earlier in verse 39; the first two illustrations were of Jonah warning Nineveh and the Queen of the South visiting Solomon.

In all three examples Jesus warns us not to squander opportunities to repent.

Note: Since Luke’s parallel account (Luke 11:24–26) offers no additional material over Matthew, it is omitted here.

‡ Matthew 12:43–45

Matthew 12

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

waterless

The idea of a dry, waterless land appears often in Scripture, symbolizing need and destitution. The Song of Moses describes the people in slavery to Egypt this way.

Deuteronomy 32:9–10

But the LORD’s portion is his people,
    Jacob his allotted heritage.
He found him in a desert land,
    and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
    he kept him as the apple of his eye.

In the New Testament letters, Paul warns Timothy that some would devote themselves to the teachings of demons, and the idea of waterless places describes the empty promises of the divisive and of false teachers among the churches.

1 Timothy 4:1–2

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared….

2 Peter 2:17

These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm….

Jude 12

These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds….

my house

It isn’t his house! But this statement reveals how callous and uncaring the unclean spirit is. Sin has no regard for the well-being of its host!

the last state of that person is worse than the first

Peter expands upon this warning from Jesus in his second letter, where he also adopts the illustration of waterless places to describe the empty promises of false teachers. Since his divinely inspired letter provides the best commentary, we present the entire context here.

2 Peter 2:17–22

These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. For, speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely escaping from those who live in error. They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

So also will it be with this evil generation

Jesus opened the current speech in verse 39 with “an evil and adulterous generation,” so we know the current illustration goes with that thought since the other bookend is here. This, then, is the third example of a missed opportunity that leaves us worse off.

The idea of being worse off afterward bears a notable similarity to His earlier warning about the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). If when we encounter the word of God we dismiss it as the word of man, what further opportunity can there be?