Sabbath Ministry

“Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” (NASB) Luke 4:34

“What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!” (NASB) Mark 1:24

The demon was afraid and as a result he was bold and daring. “Leave us alone!” and then he adds “You are the Holy One of God!” Jesus was quick to respond and command him to be quiet and to come out of the man. The Greek word that Jesus used can be translated as “Muzzle it!” Just like one muzzles a dog. “Muzzle it!” Two words. That is all. But they are words with power - authority. This was conflict between the pit of hell and a holy God, and the people sitting there did not really know what was occurring or who Jesus was.

Jewish Concept of Demons. During the time of Jesus, the Jews believed that there were lots of demons. They believed that there were demons everywhere. They believed that demons were created on the evening before the first sabbath day, and that they multiplied by having sex with Adam and Eve. Since the Jews believed that there were male and female demons, they taught that the male demons had sex with Eve and the female demons had sex with Adam before Seth was born.

They taught that there were demons in the air, in the trees, in gardens, vineyards, in ruined buildings, and especially dirty, desolate buildings. They believed that there was great danger in sleeping alone. One rabbi was so afraid that he took a lamb with him even to the bathroom hoping that a demon possess the body of the lamb instead. They thought that demons could enter a person even through food and drink. They believed that a person could determine that demons had been near the house during the night by putting ashes outside the front door to the house. Then, if there were demons around, the foot prints of demons would appear in the ash in the morning.

The Jews believed that they could exorcise a demon if they knew the demon’s name. They used special formulae with carefully chosen words to perform the exorcism. They used songs, and the Qumran literature contains poems for driving out demons (B. Nizan, ‘Shirei Shebah mi-Qumran “le-pahad u-lebahel” ruhot-Resha’, Tarbiz, 55 (1986), pp. 19-46). The ancient Jewish author, Flavius Josephus describes the following exorcism,

The manner of the cure was this: — He put a ring that had a root of one of those sorts mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew out the demon through his nostrils; and when the man fell down immediately, he abjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon, and reciting the incantations which he composed. – Josephus, Flavius, The Antiquities Of The Jews, Book VIII, Chap 2, 5

Jesus’ Authority. Jesus did not need poems, songs, chants, or rings to rescue the man from the demon. He simply commanded, “Muzzle it and come out of him!”

And Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!” (NASB) Mark 1:25