Mark 1:28

‘And immediately the report about him went out everywhere into all the regions of Galilee round about.'

The news spread like wildfire. ‘This man preaches with remarkable authority, and He casts out evil spirits just by a command.' The result was that there was a great and growing interest in Him and people began to seek Him out from all over Galilee. Nearly everyone was talking about Him. His outward popularity was growing and His unique status was being recognised.

Note on The Casting Out Of Evil Spirits.

Jesus approach to the casting out of evil spirits was different from His contemporaries who used very different methods of exorcism. Thus Josephus said of a certain Eleazar, ‘he put to the nose of the possessed man a ring which had under its seal one of the roots prescribed by Solomon, and then, as the man smelled it, drew out the demon through his nostrils, and when the man at once fell down, adjured the demon never to come back into him, speaking Solomon's name and reciting the incantations which he had composed.' We note here the use of the name of Solomon, whereas Jesus cast them out in His own name and His disciples in the name of Jesus. We also note the use by others of plants and incantations. This contrasts strongly with Jesus' method of using a word of command.

Had Jesus used the name of Solomon He might have avoided for a while the accusations of the Pharisees, but because He commanded on His own authority they accused Him of being in league with Satan. After all the only alternative was to admit that Jesus was more powerful than Satan, as Jesus Himself pointed out. We can compare here how Jesus asked in whose name the sons of Israel, whom the Pharisees acknowledged, cast out evil spirits (Matthew 12:27). According to the Pharisees' argument they were thus aligning Solomon with Satan.

But Jesus cannot just be seen as another exorcist. It was considered vital in exorcisms that the exorcist carried out precisely all the prescribed rules and regulations and made use of the correct quasi-magical substances and incantations otherwise it was considered that he would not be successful. This was in total contrast with Jesus exercising of His own authority. Furthermore at Qumran they saw exorcism and healing as being one process, for illness and evil spirits were seen as linked, whereas Jesus specifically differentiated the one from the other. It is clear that Jesus knew exactly what He was doing, and had the power and authority to do it, and did not accept that all disease was the result of the activity of evil spirits.

Josephus then points out that ‘Eleazar placed a cup or foot-basin full of water a little way off, and commanded the demon as it went out of the man, to overturn it and make known to the spectators that he had left the man.' This is an interesting parallel with Jesus allowing the evil spirits to enter the pigs in the case of the Gadarene demoniac, the difference being that Jesus allowed it because the evil spirits sought His permission because they did not wish to be totally disembodied. But it does serve to demonstrate why Jesus gave that permission so that all would know that the evil spirits had left the man.

End of Note.