Mark 9:26

‘And having cried out, and convulsed him greatly, it came out, and the child became as a dead person, insomuch that the great majority (or even ‘all') said, “He is dead”.'

The dumb spirit was so affected that it found voice. Its dumbness and deafness had been part of its defence against intrusion. Now, however, it ‘cried out'. And as it came out it made one last attempt for a kind of victory. It would kill its host. Its exit was with such great disturbance that the young man lay as if dead, so much so that a great many, if not all, said that he was dead. (We note here how Mark clearly distinguishes between death and seeming death. How much more effective to have said that the boy was dead. But both Peter and Mark were honest witnesses. The boy looked dead, but they were not sure and so they said nothing).