Mark 9:20-22

And when he saw him When the child saw Jesus, being brought to him by his father: when his deliverance was at hand; immediately the spirit tore him Made his last, grand effort to destroy him. Is it not generally so, before Satan relinquishes his power over a soul of which he has long had possession? And he (Christ) asked, How long is it, &c. The Lord Jesus made this inquiry for the same reason for which he suffered Satan to make the violent attack upon the youth just mentioned, namely, that the spectators might be impressed with a more lively sense of his deplorable condition. And he said, From a child Greek, παιδιοθεν, from his childhood, or, as some render it, from his infancy. And ofttimes it The evil spirit; hath cast him into the fire, &c., to destroy him Such is the power it has over him, and such its infernal rage and malice! But if thou canst do any thing In so desperate a case; have compassion on us On me as well as him; and help us The afflicted father, greatly discouraged by the inability of our Lord's disciples, and dispirited by the sight of his son's misery, and by the remembrance of its long continuance, was afraid this possession might surpass the power of Jesus himself, and therefore spoke thus, expressing his doubts and fears in a manner very natural, and yet strongly pathetic, and obliquely interesting the honour of Christ in the issue of the affair.