Mark Chapter 1, Verse 24
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24: λεγων εα τι ημιν και σοι ιησου ναζαρηνε ηλθες απολεσαι ημας οιδα σε τις ει ο αγιος του θεου
24: Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
24: Saying: What have we to do with thee, Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou
come to destroy us? I know who thou art, the Holy One of God.
Let us alone. Though but one impure spirit is mentioned as possessing this man, yet that spirit speaks also in the name of others. They were leagued together in the work of evil, and this one knew that if he was punished, others would also share the same fate.
What have we to do with thee? This seems to mean, "Have we injured thee?" or, We have done nothing to injure thee. See "1 Kg 17:18".
By this the spirit meant to say, that if Jesus cast him out, he would use an improper interference. But this was untrue. The possession of the man was a direct assault on God and his works. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and he had a right, therefore, to liberate the captive, and to punish him who had possessed him. So Satan still considers it an infringement of his rights, when God frees a sinner from bondage, and destroys his influence over the soul. So he still pleads to be let alone, and to be suffered to lead men captive at his will.
Art thou come to destroy us? Implying that this could not be the intention of the benevolent Messiah; that to be cast out of that man would, in fact, be his destruction, and that therefore he might be suffered still to remain. Or implying, as in Mt 8:29, that the time of their destruction had not come, and that he ought not to destroy them before that.
I know thee, etc. Evil spirits seem to have been acquainted at once with the Messiah. Besides, they had learned from his miracles that he was the Messiah, and had power over them.
The Holy One of God. The Messiah. See Dan 9:24.
