Acts 19:13 - Exposition

But certain also for then certain, A.V.; strolling for vagabond, A.V.; name for call, A.V.; the evil for evil, A.V.; I for we, A.V. and T.R. Strolling ( περιερχομένων ) ; going their rounds from place to place, like strolling players or like peddlers. The words should be construed together, " strolling Jewish exorcists." That certain Jews in our Savior's time exorcised evil spirits appears from Matthew 12:27 ; Luke 9:49 . We learn also from Josephus, 'Ant. Jud.,' Luke 8:2 , Luke 8:5 , that forms of exorcism, said to have been invented by King Solomon, so efficacious that the devils cast out by them could never come back, were used with great effect in his days. He adds that he himself knew of an instance in which one of his own countrymen, Eleazar by name, had cast out devils in the presence of Vespasian and his sons and officers and a number of his soldiers. The method used was this: The exorcist applied to the nose of the possessed the bezil of a ring, under which was a certain root prescribed by Solomon, and so drew out the evil spirit through the man's nostrils. The possessed then fell to the ground, and the exorcist commanded the evil spirit in the name of Solomon never to return, and then recited one of Solomon's incantations. To give full assurance to the bystanders that the evil spirit had really left the man, the exorcist placed a vessel full of water at some distance off, and then commanded the ejected spirit to overturn it, which he did. Thus far Josephus. Lightfoot, on Acts 13:1-52 . (vol. 3.215), quotes the book Juchasin as speaking of certain Jews as "skilled in miracles," and the Jerusalem Talmud as speaking of their enchantments and magical tricks and charms" in the name of Jesus" (see, further, Alford on Matthew 12:27 ).