Matthew 12:45

Matthew 12:45. Then, seeing this inviting residence.

Seven other spirits, etc. To be understood indefinitely, of a more complete and terrible possession; there being no resistance to their entrance.

And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Possibly a reference to some well-known case; but the whole is applied directly to the Jews: Thus shall it be also unto this wicked generation. Explanations: 1. The specific application to the Jews. The first possession, the early idolatrous tendency of the Jews; the going out, the result of the captivity in Babylon; the emptying, sweeping, and garnishing at their return (Pharisaism, a seeming reformation, but really an invitation to evil influences); the last state, the terrible and infatuated condition of the Jews after they had rejected Christ 2. General application to the Jews. ‘A process of deterioration, with occasional vicissitudes and fluctuations, but resulting in a state far worse than any that had gone before it' (J. A. Alexander). Both are true; the former is probably the primary reference. 3. Application to the history of Christianity. The Reformation, the casting out of the first evil spirit of idolatry, permitted by Rome, the house ‘empty, swept, and garnished: swept and garnished by the decencies of civilization and discoveries of secular knowledge, but empty of living and earnest faith' (Alford); the repossession, the final development of the man of sin. 4. An application to individuals; external reformation without permanent spiritual results, leading to a ‘worse state.'