Smoodock's Blog

Presently, I am considering the seven sons of Sceva, the high priest and the seven ‘sons’ of Annas, the high priest of Jerusalem in the 1^st century CE. Earlier, I had written that the descendents of Annas comprised the Image of the Beast in Revelation 13, but do these things pertain to Acts 19:13-16 and exorcising of evil spirits?

In Matthew 12:24 Jesus was accused by Jewish authorities of casting out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. The problem we need to see is that the word used of Jesus to “cast out” evil spirits is not the same, nor is it related to that which we find in Acts 19:13! The word in Matthew 12:24 is ekballo (G1544) and means to cast out, call forth, bring out etc. The root in the Greek is ballo (G906) meaning to throw, cast or send.[1] The word in Acts 19:13 is exorkistes (G1845) and its root is in horkos meaning “oath” and the prefix, ex meaning “from, out of” etc. That is: “from an oath” or “out of an oath.” This word, exorkistes is used only in Acts 19:13, but a related word exorkizo (G1844), which is used for Annas, the high priest, commanding Jesus with an oath to testify whether or not he was the Messiah, the Son of the living God (Matthew 26:68). It, too, is used only in Matthew 26:68. The high priest was not trying to cast demons out of Jesus, although he was seeking “to draw out” the testimony he was seeking by holding an oath over Jesus, and in this way accuse him of blasphemy (a crime worthy of death) that he was unable to derive from the contradictory and false witnesses who testified against Jesus.

What seems to be taking place in Acts 19:13 is that a certain Jewish group was going about to draw out through oaths what they considered evil (viz. believing Jews in the synagogues) and to do so they used the name of Jesus, repudiated by this Jewish group but trusted in by believers. The sense seems to be they held oaths in Jesus name over those who were thought to be believers in Jesus, but may still be frequenting the synagogues in Ephesus. The oath was used to expose them or to cause them to blaspheme by having them deny Jesus under the oath put to them. Verse-14 says that the seven sons of Sceva did likewise. The text doesn’t say that either Sceva or his sons were in Ephesus. The wandering Jews were there, but Secva and his family were not specifically said to have gone to Asia. I believe we need to consider that what occurs in Acts 19 was not what we would normally assume to be exorcisms. For example, Annas and Caiaphas sought to force Jesus into incriminating himself and in this way cast him out of the land through crucifixion. However, the Greek word has to do with oath taking or self-cursing, **not** exorcising as the word has come to be understood today in English. The sense is derived from the Hebrew shaba (H7150 to cause or make an oath) which literally means to “seven” oneself.[2] It is taken from the root sheba (H7151) meaning “seven”. Luke is using a play on words to show how the curse with which Annas cursed Jesus has turned back on him and his family. Under the Old Covenant, an oath taken is one of self-cursing, if what is claimed in not true. According to the Damascus Document (one of the Dead Sea Scrolls) only the judge (viz. the high priest) could demand the oath of cursing (cp. Matthew 26:63) to incriminate the evil doer. What occurs in Acts 19:13 shows a relaxing of the law of oaths,[3] something over which the prophets complained (Jeremiah 5:2; Zechariah 5:3-4; Malachi 3:5). Note in particular Zechariah 5:3-4 “This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one …that swears shall be cut off as on that side according to it…it shall enter into the house …of him that swears falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.” Annas’ or Sceva’s “house” was the Temple at Jerusalem!

The Jewish authorities had accused Jesus of being Beelzebub (Matthew 10:25). They tried Stephen under the charge of blasphemy, and tried to cause Grecian Messianic believers to blaspheme the name of Jesus (Acts 26:11) by means of a great persecution (Acts 7 & 8). Next they turned against the Apostles (Acts 12) and finally they set their eyes on the most conservative of Messianic believers led by James, the brother of Jesus. The effect of holding an oath over those accused of believing in Jesus was indeed “to cast them out” of the land of the living (viz. Jesus’ crucifixion, Stephen’s stoning & James being slain with Agrippa’s sword), but the sense of the original Greek word has no such specific meaning. The “casting out” had to do with the judgment of the Jewish court, but the Greek word, itself, concerned an oath.