Mark 3:23

23 He summoned them, and said to them in parables, "How can Hasatan cast out Hasatan?

Mark 3:23 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 3:23

And he called them unto him
The Jerusalem Scribes, to come nearer to him, and attend to what he had to say in defence of his character and miracles:

and said unto them in parables:
similitudes, and proverbial expressions, as the following seem to be,

how can Satan cast out Satan?
or one devil cast out another? how unreasonable is it to suppose it? can it ever be thought that such, whose interest it is to unite, would ever oppose and dispossess one another? if therefore, as if he should say, I am Beelzebub, or have him, and he is in me, and I am in confederacy with him; was this the case, can any think I should ever cast him out of others, as I do?

Mark 3:23 In-Context

21 When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him: for they said, "He is insane."

22 The Sofrim who came down from Yerushalayim said, "He has Ba`al-Zibbul," and, "By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons."

23 He summoned them, and said to them in parables, "How can Hasatan cast out Hasatan?

24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.