When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man
By "the unclean" spirit, is meant Satan, the old serpent, the
devil; who by the Jews, is wont to be called as here,
(abaom xwr) , "the unclean
spirit" F24; and that, because he is by sin
become so, though he was not so originally; is the cause of
uncleanness in men, and delights in unclean persons, places, and
things: his "going out of a man", is not to be understood of his
being dispossessed of the bodies of men; nor of the ejection of
him, and his going by force, through the power of divine grace,
out of the souls of men; but either of his leaving the Jews for a
while, in some sort, whilst Christ and the Gospel continued among
them; and of his going out of the Scribes and Pharisees; not
really, but putting on another form, appearing as an angel of
light, and under the guise of holiness and righteousness: and so
he may be said to go out of men, when any outward reformation is
made in them; and they take up a profession of religion, though
destitute of the grace of God:
he walketh through dry places;
referring to a prevailing notion, that unclean spirits walk in,
and haunt, desert and desolate places; and may have regard to the
Gentiles, among whom Satan might go, seeking rest and
satisfaction among them, in their idolatries and other
wickedness, till he was there also disturbed by the Gospel sent
among them: or by these "dry places" may be meant the saints,
whom he takes his walks among, in order, by tempting, to distress
them, being secure of pharisaical persons: and these may be so
called, not for what they are in themselves; not because the sun
of righteousness shines upon them: or because thirsty and
desirous of divine and spiritual things; much less as if they had
no moisture, since they have a well of living water in them, and
are watered by the Lord; or were unfruitful, as dry places
usually are; but for what they were to the unclean spirit, there
being nothing in their grace, and the exercise of it, and in
their spiritual performances, grateful to him; nothing to quench
his thirst, and satisfy his sinful appetite; nor were there in
them the mire and dirt of iniquity to roll in, as in unregenerate
persons: wherefore he is represented as
seeking rest, and findeth none:
his view in walking in these places, or among such persons, is
rest; not the rest of the saints, he seeks their disturbance, but
his own rest; which is to do all the mischief he can, by stirring
up corruption, tempting to sin, and discouraging the exercise of
grace; but is not able to do so much mischief as he would, and so
cannot find the rest he seeks for, nor satisfy his envious,
spiteful, and malicious temper: and this being the case, it
follows,
F24 Zohar in Gen. fol. 77. 2.
