would His Resurrection Divinely attest to this generation His Mission. The Ninevites did
not question, but received this attestation of Jonas; nay, an authentic report of the
wisdom of Solomon had been sufficient to bring the Queen of Sheba from so far; in the
one case it was, because they felt their sin; in the other, because she felt need and
longing for better wisdom than she possessed. But these were the very elements
wanting in the men of this generation; and so both Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba
would stand up, not only as mute witnesses against, but to condemn, them. For, the
great Reality of which the preaching of Jonas had been only the type, and for which the
wisdom of Solomon had been only the preparation, had been presented to them in
Christ.41
36. St. Matt. xii. 38.
37. ver. 39.
38. St. Matt. xvi. 1-4.
39. St. Luke xi. 30.
40. This is simply a Hebraism of which, as similar instances, may be quoted, Exod. xv. 8
('the heart of the sea'); Deut. iv. 11 ('the heart of heaven'); 2 Sam. xviii. 14 ('the heart of
the terebinth'). Hence, I cannot agree with Dean Plumptre, that the expression 'heart of
the earth' bears any reference to Hades.
41. St. Matt. xii. 39-42.
5. And so, having put aside this cavil, Jesus returned to His former teaching 42
concerning the Kingdom of Satan and the power of evil; only now with application, not,
as before, to the individual, but, as prompted by a view of the unbelieving resistance of
Israel, to the Jewish commonwealth as a whole. Here, also, it must be remembered,
that, as the words used by our Lord were allegorical and illustrative, they must not be
too closely pressed. As compared with the other nations of the world, Israel was like a
house from which the demon of idolatry had gone out with all his attendants, really the
'Beel-Zibbul' whom they dreaded. And then the house had been swept of all the
foulness and uncleanness of idolatry, and garnished with all manner of Pharisaic
adornments. Yet all this while the house was left really empty; God was not there; the
Stronger One, Who alone could have resisted the Strong One, held not rule in it. And so
the demon returned to it again, to find the house whence he had come out, swept and
garnished indeed, but also empty and defenceless. The folly of Israel lay in this, that
they thought of only one demon - him of idolatry - Beel-Zibbul, with all his foulness . That
was all very repulsive, and they had carefully removed it. But they knew that demons
were only manifestations of demoniac power, and that there was a Kingdom of evil. So
this house, swept of the foulness of heathenism and adorned with all the self-
righteousness of Pharisaism, but empty of God, would only become a more suitable and
more secure habitation of Satan; because, from its cleanness and beauty, his presence
and rule there as an evil spirit would not be suspected. So, to continue the illustrative
language of Christ, he came back 'with seven other spirits more wicked than himself' -
pride, self -righteousness, unbelief, and the like, the number seven being general - and
thus the last state - Israel without the foulness of gross idolatry and garni shed with all
the adornments of Pharisaic devotion to the study and practice of the Law - was really
worse than had been the first with all its open repulsiveness.
42. vv. 43-45.