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Syria is said to be bounded on the north by Cilicia, by Egypt on the south, on the west with the sea, and on the east with Euphrates, and to comprehend within it all Judea, Bethany, Galilee, Decapolis, Samaria, Idumea, Palestina, Syrophoenicia, Syria of Damascus, and Syria of Antioch. Christ’s fame spread very far doubtless, because of the good he did, and the miracles he wrought, and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases: ‘all’ here again can signify no more than very many that were indisposed and ill affected as to their bodily health, those that were sick of, or detained in their beds or houses by, divers diseases. Though Christ showed his power in curing some diseases which physicians judge incurable, yet he showed his kindness also in relieving others not so fatally sick.
And torments; such as were troubled with great pains, as if they were upon racks, or in the hands of tormentors, that set themselves to torture them.
And those which were possessed with devils: of these sorts of persons we shall read often in the gospel: this is the first time we meet with the term. It is observed that in the Old Testament we read little of any such persons; (we read only of Saul’s being vexed with an evil spirit); we read much of them in the New Testament, and in ecclesiastical history for some years after Christ: they called them energumeni. Some think God, in those first times of the gospel, permitted the devil to this degree, that the power of our Saviour might be the more seen in casting them out, and in giving authority to his disciples to cast them out, which was a great demonstration of his Divinity. Others think that God did it for a demonstration of the error of the Sadducees, who held there were no spirits. The gospel seemeth to hint two sorts of these persons: some upon whom the devil had power no further than to rack and torture them, Mar_5:3-5 Luk_9:39; others in whom he dwelled bodily, and divined and prophesied in them, Act_16:16.
And those which were lunatic; affected with such diseases as use to increase in some times of the moon, or at such times to seize persons: of this nature we know divers, more particularly the falling sickness and dropsy.
And those that had the palsy, a disease caused by the resolution of the nerves. Those diseases are mentioned which men account hardest to be cured, if capable of cure by men: Christ, to show his Divine power, healed them. Christ did not only cure these bodily distempers, but he also preached the gospel of the kingdom to heal their soul distempers. We read of many who came to him for bodily cure, but of none that said to him: What shall we do to be saved? How sensible are men and women of their bodily pains and diseases, more than of their soul’s wants!