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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Acts 16:16 - 16:18
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The encounter with the spirit of divination:
v. 16. And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying;
v. 17. the same followed Paul and us and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation.
v. 18. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
Even in Philippi, although there was no synagogue there, Paul and his companions continued to observe the hours of prayer. But as they were on their way to the place of prayer, presumably the bank of the river, they were molested by a certain slave girl, who, literally, possessed a python spirit. But she was not merely an artist in ventriloquism, as the word is often understood in secular accounts, but she had a spirit of divination, with prophetic power; she was possessed of a demon. This slave, who brought much gain, a great deal of money, to her owners and masters by her soothsaying, made it a habit, day after day, to meet the party of Paul and then follow closely at his heels, crying out meanwhile, with a loud voice: These men are servants of God the Most High, who also are proclaimers of the way of salvation to you. The girl was not mistress of herself in crying out thus. As one commentator has it, the girl at one time was overmastered by the evil spirit, who was her real lord; at another she felt a longing for deliverance from her bondage. The evil spirit in her was quaking at the sight of Christ's servants and could not help but acknowledge the truth. But Paul was finally filled with annoyance, with grief, pain, and anger. The Lord does not want to be preached by evil spirits, as His conduct in the gospels shows. Besides, according to the meaning associated with the girl's words by the multitude, they might believe the missionaries to be ministers of superstition or of magic. Therefore Paul spoke, not to the slave, but to the evil spirit that possessed her, charging him in the name of Jesus Christ to come out from her. And in that same hour, according to the Greek way of speaking, in the same moment, according to ours, the spirit and her power left her. Note: The diviners, soothsayers, and fortunetellers of our days also make use of the name and the Word of God, but only for the purpose of deceiving the poor misguided souls that consult them, and thus of holding the souls all the more firmly in their doctrine and devilish tricks. It is our duty, therefore, to expose the evil intention and the deceit of the devil. For even if he makes predictions and performs acts which seem to be miraculous, they are-never done with the command and promise of the Lord and are always detrimental to the salvation of souls.