The multitude had been much excited by the dispute between the scribes and our Lord's disciples. And now, when they noticed that he had taken the father apart, as no doubt he had done, to question him they came running together (the word is ἐπισυντρέχει, an unusual word, meaning "they ran together to the place") where he was, crowding upon him.
Then he came forward, and with a voice of sublime authority he said, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I command thee, come out of him and enter no more into him. The rest of the narrative shows how malignant and powerful this evil spirit was, who dared so to resist and defy Christ that, in his departure out of the afflicted boy, he almost robbed him of life.
"Most unwillingly," says Archbishop Trench, "does the evil spirit depart, seeking to destroy that which he can no longer retain." And he quotes Fuller, who says that he is "like an outgoing tenant, that cares not what mischief he does to the house that he is quitting."
Some have supposed that this was an evil spirit possessed of more than ordinary power as well as malignity, and that this was the reason why our Lord's disciples could not cast him out; so that this expulsion needed the mighty arm of One stronger than the strong.
The words in the Greek are powerful, severe, and authoritative: "He rebuked ( ἐπετίμησε) the unclean spirit,. Thou dumb and deaf spirit ( τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἄλαλον καὶ κωφὸν), I command thee ( ἐγώ σοι ἐπιτάσσω), come out of him, and enter no more into him."
This explains our Lord's words when the disciples remarked afterwards, We could not out it out … This kind can come out by nothing, save by prayer; that is, this particular kind of malicious spirit. For there are different degrees of malice and energy in evil spirits as in evil men.
The words "and fasting" are added in many ancient authorities.