The Scripture reading for today is found in
Luke 11:14-23. In this
world, to be undecided is to be decided. With all of the recent events that we
have seen in the news, where we see race agitators gaining prominence, and we
see that the so-called “racial divide” is greater than it was a decade ago, we
tend to think like the lost, where the amount of melanin determines your race. Melanin
is a brown pigment that is displayed on our skin; all humans are basically the
same skin color of brown. Some have more melanin, which makes their skin a
darker shade of brown (not black), while there are some of us who have less
melanin, making our skin shade a light brown (not white).’ Scientifically,
there is no such thing as “white”, “black” or “red”, we are all brown, some of
us have less melanin than others. When the Human Genome Project published a
draft of their findings in 2000, the
New
York Times reported that
“the researchers
had unanimously declared there is only one race—the human race.”
We see this in the Singerl twins who are just one example where one twin is
very dark and the other is very light. This is a vivid reminder that we are all
one race.
All of this just affirms what Dr. Luke records for us in
Acts 17:26. However,
according to Jesus in our text today, we see that there is a further divide in
the human race (
Luke 11:23;
cf.
Luke 9:50),
but its not based off of skin color. Jesus is saying that the divide in the
human race is a spiritual divide, and to sum up what Jesus is saying here in
Luke 11:23 is that you
are either a Saint or your Ain’t! “In this world, there are only two groups of
people: those who are with Christ and those who are against Him; those who are
God’s, and those who are Satan’s; those who are in the kingdom of light, and
those who are in the kingdom of darkness; those who are righteous and those who
are unrighteous; the “saints” and the “aint’s”. Everyone lives and dies in one
of those two groups, which have distinct and opposite eternal consequences.”
When it comes to the Son of God, there is no spiritual Switzerland for there is
no neutrality.
Either Jesus is who He says He
is, the Son of God (cf. Matthew 16:15-17;
Luke 22:70), who is the Way, the
Truth and the Life, and no one can come to the Father except through Him (John 14:6) or He is a
blasphemer (cf. Matthew 26:57-68; Mark 14:53-65; John 10:33; John 10:36), which according to
the Law brought the death penalty (Leviticus 24:16). Throughout this Gospel, Dr.
Luke has painstakingly recorded for us proof that Jesus is the long foretold
and awaited Messiah who has come to “take away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29 cf. 1 John 3:5) His power over sin, death, and
disease has been displayed. His preaching of the Kingdom of God has been
recorded. The evidence has been laid out, and just like in any courtroom, there
now needs to be a decision made, and another cannot make that decision for you.
Dr. Luke here in our text
records for us the decision that many of the people and their leaders made
regarding Jesus. What we will study this time in The Saints and Ain’ts…01. The Miracle (Luke 11:14); 02. The Blasphemy (Luke 11:15-16); and 03. The Defense (Luke 11:17-23).
01. The Miracle
(Luke 11:14)
Luke
11:14 Many will cross-reference this account by Dr. Luke with what
is recorded in
Matthew 12:22–30
and Mark 3:20–30 and assume that
they are all the same, and at first glance they would appear as so. Matthew
records that the demon-possessed man was also blind (Matthew 12:22), a detail that
Luke, a medical doctor, who throughout his gospel repeatedly brings attention
to medical details would more than likely not have ignored. But when you dig
deeper, looking at the sequence of events, the one recorded by Matthew and Mark
occurred in the Galilee region about a year earlier. This
account here that we will study today is found during Jesus’ Judean ministry on
His way to Jerusalem and the cross, the final journey of Jesus (
Luke 9:51-Luke 19:28). In the
preceding
pericope, Dr. Luke focused on the
right way to worship (
Luke 10:38-42) and made that smooth transition
to the right way to pray, with Jesus once again being the teacher. In
Luke 11:1-4
we read that the disciples asked our Lord to
Teach
Us To Pray, where we studied
The
Petitions of God (
Luke 11:2) and
The Petitions of Man (
Luke 11:3-4). Next we studied
Luke 11:5–13 where we saw that Jesus gave us two
parables that
illustrate the frequency and persistency of our prayers, and how
we are not to allow discouragement to keep us from praying. We learned that God
is not like the selfish man, whom is hard to get ahold of (Luke 11:7; cf.
1 Kings 18:16–46) but instead He is the
giver of good gifts (
Luke 11:11-13;
cf. Matthew 7:11; James 1:17) and that we are
to pray with importunity. This
next pericope
covered in Luke
11:14-54, we see the increased rejection of Jesus after He casts out
a demon.
Luke
11:14 “And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute.” The demon
is called mute (or
dumb in KJV)
because it made the man mute
, and when the demon is cast out, it is the man who speaks.[4]
Luke
11:14 “So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the
multitudes marveled.” The
Gospel writers all record the authority that Jesus has over the demons, which
is one of the signs that He is the Messiah (cf.
Luke 7:19-22; Luke 13:32). The interesting thing to point out as well is that the demons
themselves all acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah (cf. Luke 4:31–41; Luke 8:28–31),
as well as the blasphemers that we will see later in our text today (Luke 11:14-26). Jesus gave others (the seventy) power over demons (Luke 9:1),
and His authority over demons caused amazement from the crowds (Luke 4:36;
Luke 9:42–43; Luke 11:14).
Dr. Luke now records for us two
challenges to the deity and authority of Jesus from the crowd. We will look at
the first of the two challenges today, and the second challenge next time.
02. The Blasphemy (Luke 11:15-16)
Luke
11:15–16 This first challenge posed by those in the crowd was the
same
blasphemous lie that was spread by the Pharisees in Matthew 12:24 and the scribes in
Mark 3:22
in the Galilee has now spread to Judea as well. This challenge was
whether Jesus’ ability to cast out demons came from God or from Satan. Some
scholars have proposed the theory that they came down from the Galilee to watch
Jesus and try to cause trouble, for it was about this same time that John
records for us that they said,
“Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a
demon?” (
John 8:48) and
“He has a demon and is mad.” (
John 10:20) The crowd identifies for us
who
“Beelzebub”
is, for he is
“the ruler
of the demons.” (
Luke 11:15)
In 2 Kings 1:2 we
come across the name Baal-zebub,
the name of the pagan Philistine god which
means “lord of the flies”. Baal-Zebub
was one of the many local male fertility
gods, which bore some form of the name Baal (meaning “lord”). Baal-Zebub means
“Lord of the flies,” but the original spelling in Philistia was probably
Baal-Zebul, which means “Exalted lord.” He was credited with healing powers.[5])
He was very likely worshipped in the
low-lying cities of the sea-coast of Philistia as a god who would be likely to
avert the plague of flies and insects which infested that locality. So
Zeus was adored as Apomuios (the averter of flies), and Apollo as Ipuktonos
(the slayer of vermin).[6]
Later the Jews changed the name to
Beelzebul, a pun that means “dung-god”, and that’s how it is written in the Greek
New Testament, even though here in our English text we see it written as “Beelzebub”. The Jews then used the name
“Beelzebub”
as an epithet for Satan (
cf. Luke 11:18). By saying that Jesus was
casting out the demon by
“Beelzebub”, what that means is that they were
accusing Jesus of being possessed by Satan himself (
Luke 11:18)!
But
notice that those in the crowd didn’t say this to Jesus directly, but instead
they just said this amongst themselves in the crowd, not realizing that Jesus
could read even their thoughts (cf. Luke 11:17).
By stating this, they were admitting that the works of Jesus were miraculous
and without the need of any special effects. This blasphemous accusation that
Jesus was casting out the demon by the power of Beelzebub shows what great
lengths the enemies of our LORD will go to harm the work of the Gospel and
suppress the truth. Accusing Jesus of doing works through the power and
strength of Satan is pure blasphemy. In the incident recorded by Matthew (
Matthew 12:22–30)
and Mark (Mark 3:20–30) a year
earlier in the Galilee, Jesus warned that those who made this accusation were committing
blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31–32). Blasphemy of the Holy
Spirit is committed by believing that the miracles of Jesus are done by the
power of Satan (
Matthew 12:22–30)
and it is known as the unpardonable (or unforgivable) sin (Mark 3:28–30).
Why is it the unpardonable sin as stated in Mark 3:28–30? We can find a clue
by looking at the start of Jesus’s ministry. Jesus stated that His baptism was
to “fulfill all
righteousness,” (Matthew 3:15). The word, “fulfill,” causes us to think of the
Old Testament. Jesus was baptized because He had to fulfill the Old Testament
requirements for entering into the priesthood. He was a priest after the order
of Melchizedek (Psalm
110:4; Hebrews 5:8-10; Hebrews 6:20). Just as the priests
offered sacrifices to God on behalf of the people, so too did Jesus when He became
a sacrifice for our sins (1 Peter 2:21; 2 Corinthians 5:21) in His role
as priest. According to the Old Testament, in order for a priest to be
consecrated he had to be washed with water (Exodus 29:4; Leviticus 8:6;
Matthew 3:13-15) and anointed with
oil (Exodus
29:7; Leviticus 8:12; Matthew 3:16). Both of these were bestowed
upon Jesus at His baptism. The oil is representative of the Holy Spirit who
descended upon Jesus at His baptism (Matthew 3:16). Additionally, the priest didn’t
start his ministry until he was 30 years old (Numbers 4:3). Jesus was 30 years
old when He began His ministry (Luke 3:23). It was after His baptism that He
began His ministry and started performing miracles. He did His miracles by the
power of the Holy Spirit who had come upon Him at His baptism.
The Pharisees, who knew that Jesus’ miracles validated His
words and ministry (cf. John 11:45-48), were attempting to discredit
Jesus’ as the Messiah by saying that His works were by the devil and not by the
Holy Spirit. Therefore, when the Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out
demons by the power of Satan, they were blaspheming the Holy Spirit by whom
Jesus performed His miracles. This is unforgivable because it struck at the
very heart of the redemptive work of God in Christ. It struck at the very
nature of Jesus’ ministry of redemption, testimony, and teaching. Jesus was
ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit Himself, fulfilling the divine plan
of God to provide a sacrifice for our sins (John 3:16; 1 John 4:10). The Pharisees were
attributing the power of Jesus to demonic activity and this is a great
blasphemy. Can a Believer Commit the Unforgivable Sin? No. A believer cannot
commit the unforgivable sin. How can someone who has been born again (John 3:7),
made a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and received eternal life
(John 10:27-28)
actually commit the unforgivable sin? He cannot. Jesus Himself said that we
have eternal life, not conditional life: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone
snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27-28). Besides, Paul writes in 2 Corinthians
5:17 that the Christian is a new creation in Christ. We are no
longer slaves to the old nature (Romans 6:14). We are regenerated by the Holy
Spirit (cf. John
1:12-13). For someone to commit the unpardonable/unforgivable sin,
according to Hebrews
10:26–31, it is a sin done
willfully, an intentional act of blasphemy and not a sin of ignorant unbelief.
Luke
11:16 “testing” πειράζοντες
from G3985 πειράζω pĕirazō, pi-rad´-zo; [7]
and it means to attempt to entrap through a process of inquiry, test.
Jesus was so treated by his opponents,
who planned to use their findings against him (cf. Matthew 16:1; Matthew 19:3; Matthew 22:18; Matthew
22:35; Mark 8:11; Mark 10:2; Mark 12:15; Luke 11:16; Luke 20:23; John 8:6).[8]
Luke
11:16 “sought” here is written in the imperfect active, which means
they
kept on seeking. So they put up to Jesus the demand for “a sign from heaven” just as had
been done in Galilee (Matthew 12:38). By “sign” (G4592 σημειον [sēmeion]) they meant
a great spectacular display of heavenly power such as they expected the Messiah
to give and such as the devil suggested to Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple,[9]
which Dr. Luke records for us as the third temptation (Luke
4:9–12). And after Satan put Jesus to the test
with the temptations in the wilderness (Luke
4:1-13), the people of Nazareth did the same thing as the crowd in our text
today, for they too demanded signs from Jesus (Luke 4:16-30). For these people here in
Luke 11:16 who
“sought from Him a sign from
heaven”, the power displayed by Jesus over the demon (
Luke 11:14)
was all the sign that they should need. They were not honest truth seekers but
instead were taunting Him, wanting Him to prove the charge against Him of being
in league with Satan to be false.
Jesus gives two responses to the blasphemous accusation by
the crowd and their demand for a miraculous sign here in Luke 11:17-23.
03. The Defense
(Luke 11:17-23)
Luke
11:17–23 Now remember, Jesus never actually heard the blasphemous
accusation, but Dr. Luke here records
“But He, knowing their thoughts,” (
Luke 11:17). Dr. Luke
again records for us the omniscience of Jesus (cf.
Luke 5:22;
Luke 6:8;
Luke 7:39– 47;
Luke 9:46–47;
Luke 11:17;
Luke 24:38)
in fulfillment of Simeon’s prophecy (Luke 2:35). What were
their thoughts? It was the blasphemous accusation by the crowd that He casts
out demons by
“Beelzebub,
the ruler of the demons.” (
Luke 11:15) Jesus responds to their blasphemous thoughts
by saying,
“Every kingdom divided against
itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house
falls. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?
Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.” (
Luke 11:17-18) What
Jesus was saying here is that their thoughts were inconsistent at best, and
were ludicrous. For if Jesus was empowered by Satan, then He was working
against Himself and destroying the kingdom of Satan every time He cast out a
demon. Any time that there is internal strife, it ends up in destruction at
worst, and greatly weakening at best. This phrase of
“a house divided against a house falls” (
Luke 11:17) in the Greek
is
“και οικος επι οικον πιπτει” it is “and house against house falls”.
Where the Greek word for “against” (G1909 επι) is
used as a marker
of hostile opposition, against.[10] That
is why Abraham Lincoln, on June 16, 1858, in one of his best known speeches at
the Illinois State Capital in Springfield, after accepting the Illinois
Republican Party’s nomination as a United States Senator. The best-known
passage of the speech is:
A house divided
against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure,
permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house
to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one
thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further
spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that
it is in the course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it
forward, till it shall become lawful in all the States, old as well as new —
North as well as South.
The Bible says that a double-minded man is unstable in all
his ways (
James 1:8),
and Paul appeals to the churches that there be no divisions among the believers
(
1 Corinthians
1:10). In fact, churches should be unified in their purpose and
judgment, avoiding people who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to
sound doctrine (
Romans 16:17).
Christians are not to quarrel but to be unified around a common understanding
of truth.
“Behold, how
good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!”
(
Psalm 133:1).
Here we see the second response of Jesus to their ludicrous
accusation.
Luke
11:19-20 Jesus pointed out the double
standard of those who were accusing Him. If their followers (sons) cast
out demons, they claimed it was done by the
power of God. Thus since Jesus cast out demons, it too
must be by the finger of God, that is, His power. Therefore the kingdom of God has come upon
you.[13] Jesus is challenging their double standard, basically saying
that if He casts out demons by Beelezub, then they ought to level the same
accusation against their Jewish exorcists as well! At this time, there were many Jewish exorcist going about the
country, trying to cast out demons. Josephus (Antiquities VIII, ii 5)[14]
mentions a Jewish exorcist, as well as does Dr. Luke, who records for us a
couple of times where Jewish exorcists attempted to cast out demons, even using
the name of Jesus (Luke
9:49-50; Acts 19:11–17).
Luke
11:20 “But if I
cast out demons with the finger of God” That
phrase “the finger
of God” (ἐν δακτύλῳ θεοῶ) should recall for us Exodus 8:19, where Pharaoh’s magicians
acknowledge that the miracles performed by Moses and Aaron were done by the “the finger of God.” In
Exodus 31:18 (cf. Deuteronomy
9:10), Moses records for us that the “two tablets of the Testimony (the
Ten Commandments),
tablets of stone, were written with the finger of God.” David declares that
the “heavens…the moon
and the stars,” are “the work of Your (God) fingers…which You have ordained” (Psalm 8:3). Jesus states that He casts out demons by the “the finger of God” or
the power of God, unlike many of the Jewish exorcists who try to use charms and
spells to cast out the demons. All of this is Jesus fulfilling what Moses foretold in Deuteronomy 18:15–20, that He is the Greater Prophet
promised by Moses.
Jesus is saying that just as
the miracles performed by Moses helped free the Jews from their bondage in
Egypt by the “finger
of God”, so too can the Jews here in Judea be freed from the
power of sin and death by the “finger of God”, and
that is evidenced by the signs of Jesus. Unlike
the Pharaoh’s magicians who acknowledged that the miracles performed by
Moses and Aaron were done by “the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19), the crowd here refused to
acknowledge that the casting out of the demon was done the “finger of God”
(Luke 11:20).
Luke
11:20 “surely
the kingdom of God has come upon you.” The way that this is written in the Greek, ἄρα ἔφθασεν ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς ἡ βασιλεία τοῶ θεοῶ, “has come” the aorist of φθάνω
is ingressive which means that it describes an event begun in the present but completed in the future.
They were literally right there in front of the Kingdom of God, because the
King Himself was standing before them! The Kingdom of God is upon them through
Jesus, who is displaying His power and authority by casting out demons. And yet
they refused! The Kingdom of God will not be completely fulfilled until after
He returns the second time. Instead of falling down and worshipping Him as
King, they committed the unpardonable sin, blaspheming the Holy Spirit because
they attributed the works of Jesus with Satan (Luke 11:15). They were spiritually bankrupt,
lost, condemned sinners in need of a Saviour, the One standing before Him and
they chose to believe that He was from Satan.
Now we will look at the second
response of Jesus to the crowd and their thoughts, a simple analogy that
illustrates that Jesus was empowered by God and not Satan.
Luke
11:21–22 The strong
man that is mentioned here in Jesus’ illustration is the Devil. The palace is the world, the
kingdom of the Devil (2
Corinthians 4:4; cf. John 12:31; John 16:11). The household goods are the
unbelievers. The stronger
is in reference to Jesus. So here we have the strong man with a palace full of goods. Everything seems grand even though nothing
leaves, until the stronger
comes and busts down the door, ties the strong man and plunder the goods. Jesus
is the stronger man,
breaking into the house, binding Satan and rescuing us and bringing us into the
light and safety of His kingdom.
Luke 11:22 “comes upon him and overcomes him”
Here we are reminded of what is called by theologians as the protoevangelium,
the first gospel, which is found in Genesis 3:15, after the fall of Adam and Eve, with
God cursing the serpent, where the Seed of the woman will bruise the head of
the Devil.
Genesis
3:15 can be transliterated as
“he
(the seed of the woman, man) shall lie in wait for thy head, and thou shalt lie
in wait for his heel,” he shall endeavor to crush his heel.”
Genesis 3:15a “bruise” (qal) crush, i.e., a downward pressing motion of an object.[16]
Genesis 3:15b
“bruise” (qal) strike, bite, i.e., a piercing action of sharp teeth into soft tissue.[17]
The general meaning of the sentence is clear: in the war between men and serpents
the former will crush the head of the foe, while the latter can only wound in
the heel. [18]
God prophesies to Satan that the Son of Man will ultimately defeat him. In
this, God prophesies the doom of Satan, showing that the real battle is between
Satan and the
Seed of the Woman, where the virgin born Messiah comes
within the reach of Satan by becoming a Man, bruised at the cross. Jesus is
overcoming the darkness and the kingdom of the Devil. You can’t be a Christian
unless Jesus
overcomes
the Devil! The Devil is bound in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Satan and
his demons are powerless at keeping Jesus from rescuing those who are His. In
Luke 3:16,
John the Baptist talks about
“One mightier than I is coming” after him because he
can only baptize with water, but
“One mightier” will baptize
“with the Holy Spirit and
fire.” John the Baptist was talking about Jesus in
Luke 3:16,
and the same Greek word that is used for
“mightier” in
Luke 3:16 is the same Greek word
that is used for
“stronger” here in our text of
Luke 11:22 (G2478
ἰσχυρότερός ischyroteros). Behind the statement of Jesus here in
Luke 11:21-22; we have seen that
Jesus was declared the
“mightier”
or
“stronger” One in
Luke 3:16,
and He showed that He was the
“stronger” who resisted the temptations from the
Devil in
Luke 4:1-13. But we also
see this foretold by Isaiah when he says that there will be a release of the
captives from the mighty,
“Shall
the prey be taken from the mighty, Or the captives of the righteous be
delivered? But thus says YHWH: “Even the captives of the mighty
shall be taken away, And the prey of the terrible be delivered; For I will
contend with him who contends with you, And I will save your children.” (
Isaiah 49:24–25) Isaiah talks about the
Suffering servant diving the spoil,
“Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He
shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto
death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.” (
Isaiah 53:12)
The common point is that Satan
enslaves us to sin, sickness, demonic possession, and death, but that Christ
views it as His mission to break this dominion, conquer Satan, and bring us
liberation. The mighty power of Jesus displayed in this liberating mission is
that of the kingdom of God. Jesus puts forth this power, not merely in his
death and resurrection, but already in his life, in his triumph over
temptation, in his healings and exorcisms, in his raising of the dead.[19]
(
Romans 6:17-22;
Colossians
1:13-14;
Colossians
2:15;
Hebrews
2:14;
1 John 3:8;
1 John 4:4). Paul wrote about this in
Romans 6:17-22 and
in
Colossians
1:13-14 and
“Having
disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them in it.” (
Colossians 2:15)
The writer of Hebrews writes that “Inasmuch then as the children have
partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that
through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the
devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14-15)
John, in his first epistle states that “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil
has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested,
that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8) and “You are of God,
little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater
than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) Jesus will defeat Satan at the cross, and John records for us the final
defeat of Satan in Revelation 20:7–10.
Luke 11:23 There
is no neutrality when it comes to Jesus, for you are either for Him or against
Him. This was not only true of those in attendance in our text, but for us
today.
[4] Plummer, A. (1896). A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to S. Luke
(p. 301). London: T&T Clark International.
[5] Constable, T. L. (1985). 2 Kings. In J. F. Walvoord
& R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible
Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 538).
Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[6] Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Ed.). (1909). St. Luke (Vol. 1, p. 302). London; New
York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
[7] Strong, J. (2009). A
Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible
(Vol. 1, p. 56). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.
[8] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 793). Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
[9] Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Lk 11:16). Nashville, TN:
Broadman Press.
[10] Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., & Bauer, W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament
and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 366). Chicago: University
of Chicago Press.
[13] Martin, J. A. (1985). Luke. In J. F. Walvoord & R.
B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge
Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, pp. 235–236). Wheaton,
IL: Victor Books.
[14] Josephus, F., & Whiston, W. (1987). The works of Josephus: complete and
unabridged. Peabody: Hendrickson.
[16] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old
Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[17] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old
Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[18] Skinner, J., 1851-1925. (1910). A critical and exegetical commentary on Genesis (pp. 79–82). New
York: Scribner.
[19] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W.
(1985). Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament (pp. 378–379). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
