The Finger Of God

We find ourselves in the eleventh chapter of Luke between the verses fourteen and twenty-seven. Along the way, we have been impressed by the multitude of people who followed Jesus. We have also been impressed by his many believers, disciples, apostles and volunteers. However, not everyone believed Jesus. Many were suspicious of him and not a few were downright hostile.

Case in point: Jesus cast out a devil (defined as a “dumb” devil) and the person was able to speak – only some people weren't buying it. They accused Jesus of being in league with Satan, or Beelzebub. They reasoned Jesus was only able to cast out devils if the devil in charge allowed it as if it was all for show.

The “house divided” speech, of course, is what follows, but our take on that particular speech is what matters. As explanations go, many people have, through the ages, had a rather large blind spot in regard to it. Many people only receive the part about Satan divided against himself, but really, there is more to it than that.

We have to admit that 'a house divided' is general at worst and slightly less than precise at best. Jesus spoke of a broken nature both in a house and a kingdom. He spoke of an absence of unity and solidarity. His words were pointed at those he spoke to. As he had passed through Samaria and was a mere stone throw away from Jerusalem, we must recognize that Jesus spoke to Jews. Those who accused him of using the power of a devil to cast out devils themselves claimed to be part of God's kingdom and house.

Obviously, they were not on the same page with God. To claim such a close association to God while being unable or unwilling to see God's nature, power and work clearly indicate a division and loss of unity. Jesus was quick to point out that their own children also cast out devils. He asked them by whose authority their children cast out devils. He assured them their own children would judge them in that matter.

We get this from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible: “Now since the Jews pretended to do these things, Christ asks them, by whom they cast out devils? Whether by the Spirit of God or by Beelzebub? They would doubtless say by the former, and not the latter, which would show their great partiality; for admitting that the like actions were done by them, as by him, why not by the same power? Why should their ejection of devils be ascribed to God, and his to Beelzebub? Therefore they shall be your judges; who will rise up against you, and condemn you one day, for this unequal judgment.”

What I find particularly interesting here is the expression Jesus employed for his proof positive that they were witnessing the very power of God. 'The finger of God' – where have we heard that before? What association does that phrase possess?

I found this explanation at stackexchange.com under Biblical Hermeneutics. “Jesus thus said to the Pharisees that "the Kingdom of God was nigh." He implied therefore to his listeners who were familiar with the Hebrew Bible that the "mighty hand and outstretched arm" of God was next since the "finger of God" was now presently evident to them. In other words, when Jesus had mentioned that the Kingdom of God was at hand, he signaled the imminence of the return of the Kingdom of God to earth (just as the Exodus in Egypt resulted in the visible theocratic Kingdom at the giving of the Ten Commandments on Sinai). Please note that the Ten Commandments (Old Covenant) was given 50 days (Shavuot) after the Exodus from Egypt in the same way that the New Covenant was given 50 days (Pentecost) after the resurrection of Jesus the Nazarene.”

We associate the finger of God with the writing of the law of God – in other words, God's will. We also associate the finger of God with judgment, as when a hand appeared in midair to write upon a wall, “You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.” We find that in Daniel 5:27. The choice of 'finger of God' for 'spirit of God' is interesting, to say the least.

We also find the finger of God mentioned in Exodus 8:19 when Moses bested the Pharoah's magicians. Moses, in effect, stripped Pharoah of his armor, bound him and spoiled his goods. Jesus explained it this way in Luke 11:22, “But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.”

Jesus was that stronger man where Satan was concerned. Jesus cast out devils by the power of God – he did not need to turn to a lesser power to achieve that end. That was what Jesus told the people. He told them they were on the other side of the dividing line, and then he told them this in verse, “He that is not with me is against me.” That is a warning to be taken seriously.

All of this occurred around the man who had been dumb and was now able to speak. Jesus did not forget the once possessed man. He got back to him – and this was still part of his warning to the divided. He said to them in verses twenty-four through twenty-six, “When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house whence which I came out.’ And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in, and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

Division from God, by its very nature, is a state of possession. While many of them were responsible for the sweeping and garnishing, that is, making themselves attractive and available for evil spirits, most of them, like the king in Daniel five, were unable to read the writing on the wall.