power of God “and tremble,” (James 2:19) they recognized the Lord as the Son of God, (Matthew
8:29; Luke 4:41) and acknowledged the power of his name, used in exorcism. In the place of the
name of Jehovah, by his appointed messengers, (Acts 19:15) and looked forward in terror to the
judgment to come. (Matthew 8:29) The description is precisely that of a nature akin to the angelic
in knowledge and powers, but with the emphatic addition of the idea of positive and active
wickedness.
Demoniacs
This word is frequently used in the New Testament, and applied to persons suffering under the
possession of a demon or evil spirit, such possession generally showing itself visibly in bodily
disease or mental derangement. It has been maintained by many persons that our Lord and the
evangelists, in referring to demonical possession, spoke only in accommodation to the general
belief of the Jews, without any assertion as to its truth or its falsity. It is concluded that, since the
symptoms of the affliction were frequently those of bodily disease (as dumbness, (Matthew 9:32)
blindness, (Matthew 12:22) epilepsy, (Mark 9:17-27)), or those seen in cases of ordinary insanity
(as ill) (Matthew 8:28; Mark 5:1-5) the demoniacs were merely persons suffering under unusual
diseases of body and mind. But demoniacs are frequently distinguished from those afflicted with
bodily sickness, see (Mark 1:32; 16:17,18; Luke 6:17,18) the same outward signs are sometimes
referred to possession sometimes merely to disease, comp. (Matthew 4:24) with Matt 17:15;
(Matthew 12:22) with Mark 7:32 etc.; the demons are represented as speaking in their own persons
with superhuman knowledge. (Matthew 8:29; Mark 1:24; 5:7; Luke 4:41) etc. All these things
speak of a personal power of evil. Twice our Lord distinctly connects demoniacal possession with
the power of the evil one. (Luke 10:18) Lastly, the single fact recorded of the entrance of the demons
at (Gadara (Mark 5:10-14) into the herd of swine, and the effect which that entrance caused is
sufficient to overthrow the notion that our Lord and the evangelists do not assert or imply any
objective reality of possession. We are led, therefore, to the ordinary and literal interpretation of
these passages, that there are evil spirits, subjects of the evil one, who, in the days of the Lord
himself and his apostles especially, were permitted by (God to exercise a direct influence over the
souls and bodies of certain men.
Denarius
(containing ten), Authorized Version “penny,” (Matthew 18:28; 20:2,9,13) a Roman silver coin
in the time of our Saviour and the Apostles, worth about 15 cents. It took its name from its being
first equal to ten “asses,” a number afterwards increased to sixteen. It was the principal silver coin
of the Roman commonwealth. From the parable of the laborers in the vineyard it would seem that
a denarius was then the ordinary pay for a day’s labor. (Matthew 20:2,4,7,9,10,13)
Deputy
(Acts 13:7,8,12; 19:38) The Greek word signifies proconsul, the title of the Roman governors
who were appointed by the senate.
Derbe
(Acts 14:20,21; 16:1; 20:4) The exact position of this town has not yet been ascertained, but
its general situation is undoubted. It was in the eastern part of the great upland plain of Lycaonia,
which stretched from Iconium eastward along the north side of the chain of Taurus. (Rev. L. H.
Adams, a missionary, identifies it with the modern Divle, a town of about 4500 inhabitants, on the
ancient road between Tarsus and Lystra.—ED.)
Desert
frankie
(Frankie)
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