Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE MISSION OF JESUS §12.5
magicians. 366 But either way the point is the same: Jesus was remembered as
claiming to be specially (eschatologically) empowered by God, and his consequent
success as an exorcist was attributed to that fact. And this success was itself
proof that the kingdom of God 'has come upon you (ephthasen eph'
hymas)'. 367
(3) The imagery of the third saying is also significant. Even without the
context provided by both sequences (Mark and Q), it would be clear enough to a
Jewish audience that the 'strong man' was an image for Satan and his possessions
an image of the demoniacs. 368 Defeat of Satan, liberation of his captives,
and specifically the 'binding' of Satan were looked forward to as part of the final
climax of God's purpose, Satan bound and disabled for the ages (eternity?). 369
The point, then, is Jesus' claim, in effect, that this binding was already taking
place, 370 indeed, that it had already taken place. 371 The strong man had been al-
366. An allusion to Exod. 8.19 (= 8.15 MT/LXX) would be self-evident: Pharaoh's magicians
confess that Moses' miracles were wrought by 'the finger of God'. Indeed, the allusion
may be more extensive: in CD 5.18-19 Jannes and Jambres, the names given to Pharaoh's magicians,
are described as 'raised up' by Belial, that is, in effect, as effecting their miracles (in
competition with Moses) by Belial's authority; the implication ties saying (2) much more
closely to (1) and (3) than is at first apparent. See further my 'Matthew 12:28/Luke 11:20' 196.
It is quite likely that such an exodus typology, with obvious eschatological overtones, was implicit
in the saying from the first — 'a prelude to the liberation of Israel through the kingdom of
God' (Theissen and Merz, Historical Jesus 258-60). On the originality of the saying as a saying
of Jesus, see further Meier, Marginal Jew 2.413-17.
367. That the aorist of phthanö means 'has come/arrived/reached' cannot realistically be
disputed (see particularly Kümmel, Promise 105-108; Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Kingdom
75-80; Meier, Marginal Jew 2.412-13, 423 [with possible Aramaic reconstruction], 468 n. 70),
though Caragounis insists that it denotes only imminence ('Kingdom of God' 423). See also
above, § 12.4a.
368. Contrast Buchanan, who consistently interprets Jesus' kingdom talk in political
terms (see below, chapter 15 n. 35); here he suggests that the strong man was probably Rome
and that binding him would require various kinds of sabotage (Jesus 215-16).
369. See above, n. 79. But we should recall that the length of time during which Satan is
'bound' varies in the texts cited; Tob. 3.17 and 8.3 remind us that there could be a temporary
binding, for the purposes of a particular exorcism.
370. The Lukan version of the saying implies that Jesus is 'the stronger' (Luke 11.22),
but in Mark the one who binds is not specified, and in Luke there is no particular christological
emphasis given to the term (the equivalent fall of Satan in Luke 10.17-18 is occasioned by the
disciples' success as exorcists, albeit in Jesus' name).
371. In Mark's layout it may be that he intended the 'when' of Satan's defeat to refer
back to the temptation (particularly Jeremias, Parables 122-23; E. Best, The Temptation and
the Passion: The Markan Soteriology [SNTSMS 2; Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1965]
15; Beasley-Murray, Jesus and the Kingdom 109-10; Wright, Jesus 457-59). But Mark 1.13 is
not presented explicitly as a victory (Guelich, Mark 1-8.26 176-77). And we should beware of
pressing the imagery of 3.27 as though it were allegorical in every detail; Tob. 3.17 and 8.3 also
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