Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 4:24

"And the report of him went forth into all Syria: and they brought unto him all that were sick, holden with divers diseases and torments, possessed with demons, and epileptic, and palsied; and he healed them." — Matthew 4:24 (ASV)

Throughout all Syria — The word is likely used in a popular sense, rather than with the specific meaning of the Roman province that Luke uses in Luke 2:2. With the single exception of the journey to the region of Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 15:21), our Lord’s ministry was confined to what is commonly known as Palestine.

However, traces of His wider fame are found in the mention of hearers from Idumaea, Tyre, and Sidon among the crowds that followed Him (Mark 3:8). Further evidence includes the faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman in His power to heal (Mark 7:26), the existence of disciples at Damascus so soon after the Ascension (Acts 9:2), and perhaps also Peter’s appeal to the friends of Cornelius at Caesarea, who already knew the basic facts of our Lord’s ministry and miraculous works (Acts 10:37).

Possessed with devils... lunatick — The phenomena of what is called possession, and the theories explaining these phenomena, are best discussed when dealing with the primary example of the Gadarene demoniacs (Matthew 8:28). For now, it is enough to note a few key distinctions.

First, the word translated "devil" is not the same as the one used for the Tempter in Matthew 4:1; rather, it is "demon," in the sense of an evil spirit. Second, those possessed with demons are grouped with the "lunatics"—both exhibiting forms of mental disease—yet are also distinguished from them.

The term "lunatic," in Greek as well as in Latin and English, implies "moonstruck madness." This refers to the belief that the moon had a disturbing influence on the brain (a coup de lune or "moonstroke" was dreaded by Eastern travelers almost as much as a coup de soleil or "sunstroke"). It was also believed that once the disease had set in, its intensity varied with the moon’s phases.

Those that had the palsy — Here, the word (literally, the paralytics) does not point to a view of the disease's cause, but to its visible symptoms: the lack of muscular power to control motion and the resulting "looseness," in common language, of the limbs or head.