Luke 7:21
And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight.
And in that same hour,.... Or at that same time, for a precise hour is not intended: one exemplar reads, "in that day", in which these men came to Christ,
he, Jesus, as the Persic version expresses it,
cured many of their infirmities; bodily weaknesses and disorders: and plagues; which were inflicted on them as scourges and corrections for sin, very severe diseases, as epilepsies, leprosies, palsies, &c. and of evil spirits; or devils, which he dispossessed and commanded out of the bodies of men; though sometimes evil spirits, with the Jews, signify some kinds of bodily diseases: as when it is said {i}
"whoever puts out a lamp because he is afraid of Gentiles, or of thieves, or of her xwr, "an evil spirit", or because of a sick man that is asleep, he is free.''
Upon which Maimonides observes,
"an evil spirit they call all kinds of diseases, which, in the Arabic language, go by the name of "melancholy"; for it is one kind of the diseases mentioned, which makes a sick man to fly, and separate himself from mankind, as if he was afraid of the light, or of coming into the company of men:''
and unto many that were blind he gave sight; freely, as an act of grace and kindness, as the word signifies, without any merit, or motive, in them.
{i} Misn. Sabbat, c. 2. sect. 5. Vid Maimon. Hilchot Gerushin, c. 2. sect. 14.