The devils are subject unto us - The devils obey us. We have been able to cast them out.

Through thy name - When commanded in thy name to come out of those who are possessed.

The seventy returned again with joy - Bishop Pearce thinks they returned while our Lord was on his slow journey to Jerusalem, and that they had been absent only a few days.

And the seventy returned again,.... The Syriac version adds, "whom he had sent": these disciples having received orders and instructions from Christ, went as he directed them; and when they had finished their embassy, they returned again to him, and gave him an account of their journey and success. The Vulgate Latin and Persic versions read here, "the seventy two", as they do in Luke 10:1

with joy; with great joy, as read the Syriac and Persic versions; notwithstanding the difficulties that had attended them, reproaches cast upon them, the ill treatment they might have met with in some places, and the labours and fatigues of their journey, and the dangers they had been exposed to:

saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name: they found the miraculous power conferred on them was greater than they at first imagined, or could collect from what Christ said to them, who only bid them heal the sick, Luke 10:9, but when they came to make use of it they found they had a power of casting out devils; not in their own name and strength, but in the name, and through the power, and by the authority of Christ; and this had thrown them into an ecstasy of joy, and in a sort of a rapture: they express themselves as men astonished at the powers bestowed on them.

The seventy

"The fuller development of the new dispensation begins with the mission of the seventy, and not with the mission of the apostles. Its ground-work, from Luke's point of sight, is the symbolic evangelization of every nation upon earth, and not the restoration of the twelve tribes of Israel. According to Jewish tradition, there were seventy or seventy-two different nations and tongues in the world. In Luke 10:1, some read seventy-two instead of seventy" (Westcott, "Int. to the Study of the Gospels").

{4} And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us {e} through thy name.

(4) Neither the gift of miracles, neither any other excellent gift, but only our election gives us an occasion of true joy. And only the publishing of the gospel is the destruction of Satan.

(e) For Christ's disciples used no absolute authority, but performed the miracles they did by calling upon Christ's name.

10:17 The seventy returned again with joy. How long after they were sent forth is unknown.

Even the devils are subject to us through thy name. In accordance with the promise made to the twelve, and probably repeated to the seventy (Mt 10:8). All was wrought by the power of Christ's name.

17. returned-evidently not long away.

Lord, &c.-"Thou hast exceeded Thy promise, for 'even the devils,'" &c. The possession of such power, not being expressly in their commission, as in that to the Twelve (Lu 9:1), filled them with more astonishment and joy than all else.

through thy name-taking no credit to themselves, but feeling lifted into a region of unimagined superiority to the powers of evil simply through their connection with Christ.

10:17-24 All our victories over Satan, are obtained by power derived from Jesus Christ, and he must have all the praise. But let us beware of spiritual pride, which has been the destruction of many. Our Lord rejoiced at the prospect of the salvation of many souls. It was fit that particular notice should be taken of that hour of joy; there were few such, for He was a man of sorrows: in that hour in which he saw Satan fall, and heard of the good success of his ministers, in that hour he rejoiced. He has ever resisted the proud, and given grace to the humble. The more simply dependent we are on the teaching, help, and blessing of the Son of God, the more we shall know both of the Father and of the Son; the more blessed we shall be in seeing the glory, and hearing the words of the Divine Saviour; and the more useful we shall be made in promoting his cause.