We know that the Jesus in verse 23 is Jesus Anointed by two facts:
- He has the authority to summon Pharisees from Jerusalem to Capernaum.
- He speaks to them in parables
Here through verse 29 is a continuation of Jesus Anointed holding forth in a string of parables. It may be helpful to read this definition of ‘parable’ from Bullinger:
a placing beside, or side by side for the purpose of comparison; an utterance which involves a comparison, and whose proper meaning is not that which is expressed by the words, but which must become clear by the intended application. A form, therefore, which conceals from the one what it reveals to the other.
In this verse, we have the leading phrase as a question: How can Satan cast out Satan? English readers will automatically connect the reference to Satan in this verse with that of Beelzebub in the prior one, but in doing so interpolates meaning where none was intended.
Πῶς δύναται Σατανᾶς Σατανᾶν ἐκβάλλειν
Satan is the great adversary, but an adversary can only exist in the context of an authority. It is authority that casts out adversaries.