Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Lord, have mercy - The word "Lord" here means "Sir," a title of civility, not implying divinity.
My son - This was an only son (Luke). He was possessed with a devil. This calamity was attended with the following symptoms: he was lunatic (see the notes at Matthew 4:24); he was sore vexed; that is, he suffered greatly, or was greatly afflicted; he fell often suddenly, in the manner of persons having epileptic fits; he was dumb - that is, he was mute except when the seizure was coming upon him, for Luke says that when the spirit took him he cried suddenly out; he foamed and gnashed with his teeth, and wasted away, or became poor and emaciated. Luke Luke 9:39 adds of the evil spirit, "it teareth him that he foameth again, and, bruising him, hardly departeth from him;" that is, scarcely departed from him, or he had only short intervals of reason, for so the passage in Luke, "bruising him, hardly departeth from him," should be translated.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Matthew 17:15:
Psalms 121:6
Matthew 4:24
Matthew 17:24-27
Matthew 17:24-27
Mark 9:14-29
Luke 9:37-43
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