‘And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, who did this, and the evil spirit answered and said to them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” '
Included among these exorcists were seven sons of Sceva, a chief priest (which suggests connection with one of the Jerusalem hierarchy, a member of a high priestly family). They also sought to use the name of Jesus in order to cast out evil spirits. The ‘seven sons', the divinely perfect number, would be seen as signifying that working together they had ‘sevenfold' effectiveness. Their connection with ‘a chief priest' would be considered to further proof of their effectiveness. So if any could succeed these could. But when they made the attempt the spirit replied through his victim, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” The reply is significant to Luke. The realm of evil were very much aware of Jesus and Paul. But of connections with the chief priests they knew nothing.
We do not know who this chief priest was. He may even have been an exaggeration of the seven as they sought to bolster their powers of exorcism by suggesting that they knew the hidden secrets of Jerusalem and the hidden name of God. But Luke saw this connection with the ‘chief priest' of whatever kind as conveying an important message. Christianity was now revealed as the main enemy of Satan, not Judaism. Judaism was now irrelevant, and no longer recognised by Satan as a threat. The sevenfold sons of Sceva with their claimed Jerusalem connections were dismissed by him. Indeed later Christians would speak of synagogues as being ‘synagogues of Satan' because of their fierce attacks against Christians (Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9).