Luke 11:17-18a reads as follows: (17) But he [Jesus], knowing their thoughts, said to them: ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. (18) And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?’
A superficial reading of these verses suggests that Jesus is discussing the poor condition of the cosmic kingdom of Satan, using imagery that comprises society from the highest public (‘kingdom’) to the lowest private (‘household’) level. However, reading this fragment as part of an encoded political story, Jesus may not be disclosing a general cosmic idea but giving a specific political comment. The following elements support this political analysis:
In my analysis, verse 17 describes the civil war in Rome 68-69 CE, and verse 18a describes its provoking event, the suicide of Nero. Luke 11:17-18a is a fine illustration of the gospels being encrypted narratives of the Jewish-Roman struggle for world domination. This short fragment describes the supposed weakness of the enemy expressed by one of the leaders of the Jewish rebellion against their oppressor. Jesus depicts the Roman empire as divided and in a state of civil war following the suicide of its ruler. In the eyes of their Essene opponents, this brought the world power Rome to the brink of collapse. Jesus analyses Rome’s adverse internal affairs and its resulting supposed weakness to motivate the Jewish revolutionary forces.