xvii. August 2021 They would have to trust Jesus. Matt. So they refer to Gerasenes. Bible scholar Gleason Archer (Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties) argues similarly, It is entirely possible that the political control of this region was centered in Gadara as the capital city. 18). Bill Maher says he's scared of former President Trump "on a very personal level" and "what he would do" to the comedian if he were to win the 2024 White House race. With a little knowledge of the geography of the region, this apparent contradiction can be resolved. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. The exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac (Matthew 8.28-34; Mark 5.1-20; Luke 8.26-39), frequently known as the Miracle of the (Gadarene) Swine and the exorcism of Legion, is one of the miracles performed by Jesus according to the New Testament. December 2017 The lesson of this passage is that Satan is a defeated foe. What were the women in Mark 16:8 afraid of? As I have been studying this account through the week, it has seemed to me a rather bizarre and remote situation, the liberation of this Gerasene demoniac. or school. Earles comments are helpful: The difference in names for the destination on the east side of the take has caused considerable comment. November 2015 (1) Severe personality change. December 2015 Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professors, theologians, and those interested in exegetical analysis of biblical texts. A Jewish exorcist with such authority in the region, risked to damage the beliefs and reputation of the local pagan inhabitants. 14ff. They had heard what had happened to the pigs and knew the Jews considered Gentiles unclean, too. The difference between the phonemes /p/ and /b/ in Japanese, Is there a solutiuon to add special characters from software and how to do it. They were afraid and astonished, saying to one another, "Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the sea, and they obey Him?" . 3); they are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day (Jude 6); and what the unclean spirits deprecate here, is the bringing in, by anticipation, of that final doom. R. C. Trench, Notes on the Miracles of Our Lord (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1949), p. 100. February 2017 or by some form of self-emptying (such as various forms of eastern meditation) in my opinion, they are in a precarious position. You can like Jesus for two different reasons. And the people went out to see what happened; and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they became frightened. June 2017 This is probably the Gerasa of Mark and Luke. Wikipedia states about it: In the second half of the 1st century AD, the city of Jerash achieved great prosperity.. June 2015 The Politics of Luke 8:26-39. The Gadarenes was the place where Jesus confronted a man whose possession by demons gave him a level of superhuman strength like Samson (Mark 5:3 - 5, Luke 8:27). If it is a feminine spirit, the voice will be a feminine one, if masculine then very manly. December 2020 Why as the question? Demon-possession is, therefore, not merely a mental state in which someone suffers from a delusion or is subjected to some subjective disturbance of the world of ideas. These, however, are not the problem raised by Bible students. Browse other questions tagged, Start here for a quick overview of the site, Detailed answers to any questions you might have, Discuss the workings and policies of this site. Fear that you might do something that would embarrass you? HELPING CHRISTIANS BUILD POSITIVE, GODLY FAMILIES, CHURCHES, AND NATIONS, Follow us on social media for daily Scripture comments and more at. As an alternative to confinement, the demons posed the option of being permitted to enter the pigs, some 2,000 in number, feeding nearby. August 2022 In fact the region was known as the Gadarenes-Gerasenes region. September 2016 Even in our sophisticated times, there is an intense interest in the supernatural and the occult. (5) Torment. Significantly, the demons are called unclean spirits (verse 2,9). May 2017 In addition, Matthew includes the comment, Have You come here to torment us before the time? (Matthew 8:29). 128 In most of the stories of possession what is at issue is not merely sickness but a destruction and distortion of the divine likeness of man according to creation. Other demoniacs described in Scripture were bent on self-destruction as well (cf. Paul tells us that our struggle is, at bottom, a spiritual one (Ephesians 6:12). It is ironic that while the demons didnt want to leave the country, the dwellers of that land didnt want the Messiah to stay. Who was afraid of Jesus and why? Matthew 8:4; Luke 8:56). The drowning of these pigs has caused a great deal of discussion amongst Bible students, for as a friend of mine once observed, Thats a lot of pork chops! Had our Lord achieved such a miracle today He would have been in deep trouble. 606-607. Is there any archaeological evidence for Joshua entering Israel and conquering cities in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age? They ask Him if they can enter some nearby pigs, and He lets them. It became one of the proudest cities of Syria. It was situated some 30 miles southeast of Gadara, on the borders of Peraea and a little north of the river Jabbok. Some today have given demons far more than their due by blaming demons for every malady of mankind. Flavius Josephus and Steve Mason, Flavius Josephus: Life of Josephus (Boston; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 47. How ironic, as others have noted, that the tormentor pleads not to be tormented. They were willing to post guards and chain and shackle their neighbor to keep him from hurting someone. What was it that caused these people to react in such a way? Like it or not, demons and demonic activity are likely to become much more of a concern to you in days to come. When the pigs were sent into the sea, the people of Gadara lost money. 5:5). The choice is to be free by submission to Christ (cf. As indicated in the textual note, the best Greek text reads Gerasenes in Mark and Luke, Gadarenes in Matthew. The best human analogy might be in the area of drug abuse. Why did Jesus allow the demons to enter the herd of pigs? . May 2021 But the distance is so short that, even making allowance for the delay by the tempest, the passage could scarcely have occupied the whole night. Luke 8:26And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. They look forward to their future with great dread. We dismiss it the more readily, that, in our view, it conveys a wrong impression. The particular focus of this mans testimony was the Decapolis region. 3 When the centurion 2 heard about Jesus, c he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his . Robert L. (Bob)Deffinbaugh graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary with his Th.M. Bob was born and raised in a Christian home i More, The Net Pastors Journal, Eng. Also, the wholesale slaughter of these pigs dramatically illustrated the destructive purposes of the demons. In any event, they were not Israelites, as indicated by the fact that a herd of swine was being kept nearby, which would have been forbidden by the Mosaic Law, since swine were unclean animals (Leviticus 11:7-8). Why were the Romans afraid of the Christians? We see the first reaction to this in the storm MARK 4:7 And a great windstorm arose [snip]. Although his symptoms would have appeared to be those of an insane man,113 the Gospel writers inform us that he was demon-possessed.114. For more information about Glenn Davis see our About Glenn page and/or his Author's Page. March 2016 How do I connect these two faces together? Jesus asked a sick man if he wanted to get well. Do roots of these polynomials approach the negative of the Euler-Mascheroni constant? There is no conflict, however, for Mark and Luke have apparently focused their attention on the most striking of the two. Daniel 10:13; Ephesians 6:12), whose leader and prince is Satan (Matthew 12:24). Matthew 9:2-8 Why was "This man is blaspheming" considered an evil thought without knowing Jesus' identity? They had been unable to control these two men [Luke only mentions one man, but Matthew tells us there were two]. And, yes, Dana did just read us something about a man possessed by a whole bunch of demons that later go and possess a bunch of hogs. November 2020 Acts 16:16), while others were the virtual pawns of these spirits, losing their own identity and autonomy. Swine were unclean animals according to the Torah. The Lord, in an act of great mercy, freed the Gadarenes' man by casting the demons out of him and allowing them to enter a nearby herd of pigs. I have always wondered what my Christian brothers had to say to the police officers by way of explanation. He was Someone Who could control the spirit realm. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. The demoniacs were mere maniacs, whom Jesus cured by humouring their fancies; and His giving leave to imaginary demons to enter into the swine, produced the story of the disaster to the herd.All these explanations assume that the Gospel narratives are wholly or in part unhistorical. Plummer, Luke, p. 228. Now appreciate the reaction - another God was messing with their god - and demonstrating authority! It is noteworthy that Jesus nowhere speaks of forgiveness of sins or of purification-sacrifices, that have to be brought after His curing of such cases (as He did in some cases of physical illness). But let us return to the gist of the matter: if Christ showed them His Divinity through the reason given above, is it easy to be in the presence of God? Here in Mark, he purposely set out to travel into another land. Why are trials on "Law & Order" in the New York Supreme Court? Although Gadarenes and Gergesenes are derived from a different Greek word, they are essentially referring to the same area. Holy Communion From the Chalice Reintroduced in the UK: What About the US? When once he was an instrument of Satanic opposition against the Messiah, now he is a witness to His power. He did not appear to rush upon the small group of men to attack them (as he would normally have done), but rather to plead with Jesus. In other words, even though he set the bar extremely high, he seemed to be a fascinating man. Copyright 2023 EWTN News, Inc. All rights reserved. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. I think the coup de grce is to look up the Greek word for country in these passages, to see what latitude of meaning it has. (2) Pork was a food forbidden to Jews, and as such, those who raised these pigs may have done so knowingly in violation of divine injunction. November 2017 Why did Jesus not allow demons to proclaim his name, Archaeological or Historical Support for the Gerasene Pigs. Jesus Heals a Centurion's Servant.