It all belongs to God. Gadarenes, Girgesenes, Gerasenes: (These three names are used indiscriminately to designate the place where Jesus healed two demoniacs. So why pigs? All of us may be so concerned with our own livelihoods that we fail to serve other people and help those in desperat The NT references (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26; cf. First of all, I believe Mark was attempting to warn his Gentile readers of the great danger of demonic influence and activity. On the other hand, the Masters usually thick-headed students, the Tedious Twelve, didnt question him about this! Incredible. were badly damaged in major He does. WebWho do you care more about, people or pigs? If our faithful, unchanging Heavenly Father God made a straightforward decisive yet divisive decision and repeated it over and over and over, then why cant the good pastors connect the dots and figure out Jesuss real relationship to the pigs? In turn, they would have a vehicle wherewith to stay in their territory. These demons of the Gadarene Demoniac wanted to stay in this territory where worship of Baal was predominant. At the very end of his book The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Apostle John repeats them. Jesus though he was The Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-18 and John 1:21) had to play by the same laws. These authors were Biblical (Peter, James, Paul, Hebrews, etc) and to a lesser extent, non-biblical (Josephus, Pliny, etc). Its true! However, the silversmith was a smart cookie and knew that the more people bought into Pauls line of thinking, the less theyd be buying his souvenir Diana statues. display: none !important; In actual fact, when you stop to think about it, If our faithful, unchanging Heavenly Father God made a straightforward decisive yet divisive decision and repeated it, Fourth Fact: Gods Enduring, Unchangeable Word, As was just so elegantly discussed, the destruction of the herd, Your word, O LORD, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens. Two thousand pigs together is quiet unimaginable. Are we with a man, liberated, who trusted Jesus, who begged to be with Jesus and sought to be a disciple at His feet? It's all Gentile territory, so just bear that in mind. So I don't know how seventeen interpretations of this particular story got circulated. And why werent they demanding compensation for their pigs? It was a leading city of Syria in commerce, culture, and religion. 2 Just as Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came It isnt a long list. Also, this study shows that Jesuss actions in Mark 5 were on the surface contrary to the deep-rooted Jewish respect for domestic and/or wild animals. He loves our souls. Originally published in Tabletalk, our daily Bible study magazine. Rabbi, begone! The story of the Gerasene demoniac thereby foreshadows the mission to the Gentiles that would begin in full force with the conversion of the Apostle Paul and Peter's ministry to Cornelius (Acts 910). We have seen that God Almighty loves animals as much as humans, so Jesus randomly killing two thousand swine seems senseless, unless we remember God has commanded righteous people to avoid defiling food, such as pork. 10:31). HDB, II, p. 158, 159 for a detailed description.). If there was a difference, why do they read the Law of Moses but call it the Law of God in Nehemiah 8:8? Are you seeing this? Obviously, they were Jewish pig farmers seeing judgement for flagrant disobey Gods Word and keeping and eating pig meat. Wipf & Stock Publishers. In fact in this passage with the demons naming His name, this was often done in the ancient world, if you knew someone's name you could call out that name as a part of casting a spell on them. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And repeatedly, these miracles will focus us in on Who is Jesus? and What do His deeds tell us about what He has come to do and the power that He has? And so this passage helps us in this way. Ill take Mark at his word; hes thinking of an army of demons, not an army of human soldiers. In fact, the next thing the name did was to take a steel bar, place it in his teeth, and proceed to bend it with his hands and with his teeth. Pork was a prevalent food staple and as you travel near the gates of Gibraltar the terrain matches the craggy cliffs as well as the placement of aboveground as well as natural cave tombs which show signs of living inhabitants at some point. Gerasa is mentioned next by Josephus in connection with the Jewish rebellion against the Romans in a.d. 70. Now the big-mouth irking this Greek artisan was our good friend, the Apostle Paul. And if I remember correctly, I think there is some tradition about other Apostles going to Spain. With such a track record, what difference would Legions size or strength make? Let's pray. You understand that Legion is not his name. But there are many reasons why Im not keen on the idea of the Gospels as non-historical. Last Update: Jan 03, 2023 It was part of the Greco-Roman region known as the Decapolis, or ten towns. It was Gentile territory, the land of foreign gods, a place of idolatry. For these reasons, the writers of the gospels gave no explanation and the Twelve asked no question about why Jesus destroyed all the swine. Instead of recklessly freeing the doves into the air (as erroneously shown in The Jesus Film and other Bible movies), Scripture records with precise detail that Jesus only knocked over the chairs of the pigeon owners, and/or told them to take their feathered property and leave (Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:16) he didnt use his whip on the birds or fling them into the air to be attacked by falcons or eagles. And so the fact that youre in a country with a herd of pigs lets you know that youre in Gentile territory and that's part of the point of the story. Owning those defiling animals was illegal and having two thousand head, the farmers were more than flouting the Law that Jesus had not came to destroy but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17). So many beautiful verses and motivating passages are in Scripture. Here is a prophesy that Christians love to quote: You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110.4) because it connects to Messiah Jesus. Those famous four are sufficient to back up the Church's bias and with them one could pretend they say, Christ is the [dead] end of the Law [of Moses] (Luther and Calvin taught this), or maybe it means something very vague like, an end of a law is Christ. For a more advanced discussion of the vague quality of the text have a look at George Howards scholarly article. WebThey came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. Problem was, not even the pigs could withstand the madness these demonic forces manifested. Scripture also makes it abundantly clear that God Almighty cannot change, and no one, not even the Lord's Anointed Messiah can change the Law which they both wrote. WebAll three Synoptic Gospels ( Mark 5:120; Luke 8:2639; Matthew 8:2834) mention the swine miracle, although with variations. As the Philistine dead were strewn from Gaza to Ekron, so thousands of Satans dead fell in their own territory. Admittedly the whole event with the demon-crazed pigs is odd you dont see it every day but the writer wanted us to believe it genuinely happened. At this distance from the Sea of Galilee, Gerasa could not have been the site of the healing of Legion. It is doubtful that Jesus ever visited it. This made them fit for consumption. Therefore, if Paul had taken a single silver goddess Diana doll and tossed it into the Aegean Sea, what kind of a hornets nest of trouble would the apostle have stirred up for himself? Since demons are by most accounts fallen angels to begin with, they already know to Whom they are ultimately accountable. I dont know of any illness that can do that. At the end of the gospel, however, Jesus tactic changes. Why do I say that book? It's this man who doesn't even remember his name who's possessed by a host of demons. As was just so elegantly discussed, the destruction of the herd only makes sense if we remember that God never liked unclean food to begin with. The pastors precious-people useless-swine principle was previously dreamed up by the 3rd century church father, St. Augustine of Hippo (quoted by Spalde and Strindlund), and he ran with it. One day the prophet Samuel angrily told his king that God would not go back on His decision. Well pretend with him that the folks in Gerasenes were placid Gentile farmers happily raising their gentle Gentile pigs. Web(2) Ye know that ye were Gentiles.--Better (according to the weight of MSS. (Cf. Yet a number of objections immediately spring to mind. Legion probably comes from the fact that Roman legions had four to six thousand men in them and this name, Legion, indicates that he is possessed by a host of demons. The Messiah has the same nature and character was the Father, as discussed in the Fourth Fact above. Therefore, I repeat again that I believe the pastors are dishonest for not admitting this fact. For being kind to birds!? Demons do not care about the person they possess hence all the cutting and harm the man did to himself. Notice how Gods care is cleverly contrasted with mans callousness: men buy birds for next to nothing because they do not value them, yet The Almighty as large and in charge as He is still takes careful notice of frail creatures. The hard-hearted views of the Bishop of Hippo are not biblical because righteous people are obliged by God to be considerate to all animals, even wild animals, as discussed below. He seen himself demon possessed people that had extrodinary powers. All Rights Reserved. }. Search the web and you will find many opinions about why the pigs died. And holiness means salvation, as Paul wrote in two different letter, without holiness no man [or woman] shall see God (Hebrews 12:14 and Romans 6:22). Seven Forgotten Facts clarify our interpretation, One possible reason the Son of David chose the pigs was that he had, But this view is shocking because it places Gods Son on an equal footing with the unclean spirits and thus flies in the face of the normal presentation of Jesus in the Gospels. He's converted. So now they don't even bother to read it.]. Lastly, based on culture, human-nature and most importantly, on specific Scripture passages, we know the demoniac could not have been a Gentile but was most assuredly, Yet a complete interpretation of Mark 5 needs to clear up one last point: the pigs were forbidden but did they, Christ kept kosher and cleaned up the town, I can of Myself do nothing. about a.d. 65. Well this is a taste of the profound arguments that you will find in that book. He is the freest man in the world. But today, if you said to anybody, Tiger Woods is a slave to his desires, they would recognize it. The power of the Lord Jesus Christ over Satan. The only other commandment with this same specific promise is the command to honour thy mother and father (Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16; c.f., Ephesians 6:2-3 where Paul copies out the entire commandment and the promise). For one, Leviticus 22:28 forbids righteous farmers from killing a cow and its calf on the same day. It is true that we discover new thoughts or extra meaning over time, but Gods Word is permanent and cannot change.