why were the gerasenes afraid

They had been unable to control these two men [Luke only mentions one man, but Matthew tells us there were two]. In fact the region was known as the Gadarenes-Gerasenes region. With a little knowledge of the geography of the region, this apparent contradiction can be resolved. 115 While Mark and Luke describe only one demoniac, Matthew informs us that there were two. One is that he was a fascinating man. These, however, are not the problem raised by Bible students. Many times people - Non-Christians and Christians - push Jesus away because they do not want to change. For some people, the cost is too high. The people who witnessed this are . and our As the servant of Elisha was told, Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them (2 Kings 6:16). October 2017 But about a mile further south there is a fairly steep slope within forty yards from the shore, and about two miles from there cavern tombs are found which appear to have been used for dwellings. William L. Lane, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974), p.181. This would also give time afterwards for the dispersion, not only into the city, but into the country of them who had fed the swine. April 2018 The price tag of possession was high, for those who fell victim to the demons agonized in constant torment. As He had landed with His disciples He had been confronted with a demon-possessed man - a man that no one had been able to control. It was not the loss of their property or investment that caused them to be afraid of Jesus. I was in a dialogue with an atheist regarding what he believes is one of many so-called biblical contradictions. Odd guy that I am, I actually find this sort of thing fun. Vote Up April 2017 The whole story is a myth. The people (nations) were divided up, and boundaries allocated' and the sons of god were put over these nations. First of all, I believe Mark was attempting to warn his Gentile readers of the great danger of demonic influence and activity. Jesus had just performed an incredible miracleand one they desperately needed, at that! On the other hand, the scene gains in grandeurhas, so to speak, a fitting backgroundif we suppose the Saviour and His disciples to have landed on the other side late in the evening, when perhaps the silvery moon was shedding her pale light on the weird scene, and laying her halo around the shadows cast upon the sea by the steep cliff down which the herd of swine hurried and fell. Its ruins include two amphitheaters, a basilica, temple, a hippodrome, aqueducts and colonnades, showing its importance and stature. August 2017 You can flip a coin hoping for heads, but you know that tails is a very real probability. Sproul says in his commentary on Mark, When the Holy One is manifest in the midst of unholy people, the only appropriate human response is dread.. 123 1. 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. In both the accounts of Mark and Luke, the primary motivation is described as that of fear. They were content where they were. 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. T. H. Huxley, in his Essays upon some Controverted Questions (1892), made merry over the escapade of the Gadarene swine, running the seven miles between Gadar and the lake of Galilee, crossing the deep river Yarmuk en route. June 2021 Although the manifestations of demonization vary widely, this man115 evidenced several of the classic symptoms. November 2016 Copyright 2023 EWTN News, Inc. All rights reserved. (Matthew 8:28; Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26) In Gerasenes in place of Gadarenes. February 2015 So much pain, so much sin. Why is that. Here is one of the few times that a miracle drove people away, rather than to draw them to Jesus. 68f. Therefore, Jesus Christ for demons is God and thus even demons inadvertently reveal themselves as being better theologians than Arians and their modern day heirs - Jehovawitnesians and all different breeds of Unitarians - their name being legion! Bible-believing Christians have always accepted the fact of demons and their activity in New Testament times, but most of us are inclined to relegate demonic activity in these days to pagan lands and missionary experiences. Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. No matter where you are on life's journey you are welcome here! It is in no way certain, however, that the pig raisers were Jews. While the Jews had not denied the works of Jesus were supernatural, they had declined to admit they established His deity. 40, vii. As the world's top superpower, how unsure of itself can the US be to . In Jewish thinking, spirit beings were assigned to certain geographical territories.120. December 2021 March 2020 Why was Jesus going to walk past the disciples as they were rowing on the Sea of Galilee? (3) Our Lord was moved with compassion by the torment of Legion and the loss of these pigs should in no way dim our view of the deliverance of the demoniac. (4) Super-human strength. They all say country of (in the sense of region, not nation). Order Bulk SubscriptionsGet a discount on 6 or more copies sent to your parish, organization Although the Gospels give us little information as to how individuals become targets of Satanic control, I would suggest for your consideration that they sometimes do so by leaving themselves open to Satanic influence. As has been said before, look for Satans man behind the pulpit. 114 We are indebted to Edersheim, who reminds us that the expression demon possession never occurs in the New Testament: The term demoniacal possession occurs not in the New Testament. June 2020 The destructive desires of the demons were dramatically carried out in the drowning of the swine. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. Understand the meaning of Luke 8:37 using all available Bible versions and commentary. Significantly, the demons are called unclean spirits (verse 2,9). May 2021 This suggests that whoever was the customer for the swineherder in the "region of the Gerasenes", it was not the Roman army to any significant extent. In addition, Matthew includes the comment, Have You come here to torment us before the time? (Matthew 8:29). Holiness hurts! Its important to note that this was the first demonstration of Jesuss authority outside of Canaan. The most likely answer is to the country of the Gerasenes: i.e., Gerasa, a Greek town thought to be the same as the similarly-named Kersa on the east shore of Lake Tiberias. April 2020 February 2016 If we put ourselves in their place, and use empathy to feel how we might have reacted if we were confronted with the loss of our next year's source of feeding our families, it will be easier to understand that they were afraid to suffer any other loss that might result if Jesus stayed in their area. November 2014. They valued their pigs more than they valued salvation. There is no conflict, however, for Mark and Luke have apparently focused their attention on the most striking of the two. June 2022 The people were afraid when they saw the possessed man healed. Is there a single-word adjective for "having exceptionally strong moral principles"? More from Medium Jameson Steward in. December 2017 How do I connect these two faces together? We should be warned that fooling with these Satanic fronts is like experimenting with drugs. Just as demons desire to possess persons through whom they can exhibit their personalities, so the Spirit of God indwells man, imparting new life, and progressively gaining control so that the character of God is exhibited, but not in such a way as to hinder our individuality and identity. 4. How much more sinful than Peter were the Geraseneans, who because of love of money did not shun even to engage in a non-Jew business of herding swine; how much more unbearable and dreadful must have been for them the Lords presence! Privacy Policy. Jewish theology, at least on this point, seems consistent with biblical revelation. Jesus showed to the local population the inferiority of pagan life. No matter who you are. Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professors, theologians, and those interested in exegetical analysis of biblical texts. May 2018 At the conclusion of this day of teaching by parables, the Lord had instructed His disciples to cross over the Sea of Galilee to the other side. And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another . A friend of mine told me later that two students were attempting to cast a demon out of a fellow. Demon possession, such as that of the Gerasene demoniac is the crudest and cruelest form of Satanic control, but by and large also one of the less common manifestations of Satans work in the world today. They were instructed to keep quiet about what Jesus had done for them (cf. Like it or not, demons and demonic activity are likely to become much more of a concern to you in days to come. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. especially fn. The region and polygon don't match. This city was better known than Gadara or Gergesa; indeed in the Roman age no city of Palestine was better known.. - And they came to the other side of the sea.The other side of the sea would be the south-east side of the sea. 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. Matthew 8:4; Luke 8:56). His animal-like shrieks must have sent chills up the spines of any who were nearby. The Politics of Luke 8:26-39. There was no such danger in Perea, and thus the mercy of the Lord was to be heralded. Men and women (as well as children) were demonized in that they fell under the influence of these unclean spirits. Matt. First let us see what the Sacred Texts says: The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. verse 5). There probably were not many who had been told yet of the Messiah, and so were not yet believers. The fear of the unknown, the uncontrollableof change. Swine were unclean animals according to the Torah. In the form of tongues as of fire, the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself. (CCC 696). Then the Livestock Association and consumer groups would have been greatly distressed over the sudden decrease in the pig population and the resulting impact on pork prices. Sign up for 6 Free IssuesTry us out with a free trial subscription. Oh Hye-son recently published a Korean-language memoir on how she and her husband Thae Yong-ho, then deputy ambassador at North Korea's London embassy, defected in 2016. By His power, we, too, are able to overcome Satans treacheries. It is Geldenhuys who gives us the most concise description of demon-possession: in the New Testament demon-possession means that a person is dominated by the spirit of a demon and tormented by him. The commission of our Lord is considerably different from His instructions to the Israelites whom He had delivered. 0 Responses This was a power far beyond anything they had seen or even imagined. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine . In Acts 8:1 we have the regions of Judaea and Samaria (KJV), and in Acts 16:6, Galatia alone. The reply Legion118 may be some kind of evasion, a reluctance on the part of the demons to individually identify themselves. Flavius Josephus and Steve Mason, Flavius Josephus: Life of Josephus (Boston; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 47. December 2014 The best known Gerasa was a Greek city nearly forty miles southeast of the lake (modern village of Khersa, on the east shore of the lake. 3. vi. He said he had come to the house of Israel, not to the gentiles. 9. Luke seems to base this fear solely upon what happened to the demoniac, not on the loss of their pigs. Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. Dr. Thomson discovered on the eastern shore the ruins of a village called Khersa. Thus, it is not always used of one specific country (nation), but rather, usually to regions or areas of either small (Bethlehem) or large (Judaea and Samaria) size, including regions surrounding large cities. (London: InterVarsity Fellowship, 1950), fn. January 2022 Jesus never interacted with people as they were, but as He knew they were created to be. Dave Armstrong Dave Armstrong is a full-time Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981. . Why did Jesus have the authority to forgive sins, why did the scribes take it as a blasphemy, and was this authority also given to men in general? The passage in Daniel especially suggests specific geographical boundaries within which spirit beings must abide. Gergesa may have been a variant spelling of Gerasa. Ralph Earle, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1957), p. 70. Accordingly this was not merely an ordinary form of mental disease as some writers have alleged, but a special phenomenon which was particularly frequent during Jesus earthly sojourn and thus was directly connected with His coming to destroy the power of darkness. They had heard what had happened to the pigs and knew the Jews considered Gentiles unclean, too. 112 Skeptics and liberals have made much of the differences between the Gospel writers as to the place Jesus landed with His disciples. September 2018 They had dealt with Legion (I suspect) by forcing him from their presence. This was a federation of ten cities (deka = ten, polis = city). Why are trials on "Law & Order" in the New York Supreme Court? To understand this event, you need consider the incident at Babel, and Deuteronomy. That is why he was living in the solitude of the tombs, away from civilization. That is not the choice at all. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. 2,8) who can possess men and animals. 5:5). May the Spirit of God be so evident in us that men may see God in our lives. What did we miss because we allowed fear instead of faith to drive our lives? So he got into the boat and left. This is when the storm arose which threatened to destroy the ship (Mark 4:35-41). Into the country of the Gadarenes, or rather, Gera-senes, which is now generally admitted to be the true reading, from Gerasa, Gersa, or Kersa.There was another Gerasa, situated at some distance from the sea, on the borders of Arabia Petraea. Thats just westernised interpretation which simply doesnt work when interpretating a Jewish book. For these demons to be sent out of the country would have meant that they would then be confined along with other fallen angels (cf. (it should be added that Plummer himelf does not hold to any of these views.). The best human analogy might be in the area of drug abuse. 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. Matthew is habitually more oriented to a Jewish readership, and so he refers to Gadarenes because Gadara was the most important Jewish city in the area. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. Demonic influence further destroys mans reflection of God as originally designed.128 Demons have great spiritual insight and reluctantly submit to Jesus as Lord of all. 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. I would like to invite you to return to where we left off a few weeks ago in our studies in the gospel of Mark. The US Congress is currently debating whether TikTok should be banned for everyone in the US, not just government officials. May 2022 Gerasenes could have had a sense of reference to the entire region (as well as to a city: just as New Yorker can refer to the state or city), and Gadarenes likely was a reference to the most prominent city of the region at the time. 1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. Will they be condemned like unclean animals? February 2021 Cookie Notice But, Im telling you. Let me say as graciously as I can, Satan does not need to work on us in those areas as we are doing very well without his exploitation. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. Christians are to be a "safe" people - an expression of that love of God so people who do not know Him can be drawn to the Truth. The religious rulers hated Jesus for exposing their hypocrisy and feared the consequences His actions might have with Rome, but they were not afraid of Jesus as a Person. ESV - They were sacrificed by being thrown off a cliff. It only takes a minute to sign up. Others are absolutely controlled (hooked) by the drug and totally dependent upon it. Life with him would be heaven on earth. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighbourhood. They greatly desire to enter and control a physical body, whereby they may reflect their character and attributes. The swine then immediately killed themselves by rushing off a cliff. 10). It was significant. Unbelieving men may not rave and carry on like the Gerasene demoniac, but they are nevertheless under Satans control, doing his bidding. And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts. December 2016 They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.110. The demoniac further evidenced demon activity by the depth of his spiritual insight. What did Jesus mean when he said only prayer can cast out this demon? xiii. It indicates full and permanent control. Clarify Some appeared not to be oppressed by them so much as exploiting their powers (cf. Was there some sort of unwritten rule that Darrow (or any non-Bellona) was supposed to throw the fight? Hence there was demon-worship, the worship not necessarily of evil spirits; but of the spirits of those who had existed in the Golden Age. G. Campbell Morgan, The Gospel According to Mark (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1927), p. 114. Acts 19:16). One is to disbelieve in their existence. In this story, we have a demon-possessed Gadarene who saw Jesus from a distance, and immediately he appeared to have felt a strong compulsion to run up to Jesus and bow down before him. Pigs were seen as unclean animals in the eyes of the people of Israel. ii. In Mark 1:5 it is used of the land of Judaea (KJV) and in Acts 10:39, to land of the Jews (KJV). November 2017 But, the pigs were a part of their economic wealth. This is probably the Gerasa of Mark and Luke. The drowning of the swine was an accident, possibly simultaneous with the healing, and report mixed up the two incidents. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. When addressed, the person was the mouthpiece of the demon (such as Legion, Mark 5:9). Did Jesus command the demon before he fell on his knees in Mark 5:6? The Truth is Jesus is a safe Person Who loves them, values them, wants their best and will never force Himself on them. May 2015 The center of personality, the volitional and active ego, is impaired by alien powers which seek to ruin the man and sometimes drive him to self-destruction (Mk. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. It is mentioned in some ancient manuscripts of the . So who was afraid? EWTN News, Inc. is the worlds largest Catholic news organization, comprised of television, radio, I think all these attempts to harmonize what may at first seem like a contradiction are plausible, respectable, and adequate. March 2017 Most people confessed to having the fear of things not working out, an inability to trust and others said they . 28); Mark the country of the Gerasenes (v. 1), and Luke, probably, the country of the Gergesenes (viii. In the third chapter of Marks Gospel, our Lords miraculous works were attributed by His opponents to the power of Satan (verse 22). What scared them was a power so fierce it could free a man. It is ironic that while the demons didnt want to leave the country, the dwellers of that land didnt want the Messiah to stay. The man, who was naked when he saw Jesus, had the added ability of enduring both freezing and sweltering temperatures as well as pain he inflicted upon himself! This was a region east of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River. Luke 8 But as Gergesa was a small village, and little known, the evangelists, who wrote for more distant readers, spoke of the event as taking place in the country of the Gadarenes, so named from its largest city, Gadara; and this country included the country of the Gergesenes as a state includes a county. So he got into the boat and left., Luke 8:37, NIV, great fear [KJV] thoroughly frightened [Phillips]gripped with great fear [NASB]. 124 Augustine: The devils were driven out and permitted to go into the swine; and Aquinas: But that the swine were driven into the sea was no work of the divine miracle, but was the work of the devils by divine permission. Quoted by Trench, Miracles, fn. The time of this event was before Jesus' crucifixion, and before the gentiles were grafted in to the promise (Acts 10). So, they asked Him to leave. 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. . 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. 113 According to the Talmud there were four characteristics of madness: walking abroad at night; spending the night on a grave; tearing ones clothes and destroying what one was given. If he was a pagan, why did Jesus cast out his demons? Thus, all the circumstances lead us to regard the healing of the demonized at Gerasa as a night scene, immediately on Christs arrival from Capernaum, and after the calming of the storm at sea. Alford Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), I, pp. No matter what men attempted to bind him with, he broke loose. August 2020 22, xvii. April 2022 F. F. Bruce adds additional helpful insight: According to the best texts, Matthew calls it the country of the Gadarenes (viii. Those demons were terrified of Him! seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. When Jesus and his disciples come to the mostly-Gentile region of the Gerasenes, they are met by a man whose life has been destroyed by demonic infestation. 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. and thank you for your contribution. 125 This is the position of Lane, Mark, p. 187. The Greeks were believers in the spirit world, but not necessarily convinced that demons were evil.127 As a result, Marks readers needed to be instructed as to the essential nature of demons and demon possession. SubscribeStart your Register subscription today. 116 As Lane observes this title Son of the Most High God, is not a messianic designation but a divine one. Lane, Mark, p. 133, cf. monetization of National Catholic Register RSS feeds is strictly prohibited. (1) As Lord of all, God has the right to make use of His creation any way that He deems best, and this includes not only pigs, but people (cf. Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers. July 2015 There seems to be no excuse here for the charge of contradiction. Though Legion bowed before Jesus (verse 6), it was no act of worship (as the King James Version would seem to indicate). Even in our sophisticated times, there is an intense interest in the supernatural and the occult. "The name "Gerasenes" is to be associated with the modern city of Jerash, located in Transjordan, 22 miles N of Amman." John McRay, "Gerasenes," ed. EIN 27-4581132 On the other hand, Gadara is only six miles from the southern tip of the lake and could easily have given its name to the district. From this point on, Jesus began to speak to the crowds in parables in order to veil or conceal the gospel from those who had blasphemed the Holy Spirit (Mark 4:lff). 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).

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