119. VII. The Gadarene Swine

VII. THE GADARENE SWINE

Mark 5:1.—“And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes, ” &c.

11.—“Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.”

Here it might at first seem that St. Mark had been betrayed into an oversight—for since swine were held in abhorrence by the Jews as unclean, how (it might be asked) did it happen that a herd of them were feeding on the side of the sea of Tiberias? The objection, however, only serves to prove yet more the accuracy of the Evangelist, and his intimate knowledge of the local circumstances of Judæa; for on turning to Josephus (Antiq. xvii. 13. § 4), we find that “Turris Stratonis, and Sebaste, and Joppa, and Jerusalem, were made subject to Archelaus, but that Gaza, Gadara, and Hippos, being Grecian cities, were annexed by Cæsar to Syria.” This fact, therefore, is enough to account for swine being found amongst the Gadarenes.