05.26. Legion Delivered and the Swine Destroyed
26. — Legion Delivered and the Swine Destroyed
"And he besought him much1 that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there on the mountain side2 a great herd of swine feeding. And they besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. And he gave them leave.3 And the unclean spirits came out,4 and entered into the swine: and the herd rushed down5 the steep1 into the sea, in number about two thousand; and they were choked in the sea.7 And they that fed them8 fled, and told9 it in the city,10 and in the country.11 And they came12 to see what it was that had come to pass.13 And they come to Jesus, and behold him that was possessed with devils14 sitting, clothed15 and in his right mind,16 even him that had the legion: and they were afraid. And they that saw it17 declared unto18 them how it befell him that19 was possessed with devils, and concerning the swine. And they began to beseech20 him to depart from their borders.21 And as he was entering22 into the boaT1 he24 that had been possessed with devils besought15 him that he might be with him. And he suffered him not,26 but saith27 unto him, Go to thy house28 unto thy friends,29 and tell them30 how great things the Lord hath31 done for thee, and how he had32 mercy33 on thee. And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel" (Mark 5:10-20, R.V.).
1. "greatly," McC.
2. "just at the mountain," J.N.D.; "by the mountain," McC., T.S.G.
3. "Jesus immediately allowed them," J.N.D.
4. "going out," J.N.D., W.K.; "went out," T.S.G.
5. "ran violently," W.K.; "rushed headlong," McC.; "dashed down," T.S.G.
6. "steep slope," J.N.D.; "steep place," W.K.; "over the precipice," McC.
7. "stifled in the lake," T.S.G.
8. "those that were feeding them," J.N.D.; "feeders," T.S.G.
9. "reported," J.N.D.; "carried the report," T.S.G.
10. "town," T.S.G.
11. "villages," McC.
12. "Went out," J.N.D., W.K.
13. "taken place," J.N.D., W.K.; "happened," T.S.G.; "that was done," McC.
14. "see the possessed of demons," J.N.D., W.K.
15. "apparelled," McC.
16. "sensible," J.N.D.
17. "had seen [it]," J.N.D.
18. "related to," J.N.D.; "detailed to them how," T.S.G.
19, "had happened to the [man]," J.N.D.
20. "beg," J.N.D.; "pray," W.K.
21. "coasts," J.N.D., W.K.
22. "was going," McC.
23. "went on board ship," J.N.D.; "was come into the ship," W.K.; "was going on board the bark," T.S.G.
24. "the man," J.N.D.
25. "prayed," W.K.
26. "did not allow," T.S.G.
27. "says," J.N.D., T.S.G.
28. "thine home," J.N.D.; "home," McC.
29. "home to thine own people," W.K.
30. "report," T.S.G.
31. "has," J.N.D.
32. "has had," J.N.D.
33. "had pity," T.S.G. In the conversations which took place on this occasion, especially as they are reported by Mark and Luke (who refer to one only of the two Gadarene demoniacs), there is evidence of the significant fact that the personality of the possessed man was overridden by the indwelling demons. It is not intended to investigate the psychological effects of this fact. The result, however, is noted because of its serious importance; and while this condition no doubt exists in every case of possession, it is here thrown into unusual prominence, since not a single demon but many had entered into this man. We have, therefore, alike in the dialogue and the narrative, the use both of the singular number (indicating the man himself) and the plural (indicating the evil spirits). The phrases used and the speakers are shown in the following statement:
Singular Number:
(1) By the man to Jesus: "What have I to do with thee?" "Torment me not" ""My name is Legion."
(2) By Jesus to the man: "Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit*"; "What is thy name?"
Plural Number:
(1) By the man to Jesus: "We are many."
(2) By the demons to Jesus: "All the demons besought him, saying, Send us into the swine that we may enter into them."
(3) By Jesus to the demons: "Jesus gave them leave." He said unto them, "Go," using the plural form of the verb (Matthew 8:32). The two forms, singular and plural, are to be seen in close juxtaposition in Mark 5:9-10 : "And he asked him (sing.), What is thy (sing.) name? And he (sing.) answered, saying, My (sing.) name is Legion; for we (plur.) are many. And he (sing.) besought him much that he would not send them (plur.) away out of the country." The Lord addressed the man as the responsible person, asking him, "What is thy name?" and He also distinguished between the man who was oppressed and the evil powers which possessed him, saying, "Come forth out of the man, thou unclean spirit." The man is regarded as tenanted by the evil spirit. This distinction and identification is found in another connection of an opposite nature. As this case was one of a man indwelt by unclean spirits for purposes of evil, so we learn from the Epistles that those who believe the gospel of salvation (Ephesians 1:1-23) are indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, who is assuredly distinct in His personality from those whom He indwells, bearing witness indeed, as He does, with our spirit that we are the children of God (Romans 8:16). At the same time He, in a blessed way, identifies Himself with us, helping our infirmities, and making intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. The Lord Himself declared to His followers, referring to their testimony, "It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you" (Matthew 10:20).
Such facts as these shed some light upon the higher part of man’s complex nature, and show that it is subject to that comprehensive law enunciated by the apostle Paul, when he said, "Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness" (Romans 6:16)?
Into the Swine but not the Abyss The demons who feared the time of future torment had their requests to prefer to Him whom they knew and addressed as the Son of the most high God. They acknowledged His supreme authority even as Satan did when he came before Jehovah in the matter of His servant Job (Job 1:1-22).
Here they besought the Lord that He would not send them out of the country, and, as Luke states, that He would not command them to go into the deep, or the abyss (Luke 8:31). The abyss is the Scriptural term for the place of confinement of evil spirits. The word in the original Greek is translated "bottomless pit" in the Apocalypse (Revelation 9:1-2, Revelation 9:11). From thence the "beast" will arise who will make war upon the two witnesses and overcome them (Revelation 11:7, Revelation 17:8). According to the same series of prophecies, Satan will be imprisoned in the abyss during the thousand years of glorious peace under the reign of Christ (Revelation 20:1-3).
Possibly the abyss is the place of constraint, mentioned by Jude, in which certain evil angels have been already placed: "And the angels which kept not their first [proper] estate but left their own habitation, he path reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 1:6).
There was at any rate an evident fear on the part of these evil spirits, lest they should be forthwith condemned to confinement in the abyss, and thus be prevented "from going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."
They admitted that Jesus had authority to eject them, for, as Matthew reports, they said, "If thou cast us out" (Matthew 8:31); and their desire was to enter the unclean swine, as if to exhibit and gratify their love of destruction. As Satan disguised himself as the serpent for subtlety (Genesis 3:1-24), and, to deceive the unwary, now transforms himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14), also walking about as a roaring lion to devour the unresisting (1 Peter 5:8), so here theuncleanspirits sought permission to enter the herd ofuncleanswine. "Suffer us," they said, thus owning, like Satan of old (Job 1:1-22), their impotence apart from the Supreme Will. The Lord acceded to their request, and immediately they abandoned their human prey, and took possession of the herd of swine, wherein to display their destructive aims and thus to inspire men with a fear and dread, apart from which they have no power over them. Their maleficent propensities were at once exemplified; for the whole herd of animals was irresistibly impelled down the steep cliffs and perished in the sea. This destruction of property by Satanic influence acting through secondary causes is not without its parallel in Old Testament times. In the history of the calamities which came upon Job we are permitted to see that the sudden losses of his flocks and herds and children were attributable to the malice of Satan. To outward seeming the Sabeans captured the oxen and sheep; the Chaldeans carried away his camels; the fire from heaven burned up his sheep; the hurricane slew his sons and daughters; but all these casualties arose, as we learn from the inspired narrative, from the evil plottings of Satan which were permitted by Jehovah, who, however, overruled them all for the eventual and enhanced blessing of the patriarch. In the instance at Gadara the fate of the swine forms a plain and unmistakable example of the tendencies and objects of Satan and his demons. The violent end of the beasts was but an analogy of the ultimate end of those who are under the direction and power of darkness. Only in the absence of that superior nature which man possesses in contrast with the brutes, destruction followed immediately after the entrance of the demons into the swine. They at once rushed to their death. In the case of man the end is similar though it may be reached more slowly. Whatever men may be deceived to think, the object of the evil one is to destroy, while that of the Holy One of God is to deliver and save. The question of the loss incurred by the keepers of the swine, who were probably faithless Jews, is not discussed in the Gospels, neither is the question whether this loss came upon them by way of retribution for keeping the unclean animals contrary to the law of Moses. Indeed the "utility" argument, sometimes used as an objection that this destruction of animal life should be permitted by the gracious Saviour, is irrelevant; since the wholesale loss of property has ever been of frequent occurrence through those inexplicable catastrophes which form such noticeable features in the inscrutable ways of divine Providence. Until we know the ultimate intention of Sovereign Wisdom, we are not in a position to understand nor to discuss the righteousness of such events, or of the miracle in question. Without knowing, faith is confident that all is working for good.
It may be added that another point concerning this and analogous cases is made clear by this incident. Demon-possession has a specific character. It is not, as some would allege, a form of disease nor the result of overpowering sinful propensities; the behaviour of the animals when possessed proved the contrary. They were not carried away suddenly by some disease nor as suddenly filled by a swinish perversity to compass their own destruction. The truth was that the power of Satan was acting in a special manner to destroy them. The Delivered Man
Those who witnessed the mad rush of the swine over the precipice spread the news in town and country, and numbers ("the whole city," Matt.) flocked to Jesus to see the Author of this thing. They beheld not only the Prophet of Nazareth but the wild untameable man of the hill-tombs. In the latter they could not but observe the pacific change wrought by the Lord’s word. They found him sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right mind. He now possessed that demeanour characteristic of the mental sobriety (sophosune) which is enjoined in the Epistles as a necessary element of Christian character (Romans 12:3; 1 Peter 4:7; et al.). The inward influence of that hateful power for evil and self-destruction had been withdrawn. The man was now under the benign and gracious influence of the meek Man of sorrows whom demons fear and obey. The voice that had hushed the riotous elements the previous night had spoken peace to this troubled spirit. And he who had hitherto resisted all human efforts to curb his violence is seen to have succumbed to the word of the Master.
Thus the deliverance was complete; and this mental and physical emancipation is an illustration of the liberating effect which the gospel ever exercises upon the whole man who comes to the Saviour. There is a spiritual liberty wherewith Christ makes men free. The Lord Jesus delivers the believer from the power of darkness (Colossians 1:13), from the course of this age, from the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience (Ephesians 2:2), bringing him from the power of Satan to God (Acts 26:18). The Grossness of Gadara When the inhabitants of the district beheld Jesus who had delivered the demoniac, but who was, in their estimation, the destroyer of their swine, they were unanimous in expressing their desire that He should leave the neighbourhood immediately. It was an ungracious, and indeed an insolent, petition, but it was granted, as was that of the demons when they besought Him that they might enter the swine and not be consigned to the abyss. Like Legion, the besotted Gadarenes said, in effect, What have we to do with Thee? There was with them an utter absence of appreciation of either His power or His grace. And they preferred to remain undisturbed with their naked, howling, demonized men and with their filthy swine. This callous spirit was really a gloomy but accurate reflexion of the attitude of the whole nation towards the Messiah, who "came unto His own, but His own received Him not." And the Lord expressed His sense of this refusal in His lamentation over Jerusalem, "How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not" (Matthew 23:37). They did not desire His presence, and were ready enough to raise the cry, "Away with him, away with him; crucify him, crucify him." It is happy, however, to remember that there were exceptions to this general feeling. While those at Gadara besought Him to depart, those at Capernaum, seeing His miracles, "stayed him that he should not depart from them" (Luke 4:42). And while at a certain village of Samaria the inhabitants refused to receive Jesus (Luke 9:53), at Sychar, another Samaritan town, they besought Him that He would tarry with them (John 4:40). But whatever the attitude of the few, the spirit of Gadara prevailed throughout the favoured land. The Lord had entered the domain of the strong man and spoiled his goods, as the people could not but admit. In spite of this, such was their obstinacy, that they did not desire that this Deliverer from the great and cruel oppressor should dwell in their midst. This rejection of absolute goodness in the person of Christ was the culminating feature of the sin of man. It proved that he not only did what was evil, but hated what was good. The will and the affections were equally alienated from God.
However debased man may become, he is still capable of pride. The degraded Gadarenes were well satisfied with themselves, and wished for no help. To overvalue self is to undervalue Christ. "He who thinks he hath no need of Christ hath too high thoughts of himself. He who thinks Christ cannot help him hath too low thoughts of Christ." The Witness for Decapolis The delivered man, on seeing Jesus enter the boat to cross the sea and leave the country, besought the Lord that he might accompany Him. Who can wonder at this desire? The poor fellow owed everything to his Deliverer. And what a relief was his to be freed from the power of such tormentors. And how safe he would feel in the presence of Jesus from any further attacks of the demons. Now he had a pure heart and a right spirit, and nowhere could their renewed aspirations find such satisfaction as in the Person at whose feet he sat. He, like so many others then and since, was irresistibly attracted to the Prophet of Nazareth, and he was ready to leave everything to follow and be with him. But the Lord had other duties for him. The Servant of Jehovah, in the spirit of omniscient wisdom, regarded the future of this delivered demoniac as it affected the service of the gospel, and not according to the personal inclination of the suppliant. Here was a district which prayed to be relieved of the ministrations of the incarnate Son of God. To this offensive request the lowly Nazarene acceded. But it was a feature of the divine plan for man’s eternal blessing that when God’s "Faithful and True Witness" was rejected and slain, the place of testimony in the world should be filled by those who, having received of His "fulness," were His loving and loyal followers. Such a phase of divine service is indicated here by the post of duty which the Master assigned to this recipient of His mercy in Gadara. He was to remain as a witness. If the gross darkness of Decapolis comprehended not the shining of the Light of life, it should still have a light-bearer in the person of the healed demoniac. So the Lord said to him, "Go to thy home unto thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and how he had mercy on thee." His home he had formerly abandoned for the charnel-house. His friends he had outraged by his violence. His domestic circle, including these friends and acquaintances, had witnessed his excesses under the demoniacal influence, and to these he was now bidden by the Lord to return that they might judge of the reality of the change wrought in him. As the Lord sent the cleansed lepers to the priest that the genuineness of their healing might be authoritatively attested, so the Lord sent this man to his house that his friends might have opportunity of judging by his conduct what a complete deliverance was his, and moreover that they might hear for themselves from his own lips, eloquent in the enthusiasm of his gratitude, what the Lord had done for him. He was to testify to the Lord’s power and to His mercy. For it was a greatthing for Jesus to deliver him from the power of Satan with a word, and it was also amercifulthing inasmuch as the man had wilfully and wickedly abandoned himself to the power of the evil one.
Such a simple strain of gratitude is acceptable to God. For we find in the Psalms that "great things done" will be the keynote of the song of thanksgiving adopted by the blessed and delivered remnant of Israel when they enter into their millennial joys, as it also was when Jehovah brought back the exiles from Babylon: "When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongues with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad" (Psalms 126:1-3). The man owned the right of the Lord to direct his movements, and obeyed His commands. He thus became a preacher of Christ in ten cities (Decapolis), where he rendered a testimony which resembled the present preaching of the gospel. For while preaching is not itself a miracle, it is essentially a testimony founded upon a divine work. The witness concerning the miracle created a sensation in the district, for we read "all men did marvel," as it is the way of man to do at things he can neither comprehend nor imitate. But such an emotion does not affect either the heart or the conscience. This characteristic is several times recorded of the unthinking populace (Matthew 9:33;Luke 11:14;John 7:21), but not of them only, for it was true of the Pharisees and Herodians when they received the Lord’s wise answers to their cunning questions (Mark 12:17), as well as of the apostles when they beheld the storm stilled at the word of Jesus (Matthew 8:27;Luke 8:25). On the other hand, the word is applied to our Lord, for we read that Jesus marvelled at the obdurate unbelief of men’s hearts (Mark 6:6), an application which may well form a topic for our meditation. The Sign to Israel
There are elements in the narrative of the Gadarene miracle which appear to have a striking analogy to the future history of Israel, and this imparts to it the character of a sign. In scriptural teaching from early days, idolatry is considered a form of demon-rule and demon-worship (Deuteronomy 32:17;Joshua 24:2,Joshua 24:15;Psalms 106:37). The apostle Paul thus speaks, "The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God," and going on to refer to the Corinthians eating that which had been offered in sacrifice to idols, he adds, "I would not that ye should have fellowship with demons" (1 Corinthians 10:20). And what the Gentiles did as idol-worshippers, Israel had done (Ezekiel 20:7-8), and will yet do again. Idolatry, which had been intermittent in the chosen land, was established as a national rite by Jeroboam and continued as such until the captivity. From that time until the present the nation has preserved itself from the pollutions of idolatry. But according to prophecy the abomination of desolation shall yet stand in the holy place, and the apostate mass of the Jews shall yet unite in the worship of Antichrist and his image. Israel will again become Gentile in religion. The Lord set out this future lapse of the Jews into idolatry parabolically. He said, "When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man it walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then it saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when it is come it findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then goeth it and taketh with itself seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they enter in and dwell there; and the last state of that man becometh worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation" (Matthew 12:43-45). This prediction has not yet been fulfilled, but according to it, the unclean spirit of idolatry expelled from the nation some five centuries before the advent of Christ will return, and in a sevenfold greater degree defile and abase the people in the uncleanness of idol-worship.
Using, therefore, the language of this narrative, the herd of swine — the unclean majority or mass of the Jews — possessed by the powers of darkness, will be irresistibly impelled to their own perdition. Wheresoever the [unclean] carcase is, thither will the eagles [of judgment] be gathered together" (Luke 17:37). Mary Magdalene, out of whom the Lord cast the seven demons, well represents the delivered remnant of that day. The undelivered ones perish in their uncleanness before the millennial dawn. For in the important prelude to the reign of peace, both mercy and judgment will be in exercise. And while the idolaters are swept away, the nation will be purged from the uncleanness of idolatry in accordance with the prophecy of Zechariah: "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land" (Zechariah 13:1-2). With this a prophecy in Ezekiel agrees. There Jehovah promised the people: Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you" (Ezekiel 36:25; see also Ezekiel 36:18). The following extract* has reference to this aspect of the narrative, "The world beseeches Jesus to depart, desiring their own ease, which is more disturbed by the presence and power of God than by a legion of devils. He goes away. The man who was healed — the remnant — would fain be with Him; but the Lord sends him back (into the world that He quitted Himself) to be a witness of the grace and power of which he had been the subject.
"The herd of swine, I doubt not, set before us the career of Israel towards their destruction, after the rejection of the Lord. The world accustoms itself to the power of Satan — painful as it may be to see it in certain cases — never to the power of God."