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John 8:32; Matthew 11:28-30), or to be the pawns of Satan (Ephesians 2:1-2). 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. In recent years the matter has been getting uncomfortably close to home. All Scripture agrees with this, that the judgment of the angels is yet to come (1 Cor. Dave Armstrong Dave Armstrong is a full-time Catholic author and apologist, who has been actively proclaiming and defending Christianity since 1981. Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighbourhood. He could just as easily commanded them to return to the deepest, darkest pit of Hell. So he got into the boat and left. 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. . December 2015 The confrontation between the powers of heaven and hell are nowhere seen in better perspective than in Marks account of the encounter of the Gerasene demoniac with our Lord Jesus Christ. While he was once wild and uncontrollable, he was sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus. Jude 6), no longer to afflict men or resist God. Whenever a man, woman, or child surrenders control of himself either to fleshly desires (anger, lust, passion, etc.) Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. Then the SPCA would have been up in arms over such cruelty to animals. 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. Matthew 9:2-8 Why was "This man is blaspheming" considered an evil thought without knowing Jesus' identity? They were content where they were. The spectrum ranges from those who seem to control the demonic powers to those who are utterly controlled by them. He was received into the Catholic Church in 1991. Pigs were seen as unclean animals in the eyes of the people of Israel. In Mark 1:5 it is used of the land of Judaea (KJV) and in Acts 10:39, to land of the Jews (KJV). Then they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighborhood. 14ff. February 2016 Winthrop Congregational Church, UCC No matter who you are. Holiness hurts! It might be better to hide behind masks than risk being hurt again After all, if God rejects youwhere else can you go? Immediately, as this weary group disembarked from the ship, they were met by what appeared to be a madman. I will not ask him to leave. One is that he was a fascinating man. Some of the proposed answers to this question are totally unacceptable to an orthodox, evangelical Christian.123 By way of explanation, there are several factors which should be given serious consideration. By His power, we, too, are able to overcome Satans treacheries. (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. May 2015 You might be thinking back to Easter and not recall very many hogs showing up except for at Easter supper. The healing of the demoniacs and the repulse of the Healer by the inhabitants are historical, but the incident of the swine is a later figment. https://www.ncregister.com/blog/gerasene-or-gadarene-swine, What Archaeology Tells Us About Joshuas Conquest, 50 Verses to Help You Prepare for Pentecost, St. Polycarp, Who Learned the Faith From an Apostle, Did Not Believe in Faith Alone, The Three Kinds of Atheists, and How to Respond to Them, We Know That Hes in Heaven: Thousands Gather for Funeral of Bishop David OConnell in Los Angeles, Archbishop Naumann and Bishop Paprocki Speak Out in Support of Traditional Latin Massgoers in Their Dioceses, Survey: Decline in Vocations to the Priesthood Is Worse Where Priests Serve Larger Flocks, God Really Intervened: How a Catholic Priest Escaped From His Kidnappers in Haiti, Amber and Dave VanVickle on Finding God in the Midst of Suffering. What sort of strategies would a medieval military use against a fantasy giant? 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. Even in our sophisticated times, there is an intense interest in the supernatural and the occult. SubscribeStart your Register subscription today. 4, p. 180. December 2017 Renew or manage your subscription here. We see people in other places where he worked miracles, endeavoring to make him their king (Jn 6:15) . Bob is a pastor/teacher and elder at Community Bible Chapel in Richardson, Texas, and has contributed many of his Bible study series for use by the Foundation. Even as the purpose of Roman legions was to enforce the will of the emperor, the goal of the multiple evil spirits was to carry out the devil's will of bringing pain, destruction and chaos to humans! She and her wife moved to Maine from Illinois. "The Gerasenes were the people of the district of which Gerasa was the capital. The passage in Daniel especially suggests specific geographical boundaries within which spirit beings must abide. When Jesus asked the demoniac his name, it was not without significance for He was, I believe, asking the demons to reveal their identity. ESV - That is why the inhabitants of the area are referred to variously in different Bible manuscripts as Gergasenes, Gadarenes, or Gerasenes. January 2023 A land that was essentially under another god (lower case g). Is it a bug? I understand why," the HBO "Real Time" host told Jake Tapper on Tuesday as part . The pigs had been driven mad and rushed down a steep slope plunging into the lake and drowning. There is, as we know, the world, the flesh, and the Devil. Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professors, theologians, and those interested in exegetical analysis of biblical texts. NET Bible Then all the people of the Gerasenes and the surrounding region asked Jesus to leave them alone, for they were seized with great fear. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. December 2020 The demons freak out that Jesus is there because it's not time for them to be tormented by Him yet. 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. Satans most useful instrument is the outstanding, outwardly moral and upright religious man, whose good deeds are done independently of God. Such seems to be a similar case with Judas (John 13:1-2). So, they asked Him to leave. 127 The view of Greek philosophy was that these were the spirits of those who lived in the Golden Age. 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. 115 While Mark and Luke describe only one demoniac, Matthew informs us that there were two. It was greatly influenced by Greek culture.126. They had heard what had happened to the pigs and knew the Jews considered Gentiles unclean, too. So he got into the boat and left., Luke 8:37, NIV, great fear [KJV] thoroughly frightened [Phillips]gripped with great fear [NASB]. Why were the people of Gerasene afraid of the presence of Jesus? especially fn. Why did Jesus allow the legion of demons to stay in the area when they begged him? Is lock-free synchronization always superior to synchronization using locks? June 2021 Luke 8:26-39 Mark 5:1-20 ESV - 1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. February 2018 The expression to be with Jesus is used particularly of His disciples (cf. The region was not poor or economically depressed. (London: InterVarsity Fellowship, 1950), fn. For example, He didnt condemn a prostitute for her actions, He saw a daughter of God who was valuable beyond measure and only needed genuine love and forgiveness. or school. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. I think that this story is a little bit of an Easter story. Did Jesus command the demon before he fell on his knees in Mark 5:6? This was a federation of ten cities (deka = ten, polis = city). October 2017 November 2022 Significantly, the demons are called unclean spirits (verse 2,9). I am wondering if the demoniac was pagan or an Israelite. 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. When our Lord confronted the demons, they had to submit to His power and authority. 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. . All of this sure seems perfectly consistent with calling the same area the country (chra) of either the Gerasenes or the Gadarenes, after the two major cities. The house that is left swept and clean is a likely target for Satanic influence (cf. Life with him would be heaven on earth. Slain Los Angeles auxiliary bishop was remembered at the Mass of Christian burial as friend of Jesus Christ and of Mary, our Blessed Mother.. Now they were delivered and ready to be productive members of society. And the people there were scared, they recognised this, but more, they realised the significance of this. Note that the texts dont say Gerasa or Gadara, so they arent necessarily referring just to one of the cities. Matt. October 2018 Hence it would be called the land of the Gadarenes.. print and digital media outlets, dedicated to reporting the truth in light of the Gospel and the And when the man spoke to Jesus, it looks like the demons inside the man were the ones doing the speaking. Satan loves those Christians. But here we speak not about a bishop, but about Christ who made His Godhead revealed through devils beseeching Him not to cast them to hell but enter the swine. June 2015 How many demons possessed the man in Mark 5:6? 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. Instead, they reject Him because all they know is His power and purity. Welcome to Biblical Hermeneutics! In the third chapter of Marks Gospel, our Lords miraculous works were attributed by His opponents to the power of Satan (verse 22). Why is this sentence from The Great Gatsby grammatical? 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. April 2022 in a crowd in a crowd where many people were bumping into Him? As has been said before, look for Satans man behind the pulpit. I felt somewhat guilty, particularly fearing that I may have created an unintentional hardship for some classmate. Jesus has lead me away from my old life. Flavius Josephus and Steve Mason, Flavius Josephus: Life of Josephus (Boston; Leiden: Brill, 2003), 47. Men and women (as well as children) were demonized in that they fell under the influence of these unclean spirits. His greatest impact would be on those who knew his former state. They were willing to post guards and chain and shackle their neighbor to keep him from hurting someone. The choice is to be free by submission to Christ (cf. Having been properly warned of the demonic underworld, let us not fall into the opposite error of absolute paranoia. Why is that. The Politics of Luke 8:26-39. It didnt take long for the word to spread quickly. They ask Him if they can enter some nearby pigs, and He lets them. 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. Now appreciate the reaction - another God was messing with their god - and demonstrating authority! The demons in the man recognize Jesus and the man bows before him. The commission of our Lord is considerably different from His instructions to the Israelites whom He had delivered. Vote Up Then people came to see what it was that had happened. vi. Jewish theology, at least on this point, seems consistent with biblical revelation. recognizes the military background of the term, pointing out that in the imperial period a legion consisted of 6000 foot soldiers, 120 horsemen and technical personnel. The nearby townspeople, upon hearing of the great miracle (and not wanting to suffer further economic loss), begged Christ to leave the Gadarenes and never come back! In contrast, the people of Gerasene are asking him to leave their place. in 1971. Crazy question or.? Whereas he had been a slave, he was now delivered from demon possession. They became as afraid of Jesus as the demons were. when He was the only One Who truly knew what had happened. Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. Is there any archaeological evidence for Joshua entering Israel and conquering cities in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age? 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. October 2015 This reveals to us that demons have an intuitive knowledge of their impending doom.117. For more information, please see our Fallen people reject God not because they do not know His power. No one was strong enough to subdue him (verses 3,4). Why was Jesus going to walk past the disciples as they were rowing on the Sea of Galilee? Ed, Issue 46, Winter 2023, Highlights in the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ. I used to want the longest life, perfect health and happiness, but really it is that feeling that I am so glad that this isnt all there is and that we have heaven to wait for, and that well be with Jesus, and there will be no more tears Amber VanVickle (1982-2023), The headquarters of the charity, which serves as a consecrated family to 46 disabled children, were badly damaged in major flooding near Rio de Janeiro last year. The second question is an ethical one: What right had the Lord to inflict this loss on the owners of the swine?121 Put even more crassly, Huxley censored this act with these words: the wanton destruction of other peoples property is a misdemeanour of evil example.122. Earles comments are helpful: The difference in names for the destination on the east side of the take has caused considerable comment. Another approach is to note the different intentions of the Gospel writers. For those near by the local name would be used; but in writing to a distant people, as the Greeks and Romans, the more comprehensive and general name would be given.. In Acts 8:1 we have the regions of Judaea and Samaria (KJV), and in Acts 16:6, Galatia alone. Finally, there is in demon possession a counterpart to the filling (or control) of the Holy Spirit. Most people confessed to having the fear of things not working out, an inability to trust and others said they . In the wake of new restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass, two American bishops spoke with EWTNs Raymond Arroyo Thursday about how their dioceses have responded. The conduct of this pathetic individual was obviously anti-social. 111 Edersheim maintains that it must have been late the same night of the storm: Most writers have, indeed, suggested, that the healing of the demonized on the other side took place at early dawn of the day following the storm on the lake. Subscriber Service CenterAlready a subscriber? 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. 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.