And he was the one who said that the Father doesnt miss the falling of a sparrow. Oops. Twice he is described this way look at verse 35, the man from whom the demons had gone out and then again the man from whom the demons had gone and then in verse 38, the man from whom the demons had gone. When Jesus had asked him, What's your name? The first time he had answered, I'm the man possessed by a countless host of demons. Now, he's the man from whom those demons have gone out. The pastors attempts to laugh off the haunting question about the meek and lowly Son of Man killing all the pigs is pathetic. No products in the cart. Last Update: Jan 03, 2023 So he's drawing our attention to an extraordinary event, but the reason he's drawing our attention to that extraordinary event is because there are actually truths which transfer across the last 2,000 years, right to where we are today, that we are to learn out of this passage. evidence), Ye know that when ye were Gentiles ye were, &c. In this and the following verse the Apostle reminds his readers that so far from regarding the marvellous manifestations of the Spirit, such as speaking with tongues and prophesying, as the most wonderful miracles, the Ill take Mark at his word; hes thinking of an army of demons, not an army of human soldiers. Now the big-mouth irking this Greek artisan was our good friend, the Apostle Paul. Early in the video, he is very factual and seems sure of himself. The demons inhabit the bodies of this herd of pigs and the pigs cast them into the Lake of Galilee. That's even more unexpected than not being angry because in Paul's case, it was the other way around. Therefore, even though folks from the Bishop of Hippo down to our two good California pastors have tried to persuade us that the Creator has shifted His views on pork, God did not, can not, and will not vary or alter or adjust any word spoken about any decision let alone His views on ham sandwiches. The final battle requires a different strategy, one that involves a cross. Gergasa (modern name Kersa) was a small village nearby, and Gadara was the larger region of which the village was a part, with Gerasa as the regional capital. Israels real enemy is Satan. Another command applies to women who have given birth to a child (Leviticus 12:6), so that would be easy for Jesus to obey, not to mention the monthly ritual baptisms Jewish women do for certain reasons!!! (, Its not clear exactly who is doing more killings, the LORD or Melchizedek, but the picture overall fits the image of Son of God cleaning the land of swine. Saying God reverses a verdict or compromises a promise soils His Name. On the other hand, it is unfortunate that the rabbis today dont see the even stronger connection between Genesis 3:3 and Revelation 22:18, because Jews dont read the New Testament all that much. Surely He could have demonstrated real power over real demons, right? Every creature on land, or in the water, or in the air is classified by either the Hebrew term, (tahor), meaning ritually clean/pure, or by the term, (tameh), unclean/defiling. 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. By using our website, you accept our use of cookies. Marks Jesus is a warrior who conquers Gods enemies. Demetrius had to do something with the Jew or go bust. Amen. He also said after much work with people that was possess that most of them dealt in occult practices. They could, at least, admit to the possibility of what has been discussed here and about the other facts. Furthermore, how upset must God get seeing a doctor reach into the womb of a mother and murder her unborn child? Luckily, they didnt find Paul anywhere, but they did haul a number of Pauls colleagues down to city hall. It seems to happen a lot in the gospels. The demons sent the pigs off the banks of the sea and into the water, where they drowned (Mark 5:1213). When Jesus healed the possessed man, He allowed Legion to possess the nearby herd of swine. But the Almighty said it so many times. Now not only did the Jewish people not eat bacon, and not only were they forbidden by Moses to eat bacon, but they were not allowed to raise bacon even to sell it to the Gentiles. Just remember the wonderful folks in Jesuss hometown? There are echoes of exodus in Marks story, and echoes of Davids battle with Goliath. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met Him a man from the city who had demons. The church fathers treated them as literal history. I think Jesus was trying to give to all the sight to see the wrong things in this world we can overcome by walking with Him and His Way of life. It was interesting that Palmer had gone out without any announcement but this man knew who he was and he was obviously disturbed that he was there and he began to make threats. (Take that, Darwin.). Therefore, when it came to sacrifices on it, the menu was even shorter. Therefore he had every right to judge the Jews and how they used land. I've ended up, and Ill explain it later, giving the title The Man Jesus Renamed. Now that may peak your interest because in the passage no name is ever given for the man, either before or after his conversion, so you may be wondering why I've named it that. Commentary on Luke 8:26-39 - Working Preacher from Luther The Psalmist states that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills Because to me belong every beast of the wood, every herd on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10, and were assuming Jesus the Second Person of the triune God had equal rights to those hills and those cattle.). 8 ) Their pork was kosher, kept out of the camp for 7 days, and circumcised. Gods Word has to agree with Gods Word. 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. This software has many innovative features and you can trap a Bull or Bear in REAL TIME! To all of you who have been liberated from the captivity of your sin by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, receive God's blessing. Seven facts why Jesus cast the demons to the pigs in Mark 5, but pastors still miss the point, We usually think of Jesus as the loving, forgiving guy from Galilee, right? What does it say? Definition of Gadarenes (Gergesenes) in the Bible - Bible Look at the prophets; they also prove Scripture doesnt change. He changed the subject. (. For heavens sake, why cant the good pastor try to explain the incompatibility of our loving Jesus wiping out hundreds of innocent creatures without a punch line? Note: Demetrius was angry only because of speculation of what Pauls preaching might do to business Paul had not physically caused any damage. Its one thing to understand that He personally never changes. Mark as quoted by Spalde, Annika; Strindlund, Pelle (2012). We have it all down on paper exactly how gentle Gentiles can get when they get annoyed by a Jew. Be circumspect. Its not clear exactly who is doing more killings, the LORD or Melchizedek, but the picture overall fits the image of Son of God cleaning the land of swine. On the other hand, the Masters usually thick-headed students, the Tedious Twelve, didnt question him about this! He has stabbed the heads of many lands. It's not every day that you meet someone inhabited by a host of demons, but every time you meet a Christ-less soul, you meet someone who is utterly captive to sin. So did the demons surprise him? What need have we of further witnesses? The action is no different than, Lets return again to when Jesus cleaned up the Temple courtyard of merchants and merchandise. We usually think of Jesus as the loving, forgiving guy from Galilee, right? Fear and selfishness prompted the prayer. The fact anyone dreamed up dispensationalism, They say, None, but Jesus, kept the Law perfectly. If we agree Messiah wrote the Law of God, we should then wonder why on earth he would come to Earth to take what he authored out of circulation or to annul it? And so this man comes to Jesus, he seeks Him out, and Jesus says to him, What is your name? And the man doesn't know his name. And lastly, because the herd was within the Land of Israel and owned by Jews (the joke about Gentiles owning them is cleared up below), the unclean swine had to go and the unclean demons did the work. And because they did not hear Him, they lost even what they had. We ask that You would open our eyes to behold wonderful things in it and open our ears, we pray, to hear Your Word rightly. Mark and Luke wrote that Jesus /gave the right to them to enter the pigs much stronger wording and more official than allow. So lets have an exquisite examination of Scripture to better appreciate what happened beside the lake and why the pigs ended up in it. Yet they tried to throw one of their own off a cliff (, Now, if a Jew can be treated so badly by fellow Jews, lets put on our thinking caps and imagine what happens to a Jew walking straight into a big group of Gentiles. were the gerasenes The Greek clause literally says, End of law is Christ but why bother finishing the sentence? Are you seeing this? Its a weird story, but its in the Gospels a couple of times, so we have to accept it as truth. In 2 Samuel 17 we read of the young boy who would be king risking everything for one lamb. But it was what they loved and they preferred it to everlasting blessing in Jesus Christ. You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateways emails at any time. The last point to tidy up Jesus allowed the demons to kill the pigs or Jesus did it? They are unclean for you. They cannot cast a spell on Him. about a.d. 65. Acting as Israels Messiah, Jesus was carrying out actions that were predicted by the prophets, like when Zechariah said that no merchants in the house of the LORD (Zechariah 14:21).. War III. I think so. So I don't know how seventeen interpretations of this particular story got circulated. Sinai. Explained by Sharing Culture Expert Answers: Gergesenes means "those who come from pilgrimage or fight." Secondly, theyre forgetting that Jesus also says that people are more important than sparrows. WebNoun. HDB, II, p. 158, 159 for a detailed description.). One Bible expositor said the pigs the demons sought refuge in were black. But Christians miss the joke and think he was being serious. Gentile My question is: Gadarenes, Girgesenes, Gerasenes - Smiths Bible Dictionary WebMany New Testament manuscripts refer to the "Country of the Gadarenes" or "Gerasenes" rather than. All Rights Reserved. They were to teach the Gentiles about Him (Acts 13:4647). Next, what if our imaginary Jew damaged a ton of Gentile property under their very noses. Am I forgiven by saying, I just allowed the kids to have the grenade? conquest of Syria in 65 b.c. The three passages that describe the incident with the demoniacs in the country of the Gerasenes, also called Gadarenes, are Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, and Luke 8:26-39. Or are we with those who love what we want and what we have more than we love the Word of life from the only One who can give life? Jesus though he was The Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-18 and John 1:21) had to play by the same laws. Lets use his recording to the event as our jumping off point: Every Bible passage is either a historical narrative piece (such as the one we just read), a legal and/or procedural document (the majority of the Five Books of Moses), or it is a poetic passage (like Psalms, Proverbs and much of the Prophets). In his description of the boundaries of Perea, Josephus mentions Gerasa as one of the cities on the eastern boundary between Perea and Arabia, the other border cities being Philadelphia and Sebonitus (Jos. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Playing with the plain truths of Gods eternal Scriptures means one is playing with fire and such actions will bring unfortunate consequences. There's nothing that they can do to restrain His mighty arm. God designated the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, as His chosen people. Gergesa - Wikipedia We are pleased to launch our new product Money Maker Software for world's best charting softwares like AmiBroker, MetaStock, Ninja Trader & MetaTrader 4. Also, Demetrius only needed to speak a few choice words against the Jew (compare with Act 19:34), to get the crowd all worked up the silversmith didnt have any real evidence that Pauls preaching was going to slow sales. Were in the same story, my friends. 10 ) It was the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, the area of the Decapolis. Lots of non-Jews lived there. 15:24), but He was concerned for all peoples. Something else to ponder about the Son of God is his other title, I am the good shepherd. It is repeated over and over. iii. The Son of God mercifully cast thousands of. I trust the Lord Jesus to know what to do with demons and what ought to be done. Demons, Jesus, and the Pigs The Outlaw Bible Student, http://www.linearconcepts.com/archives/2011. By submitting your email address, you understand that you will receive email communications from Bible Gateway, a division of The Zondervan Corporation, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA, including commercial communications and messages from partners of Bible Gateway. These are tremendously important facts that GotQuestions is ignorant of, or they prefer to spread disinformation about, this important Biblical truth that, in the mind of the Almighty, holiness is bound to what we eat. The textual evidence shows that the MSS preserve three variant spellings of the name in each gospel. However, the pastors assumptions are perplexing. Oh, you mean THOSE pigs!! We gotta git us some!, 1 ) [your turn. Why are there two demon-possessed men in the Gerasene tombs in ]. But Jesus still ministered to them: crowds from Tyre and Sidon came to see and listen to Him ( Mark 3:78 ). Furthermore, the play-by-play presents no reason to be judged as a parable or an allegory. Thats really why they were sent. Topical Bible: Gerasenes Without a doubt, its only and exactly the Creators negative view of swine that properly spells out to us why Jesus destroyed an entire herd of swine in Mark 5. Well, this happens in the gospel with Jesus. What do you have that youre captive to, that youre enslaved to? Download Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1 Framework. He's been set free by Jesus. Remember the story of Jesus casting demons out of the crazy man in Luke 8? Once there, Jesus encounters a man possessed by demons. The other, Deuteronomy 22:6-7, protects wild mother birds in a similar way, forbidding us from killing them along with their young at the same time. So many beautiful verses and motivating passages are in Scripture. 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). Of course not. Nevertheless, the interconnections within Scripture, from the beginning, to the middle, and to the very end, are wonderful to see, just like a beautiful flower. Was it correct to destroy so many for just one (or two men). Should we accept Mark 5 as literal history? why do you think there were pigs there?]. ; Mark v.; Luke viii.) Yet being part of the Godhead means Messiah cannot not flip-flop his opinions. Fourthly, Jesus specifically went to the land of the Gentile Gadarenes or Gerasenes, east of the Sea of Galilee, to minister to them. Let's pray. 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. the obscure phrase, (declaring all food clean), is magically transformed by the New International Version into, In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean, or into even lovelier prose like, By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in Gods eyes, by the New Living Translation (talk about making silk purse out of a sows ear). This agrees with the general description of the site (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26). And so the demons call out His name Jesus, the Son of the Most High God and it has no effect on Him. biblegateway.com He doesnt want to connect the dots and he doesn't want us to either. Why does the herd of swine go over the cliff? The miracles that are recorded here, just like the one that we saw last week, are seen by that small circle of disciples that is following Jesus around. In the Book of Acts, Chapter Nineteen, we read about Demetrius, a Greek silver-statue maker, who was connecting a few dots of his own and had reasoned that a certain big-mouthed Jew was bad for business. In either case, the theological point is not helped by a fictitious story. Cant we be candid in our search to know God? Jews don't get the joke either because they don't read the New Testament much given the fact Christians have turned them off of Jesus. When Jesus said that he had not came to destroy the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17), he was not talking to the Jews who already knew the Law was permanent, he was looking into future centuries and talking to those Christians who would try to destroy it. And what about commands for married people (Exodus 21:10), or the command that a man gives his wife a bill of divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1)?
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