But the Jews were promised and re-promised their land by God throughout the Law: Genesis 15:7, Leviticus 20:24, Numbers 33:52-53, Deuteronomy 1:8 are just a few examples. 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. Something else to ponder about the Son of God is his other title, I am the good shepherd. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. This was a Gentile town so they had pigs. in which he transferred the demons afflicting a man to a number of swine, that thereupon rushed down a steep hill and perished. If our faithful, unchanging Heavenly Father God made a straightforward decisive yet divisive decision and repeated it over and over and over, then why cant the good pastors connect the dots and figure out Jesuss real relationship to the pigs? When this passage begins, we have a man who is possessed by demons who had gone about naked, who had lived in the tombs, who was out of his mind, and who did not even know his name. Echoes of Exodus in the Land of theGerasenes, Wesleys Eschatological Optimism Explains itAll, The Prophet in the Hometown A Pilgrim in Augsburg, The Methodist Million Dollar Appeal in World WarII. We gotta git us some!, 1 ) [your turn. For these reasons, the writers of the gospels gave no explanation and the Twelve asked no question about why Jesus destroyed all the swine. And he was the one who said that the Father doesnt miss the , Everyone's wondering why the pigs got the raw end of the deal. Additionally, it would have been foolish for the Apostles to claim hundreds and thousands of witnesses (1 Cor 15:1-6). Herod had massive building projects all over Israel. there was never a prophecy that the kosher laws would be removed, so the verse is coming completely from left field. Reading the whole account in Acts 19:23 to 41, we see that it was not hard for the sore silversmith to drum up anti-Jewish anger in the crowd that day. Thats right, adding or subtracting from Scripture, according to Scripture, is illegal. His fellow citizens tried to restrain him in chains a horrible way to treat mental illness, by the way but he always broke free. That is exactly what is happening here. Demetrius had to do something with the Jew or go bust. WebThe Gerasenes were the people of the district of which Gerasa was the capital. You can bet your bottom drachma there is. 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. Part of the reason for such a short list is due to the fact that Gods People are special (Exodus 19:5-6) and separate (Deuteronomy 7:6) and unique from others on the earth (1 Peter 2:9). The heart set free from sin by Jesus. GotQuestions has three articles alone on the subject: here is their best. After a dramatic journey across the lake (Luke 8:22-25), Jesus steps for the first and last time into Gentile territory. Its one thing to understand that He personally never changes. So he gave them permission. This curse should deter makers of dispensational charts from chopping up Scripture because having my share taken from the Book of Life, or my name wiped out of the Book of Life (Revelation 3:5) doesnt sound very cool. ix. So its a fair comparison to place Pauls actions in Ephesians side-by-side with Jesuss actions by the Lake of Galilee. Remember, Jesus took direct, extensive action against a significant group of Gentile pig farmers he didnt just say something bad against the pigs. I would think that it shows that demons would enter anything that could be unclean including a human being. For you Tolkien fans it reminds me of a character in the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings. For less than $5/mo. 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. 15:24), but He was concerned for all peoples. And what can we take away from the second part of the commandment not to take away from Gods Word? Jesus was upholding all the kosher laws within the Land of Israel it was part of his job description. As the Philistine dead were strewn from Gaza to Ekron, so thousands of Satans dead fell in their own territory. Wasnt this just a temporary fix to a bigger problem? Secondly, theyre forgetting that Jesus also says that people are more important than sparrows. Now I must say that that really boggles my mind because Luke's main point is so crystal clear and it's set in the context of three other stories that are crystal clear. And low and behold, two gospels specify that Jesus didnt go into Tyre (part of modern Lebanon), but that he was only in the vicinity of the city (Matthew 15:21; Mark 7:24 and Mark 7:31). The Gerasenes were the people of the district of which Gerasa was the capital. These authors were Biblical (Peter, James, Paul, Hebrews, etc) and to a lesser extent, non-biblical (Josephus, Pliny, etc). Therefore he had every right to judge the Jews and how they used land. By Your Holy Spirit, show us our need of grace. Jun 21, 2021. The best text in Matthew reads Gadarenes, in Mark and Luke it reads Gerasenes, whereas some MSS preserve Gergesenes and Gergustenes (cf. Post the Definition of Gerasene to Facebook, Share the Definition of Gerasene on Twitter, More than 250,000 words that aren't in our free dictionary, Expanded definitions, etymologies, and usage notes. Matt 8:28). It's just 8 or 9 verses before this passage. Nothing we have belongs to us. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged Him to let them enter these. Early in the video, he is very factual and seems sure of himself. And at the end of the passage, look how he is described. Living in rural Central Africa villages for ten years, I heard many stories from locals about demon spirits living in streams and trees and boulders. destroyed) and every perplexing dispensational chart is legit. He is utterly sovereign. Fourthly, Jesus specifically went to the land of the Gentile Gadarenes or Gerasenes, east of the Sea of Galilee, to minister to them. The gospels. It's His person and His power that we're having our attention draw to and there are four things in particular that I want you to see in this passage. And John nicely parallels Jesus who said, not the smallest letter nor the smallest comma will pass away from the Law (Matthew 5:18). After stilling the storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee, Jesus lands with his disciples on the eastern shore of the lake. We pray that he would find liberation in Jesus Christ and see his life and family restored, but my friends, any one of us, any one of us, can be in the same thralldom today. Theres got to be a a good one about. This was the authentic Messiah that the Jews were waiting for. Some will respond to my rhetorical question, Why on earth would Jesus come to earth, by giving me the usual pat answer. His poetry includes Bees in Amber: a little book of thoughtful verse (1913) which became a bestseller. We said the last time that we were together that in Luke 8 you begin four miracle stories, all of which either happen in Galilee or in Gentile lands. Actually, killing the pigs was also out of his mercy because instead of judging the farmers directly, the Messiah threw his anger against the pigs. Instead of Jesus turning water into wine. Thus, we are not surprised that there was "a great herd of pigs" feeding near the tombs where the Gerasene demoniac was living (5:11). Jesus was teaching the way to live life so demons would not have a place in us to possess. Furthermore, how upset must God get seeing a doctor reach into the womb of a mother and murder her unborn child? Why doesn't the good pastor entertain that avenue of possibility or is he too busy making one-liners to connect any dots? Therefore, when it came to sacrifices on it, the menu was even shorter. Fear and selfishness prompted the prayer. That is how valuable human life is." Mark Driscoll also generated some chuckles when he callously said the death of the pigs created a bacon famine.. 4. ; Mark v.; Luke viii.) Who were the gerasenes in the bible? Also, this study shows that Jesuss actions in Mark 5 were on the surface contrary to the deep-rooted Jewish respect for domestic and/or wild animals. Heavenly Father, we thank You that the name of Jesus is sweet in the ears of believers, but we know, O Lord, that those who love this world do not know the sweetness of the sound of His name. The other part of the eastern shoreline was controlled by Og, king of Bashan, but it and sixty walled cities were taken from them by Moses and given to the tribes of Israel (Deuteronomy 3:1-7, 16; compare with 1 Kings 4:13). It pains them to admit that Jesus was/is a Jewish Messiah and not a Christian one. For one, Remember that the Law reveals to us the mind and personality of God. But as for God, what reason did He give Mr. Merciless for not destroying Nineveh? It was a leading city of Syria in commerce, culture, and religion. I wonder why?). Mr. Hippo read Mark 5 and convinced himself that Jesus did not care about swine, or any other animals, and therefore, spread a church doctrine that Christians have no genuine duty to animals. Notice how Gods care is cleverly contrasted with mans callousness: men buy birds for next to nothing because they do not value them, yet The Almighty as large and in charge as He is still takes careful notice of frail creatures. (Quite likely David would have let the lion and the bear free, if not for the fact that they came back at him: 2 Samuel 17:35). They were wise enough to figure out if Jesus in His authority over them would allow them to exit of their choosing, they would select the black pigs often used in sacrifice to Baal. The most plausible reason Jesus chose the pigs was because he regarded people as precious and priceless, But are these good pastors on the right track? The passage appears to be straightforward historical-narrative writing, like the rest of Marks gospel. War I. iv. Mark 5 is truly very simple: being a righteous Jew, the Law commands Jesus to abhor pigs as food. So whats the point because Pastor John Piper feels the pigs were less important and John LOL MacArthur just jokes about the slaughter neither reaction seems sensible. The first two are in the Authorized Version. Deuteronomy 4 and 12 only state that none should add or remove what Moses was commanding, which sounds a little nebulous. When Jesus said, A new commandment I give unto you (John 13:34), he instantly had the undivided attention of the Tedious Twelve disciples because they knew changing the Law was forbidden. Instead of recklessly freeing the doves into the air (as erroneously shown in The Jesus Film and other Bible movies), Scripture records with precise detail that Jesus only knocked over the chairs of the pigeon owners, and/or told them to take their feathered property and leave (Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15; John 2:16) he didnt use his whip on the birds or fling them into the air to be attacked by falcons or eagles. Cute little silver goddess dolls would have sold for the same price as a full-grown boar or sow in those days. Derek Thomas was reminding me this morning that Ridderbos, in his famous book, The Coming of the Kingdom, records seventeen different interpretations that he had found of this particular parable. Ruins of the temple of Artemis, some columns still standing, are on another hillside above the ruins. Oh get you hence, Omnipotence, and take this foul of Thine. The Son of God mercifully cast thousands of defiling demons out of a lost Jew and purposefully launched the legion killers into two thousand defiling swine. As was just so elegantly discussed, the destruction of the herd only makes sense if we remember that God never liked unclean food to begin with. being the eternal Son of God. The Law of God states that the Sabbath is a day of rest for all livestock (Deuteronomy 5:14). In other words, they believe the one who killed the pigs with the demons is equal to the Father. 10:31). He's no longer under the domination of demons or his own sin. And the good pastor doesnt give any rationale for a slaughter that huge. Jesus was wise to use what God gives us, for a teachable moment. In any event, the apparent differences in the texts prob. But we should never get too smug, thinking that we have corned the market on truth. 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. So if you have the ears to hear, the Father and the Son both wrote the Law and gave it to 630,000 men (and women and children) at Mt. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with Him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.. Well that's the first thing we see in this passage. You understand that Legion is not his name. WATER DESTROYED HER!!!! A may also be a combination of two or more genres. Gods Law even has two commands that equate domestic livestock with wild animals. Sinai. If they did, they would not see the chapter attacking the research in this blog post, theyd see a defense for it! Jewish rabbis, when interpreting the Word of God, follow an important principle: no word in Gods Word is superfluous or pointless. Gods Law has a law that you cannot change Gods Law. Now we see the missing puzzle piece: God had plainly prohibited pork as food, making it clear that holy people should not eat it all of you be holy for I am holy (Leviticus 11:44-45) and therefore, Gods normally merciful Messiah destroyed an entire herd in total agreement with the commandment. The Messiah gave every Jew there that day a glimpse of the judgement to come. But it struck me as interesting that Bertrand Russell had the exact same reaction to this miracle that the people of the Gerasenes had. Just remember the wonderful folks in Jesuss hometown? And was the Master doing the right thing sacrificing someone elses pigs. This leads the third observation: just as the disciples had been terrified by both the storm and Jesus calming of it on the way over to the Gerasenes, the local people here respond with fear. Since demons are by most accounts fallen angels to begin with, they already know to Whom they are ultimately accountable. James Gibson. Not that I believe my case has holes. 141-144). WebWho were the gerasenes in the bible? Download Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1 Framework. (, Still, Jesus was not in Gadarenes for judging; he was there, Not contrary, but consistent with Christs Character, Here is a prophesy that Christians love to quote: , The LORD has sworn it and He will not change his mind: You are a priest forever, after the nature of Melchizedek. The LORD is upon your right hand. Worse yet, dont trust one who says Scripture evolves. WebScripture exhorts us to care for animals and not to be cruel to them. These three verse from John really are earth-shattering. It's this man who doesn't even remember his name who's possessed by a host of demons. Gods Everlasting Word is not something evolving or morphing into a strange new unusual thing, like some rose turning into a radish, or a carrot into a carnation. What is going to happen, we are told by John the book of Revelation, is that God Himself is going to cast Satan and his demons into the lake of fire. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. These four miracle stories, also we said, in contrast to the miracles in Luke 4 and 5, are focused on settings where a small group of the disciples witness the miracles. Jesus enters enemy territory in two ways. Instead they joke around and give pat answers. (Question: If God cares about the mother-child relationship in animals, how does He consider that relationship for people? Jesus came to teach a better way of life that you could have abundantly! 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. Luke means it to be an extraordinary event. Lots of non-Jews lived there. Don't they know their Bibles? Other than that my friends, I don't know. No Jewish farmer would keep swine, and no Jewish region would tolerate the presence of pigs, let alone two thousand of them (Mark 5:13). Johns Entertaining LOL Interpretation shows me that he sees cracks in his theology, but is unwilling to own up to them. He specifically banned pig in Leviticus 11:6 but to make sure we heard God repeats the command (Deuteronomy 14:8), adds that eating it makes a person unclean (Leviticus 11:43), adds that touching their carcasses defiles a person (Leviticus 11:28), adds that righteous people must not become defiled (Leviticus 20:25), and then sends His prophet a prophesy like, no one uncircumcised or anything unclean (/tameh) will anymore enter Zion or Jerusalem (Isaiah 52:1), and then openly judges pork-eaters as wicked (Isaiah 65:2-5), and then hotly repeats that identical point (Isaiah 66:15-17), and once more (Ezekiel 44:23-27) and once again, but now in the New Testament (Revelation 21:27), so where is that pastor who dares suppose the Almighty can change His mind about pigs? One was, His Name Was Legion, Not Ligon. I have been confused with Legion all my life and it worries me that it's not just the sound of the name, but I want to make it clear that Legion is not in any way related to Ligon. ), No matter how you slice it, the Almightys negative view of ham and bacon cant suddenly switch from one day to the next. But isnt it a funny coincidence that pork happens to be on Gods list of forbidden food. From Jesus's own mouth, we are informed of Gods special love and attention for defenseless animals and we know Jesus has the same heart for the weak. Gods Law even has two commands that equate domestic livestock with wild animals. Of course not. (, David, the son of Jesse, was another selfless, compassionate shepherd. The power and the person of Jesus Christ. No other place on the E side of the sea fits this requirement of the story. And Jews are forbidden by God and His eternal commands to own pigs. Can we imagine our Jew receiving a mostly positive reaction or a negative one? We pray in Jesus' name. Now you understand what sitting at the Savior's feet means? David was a good example of what Jesus meant by the shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Compared to this, Jesuss behaviour toward the pigs appears extremely callous: giving vile demons permission to slaughter swine is not exactly compassionate. about a.d. 65. Is there actually a real reason why the Gospel accounts shouldnt be taken as factual history? Well let's pray before we read God's Word together. He made a covenant with them and revealed His commandments to them, which they were to live according to. 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. After stilling the storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee, Jesus lands with his disciples on the eastern shore of the lake. So lets not laugh these verses off. This passage is fundamentally about Jesus. Unfortunately, Pastor John is not alone, joking at the expense of this tragedy. They do not bother mentioning Scriptures emphasis on being holy before God. to biblical Galilee, regarded, in opposition to Judaea, as a country of Gentiles (as in Matthew 4:15) What was Jairus occupation? After this long, careful study, it should be crystal clear that the heartless Bishop of Hippo was mistaken, as were our two good pastors. 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. Dr. Ligon Duncan | December 13, 2009. Now the big-mouth irking this Greek artisan was our good friend, the Apostle Paul. Mark as quoted by Spalde, Annika; Strindlund, Pelle (2012). I beg You, do not torment me. Then, if you look in verse 38, he begs Jesus that he might be with him. He was clear that His mission was not to the Gentiles and Samaritans, but rather, to the lost tribe of Israel. It is true that we discover new thoughts or extra meaning over time, but Gods Word is permanent and cannot change. Lets dwell on that he added no new commands to his disciples. Basically, a vision told Peter three times to eat defiling animal meat (at least that was how it seemed to him) so Peter logically replied that he had never eaten anything , Once more, we have half of an unclear verse, that people use to make up a, Gods Word has to agree with Gods Word. New International Version (NIV), Encyclopedia of The Bible Gerasa, Gerasenes. Peaceable Kingdom Series. So I don't know how seventeen interpretations of this particular story got circulated. As regards the first question, it would appear that that section of the country was chiefly inhabited by pagans in the first century, and Gerasa is at any rate included by Schrer among the Hellenistic cities ("Geschichte," ii.