The entrance of the term into colloquial speech indicates that the Roman occupation was a heavy burden. But the people in the town preferred their pigs to Jesus. Gergesa (). 120 The request is in both cases the same; for, according to Jewish notions, certain countries being assigned to evil as well as to good spirits, whose limits they were unable to overpass, to be sent out of their own country, no other being open to them, implied being sent into the abyss, or bottomless pit, since that remains for them alone. Trench, Miracles , p. 101. 9:10-17. When Jesus asked his name the man answered, Legion, for we are many (Mark 5:9). 124 Augustine: The devils were driven out and permitted to go into the swine; and Aquinas: But that the swine were driven into the sea was no work of the divine miracle, but was the work of the devils by divine permission. Quoted by Trench, Miracles, fn. Their answer is: 'No, we do not want to stone you because we want to keep you near us. It should also be observed that nowhere in the Old Testament (except in I Sam. Such was the case with this man (cf. 22ff. Biblical Hermeneutics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professors, theologians, and those interested in exegetical analysis of biblical texts. As to the candidate for the location of the Gospel event, the most common consensus[weaselwords] is that the miracle took place near the town of Gergesa, the modern Kursi, close by the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and therefore in the country of Gergesenes. John 8:32; Matthew 11:28-30), or to be the pawns of Satan (Ephesians 2:1-2). May I never send you away from me, even in small things. Yet how did the Gerasene people respond? Gerasa. He who feared His arrival now dreaded His departure. Thank you for your interest in supporting CARM. What Jesus wants us to know is that his salvation and his protection extend to those old, horrible haunts. Contrasting the self-destruction of the herd of pigs with the typical motif of an individual evil-doer being pushed over a cliff by an undifferentiated mob (cf. In all his tormented years, he had never felt anything like the terror that coursed through him when he saw Jesus get out of the boat. But Jesus told him to go back. In the past several weeks, there has come to light the case of a man arrested for various crimes who has several of the symptoms of demon possession, including multiple personalities, even multiple IQs. Then he notes that he was clothed and in his own mind (Luke 8:35). A miracle performed by Jesus according to the New Testament. Unfortunately, like anyone who feels wrongfully yet feasibly accused, the Gerasenes protest violently, they protest their good faith with violence, thereby reinforcing the terror of the possessed. iii. The Greek word commonly accepted in Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26 as the basis for the name of the people who inhabited the place where Jesus and the disciples went is rendered Gerasenes in English (Metzger, 1975, pp.