The Matthew account mentions two demon-possessed men, while Mark and Luke only mention one. For you Tolkien fans it reminds me of a character in the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings. (, 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. Delivered to your inbox! They were people who knew him. Im not saying I totally believed the stories, but I cannot believe that a single other place could not be found to send the legion. Gergesa (). Wasnt this just a temporary fix to a bigger problem? So lets have an exquisite examination of Scripture to better appreciate what happened beside the lake and why the pigs ended up in it. Reading the Word of God is wonderful. In either case, the theological point is not helped by a fictitious story. Such alternative readings include arguments that the swine were meant to represent the Roman army or "unclean and unfaithful" people; that pigs were considered "unclean", so destroying them might be consistent with care for other animals; and that Jesus did not actually "send" the devils into the pigs. All four gospel writers repeatedly testify to Jesuss power over storm, waves and. So He gave them permission. That is all I know. Now I want to say very quickly, my friends, that there is no power in this universe that can cause a rationale being to sin. He always followed Gods Law. There he meets a man seized with an unclean spirit (Mark) or with demons (Luke). Without a doubt, both men know God never came up with the line, Third Fact: Not a fickle faithless Father. In Marks thinking, the mans extraordinary strength is evidence of supernatural bondage. Jesus enters enemy territory in two ways. were the gerasenes gentiles He prefers we stay laughing so no one can reflect on this coincidence. Do you remember at the end of the book, in the sixth book, when the King of Gondor and his captains and the host of Gondor have arrived at the black gates of Sauron Sauron is the evil figure in the book and if you know Tolkien's cosmology, he was actually an apprentice to the Satan figure of Tolkien's writings. 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. 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. And you can ask yourself a lot of questions Why did Jesus do that? 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. It's entitled, Why I Am Not A Christian. They dont care about about the demon possessed men, they want their pigs back, (My opinion) Jesus was raised with sacrifice so animals were thought of for food, not so much as pets like today. Besides the jokes being in poor taste, they make his sermon seem less than professional. This man, when Jesus says, What is your name? effectively says, I do not know my name. Therefore they should be taken as such. ; Mark v.; Luke viii.) It is repeated over and over. In the three Synoptic Gospels and, None of the verses below refute any of the. Well the first thing I want you to see is this picture of a person in the thrall of sin. At this distance from the Sea of Galilee, Gerasa could not have been the site of the healing of Legion. It is doubtful that Jesus ever visited it. a Gentile and What Does the Bible Say about Another problem with the Catch-22 interpretation is the sheer number of other animals or places that Jesus could have negotiated for. In the three Synoptic Gospels and John 2:15, Jesus forces all the sellers out of the Temple courts. Look at what he first says when Jesus meets him in verse 28 What do you have to do with me, Jesus? And thirdly, they are forgetting the fate of this man with an immortal soul who was in danger not only of a continuous life of torment, but an eternal separation from God. Jesus was Jewish and He said He came for the lost sheep of Israelthe 10 cities of Decapolis were Roman cities but also contained some Jews who were most likely not keeping the Torah or mixing paganism with Judaism..Romans had many pagan gods and sacrifice pigs especially a certain black pig..I believe the man with the unclean spirits was a Jew.a Jew would never hang out in a tomb because that would make him unclean according to Jewish law..satan probably got a kick out of a Jew being forced by his demons to live in one.interesting that unclean spirits went into a unclean animal according to Judaismwhat a sight to see and then told by to go and tell what happened to you and to those pigs to your fellow Jewish friends and family who may not be keeping the Torah..just my opinion. And if I remember correctly, I think there is some tradition about other Apostles going to Spain. neither the four Greek words, nor any idea similar to them, are ever repeated in Scripture, whereas the destruction of the swine herd is thrice-repeated and uses a few more than four words. A wonderful verse that reveals Him to us and probably the most heartwarming is the commandment in the Torah that mother animals are allowed to stay with their newborns for at least seven days before the offspring can be taken for food or for sacrifice (, All of these commandments and more are still taken literally by many Jews today. Yet a number of objections immediately spring to mind. he has the power and the authority to ameliorate both. Answer: the impurity of the swine. However, the pastors assumptions are perplexing. The real-estate on the east side of the lake of Galilee where Jesus met the demons and the swine was also part of Israel-proper. 3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. The exorcism and the slaughter: Did they happen? 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. It was part of the Greco-Roman region known as the Decapolis, or ten towns. It was Gentile territory, the land of foreign gods, a place of idolatry. I will say that I struggled with the title to this sermon. But as Gergesa was a small village, and little known, the evangelists, who wrote for more distant readers, spoke of the event as taking place in the country of the Gadarenes, so named from its largest city, Gadara; and this country included the country of the Gergesenes as a state includes a county. were badly damaged in major Were in the same story, my friends. 5 ) They werent real Jews They were JINOs! There are echoes of exodus in Marks story, and echoes of Davids battle with Goliath. While foretelling death and doom was often part of a prophets job description, the real task of each true prophet was to be an example to the people and to get everyone on board, or back on board, with the Law of God. Therefore, when it came to sacrifices on it, the menu was even shorter. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met Him a man from the city who had demons. Since all of these areas overlap, one may take the references as meaning the same place. And it is a shame that the good pastors dont take these relevant Scripture passage into consideration. At the very end of his book The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Apostle John repeats them. Both Johns could conveniently connect the dots between the Law of God which outlaws the swine and the destructive action which Jesus took against the herd, but it would be too inconvenient for their religious views. Herod had massive building projects all over Israel. It was a leading city of Syria in commerce, culture, and religion. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of any other person, religious organization or governmental entity. Why explain something that is as plain as the nose on your face? WebGerasene: [noun] an inhabitant of the ancient Palestinian town Gerasa. WebThey came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. WebAll three Synoptic Gospels ( Mark 5:120; Luke 8:2639; Matthew 8:2834) mention the swine miracle, although with variations. I dont know of any illness that can do that. After stilling the storm while crossing the Sea of Galilee, Jesus lands with his disciples on the eastern shore of the lake. This software has many innovative features and you can trap a Bull or Bear in REAL TIME! To any Jew, Jesuss actions were crystal clear. Its the exodus that Jesus has come to lead, an exodus from slavery to the prince of this world. Demonic forces seem to be territorial; i.e., they have assigned areas of domain. I could have come up with better arguments against Christianity than Bertrand Russell, but in the course of this book in one of the chapters, he says it is this story that led him to the conclusion that Jesus was neither the best nor the most virtuous of men. And why werent they demanding compensation for their pigs? 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. Gerasa is identified from various sources as a city in Arabia, Decapolis, Gilead, or Perea. The mountainside has caves and hewn tombs where, according to Mark and Luke, the demoniac had taken shelter. Wed obey Him. 1. One can only imagine the insanity the demoniac suffered at the hands of these evil forces. One moose, two moose. Map of the Decapolis and its Cities - Bible History Although He encountered and ministered to Gentiles such as the centurion who had a paralyzed servant (Matt. Unfortunately, Pastor John is not alone, joking at the expense of this tragedy. why do you think there were pigs there?]. So many beautiful verses and motivating passages are in Scripture. 2023. Racism: Not a modern invention . 5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their 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. Jesus' action also shows the importance of human beings relative to animals. Was it correct to destroy so many for just one (or two men). OS Supported: Windows 98SE, Windows Millenium, Windows XP (any edition), Windows Vista, Windows 7 & Windows 8 (32 & 64 Bit). As a result, our biggest take-away lesson is to never take away from the Word of the Almighty.But dispensational-flavoured pastors ignore this and teach us that Moses and David and even Jesus lived by different rules. What care we for his soul?What good to us that Thou hast made him whole,Since we have lost our swine? All Rights Reserved. (Note that Luke omits Jesus journey to Tyre and Sidon, see also Mark 7:24-37). That's what disciples do, they sit at their master's feet. In course of time, as the Jews began more and more to pride themselves on their peculiar privileges, it acquired unpleasant associations, and was used as a term of contempt. 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. You must there are over 200,000 words in our free online dictionary, but you are looking for one thats only in the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary. Isnt this what hes paid for? But should you also doubt, my friendly blog reader, read on. Just like in the Garden, when God judged Adam, he didn't strike him directly, but the ground soil instead. These three verse from John really are earth-shattering. We ask this in Jesus' name. 7). I listen to a pyschiatrist that said he never believed in demon possession until a exorcist ask him to work with him. Gadara Secondly, I want you to look at the Lord Jesus Christ Himself because His power over Satan is on display full force in this passage. Diana (Artemis) of Ephesuslovely without a nose! Those people were Jews in Nazareth. Two thousand pigs together is quiet unimaginable. Some of Jesus's reputation for being normally meek and merciful comes from statements like: 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. The final battle requires a different strategy, one that involves a cross. WebWhy were there pigs in gerasenes? The fascinating story behind many people's favori Can you handle the (barometric) pressure? Now that's interesting isn't it? The NT references (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26; cf. This was the authentic Messiah that the Jews were waiting for. Additionally, it would have been foolish for the Apostles to claim hundreds and thousands of witnesses (1 Cor 15:1-6). He couldnt introduce a new religion. You may simultaneously update Amibroker, Metastock, Ninja Trader & MetaTrader 4 with MoneyMaker Software. These ruins date from the 2nd to the 7th centuries and show that the city flourished during this period as a center for religion, culture, and commerce. So did the demons surprise him? Seven Forgotten Facts clarify our interpretation, One possible reason the Son of David chose the pigs was that he had, But this view is shocking because it places Gods Son on an equal footing with the unclean spirits and thus flies in the face of the normal presentation of Jesus in the Gospels. (Please dont hide behind that sensational dispensational chart. 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. Again, these classifications come from God, not man, and show up in Scripture as early as Genesis 7:1-9. Therefore, when it came to sacrifices on it, the menu was even shorter. Luke 1:6 says, [Zachariah and Elisabeth] were both righteous before God, walking in all of the commandments and judgements of the LORD, guiltless. Sound like perfect obedience to me. e. Jesus was teaching the way to live life so demons would not have a place in us to possess. So I figure we could speculate a little and see where this goes. David ran after the lion that had grabbed his sheep and with just his staff, and his wits, he forced the lion to drop it. Both of our good pastors assume that the people in Gerasene (Gadarene or Gergesene) were Gentiles in Gentile territory, partially because of the pigs, partially because of the demoniacs and partially because, The good pastor John MacArthur assumes in his video, [I stretch my hand out to the Jews] who sit by the graves and lodge over night in the tombs, who eat the flesh of pigs and the broth of corrupted meat from their pots. It is now called Jerash and is a deserted ruin. The last now appears. Compared to the accounts of the same event in Matthew and Luke also written in simple narrative prose some details vary. 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. Pingback: The Prophet in the Hometown A Pilgrim in Augsburg. That is, they appear contrary, except for one thing: Gods Law forbids righteous people from eating pork. Seven Biblical facts await you that prove Jesus was obliged to love all creatures, except that a higher command forced him to partially judge the Jews who owned the two thousand poor pigs.

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