Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 5:11
Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
11. a great herd swine ] The lawless nature of the country, where Jews lived mingled with Gentiles, the Evangelist denotes by the circumstance of the two thousand swine, emphasizing the greatness of the herd. If their owners were only in part Jews, who merely trafficked in these animals, still they were not justified before the Law. The territory was not altogether Jewish.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mar 5:11-14
Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
The demonized swine
To clear away the difficulty presented by this miracle of judgment, we must remember-
(1) Pork was forbidden for food to Israel and with good reason. The pigs and the dogs are the scavengers of Syria; the pig itself is vastly inferior to the animal as we know it and furnishes a food too gross for such a climate. For these and other reasons Moses prohibited its use; for similar reason Mohammed followed his example in doing so; but
(2) salt pork was a great article of food with the Romans; and therefore
(3) many who, perhaps, would not use pork for their own food had no objections to making a profit by breeding some for the use of others. It was contrary to the whole law, but it was remunerative. So here several owners have together as many as two thousand.
(4) Where Christ comes in, the swine must go out. As He purged the temple in Jerusalem, so He purges the temple of nature in Gadara. Men must part with their sins, if they want to have their Saviour. The swine will be driven out of our hearts, if Christ enters them. He came with mercy to Gadara, but it was not a weak but a purifying mercy.
(5) God is perpetually using the devil as His whip, with which He corrects the follies of our heart, no evil being permitted to exist which Christ cannot employ in some way for good. This destruction of the swine is, therefore, a call to repentance; a miracle that does for Christ in Gadara what John the Baptist did for Him in Judaea, stimulating conscience and awakening solicitude. It is a message to convince of sin. (R. Glover.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 11. A great herd of swine] See Clarke on Mt 8:30.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
11. Now there was there, nigh untothe mountainsrather, “to the mountain,” according towhat is clearly the true reading. In Mt8:30, they are said to have been “a good way off.” Butthese expressions, far from being inconsistent, only confirm, bytheir precision, the minute accuracy of the narrative.
a great herd of swinefeedingThere can hardly be any doubt that the owners of thesewere Jews, since to them our Lord had now come to proffer Hisservices. This will explain what follows.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now there was there, nigh unto the mountains,…. Where this man often was, Mr 5:5 according to Beza, the mountains of Galaad, which ran through that country, or the mountains that surrounded Tiberias. Some copies, as the Alexandrian copy and others, read “at”, or “about the mountain”, in the singular number. The Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions read, “about the mountain”. The Syriac and Ethiopic, “at the mountain”; so in Lu 8:32,
a great herd of swine feeding; on one side of the mountain, or mountains; it may be called a great one, for there were about two thousand hogs in it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “Now there was there nigh unto the mountains,” (hen de ekei pros to orei) “Now there was out there near the mountain,” on the mountainside, in Gadara, east of the Sea of Galilee, now known as the Golan Heights.
2) “A great herd of swine feeding.” (agele chorion megale boskomene) “A great herd of pigs feeding,” a large herd of hogs that was selfishly feeding, rooting, and eating grass and roots, or whatever was available, as well as what they were given to eat by those who kept them, Mar 5:14. They were described as unclean animals, Lev 11:7-8; Deu 14:8. They were not to be eaten or touched by clean people.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
‘Now there was there on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding, and they begged him, saying, “Send us into the pigs that we may enter them.” And he gave them permission.’
This was their last desperate throw. Surely He would not mind them entering into the pigs? After all the God of the Jews had declared pigs to be unclean. Even now their subtle minds were busily at work. Possibly they hoped that once He had gone they would be able to make the leap up higher and find some suitable humans to dwell in. (The fact that pigs were being kept there emphasises the Gentile nature of the territory).
‘He gave them permission.’ Did He smile to Himself as He did so, aware that they were sealing their own doom? It was a good idea. Their entry into the pigs would convince the man that he was free at last, an important visible confirmation that he would need, and He almost certainly knew what the pigs would do. While God valued pigs as He values all His creation, their value was little compared with the health of this man and his assurance of freedom. The incident demonstrates the order of priority in the eyes of God. If Jesus was willing to sacrifice the pigs for the man’s sake, and for the sake of those who might later have been possessed by the same spirits, who will deny Him, as the Creator, the right?
There may partly have been the idea behind the possession of the pigs that it would prove that the multitude of spirits had left the man. Actually seeing the pigs flee would be seen as adequate proof. It would give certainty to both the man and to the watchers. We can compare how an exorcist called Eliezer ‘placed a cup or foot-basin full of water a little way off and commanded the evil spirit as it went out of the man to overturn it, and make known to the spectators that he had left the man.’ (Josephus Antiquities 8:48)
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The casting out:
v. 11. Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
v. 12. And all the devils besought Him, saying, Send us into the swine that we may enter into them.
v. 13. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine; and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. Not in the immediate vicinity of the speaker, but at some distance, yet in plain sight, on the slope of the hills near the sea, there was a large herd of swine grazing. To the Jews, swine were unclean animals, and they were not allowed to eat them. But here on the border the inhabitants were influenced but little by Jewish customs and laws. The evil spirits knew that Jesus would not give them permission to enter into any man , and therefore they wanted to vent their spite and helpless anger on dumb animals. They changed their plea to this effect, that they might take possession of the swine. The devil is a murderer from the beginning. If he cannot destroy the soul of man, he takes possession of the body; and when this is forbidden him, he tortures brute beasts. His one desire is to destroy the life which God has created. Jesus here permitted, gave leave to, the spirits to do as they had asked; it was better that animals should perish than that man, made in the image of God, should be tormented. The result: With a mighty uproar the swine, numbering about two thousand, cast themselves down the precipice overhanging the sea, and were drowned in the water. The devil, in his work of destruction, is not permitted to go one step farther than God gives him leave. Note: Why it is that God sometimes permits the spirits of darkness and destruction to work harm to His creation is one of the secrets which our weak reason cannot fathom. We know only so much, that the loss of money and goods are chastisements of God, by which He intends to rouse men out of their security.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
Ver. 11. Nigh unto the mountains ] All this country was full of hills ( intercursantibus montibus Galaad ) and mountains of Gilead.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mar 5:11 . , there, near by. Cf. Mat 8:30 . ; on the mountain side.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
nigh unto = just at. Greek. pros. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
herd: Lev 11:7, Lev 11:8, Deu 14:8, Isa 65:4, Isa 66:3, Mat 8:30, Luk 8:32
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1
The swine was one of the unclean beasts under the law of the Jews, but we do not know whether they were interested in them commercially or not.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 5:11. The mountain. The better established reading, agreeing more exactly with Lukes account.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
5:11 Now there was there nigh unto the {e} mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
(e) This whole country is for the most part very hilly, for the mountains of Galeed run through it.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Evidently the demons requested permission to enter the swine so they could destroy them. Jesus’ permission resulted in everyone seeing the great destructive power and number of the demons, and that the man had experienced an amazing deliverance. Only Mark recorded the number of swine.
"Few animals are so individually stubborn as swine, yet the rush was simultaneous." [Note: Matthew B. Riddle, "The Gospel According to Mark," in International Revision Commentary on the New Testament, p. 60.]
"The story of the deliverance of a man becomes the story of the deliverance of a land." [Note: Guelich, p. 283.]
Some interpreters believe the owners of the swine were Jews who disregarded the Mosaic prohibition against eating pork (Lev 11:7). Jesus would then have been punishing them by allowing their pigs to perish. However this explanation is unlikely because of the population composition of the Decapolis region of which this area was a part (cf. Mat 8:31).