Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 5:13
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.
13. down a steep place ] At Kerza or Gersa, “where there is no precipice running sheer to the sea, but a narrow belt of beach, the bluff behind is so steep, and the shore so narrow, that a herd of swine rushing frantically down, must certainly have been overwhelmed in the sea before they could recover themselves.” Tristram’s Land of Israel p. 462.
the sea ] This, as we have seen above (Mar 3:7), was one of the names, by which the Lake of Gennesaret was called.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 13. Gave them leave.] For , DH, three others, and three copies of the Itala have , sent them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
13. And forthwith Jesus gave themleaveIn Matthew (Mt 8:32)this is given with majestic brevity”Go!” The owners, ifJews, drove an illegal trade; if heathens, they insulted the nationalreligion: in either case the permission was just.
And the unclean spirits wentoutof the man.
and entered into the swine:and the herd ran violentlyrushed.
down a steep placedownthe hanging cliff.
into the sea (they were abouttwo thousand)The number of them is given by this graphicEvangelist alone.
and were choked in thesea“perished in the waters” (Mt8:32).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And forthwith Jesus gave them leave,…. For the reason of this [See comments on Mt 8:32].
and the unclean spirits went out; of the man, in whom they had for some time dwelt:
and entered into the herd of swine; according to the leave given them by Christ: this shows not only the existence of spirits, but their going from one to another shows that they are circumscribed by space; that they are here, and not there, or there, and not here: there is an “ubi”, a somewhere, where they are; and whilst there, are not elsewhere:
and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. The Syriac and Arabic versions read, “the herd ran to the rock”, or “promontory”, and “fell into the sea”. The Ethiopic, the “herd grew mad, and was carried headlong into the sea”: the sense is, that the devils having entered into them, it had a like effect on them, as on the man possessed; they ran mad, and were hurried on by the devils, to the rocks on the sea shore; where, falling down the precipice, they were all lost; and a considerable loss it was to their owners; for
they were about two thousand; a very large herd, but there were devils enought in that one man, to possess all these, and run them into the sea:
and were choked in the sea; not suffocated by the devils, but drowned in the waters of the sea, or lake, as Luke calls it; the lake of Gennesareth, or sea of Tiberias and Galilee; which, as often observed, were the same. Though some think it was not this lake or sea, but some other place of water near Gadara. Strabo says e, that in the country of Gadara, there was a very bad laky water, of which if cattle tasted, they cast their hair, hoofs, and horns; which perhaps may be the same with what the Talmudists call f,
, “the whirlpool of Gadara”; said to be from the time of the deluge, and so called from its swallowing up every thing that came into it; but the sea of Tiberias seems rather to be the place, where this herd perished. The Jew g objects to the destroying this herd of swine as an unjust action, being a great injury to the owners; and seeks to blacken the character of Christ, as being concerned in it: but, as Bishop Kidder h well observes, it does not appear that Jesus destroyed it; it was the devils that did it: he suffered them indeed to go into it, nor did he restrain the natural power which they had; nor did he think fit to do it, nor was he obliged to it: but had he destroyed it himself, since he is Lord of all, the proprietor of all creatures, who has all under him, and at his disposal, can give and take away as he pleases, no charge of evil and injustice can be brought against him: and this should be satisfactory to a Christian, who believes him to be God over all blessed for ever; though it will not be to a Jew: let it therefore be further observed, that the owners of these swine were either Jews or Gentiles; if they were Jews, and they brought up these swine in order to eat them themselves, to destroy them was a just punishment, for their violation of the law of God, De 14:8. And if they brought them up to sell to others, this was contrary to their own canons;
[See comments on Mt 8:30], to the rules and customs of their own country, which were made as a fence to keep off from breaking the above law; and such a practice could only proceed from an avaricious disposition, of which this was a proper rebuke: or if they were Gentiles that were the owners of them, these were idolatrous persons, worshippers of devils; and it was but a righteous thing, to suffer the devils, whom they worshipped, to do this mischief to their property, to whom they devoted themselves soul and body; and a Jew cannot well find fault with this, who believes that idolaters cannot be punished too severely: add to this, what the above learned prelate observes; this practice of the Gentiles in breeding hogs, was a temptation to the Jews to follow the same business, and even to taste of the forbidden flesh; so that to use his words, it was in truth an act of grace and favour to the Jews, to remove from them so dangerous a snare, and so bad an example: and it may be added, by suffering the devils to go into the swine, several valuable ends were answered, infinitely preferable to the herd of swine; such as evincing the truth of the dispossession; showing the greatness of the mercy to the dispossessed; the power of Christ over the devils; and making for the spread of the fame of this miracle the more; as well as giving further proof of the malignity and mischievous disposition and actions of these evil spirits; by which the inhabitants of the adjacent places might learn, how hurtful they were to them, and what a blessing it was to be rid of them: and therefore ought to have been thankful to Christ for this dispossession, notwithstanding the loss of their swine; but such an effect it had not upon them, but the reverse, as the words following show.
e Geograph. 1. 6. f T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 108. 1. g Jacob Aben Amram, port. ver. No. 1028. apud Kidder, Demonstr. of the Messiah, par. 3. p. 51. h Kidder ib. p. 52.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And he gave them leave ( ). These words present the crucial difficulty for interpreters as to why Jesus allowed the demons to enter the hogs and destroy them instead of sending them back to the abyss. Certainly it was better for hogs to perish than men, but this loss of property raises a difficulty of its own akin to the problem of tornadoes and earthquakes. The question of one man containing so many demons is difficult also, but not much more so than how one demon can dwell in a man and make his home there. One is reminded of the man out of whom a demon was cast, but the demon came back with seven other demons and took possession. Gould thinks that this man with a legion of demons merely makes a historical exaggeration. “I feel as if I were possessed by a thousand devils.” That is too easy an explanation. See on Mt 8:32 for “rushed down the steep.”
They were choked (). Imperfect tense picturing graphically the disappearance of pig after pig in the sea. Lu 8:33 has ,
choked off , constative second aorist passive indicative, treated as a whole, Mt 8:32 merely has “perished” (; died).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ran [] . The verb indicates hasty, headlong motion. Hence, as Rev., rushed.
Two Thousand. As usual, Mark alone gives the detail of number.
A steep place. But the noun has the definite article : tou krhmnou, the steep, as Rev.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1). “And forthwith Jesus gave them leave.” (kai epetrepsen autois) ”And Jesus allowed or permitted them,” granted their petition or appeal. He never sends demons into anyone or place. How many demons ask God’s Permission to try to enter and control you and me daily? Satan did, concerning Job, Job 1:12-22.
2) “And the unclean spirits went out,” (kai ekselthonta ta pneumata ta akatharta) “And the deranged and defiled spirits went out of the swine, of the man, of their own spirits went out of the man, of their own accord or will,” and by the permission of Jesus.
3) “And entered into the swine:” (eiselthon eis tous choirous) “And entered according to their own deranged will, choice, or desire, into the herd of pigs,” one of the enterprises or businesses of the people of the area, Mar 5:16-17.
4) “And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea,” (kai hormesen he agele kata tou kremnou eis ten thalassan) ”And the herd rushed (stampeded wildly) down the precipice of the mountain, over the cliff, into the sea,” Did these hogs choose to die rather than let demons live in and control their bodies? Ought not men to have more fear of demon influence in their lives?
5) “(They were about two thousand,)” (hos diochilioi) ”To the number of about two thousand,” the entire mountainside herd. Swine and dogs are scavengers by nature, especially in Syria, the reason Moses in the law listed their) as unclean, Deu 14:8.
6) ”And were choked in the sea.” Okai epnigonto en te thalasse) ”And they were (came to be) choked or drowned in the sea.” Perhaps every Suicide is demon Incited The power of Jesus enters men to give life and give it more abundantly, while that of Satan and demon spirits is to kill and destroy,” even as a thief of mens souls, Joh 10:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(13) They were about two thousand.The number, which is peculiar to St. Mark, may be noted as another instance of his graphic accuracy in detail.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Gave them leave That is, as before said, after dismissing them from the man, he did not hold any control over their course. If they were able, like their fellow devils, to make any other lodgment, that was not our Lord’s present business. They had full leave, for aught he had to do. At any rate, better they should possess a beast than a man. We say this, because many have accused our Lord of doing a harm by sending them into the swine, and so destroying life and property. Our Lord drove them from the man, and that is all he had to do with them. For their own subsequent course of mischief they alone were chargeable, as truly as Judas or the Pharisees who blasphemed the Holy Ghost.
Ran violently down Devil upon brute! The ferment of the two combining natures produces madness. The swine ran into the sea and the devils went to their own place. This may have been the best way of driving him out of the human world to hell. And that is a second full answer to those who cavil, falsely as well as foolishly, that our Lord here destroyed the swineherd’s property. Surely our Lord is not responsible for the doings of the devils he expels from men.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the slope into the sea, in number about two thousand. And they were choked in the sea.’
The number of pigs confirmed the multiplicity of the evil spirits, and their behaviour confirmed to the watchers, including the man, (and how important psychologically that was), that the evil spirits had really gone. Now he could begin his life again. And the evil spirits were no longer there to trouble man nor beast. They had disappeared into the sea, into ‘the deeps’. We are possibly to see by this that they had gone to the Abyss. Alternately they might have seen the deeps as their home.
On the other hand it is possible that Mar 9:22 is suggesting that the evil spirits could have themselves been responsible for the demise of the pigs, possibly in order to be free to menace others. We can compare here Luk 11:24. However, their departure into the sea might suggest otherwise. It would be foolish to dogmatise.
The question may finally be asked, why did Jesus pander to them at all? While again it would be foolish to dogmatise it is probable that He wanted the man to recognise that he was getting a complete deliverance, while at the same time wanting His followers to recognise His supreme authority, even over thousands of evil spirits at one time, and that Satan was truly bound. And, to accomplish that, all that happened was necessary.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mar 5:13. Choked Stifled.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
Ver. 13. Jesus gave them leave ] If Christ condescended to the devils, though to the loss of others, will he not hear us?
Into the sea ] So that standing pool in Gadaris is called, which, Strabo saith, is of such a foul nature, that if beasts taste of it, they shed their hair, nails, hoofs, or horns.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13. ] ., to the number of two thousand: peculiar to Mark, who gives us usually accurate details of this kind: see ch. Mar 6:37 , where however John ( Joh 6:7 ) also mentions the sum.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mar 5:13 . : permission, not command, to enter; in Mt. not even that, simply a peremptory: Depart! vide notes there. : an inference from the sequel; neither exit nor entrance could be seen. There was doubtless a coincidence between the cure and the catastrophe. : about 2000, an estimate of the herds possibly exaggerated. ( , to choke), were drowned, used in this sense in Joseph., A. J., x., 7, 5, regarding Jeremiah in the dungeon.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
forthwith = immediately, as in Mar 5:2.
ran violently = rushed.
down. Greek kata. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
13.] ., to the number of two thousand:-peculiar to Mark, who gives us usually accurate details of this kind: see ch. Mar 6:37,-where however John (Joh 6:7) also mentions the sum.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mar 5:13. , forthwith) He did not require to deliberate in any case.- , about two thousand) The name legion implied a number exceeding this.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
gave: 1Ki 22:22, Job 1:12, Job 2:6, Mat 8:32, 1Pe 3:22, Rev 13:5-7, Rev 20:7
the herd: Joh 8:44, Rev 9:11
Reciprocal: Mar 5:10 – General Luk 1:49 – hath Act 10:38 – healing
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3
The devils did not gain any advantage by entering the swine, but Jesus granted their request without volunteering any information. Whether they were suffered to enter other human beings or had to return to their former place in Hades we are not told.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 5:13. Being about two thousand. The parenthesis is unnecessary. The correct reading omits the verb, and we supply: being. This is preserved by Mark alone. The rest agrees entirely, though not verbally, with Matthews account.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 13
There have been great differences of opinion, and much discussion, in respect to the nature of the cases of demoniacal possession described in the New Testament; man persons having maintained that they were cases of natural, though severe, disease, and that the language referring them to the agency of evil spirits is only the figurative phraseology of Hebrew writers,–the case here described being, according to this idea, only a case of violent insanity. The subject is doubtless attended with serious difficulties, for it is not easy to account for such proceedings as are here related, on the supposition that intelligent beings from another world were the actors; and yet the language in which the events are described seems incapable of any other interpretation. The referring of these sufferings to the power of evil spirits does not, however, exclude the supposition of disease. The sacred writers evidently regarded these unhappy objects of the Savior’s compassion as laboring under mental or bodily maladies: the distinction is, that they refer these maladies to a supernatural and evil a agency. There are strong indications of insanity, for example, in this case. The description of the condition of the patient, (Mark 5:3-5,) the incoherency of some of his answers, and, above all, the expression in his right mind, in Mark 5:15, conspire to show that this unhappy sufferer was in a state of maniacal frenzy,–though the source of this insanity is plainly ascribed to the agency of infernal beings.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
5:13 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 {f} sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
(f) Strabo in the sixteenth book says that in Gadaris there is a standing pool of very polluted water, which if beasts taste, they shed their hair, nails, or hooves and horns.