Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 8:31
So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
31. devils ] The Greek word here and in the parallel passages is a masculine and not a neuter form. The same word occurs in two other passages (Rev 16:14; Rev 18:2), and nowhere else in N. T.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 31. Suffer us to go away] : this is the common reading; but , send us away, appears more likely to be genuine. This latter reading Griesbach has adopted, on the authority of three ancient MSS., the Coptic, Sahidic, Ethiopic, Syriac, all the Arabic, Saxon, most of the Itala, and the Vulgate. Send us away seems to express more fully the absolute power Jesus Christ had over them – permission alone was not sufficient; the very power by which they were to go away, must come from Christ himself! How vain was the boast of Satan, Mt 4:9, when we find he could not possess the body of one of the vilest animals that God has made, without immediate authority from the Most High! Since a demon cannot enter even into a swine without being sent by God himself, how little is the power or malice of any of them to be dreaded by those who have God for their portion and protector!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
So the devils besought him, saying,…. All the devils, the whole legion of them, who perceiving that they must be obliged to go out of these men, and after they had earnestly entreated they might not be sent out of the country where they had long been, and had made themselves masters of the tempers, dispositions, and circumstances of the inhabitants, and so capable of doing the more mischief, begged hard,
if thou cast us out of these men, or “from hence”, as the Vulgate Latin, the Ethiopic, and Munster’s Hebrew Gospel read, or “out of our place”, as the Persic; since we must depart, and cannot be allowed to enter into other men,
suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. This request shows the weakness of the infernal spirits, they are not able to do anything without leave, and the superior power of Christ over them, and their acknowledgment of it; as well as the wretched malignity of their nature, who must be doing mischief, if not to the bodies and souls of men, yet to their property and goods; and if they cannot vent their malice on rational creatures, are desirous of doing it on irrational ones. Many reasons have been thought of, why the devils should desire to go into the herd of swine; as because of the filthiness of these creatures, these impure spirits delighting in what is impure; or out of pure hatred to the inhabitants of this country, who, because they could no longer hurt their persons, would destroy their goods; or that by so doing, they might set the people against Christ, and so prevent his usefulness among them; which last seems to be the truest reason, and which end was answered.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
1) “So the devils besought him, saying,” khoi de daimones parekaloun auton legontes) “Then the demons jointly appealed to him, saying,” repeatedly begging, Mr 5:11,12. The devils recognized Jesus as the Son of God and that their continued existence on earth was dependent on Him. 0 that all men would do this daily, La 3:21,22; Act 17:28.
2) “If thou cast us out,” ( ei ekbaheis hemas) “If you expel us (cast is out),” of these two men. They knew that He could, and acknowledged also that they had no right to be where they were, Luk 8:31.
3) “Suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.” (aposteilon hemas eis ten agelen ton choiron) “Send us or direct us into the herd of feeding pigs.” If they could not go into the swine without His permission, by whose permission were they in the man? This man, (Luke describes only one of the two lunatics) had perhaps admitted them voluntarily, or invited them into his life at first, then like a bandit, they had stayed there, holding the man tormented in his own house-body, Php_2:10.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Mat 8:31
. Permit us to depart into the herd of swine Some conjecture that they wished to attack the swine, because they are filled with enmity to all God’s creatures. I do admit it to be true, that they are entirely bent on confounding and overthrowing the whole order of nature which God has appointed. But it is certain that they had a more remote object in view, to excite the inhabitants of that country to curse God on account of the loss of the swine. When the devil thunders against Job’s house, he does so not from any hatred he bears to timber or stones, but in order that the good man, through impatience at suffering loss, may break out against God. Again, when Christ consents, he does not listen to their prayers, but chooses to try in this manner what sort of people the Gadarenes are. Perhaps, too, it is to punish their crimes that he grants to the devils so much power over their swine. While the reason of it is not known by us with certainty, it is proper for us to behold with reverence and to adore with devout humility, the hidden judgment of God. This passage shows also the foolish trifling of some irreligious men, who imagine that the devils are not actually existing spirits, but merely the depraved affections of men: for how could covetousness, ambition, cruelty, and deceit, enter into the swine? Let us learn also, that unclean spirits (as they are devoted to destruction) are the enemies of mankind; so that they plunge all whom they can into the same destruction with themselves.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(31) So the devils besought him.As St. Mark gives the words, that He should not send them out of the country, or district, in which they were; as in St. Lukes report, that He would not command them to go out into the deep, i.e., the abyss, the bottomless pit of Rev. 9:1-2; Rev. 9:11. The words of the man are as those of the demons with whom he identifies himself. He shrinks from the thought of wandering in dry places, seeking rest, and finding none (Mat. 12:43), or being compelled to flee, like Asmodeus, into the utmost parts of Egypt (Tob. 8:3), or, worst fate of all, to be sent into the abyss, which was the ultimate doom of evil. And so he, as one with them, suggests another alternative: If Thou cast us out, send us into the herd of swine. If the power to terrify and disturb men is taken from us, let us, at least, retain the power to destroy brutes.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘And the demons besought him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine.” ’.
The demons, recognising His authority and His mastery, pleaded to be allowed to go into those distant pigs. They did not want to be totally disembodied for that would have meant that if they could not soon find a body to possess they would have to go to meet their final fate. Jesus also knew how important it would be for the two men to be sure that the demons had left them, so He gave permission. To Him these two poor possessed people and their sanity were worth more than a herd of pigs.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 8:31 . ] They mean: into the bodies of the swine that were feeding . To the unclean spirits in the possessed Jews, anticipating, as they certainly do, their inevitable expulsion, it appears desirable, as well as most easily attainable, that they should find an abode for themselves in impure animals. Eisenmenger, entdecktes Judenth . II. p. 447 f.
The request implies that the demoniacs considered themselves to be possessed by a multitude of evil spirits, a circumstance noticed in detail by Mark and Luke, from which, however, it may be inferred that the form of the tradition is not the same as the one made use of in our Gospel. The former is so peculiar, that, had Matthew only abridged it (Ewald), he would scarcely have omitted so entirely its characteristic features. On the contrary, he followed another version of the story which he happened to light upon, and which likewise mentioned two demoniacs instead of one; comp. on Mat 8:28 . Probably this is also the source to which we are to trace the expression , which does not occur anywhere else in Matthew, and which in Mar 5:12 is of doubtful critical authority.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
Ver. 31. So the devils besought him ] For threaten him they dared not, as little as the Gadarenes, Mat 8:34 , because they found themselves overpowered. At one time they had set upon our Saviour with utmost might and malice in the wilderness. The matter is well amended now. The same power, when he pleases, can change the note of the tempter to us. He will tread Satan under our feet shortly, Rom 16:20 . That which Vegetius said of chariots armed with scythes and hooks will be applied to the devils; at first they were a terror, and after a scorn.
Suffer us to go into the herd of swine ] Possumus dicere porcorum quoque setas fuisse apud Deum numeratas nedum sanctorum capillos. We may safely say, that the bristles of swine are numbered with God, saith Tertullian ( de Fuga ), much more the hairs of saints; not one of them falls to the ground without their heavenly Father. Satan desired to have forth Peter to winnow, as Goliath desired to have an Israelite to combat with; he could not command him. He could not make lice, Exo 8:18 , fire a house, Job 1:19 , drown a pig, without divine permission. Now we are of more price than many pigs before God, as that martyr well inferred. And if a legion of devils had not power over a herd of hogs, much less have they over Christ’s flock of sheep, saith Tertullian.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
31. . ] St. Mark and St. Luke give, as the ground of this request, that they might not be sent out of the land = into the abyss , i.e. out of their permitted residence on earth to in the . See note and reff. on Luke.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 8:31 . : unusual designation, commonly . : the request was made by the possessed in the name of the demons. : the reading of the T. R. ( ) taken from Luke expresses, in a milder form, Christ’s share of responsibility in a transaction of supposed doubtful character. The demoniac would have no scruple on that score. His request was: it you are to cast us out, send us not to hell, but into the swine.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
devils = demons.
If. Assuming that He would do so.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
31. .] St. Mark and St. Luke give, as the ground of this request, that they might not be sent out of the land = into the abyss, i.e. out of their permitted residence on earth to in the . See note and reff. on Luke.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 8:31. , besought) It is one thing to ask in an ordinary way (in which manner natural men, and even devils, have been ere now able to obtain something[386]), and another thing to pray in faith. Even Satan himself sometimes obtains his request, as we learn from the first chapter of Job.-, …, if, etc.) They perceived already that they must change their abode.- , …, suffer us, etc.) The mischief should be ascribed to the devils, not to the Lord; and who would compel Him to hinder the devils?
[386] Comp. Mar 5:10; Mar 5:12.-E. B.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
devils
demons. (See Scofield “Mat 7:22”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Mar 5:7, Mar 5:12, Luk 8:30-33, Rev 12:12, Rev 20:1, Rev 20:2
Reciprocal: Mat 17:15 – for ofttimes Mat 19:8 – suffered Mar 3:11 – unclean
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Mat 8:31. So the demons besought him. Mark and Luke insert here a question and answer respecting the name of the demons, which brings their number into view. The former speaks of their begging not to be sent out of the country, the latter, into the deep. The latter phrase suggests that before the time (Mat 8:29), refers to a time of banishment from earth to their own place.
If thou cast us out. They recognized His power, yet clung to the present habitation.
Send us away. This is the correct reading, agreeing with the words used by Mark. The request was malicious; that they might remain on earth, and continue their work of opposition.