37<\/strong>. besought him to depart<\/em> ] The opposite to the request of the Samaritans (Joh 4:40<\/span>). Unlike Peter, they meant<\/em> what they said. Preferring their swine to Christ, they felt that His presence was dangerous to their greed. And our Lord acted on the principle of not casting that which was holy to dogs, nor pearls before men whose moral character tended to become like that of their own swine. At Gadara the worst iniquities were prevalent. It may be that if they had not deliberately begged Christ to leave them they might have been spared the fearful massacre and ruin fire, and sword, and slavery which befel them at the hands of the Romans in less than 40 years after this time (Jos. B. J.<\/em> III. 7, 1, iv. 7, 4). But<\/p>\n “We, ignorant of ourselves,<\/p>\n Beg often our own harms, which the wise powers<\/p>\n Deny us for our good.”<\/p>\n For other instances of prayers fatally granted see Exo 10:28-29<\/span>; Num 22:20<\/span>; Psa 78:29-31<\/span>; on the other hand, a refused boon is sometimes a blessing. 2Co 12:8-9<\/span>. The result of their wilful sensuality was that the time never came when<\/p>\n “E’en the witless Gadarene,<\/p>\n Preferring Christ to swine, shall learn<\/p>\n That life is sweetest, when’tis clean.”<\/p>\n they were taken<\/em> ] Rather, they were oppressed.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Then the whole multitude<\/strong>,…. For it seems, a very large number of people were presently gathered together, from all parts of the country, upon the report of the swine herds, who fled, it is very likely, some one way, and some another:<\/p>\n of the country of the Gadarenes round about<\/strong>; of the country that was round about Gadara. The Vulgate Latin reads, “of the Gergesenes”; and the Arabic and Ethiopic versions, “of the Gergesenes”: and they all, with one accord,<\/p>\n besought him to depart from them, for they were taken with great fear<\/strong>: lest they should suffer other and greater losses, than the loss of the swine; choosing rather that the devils should be retained among them, than Christ continue with them:<\/p>\n and he went up into the ship<\/strong>; directly, granted their request at once; not desirous of staying with such an ungrateful people, that loved their swine more than him, yea, than the bodily health and welfare of their countrymen:<\/p>\n and he returned back again<\/strong>; to Galilee, at least in a very little time, after some short discourse with the dispossessed man; having staid but a very small time in that place, just landed as it were, and not having proceeded far from the seashore.<\/p>\n Were holden with great fear <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). Imperfect passive of <\/SPAN><\/span> with the instrumental case of <\/SPAN><\/span>. See a similar use of this vigorous verb in Lu 12:50<\/span> of Jesus and in Php 1:23<\/span> of Paul. <\/P> <\/p>\n They were taken [] <\/SPAN><\/span>. See on ch. Luk 4:38<\/span>. The same word as of the fever.<\/P> <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 1) “Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about,” <\/strong>(hapan to plethos tes perichorou ton Gerasenon) “Then all the multitude (many people) of the neighborhood of the Gerasenes or Gadarenes,” in the area nearby, around about, who had flocked, ran together to see Jesus and hear first hand witnesses report what had happened on the scene itself, Mar 5:14<\/span>.<\/p>\n 2) “Besought him,” <\/strong>(kai erotesin auton) “And they appealed to him,” began to pray, beg, or appeal to Jesus, Mar 5:17<\/span>. They rejected Him, but did not dare reproach, charge, or blame Him for their loss.<\/p>\n 3) “To depart from them;” <\/strong>(apelthein ap auton) “To go out of their area, and away from them,” Mat 8:34<\/span>; Mar 5:17<\/span>, to leave their city limits and countryside area, from even the borders of their country, much as occurred Act 16:39<\/span>.<\/p>\n 4) “For they were taken with great fear:” <\/strong>(hoi phobo megalo suneichonto) “Because they were seized with a great fear,” Mar 5:14<\/span>; because of the Word of God, Exo 20:18<\/span>. They chose to lose the Savior, rather than their swine, their herd of hogs, because they loved darkness more than light, Joh 3:19<\/span>.<\/p>\n 5) “And he went up into the ship and returned back again.” <\/strong>(autos de emnas eis ploion hupestrepsen) “Then he, upon embarking in a boat, returned,” to the West side of the sea of Galilee, leaving the land of Gadara and the hog-loving people to return to their wallowing in the mire, 2Pe 2:22<\/span>. Gadara was one of the ten cities East and Southeast of the Sea of Galilee that made up the Decapolis District. Jesus seems to have visited the area later, Mar 7:31<\/span>; Mar 8:10<\/span>.<\/p>\n (37) They were taken with great fear.<\/strong>Better, they were oppressed. ‘And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes round about asked him to depart from them, for they were gripped with great fear, and he entered into a boat, and returned.’<\/p>\n The inhabitants of the country of the Gerasenes, who were largely Gentiles, were unanimous in pleading with the Jewish prophet to leave their country, for they were awestricken and fearful. This was not something that they either understood or were used to. He was a Jewish prophet. He had no message for them. And they feared what He might do next. Furthermore they probably blamed Jesus for what had happened to the pigs. They would know that to a Jewish prophet pigs would be unclean. Possibly they were afraid that He was about to carry out a campaign against their other pigs in an attempt to cleanse the whole area.<\/p>\n We have become used to the crowds welcoming Jesus but this is a warning that it will not always be so if He goes against their self-interests. We can compare how all His home town rejected Him and cast Him out (Luk 4:28-30<\/span>), and how in Luk 9:53<\/span> the Samaritans would not receive Him because He was fixedly going to Jerusalem. Here then is rejection by Jews, Gentiles and Samaritans when they did not like the way that He chose.<\/p>\n Luk 8:37<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. <\/strong>The whole multitudebesought him, <\/em><\/strong>&c.<\/strong> The inhabitants of the neighbouring town seem to have known no more of Christ than the demoniac; for when those who fed the swine fled thither, and told them what had happened, they immediatelycame to the place, and seeing the great alteration made in the man, this, together with the loss of their swine, so terrified them, that they besought Christ to depart out of their coasts. <\/em>Mar 5:15-17<\/span>. They would surely not have done this, had they before heard of his character (though they had never seen him) that he went about doing good, <\/em>curing all sorts of diseases, and expelling devils or demons. See on Mat 8:33<\/span>. <\/p>\n 37 Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n Ver. 37. See Mat 8:33-34<\/span> . <\/p>\n Luk 8:37<\/span> . Lk. is very careful to involve the whole population in the request that Jesus would leave the country the whole multitude of the district of Gerasa, town and country, citizens and farmers. And he gives as the reason, , they were possessed with a great fear, panic-stricken.<\/p>\n besought = was asking. Greek erotao. App-134. <\/p>\n were taken. A medical word, as in Luk 4:38. <\/p>\n besought <\/p>\n Unconscious of their own need, the Gadarenes beseech the Lord to depart — His power terrifies and condemns them; whilst he whose need has been met beseeches Him that he may follow Him. <\/p>\n besought: Luk 8:28, Luk 5:8, Deu 5:25, 1Sa 6:20, 2Sa 6:8, 2Sa 6:9, 1Ki 17:18, Job 21:14, Job 21:15, Mat 8:34, Mar 5:17, Act 16:39 <\/p>\n and he: Luk 9:5, Luk 9:56, Luk 10:10, Luk 10:11, Luk 10:16 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: 1Sa 16:4 – trembled 1Sa 18:12 – afraid Amo 7:12 – go Mat 9:1 – he Mat 21:17 – he left Mar 1:24 – Let Mar 8:13 – General Luk 4:34 – Let us alone Luk 4:42 – and stayed Luk 5:26 – and were Luk 7:16 – a fear Luk 8:38 – besought Act 2:43 – fear Rom 8:15 – the spirit<\/p>\n WE see in this passage two requests made to our Lord Jesus Christ. They were widely different one from the other, and were preferred by persons of widely different character. We see, moreover, how these requests were received by our Lord Jesus Christ. In either case the request received a most remarkable answer. The whole passage is singularly instructive. <\/p>\n Let us observe, in the first place, that the Gadarenes besought our Lord to depart from them, and their request was granted. We read these painfully solemn words-“He went up into the ship, and returned back again.” <\/p>\n Now why did these unhappy men desire the Son of God to leave them? Why, after the amazing miracle of mercy which had just been wrought among them, did they feel no wish to know more of Him who wrought it? Why, in a word, did they become their own enemies, forsake their own mercies, and shut the door against the Gospel?-There is but one answer to these questions. The Gadarenes loved the world, and the things of the world, and were determined not to give them up. They felt convinced, in their own consciences, that they could not receive Christ among them and keep their sins, and their sins they were resolved to keep. They saw, at a glance, that there was something about Jesus with which their habits of life would never agree, and having to choose between the new ways and their own old ones, they refused the new and chose the old.<\/p>\n And why did our Lord Jesus Christ grant the request of the Gadarenes, and leave them? He did it in judgment, to testify His sense of the greatness of their sin. He did it in mercy to His Church in every age, to show how great is the wickedness of those who wilfully reject the truth. It seems an eternal law of His government, that those who obstinately refuse to walk in the light shall have the light taken from them. Great is Christ’s patience and long-suffering! His mercy endureth for ever. His offers and invitations are wide, and broad, and sweeping, and universal. He gives every church its day of grace and time of visitation. (Luk 19:44.) But if men persist in refusing His counsel, He has nowhere promised to persist in forcing it upon them. People who have the Gospel, and yet refuse to obey it, must not be surprised if the Gospel is removed from them. Hundreds of churches, and parishes, and families, are at this moment in the state of the Gadarenes. They said to Christ, “Depart from us,” and He has taken them at their word. They were joined to idols, and are now “let alone.” (Job 21:14; Hos 4:17.)<\/p>\n Let us take heed that we do not sin the sin of the Gadarenes. Let us beware lest by coldness, and inattention, and worldliness, we drive Jesus from our doors, and compel Him to forsake us entirely. Of all sins which we can sin, this is the most sinful. Of all states of soul into which we can fall, none is so fearful as to be “let alone.” Let it rather be our daily prayer that Christ may never leave us to ourselves. The old wreck, high and dry on the sand-bank, is not a more wretched sight than the man whose heart Christ has visited with mercies and judgments, but has at last ceased to visit, because He was not received. The barred door is a door at which Jesus will not always knock. The Gadarene mind must not be surprised to see Christ leaving it and going away.<\/p>\n Let us observe, in the second place, that the man out of whom the devils were departed, besought our Lord that he might be with Him, but his request was not granted. We read that Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath done unto thee.”<\/p>\n We can easily understand the request that this man made. He felt deeply grateful for the amazing mercy which he had just received in being cured. He felt full of love and warm affection toward Him, who had so wonderfully and graciously cured him. He felt that he could not see too much of Him, be too much in His company, cleave to Him too closely. He forgot everything else under the influence of these feelings. Family, relations, friends, home, house, country, all seemed as nothing in his eyes. He felt that he cared for nothing but to be with Christ. And we cannot blame him for his feelings. They may have been tinged with something of enthusiasm and inconsideration. There may have been about them a zeal not according to knowledge. In the first excitement of a newly felt cure, he may not have been fit to judge what his future line of life should be. But excited feelings in religion are far better than no feelings at all. In the petition he made, there was far more to praise than to blame.<\/p>\n But why did our Lord Jesus Christ refuse to grant this man’s request? Why, at a time when he had few disciples, did He send this man away? Why, instead of allowing him to take place with Peter and James and John, did He bid him return to his own house?-Our Lord did what He did in infinite wisdom. He did it for the benefit of the man’s own soul. He saw it was more for his good to be a witness for the Gospel at home than a disciple abroad. He did it in mercy to the Gadarenes. He left among them one standing testimony of the truth of His own divine mission.-He did it, above all, for the perpetual instruction of His whole church. He would have us know that there are various ways of glorifying Him, that He may be honored in private life as well as in the apostolic office, and that the first place in which we should witness for Christ is our own house.<\/p>\n There is a lesson of deep experimental wisdom in this little incident, which all true Christians would do well to lay to heart. That lesson is our own utter ignorance of what position is good for us in this world, and the necessity of submitting our own wills to the will of Christ. The place that we wish to fill is not always the place that is best for us. The line of life that we want to take up, is not always that which Christ sees to be most for the benefit of our souls. The place that we are obliged to fill is sometimes very distasteful, and yet it may be needful to our sanctification. The position we are compelled to occupy may be very disagreeable to flesh and blood, and yet it may be the very one that is necessary to keep us in our right mind. It is better to be sent away from Christ’s bodily presence, by Christ Himself, than to remain in Christ’s bodily presence without His consent.<\/p>\n Let us pray for the spirit of “contentment with such things as we have.” Let us be fearful of choosing for ourselves in this life without Christ’s consent, or moving in this world, when the pillar of cloud and fire is not moving before us. Let us ask the Lord to choose everything for us. Let our daily prayer be, “Give me what thou wilt. Place me where thou wilt. Only let me be Thy disciple and abide in Thee.”<\/p>\n ==================<\/p>\n Notes-<\/p>\n v37.-[Besought him to depart.] It has been remarked by many commentators, that these Gadarenes are an exact type of the men of this world. They saw the miraculous deliverance of a fellow creature from Satan’s power, and took no interest in it. But they saw the loss of their swine with deep concern. In a word, they cared more for the loss of swine, than the saving of a soul. There are thousands like them. Tell them of the success of missionaries, and the conversion of souls at home or abroad, they hear it with indifference, if not with a sneer. But if you tell them of the loss of property, or a change in the value of money, they are all anxiety and excitement. Truly the generation of the Gadarenes is not yet extinct!<\/p>\n v38.-[Jesus sent him away.] Let us note here, that a literal following of Christ, and literal forsaking of relations, friends, and homes, are evidently not essential to salvation. It may be necessary for some persons, and at some times, and under some circumstances. But it is plain from the case before us, that it is not necessary for all. Gualter has some useful remarks on this subject, in his Homily on this passage.<\/p>\n v39.-[Return to thine own house and show, &c.] It is interesting and instructive to remark how differently our Lord addressed different people, and how different are the commands we find Him laying upon them according to their characters. The young ruler, in Mar 10:21, was commanded to “take up his cross and follow” Christ. The leper, mentioned in Mar 1:44, was strictly charged to “say nothing to any man.” The man, who was called in Luk 9:59-60, was not allowed even to go home and bury his father. The man before us, on the contrary, was commanded to return home, and show every one what Christ had done for him!<\/p>\n Now how shall we account for this strange diversity? There is one simple answer. Our Lord dealt with every case according to what He saw it needed. He knew what was in every man’s heart. He prescribed to every man, like a wise physician, the very course of conduct which his state of soul required.<\/p>\n We should surely learn, from our Lord’s conduct, not to treat all cases of persons needing spiritual advice, in precisely the same way. All, of course, need the same great doctrines, repentance towards God, faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, and thorough holiness to be pressed upon them. But all ought not to have one precise rule laid down for their particular coarse of action, and their particular line of duty. We must consider peculiarities of circumstances, characters, and cases, and advise accordingly. Counsel which may be very good for one man, may not be good for another. A parent’s path of duty is one thing, and a child’s is another. A master’s position is one, and a servant’s another. These things are not sufficiently considered. The wise variety of our Lord’s counsels, is a subject which deserves close study.<\/p>\n Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear: and he went up into the ship, and returned back again. 37. besought him to depart ] The opposite to the request of the Samaritans (Joh 4:40). Unlike Peter, they … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 8:37”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
<\/em><\/p>\nFuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"