For the sake of the argument, lets start by assuming that the pastors assumption is right and he is a Gentile (though we know he could have been Jewish). The next allusion to Gerasa concerns its capture during Vespasians campaign. (, 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. They ask Him if they can enter some nearby pigs, and He lets them. Are we with a man, liberated, who trusted Jesus, who begged to be with Jesus and sought to be a disciple at His feet? Perhaps that is his point. The Messiah has the same nature and character was the Father, as discussed in the Fourth Fact above. Gergesa is located, with relative certainty, midway along the E bank of the Sea of Galilee; Gadara is six m. SE from the S end of the Sea of Galilee; and Gerasa is some thirty-five m. SE. Note that Jesus never touched the demon-inhabited individual: He merely spoke to him, commanding the evil to depart. By using our website, you accept our use of cookies. It's this man who doesn't even remember his name who's possessed by a host of demons. (Pastor Piper was right after all, almost!) Wasnt this just a temporary fix to a bigger problem? Those people were Jews in Nazareth. One unambiguous (but hotly debated) verse that supports this doctrine is, 1 John 5:7: For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. So if we agree Messiah is part of the Godhead, then logically we agree Messiah also co-authored, with the Father, the Law of God. WebWhy were there pigs in gerasenes? What does it say? Twice he is described this way look at verse 35, the man from whom the demons had gone out and then again the man from whom the demons had gone and then in verse 38, the man from whom the demons had gone. When Jesus had asked him, What's your name? The first time he had answered, I'm the man possessed by a countless host of demons. Now, he's the man from whom those demons have gone out. The fact anyone dreamed up dispensationalism, They say, None, but Jesus, kept the Law perfectly. Ba-dum-tsss.). After a dramatic journey across the lake (Luke 8:22-25), Jesus steps for the first and last time into Gentile territory. Was it correct to destroy so many for just one (or two men). 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. Amen. (wait for it) turning the swine to the water! The stories in the gospels may or may not have happened but, regardless, they are told in a way that makes a theological point and were never intended to be understood as factual history. Racism: Not a modern invention . WATER DESTROYED HER!!!! Instead they joke around and give pat answers. Thus, in him, God found a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 and 1 Samuel 16:1). 3 He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; 4 for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and Sinai. Ptolemy says Gerasa was a city in Coele-Syria, thirty-five travel m. from Pella. But the height of ignorance, the most foolhardy statement is, Jesus fulfilled the whole Law so we dont have to. Only a person who knows absolutely zero about Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy would say such a thing. Instead of Jesus turning water into wine. "It became one of the proudest cities of Syria." Did Jesus really sacrifice the swine for the man? In other words, the Roman Catholic Church took four Greek words torn out of mid-sentence and declared them to mean, the end (read, death) of the law [of Moses], although numerous verses declare the fixed, eternal character of Gods Perfect Law. Does he really believe Mark 5 is Biblical material, To be honest, all the bad humour honestly makes me believe the pastor is being. Jesus helped a Syrophoenician woman and commended her faith ( Matthew 15:2128 ). We use cookies to provide you with a great user experience. And His promise to make a new promise (covenant) with Israel and with Judah in Jeremiah 31:31-32 does not repeal the first promise (the covenant that Israel broke), it strengthens it. Josephus mentions it with Pella and Golan as being taken by storm during Alexander Jannaeus campaign E of the Jordan in about 83 b.c. The Messiah gave every Jew there that day a glimpse of the judgement to come. Luke means it to be an extraordinary event. Flower blossoms wither. 5 ) They werent real Jews They were JINOs! Pork was a prevalent food staple and as you travel near the gates of Gibraltar the terrain matches the craggy cliffs as well as the placement of aboveground as well as natural cave tombs which show signs of living inhabitants at some point. The History of Rome - Brief Overview Of Roman History from Her Dawn to the First Punic War. Very interesting. Ellicotts Commentary, for one, believes the four Greek words were a latter addition. Excavations at the modern Jarash (by the British and American Schools of Oriental Research and Yale University) clearly show that Gerasa was a large and important city already in Jesus time. The lectionary reading for Trinity 1, Year C, is Luke's version of Jesus meeting and healing the demon-possessed man in the 'region of the Gerasenes' (Luke 8.2639). So why were these pig owners on the east side of the lake afraid? Systems of Transliteration Citation of Proper Names. 9 ) They were wild Ferrel hogs feeding near the cliffs. So you not only see the power of Christ over Satan in this passage in the miracle that He performs in casting these demons out of this man, but you also see Jesus compassion towards sinners. Here, it may well be that a herd of unclean animals has been used to take thousands of demons to their doom in the lake in anticipation of the final judgment. Many year later, Messiah went to Israel as a prophet to get the people of Israel back to his Law. After all, racism wasnt invented in the 21st century. And based roughly on current prices, Jesus caused hundred of thousands of dollars in damages. The good pastor John MacArthur assumes in his video Dominating Powers, Part 2 (Mark 5:1-20), that Jesus must have been in Gentile territory because, as everyone knows, Jewish men and women dont hang around tombs even if they are demon possessed! ), his power over blindness (John 9:32) and even over death, as in the case of a three-days dead Lazarus (John 11:1-44). The list in the first chapter of Leviticus contains only bovine, sheep, goats and pigeons; all typified later, in Leviticus 11, as clean/pure animals. For these reasons, the writers of the gospels gave no explanation and the Twelve asked no question about why Jesus destroyed all the swine. What about sheep? Wed also have to confess that the farmers were not Gentile. WebGerasa, Gadara or Gergesa (Luke 8;26, 37) As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet Him. A discussion occurred between Professor Huxley and Mr. Gladstone in "The Nineteenth Century" for 1892 as to the morality of the act, the critical questions being whether (1) Gerasenes were Jews; and (2) if so, was it lawful for them to keep swine? ix. (, Therefore you should understand that the LORD your God, Because God is so steady, and doesnt reverse or repeal, He can be trusted to do what He promises; good or, If the Eternal One, blessed be He, had said just, But the Almighty said it so many times. Its all so reminiscent of John MacArthur joking and John Piper giving pat answers because n body wants to be honest with the Word of God and face facts and Jesus killing pigs is one of those uncomfortable contradictions.). To any Jew, Jesuss actions were crystal clear. It was a leading city of Syria in commerce, culture, and religion. Jerash (aka Gerasa, Gerash or Gerasha) is the capital and the largest city of the Jerash Governorate in Jordan, but in ancient times it was one of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan cities in the ancient Near East.Settled by humans as early as the Neolithic period (c. 7500-5500 BCE) and founded as a Hellenistic city in the 2nd century BCE, Jerash is But there are many reasons why Im not keen on the idea of the Gospels as non-historical. One moose, two moose. That is the exact opposite of other godly men (compare with 1 Samuel 24:24 and 1 Chronicles 21:24). The good pastor actually believes that a Jewish man can rationally decide the best sleeping quarters , In the end, the good pastors assumptions keep us, Just remember the wonderful folks in Jesuss hometown? 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. Demonic forces seem to be territorial; i.e., they have assigned areas of domain. Unfortunately, Pastor John is not alone, joking at the expense of this tragedy. Go be a witness to Me as My disciple.. View our current career opportunities. evidence), Ye know that when ye were Gentiles ye were, &c. In this and the following verse the Apostle reminds his readers that so far from regarding the marvellous manifestations of the Spirit, such as speaking with tongues and prophesying, as the most wonderful miracles, the He was incapable of changing his circumstances. In a pigs eye. In the end, the good pastors assumptions keep us rolling in the aisles. But are these good pastors on the right track? Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Matt 8:28). And Tolkien puts it this way The Lieutenant of the Tower of Barad-dr he was, and his name is remembered in no tale for he himself had forgotten it and said only, I am the mouth of Sauron.. The conversation showed that the illness had a will, a coherent sense of past, present and future, knowledge of the supremacy and authority of Jesus Christ, and a compulsion to worship Jesus. Thy powersBring loss to us and ours.Our ways are not as Thine.Thou lovest men, weswine.Oh, get you hence, Omnipotence,And take this fool of Thine!His soul? (Cf. HDB, II, p. 158, 159 for a detailed description.). 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. Israel was to be a nation of priests, prophets, and missionaries to the world (Exodus 19:46). They have therefore made important decisions about the proper treatment of animals. He prefers we stay laughing so no one can reflect on this coincidence. Sproul writes in his commentary Mark that the compassion of Jesus "drove Him to destroy the pigs for the sake of one human life. The distinction between the two is clear (now). When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Years earlier, when the ancient Israelis came to the border of the Promised Land, part of the eastern shore was controlled by the Geshurites (and the Maakathites) but Joshua told Israel to possess their land (Joshua 13:11-13). Add to that that recent studies claim 25% of the world today is antisemitic and ask yourself if racism was better or worse in the past? No one cares where he sleeps when hes busy trying to keep himself from killing himself. Bibliography W. A. Thomson, The Land and the Book (1882), 333-338, 353, 359; C. H. Kraeling, Gerasa, City of the Decapolis (1938); The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible (1946), 64, 117; M. F. Unger, Archaeology and the NT (1962), 139-141; E. Lohmeyer, Das Evangelium des Markus (1963), 93f; C. F. Pfeiffer, The Biblical World (1966), 252-254. * And if one doesnt believe demons exist ..same question: why invent a false story to make the point that Jesus has power over demonic creatures that dont exist? 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. So if you have the ears to hear, the Father and the Son both wrote the Law and gave it to 630,000 men (and women and children) at Mt. Thou lovest men, we love swine. The entire herd ran straight off a cliff and drowned. What pigs?? The prophet Jonah is held up as the merciless messenger of God; not a great title. One possible reason the Son of David chose the pigs was that he had no choice. Still, Jesus was not in Gadarenes for judging; he was there for mercy and for judgement. Peaceable Kingdom Series. She needs someone strong enough to cast a legion of demons into the sea, like Pharaoh and his hosts. So I figure we could speculate a little and see where this goes. Download Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1 Framework. Even so, the Bible never puts the worth of animals on the same level as the worth of human 3. All you need to know right now, if youre interested in that I'm happy to talk about it until the cows come home, but all you need to know is each of those places the regions of the Gergesenes, the Gadarenes, and the Gerasenes it's all on the other side of the Lake of Galilee. And you know what the most frightening thing of all is? But should you also doubt, my friendly blog reader, read on. Lastly, based on culture, human-nature and most importantly, on specific Scripture passages, we know the demoniac could not have been a Gentile but was most assuredly Jewish, living in a Jewish town surrounded by Jewish-owned pigs. Did you know that one of the 7 ingredients in underwater concrete was animal blood? Will the demons come back? Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities north of Israel, and Jesus had been sent to the Jews ( Matthew 15:24 ). Besides this Biblical evidence that Jesus and the woman were within Israels inheritance, there is also a prophesy that God will settle His People in the future in Gilead (a sizeable part of todays Kingdom of Jordan) and in Lebanon too (Zechariah 10:9-10). When Jesus said that he had not came to destroy the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17), he was not talking to the Jews who already knew the Law was permanent, he was looking into future centuries and talking to those Christians who would try to destroy it. In fact, the next thing the name did was to take a steel bar, place it in his teeth, and proceed to bend it with his hands and with his teeth. Now the big-mouth irking this Greek artisan was our good friend, the Apostle Paul. The demons inhabit the bodies of this herd of pigs and the pigs cast them into the Lake of Galilee. Don Crowe and Nicholas Gentile direct the Oswego Players Scenes of Crime; Section X: Canton downs Heuvelton for repeat Overall Section 10 title; Section X: Lady Wildcats edge Hammond for Section Overall title; PROPERTY SALES; Local pro hockey: Former Wolves player Liarakos paces Mississippi past visiting Watertown Two Sundays ago Take care then, how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. They thought those pigs were theirs. (, Worse yet, dont trust one who says Scripture. Them there pigs were trying to hog Jesus limelight! 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. And God isnt going to renounce or retract that decision no matter how many dispensational charts they print. The final battle requires a different strategy, one that involves a cross. Derek Thomas was reminding me this morning that Ridderbos, in his famous book, The Coming of the Kingdom, records seventeen different interpretations that he had found of this particular parable. Inhabitants of Gadara, known from an alleged miracle of Jesus ( Matthew 8; Mark 5; Luke 8) in which he transferred the demons And what about trees or rocks? That amazing phrase, all of you be holy for I am holy did not start with Peter (1 Peter 1:16), because the apostle is quoting Leviticus. At the very end of his book The Revelation of Jesus Christ, the Apostle John repeats them. How and why did this happen in the first place? Most Christians believe Messiah is the Second Person of the Trinity. In other words, they believe the one who killed the pigs with the demons is equal to the Father. being the eternal Son of God. 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. (. Unsurprisingly in such a place, Jesus finds a man possessed by unclean spirits. If pigs were considered unclean then would the demons not wanted unclean to possess. The first two are in the Authorized Version. Gergesenes means "those who come from pilgrimage or fight." God designated the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, as His chosen people. This page from an Orthodox website partially shows how Judaism views their responsibility. Jesus made him whole. Studying these Scripture passages show us that Jesus only ever walked in the land that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Israel and Moses. Well the first thing I want you to see is this picture of a person in the thrall of sin. They were not. 3). When Jesus healed the possessed man, He allowed Legion to possess the nearby herd of swine. We are all responsible for our sins and so no demonic force can take control of a human life and make you sin unless you allow it. Who were the gerasenes in the bible? The list in the first chapter of Leviticus contains only bovine, sheep, goats and pigeons; all typified later, in Leviticus 11, as clean/pure animals. We do not say that to cast the first stone. When people start putting a value on animal life equal to or higher than the value they put on human life, something is seriously wrong with the culture. In the story of the Gerasene demoniac, Jesus invades enemy territory and defeats a powerful army to deliver people from bondage. WebThe Gadarenes was the place where Jesus confronted a man whose possession by demons gave him a level of superhuman strength like Samson (Mark 5:3 - 5, Luke 8:27). With these, He was no longer naked and he was no longer babbling and he was no longer living amongst the tombs, but when they came, he was clothed and in his right mind and sitting at the Savior's feet. "Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged [Jesus], saying, 'Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.' What do you love? Mark and Luke wrote that Jesus /gave the right to them to enter the pigs much stronger wording and more official than allow. = Therefore, as we have seen from the Deuteronomy and Revelation, and Jesuss own words, he was not allowed to adjust the Law of God and he had no intention of doing so. It is a wonderful fact, but unlike you and I, Gods character is constant and consistent I AM that I AM and understanding His unchanging nature is at the center of forming the right interpretation of Mark 5. WebThe name Gergesa has led to the supposition that the Girgashites, one of the seven Canaanitish nations, originally occupied this territory. 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. Issues are listed below: we are using four Greek words to eliminate entire chapters of Scripture. Most Christians believe Messiah is the Second Person of the Trinity. Late Latin Gerasenus, Gergesenus, from Greek Gerasnos, Gergesnos, from Gerasa, Gergesa ancient town in Palestine. Jesus came to teach a better way of life that you could have abundantly! This town is not to be confused with either Gerasa or Gadara. And then you see in this passage the change of a heart set free. And was the Master doing the right thing sacrificing someone elses pigs. 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. In delivering the man from his bondage, Jesus restored creations promise. In fact, they are, Yet the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke actually report that the towns people many would have been the owners or friends of the pig owners or people who were connected to the trade in the swine were, Also, wouldnt that be a type of sin and another example of how he may not have, All in all, after Jesus had trashed the livelihood of so many, we have to agree that they were, Every place the Master went on his travels it was to minister to a Jew, just as Paul said, To the Jew first (, Answering, he said, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. (, As well, every place the Master went on his travels was inside of the, Scripture makes it clear that Ashers tribal land-boundary ended around the coastal city of Tyre (, Besides this Biblical evidence that Jesus and the woman were within Israels inheritance, there is also a prophesy that God will settle His People in the future in Gilead (a sizeable part of todays Kingdom of Jordan) and in, 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. A city in Transjordania, situated about thirty-five m. SE of the S end of the [[Sea of Galilee]], one of the cities of the Decapolis; the Demetrius had to do something with the Jew or go bust. You may simultaneously update Amibroker, Metastock, Ninja Trader & MetaTrader 4 with MoneyMaker Software. He was Jewish and tragically lost. So why do Christians say no one can when these two did? 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. Even city officials who were Pauls friends were scared for Pauls life (Acts 19:31). The heart set free from sin by Jesus. WebAll three Synoptic Gospels ( Mark 5:120; Luke 8:2639; Matthew 8:2834) mention the swine miracle, although with variations. Or are we with those who love what we want and what we have more than we love the Word of life from the only One who can give life? To that end, may I present. May God grant us the liberation through Jesus Christ to become what that nameless man became. The Bible doesnt say. The district of the Gerasenes probably included that of the Gadarenes; so that the demoniac of Gergesa belonged to the country of the Gadarenes and also to that of the Gerasenes, as the same person may, with equal truth, be said to live in the city or the state, or in the United States.