The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 209

p,-i! spirits. in their r<>qnest, WAB tll injure rushed rrom the pltiteau down a steot in- .fpans in thRt part or the country by aroue- clinf', which travellers since think they ave iug f,,Rre amo11i;: the covetous inhabitants identifle<l, and the deep wntere of Genne- lPst. they too might loae, in a similar way, saret put • quick end to the creature,' their herds. But to the writer or this note torments. it seems beat to oonfel!ll that no satisfactory Vere. 85, 86.-Then thev went out to Ha answer CRn ever be given here. We know what waa done; and oame to J'esus, and so little or tbet1e dreAd spirits of evil. The found the man, out of whom the devils were n>ason of the Lord's permisaion is more departed, sitting Rt the feet of J' esus, olothed, nhvious. Some such visible proor as the and in his right mind : and they were afraid, sight of the edl and unclean foroes that They also whioh saw it told them by what had mastered him so long, trnnsferred to means he that was poeaesaed of the devils the bodies of other creatures and working we.s healed. The swineherds told their their wild will upon them, we.s probably a story, quiokly the news spread: • groat necessary element in his perfect cure. It concourse from all the oountry-side soon is likelv also that Jesus wished to show his p;athered round the scene of the catastrophe. indignation at the flRgrant disregard of the It was quiet then; the waters of the lake Mosaic Law, at the open disobedience to the had closed over the tormented creatures, Divine injunctions respecting swine, which The demoniac, so long the terror of the w,u; shown by the presence of so vast a herd neighbourhood, now snne, clothed, too, like of these animals pronounced unclean by the one of them, was sitting peacefully full of Mosaic Law under which these people were deep, awe-ful gratitude at the Master's feet: professedly living (St. Mark gives the the disciples were standing round: Jesus uumber as two thousand). lu this district we.s no doubt teaching them the deep im- the large -majority of the inhabitants were port of the scene they had lately witnessed. Jews. The keeping or the rearing of swine Ver. 37.-Then the whole multitude of was strictly forbiddel.l by the Jewi~h canon the country of the Gadarenes round about law. Other Oriental peoples also held these besought him to depart from them ; for they animals as uncle.an. Herodotus (ii. 47) tells were taken with great fear: and he went us that in Egypt there was a special class up into the ship, and returned baok again. of swineherds, who alone among the in- The recital had no etrect upon the head• hebitauts of the country were forbidden to men of the neighbouring towns and villages. enter a temple. '£his degraded caste were They were probably for the most part ouly allowed t.o mnrry among themselves. owners of similar herds of swine, perhap1 The eating of mne's flesh is referred t.o by shnrers in nameless sins, all specially hate- Isaiah (]xv. 3, 4) as among the e.cts of the ful to the Rabbi Jesus, whom they no doubt people which continnally provoked the Lord knew well by repute. But he was, they to anger. saw, something more than a poor wandering Ver. 33.-And the herd ran violently moral Teacher; he possessed strange and dow:n a llteep place into the lake, and were awful powers: had they not had terrible choked. Some exception has been taken at experience of them ? Which of them in our Lord's action here in connection with that law-breaking, dissolute neighbourhood the swine, but it has been well said "that might not be the next victim whose un- the e.ntedating of the death of a herd of clean possessions were to be swept away? unclean all.imals was e.s nothing compared So they would have none of him : let him with the deliverance of a human soul." as quickly ae poseible depart from their But it seems better to see, in the permitted coasts. They felt they could not keep both destruction of the herd, the Lord's grave the Saviour and their swine, and of the two rebuke to the open disregarders of the holy they preferred their swine I .And returned ritual law of Israel. for the sake of selfish back again. The chance, as far as the lucre. Gadarene district was concerned, was gone Ver. 34.-When they that fed them saw for ever. Jesus probably returned thither no whet was done, they fled, and went and told more. Within forty years this district was it in the city and in the country. The men the scene of one of the terrible calamities of who kept the swine had witnessed the whole tho great Roman war. The sack of Ge.dara, transaction ; and as the Master uttered the and the desolation and ruin which we.s the word "Go," they saw a change in a moment hapless lot of this once wealthy but evil- pass through the vast herd. A wild panic living district, is one of the many melan• seemed to seize tLe creatures, ,omething had choly chapters of the hopeless Jewish revolt filled them with a great fear,-they would (see Josephus,' Bell. Jud.,' iii. 7. 1: i'r. 7. 4). hurry from the umeen but /eU presence: the A modem traveller, Dr. Thomson, remarks, cool blue waters of the lake, clearly seen from singularly enough, the\ the old district of the upland down where they were feeding, Ge.dam at the present day is infested with IM!emed to promi&e the best refnre; they wild, fierce hogs: "Everywhere," he w:ites, on vm. 1-56.] TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE.