The Life of Christ

• We can’t be sure there were exactly 3000 demons, but it must have been a very high number.

Mk. 5:10 And he began to entreat Him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

They probably didn’t want to leave this part of the country because of the lax spiritual climate existing among these parts.

• Jews fed swine; the townsfolk would reject their neighbor who was mightily delivered; there was no fear of God is this place!

Mk. 5:13 And He gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

Demons prefer to live in people.

• Their second choice is animals, with their third being "waterless or dry places" (Lk. 11:24).

This was a foolish request in light of their aversion to “waterless places.”

• These demons should have known, that as soon as they entered into the swine, the resulting hysteria would send the herd stampeding into the sea.

• Now the demons will have to look for another place to dwell; no wonder Jesus granted them their request!

• This verse also intimates that animals have some form of soul to house the entering demons. The steep bank overlooking the sea where these demon-possessed swine entered the water is situated on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, called Gergesa, or modern-day Kursi.

• The church historian Eusebius identified this as the site of the miracle.

• The remains of a Byzantine monastery, built in the sixth century to commemorate this healing, can be found there.

Mk. 5:14-17 And their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. 15 And they came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the “ legion ”; and they became frightened. 16 And those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. 17 And they began to entreat Him to depart from their region.

These people had seen it all — first, the transformed demoniac, followed by the plunging herd.

• They told Jesus to leave, possibly fearing their goats may be next.

• They cared nothing about this man so wonderfully delivered and wanted no further part of what Jesus had to offer.

Mk. 5:18 And as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was entreating Him that he might accompany Him.

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