My question is: Incredible. OS Supported: Windows 98SE, Windows Millenium, Windows XP (any edition), Windows Vista, Windows 7 & Windows 8 (32 & 64 Bit). The miracle referred to took place, without doubt, near the town of Gergesa, the modern Kersa , close by the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, and hence in the country of Gergesenes. (eds.). Gadarenes, Girgesenes, Gerasenes - Smiths Bible Dictionary Herod had massive building projects all over Israel. Yet a number of objections immediately spring to mind. I am but a man possessed by an innumerable host of demons. Do you remember? Do not add upon it and do not reduce it. One moose, two moose. The Greeks were believers in the spirit I say that Christians have turned Jews off because church-goers claim Jesus destroyed the Law and that Jews are blind for following the Law of Moses still. All we know now is that the demoniac could have been either: Jew or Gentile. Late Latin Gerasenus, Gergesenus, from Greek Gerasnos, Gergesnos, from Gerasa, Gergesa ancient town in Palestine. He doesnt want to connect the dots and he doesn't want us to either. The apostle had been busy preaching in Demetriuss hometown of Ephesus and Pauls message about the one true God was catching on. And it is reveals a great deal comparing the reactions of the Gentiles in the two towns. Anyway, it was the demons that would have decided where, and if, he slept. WebAll three Synoptic Gospels ( Mark 5:120; Luke 8:2639; Matthew 8:2834) mention the swine miracle, although with variations. Here is a prophesy that Christians love to quote: You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110.4) because it connects to Messiah Jesus. The only other commandment with this same specific promise is the command to honour thy mother and father (Exodus 20:12 and Deuteronomy 5:16; c.f., Ephesians 6:2-3 where Paul copies out the entire commandment and the promise). (. Its the exodus that Jesus has come to lead, an exodus from slavery to the prince of this world. Therefore, if Paul had taken a single silver goddess Diana doll and tossed it into the Aegean Sea, what kind of a hornets nest of trouble would the apostle have stirred up for himself? With such a track record, what difference would Legions size or strength make? That's what disciples do, they sit at their master's feet. He will judge the Gentiles, filling places with bodies. Commentary on Luke 8:26-39 - Working Preacher from Luther What care we for his soul?What good to us that Thou hast made him whole,Since we have lost our swine? If they did, they would not see the chapter attacking the research in this blog post, theyd see a defense for it! But John is more precise, saying none should add or remove words. 10:31). Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. No, at the very best, Scripture is a dazzling lily that started out as a small flower bud, grew and expanded overtime, until finally it opened to show us all its beauty, a beauty that there inside the bud since the beginning, but not fully shown. 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.. Something else to ponder about the Son of God is his other title, The Good Shepherd: David, the son of Jesse, was another selfless, compassionate shepherd. 4 ) As R. Sol Urbin Ohel Moed teaches us, Technically, the greek word for swine is choiros, which many people think means swine, but in the Akkadian, and so with the Syriac, it really refers to an indigenous type of little lamb owned by sea-faring peasants, suitable for pets, grazing, shishkabob and MLT (Mutton, Lettuce and Tomato) sandwiches., 3 ) Pigs?? Gadarene or Gergesene Demoniacs - Bible Hub The prophet Jonah is held up as the merciless messenger of God; not a great title. The distinction between the two is clear (now). The man howled day and night and cut himself with stones. founders day speech by students were the gerasenes gentiles. The church fathers treated them as literal history. That is the exact opposite of other godly men (compare with, Lastly, even if Mr. Pipers explanation were true, look what its, The hard-hearted views of the Bishop of Hippo are not biblical because righteous people are obliged by God to be considerate to all animals, even, Are not two sparrows sold for the smallest coin, and yet one of them cannot fall to the earth apart from your Father? That is the exact opposite of other godly men (compare with 1 Samuel 24:24 and 1 Chronicles 21:24). Lord God, even as we sing this hymn, cause those who do not know Him to love Him and cause those who love Him to love Him more than anything else in this world. Here, then, Jesus faced two of Gods enemies: hostile spiritual powers and death itself. All these inescapable facts are so important to getting the right interpretation of Mark 5 and the other gospel records of the same event. Try Bible Gateway Plus free today. I dont see anything of that sort in the story. And then finally, and very, very sadly, I want you to see in contrast to him, the reaction of the majority of the people in his city and country to what Jesus has done. I wonder why?). Pig meat, according to Scripture, is as unclean as the demons that Jesus sent into the swine. I think Jesus was trying to give to all the sight to see the wrong things in this world we can overcome by walking with Him and His Way of life. Who were the gerasenes in the bible? ITS LIKE THE WITCH ON TGE WIZARD OF OZ And you can ask yourself a lot of questions Why did Jesus do that? As was just so elegantly discussed, the destruction of the herd only makes sense if we remember that God never liked unclean food to begin with. These ruins date from the 2nd to the 7th centuries and show that the city flourished during this period as a center for religion, culture, and commerce. 1. He prefers we stay laughing so no one can reflect on this coincidence. There's nothing that they can do to restrain His mighty arm. Christians never finish reading the chapter. take a dump and be cleaned.lol. Ha, ha.. yeah lemme ummm.. tell ya about those pigs.., 2 ) Like any rational redneck, they smelled their Gentile neighbors having a pork BBQ and said DAAAANG, Hoss! Origen says this is a good example of how Biblical writers simply were not concerned to precisely identify certain sites. Rabbi, begone! Gerasa is mentioned next by Josephus in connection with the Jewish rebellion against the Romans in a.d. 70. Do you see how Jesuss Gentiles dont act like Gentiles! In the Book of Acts, Chapter Nineteen, we read about Demetrius, a Greek silver-statue maker, who was connecting a few dots of his own and had reasoned that a certain big-mouthed Jew was bad for business. Originally published in Tabletalk, our daily Bible study magazine. This town is not to be confused with either Gerasa or Gadara. Before the war it was a Gentile settlement. But there are many reasons why Im not keen on the idea of the Gospels as non-historical. The Feeding of the Four Thousand | Catholic Answers And why werent they demanding compensation for their pigs? It's not every day that you meet someone inhabited by a host of demons, but every time you meet a Christ-less soul, you meet someone who is utterly captive to sin. If there was a difference, why do they read the Law of Moses but call it the Law of God in Nehemiah 8:8? SO Jesu said later in the NT, that meats going in the mouth does not defile because we excrete it out in the draught, solid and liquids, so physically our body cleans itself if there were toxins, and It is whatever comes out of the mind, is what taints a person, whatever he or she thinks. Sadly, the rest of the verse is not quoted in GotQuestions best article and preachers rarely preach it, though it reveals more about the true character of the Messiah. But look at how many times God let it be known in the Law and in very certain terms eating pork was offensive. WebWhy were there pigs in gerasenes? God designated the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, as His chosen people. Food cant affect our salvation, nor disqualify us from being saved.Pork might not be very healthy,but as long as its USDA approved and deemed good by health inspectors from feeder hogs tat eat corn to clean the mess out of them of the last few bowel movements, then you should be good to go. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. The vision had nothing to do with shrimp rings or BLTS. Luke doesn't think that it's an every day occurrence for a person to be possessed by a host of demons. Inhabitants of Gadara, known from an alleged miracle of Jesus ( Matthew 8; Mark 5; Luke 8) in which he transferred the demons It seems to happen a lot in the gospels. --ED.). Marks Jesus is a warrior who conquers Gods enemies. Therefore we know that when Jesus helped the Syrophoenician woman (not a Jewess, but she came to him), he and the woman were both in Israeli territory. Since all of these areas overlap, one may take the references as meaning the same place. WebThey came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. Notice how Gods, Plus, when Jesus chased the sellers out of the Temple courts (. 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. You know that because the people tell Him to leave. Thus, we are not surprised that there was "a great herd of pigs" feeding near the tombs where the Gerasene demoniac was living (5:11). document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Sinai. Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! As to the second question, there is no doubt of the illegality, from a ritual point of view, of Jews keeping swine (B. This has been a long blog thanks for sticking with it but because Im going to ruffle feathers, Ive gone the extra mile to explain myself clearly and to plug any holes in my argument. Also, Orthodox Jews see a clear connection between Deuteronomy 12:32, do not add, and what happened in the Garden of Eden. Gods Word has to agree with Gods Word. So He got into the boat and returned. Gergesa - Wikipedia Many year later, Messiah went to Israel as a prophet to get the people of Israel back to his Law. And so this man comes to Jesus, he seeks Him out, and Jesus says to him, What is your name? And the man doesn't know his name. He also said after much work with people that was possess that most of them dealt in occult practices. The site is identified today with the town of Kersa, or Gersa, just below Wadi es-Samak. Remember the story of Jesus casting demons out of the crazy man in Luke 8? Look again at John 15:10. 6 ) There were lots of laws they didnt keep. Kursi - The Gerasene Site of Jesus' Miracle on the East Side of Lake People of the same race and same religion but they still wanted to do him some serious pain. 2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. The shortest distance between two thoughts. Nothing we have belongs to us. So why were these pig owners on the east side of the lake afraid? However, it is anticipated that the following verses will be thrown up as excuses, as pat answers, and as proof that God has changed, the Law is fulfilled (a.k.a. And John nicely parallels Jesus who said, not the smallest letter nor the smallest comma will pass away from the Law (Matthew 5:18). Pork is the most infamous of all-things-not-Jewish and the bad press that pigs receive in Scripture, and in contemporary Western society, is another reason why I accuse both pastors of being less than honest in their explanations about Mark 5. [Israels] real enemy isnt Rome, which barely figures into the gospel story. But this is not the full explanation or the main one. It's interesting isn't it Jesus crosses the river, the lake, and no sooner has He set His foot on the other side but this man shows up to meet Him. We do not say that to cast the first stone. Furthermore, how upset must God get seeing a doctor reach into the womb of a mother and murder her unborn child? They cannot cast a spell on Him. Those famous four are sufficient to back up the Church's bias and with them one could pretend they say, Christ is the [dead] end of the Law [of Moses] (Luther and Calvin taught this), or maybe it means something very vague like, an end of a law is Christ. For a more advanced discussion of the vague quality of the text have a look at George Howards scholarly article. Look at the prophets; they also prove Scripture doesnt change. 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). The forum, with a semicircle of columns still standing, was paved with large cut stones. They have therefore made important decisions about the proper treatment of animals. The demons sent the pigs off the banks of the sea and into the water, where they drowned (Mark 5:1213). New International Version (NIV), Encyclopedia of The Bible Gerasa, Gerasenes. Yes, you read that right. They had the exact same reaction to Jesus that Bertrand Russell would manifest two thousand years later. Compared to the accounts of the same event in Matthew and Luke also written in simple narrative prose some details vary. I trust the Lord Jesus to know what to do with demons and what ought to be done. 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. One possible reason the Son of David chose the pigs was that he had no choice. This was the authentic Messiah that the Jews were waiting for. So he gave them permission. Note that Jesus never touched the demon-inhabited individual: He merely spoke to him, commanding the evil to depart. Amen, and thus ends this reading of God's holy, inspired, and inerrant Word. These three verse from John really are earth-shattering. The demons inhabit the bodies of this herd of pigs and the pigs cast them into the Lake of Galilee. This has been a long blog thanks for sticking with it but because Im going to ruffle feathers, Ive gone the extra mile to explain myself clearly and to plug any holes in my argument. Demonic forces seem to be territorial; i.e., they have assigned areas of domain. Well the first thing I want you to see is this picture of a person in the thrall of sin. But wait, realize how deep Gods affection for animals goes. *sigh*). But now this is an extraordinary case. This solution is as old as Origen (Commentary on John, VI, 24) who, faced with the textual problem, suggested that the precise site of the healing of Legion was Gergesa, the small town in the territory of Gadara, but hardly in the more remote territory of Gerasa. Delivered to your inbox! Lets bring in a certain Greek silversmith and see how calmly he handles himself. Now not only did the Jewish people not eat bacon, and not only were they forbidden by Moses to eat bacon, but they were not allowed to raise bacon even to sell it to the Gentiles. All of us may be so concerned with our own livelihoods that we fail to serve other people and help those in desperat In a similar way, we see that Scripture is the same; it doesnt change. Also oral tradition in this area talks of Christ coming and preaching the gospel there but being asked to leave shortly afterwards. Some of my Christian brothers and sisters see this as coded language referring to a confrontation with the political and military power of Rome. It's just 8 or 9 verses before this passage. The Son of God mercifully cast thousands of defiling demons out of a lost Jew and purposefully launched the legion killers into two thousand defiling swine. After this long, careful study, it should be crystal clear that the heartless Bishop of Hippo was mistaken, as were our two good pastors. Such a contradiction in character! All four gospel writers repeatedly testify to Jesuss power over storm, waves and. Before the war it was a Gentile settlement. Gerasa is identified from various sources as a city in Arabia, Decapolis, Gilead, or Perea. What do you want? So much for sola scriptura. War II. So he's drawing our attention to an extraordinary event, but the reason he's drawing our attention to that extraordinary event is because there are actually truths which transfer across the last 2,000 years, right to where we are today, that we are to learn out of this passage. At best, Malachi 4:4 should read as, Remember the Law of Moses, but mine's better. Even so, the Bible never puts the worth of animals on the same level as the worth of human To all of you who have been liberated from the captivity of your sin by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, receive God's blessing. The Matthew account mentions two demon-possessed men, while Mark and Luke only mention one. WebGadarenes. Yet being part of the Godhead means Messiah cannot not flip-flop his opinions. Surely He could have demonstrated real power over real demons, right? 9 The hard hearts of those who reject Jesus. Thats really why they were sent. Admittedly the whole event with the demon-crazed pigs is odd you dont see it every day but the writer wanted us to believe it genuinely happened. His poetry includes Bees in Amber: a little book of thoughtful verse (1913) which became a bestseller. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Now do you see how silly the Jesus-kept-the-Law-perfectly statement is? Peaceable Kingdom Series. This means that these miracles are especially meant to teach believers something. (, Although the Almightys statement is only one sentence in, For I myself witness truthfully to everyone hearing the words of the prophecy of this book, , Besides Johns cute play on words dont, Also, Orthodox Jews see a clear connection between, This curse should deter makers of dispensational charts from chopping up Scripture because having my share taken from the Book of Life, or my name , Also, Johns emphasis do not take away from , As a result, our biggest take-away lesson is to never take away from the Word of the Almighty.But dispensational-flavoured pastors ignore this and teach us that Moses and David and even Jesus lived by different rules.
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