Marco 5:14 Commento

In this chapter, we have, I. Christ's casting the legion of devils out of the man possessed, and suffering them to enter into the swine (v. 1-20). II. Christ's healing the woman with the bloody issue, in the way as he was going to raise Jairus's daughter to life (v. 21-43). These three miracles we had the story of before (Mat 8:28, etc. and Mat 9:18, etc.) but more fully related here.

And they came over unto the other side of the sea,.... Of Galilee, or Tiberias; into the country of the Gadarenes: in the Evangelist Matthew it is called, "the country of the Gergesenes", as it is here in the Arabic and Ethiopic versions. The Vulgate Latin reads, "of the Gerasenes", and so some copies, from Gerasa, a place in the same country; but the Syriac and Persic versions read, "Gadarenes", as do most copies; so called from Gadara, a city either adjacent to, or within the country of the Gergesenes; which was called by both names, from these different places. It was not far from Tiberias, the place from whence this sea has its name, over which Christ and his disciples passed, Joh 6:1. Chammath was a mile from (e) Tiberias, and this Chammath was so near to the country of Gadara, that it is often called, , "Chammath of Gadara" (f); unless it should be rather rendered, "the hot baths of Gadara": for so it is (g) said, that at Gadara are the hot baths of Syria; which may be the same with the hot baths of Tiberias, so often mentioned in the Jewish writings (h); hence the town of Chammath had its name, which was so near to Tiberias, that it is sometimes reckoned the same with it (i): Pliny (k) places this Gadara in Decapolis, and Ptolemy (l) in Coelo Syria; and Meleager, the collector of epigrams, who is called a Syrian, is said (m) to be a Gadarene, a native of this Gadara. Mention is made of the whirlpool of Gadara (n), which remained ever since the flood. It appears to be an Heathen country, both from its situation, and the manners of the people. (e) T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 2. 2. (f) T. Hieros. Erubin, fol. 23. 3. & Trumot, fol. 41. 3. & Sabbat, fol. 5. 4. (g) Eunapius in Vita Iamblici, p. 26. (h) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 108. 1. T. Hieros. Sabbat, fol. 6. 1. (i) T. Bab. Megilia, fol. 6. 1. (k) L. 5. c. 18. (l) L. 5. c. 15. (m) Fabricii Bibliotheca Grace. T. 2. p. 683. (n) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 108. 1.

And they that fed the swine,.... Not the owners, but the keepers of them, the swine herds, "fled"; being astonished at the power of Christ, affrighted at the noise of the devils, and terrified at the sight and loss of the swine: and told it in the city and country; or "in the fields": they went into the city of Gadara, and told the story of the dispossession of the devils out of the man, that had been for some time troublesome in those parts; and of their entrance into the swine, and the destruction of them: and they went into the fields, or country adjacent; they went to the "villages" thereabout, as the Syriac and Ethiopic versions render the word; or to those houses that were in the fields, scattered about, here, and there one, and where perhaps the owners of the herd lived: and they not only hasted away to the owners of the swine, to acquaint them with what had happened, in order to remove all blame from themselves, and any suspicion of negligence in them; to make it appear that it was not their fault, or owing to any carelessness of theirs the swine perished; as that they suffered them to go too near the sea side, and did not keep a good lookout, and were not, as they should have been, between them and the sea, to have prevented such an accident: this they not only did, but the affair, in all its circumstances, being such an amazing one; as the dispossession of the devils out of the man; the health, the calmness, and happy condition the dispossessed was in; the entrance of the devils into the swine; their madness, and precipitant running into the sea, and suffocation there; that they told it to every body they met with, whether in the fields belonging to Gadara, or in the city itself; which drew out a large concourse of people to see what was done to the man that had been possessed, and to the swine, and also to see the person who had done all this; and which made the miracle the more notorious; city and country rung of it: so that, as Matthew says, "the whole city came out to meet Jesus", Mat 8:34; and Luke observes, that "the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart", &c. Luk 8:37. So we sometimes read, in the Jewish writings, of the men, or inhabitants of the field, as opposed to the men, or inhabitants of the city, who differed both in their clothes and diet. "The garments, , "of the children", or "inhabitants of the city", who live deliciously, and do no work, are broad, like women's; but the garments, , "of the children of the field"; such as do business in the field, are short (i):'' and so of their food, it is observed (k), that the bread, "of the men of the field", which the gloss explains by , "the children", or "inhabitants of a village", is what they put much flour into; but the bread, "of a city", which the gloss interprets of , "the children", or "inhabitants of a walled town", or "city", is what they do not put much flour into. And they went out to see what it was that was done: that is, the inhabitants of the city of Gadara, and those that dwelt in the villages, and in lone houses in the fields, went forth to the places where the possessed man used to be, and where Jesus and he now were, and where the swine used to feed, to see with their own eyes, and satisfy themselves of the truth of the narration the swineherds gave them. (i) Bab. Sabbat, fol. 12. 1. & Gloss. in ib. (k) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 37. 2.

But the herdsmen also took to flight, lest they should perish with the swine, and spread the same fear amongst the inhabitants of the town. Wherefore there follows: And they that fed them, &c.

But those who fed them fled, and reported it in the city and in the fields. That the shepherds of the pigs, fleeing, reported these things, signifies that even some leaders of the impious, although they flee from the Christian law, nonetheless proclaim its power among the nations with awe and wonder.

And they went out to see what had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the man who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid, etc. It is written in the Gospel of Luke, "Sitting at his feet." It signifies that the multitude, delighted by their old life, honors indeed but does not want to endure the Christian law, saying that they cannot fulfill it, yet admiring the faithful people who have been healed from their former lost way of life. To sit at the Lord's feet is for him from whom demons had exited, just as those corrected from sins with fixed intention of the mind, to stare at the tracks of their Savior which they follow. To be clothed again is to receive with a sound mind the pursuit of virtues that the insane had lost. This figure fits aptly with that parable of the Lord in which the prodigal and extravagant son, returning to the father, is immediately dressed in the first robe with a ring, clearly indicating that whoever truly repents with a heart for what was lost can, by the grace given by Christ, recover the first works of righteousness they had fallen from, along with the ring of unbroken faith.

The man possessed with a legion of demons cured, vv. 1-20. He raises Jairus's daughter to life, and cures the woman who had an issue of blood, vv. 21-43.

The swine - Instead of τους χοιρους, BCDL, three others, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, Vulgate, and Itala, read αυτους, them - And they that fed Them fled. Griesbach has adopted this reading.

HEROD THINKS JESUS A RESURRECTION OF THE MURDERED BAPTIST--ACCOUNT OF HIS DEATH. ( = Mat 14:1-12; Luk 9:7-9). (Mark 6:14-29) And King Herod--that is, Herod Antipas, one of the three sons of Herod the Great, and own brother of Archelaus (Mat 2:22), who ruled as ethnarch over Galilee and Perea. heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad); and he said--"unto his servants" (Mat 14:2), his councillors or court ministers. That John the Baptist was risen from the dead--The murdered prophet haunted his guilty breast like a specter, and seemed to him alive again and clothed with unearthly powers, in the person of Jesus.

And they that fed the swine fled, and told it--"told everything, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils" (Mat 8:33). in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done--Thus had they the evidence, both of the herdsmen and of their own senses, to the reality of both miracles.