Matthew 8:31 Ulasan

The evangelist having, in the foregoing chapters, given us a specimen of our Lord's preaching, proceeds now to give some instances of the miracles he wrought, which prove him a Teacher come from God, and the great Healer of a diseased world. In this chapter we have, I. Christ's cleansing of a leper (Mat 8:1-4). II. His curing a palsy and fever (Mat 8:5-18). III. His communing with two that were disposed to follow him (Mat 8:19-22). IV. His controlling the tempest (Mat 8:23-27). V. His casting out devils (Mat 8:28-34).

When he was come down from the mountain,.... Into which he went up, and preached the sermon recorded in the "three" preceding chapters: great multitudes followed him: which is mentioned, partly to shew, that the people which came from several parts, still continued with him, being affected with his discourses and miracles; and partly on account of the following miracle, of healing the leper, which was not done in a corner, but before great multitudes, who were witnesses of it: though some think this miracle was wrought more privately.

And he said unto them, go, &c. He gave them leave, as God did to Satan, in the case of Job; for without divine permission, these evil spirits cannot do anything to the bodies, souls, or estates of men: they could not enter into the swine without leave, and much less do things of greater moment and consequence; and therefore are not to be feared, or dreaded by men, especially by the people of God. It may be asked, why did Christ suffer the devils to enter the herd of swine, and destroy them, which was a considerable loss to the proprietors? To which may be answered, that if the owners were Jews, and these creatures were brought up by them for food, it was a just punishment of their breach of the law of God; or if to be sold to others, for gain and filthy lucre's sake, it was a proper rebuke, both of the avarice and the contempt of the laws of their own country, which were made to be a hedge or fence for the law of God: or if they were Gentiles, this was suffered to show the malice of the evil spirits, under whose influence they were, and who would, if they had but leave, serve them as they did the swine; and to display the power of Christ over the devils, and his sovereign right to, and disposal of the goods and properties of men; and to evince the truth of the dispossession, and the greatness of the mercy the dispossessed shared in; and to spread the fame of the miracle the more. And when they were come out of the men that had been possessed by them, they went into the herd of swine; which shows the real existence of these spirits, the truth of possessions and dispossessions; and that by these devils cannot be meant the sins and corruptions of men's hearts, such as pride, covetousness, uncleanness, envy, malice, cruelty, &c. for these could never be said to enter into a herd of swine, or be the authors of their destruction: and behold, the whole herd of swine, and which was a very large one, consisting of about two thousand, ran violently down a steep place; a precipice of one of the rocks, by the sea side, into the sea of "Tiberias", or lake of Genesareth, which were the same, and over which Christ had just now passed; and perished in the waters of the sea, or lake, and not any other waters near Gadara, and afar off from hence.

The dæmons seeing that there is no longer any place left for them among the Gentiles, pray that they may be suffered to dwell among the heretics; these, seized by them, are drowned in the sea, that is, in worldly desires, by the instigations of the dæmons, and perish in the unbelief of the rest of the Gentiles.

Now, should any one say, "And wherefore did Christ fulfill the devils' request, suffering them to depart into the herd of swine?" this would be our reply, that He did so, not as yielding to them, but as providing for many objects thereby. One, to teach them that are delivered from those wicked tyrants, how great the malice of their insidious enemies; another, that all might learn, how not even against swine are they bold, except He allow them; a third, that they would have treated those men more grievously than the swine, unless even in their calamity they had enjoyed much of God's providential care. For that they hate us more than the brutes is surely evident to every man. So then they that spared not the swine, but in one moment of time cast them all down the precipice, much more would they have done so to the men whom they possessed, leading them towards the desert, and carrying them away, unless even in their very tyranny the guardian care of God had abounded, to curb and check the excess of their violence. Whence it is manifest that there is no one, who doth not enjoy the benefit of God's providence. And if not all alike, nor after one manner, this is itself a very great instance of providence; in that according to each man's profit, the work also of providence is displayed. And besides what hath been mentioned, there is another thing also, which we learn from this; that His providence is not only over all in common, but also over each in particular; which He also declared with respect to His disciples, saying, "But the very hairs of your head are numbered." And from these demoniacs too, one may clearly perceive this; who would have been choked long before, if they had not enjoyed the benefit of much tender care from above.

(Verse 30, 31.) What have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here before the time to torment us? Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding not far off from them. And the demons begged him, saying, 'This confession is not of free will, which is followed by the reward of the confessor, but of forced necessity, which compels unwillingly, as if fugitive slaves see their master after a long time: they only beg to be spared from the beatings.' So, demons, seeing the Lord suddenly present on earth, believed that they had come to judge. The presence of the Savior is torment for demons. And some people foolishly think that demons know the Son of God, but are ignorant of the devil, because these demons are of lesser evil than the one whose servants they are. Since all knowledge of the disciples must be referred to the teacher, demons as well as the devil are more suspect of understanding the Son of God than knowing Him. No one knows the Father, except the Son, and whoever the Son chooses to reveal him to. (Matthew 11:27)

(De. Cons. Ev. ii. 24.) Though the words of the daemons are variously reported by the three Evangelists, yet this is no difficulty; for they either all convey the same sense, or may be supposed to have been all spoken. Nor again because in Matthew they speak in the plural, in the others in the singular number; because even the other two Evangelists relate that when asked his name, he answered, Legion, showing that the daemons were many. Now there was not far from thence a herd of many swine feeding; and the daemons prayed him, saying, If thou cast us out hence, send us into the swine.

Slaves ask for suitable indignities: “Send us into the swine.” Foulness begs to be sent from the tombs into the swine, so that it does not think of getting rid of its bad odors but of changing odors. “Send us into the swine.” Plunging from the sky, they seek filth. After living in the upper world, they look for the sloughs of pigs. “Send us into the herd.” A herd is sent into the herd, so that a gang of demons is brought forth, and it seems that two men have caused what a great number of pigs could not endure.

They did not ask to be sent into men, because they saw Him by whose excellence they were tortured existing in human shape. Nor did they ask to be sent into sheep, because sheep are by God's institution clean animals, and were then offered in the temple of God. But they requested to be sent into the swine rather than into any of the other unclean animals, because this is of all animals the most unclean; whence also it has its name 'porcus,' as being 'spurcus,' filthy, and delighting in filthiness; and dæmons also delight in the filthiness of sin. They did not pray that they might be sent into the air, because of their eager desire of hurting men. And he saith unto them, Go.

(Mor. ii. 10.) For the Devil knows that of himself he has no power to do any thing, because it is not of himself that he exists as a spirit.

The demons asked this so that they could drown the swine, and thus the owners would be grieved and would not welcome Christ.

If you cast us out, send us out into the swine. But why did they not ask that he send them into men? Because they saw that he was solicitous about caring for men. But why into the herd of swine? Because they were close by. Also because it is a very unclean animal. So, to designate uncleanness, he permits them to enter the swine. And this seems to be signified in Job (41:3): "Will he multiply supplications to you? Will he speak soft words to you?"

HEALING OF A LEPER. ( = Mar 1:40-45; Luk 5:12-16). (Mat 8:1-4) When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.