NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER EIGHT

Part V

Verse 30: Near that place there was a large herd of pigs feeding.

This was Gentile territory, so it was not unusual to see a breeder of hogs in that area. We know that Jews were forbidden to eat pork.¹ Nevertheless, Jews were not prohibited from having Gentiles raise hogs for sale, in particular to the Romans. However, Rabbis made it quite clear that such pigs could not be raised just anywhere in Israel.²

As a matter of fact, there is an interesting story that goes like this: “When the Kings of the house of Hasmonean fought one another, Hyrcanus was outside and Aristobulus within the city walls. Each day those that were inside used to let down to the other party money in a basket, and haul up in return animals for the Daily Offerings. An old man there, who was learned in Greek maxims, spoke with them using a Greek maxim saying: ‘As long as they continue the Temple services they will never be delivered into your hands’. The next day when they let down money in a basket to haul up a pig. When it reached halfway up the wall, it stuck its claws into the wall, and the land of Israel was shaken over a distance of fourteen hundred miles by fourteen hundred miles.³ At that time they declared, ‘Cursed be the man who rears pigs and cursed be the man who teaches his son Greek maxims!’”⁴ But other reasons may have been because of the smell and its resulting uncleanliness.⁵

Verses 31-34: The demons begged Jesus, “If you make us leave these men, please send us into that herd of pigs.” Jesus said to them, “Go!” So the demons left the men and went into the pigs. Then the whole herd of pigs ran down the hillside into the lake, and all were drowned. The men who had the work of caring for the pigs ran away. They went into town and told the people everything that happened, especially about the men who had the demons. Then the whole town went out to see Jesus. When the people spotted Him, they begged Him to leave their area.

There seems to be a lack of correlation in the minds of the herdsmen as to the connection of these two incidents. The people however, put two and two together to form their opinion. They knew that before Christ came the swine and demoniac’s coexisted in peace. Now, the peaceful swine had gone berserk and the berserk demoniac’s had become peaceful. Yet, in their evaluation, the lives of the pigs who were lost meant more than the lives of the men who were saved. After all, these swine could be sold for good money to the Romans and other Gentiles.

But what could they get out of these men who now were sane and given the opportunity to live descent lives? So instead of giving glory to God that the Messiah had visited their area, they wanted Him gone because it cost them money. Does that sound familiar to what we might hear today if a great spiritual awakening came to your town, turning many who are in control of Satan into witnesses of the power of Jesus, the Son of God?

So to the Gentiles, pigs were a valuable commodity. Bit for Jesus, He was casting one unclean entity into another. But they no doubt also feared that Jesus might decided to use His authority for other reasons. Just like when Samuel went to Bethlehem to find a new king, “Samuel did what the Lord told him to do and went to Bethlehem. The elders of Bethlehem shook with fear. They met Samuel and asked, ‘Do you come in peace?‘”⁶ And when Elijah returned to the woman who cooked him a meal after learning that her son had become sick, the trembling woman said to Elijah, “You are a man of God. Can you help me? Or did you come here only to remind me of my sins and to make my son die?”⁷ But Job recognized the mentality of evil and how it can affect humankind, “They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We don’t care what You want us to do!’”⁸ And Job’s friend Eliphaz agreed, “They told God, ‘Leave us alone!’ and said, ‘God All-Powerful cannot do anything to us!’”⁹

Early church theologian Jerome sees this request by the people for Jesus to leave their area as not coming out of pride but out of humility. In so doing, they judged themselves unworthy of the Lord’s presence, just as Peter after the catch of fish fell before the Savior’s knees and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”¹⁰ But a contemporary of Jerome’s, Chromatius, believes that the town from which the people came out to meet the Lord, asked Him to leave their district, because they did not want to recognize Him as the Lord and Savior of the human race, even after witnessing His divine power. He says: “Such people are also found among us. Out of faithlessness they compel the Lord and Savior of the world to depart from the district of their hearts, for according to Scripture, ‘the Holy Spirit will not enter a perverse soul or dwell in a body enslaved to sin.’¹¹”¹²

Another question that is often asked, is over what precipice did these herd of pigs run, and into what lake did they plunge to their deaths. We are told by Bible archaeologists that after the Lord Jesus and His disciples landed in the harbor and got out of the boat and were met by a demon possessed man (men) who lived in tombs. There were tombs in the area as attested to by three sarcophagi that were found in the area. The demons requested to be thrown into the herd of swine which were a good way off, on or near the mountain(s) of the Golan Heights.

There are two possibilities as to where this event took place. The first possibility is just behind what used to be known as Kibbutz Haon. This area is located at the foot of the Golan Heights about a twenty-minute drive from Tiberias. There is a ridge there that comes down from the Golan Heights that would allow the swine to run down from the top of the heights. The second possibility, suggested by Michael Avi-Yonah, is in on the grounds of Kibbutz Ma’agan. This location is the only one in the southern part of the lake with a cliff that drops off into the lake. However, it should be pointed out that text does not demand a cliff. Most English translations have down the hill or hillside.

Today, this area can be seen by going to an area in NW Jordan known as Umm Qais. It is situation about 110 km north of Amman. We are told that in ancient times Gadara was strategically situated here and laced by a number of key trading routes connecting Syria and Palestine. It was blessed with fertile soil and abundant rainwater. This town also flourished intellectually in the reign of Augustus and became distinguished for its cosmopolitan atmosphere, university’s scholars, attracting writers, artists, philosophers and poets, the likes of satirist Menippos (2nd half of the 3rd century BC), the epigrammist Meleagros, and the rhetorician Theodoros (14-37 AD). Gadara was also the resort of choice for Romans vacationing in the nearby Himmet Gader Springs.

Archaeological surveys indicate that Gadara was occupied as early as the 7th century BC. The Greek historian, Polybius, described the region as being under Ptolemaic control at the time. The Seleucid ruler Antiochus III conquered it in 218 BC, naming the city Antiochia and Seleucia. In 63 BC, Pompey liberated Gadara and joined it to the Roman league of ten cities, the Decapolis.

Then we are told that The city reached its peak of prosperity in the 2nd century AD. New colonnaded streets, temples, theaters and baths sprouted. Meleagros (circa 110-140 BC) the husband of Cleopatra, compared Gadara with Athens, which testifies to the city’s status as a creative center of Hellenism in the ancient Near East.¹³ We also see that after the Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem in 70 AD this place where Jesus delivered to men became thriving community. One of the most magnificent of the Decapolis cities, Hippos, sitting high on a hill, could be clearly seen across the Sea of Galilee by the fishermen of Capernaum and other villages around the sea. Ironically, this area would become a vital center for the early church.

What a lesson for today! Often, when some unusual event occurs that brings about a drastic change, even to the point of loss or misery, we tend to look at what is wasted rather than looking for what was gained. Also, when God acts to carry out His will in our lives, if it costs us some earthly possession or material goods, we often see this as an unnecessary loss; why couldn’t He have done that without our losing so much? But God knows just how much we can handle; how much we can carry.

And when our hearts and minds are stuffed full of earthly things, the only way He can create room for those things He wants to give us is by removing some of those items we really don’t need in carrying out His will and purpose for our lives. And as sure as this may sound overstated or ridiculous, some of those things that possess us are demons of the sort that make our lives miserable and unusable for the ministry He has in store for us. And by the fact that on this occasion these demons were cast out of these men and went into the swine, shows what our Lord thought of those men He set free, and what His attitude was toward the demons He got rid of.