Mark 5:13

Mar 5:13. Εὐθέως, forthwith) He did not require to deliberate in any case.—ὡς δισχίλιοι, about two thousand) The name legion implied a number exceeding this.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 5:13 . καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν : permission, not command, to enter; in Mt. not even that, simply a peremptory: Depart! vide notes there. εἰσῆλθον : an inference from the sequel; neither exit nor entrance could be seen. There was doubtless a coincidence between the cure and the catastrophe. ὡς δισχίλιοι : about 2000, an estimate of the herds possibly exaggerated. ἐπνίγοντο ( πνίγω , to choke), were drowned, used in this sense in Joseph., A. J., x., 7, 5, regarding Jeremiah in the dungeon.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Strabo in the sixteenth book saith that in Gadaris there is a standing pool of very naughty water, which if beasts taste of, they shed their hair, nails, or hooves and horns.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 13. Gave them leave.] For επετρεψεν, DH, three others, and three copies of the Itala have επεμψεν, sent them.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(13) They were about two thousand.—The number, which is peculiar to St. Mark, may be noted as another instance of his graphic accuracy in detail.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. down a steep place] At Kerza or Gersa, “where there is no precipice running sheer to the sea, but a narrow belt of beach, the bluff behind is so steep, and the shore so narrow, that a herd of swine rushing frantically down, must certainly have been overwhelmed in the sea before they could recover themselves.” Tristram’s Land of Israel p. 462.

the sea] This, as we have seen above (Mar_3:7), was one of the names, by which the Lake of Gennesaret was called.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And forthwith Jesus gave them leave,.... For the reason of this See Gill on Mat 8:32.

and the unclean spirits went out; of the man, in whom they had for some time dwelt:

and entered into the herd of swine; according to the leave given them by Christ: this shows not only the existence of spirits, but their going from one to another shows that they are circumscribed by space; that they are here, and not there, or there, and not here: there is an "ubi", a somewhere, where they are; and whilst there, are not elsewhere:

and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. The Syriac and Arabic versions read, "the herd ran to the rock", or "promontory", and "fell into the sea". The Ethiopic, the "herd grew mad, and was carried headlong into the sea": the sense is, that the devils having entered into them, it had a like effect on them, as on the man possessed; they ran mad, and were hurried on by the devils, to the rocks on the sea shore; where, falling down the precipice, they were all lost; and a considerable loss it was to their owners; for

they were about two thousand; a very large herd, but there were devils enought in that one man, to possess all these, and run them into the sea:

and were choked in the sea; not suffocated by the devils, but drowned in the waters of the sea, or lake, as Luke calls it; the lake of Gennesareth, or sea of Tiberias and Galilee; which, as often observed, were the same. Though some think it was not this lake or sea, but some other place of water near Gadara. Strabo says (e), that in the country of Gadara, there was a very bad laky water, of which if cattle tasted, they cast their hair, hoofs, and horns; which perhaps may be the same with what the Talmudists call (f), , "the whirlpool of Gadara"; said to be from the time of the deluge, and so called from its swallowing up every thing that came into it; but the sea of Tiberias seems rather to be the place, where this herd perished. The Jew (g) objects to the destroying this herd of swine as an unjust action, being a great injury to the owners; and seeks to blacken the character of Christ, as being concerned in it: but, as Bishop Kidder (h) well observes, it does not appear that Jesus destroyed it; it was the devils that did it: he suffered them indeed to go into it, nor did he restrain the natural power which they had; nor did he think fit to do it, nor was he obliged to it: but had he destroyed it himself, since he is Lord of all, the proprietor of all creatures, who has all under him, and at his disposal, can give and take away as he pleases, no charge of evil and injustice can be brought against him: and this should be satisfactory to a Christian, who believes him to be God over all blessed for ever; though it will not be to a Jew: let it therefore be further observed, that the owners of these swine were either Jews or Gentiles; if they were Jews, and they brought up these swine in order to eat them themselves, to destroy them was a just punishment, for their violation of the law of God, Deu 14:8. And if they brought them up to sell to others, this was contrary to their own canons; See Gill on Mat 8:30, to the rules and customs of their own country, which were made as a fence to keep off from breaking the above law; and such a practice could only proceed from an avaricious disposition, of which this was a proper rebuke: or if they were Gentiles that were the owners of them, these were idolatrous persons, worshippers of devils; and it was but a righteous thing, to suffer the devils, whom they worshipped, to do this mischief to their property, to whom they devoted themselves soul and body; and a Jew cannot well find fault with this, who believes that idolaters cannot be punished too severely: add to this, what the above learned prelate observes; this practice of the Gentiles in breeding hogs, was a temptation to the Jews to follow the same business, and even to taste of the forbidden flesh; so that to use his words, it was in truth an act of grace and favour to the Jews, to remove from them so dangerous a snare, and so bad an example: and it may be added, by suffering the devils to go into the swine, several valuable ends were answered, infinitely preferable to the herd of swine; such as evincing the truth of the dispossession; showing the greatness of the mercy to the dispossessed; the power of Christ over the devils; and making for the spread of the fame of this miracle the more; as well as giving further proof of the malignity and mischievous disposition and actions of these evil spirits; by which the inhabitants of the adjacent places might learn, how hurtful they were to them, and what a blessing it was to be rid of them: and therefore ought to have been thankful to Christ for this dispossession, notwithstanding the loss of their swine; but such an effect it had not upon them, but the reverse, as the words following show.

(e) Geograph. 1. 6. (f) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 108. 1. (g) Jacob Aben Amram, port. ver. No. 1028. apud Kidder, Demonstr. of the Messiah, par. 3. p. 51. (h) Kidder ib. p. 52.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.

Ver. 13. Jesus gave them leave] If Christ condescended to the devils, though to the loss of others, will he not hear us?

Into the sea] So that standing pool in Gadaris is called, which, Strabo saith, is of such a foul nature, that if beasts taste of it, they shed their hair, nails, hoofs, or horns.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jesus Christ permitted the devil to destroy these swine, that from their destruction, the men of that country might take the alarm, and be converted. (Ven. Bede)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

13. Gave them leave — That is, as before said, after dismissing them from the man, he did not hold any control over their course. If they were able, like their fellow devils, to make any other lodgment, that was not our Lord’s present business. They had full leave, for aught he had to do. At any rate, better they should possess a beast than a man. We say this, because many have accused our Lord of doing a harm by sending them into the swine, and so destroying life and property. Our Lord drove them from the man, and that is all he had to do with them. For their own subsequent course of mischief they alone were chargeable, as truly as Judas or the Pharisees who blasphemed the Holy Ghost.

Ran violently down — Devil upon brute! The ferment of the two combining natures produces madness. The swine ran into the sea and the devils went to their own place. This may have been the best way of driving him out of the human world to hell. And that is a second full answer to those who cavil, falsely as well as foolishly, that our Lord here destroyed the swineherd’s property. Surely our Lord is not responsible for the doings of the devils he expels from men.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The unclean spirits came out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place (kata tou krhmnou) literally, down the steepinto the sea,... and were choked in the sea. By this Christ shows of how little worth are earthly possessions when set in the balance with the souls of men. The recovery of this demoniac was worth far more than the value of the two thousand swine.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. Ran … down a steep place. The declivity at the base of the mountain at Gersa is almost perpendicular.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

13. [944][945][946][947][948] omit εὐθέως ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Cf. Mar 6:34, Mar 8:1, Mar 10:52, Mar 12:41. The insertion of names for the sake of clearness is freq., esp. at the beginning of lections. See also in the Gospels in our Prayer Book. On St John’s Day both “Jesus” and “Peter” are inserted in Joh 21:19. [949][950][951][952][953][954][955] omit ἦσαν δέ. Syr-Sin. omits κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ.

[944] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[945] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[946] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mar 1:17 to Mar 6:31, Mar 8:5 to Mar 12:29, Mar 13:19 to Mar 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[947] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[948] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

[949] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[950] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[951] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mar 1:17 to Mar 6:31, Mar 8:5 to Mar 12:29, Mar 13:19 to Mar 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[952] An asterisk denotes that the word is not found elsewhere in N.T., and such words are included in the index, even if there is no note on them in the commentary.

[953] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[954] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[955] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

13. ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτοῖς. See crit. note. He gave them leave. The distinction between permitting and commanding is not of much value for the purpose of freeing our Lord from responsibility for the entrance of the demons into the swine. The suggestion that He who was capable of surprise (Mar 4:13; Mar 4:40, Mar 6:6; Mat 8:10; Mat 15:28; Mat 16:8), and of ignorance (Mar 13:32; Mat 24:36) did not foresee the consequences of giving permission, does free Him from responsibility for the destruction of the swine. But some striking proof that the unclean spirits had left the man may have been necessary in order to assure him and the inhabitants that he had been, not merely quieted, but permanently cured. On the enormous superiority of man to brutes, Bede remarks, ob unius hominis salutem duo millia porcorum suffocantur. On the fate of the demons, Euthymius says, μελετήσαντες βλάψαι, πλεῖον ἐβλάβησαν. See Salmon, Human Element, pp. 277f.; Plummer, S. Matthew, pp. 132 f., S. Luke, pp. 228 f.

εἰσῆλθον εἰς τοὺς χοίρους. Science raises no difficulty here. Of the marvellous power of mind over matter our knowledge is increasing rapidly, and it would be rash to deny that brutes can be influenced by spirits. The plur. verb keeps the plurality of the spirits in sight.

τοῦ κρημνοῦ. “The well-known steep.” Travellers think that it can be identified. Cf. 2Ch 25:12.

ὡς δισχίλιοι. Mk alone gives this estimate. Mt. omits it, as also the “200 pennyworth” (Mar 6:37) and the “300 pence” (Mar 14:5). This estimate may have come from the owners, who might exaggerate their loss. An inventor would have said 4000 or 5000, to correspond with the legion. It is not very probable that the owners were Jews, who had no right to keep these unclean animals; and the plea that they were justly punished for their disobedience cannot be pressed. The population on the [1077] side of the Lake was largely heathen.

[1077] Codex Basiliensis. 8th cent. At Basle.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13.] ὡς δισχ., to the number of two thousand:—peculiar to Mark, who gives us usually accurate details of this kind: see ch. 6:37,—where however John (6:7) also mentions the sum.

15,

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. Καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν—and he permitted them.

Omit εὐθέως ὁ Ἰησοῦς, immediately Jesus, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BCLΔ 1, 28, 118, 131, 209, two mss. Lat. Vet. Memph. Pesh.

εἰσῆλθον εἰς τοὺς χοίρους—entered into the swine. It is evidently the intention of the writer that the man was possessed by a host of demons, and that this host of demons—no less would be required—entered into the herd of (two thousand) swine. This literalizing of the demoniac’s Legion, the multiplication of the difficulty of possession by the thousands, and the addition of the difficulty of demoniac possession of swine, makes this part of the story a tax upon our belief. Demoniacal possession is in itself such a tax, but this story shows whereto such belief in a credulous age tends. The facts in this case are the cure and the rush of the frightened swine. The traditional account connects them in such a way as to make Jesus responsible for one as well as the other. Leave out now the elements of the story contributed by the idea of possession, and substitute the theory of lunacy, and the rational account of the fright and destruction of the swine is that it was occasioned by some paroxysm of the lunatic himself.

Καὶ ὥρμησεν ἡ ἀγέλη κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, ὡς δισχίχλιοι—and the herd rushed down the declivity into the sea, about two thousand (of them).

Omit ἦσαν δὲ, and there were, before ὡς δισχίλιοι, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BC* DL Δ 1, mss. of Lat. Vet. Vulg. Memph. Pesh.

κρημνοῦ, a perfectly good Greek word, occurs in the N.T. only in the parallel Synoptical accounts of this event, and the verbal resemblance is an important item in the proof of the interdependence of the Synoptics.

ὡς δισχίλιοι in the reading adopted is in apposition with ἡ ἀγέλη—the herd, about two thousand (of them).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ran [ωρμησεν] . The verb indicates hasty, headlong motion. Hence, as Rev., rushed.

Two Thousand. As usual, Mark alone gives the detail of number.

A steep place. But the noun has the definite article : tou krhmnou, the steep, as Rev.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.