were the gerasenes gentiles

The thinking behind each chart is contrary to the unity and oneness of God. He was totally dominated by these demonic forces. Explained by Sharing Culture Expert Answers: Gergesenes means "those who come from pilgrimage or fight." WebNoun. Gergasa (modern name Kersa) was a small village nearby, and Gadara was the larger region of which the village was a part, with Gerasa as the regional capital. Facts are piling up. to biblical Galilee, regarded, in opposition to Judaea, as a country of Gentiles (as in Matthew 4:15) What was Jairus occupation? Answer: the impurity of the swine. But as Gergesa was a small village, and little known, the evangelists, who wrote for more distant readers, spoke of the event as taking place in the country of the Gadarenes, so named from its largest city, Gadara; and this country included the country of the Gergesenes as a state includes a county. And he was the one who said that the Father doesnt miss the , Everyone's wondering why the pigs got the raw end of the deal. We "are of more value than many sparrows" (Matt. Well the first thing I want you to see is this picture of a person in the thrall of sin. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. * And if one doesnt believe demons exist ..same question: why invent a false story to make the point that Jesus has power over demonic creatures that dont exist? Legion probably comes from the fact that Roman legions had four to six thousand men in them and this name, Legion, indicates that he is possessed by a host of demons. viii. 3. Pliny described it as a city of the Decapolis founded after the Rom. Dont demons like sheep? Can we really point the finger at him? Be this as it may, the district was Perhaps a tenth, or a quarter, or a half of the 613 commandments were fulfilled by Jesus, but not all. He is utterly sovereign. Its all a matter of being logical. Download Microsoft .NET 3.5 SP1 Framework. Living in rural Central Africa villages for ten years, I heard many stories from locals about demon spirits living in streams and trees and boulders. It was part of the Greco-Roman region known as the Decapolis, or ten towns. It was Gentile territory, the land of foreign gods, a place of idolatry. At this distance from the Sea of Galilee, Gerasa could not have been the site of the healing of Legion. It is doubtful that Jesus ever visited it. But it struck me as interesting that Bertrand Russell had the exact same reaction to this miracle that the people of the Gerasenes had. One day the prophet Samuel angrily told his king that God would not go back on His decision. Because the writer of the story wanted to make sure that everyone would know that the Garasenes were not Jewish. The good pastor actually believes that a Jewish man can rationally decide the best sleeping quarters Tomb or no tomb? Thus, in him, God found a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 and 1 Samuel 16:1). Jesus was also a prophet. Yes, this man is extraordinary. Seven Biblical facts await you that prove Jesus was obliged to love all creatures, except that a higher command forced him to partially judge the Jews who owned the two thousand poor pigs. Besides this Biblical evidence that Jesus and the woman were within Israels inheritance, there is also a prophesy that God will settle His People in the future in Gilead (a sizeable part of todays Kingdom of Jordan) and in Lebanon too (Zechariah 10:9-10). And did the Gospels writers believe the explanation was so obvious they didn't need to write one? viii. Sproul writes in his commentary Mark that the compassion of Jesus "drove Him to destroy the pigs for the sake of one human life. Well, Ill try and explain that before the end of the sermon, but there were several titles that didn't get included in the sermon bulletin today. WebMany New Testament manuscripts refer to the "Country of the Gadarenes" or "Gerasenes" rather than. You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateways emails at any time. From Jesus's own mouth, we are informed of Gods special love and attention for defenseless animals and we know Jesus has the same heart for the weak. The heart set free from sin by Jesus. And based roughly on current prices, Jesus caused hundred of thousands of dollars in damages. (, David, the son of Jesse, was another selfless, compassionate shepherd. So you not only see the power of Christ over Satan in this passage in the miracle that He performs in casting these demons out of this man, but you also see Jesus compassion towards sinners. 2023. They, like the demons, are afraid of Him and they beg Him to leave and He does. 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). None of the verses below refute any of the Seven Forgotten Facts above. And was the Master doing the right thing sacrificing someone elses pigs. The book ends on that very point. The textual evidence shows that the MSS preserve three variant spellings of the name in each gospel. The passage appears to be straightforward historical-narrative writing, like the rest of Marks gospel. 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. Marks Jesus is a warrior who conquers Gods enemies. For a long time he had been homeless and naked, living in a cemetery outside the town. These pastors have, Look at the prophets; they also prove Scripture doesnt change. being the eternal Son of God. Another title that didn't make it was Demons, Pigs, and a Request to Leave. Now I think actually that beautifully outlines what happens in this passage, but for a specific reason I've wanted to zero your attention in on this man, this nameless man, who is afflicted by demons and who is liberated by Jesus Christ because there is a Gospel message for all of us. Just remember the wonderful folks in Jesuss hometown? Last week we said the focus was on the power and the person of Jesus Christ. The Greek clause literally says, End of law is Christ but why bother finishing the sentence? Last Update: Jan 03, 2023 And in Malachi 4:4, why did God say remember the Law of Moses if God had His own law? The exorcism and the slaughter: Did they happen? It is a logical thesis based on historic accounts (Josephus, etc) Feel free to challenge this thought or pursue it from another angle. about a.d. 65. He's a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ now. The demons are aware that He is there and they are frightened. Being made in God's image, we are more important to the Lord than any animal. The Gerasenes were the people of the district of which Gerasa was the capital. Ill take Mark at his word; hes thinking of an army of demons, not an army of human soldiers. Perhaps that is his point. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged Him to let them enter these. WebWhy were there pigs in gerasenes? Many of you have seen, maybe fewer of you have read, a book by the famous British philosopher and skeptic, Bertrand Russell. To save this word, you'll need to log in. Youll notice at the beginning of the passage that they go across the lake to the east side and that puts them outside the bounds of Galilee and outside the bounds of Israel and over into Gentile territory on the other side. And wild animals are not forget because farmers in the Land of Israel are commanded in Exodus 23:11 to leave parts of their fields for food for wildlife. 2 And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. But are these good pastors on the right track? Every place the Master went on his travels it was to minister to a Jew, just as Paul said, To the Jew first (Romans 1:16 and Romans 2:9-10; ever notice that the New Testament never mentions Christians, just Jews and Gentiles?! 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? Bibliography W. A. Thomson, The Land and the Book (1882), 333-338, 353, 359; C. H. Kraeling, Gerasa, City of the Decapolis (1938); The Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible (1946), 64, 117; M. F. Unger, Archaeology and the NT (1962), 139-141; E. Lohmeyer, Das Evangelium des Markus (1963), 93f; C. F. Pfeiffer, The Biblical World (1966), 252-254. Yet being part of the Godhead means Messiah cannot not flip-flop his opinions. 1. 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. They had the exact same reaction to Jesus that Bertrand Russell would manifest two thousand years later. The real irritation is people saying the Law was impossible to obey, when Scripture says the opposite it true. Additionally, the encounter takes place among the tombs, an earthly realm of the dead, so to speak. Wed also have to confess that the farmers were not Gentile. He's set free. And it is reveals a great deal comparing the reactions of the Gentiles in the two towns. It is now called Jerash and is a deserted ruin. I wonder why?). This agrees with the general description of the site (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26). Only this interpretation explains the farmers restrained reaction over the slaughter of the swine, and their tremendous terror of the Messiah. It pains them to admit that Jesus was/is a, Sixth Fact: True identity of the pig farmers. Gergesa is located, with relative certainty, midway along the E bank of the Sea of Galilee; Gadara is six m. SE from the S end of the Sea of Galilee; and Gerasa is some thirty-five m. SE. Jesus was teaching the way to live life so demons would not have a place in us to possess. And what does the Law say about pigs? 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, Isaiah 44:9; Isaiah 44:19 Pigs were the required sacrifice on the altar in the temples of Zeus Olympus (Greek) or Jupiter Capitolinus (Roman), the same supreme god of all Hellenic theology known as the "king of Problem was, not even the pigs could withstand the madness these demonic forces manifested. For you Tolkien fans it reminds me of a character in the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings. Incredible. Interestingly, if you obey the latter, and take just the babies or the eggs but release the dame, God promises you a long and successful life. As for Matthew, he quoted Jesus as commanding the demons, and used the plural form of the verb, go. Mark as quoted by Spalde, Annika; Strindlund, Pelle (2012). That was a very large farming operation, even by the modern European and North American standards of today which typically do not have such giant herds. View our current career opportunities. David did the same to a bear that took a sheep. In actual fact, when you stop to think about it, If our faithful, unchanging Heavenly Father God made a straightforward decisive yet divisive decision and repeated it, Fourth Fact: Gods Enduring, Unchangeable Word, As was just so elegantly discussed, the destruction of the herd, Your word, O LORD, is everlasting; it is firmly fixed in the heavens. Because God is so steady, and doesnt reverse or repeal, He can be trusted to do what He promises; good or evil. Now I must say that that really boggles my mind because Luke's main point is so crystal clear and it's set in the context of three other stories that are crystal clear. Jews don't get the joke either because they don't read the New Testament much given the fact Christians have turned them off of Jesus. Can we imagine our Jew receiving a mostly positive reaction or a negative one? He's not only a person extraordinarily under bondage to demonic activity, but he's actually a picture of everyone who is in the thrall of sin. For the sake of the argument, lets start by assuming that the pastors assumption is right and he is a Gentile (though we know he could have been Jewish). Thy powers bring loss to us and ours. 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. As out-of-place as the pig-assisted exorcism by the Lake of Galilee was, the awful event is actually recorded in three Gospels; in Matthew 8:2834, Mark 5:120 and Luke 8:2639. Ive not heard that theory before. And guess what this week's focus is on? So he gave them permission. Some of Jesus's reputation for being normally meek and merciful comes from statements like: From Jesus's own mouth, we are informed of Gods special love and attention for defenseless animals and we know Jesus has the same heart for the weak. So why did the meek n merciful Son of Man cast countless defiling demons into two thousand piglets, sows and boars? get to know the Bible better! there was never a prophecy that the kosher laws would be removed, so the verse is coming completely from left field. This food is unclean and defiling for you. The list in the first chapter of Leviticus contains only bovine, sheep, goats and pigeons; all typified later, in Leviticus 11, as clean/pure animals. 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. and therefore the good pastor declares the demoniac to be a Gentile since, as everyone also knows, Gentiles are better tomb-dwellers.. The Law of God. And the thing that I love the most is the utter contrast in his attitude toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture also makes it abundantly clear that God Almighty cannot change, and no one, not even the Lord's Anointed Messiah can change the Law which they both wrote. 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. As well, every place the Master went on his travels was inside of the Land of Israel; he never went to Gentile territory. Late Latin Gerasenus, Gergesenus, from Greek Gerasnos, Gergesnos, from Gerasa, Gergesa ancient town in Palestine. Where He goes, they show up and they say things to Him. Yet they tried to throw one of their own off a cliff (Luke 4:29). Later, Leviticus 11 explains to His Chosen People that He had chosen only ritually clean/pure animals for them to eat. I could have come up with better arguments against Christianity than Bertrand Russell, but in the course of this book in one of the chapters, he says it is this story that led him to the conclusion that Jesus was neither the best nor the most virtuous of men. Let's pray. Scripture exhorts us to care for animals and not to be cruel to them. Since these events were supposedly witnessed by hundreds (and even thousands of people), it would have been very easy for 1st century critics to debunk it as non-historical. The shortest distance between two thoughts. Although He encountered and ministered to Gentiles such as the centurion who had a paralyzed servant (Matt. Israels real enemy is Satan. Those outside of the nation of Israel were considered gentiles. I beg you, do not torment me. And then the demons beg not to be cast into the abyss. the obscure phrase, (declaring all food clean), is magically transformed by the New International Version into, In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean, or into even lovelier prose like, By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in Gods eyes, by the New Living Translation (talk about making silk purse out of a sows ear). And then God Himself repeated it five more times in the same book: Leviticus 11:45, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:2, Leviticus 20:7-8 and Leviticus 20:26! Gerasa. Jesus helped a Syrophoenician woman and commended her faith ( Matthew 15:2128 ). Well, this happens in the gospel with Jesus. Lets re-examine the event in the light of seven important Scriptural facts. This page from an Orthodox website partially shows how Judaism views their responsibility. Issues are listed below: we are using four Greek words to eliminate entire chapters of Scripture.

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