Post by Ben on Jan 6, 2015 23:44:08 GMT
Matthew 8:28-34 -- "And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. And they that kept them fled, and went their ways into the city, and told every thing, and what was befallen to the possessed of the devils. And, behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus: and when they saw him, they besought him that he would depart out of their coasts."
Something I had not thought about before when reading this passage, is that the people of Israel weren't even supposed to keep pigs! It was just another example of how they had strayed from Yahweh's commandments. From Nazareth Revisited:
Something I had not thought about before when reading this passage, is that the people of Israel weren't even supposed to keep pigs! It was just another example of how they had strayed from Yahweh's commandments. From Nazareth Revisited:
“Suffer us to enter into the swine.” Jesus acted on the suggestion. The culture of the pig was a breach of the law of Moses. It was part of the disobedience which he was about to revenge on the nation in a baptism of fire (effected 40 years later). It was therefore a fitting thing to mark with his displeasure in the way now suggested. He said, “Go,” and at his word the maddening influence which had so long possessed the man was transferred from him to the 2,000 swine, and transformed into a judicial impulse which projected them in a general stampede down the brow of the hill into the water, where they were all drowned—as intended. ... The whole of the circumstances adapt themselves to the view that Christ in benevolently curing a violent madman, judicially transferred the madness to a herd of swine that had no business in the land of Israel.
--(Nazareth Revisited, Chapter 19).
--(Nazareth Revisited, Chapter 19).