translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MRK

label: NET study note

text: bo) have “Gergesenes.” Others ( א * B D latt sa) have “Gerasenes,” which is the reading followed in the translation here and in Luke 8:26 . The difference between Matthew and Mark (which is parallel to Luke) may well have to do with uses of variant regional terms. The region of the Gerasenes would be in Gentile territory on the (south)eastern side of the Sea of Galilee across from Galilee. Matthew 8:28 records this miracle as occurring “in the region of the Gadarenes.” “Irrespective of how one settles this issue, for the [second and] Third Evangelist the chief concern is that Jesus has crossed over into Gentile territory, ‘opposite Galilee’” (J. B. Green, Luke [NICNT], 337). The region of Gadara extended to the Sea of Galilee and included the town of Sennabris on the southern shore – the town that the herdsmen most likely entered after the drowning of the pigs.


text: Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.


text: Though it seems unusual for a demon to invoke God’s name ( “I implore you by God” ) in his demands of Jesus, the parallel in Matt 8:29 suggests the reason: “Why have you come to torment us before the time?” There was an appointed time in which demons would face their judgment, and they seem to have viewed Jesus’ arrival on the scene as an illegitimate change in God’s plan regarding the time when their sentence would be executed.


text: This is a parenthetical explanation by the author.


text: The name Legion means “thousands,” a word taken from a Latin term for a large group of soldiers. The term not only suggests a multiple possession, but also adds a military feel to the account. This is a true battle.


text: Many have discussed why Jesus gave them permission , since the animals were destroyed. However, this is another example of a miracle that is a visual lesson. The demons are destructive: They were destroying the man. They destroyed the pigs. They destroy whatever they touch. The point was to take demonic influence seriously, as well as Jesus’ power over it as a picture of the larger battle for human souls. There would be no doubt how the man’s transformation had taken place.


text: Jesus instructs the man to declare what the Lord has done for him, in contrast to the usual instructions (e.g., 1:44; 5:43 ) to remain silent. Here in Gentile territory Jesus allowed more open discussion of his ministry. D. L. Bock ( Luke [BECNT], 1:781) suggests that with few Jewish religious representatives present, there would be less danger of misunderstanding Jesus’ ministry as political.


text: The Decapolis refers to a league of towns (originally consisting of ten; the Greek name literally means “ten towns”) whose region (except for Scythopolis) lay across the Jordan River.


text: Note that the man could not separate what God had done from the one through whom God had done it ( what Jesus had done for him ). This man was called to witness to God’s goodness at home.


text: This story of the woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years is recounted in the middle of the story about Jairus’ daughter. Mark’s account (as is often the case) is longer and more detailed than the parallel accounts in Matt 9:18-26 and Luke 8:40-56 . Mark’s fuller account may be intended to show that the healing of the woman was an anticipation of the healing of the little girl.


text: See the note on synagogue rulers in 5:22 .


text: This group probably includes outside or even professional mourners, not just family, because a large group seems to be present.


text: That no one should know about this. See the note on the phrase who he was in 3:12 .