Mark 5:11-20, The Healing of the Gerasene Demoniac Part 2 (The Study of Mark)

     11 And there was a great herd of pigs feeding near the mountain1. 12 And they urged him saying, “Send us into the pigs2, so that we may go into them.” 13 And he allowed them. And after going out from the man, the unclean spirits went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the cliff into the sea, about two thousand of them, and they were drowned3 in the sea. 14 And the ones who were feeding them fled and told4 it in the city and in the fields; and they came to see what had happened. 15 And they come to Jesus and see the demon-possessed man5 sitting clothed and sane6, who had had the legion of demons, and they were frightened. 16 And the onlookers7 described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man and about the pigs. 17 And they began to urge him to leave from their territory. 18 And while he was getting into the boat, the demon-possessed man was pleading that he may be with him8 . 19 And he did not permit him, but says to him, “Go into your house to your family and tell9 them all the great things the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you.” 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in the Decapolis10 all the great things Jesus did for him, and everyone was amazed. Mark 5:11-20

1 πρὸς τῷ ὄρει (near the mountain) 

Greek: “toward the mountain”.

2 From a Jewish point of view, this would have been “unclean to unclean”. Pigs would have been a fitting place for demons to go.

3 ἐπνίγοντο (were drowned) 

Greek: “were choked”.

4 ἀπήγγειλαν (told) 

or “announced”.

5 τὸν δαιμονιζόμενον (the demon-possessed man) 

Greek: “the one who is demon possessed”. Obviously, the man is no longer demon-possessed.

6 σωφρονοῦντα (sane) 

Greek: “in his right mind”.

7 οἱ ἰδόντες (onlookers) 

Greek: “the ones who saw”.

8 ἵνα μετ ̓ αὐτοῦ ᾖ (that he may be with him)

This suggests that the man wanted to be a disciple of Jesus and be in the “inner circle”, but that was not his mission. His mission was to tell his story to everyone on his side of the sea of Galilee. There is also a chance here that the demon-possessed man was a gentile. That would have made it virtually impossible for him to be on of the “inner circle” as the Jews would have not looked very highly on that.

9 ἀπάγγειλον (tell)

Greek: “report”.

10 Decapolis (ten cities)

The Greek

Μάρκον 5·11 ἦν δὲ ἐκεῖ πρὸς τῷ ὄρει ἀγέλη χοίρων μεγάλη βοσκομένη· 12 καὶ παρεκάλεσαν αὐτὸν λέγοντες· πέμψον ἡμᾶς εἰς τοὺς χοίρους, ἵνα εἰς αὐτοὺς εἰσέλθωμεν. 13 καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτοῖς. καὶ ἐξελθόντα τὰ πνεύματα τὰ ἀκάθαρτα εἰσῆλθον εἰς τοὺς χοίρους, καὶ ὥρμησεν ἡ ἀγέλη κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, ὡς δισχίλιοι, καὶ ἐπνίγοντο ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ.

Μάρκον 5·14 Καὶ οἱ βόσκοντες αὐτοὺς ἔφυγον καὶ ἀπήγγειλαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀγρούς· καὶ ἦλθον ἰδεῖν τί ἐστιν τὸ γεγονὸς 15 καὶ ἔρχονται πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν καὶ θεωροῦσιν τὸν δαιμονιζόμενον καθήμενον ἱματισμένον καὶ σωφρονοῦντα, τὸν ἐσχηκότα τὸν λεγιῶνα, καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν. 16 καὶ διηγήσαντο αὐτοῖς οἱ ἰδόντες πῶς ἐγένετο τῷ δαιμονιζομένῳ καὶ περὶ τῶν χοίρων. 17 καὶ ἤρξαντο παρακαλεῖν αὐτὸν ἀπελθεῖν ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρίων αὐτῶν.

Μάρκον 5·18 Καὶ ἐμβαίνοντος αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ πλοῖον παρεκάλει αὐτὸν ὁ δαιμονισθεὶς ἵνα μετ ̓ αὐτοῦ ᾖ. 19 καὶ οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ λέγει αὐτῷ· ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου πρὸς τοὺς σοὺς καὶ ἀπάγγειλον αὐτοῖς ὅσα ὁ κύριός σοι πεποίηκεν καὶ ἠλέησέν σε. 20 καὶ ἀπῆλθεν καὶ ἤρξατο κηρύσσειν ἐν τῇ Δεκαπόλει ὅσα ἐποίησεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, καὶ πάντες ἐθαύμαζον.