. 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. Instead they joke around and give pat answers. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. It pains them to admit that Jesus was/is a Jewish Messiah and not a Christian one. The shortest distance between two thoughts. Peter, the thick-headed captain of the Tedious Twelve, needed a hammer of a vision to get it across to him that Gentiles not ham and back bacon are clean and Jews could fellowship with them. Instead of a sling and a stone, Jesus needs only his voice; Jesus commands and the enemy falls. We should ask the good pastors if love thy neighbour as thyself has any bearing on killing your neighbours livestock. 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. If you watch the short clip (above) and compare it to the one hour source video Dominating Powers, Part 2 (Mark 5:1-20) you will notice how MacArthurs speaking style changes as soon as he addresses the matter of the pigs. It's amazing Jesus comes to shore and it's obvious that He has immediately commanded the spirits to leave the man because they remonstrate with Him. 8 ) Their pork was kosher, kept out of the camp for 7 days, and circumcised. 141-144). Food cant affect our salvation, nor disqualify us from being saved.Pork might not be very healthy,but as long as its USDA approved and deemed good by health inspectors from feeder hogs tat eat corn to clean the mess out of them of the last few bowel movements, then you should be good to go. Jerash (aka Gerasa, Gerash or Gerasha) is the capital and the largest city of the Jerash Governorate in Jordan, but in ancient times it was one of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan cities in the ancient Near East.Settled by humans as early as the Neolithic period (c. 7500-5500 BCE) and founded as a Hellenistic city in the 2nd century BCE, Jerash is This has been a long blog thanks for sticking with it but because Im going to ruffle feathers, Ive gone the extra mile to explain myself clearly and to plug any holes in my argument. 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. Jesus though he was The Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-18 and John 1:21) had to play by the same laws. And it is reveals a great deal comparing the reactions of the Gentiles in the two towns. The Spectators probably from all over the world! They are unclean for you. Of course not. Money Maker Software enables you to conduct more efficient analysis in Stock, Commodity, Forex & Comex Markets. Jesus was a Jew. Why? And repeatedly, these miracles will focus us in on Who is Jesus? and What do His deeds tell us about what He has come to do and the power that He has? And so this passage helps us in this way. Am I forgiven by saying, I just allowed the kids to have the grenade? All these inescapable facts are so important to getting the right interpretation of Mark 5 and the other gospel records of the same event. The Greeks were believers in the spirit Sproul also agrees with this preference of people over pigs when he writes, a man is worth more than 2,000 pigs.. So much for sola scriptura. I would think that it shows that demons would enter anything that could be unclean including a human being. Therefore we know that when Jesus helped the Syrophoenician woman (not a Jewess, but she came to him), he and the woman were both in Israeli territory. 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. Christians never finish reading the chapter. There's a total change of nature in this man. Thats why there was a herd of two thousand The gospels. But there are many reasons why Im not keen on the idea of the Gospels as non-historical. He should know that centuries before the prophet Isaiah spoke against Jews eating pork and hanging around in tombs. He doesnt want to connect the dots and he doesn't want us to either. And based roughly on current prices, Jesus caused hundred of thousands of dollars in damages. The concept of Gentiles is found in the Old Testament. Scripture exhorts us to care for animals and not to be cruel to them. But here's the second thing. It's interesting isn't it Jesus crosses the river, the lake, and no sooner has He set His foot on the other side but this man shows up to meet Him. He's a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ now. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Perhaps that is his point. When they ask Jesus to leave, he does so without any objection; Jesus ministry will not be imposed on those unwilling to receive it. Demonic forces seem to be territorial; i.e., they have assigned areas of domain. * If one believes demons exists, why invent a false story to make the point that Jesus has power over demons? And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.". THE PIGS DID IT FOR HIM!! And opposite to normal flowers, our lovely Scripture-flower will never dry out or wither away (Isaiah 40:8). The pastors attempts to laugh off the haunting question about the meek and lowly Son of Man killing all the pigs is pathetic. This is the only sensible interpretation which remains consistent with all Scripture. Good Pastor John MacArthur's funny option, The real Author(s) of the Law and the Commandments. So these four miracles show Jesus reaching out to Gentiles, either in Galilee or even in even more Gentile territory across the river. Learn a new word every day. And Jews are forbidden by God and His eternal commands to own pigs. WebThey land in the country of the Gadarenes which is on the North-east shore of the Sea of Galilee about 6 miles southeast across the sea from Capernaum. Originally published in Tabletalk, our daily Bible study magazine. And what about commands for married people (Exodus 21:10), or the command that a man gives his wife a bill of divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1)? It's entitled, Why I Am Not A Christian. California - Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Problem was, not even the pigs could withstand the madness these demonic forces manifested. He always followed Gods Law. 5 So they came to the other side of the lake, to the region of the Gerasenes. These pastors have, Look at the prophets; they also prove Scripture doesnt change. Lots of non-Jews lived there. (Please dont hide behind that sensational dispensational chart. Does he really believe Mark 5 is Biblical material, To be honest, all the bad humour honestly makes me believe the pastor is being. Two thousand pigs together is quiet unimaginable. The demons are aware that He is there and they are frightened. 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. David did the same to a bear that took a sheep. (For many a time it had seized him. Fourthly, Jesus specifically went to the land of the Gentile Gadarenes or Gerasenes, east of the Sea of Galilee, to minister to them. The demons freak out that Jesus is there because its not time for them to be tormented by Him yet. Obviously, they were Jewish pig farmers seeing judgement for flagrant disobey Gods Word and keeping and eating pig meat. The real-estate on the east side of the lake of Galilee where Jesus met the demons and the swine was also part of Israel-proper. John 13:34 was the one single, solitary time that the Master told his disciples, I give you a new commandment. However, the commandment wasnt a new commandment. To any Jew, Jesuss actions were crystal clear. Out of the three, Marks gospel presents the most information about the herd. Gadara). He's set free. In fact, they beg Jesus to leave. The first two are in the Authorized Version. (Question: If God cares about the mother-child relationship in animals, how does He consider that relationship for people? From the brook beside the road he will drink and for this reason, he will lift high his head. For heavens sake, why cant the good pastor try to explain the incompatibility of our loving Jesus wiping out hundreds of innocent creatures without a punch line? Please note how John repeats the commands, adding a zinger curse to both. The action is no different than, Lets return again to when Jesus cleaned up the Temple courtyard of merchants and merchandise. Theres got to be a a good one about. We pray that he would find liberation in Jesus Christ and see his life and family restored, but my friends, any one of us, any one of us, can be in the same thralldom today. He is the freest man in the world. But today, if you said to anybody, Tiger Woods is a slave to his desires, they would recognize it. And there's a lesson in each of these things for all of us. After a dramatic journey across the lake (Luke 8:22-25), Jesus steps for the first and last time into Gentile territory. Jesus came to teach a better way of life that you could have abundantly! No products in the cart. A Faith Embracing All Creatures: Addressing Commonly Asked Questions about Christian Care for Animals. In Jesus first trip to that Gentile area: They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes (in Gadara). Lastly, even if Mr. Pipers explanation were true, look what its application could mean. But what are its implications? being the holy Messiah of Israel, Jesus wants the swine out of The Land as much as he wants unclean spirits out of The People, and. If you eat a swine/hog that has killed eaten a poisonous snake and you eat that hog, you will be poisoned and die. 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. And guess what this week's focus is on? Acting as Israels Messiah, Jesus was carrying out actions that were predicted by the prophets, like when Zechariah said that no merchants in the house of the LORD (Zechariah 14:21).. Instead of Jesus turning water into wine. why do you think there were pigs there?]. Jesus helped a Syrophoenician woman and commended her faith ( Matthew 15:2128 ). What do you have that youre captive to, that youre enslaved to? WebAll three Synoptic Gospels ( Mark 5:120; Luke 8:2639; Matthew 8:2834) mention the swine miracle, although with variations. And Luke intends this to be a display of an extraordinary case. For one, Remember that the Law reveals to us the mind and personality of God. Doesn't Jesus Treat Animals as Property? In York, T.; Alexis-Baker, A.; Bekoff, M.; McLaren, B. Those people were Jews in Nazareth. Amen. Jesus then asked him, What is your name? And he said, Legion, for many demons had entered him. Such alternative readings include arguments that the swine were meant to represent the Roman army or "unclean and unfaithful" people; that pigs were considered "unclean", so destroying them might be consistent with care for other animals; and that Jesus did not actually "send" the devils into the pigs. If our faithful, unchanging Heavenly Father God made a straightforward decisive yet divisive decision and repeated it over and over and over, then why cant the good pastors connect the dots and figure out Jesuss real relationship to the pigs? He didnt give any new commandment. The good pastor basically believes that in Jesuss mind, one mans peace, preservation and freedom from unclean spirits is worth the sacrifice of a couple thousand pigs. Anyway, it was the demons that would have decided where, and if, he slept. They are out to steal, kill, and destroy, so we dare not trifle with evil spirits. 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. It seems to happen a lot in the gospels. (eds.). Notice how Gods, Plus, when Jesus chased the sellers out of the Temple courts (. So whats the point because Pastor John Piper feels the pigs were less important and John LOL MacArthur just jokes about the slaughter neither reaction seems sensible. WebThe meaning of GENTILE is a person of a non-Jewish nation or of non-Jewish faith; especially : a Christian as distinguished from a Jew. Post the Definition of Gerasene to Facebook, Share the Definition of Gerasene on Twitter, More than 250,000 words that aren't in our free dictionary, Expanded definitions, etymologies, and usage notes. So I figure we could speculate a little and see where this goes. If the interpretation from, If a bunch of little children want a ball to play with and I toss them a grenade, am I off the hook if a kid pulls out the pin? Yet they tried to throw one of their own off a cliff (, Now, if a Jew can be treated so badly by fellow Jews, lets put on our thinking caps and imagine what happens to a Jew walking straight into a big group of Gentiles. The final battle requires a different strategy, one that involves a cross. Both Gerasa and Gadara were cities to the east of the Sea of Galilee and the River Jordan. And why werent they demanding compensation for their pigs? And he is sent out to negotiate with Aragorn and Gandalf, and the others. We said the last time that we were together that in Luke 8 you begin four miracle stories, all of which either happen in Galilee or in Gentile lands. So why did the meek n merciful Son of Man cast countless defiling demons into two thousand piglets, sows and boars? When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him and said with a loud voice, What have You to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Search the web and you will find many opinions about why the pigs died. The story is about the power of Jesus and, even his name, to rid humans of demons and also to show that his power was for Gentiles as well. And in Malachi 4:4, why did God say remember the Law of Moses if God had His own law? If ever there was a small and weak proof-text, this is the one. A city in Transjordania, situated about thirty-five m. SE of the S end of the Sea of Galilee, one of the cities of the Decapolis; the inhabitants of the city. They even allowed themselves to go ballistic on the Sabbath, which shows how angry they really were. His fellow citizens tried to restrain him in chains a horrible way to treat mental illness, by the way but he always broke free. This agrees with the general description of the site (Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26). However, the silversmith was a smart cookie and knew that the more people bought into Pauls line of thinking, the less theyd be buying his souvenir Diana statues. Such alternative readings include arguments that the swine were meant to represent the Roman army or "unclean and unfaithful" people; that pigs were considered "unclean", so destroying them might be consistent with care for other animals; and that Jesus did not actually "send" the devils into the pigs. He showed mercy to the men who were possessed and brought judgement on the pig farmers. You don't have to look very far. One unambiguous (but hotly debated) verse that supports this doctrine is, If we agree Messiah wrote the Law of God, we should then wonder, (Please dont hide behind that sensational dispensational chart. We ask that You would open our eyes to behold wonderful things in it and open our ears, we pray, to hear Your Word rightly. 9 ) They were wild Ferrel hogs feeding near the cliffs. So I don't know how seventeen interpretations of this particular story got circulated. Gods altar was also separate and distinct and holy. They were people who knew him. All we know now is that the demoniac could have been either: Jew or Gentile. Since all of these areas overlap, one may take the references as meaning the same place. Note: Demetrius was angry only because of speculation of what Pauls preaching might do to business Paul had not physically caused any damage. The Son of God mercifully cast thousands of. Wed obey Him. Dictionaries Encyclopedias Lexicons. Can we imagine our Jew receiving a mostly positive reaction or a negative one? The mountainside has caves and hewn tombs where, according to Mark and Luke, the demoniac had taken shelter. WebGentiles [N] [T] [B] [S] (Heb., usually in plural, goyim), meaning in general all nations except the Jews. And Jews are forbidden by God and His eternal commands to own pigs. The apostle had been busy preaching in Demetriuss hometown of Ephesus and Pauls message about the one true God was catching on. Lets use his recording to the event as our jumping off point: Every Bible passage is either a historical narrative piece (such as the one we just read), a legal and/or procedural document (the majority of the Five Books of Moses), or it is a poetic passage (like Psalms, Proverbs and much of the Prophets). He is the dividing line here. 8). Because the writer of the story wanted to make sure that everyone would know that the Garasenes were not Jewish. Its kinda like the difference between a Disney movie, a TV documentary and/or an infomercial; normally each is dissimilar from the other. Do you remember? Read it for yourself. Regrettably, what were about to study the Big Pig Splash Down isn't one of them. In, David was a good example of what Jesus meant by , Sadly, our two good pastors seem oblivious to the fact that under the Law of Moses, animals have benefits too, and this fact should have bearing on any interpretation of Mark 5. We know that two thousand pigs go over the cliff. Learn how your comment data is processed. He was completely in the thrall of sin. The apostles arent having a pig roast anywhere. Origen says this is a good example of how Biblical writers simply were not concerned to precisely identify certain sites. Johns words seem to apply to all of Scripture. founders day speech by students were the gerasenes gentiles. This one verse alone, without all the extra proof from Jesuss joke, should convince us that his commandments are the 613 commandments of the Law of Moses. Last week, we were crossing over with Jesus to the other side, weathering a fierce storm until he woke up and calmed the sea. He's the friend of sinners. The site is identified today with the town of Kersa, or Gersa, just below Wadi es-Samak. Remember the story of Jesus casting demons out of the crazy man in Luke 8? Secondly, I want you to look at the Lord Jesus Christ Himself because His power over Satan is on display full force in this passage. While foretelling death and doom was often, Fifth Fact: The True Author(s) of Scripture. Most translations interpret the Hebrew to say. In course of time, as the Jews began more and more to pride themselves on their peculiar privileges, it acquired unpleasant associations, and was used as a term of contempt. So if you have the ears to hear, the Father and the Son both wrote the Law and gave it to 630,000 men (and women and children) at Mt. I beg You, do not torment me. Then, if you look in verse 38, he begs Jesus that he might be with him. We ask this in Jesus' name. And so the fact that youre in a country with a herd of pigs lets you know that youre in Gentile territory and that's part of the point of the story. WebIt was named after the 10 ( deka) cities ( polis) which were in that area.