CHAPTER 5

(A.D. 31)

THE DEMONIAC DELIVERED

¹And they came over unto the other side of the sea (refers to the eastern shore of Galilee), into the country of the Gadarenes (the area of the town of Gadara, which was three miles from the Sea of Galilee).

²And when He was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit (symbolizes the great mission for which Christ came to the world; He had calmed the storm on the sea, and now He would calm the storm in a mans soul),

³Who had his dwelling among the tombs (the wages of sin is death); and no man could bind him, no, not with chains (sin and the powers of darkness will yield only to Christ, and what He did at the Cross on our behalf; this rules out humanistic psychology, and anything else instituted by man in order to address this problem):

⁴Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces (superhuman strength given to him by the unclean spirit): neither could any man tame him (once again, reinforces the great Truth that Christ and the Cross alone, are the only answer).

⁵And always, night and day (there is no peace for those who do not know the Lord), he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones (a symbolic picture, which takes place with all unredeemed in the spiritual).

⁶But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped Him (the demon spirit worshiped Him; all demon spirits and Satan himself are made to pay homage to God the Son; Satan and all of his minions were defeated at the Cross [Col. 2:14-15]),

⁷And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with You, Jesus, Thou Son of the Most High God? (Refers to this evil spirit knowing exactly as to who Jesus was!) I adjure Thee by God, that You torment me not (a certain time has been appointed by God to which these spirits will be confined to the pit [Rev. 20:1-3]).

⁸For He said unto him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit (constitutes a direct order, which the unclean spirit must obey).

⁹And He (Christ) asked him, What is your name? (Why did Jesus ask this question? He did so, because He knew that other spirits inhabited this man also.) And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many (the unclean spirit was the head demon, but many more were there as well).

¹⁰And he besought him (besought Christ) much that He would not send them away out of the country (this area was full of Hellenistic apostate Jews, and evidently was loved by demon spirits; we learn here that demon spirits enjoy places that have little or no mention of Christ).

¹¹Now there was there near unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding (they were, no doubt, owned by Jews, even though Jews were forbidden by the Law to eat pork).

¹²And all the devils (demons) besought Him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them (they could not enter into these hogs without the express permission of Christ, so how much less could they enter into the sheep of His pasture!).

¹³And forthwith Jesus gave them leave (means that He did not command them to do this, but instead, gave them permission). And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea (many have questioned the right of Christ to do this, which destroyed other peoples property; however, even though the Holy Spirit through Mark didnt explain it, we know that everything the Lord does is right; its not merely right because He does it, but because it actually is right).

¹⁴And they who fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done (a great multitude).

¹⁵And they come to Jesus (the loss of the animals would have been nothing in comparison to what they would have received upon their acceptance of Christ, at least, had they done so, which they didnt), and see him who was possessed with the devil (had been possessed with demons), and had the legion, sitting, and clothed (clothing, no doubt, given to him by the Disciples), and in his right mind (irrespective as to how much education a person may have, until they come to Christ, they arent completely in their right mind): and they were afraid (regrettably, they did not allow this fear to bring them to Christ).

¹⁶And they who saw it told them how it befell to him who was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine (lends credence to the thought that the swine-herders had witnessed the entire episode, concerning the action of Christ in delivering the demoniac, and allowing the demons to go into the hogs).

¹⁷And they began to pray Him (Jesus) to depart out of their coasts (it is remarkable!; they thought more of the swine than they did of the eternal life that Christ could have given them; and so it is with most of the world).

¹⁸And when He (Jesus) was come into the ship, he who had been possessed with the devil prayed Him that he might be with Him (he wanted to go with Jesus and the Disciples, and no wonder!).

¹⁹Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but said unto him, Go home to your friends, and tell them how great things the Lord has done for you, and has had compassion on you (A. Go tell; B. Great things which the Lord has done; and, C. Tell of the compassion).

²⁰And he departed, and began to publish in Decapolis (a region east of the Jordan River, containing a number of towns and cities) how great things Jesus had done for him (he became an Evangelist): and all men did marvel (evidently, many had known him before, and now see what the Lord has done for him; this is the story of untold millions).

HEALINGS AND MIRACLES

²¹And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side (back to Capernaum, on the west side), much people gathered unto Him: and He was near unto the sea (means that hundreds, if not thousands, were waiting on the shore for Him to come back to Capernaum).

²²And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the Synagogue, Jairus by name (each Synagogue had several rulers); and when he saw Him (Jesus), he fell at His feet (a posture of worship),

²³And besought Him greatly (an impassioned plea), saying, My little daughter lies at the point of death (actually, she probably died about the time that Jairus was importuning Christ): I pray You, come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live (the Greek actually says, to save her from death).

²⁴And Jesus went with him; and much people followed Him (Jesus), and thronged Him.

²⁵And a certain woman (tradition says her name was Veronica), which had an issue of blood twelve years (speaks of a constant hemorrhage for that period of time. A female disorder),

²⁶And had suffered many things of many physicians (means that she had suffered extreme pain at the hands of these doctors), and had spent all that she had (many of these physicians had treated her merely for the money, knowing all the time they could not help her), and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse (had not helped her at all, but had worsened the situation),

²⁷When she had heard of Jesus (the Greek actually says, the Jesus distinguishing Him from all others), came in the press behind (the great crowd of people), and touched His garment (probably referred to the touching of the hem of the shawl thrown over His shoulder, which contained a blue fringe, which the Jews were required to wear, to remind them they were Gods People [Num. 15:38-41; Deut. 22:12]).

²⁸For she said (means she kept saying it over and over to herself, or even possibly to others near by), If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole (concerns her level of faith).

²⁹And straightway (immediately) the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague (she knew she was healed).

³⁰And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue (power) had gone out of Him, turned Him about in the press (crowd), and said, Who touched My clothes? (The Holy Spirit had not seen fit to reveal to Him who had touched Him.)

³¹And His Disciples said unto Him, You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, Who touched Me?

³²And He looked round about to see her who had done this thing.

³³But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before Him, and told Him all the truth (proclaims her now seeking mercy as she had previously sought healing; it would be granted as well!).

³⁴And He said unto her, Daughter (in the Twenty-fifth Verse, she was addressed merely as a certain woman, now she is called daughter, which refers to relationship; He, in effect, had made her a member of the Family of God), your faith has made you whole (if He doesnt touch us, we can touch Him); go in peace (gain Salvation as well as healing), and be whole of your plague (meaning that the malady would never return).

³⁵While He yet spoke (was speaking to the woman), there came from the ruler of the Synagogues house certain(a certain one) which said, Your daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? (The faith of this certain one wasnt high enough to believe that Jesus could raise the dead.)

³⁶As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken (He overheard what was being said), He said unto the ruler of the Synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe (in effect, Jesus said, stop fearing, and be believing).

³⁷And He suffered no man to follow Him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James (He took these three with Him to the home of Jairus).

³⁸And He came to the house of the Ruler of the Synagogue, and seeing the tumult, and them who wept and wailed greatly (hired mourners which was the custom in those days).

³⁹And when He was come in (into the home of Jairus), He said unto them, Why do you make this ado, and weep? (Jesus was not in sympathy with this custom and practice) the damsel is not dead, but sleeps (did not mean that she was actually not dead, but that the child was not dead to stay dead; as well, the word, sleepeth, brings us to the fact of the Resurrection; in the Scriptures, the dead are constantly referred to as sleeping; however, it is only the body which sleeps, with the soul and the spirit at death, instantly going to be with Christ that is, if the person is saved).

⁴⁰And they (the paid mourners) laughed Him to scorn (meaning that they ridiculed Him; what simpletons!). But when He had put them all out (demanded that they leave), He took the father and the mother of the damsel, and them who were with Him (Peter, James, and John), and entered in where the damsel was lying (the word, entereth, actually refers to a person going on a journey; even though only a few feet, at least in this instance, it conveyed the idea of distance; in effect, it pointed forward to the coming Resurrection).

⁴¹And He took the damsel by the hand (refers to a strong grip), and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto you, arise (this was spoken in Aramic, the same tongue used concerning our Lords Words on the Cross, My God, My God why have You forsaken Me?; as the original language was reported in these two cases, quite possibly they relate to each other; as Jesus defeated death at the home of Jairus, likewise, and for the whole world, He defeated death at Calvary).

⁴²And straightway (immediately) the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment (the Scriptures only record three people being raised from the dead by Christ, but Augustine says that He raised many more).

⁴³And He charged them straitly (commanded them) that no man should know it (they must not relate the account of this miracle; there were reasons for this, the least not being the furor which religious leaders would cause; but it is certain that such news could not be kept); and commanded that something should be given her to eat (due to her illness, which actually killed her, she probably had not eaten for days).