Matthew 8:28-34

The Two Demoniacs of Decapolis (8:28-34).

Having experienced their amazing deliverance the disciples were no doubt pleased to reach a safe haven. Little did they realise that they were going to see even greater things than this. They had learned the lesson that as Jesus' disciples they did not need to fear the storms and the seas, because He would watch over them, but now they would be faced with an even greater foe, and would see Jesus' power exercised over him and his minions. It would reveal to them that both violent nature and the awesome powers of the supernatural were under Jesus' control. And they would also learn that the very sea from which He had rescued them was to be the destiny of these evil spirits. There was no deliverance for them. There is a delightful irony in the thought that Satan had sought to destroy Jesus in the sea, only to find his own minions destroyed there instead. But once again Matthew abbreviates the account in Mark. As so often he streamlines it and reduces it to the points that he wants to get over.

Yet as against Mark he introduces us to two demoniacs. This suggests that he is remembering what he saw, not just sticking with hearsay. In many of his abbreviations of Mark he adds these extra small points from his memory. And in all cases they make added sense. This is especially true when he introduces twos. There would have been a number of demoniacs scattered among the tombs, with men and women having relationships. A mother ass would regularly follow her young unbroken colt. There would always be numbers of blind men begging by the wayside. And so on. Matthew vividly remembers those two people and their fierceness. It is precisely because he remembers the two people that, unlike Mark, he gives us little detail of the conversations, for he wants to include both. Thus we do not even learn here of the multitude of demons. We are left to gather it from what Matthew does say.

Some try to suggest that Matthew enhances stories by doubling up. But a little thought will bring out that there would almost certainly be at least two such people. For there were many demon possessed men and women in those days, and many of them would make for the tombs, where they would be left alone and could find shelter in the rocky caves without interference. And because even people like that are social creatures, they would form their own companionships, even possibly here being a man and a woman. Mark concentrates on the one of greatest interest, and the fiercest, possibly the male. Matthew possibly remembers also the wild woman, possibly with her hair hanging raggedly down her back, and gives us the full true background which he so vividly remembered.

Such poor, naked (Luke 8:27, compare Mark 5:15) men and women were not only there in Jesus' day. Thompson in his travels in the 19th century describes similar experiences. ‘There are some very similar cases at the present day -- furious and dangerous maniacs who wander about the mountains and sleep in caves and tombs. In their worst paroxysms they are quite unmanageable, and prodigiously strong. -- And it is one of the common traits of this madness that the victims refuse to wear clothes. I have often seen them absolutely naked in the crowded streets of Beirut and Sidon. There are also cases in which they run wildly about the country, and frighten the whole neighbourhood.' Indeed the desire to strip naked is a symptom of certain types of clinical depression today, with the result that all thoughts of decency are gone and even what are normally respectable men and women parade themselves in the nude in the most unseemly places without even giving it a thought.

Analysis.

a And when He was come to the other side into the country of the Gadarenes (Matthew 8:28 a).

b There met Him two possessed with demons, coming forth out of the tombs, extremely fierce, so that no man could pass by that way (Matthew 8:28 b).

c And behold, they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, You Son of God? Are You come here to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29).

d Now there was afar off from them a herd of many swine feeding, and the demons besought Him, saying, “If You cast us out, send us away into the herd of swine” (Matthew 8:30).

c And He said to them, “Go.” And they came out, and went into the swine, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep into the sea, and perished in the waters” (Matthew 8:32).

b And those who fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, and what had happened to those who were possessed with demons (Matthew 8:33).

a And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw Him, they pleaded with Him that He would depart from their borders (Matthew 8:34).

Note than in ‘a' He arrives in the country of the Gadarenes, and in the parallel He is asked to depart from the country of the Gadarenes. In ‘b' we have mention of the two who were possessed with demons, and in the parallel the witnesses tell of what has happened to the two who were possessed with demons. In ‘c' we are told of the plea of the demons to Jesus, and in the parallel of His response. Centrally in ‘d' they ask to be sent into the herd of swine.