The Herd Of Pigs

The Herd of Pigs

Luke 8:26-39

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Luke 8:26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 And when He stepped out onto the land, a man from the city met Him who was possessed with demons; and he had not put on clothing for a long time and was not living in a house, but among the tombs. 28 And seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him, and said with a loud voice, “1aWhat business do You have with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!” 29 For He had already commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had seized him many times; and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, and yet he would break the restraints and be driven by the demon into the desert. 30 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “aLegion”; because many demons had entered him. 31 And they were begging Him not to command them to go away into the abyss.

Luke 8:32 Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding there on the mountain; and the demons begged Him to permit them to enter the pigs. And He gave them permission. 33 And the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

Luke 8:34 Now when the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported everything in the city, and in the country. 35 And the people came out to see what had happened; and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they became frightened. 36 Those who had seen everything reported to them how the man who had been demon-possessed had been made well. 37 And all the people of the territory of the Gerasenes and the surrounding region asked Him to leave them, because they were overwhelmed by great fear; and He got into a boat and returned. 38 But the man from whom the demons had gone out was begging Him that he might accompany Him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home and describe what great things God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city what great things Jesus had done for him.

In chapter 8 of the Gospel of Luke, starting on the 26th verse, we have the story of Jesus curing a man of multiple demons. The demons called themselves Legion, and Jesus commanded them to leave the man. The demons cried out to Jesus and said, send us into this herd of pigs. Jesus commanded it to be done. What’s interesting in the story is that the herd of pigs decided to jump into the sea of Galilee and drown themselves. A twist to the story is that the people in the town were not pleased about what happened and demanded that Jesus leave them.

Let me add a little extra into the story, and that is that Jesus had taken his disciples to the Eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. This area was known as the Decapolis and was a Gentile territory. How do I know that it was a Gentile territory? The answer is because they raised pigs. Pigs were considered unkosher and Jewish people would not eat pigs. When archaeologists dig up sites in the Middle East, if they find pig bones, then they know it was a Gentile site and if they don’t find pig bones then they know it’s a Jewish site.

There are a couple of things that we could discuss, but I’ll need to pick just one. I will inform you that demons in Jesus’ day were considered the fallen angels that occurred back in Genesis chapter 6 verses 1 to 6. The very short summary is that 200 angels called watchers decided to come to earth, and they did some things they shouldn’t have, and God’s punishment was that they would roam the foundation of the earth. During Jesus' days, it was believed that those watchers were the demons that Jesus exorcised and the ones that infected people.

If you are an insane person, which this person who approached Jesus when they got off the boat, regardless of what the cause was, you did not get to live with the people in your town. People with mental illnesses were forced to live in cemeteries because they weren’t allowed to be anywhere else. I know that sounds strange to us today, but that was what they did back in those days.