Verse 31-32

Verse 31-32: “And the demons begged Him, ‘If You drive us out, send us into the drove of hogs’. And He said to them, ‘Be gone!’ So they came out and went into the hogs, and behold, the whole drove rushed down the steep bank into the sea and died in the water.”[AMP]

Most of the English translations used the word “Go” which is more like permission. But Our Lord ordered and hence the correct usage is “Be gone”.

This verse has incited many discussions because our Lord sent the demons to innocent hogs. The fact that demons immediately drove the hogs to destruction shows why the Lord sent them to the hogs. He wanted to show the intention of the demons. They wanted to destroy the man just the way they destroyed the pigs. Man being made in the image of God, may not be as easy as hogs, but this is the ultimate intention of demons.

If we look at the Gospels of Luke and Mark we see:
· The man said his name was “Legion” as there were many demons that had entered in him. A legion was a group of 6,000 soldiers in Roman army (Luke 8:30)
· Lord’s act on him changed him wonderfully. He fell on His feet (Luke 8:35)
· He dedicated his future life to Lord and proclaimed the whole town what Jesus had done for him (Luke 8:38-39)
· Lord wishes us to witness His blessings we have received from Him

In previous occurrences, Lord ordered not to tell anyone of the miracles he had performed, but here Lord tells this man to “go back to your family and tell them all the wonderful things God has done for you” ( NLT).

Lord is using each person to fulfill his objective. But unfortunately the people in that village did not do the correct thing, something which we should never do. For we read that the Lord healed a demon-processed person whom they were all afraid of. But they did not rejoice over the healing of one of their brothers or did not thank the One who healed the person. But they compelled the Lord to go away from their village; for they loved their own hogs (assets) more than the Lord. Jesus is a nuisance for the people who love world more than anything else.

Compare this village, Gadarenes, with another village, Samaria, described in John Chapter 4. The Gadarenes asked Lord to leave while the Samarians asked Lord to stay with them.