Verse 28
Gadara was the regional capital of the Decapolis area that lay southeast of the Sea of Galilee. Its population was strongly Gentile. This may account for the presence of many swine there (Matthew 8:30). The Gadara region stretched west to the Sea of Galilee. This was the country of the Gadarenes.
Mark and Luke mentioned only one man, but Matthew said there were two (Mark 5:2; Luke 8:27). Mark and Luke evidently mentioned the more prominent one. Perhaps Matthew mentioned both of them because the testimony of two witnesses was valid in Jewish courts, and he wrote for Jews originally.
The Jews believed that demonic spirits could and did take over the bodies and personalities of certain individuals. Matthew reflected this view of the spirit world. A literal reading of Scripture leads to the same conclusion. [Note: See Edersheim, The Life . . ., appendix 16, for differences between Jewish and New Testament views of demon possession.] Demons are fallen angels who are Satan’s agents.
These demoniacs lived lives of terror among tombs away from other people in a place that rendered them ritually unclean in Judaism.
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