and they besought him, saying, Send us into the swine that we may enter into them.
The demons do not fight or flee. They ask. And they ask the One whose word has just ordered them out. Two questions follow: why did they want the pigs, and why did Jesus agree?
They do not demand. They ask for leave. One writer sees in their words an admission of who holds the power — the same admission Satan made in Job.
They admitted that Jesus had authority to eject them, for, as Matthew reports, they said, "If you cast us out" (Matt. 8:31); and their desire was to enter the unclean swine, as if to display and satisfy their love of destruction. So the unclean spirits sought permission to enter the herd of unclean swine. "Allow us," they said, owning, like Satan of old (Job 1), their powerlessness apart from the Supreme Will.
Fear stands behind their plea. One writer notes that they also begged not to be sent to the abyss, because they knew the doom that awaited them.
A spirit is mighty, and even more so in such a vast and tyrannical force of evil. Yet demons have no boldness to doubt. They believe and shudder (James 2:19). So they begged Him not to command them into the abyss. Their certain doom was before their eyes. They knew that when He reigns He will cast them there, and they dreaded it even now. "Have You come here to torment us before the time?" is the cry in the first Gospel.
They also want a body. Leaving the man is not the end of it for them — they must go somewhere.
The poor man is so completely identified with the unclean spirit that his body is the home and tool of the demon. The demon acts and speaks through the man. Seeing that at the word of Christ they must come out of the man, they ask to be sent into swine. Apparently evil spirits need some natural body through which to act.
The animal they chose matters. Two unclean things are drawn together here.
The swine, being unclean animals according to the law, ought not to have been there. The spirits were unclean too, so there was an affinity between them and the swine — an affinity with fatal results for the animals. The demons had led the man toward self-destruction with the sharp stones. With the swine the drive was instant and complete. The man was delivered: the swine were destroyed.
Saying yes served a purpose. It let everyone see what these spirits do when nothing holds them back.
In some cases those with demons also had a serious disease. In this man's case we hear of none. And even if there had been, it would be absurd to think a disease passed to the whole herd and drove them at once into their frantic rush to destruction. But when all the demons came out of the man and took the herd, they had their chance to show their love of destroying, with no mightier hand to control their spiteful malice.
One writer reads the drowned herd as a preview. What took seconds with animals takes longer with people.
The violent end of the beasts was only a picture of the ultimate end of those who are under the direction and power of darkness. The animals lack the higher nature that man has, so destruction followed at once when the demons entered the swine. They at once rushed to their death. In the case of man the end is similar, though it may be reached more slowly. Whatever men may be deceived into thinking, the evil one aims to destroy. The Holy One of God aims to deliver and save.
Was the owners' loss a punishment for keeping pigs? One writer leaves the question open, and answers the complaint about wasted property another way.
The Gospels do not discuss the loss suffered by the keepers of the swine, who were probably unfaithful Jews. Nor do they discuss whether this loss came on them as punishment for keeping the unclean animals, against the law of Moses. Some object that the gracious Saviour should not have allowed this destruction of animal life. That "usefulness" argument is beside the point... Without knowing, faith is confident that all is working for good.
- Permission asked — "Send us" is a plea, not a demand. The spirits own their powerlessness apart from the Supreme Will, as Satan did in Job.
- Permission granted — Christ says yes, and the spirits go only where He allows.
- Permission exposes — with no mightier hand to hold them back, their love of destroying is out in the open.
- Permission proves — no disease could pass to a whole herd and drive it into the sea. What left the man was more than illness.
- Permission warns — the swine died in seconds and a man dies slowly, but the end is the same. The evil one aims to destroy; the Holy One of God aims to deliver and save.
And Jesus [immediately] allowed them. And the unclean spirits going out entered into the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep slope, into the sea (about two thousand), and were choked in the sea.
The demons beg, the Lord permits, and two thousand pigs are gone in moments. Why would Christ allow such destruction? And what did it prove?
The demons do not seize the herd. They ask — and their words give them away.
They admitted that Jesus had authority to eject them, for, as Matthew reports, they said, "If you cast us out" (Matt. 8:31); and their desire was to enter the unclean swine, as if to display and satisfy their love of destruction. Satan disguised himself as the serpent for cunning (Gen. 3). To deceive the unwary, he now disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). So here the unclean spirits asked permission to enter the herd of unclean swine. "Let us go," they said, admitting, like Satan long before (Job 1), that they were powerless apart from the Supreme Will.
The whole chapter turns on that fact. One writer sums it up in a phrase while tracing how each request in the story is answered:
The demons had asked to be allowed to enter the swine (for they could not move one step without His leave) and they were permitted to do that.
Some have tried to explain the man's condition as mental illness or disease. What happens to the pigs rules that out. It also exposes what the spirits had always wanted to do to the man.
It was important to give the clearest evidence that demons really do live in a man, and that this is a most serious thing… In some cases people with demons also had a serious disease. In Legion's case we hear of none. And even if there had been, it would be absurd to suppose a disease passed to all the swine and drove them at once in a frantic rush to destruction. But when all the demons left the man and took the herd, they had a chance to show their love of destroying. A mightier hand no longer held back their spiteful malice.
Pigs were on Israel's forbidden list. The pairing here is not accidental. What happened to the animals was a fast version of what the man had suffered slowly.
The swine, being unclean animals according to the law, ought not to have been there. The spirits were unclean too. So there was an affinity between them and the swine — an affinity with fatal results for the animals. The demons had led the man toward self-destruction with the sharp stones. With the swine the impulse was immediate and complete. The man was delivered: the swine were destroyed.
The stampede down the cliff shows in seconds what the same power does to a human life slowly.
The violent end of the animals pictures the final end of all who are under the direction and power of darkness. The swine lack the higher nature that man has. So destruction followed as soon as the demons entered them, and they rushed at once to their death. In man's case the end is similar, though it may take longer. Men may be deceived into thinking otherwise. But the aim of the evil one is to destroy. The aim of the Holy One of God is to deliver and save.
People have objected that a good Saviour should not have allowed the loss of so much property. One writer sets the objection in a wider frame:
Everything below and above belongs to the Lord. He does not need man's apology to justify what He permits — any more than for sickness and death, plague and famine, storm and earthquake, which He uses in His providence in this fallen world. And to what purposes of grace does He not turn every one of these afflictions, for those who hear His word.
The locals did the sum themselves:
Two men had been delivered from Satan's grip, but at the cost of two thousand swine. Were two souls worth two thousand swine? In their pitiful blindness, they judged not. If this was to be the result of the Son of God's presence, they would rather have Satan as their neighbour. Such behaviour would be unbelievable. But we see men today sacrificing their own souls for things lighter than air.
(Fereday is drawing on Matthew's account, which mentions two men rather than one.)
- Permission. The demons could not touch a single pig until Christ allowed it. Their own words admit they are powerless apart from His will.
- Proof. No disease spreads to two thousand animals. The stampede proves the man's condition was real possession, not illness.
- Purpose. Once free of restraint, the spirits did to the herd in seconds what they had done slowly to the man. Their love of destroying was on open display.
- Picture. The rush over the cliff shows the end of everyone under the power of darkness. The evil one destroys. The Holy One of God delivers and saves.
- Price. The Lord needs no human defence for what He permits. He turns every affliction to grace. But the neighbours weighed a rescued man against their pigs and asked Him to leave.