What was a Roman legion?

In the N.T. a few references are made to the Roman army. A 'Legion' was a body that contained within itself all the gradations of the army. It might be called under the empire, in round numbers, a force of not more than 6,000 men. Every legion at times contained 10 cohorts of 600 each; every cohort 3 maniples of 200; and every maniple 2 centuries of 100: hence the name of centurion or commander of 100 men, as found in Acts 10:1, 22, etc. Each legion was presided over by 6 chiefs, χιλίαρθος, each commanding 1,000 men, mostly translated 'chief captain,' as in Acts 21:31-37, etc.: it is 'high captain' in Mark 6:21; and 'captain' in John 18:12; Rev. 19:18. A cohort, σπεῖρα, is translated 'band' in Acts 10:1; Acts 21:31, etc. A 'quaternion' embraced 4 soldiers. Acts 12:4.

The head quarters of the Roman troops was at Caesarea, with a cohort at Jerusalem; but at the time of the feast, when, alas, the mutinous disposition of the Jews was sure to appear, additional troops were present in the city but without their standards of the eagle, etc., which were especially obnoxious to the Jews. Though the Romans were God's rod to punish them, their stiff necks could not bow, nor receive the punishment as from Jehovah.

In the Roman army a body of troops consisting of from three to five thousand; but the term is also used for an indefinite number. The Lord said that His Father on His request would send Him more than twelve legions of angels. Matt. 26:53. The demons who possessed the man among the Gadarenes said, "My name is Legion; for we are many." Mark 5:9, 15; Luke 8:30.

He could have asked the Father for twelve legions of angels. If one angel was able to destroy 185,000 troops in one night (2 Kings 19:35), what could twelve legions do? The Roman legion was 6000 footmen, plus horsemen. However, He was not concerned as to His own defense, but as to fulfilling scripture.

When one of His disciples drew his sword and smote off the ear of the bondman of the High Priest, Jesus said to him, "Return thy sword to its place; for all who take the sword shall perish by the sword. Or thinkest thou that I cannot now call upon my Father, and He will furnish Me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matt. 26:52).

That heavenly host that had throbbed with joy and adulation at His birth were now ready, did the Father give them word, to hasten to His help! A legion of Roman troops numbered anything from 3000 to 6000 fighting men — just think of it, more than twelve legions of angels — but the Father gave no such word, nor did our Lord ask for them. He certainly wrought no miracle to preserve Himself from death, indeed He wrought a miracle in dying! (c.f. John 10:18).

Verse 53. A legion in the Roman Army would run up to 6,600, — the number of the largest. One angel could destroy 180,000 in one night. If it was a question of destroying, there is immense power in the Lord's word. "But how then must the Scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be? "

The word "lunatic" is used here in ver. 15. But there was an evidence of satanic power, and it was a very peculiar case. All demons are not alike. There are principalities, and powers, among the wicked spirits in Eph. 6, and there are the same differences among the elect angels in Eph. 3. We must not put them all down as exactly the same. Then there are demons at large, and there are demons who are "reserved in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6). But what numerical power Satan has! A Roman legion was from 3,000 to 6,300, and there was enough power in one man to destroy 2,000 swine It is a solemn consideration that in that which bears the name of Christ, doctrines of demons would be tolerated. Satan has four names. He is the "old serpent," the subtle one; the devil, the false accuser, slanderer; Satan, the adversary; the dragon, the persecutor. These are all brought together in Rev. 20:2.

But, like a tale that is often told, many things have been added to it. There is good reason to believe, however, that a providential answer in favour of the Romans was given to prayer. This much seems quite evident. And to faith there is nothing incredible in such an event; though some of the circumstances related are questionable. For example, a Roman legion at that time would probably number five thousand men: while there may have been a great many Christians in the twelfth, which was a distinguished legion, yet it would be hard to believe that they were all Christians.

And mark for a moment in connection with the delivering of this man out of the terrible bondage that was upon him; He asks him, "What is thy name?" Look at that for an instant, because it helps to give the word a power, and to throw it into very great prominence; and I have no doubt that was the intention the blessed Lord had in the bringing out from this man's lips his name. You remember how He asked Jacob, "What is thy name?" And I believe the Lord makes us answer that question; and perhaps He may be asking some of you here to-night, "What is thy name?" I am perfectly certain He asks that of every one of us some time or another, "What is thy name?" He knows, but He will have it from your own lips, "What is thy name?" This poor man had seen the awful power of the Roman legion, that terrible instrument of oppression, and he could not conceive any word that would describe more exactly where he was. The word "legion" was a word that struck fear and shame into the heart of the oppressed Jew; the Roman legion, composed of thousands of men, was a great terror to every conquered enemy that came under their power; and so, in order that he might with his own lips convey what his name was, he uses this word "legion." "My name is legion." Now, beloved friends, I believe that is the reason why "legion" and "come out of him" are here found together as it were, how wonderfully it brings out the power of our Lord Jesus Christ; He broke that power; "Come out of him." Verily it is, as we were saying a few weeks past, "He spake and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast." The Lord of creation Himself, the Creator, the One who by His divine power could bring everything into existence out of nothing, by the same word and by the same divine power — though He was down here as the servant of need and distress set free this poor demoniac from that bondage and tyranny which was upon him, brought him into divine liberation.

The word σπεῖρα signifies 'cohort,' the tenth part of a 'legion.' This cohort was probably a sort of 'King's Own.'

The sight of the Lord Jesus even from afar arrested him, so that he ran and paid Him homage, and with a loud voice cried, What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee by God, torment me not. For the Lord said, Come forth, unclean spirit, out of the man. Nor was this all: He asked him, What is thy name? and got the answer, My name is Legion, for we are many. There is a fact outside human ken, on the evil side of the spiritual world, beyond measure horrible: a man with such a host of evil spirits in him as could justify the well-known name of a Roman battalion, and a man with a personal consciousness, yet also merging his personality in theirs! — Legion, for we are many!

But mighty as a spirit is, and especially when in such multitudinous and tyrannical force of evil, demons have no sceptical hardihood. They believe and shudder (James 2:19). Therefore did they beseech that He would not command them to depart into the abyss; for their sure doom was before their eyes; and they knew that when He reigns, they will be cast there, which they dreaded even now. Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time? is the cry in the first Gospel. So, when they begged to enter a great herd of swine feeding on the mountain side, the Lord gave them leave; and the swine, about two thousand, no sooner received the unclean spirits, than they rushed down the steep and were choked in the sea. It was the witness, to all that believe scripture, of the Lord's delivering power on the one hand and of Satan's destructive energy on the other. It is idle here, as everywhere, to confound possession by demons with either lunacy or disease. Either or both might be also, or neither be, and yet that possession of evil spirits. The reality was thus transparent. The effect on the swine made the objective fact undeniably plain, and the suggestion of a physical or mental derangement inexcusably false.