Mark 5:12-13 KJV
And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
Robertson's Word Pictures does a decent job of expressing the question that came to my mind this morning.
"These words present the crucial difficulty for interpreters as to why Jesus allowed the demons to enter the hogs and destroy them instead of sending them back to the abyss. Certainly it was better for hogs to perish than men, but this loss of property raises a difficulty of its own akin to the problem of tornadoes and earthquakes."
In answer to the question Gill offers these comments
"It may be asked, why did Christ suffer the devils to enter the herd of swine, and destroy them, which was a considerable loss to the proprietors? To which may be answered, that if the owners were Jews, and these creatures were brought up by them for food, it was a just punishment of their breach of the law of God; or if to be sold to others, for gain and filthy lucre's sake, it was a proper rebuke, both of the avarice and the contempt of the laws of their own country, which were made to be a hedge or fence for the law of God: or if they were Gentiles, this was suffered to show the malice of the evil spirits, under whose influence they were, and who would, if they had but leave, serve them as they did the swine; and to display the power of Christ over the devils, and his sovereign right to, and disposal of the goods and properties of men; and to evince the truth of the dispossession, and the greatness of the mercy the dispossessed shared in"[1]
And Jamieson Fausset and Brown says
"The owners, if Jews, drove an illegal trade; if heathens, they insulted the national religion: in either case the permission was just."
A thought came to me this past weekend that seems to fit this question somewhat. In an evidence of the supernatural nature of the Bible, it is so simple the youngest of children can grasp its most important concepts and commands, but the Bible also contains such depth that no mortal man can ever claim to have thoroughly mastered it. We can only speculate today why the Lord would have answered the prayers of such evil as these devils. Certainly whatever Christ does is righteous. We do not question that in the least. But we cannot pretend to understand all that is behind giving leave to the unclean spirits.
What happened to the after the swine died?
Were they permitted to wander about until they had found a new person to possess?
Were they then committed to the bottomless pit?
These questions will only be answered when we enter into glory.
[1] From Gill's Comments on Matthew 8:32
And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.
Robertson's Word Pictures does a decent job of expressing the question that came to my mind this morning.
"These words present the crucial difficulty for interpreters as to why Jesus allowed the demons to enter the hogs and destroy them instead of sending them back to the abyss. Certainly it was better for hogs to perish than men, but this loss of property raises a difficulty of its own akin to the problem of tornadoes and earthquakes."
In answer to the question Gill offers these comments
"It may be asked, why did Christ suffer the devils to enter the herd of swine, and destroy them, which was a considerable loss to the proprietors? To which may be answered, that if the owners were Jews, and these creatures were brought up by them for food, it was a just punishment of their breach of the law of God; or if to be sold to others, for gain and filthy lucre's sake, it was a proper rebuke, both of the avarice and the contempt of the laws of their own country, which were made to be a hedge or fence for the law of God: or if they were Gentiles, this was suffered to show the malice of the evil spirits, under whose influence they were, and who would, if they had but leave, serve them as they did the swine; and to display the power of Christ over the devils, and his sovereign right to, and disposal of the goods and properties of men; and to evince the truth of the dispossession, and the greatness of the mercy the dispossessed shared in"[1]
And Jamieson Fausset and Brown says
"The owners, if Jews, drove an illegal trade; if heathens, they insulted the national religion: in either case the permission was just."
A thought came to me this past weekend that seems to fit this question somewhat. In an evidence of the supernatural nature of the Bible, it is so simple the youngest of children can grasp its most important concepts and commands, but the Bible also contains such depth that no mortal man can ever claim to have thoroughly mastered it. We can only speculate today why the Lord would have answered the prayers of such evil as these devils. Certainly whatever Christ does is righteous. We do not question that in the least. But we cannot pretend to understand all that is behind giving leave to the unclean spirits.
What happened to the after the swine died?
Were they permitted to wander about until they had found a new person to possess?
Were they then committed to the bottomless pit?
These questions will only be answered when we enter into glory.
[1] From Gill's Comments on Matthew 8:32
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