St Luke 8:26-39
Jesus casts out demons
8:26 Then they arrived at the region of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee.
8:27 As he stepped out on shore, a man from the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had not worn any clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs.
8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, shouting, at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me,”
8:29 for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.)
8:30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him.
8:31 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.
8:32 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding, and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission.
8:33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd stampeded down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
8:34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country.
8:35 Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they became frightened.
8:36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed.
8:37 Then the whole throng of people of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.
8:38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,
8:39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
[26] Καὶ κατέπλευσεν εἰς τὴν χώραν τῶν Γαδαρηνῶν, ἥτις ἐστὶν ἀντίπερα τῆς Γαλιλαίας.
[27] ἐξελθόντι δὲ αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν ὑπήντησεν αὐτῷ ἀνήρ τις ἐκ τῆς πόλεως, ὃς εἶχε δαιμόνια ἐκ χρόνων ἱκανῶν, καὶ ἱμάτιον οὐκ ἐνεδιδύσκετο καὶ ἐν οἰκίᾳ οὐκ ἔμενεν, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν τοῖς μνήμασιν.
[28] ἰδὼν δὲ τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν καὶ ἀνακράξας προσέπεσεν αὐτῷ καὶ φωνῇ μεγάλῃ εἶπε· τί ἐμοὶ καὶ σοί, ᾿Ιησοῦ, υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου; δέομαί σου, μή με βασανίσῃς.
[29] παρήγγειλε γὰρ τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ ἐξελθεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. πολλοῖς γὰρ χρόνοις συνηρπάκει αὐτόν, καὶ ἐδεσμεῖτο ἁλύσεσι καὶ πέδαις φυλασσόμενος, καὶ διαρρήσσων τὰ δεσμὰ ἠλαύνετο ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος εἰς τὰς ἐρήμους.
[30] ἐπηρώτησε δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς λέγων· τί σοί ἐστιν ὄνομα; ὁ δὲ εἶπε· λεγεών· ὅτι δαιμόνια πολλὰ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς αὐτόν·
[31]καὶ παρεκάλει αὐτὸν ἵνα μὴ ἐπιτάξῃ αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον ἀπελθεῖν.
[32] ἦν δὲ ἐκεῖ ἀγέλη χοίρων ἱκανῶν βοσκομένων ἐν τῷ ὄρει· καὶ παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν ἵνα ἐπιτρέψῃ αὐτοῖς εἰς ἐκείνους εἰσελθεῖν· καὶ ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτοῖς.
[33] ἐξελθόντα δὲ τὰ δαιμόνια ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου εἰσῆλθον εἰς τοὺς χοίρους, καὶ ὥρμησεν ἡ ἀγέλη κατὰ τοῦ κρημνοῦ εἰς τὴν λίμνην καὶ ἀπεπνίγη.
[34] ἰδόντες δὲ οἱ βόσκοντες τὸ γεγενημένον ἔφυγον, καὶ ἀπήγγειλαν εἰς τὴν πόλιν καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀγρούς.
[35] ἐξῆλθον δὲ ἰδεῖν τὸ γεγονός, καὶ ἦλθον πρὸς τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν καὶ εὗρον καθήμενον τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀφ᾿ οὗ τὰ δαιμόνια ἐξεληλύθει, ἱματισμένον καὶ σωφρονοῦντα παρὰ τοὺς πόδας τοῦ ᾿Ιησοῦ, καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν.
[36] ἀπήγγειλαν δὲ αὐτοῖς οἱ ἰδόντες πῶς ἐσώθη ὁ δαιμονισθείς.
[37] καὶ ἠρώτησαν αὐτὸν ἅπαν τὸ πλῆθος τῆς περιχώρου τῶν Γαδαρηνῶν ἀπελθεῖν ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν, ὅτι φόβῳ μεγάλῳ συνείχοντο. αὐτὸς δὲ ἐμβὰς εἰς τὸ πλοῖον ὑπέστρεψεν.
[38] ἐδέετο δὲ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἀνήρ, ἀφ᾿ οὗ ἐξεληλύθει τὰ δαιμόνια, εἶναι σὺν αὐτῷ· ἀπέλυσε δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς λέγων·
[39] ὑπόστρεφε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου καὶ διηγοῦ ὅσα ἐποίησέ σοι ὁ Θεός. καὶ ἀπῆλθε καθ᾿ ὅλην τὴν πόλιν κηρύσσων ὅσα ἐποίησεν αὐτῷ ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς.
Comments
In this famous exorcism pigs turn into scapegoats (in a ritual sense)! The ‘unclean spirit’ finds, or so it thinks, a refuge in swine, definitionally unclean animals. The possessed man moves from nudity and hyperkinetic frenzy to clothing and wholeness of mind (v. 35, ἱματισμένον καὶ σωφρονοῦντα). After this reversal he ends up preaching (v. 39, κηρύσσων) in the Decapolis.
Of this text D. Ogden, Magic, witchcraft, and ghosts in the Greek and roman worlds, a sourcebook, Oxford, 2002, p. 168, notes:
‘This is perhaps the best-known account of exorcism in the Western tradition. The demon’s expulsion into a third party, which is then destroyed, is reminiscent of Jewish and Greek scapegoating practices’. E. Langton, Essentials of demonology, Epworth Press, 1949; rp. 2014, pp. 158-9 connects the pigs’ stampede to such Babylonian and Jewish rituals.
Further early Jewish exorcism texts are Ogden, nos 263 (I BC/ I AD), 130-2; cf. Paul in Acts 16:16-25 (= Ogden, no. 129) and Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 8.42-9 (= Ogden, no. 127). For an exorcism of ghosts and epilepsy demons carried out by a Syrian from Palestine, see Lucian (2nd c. AD), Lover of lies, or the doubter 16 (= Ogden, no. 51). A century later, Philostratus, Life of Apollonius of Tyana 3.38-9, records that Jesus’ contemporary Apollonius supposedly exorcised a paederastic ghost in love with a boy.
Works cited:
Averky= Averky (Taushev), The Four Gospels, Commentary on the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, Engl. tr., vol. I, Jordanville, NY, 2015.
Blass-Debr.- Funk = F. Blass, & A. Debrunner, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament and other early Christian literature, 9th edn, tr. & revsd R. W. Funk, Cambridge University & Chicago, 1961.
Chantraine = P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire Étymologique de la Langue Grecque, Paris, 1968-80.
EDNT = Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 3 vols, eds, H. Balz & G. Schneider, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990-3 (orig. Stuttgart, 1978-83).
Langton, see above
LSJ = H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. S. Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th edn, with new Supplement, Oxford, 1996 (available online).
Montanari = F. Montanari, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek, 3rd edn, Leiden, Boston, 2013.
Muraoka = T. Muraoka, Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, Louvain, Paris, Walpole, MA, 2009.
Ogden, see above
Trembelas = Π. Τρεμπέλα, Υπόμνημα στο κατά Λουκάν Ευαγγέλιον (οnline)
Wenham = J. W. Wenham, The elements of New Testament Greek, Cambridge, 1965
[27] ὑπήντησεν αὐτῷ: ὑπαντάω, ‘come or go to meet’, as a friend or in a hostile sense, c. dat. (cl. Gk prose: LSJ s.v., I.1); in LXX, ‘to go to meet’ (Muraoka s.v., 1); here in a neutral sense (according to EDNT s.v.); so also Trembelas ad loc. The demoniac encountered Jesus by chance.
δαιμόνια: δαιμόνιον, dimin. of δαίμων, ‘god or goddess’ (already in Homer) but ‘more freq. of the divine power’—in an abstract sense. Homer’s and Plato’s δαίμονες are irrelevant to the NT: ‘The demonology assumed by Jesus and the Synoptics is clearly that of the ancient Judaism’ (EDNT s.v. δαιμόνιον, p. 272).
δαιμόνια is repeated in vv. 31 & 38. Cf. τοῦ δαίμονος, sg. genit. of δαίμων, v.29: the many ‘demons’ become one driving, maddening being despite the multiplicity Luke discerns in them, since they amount to a named ‘unclean spirit’ (see v. 29, τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ and v.30 for the name). Cf. also the cognate δαιμονισθείς, v. 36, the aor. part. of δαιμονίζομαι, ‘I am possessed by a demon or evil spirit’ (late, Plut. QCon. 2.706d: LSJ s.v., III).
[27] ἱμάτιον οὐκ ἐνεδιδύσκετο: ἐνδιδύσκομαι, mid., ‘put on oneself’ (late: LSJ s.v.), hence ‘wear, dress myself with’. The phrase is a litotes and an euphemism for ‘went about naked’.
[28] προσέπεσεν αὐτῷ: aor., 3rd pers. sg., προσπίπτω, c. dat., ‘prostrate myself’ before someone or something usu. in adoration or supplication (cl. Gk poetry & prose: LSJ s.v. III); in LXX the meaning is different.
τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦ ὑψίστου: ‘of God the Most High’, a title freq. used by Gentiles to designate the God of the Jews. This suggests that the possessed man was a Gentile (thus Trembelas ad loc.).
μή με βασανίσῃς: ‘don’t torture, torment me’ (as opp. to ‘don’t keep torturing me’). The grammatical ‘aspect’ of the vb is punctiliar, denoting one-off action: cf. for instance in English ‘Don’t pull out this tooth’ and Wenham, Elements, pp. 96 ff.
βασανίζω, ‘question by putting someone on the rack, torture’ (cl. Gk prose & poetry: LSJ s.v. II.2; also in LXX). The torture here is physical and probably also mental. The demoniac actually delivers this plea after Jesus performs the exorcism ritual described in the next verse. This reversal of order is a rhetorical figure known as hysteron proton in which the more important element is expressed first although it is subsequent.
[29] παρήγγειλε γὰρ τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἀκαθάρτῳ ἐξελθεῖν: παραγγέλλω, ‘give orders, command’, with inf. + dat. pers., as here; in cl. Gk and LXX esp. of a general (cl. Gk poetry & pr.: LSJ s.v. II.1; Muraoka s.v., 1a). παρήγγειλε embeds direct speech: ‘Unclean spirit, go out of this person!’ Jesus, like the commander (legatus) of a Roman legion, ordered the spirit to depart.
συνηρπάκει αὐτόν: συναρπάζω, ‘snatch and carry away with one’ (cl. Gk poetry & pr.: LSJ s.v., I.1), also used fig. in earlier Gk and in LXX where it can mean ‘mentally, to captivate’ (Muraoka, s.v., b). The meaning here embraces physical and mental control, as shown in the same verse by ἠλαύνετο ὑπὸ τοῦ δαίμονος εἰς τὰς ἐρήμους,‘he was driven by the demon into the deserts’. The desert and graveyards are the haunts of Jewish demons, on which see Langton’s masterly account, esp.147 ff.
[30] τί σοί ἐστιν ὄνομα; ὁ δὲ εἶπε· λεγεών· ὅτι δαιμόνια πολλὰ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς αὐτόν: Jesus’ stern (?) question τί σοί ἐστιν ὄνομα, in which the dative of the pers. pron. (σοί, ‘to you’)has a possessive force, has a colloquial ring. A demon standardly confesses its identity in the course of an exorcism (Ogden, p. 151). Knowing its name enables the exorcist to dominate it (cf. Genesis 32: 29: God needs to know Jacob’s name in order to bless—and rename—him. In Odyssey 9 Odysseus at first withholds his name from Cyclops; once he reveals it, the monster can denounce and curse him.)
λεγεών: also written λεγιών, ἡ, ‘a Roman legion’, a loan from Lat. legio, i.e. 5,600 men (EDNT s.v., 1). ‘Legion’ ( a proper name here) is a nom parlant, a name that describes the character or actions of its bearer. See on v. 27, δαιμόνια above.
[31] καὶ παρεκάλει αὐτὸν ἵνα μὴ ἐπιτάξῃ αὐτοῖς εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον ἀπελθεῖν: παρακαλέω, ‘beseech, entreat’ (in post-cl. Gk: LSJ s.v., V; cf. Montanari s.v., 1B; Muraoka s.v., 5). παρεκάλει, impf. used with a vb of asking can be ‘conative’, i.e. suggest an effort to accomplish something, namely the object of the request (‘not to command them to depart into the abyss’); this tense also implies duration. (See Blass-Debr.-Funk, pp. 169f., par. 328.) The 3rd pers. sg. may refer to the man or the demons, since a neuter pl. subject can be construed with a vb in the sg. (v. 35, τὰ δαιμόνια ἐξεληλύθει; but v. 32, παρεκάλουν αὐτὸν ἵνα ἐπιτρέψῃ αὐτοῖς εἰς ἐκείνους εἰσελθεῖν, and v. 33, εἰσῆλθον εἰς τοὺς χοίρους). Quite important, the demoniac or the demons kept begging Jesus not to cure him, and in v. 32, the demons will persistently beg him to grant them refuge in a herd of swine. Why? The demons wanted at all costs to avoid the abyss and to remain in Gerasa (Averky, p. 154).
ἐπιτάσσω, c. dat. pers. + inf., ‘order one to do’ (cl. Gk poetry & prose: LSJ s.v., I.1; also LXX: Muraoka s.v., 1).
ἄβυσσον: ἄβυσσος, ἡ, in LXX and NT, a subst. (=noun), ‘source of water located deep below’ (Muraoka s.v.); ‘infernal world’ (Chantraine s.v. βυθός); in cl. Gk, an adj., ‘bottomless, unfathomed’, of sources, sea, chasms (LSJ s.v. ἄβυσσος, I). In v. 33, the pigs leap into a (marshy) lake, the equivalent of the ‘abyss’.
[33] τοῦ ἀνθρώπου: ‘οf the man’, cf. v.35, τὸν ἄνθρωπον (acc.); the sense is prob. ‘of this particular individual’, as in LXX, Jn 1.14 (Muraoka s.v., 1e); this individual sense is possible also in cl. Gk (Montanari s.v.).
ἀπεπνίγη: ‘drowned’, strength. form of πνίγομαι, pass. (ἀποπνίγομαι has a slightly different meaning in cl. Gk and in LXX: Montanari & Muraoka, s.v.).
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 