Matthew 8:28 - Exposition

And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes; Revised Version, Gadarenes , which is certainly right here, as is "Gerasenes" in the parallel passages (cf. Westcott and Hort, it. 'App.'). Gergesa (Textus Receptus here, and Alexandrian authorities in parallel passages) and Gerasa (unless, with Origen on John 1:28 , we understand by this the Arabian Gerasa fifty miles away)are probably forms of the same name now represented by Khersa , a village discovered by Thomson on the eastern side of the lake, and lying "within a few rods of the shore," with "an immense mountain" rising directly above it, "in which are ancient tombs, out of some of which the two men possessed of the devils may have issued to meet Jesus. The lake is so near the base of the mountain that the swine, rushing madly down it, could not stop, but would be hurried on into the water and drowned." To this Origen's description ( loc. cit. ) corresponds: "Gergesa, to which the Gergesenes belong, is an ancient city by what is now called the Lake of Tiberias, by which is a steep place adjacent to the lake, and down this, as is pointed out, the swine were cast headlong by the demons." Gadara, in some sense the capital of Peraea (Josephus, 'Bell. Jud.,' Matthew 4:7 . 3), and one of the towns of the Decapolis confederacy ( Matthew 4:25 ), was some twelve miles distant from Khersa , and six miles from the nearest part of the lake, to which, in fact (as the stamp of a ship on its coins shows), its territory extended . St. Matthew describes the locality, not by the little-known village, but by the well-known city of the district, to which the news of the miracle afterwards spread. But since he leaves the expression, "the city," in verses 33, 34 as he fontal it in his sources, i.e. Khersa , the result is at first misleading There met him ( ὑπήντησαν ; occurrerunt , Vulgate). St. Matthew (contrast verses 2, 5, 19) omits the nearer approach recorded in the parallel passages, Mark 5:6 and Luke 8:28 . Two ( vide supra ) . Possessed with devils ( Matthew 4:24 , note), coming out of the tombs; Revised Version, coming forth out. The Greek shows that they did not merely come from among the tombs, but actually out of them (cf. the experience of Warburton, as quoted in Trench on this miracle). E xceeding fierce, so that no man might (Revised Version, could) pass by that way . Matthew only. It deepens the contrast to their present behaviour. Perhaps "that way" refers to the Roman road by the side of the lake.