Mark 5:1-20

§ 51. TWO DEMONIACS OF GADARA, Mark 5:1-20 .

Came over unto the other side Landed upon the eastern shore of Gennesaret. Country of the Gadarenes The evangelist does not say that the miracle of the demoniacs and the swine took place at Gadara; but in the country or region of that city. Gadara, the city, was situated southeasterly from the lake, about eight miles distant, and the Jermuk river intervened. The name of Gergesa (in whose country Matthew locates the miracle) appears also as Gerasa, and is identified by Dr. Thomson with Kerza, situated on the eastern shore. See map, p. 62. Dr. Thomson remarks:

“In studying the details of the miracle I was obliged to modify one opinion or impression which had grown up with me from childhood. There is no bold cliff overhanging the lake on the eastern side, nor, indeed, on any other, except just north of Tiberias. Everywhere along the northeastern and eastern shores a smooth beach declines gently down to the water. Take your stand a little south of this Chersa. A great herd of swine, we will suppose, is feeding on this mountain that towers above it. They are seized with a sudden panic, rush madly down the almost perpendicular declivity, those behind tumbling over and thrusting forward those before, and as there is neither time nor space to recover on the narrow shelf between the base and the lake, they are crowded headlong into the water, and perish.