Mark 5:1

The Gerasene Demoniac

1 ¹They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.

Mark 5:1 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 5:1

And they came over unto the other side of the sea
Of Galilee, or Tiberias;

into the country of the Gadarenes:
in the Evangelist Matthew it is called, "the country of the Gergesenes", as it is here in the Arabic and Ethiopic versions. The Vulgate Latin reads, "of the Gerasenes", and so some copies, from Gerasa, a place in the same country; but the Syriac and Persic versions read, "Gadarenes", as do most copies; so called from Gadara, a city either adjacent to, or within the country of the Gergesenes; which was called by both names, from these different places. It was not far from Tiberias, the place from whence this sea has its name, over which Christ and his disciples passed, ( John 6:1 ) . Chammath was a mile from ^F5 Tiberias, and this Chammath was so near to the country of Gadara, that it is often called, (rdgd tmx) , "Chammath of Gadara" ^F6; unless it should be rather rendered, "the hot baths of Gadara": for so it is ^F7 said, that at Gadara are the hot baths of Syria; which may be the same with the hot baths of Tiberias, so often mentioned in the Jewish writings ^F8; hence the town of Chammath had its name, which was so near to Tiberias, that it is sometimes reckoned the same with it {i}: Pliny ^F11 places this Gadara in Decapolis, and Ptolemy ^F12 in Coelo Syria; and Meleager, the collector of epigrams, who is called a Syrian, is said ^F13 to be a Gadarene, a native of this Gadara. Mention is made of the whirlpool of Gadara ^F14, which remained ever since the flood. It appears to be an Heathen country, both from its situation, and the manners of the people.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 2. 2.
F6 T. Hieros. Erubin, fol. 23. 3. & Trumot, fol. 41. 3. & Sabbat, fol. 5. 4.
F7 Eunapius in Vita Iamblici, p. 26.
F8 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 108. 1. T. Hieros. Sabbat, fol. 6. 1.
F9 T. Bab. Megilia, fol. 6. 1.
F11 L. 5. c. 18.
F12 L. 5. c. 15.
F13 Fabricii Bibliotheca Grace. T. 2. p. 683.
F14 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 108. 1.

Mark 5:1 In-Context

1 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.

2 When He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him,

3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain;

4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.

5 Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones.

Cross References

• 1. Mark 5:1-17: {Matthew 8:28-34; Luke 8:26-37}