Chapter # 5 Paragraph # 1 Study # 4
December 15, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(190)
1901 ASV
3 and he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain;
4 because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been rent asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: and no man had strength to tame him.
5 And always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him;
7 and crying out with a loud voice, he saith, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure thee by God, torment me not.
8 For he said unto him, Come forth, thou unclean spirit, out of the man.
9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he saith unto him, My name is Legion; for we are many.
10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now there was there on the mountain side a great herd of swine feeding.
12 And they besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And he gave them leave. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered into the swine: and the herd rushed down the steep into the sea, in number about two thousand; and they were drowned in the sea.
14 And they that fed them fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they came to see what it was that had come to pass.
15 And they come to Jesus, and behold him that was possessed with demons sitting, clothed and in his right mind, even him that had the legion: and they were afraid.
16 And they that saw it declared unto them how it befell him that was possessed with demons, and concerning the swine.
17 And they began to beseech him to depart from their borders.
18 And as he was entering into the boat, he that had been possessed with demons besought him that he might be with him.
19 And he suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go to thy house unto thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and how he had mercy on thee.
20 And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men marvelled.
- I. Mark's Characterization Of The Demoniac's Activities: 5:3-5 Continued.
- A. It clearly describes the impact of "demon possession" upon a human being.
- B. It clearly reveals an intention on Mark's part to reveal what happens to people when they succumb to the temptation to "allow" demons to dominate them (this is simply another way of saying what I just said in "A." above.
- C. It, more than clearly, establishes opposition to God as an intense "Death-Focus".
- II. More Details Of Mark's Characterization.
- A. "...and neither with a chain any longer was anyone able to bind him..."
- 1. The wording is intensive regarding the "inability" mentioned.
- a. Note the repetitive negation (neither, no longer, no one: oude, ouketi, oudeis).
- b. Note the reference to "chain" (as opposed to other, lesser binding materials).
- 1) New Testament usage indicates that "chains" were the standard bonds of prisoners.
- 2) The use of a "chain" to effectively bind the "dragon/serpent/devil/Satan" in Revelation 20:1-2 is the evidence that "chains" were typically considered of great power as bonds.
- c. Also note the use of "able" as the translation of the most potent word for "ability" (dunamai; dunamis) in the imperfect tense (indicating on-going efforts in the past).
- d. And, finally, consider the point of "to bind".
- 1) Mark uses this verb in eight texts of his record, and each of the eight indicate the imposition of "bonds" that are designed to restrict the activities of the "bound".
- 2) That Mark is focusing upon this "restraint" is indicative of the attempts of men to exercise some "authority" over the demonic realm.
- 2. The further pursuit of this idea in 5:4 is indicative of Mark's intention to demonstrate at least two issues.
- a. First, it indicates Mark's intention to emphasize the weakness of human bonds in regard to this demoniac's extreme strength. This is a declaration of abject failure. Men, who are repulsed by the manifest wickedness and destructiveness of the demonic realm, attempt to force their will upon that realm to absolutely no effect. This is the epitome of "a divided house, doomed to fail": demons are a major, unseen, part of the massive conflict of the ages to attempt to thwart the Plan of God; unbelieving men are a lesser, visible, part of that same conflict; and they cannot "get along" with each other. Thus, they are "divided" and assured, by that division, of total personal disaster.
- 1) "On this account, often (many times)...".
- 2) "...with both 'fetters' and 'chains'..." [a "fetter" was a piece of iron large enough to encircle either ankle or wrist, but small enough to fit so snugly that neither hand, nor foot could slip out of it (see the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament based on Semantic Domains)].
- 3) "...he had been bound (Perfect, Passive of deo)...".
- 4) "...and the chains had been torn asunder by him..." (the links were broken in multiple places).
- 5) "...and the 'fetters' had been shattered into pieces..." (to "shatter", one would have to squeeze the 'fetter' inward with great force so that the iron burst into pieces).
- 6) The interesting thing about this is that the demoniac was "able to be subdued and bound" by men when he, quite obviously, had greater strength than those men. The most logical conclusion is that he permitted the bonds just so that he could prove the futility of men.
- b. Second, it indicates Mark's intention to emphasize the greatest of the power of the demons to "bind" a human victim.
- 1) The man could not be effectively bound with chains.
- 2) But, neither could he, nor any other, break the bonds by which the demons kept him under their dominion. Theirs was a form of bondage enforced upon him wherein neither he, nor anyone else, had the 'strength' (no iscus--inner, elemental, resources) to break him free. The inner, non-chain, chains were more potent than the outer chains of (by implication) any size or temper (a small tempered chain is often stronger than a larger untempered chain).
- B. "And through every night and day, in the tombs (the actual graves) and in the mountains, he was loudly screaming and cutting himself with stones".
- 1. This is Mark's description of the extreme pain involved with this possession.
- a. It may not have been physical pain, but it was obviously barely bearable.
- b. The point: this "unclean spirit" was viciously tormenting the man.
- 2. The condition was severe.
- a. Through every night and day gives no 'rest'.
- b. In the graves (death focus).
- c. In the mountains (significant for Mark's purposes because he refers to "mountain" eleven times in his record). The most significant implication regarding the man's wanderings in the mountains is found in this record.
- 1) The word is used twice in this story: (5:5) and (5:11).
- 2) Both uses are tied to the demonic domain in the mountains of this region. The extreme agony of the victim is expressed in the mountains, and the herd of 2,000 pigs were obtaining their food on a nearby mountain.
- a) The backdrop of "mountain/mountains" is first indicated in 3:13 where we are told that Jesus ascended a mountain for the purpose of establishing His call upon "those He Himself wanted" so that He could lay the foundation for the Kingdom of the Christ (Matthew 19:28). From there, Mark moves into the greater imagery of "The Massive Conflict" in which "mountains" are the representative of regnal dominion and "pigs on the mountain" strongly implies a desire for economic power for dominion purposes by the adversarial men of the region. Jesus' transfiguration on a mountain to reveal His regnal authority over the Kingdom of God (9:2) is the contrast.
- b) The sad thing for the demoniac is the fact that he had some, perhaps, subliminal sense that his agonies could be remedied in the mountains (a la Psalm 121:1), but his "mountains" were totally dominated by Legion.
- d. The cries and self-mutilation are the manifestations of being subjected to horribly destructive circumstances.
- 1) In this paragraph, the man is "screaming" (5:5) and the demons "scream" (5:7).
- a) In both cases "torment" is the reason for the loud crying and both are caused by the perception of horrible disaster coming.
- b) Mark's point is that the demoniac was in utter torment "day and night".
- 2) The gashing of himself with stones is also a self-mutilating designed to reveal the powerful tragedy felt within.
- a) This "gashing" is only found in this place in the New Testament in its intensive form. The underlying verb is used to refer to "cutting branches off of trees" and "deeply mourning the loss of a beloved one".
- b) Mark's point is that the man is distraught by his experiences under Legion and cannot escape them.