Mark 5:13

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Augustine3

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“And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned.”

Why did the spirits drown the swine?

Brother in Christ,
 
Augustine3 said:
“And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned.”

Why did the spirits drown the swine?

Brother in Christ,
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I imagine the sudden demonic possession drove them crazy, and it doesn’t take much to spook a herd into a stampede.
 
Augustine3 said:
“And he let them, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine. The herd of about two thousand rushed down a steep bank into the sea, where they were drowned.”

Why did the spirits drown the swine?

Brother in Christ,
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D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 13. Jesus Christ permitted the devil to destroy these swine, that from their destruction, the men of that country might take the alarm, and be converted. (Ven. Bede)
 
My personal take on it is that Jesus wanted us to see how very real these demons are and so he allowed them to enter the 2000 swine so that we could see with our eyes just how real they really are. It showed that this is not just some mental condition but a reality.

Just a thought.
 
Augustine3 said:
Why did the spirits drown the swine?
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Hmm… the answers posted so far attempt to answer different questions: “why did Jesus let the pigs die?”… or “why did the pigs die?”… or “why did Jesus let the spirits enter the pigs?”.

None seem to answer your question.

Let me offer this (speculative) answer, considering that Scripture doesn’t offer a direct answer. The demons would, I imagine, rather that they have to return to their master due to the “natural” death of their hosts than be forced to return at the hand of Jesus.

Just my personal take on the situation, but… it seems to make sense.
 
Gorgias said:
Hmm… the answers posted so far attempt to answer different questions: “why did Jesus let the pigs die?”… or “why did the pigs die?”… or “why did Jesus let the spirits enter the pigs?”.

None seem to answer your question.

Let me offer this (speculative) answer, considering that Scripture doesn’t offer a direct answer. The demons would, I imagine, rather that they have to return to their master due to the “natural” death of their hosts than be forced to return at the hand of Jesus.

Just my personal take on the situation, but… it seems to make sense.
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I don’t agree with you. I think the Haydock Commentary perfectly answers it.
 
thistle said:
I don’t agree with you. I think the Haydock Commentary perfectly answers it.
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Do you mean Bede’s explanation?
“Jesus Christ permitted the devil to destroy these swine, that from their destruction, the men of that country might take the alarm, and be converted.”
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That’s fine, but that’s not an answer to the OP’s question, which asks about motivation from the demons’ perspective. Is there something more to the commentary that I’m missing? (I just did a quick search online…)
 
Gorgias said:
Do you mean Bede’s explanation?

That’s fine, but that’s not an answer to the OP’s question, which asks about motivation from the demons’ perspective. Is there something more to the commentary that I’m missing? (I just did a quick search online…)
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I think you are being pedantic. The OP simply wants to know why the pigs were drowned. He phrased his question based on the wording of scripture.
Bede’s comment answers his question.
 
I agree with the Haydock as well.

In fact, if I were to surmise why a demon would do it I would think it less about fear of returning to hell and more about attempting to make Jesus look bad. By killing the swine they would make the people who were clearly not interested in God (why would religious Jews be keeping pigs?) and only interested in making money angry with Jesus. It worked. They forced Jesus out of the countryside. All of that is mere speculation though, because we do not have any scripture talking about any motivation of the demons.

Another way to look at it is to notice the symbolism of what happens. The bible is full of evil rising out of the sea in the form of beasts. The book of Daniel chapter and Revelation chapter 13 both talk of beasts rising from the ocean and both of these beasts represent great evil. Here in this very small incident in Mark we see that Jesus has power over that. Not only are pigs a beast, but the Jews also saw them as unclean. Jesus sends the demon possessed swine (both unclean and evil) into the water… showing God’s full authority.

Just like Pharoah’s army Jesus Adversaries are drowned in the waters.
 
thistle said:
I think you are being pedantic. The OP simply wants to know why the pigs were drowned.
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🤷 Call me silly … I guess I just try to answer the questions asked, and not try to reformulate them based on my own set of assumptions. I think you’re drawing a false dichotomy with the whole “agree” / “disagree” with Haydock’s thing. I’m not disagreeing with him – just answering a different question. If it’s not the one that the OP had in mind, he’ll tell us…! 😉
 
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