Jesus Sends Demons To The Pigs Part 2

Matthew 8:28 - 34; Mark 5:1 - 20; Luke 8:26 - 39

I come back with a part two to this rambling through scripture because I was asked a question by a reader.  I enjoy engaging with others concerning scripture.  They bring something extra to the table and a different insight to the passage being looked at. 

What I have found is if one person has questions there are many others that are likely questioning the same thing.  I feel it is important to share their question and my answer to them.  

I have taken the liberty to rephrase the question in order to keep the person's identity concealed.  The individual is amazed and awed by the authority shown by Jesus so their question does not diminish the miracle but there question is a legitimate one to ask.  

The question asked was really a two part question.  Part one is why would Jesus send the demons into a heard of pigs and off a cliff?  Part two isn't that destroying a persons livelihood?

These questions come from one who is concerned for the well being of others and the immediate appearance is that Jesus is showing no concern for the livelihood of the pig farmers.

I did not find any resources that dealt with this so what follows is simply my opinion based on the region and cultural norms of the time.

I will admit I did not directly answer the first part of the question for the individual when I responded to them.  I will be more direct in my answer concerning that part now.  Though Jesus directed the demons into the pigs he did not direct them to stampede off the cliff.  The pigs being driven off the cliff was the results of the demons entering the pigs.  In this case the result of going into the pigs was their death off the cliff.  I am certain Jesus was not surprised by the consequences of the demons entering the pigs, but we cannot say that Jesus caused the pigs to go off the cliff.

Part two of the question dealt with the concern for the peoples livelihood.  If Jesus was aware the pigs were likely to stampede then why was he not concerned about the loss of revenue for those who owned the pigs.

Towards the end of this story we see the people come out and ask Jesus to leave.  It was the pigs going over the cliff that caused the people to ask him to leave.  As I posted in part one they were not amazed at the healing of the demon possessed man they were angry that they lost their pigs.  Here is my take on this.  It did destroy their livelihood. We need to consider a couple of things that in someways would be considered legalism but was still a factor I believe in making the decision.  This region was what was called a Hellenistic community. In other words it was a gentile community in a Jewish territory.  Since pigs were considered unclean by the Jews then it is likely that it was seen as defiling the Jewish territory. So removing something that was considered unclean by God would be seen as helping the region.

So being a gentile in a Jewish region and raising pigs would be seen as defiling God’s land. Though Jesus would have concern for the people in general he was a Jew and followed God's laws concerning clean and unclean animals.  

God calls us to be holy as he is holy. Though pigs are no longer forbidden for us to eat at that time they were and to this day still are for Jewish people.  Being holy holds a higher priority over financial gain.

So though I feel for the individuals who lost their livelihood they also would have known the religious standards for the area they lived and thus known they were violating those standards.  They were not likely Jews and so did not have a requirement to adhere to the Jewish law but they also chose to live in a Jewish region so they were already putting their livelihood at risk by raising pigs there.  If they were Jews raising pigs then they knew they were violating God's law.  The loss of the pigs would be the consequences of violating God's law.  Being an Hellenistic community it is also likely the pigs were used for pagan sacrifices and so there would be even a lesser concern for the loss of revenue.

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