Matthew 8:28-34 Pig Stampede
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: February 25, 2019, Matthew 8:28-34
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. And the demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.” And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men. And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.
(Understanding the Text) In other accounts in Mark and Luke, there is only one demon-possessed man, but there are more details about him. Matthew was there and saw what happened, so I am sure there were two. However, there must be a reason why the other two gospels focus only on one man. One possibility is that the second man did not do anything with his restored life and went back to his old ways while the first man followed Jesus’ instructions and became a leader in the church. Guzik’s commentary gives another possibility. “The other gospel accounts mention only one of these men. This must be because there was one that was far more severe in his state of demonic possession, having many demons.” Matthew’s purpose is not to speak of the men themselves but to show Jesus’ power over demons, so he gives the bare bones account of the incident without focusing in on the other characters in this drama.
A lot of commentators and preachers think that the people begged Jesus to leave because of profit. After all, the loss of all those pigs hurt them economically. I am pretty sure that there was not just one owner, but a group of owners had gotten together and hired herdsmen to take care of their communal herd. Guzik’s commentary espouses the idea of greed as a factor in begging Jesus to leave. “We would think that the people of the region would be happy that these two demon-possessed men had been delivered. Perhaps they were more interested in their pigs than in people.” However, I have an alternative idea. One detail that all agree on is that these men were violent towards other people. They had terrorized the people of the area so that no one came close to where they were living. I believe that the people were so full of fear that they could not see the mercy in Jesus. All they saw was that someone even more powerful than the demoniacs had come onto the scene. The people feared what Jesus would do with that power. Satan uses fear to control people. He used fear to keep the people of the city from recognizing salvation and healing when Jesus came their way. However, God ultimately triumphs over fear. When Jesus returned, the people were ready to listen. Jesus took an agent of Satan and turned him into Jesus’ own ambassador. I need to believe that God can do that.
(Revelation of God) Since the land was deserted of people, it made the perfect area to have a large herd of pigs. However, that herd was probably a health-hazard-in-the-making since disease spreads rapidly when that many of any animal are in close quarters. We do not know why Jesus’ allowed the demons to destroy the pigs, but we do know Jesus’ character. For this reason, I speculate that maybe the pigs might have had disease or parasites that would have harmed and maybe killed the people who would have eaten them. However, most commentators either say that Jesus did not want unclean animals to be eaten by the Jews or that He allowed it to reveal the character of demons. “The fact that the demons immediately drove the swine to destruction helps explain why Jesus allowed the demons to enter the pigs – because He wanted everyone to know what the real intention of these demons was. They wanted to destroy the man just as they destroyed the pigs. Because men are made in the image of God, they could not have their way as easily with the man, but their intention was just the same: to completely destroy him” (Guzik). However, I think that it was pretty obvious by the behavior of the demoniacs that demons are out to destroy and torment people, so I doubt that this was the reason, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe, there were a lot of people in the area experimenting with activities that would bring about their possession by demons. Maybe, they thought bargaining with demons was the road to power.
(Understanding the Text) Demons live with the belief that God is arbitrary and power-hungry like they are. They know that a judgment will come and believe that God will treat them in the manner that they would treat others who are within their power. We have only to look at the demoniacs’ actions to see how they treat others, so when they recognized the Son, they expected Him to try to control them and torment them. Their own fear must torment them and control their actions in the present time.
“Gadara, says Josephus, was the metropolis of Peraea, or the region beyond Jordan; and he also observes that it was sixty furlongs, or about eight miles from Tiberias. It is therefore rightly placed opposite Tiberias, at the southeast end of the lake. Pliny says it was called Hippodion, was one of the cities of Decapolis, and had the river Hieromax, or Jarmouk, flowing before it. It was of heathen jurisdiction; whence perhaps it was destroyed by the Jews; but was rebuilt by Pompey, and joined to the province of Syria. Augustus afterwards gave it to Herod, on whose death it was again annexed to Syria. It is now called Om Keis; its ruins are in a very mutilated state, and when visited by Burckhardt it had not a single inhabitant. The remains of the sepulchral caverns in which the demoniacs abode are still to be seen” (TSK Cross References).
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that we believe of others that which we ourselves would do instead of seeing them as they truly are. Jesus is love totally and completely, yet the demons accused Him of wanting to torment them. We then act towards the other person as if he had acted as we expected, and we justify our revenge with this belief when in reality, we are at fault, not the other innocent person. I pray to see people as they are, not as I am, and I pray to see through your eyes of love because if I see through my own eyes, it will break me. I fear to see people as they are, because it hurts to see their venality and pettiness. I pray to have your character and not the greedy selfish hurtful character that I have.