<p>8:27 <i>And when he had arrived upon the land, there met him a certain man out of the city, who had demons-</i>&nbsp; For a detailed study on this incident, see my discussion of it in <a href=http://www.realdevil.info/4-3-1.htm><i>The Real Devil</i></a><i>. </i>See too commentary on Matthew 8 and Mark 5. There are many incidents where evidently the disciples were with Jesus, yet the focus of the record is entirely upon Him, so awed were they by the magnitude of His personality, and so selfless were they (Lk. 8:27; 10:38-41; Jn. 11:15,20-57). They are appealing for others to believe on the basis that they are recounting the story of how they heard Jesus, and eventually, very slowly and falteringly, had also come to believe.</p><p>We are not reading here about literal spirits. See on Ml. 5:7. But when we meet a similar situation in Acts 8:7 of unclean spirits crying out, the Eastern (Aramaic) text reads: &quot;Many who were mentally afflicted cried out&quot;. This is because, according to George Lamsa, &quot;&quot;Unclean spirits&quot; is an Aramaic term used to describe lunatics&quot; (George Lamsa, <i>New Testament Commentary</i> (Philadelphia: A.J. Holman, 1945) pp. 57,58). It should be noted that Lamsa was a native Aramaic speaker with a fine understanding of Aramaic terms. He grew up in a remote part of Kurdistan which had maintained the Aramaic language almost unchanged since the time of Jesus. It's significant that Lamsa's extensive writings indicate that he failed to see in the teachings of Jesus and Paul any support for the popular conception of the devil and demons- he insisted that the Semitic and Aramaic terms used by them have been misunderstood by Western readers and misused in order to lend support for their conceptions of a personal Devil and demons.</p><p><i>And for a long time he had worn no clothes and abode not in any house, but in the tombs</i>- A fairly detailed case can be made that the man Legion was to be understood as representative of Judah in captivity, suffering for their sins, who despite initially opposing Christ (Legion ran up to Jesus just as he had 'run upon' people in aggressive fits earlier), could still repent as Legion did, be healed of their sins and be His witnesses to the world. This fits in with the whole theme which the Lord had- that the restoration of Israel's fortunes would not be by violent opposition to the Legions of Rome but by repentance and spiritual witness to the world. The point is, Israel were bound in fetters and beaten by the Gentiles because of their sins, which they were culpable of, for which they had responsibility and from which they could repent; rather than because they had been taken over by powerful demons against their will. Here then are reasons for understanding Legion as representative of Judah under Gentile oppression: </p><p><strong>-</strong> Israel were &ldquo;A people... which remain among the tombs, and lodge in the monuments&rdquo; (Is. 65:3-4).</p><p>- Legion was always &ldquo;in the mountains&rdquo;- the &quot;high places&quot; where Israel sinned (Is. 65:7; Hos. 4:13).</p><p>- The man's name, Legion, suggests he was under the ownership of Rome. The miracle occurred in Gentile territory, suggesting Judah in the Gentile dominated world. </p><p>- &lsquo;What is your name?&rsquo; is the same question asked of Jacob</p><p>- Legion's comment that &lsquo;we are many&rsquo; is identical to the words of Ez. 33:24 about Israel: &ldquo;Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but <i>we are many</i>; the land is given us for inheritance. Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land?&rdquo;.</p><p>- Legion had often been bound with fetters and chains (Mk 5:3,4)- just as God's people had so often been taken into captivity in &quot;fetters and chains&rdquo; (2 Chron. 33:11; 36:6, 2 Kings 24:7).</p><p>- When the sick man asks that the unclean spirits not be sent &quot;out of the country&quot; (Mk. 5:10), I take this as his resisting the healing. But he later repents and asks for them to be sent into the herd of pigs. This recalls a prophecy about the restoration of Judah in Zech. 13:2: &ldquo;And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land&rdquo;.</p><p>- The herd of pigs being &quot;destroyed&quot; in the water recalls the Egyptians being &ldquo;destroyed&rdquo; in the Red Sea when Israel were delivered from Gentile power before. The Gadarene Gentiles &quot;were afraid&quot;, just as the Gentile world was at the time of the Exodus (Ex. 15:14). The curing of Legion is termed &ldquo;great things&rdquo; (Mk. 5:19); and Israel's exodus from Gentile power and the destruction of the Egyptians is likewise called &ldquo;great things&rdquo; (Ps. 106:21).</p>