Mark 5:11-20
“Notice what you notice.” Mark’s account of the Gerasene demoniac, the second half… Today was a travel day for us, to Pittsburgh for our daughter’s Ph.D. graduation ceremony tomorrow. Glory!
So a very short post…, but I think – not insignificant. Again, as has happened so much with Mark, the details…!! Matthew and Luke report a “herd of many pigs” and “a large herd of pigs”, while Mark says Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside… and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea (Mark 5:11,13). I can imagine a large herd of pigs – 50 to 100 would be a large herd. Multiply that by 20-40!! Two thousand!! That’s BIG! Just standing alone, they would need 16,000 to 20,000 square feet of room (assuming 2 feet wide, 4-5 feet long). They would cover one-third to one-half of a football field. That’s BIG! And the LEGION of demons rushed into EVERY ONE of them and drowned them! I’m amazed. I had never imagined the extent of that man’s demon possession!
Blessings!