Who killed the pigs?

[Ian]

In Matthew 9, the demons driven out of the two folk in the tombs are allowed to go into a herd of pigs which then are run over a cliff into water. I had always assumed that this was God`s (temporal at least) judgement on the demons, notwithstanding the offence that animal rights activists would take to such.

But then I read this in Matthew Henry`s commentary:

"And now the devils had what they aimed at in drowning the swine; they did it, and then made the people believe that Christ had done it, and so prejudiced them against him. He seduced our first parents, by possessing them with hard thoughts about God, and kept the Gadarenes from Christ by suggesting that he came into their country to destroy their cattle, and that he would do more hurt than good; for though he had cured two men, yet he had drowned two thousand swine. Thus the devil sows tares in God`s field, does mischief in the Christian church, and then lays the blame upon Christianity, and incenses men against that."

Does Henry`s reading between the lines get a thumbs up here?

[steve7150]

But then I read this in Matthew Henry`s commentary:

"And now the devils had what they aimed at in drowning the swine; they did it, and then made the people believe that Christ had done it, and so prejudiced them against him. He seduced our first parents, by possessing them with hard thoughts about God, and kept the Gadarenes from Christ by suggesting that he came into their country to destroy their cattle, and that he would do more hurt than good; for though he had cured two men, yet he had drowned two thousand swine. Thus the devil sows tares in God`s field, does mischief in the Christian church, and then lays the blame upon Christianity, and incenses men against that."






In the parallel account in Mark 5.18 the formally demon possessed man asks Jesus if he could go with Jesus in the boat but Jesus told him to go tell the locals what the Lord had done and that may have been to counter what Satan did in killing the pigs and scaring the locals. So yes I give Matthew Henry a thumbs up as Satan does have the power of death, even for pigs.
This may be a bit similar to some OT texts where it appears that God did something but it was actually Satan.

[Ian]

Thanks Steve. You`ve written what I wanted to read.


Is there a counter-opinion that Jesus himself caused this mass suicide?

[Paidion]

So yes I give Matthew Henry a thumbs up as Satan does have the power of death, even for pigs.

Yes, in Hebrew 2:14, the writer indicates that the devil has the power of death.

It is interesting also to note that in Revelation 1:18, Jesus speaks and says that He holds the keys of death and the grave.

[JonathanVaughan]

I don't agree entirely with the scope of Henry's summation. By permitting the demons to enter into the pigs and then drown in the lake, the demons seem unwittingly to create a verifiable event that would corroborate the delivered man's story of his own redemption and the One by whom it was wrought. Without this event, the people the man told of Christ may have been suspicious that his deliverance was not of God, or simply not have known from whence it came.

I think it's important to recall the tremendous amount of superstition associated with exorcism so prevalent at that time; Jesus was called a magician for performing this miracle, as much of exorcism amounted to magical rites. But by demonstration of actual power. the results of which were witnessed by everyone in the area, it's highly probable that more hearts were made open to Christ from the delivered man's testimony than the demons had bargained for.

Henry's commentary is fine as far as it goes, but I think the demons got played more than it might seem. The remnant of one Christ left at Gadara was enough.