Luke 8:30

‘And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion”, for many demons were entered into him.'

Having made His first attempt at casting out ‘the evil spirit' (‘was commanding' confirms a continual process which suggests that He was dealing with more than one) Jesus was now made aware that He was confronting something much more powerful than just one evil spirit. So He asked its name. Basically He was asking, ‘Who are you?' The evil spirit had no alternative but to answer for it recognised Jesus' authority. The reply was, ‘Legion.' Possessing the man was an army of evil spirits. The reply was part evasion. They felt that unity was strength and that they must stick together in their defiance. It was probably also an attempt at intimidation. ‘We are an army'. They were fighting for their survival, and knew it.

We note that it is at this stage that the verbs become plural. Jesus had at first supposed that He was dealing with one evil spirit. Now He finds that He is against an army. This brings out the realities of the situation which would not have arisen had this been only lunacy.

By now Jesus had recognised that He was dealing with the unusual situation of a plurality of evil spirits and His request had therefore been in order to discover exactly with whom or what He was dealing. He had directed His question to the man but it was essentially to the evil spirits.

It is not likely that Jesus was using a technique for obtaining power over them. He already had that power. For the question ‘what is your name?' compare Genesis 32:27; Judges 13:17. It can hardly be true that God needed Jacob's name in order to get power over him and certain that Jacob did not ask God's name for that reason. And Manoah's request was in order to honour his visitor. The asking of the name in the latter two cases was in order to find out who or what they were dealing with. The whole point about Jesus was that He did not need to use the usual exorcising techniques, but He did need to know what He was dealing with.

In reply they said, ‘Legion.' Knowing, in the face of His authority, that they were forced to speak they replied evasively and probably with the aim of intimidating Jesus into leaving them alone. They wanted Him to know that they were powerful and would not be giving in without a fight. They were aware that His exertions of power were exhausting to His human frame (Luke 6:19; Mark 5:30), and they wanted Him to realise that this particular exorcism would require much power. He would do better to leave them alone. After all this was Gentile territory. Let Him get back to the Jews. Godly men who have engaged in exorcism have testified to the fact that it was very exhausting, (and they had never had to face anything like this). But the spirits were underestimating Jesus.

‘Legion.' Was the man giving Legion as a name because he was in a state of confusion, aware of the forces possessing him? Or was he simply indicating the multiplicity of names of the evil spirits, hinting that they could not give them all for they were so many, and at the same time indicating how long it would take to deal with them? It may well have been an attempt to persuade Jesus to withdraw. We must recognise that the evil spirits were not omniscient, and probably thought that they could somehow forestall Jesus. Possibly they could see He was exhausted (He had been labouring hard and His sleep in the boat had been broken). They had no doubt been perturbed to find Him here at all so unexpectedly. The word ‘legion' was the name given to a Roman regiment of between four thousand and six thousand men. Strictly it indicated six thousand, but it was unusual for a legion to have its full complement. Thus the indication here is of possession by ‘thousands' of evil spirits. Note that ‘legion' is a Latin word. It would not have been introduced unless it had actually been said, although having been said it may have been introduced so as to quietly indicate that God would in His own time deal with the legions of Rome. It was a way by which Jesus' deliverance of His people from the power of Rome could be indicated without being treasonable.