Matthew 8:33

οἱ δὲ βόσκοντες. It does not appear whether these were Jews or Gentiles, more probably the latter; if the former, they were transgressing the law.

(1) This narrative may be regarded as a signal instance of μετάνοια, or change from the old evil state to the new life. (2) It recalls the connection between sin and disease. The majority of cases of mania may be traced to sins of impurity; the impurity expelled, the man becomes sound in body as well as in mind. (3) The destruction of the swine should present no difficulty. The same God, who, for purposes often hidden, allows men to die by thousands in war or by pestilence, here, by the destruction of a herd of swine, enforces a moral lesson which the world has never forgotten.