Luke 8:9-33

9-10 Compare Mat_13:10-17; Mar_4:10-13; Isa_6:9.

11-12 Compare Mat_13:18-19; Mar_4:14-15.

13 Compare Mat_13:20-21; Mar_4:16-17.

14-15 Compare Mat_13:22-23; Mar_4:18-20.

16-18 Compare Luk_11:33-36; Mat_5:15-16; Mat_4:21-25.

16 To enable His disciples to discern the difference between the fruitful and unfruitful hearers, He gives a further illustration. The hearty believer places his light on a stand. He makes the message known. The half-hearted one is slothful. He hides it under a couch. The worldly one puts his business first, and hides it under a vessel. These two shall lose the light they have, but the former shall receive more light.

17 Compare Luk_12:2; Mat_10:26.

18 Compare Luk_19:26; Mat_13:12; Mat_25:29.

18 In grace no one is deprived of the light he has, no matter how feebly it may flicker, yet the other part of the principle applies to all. He who has some light is on the way to further illumination.

19 The crowding out of His physical relations is symbolic of the trend of His ministry at this time. He was allying Himself with those of like spirit, and strengthening His union with them.

22-25 Compare Mat_8:18-27; Mar_4:35-41.

23 A lovely little likeness we have here of that great spiritual storm which engulfed them at His crucifixion. The wind would represent the unseen powers of evil, one of which entered into Judas, and the waters the people who were whipped into fury under their influence. Had the Lord been absent, as on another occasion, we would refer this trial to the time of the end. But He is with them. Does not His sleep speak of His death, and the consternation of the apostles the fear which His decease inspired? And His awakening-did not His resurrection proclaim Him Sovereign over all the powers of evil? Not only wind and wave, but sovereignties and dependencies obey His will.

26-31 Compare Mat_8:28-29; Mar_5:1-10.

26 Some manuscripts read Gadarenes for Gergesenes, or Gerasenes. Gadara is usually identified with the modern Um Keis, a place about three hours' travel from the lake shore on the far side of the Jermuk river. This location does not at all suit the circumstances surrounding this miracle. Except at Tiberias there is no overhanging cliff on lake Galilee, but at the site of some ancient ruins called Chersa there is a steep declivity, and beyond the ruins are tombs in the mountain side. This site is "across from Galilee", on the eastern shore of the lake. The shore is so narrow at the base of the mountain that a herd of hogs, rushing down its steep sides, would not be able to stop before being drowned in the water. These facts, together with the manuscript evidence, seem sufficient to justify us in adopting the reading Gergesenes, rather than the usual Gadarenes.

28 The demons never seemed to be at a loss to identify the Lord. It might take a miracle to make men admit Him to be the Messiah. Few saw Him to be God's Son. But the demons usually insisted on giving Him this title and acknowledged His authority over them. In spiritual intelligence they were certainly far superior to any of His disciples. Hence they feared Him, realizing the lawlessness of their obsession of human beings. In some abnormal trance states it is possible for a person to entirely yield control of his body to another mind. In this condition the thoughts of the directing mind find a response in the subject, before they can be uttered and conveyed through the usual channels. If one man can control another in this fashion, it is not difficult to see how demons can break down the human will and impose themselves on their victims. This may have been the case before the deluge, and the reason why mankind was given a flesh diet thereafter. The present time is characterized by the activity of deceiving spirits (1Ti_4:1). Satan is transfigured into an angel of light, and those under him seek to simulate the operations of God's Holy Spirit.

32-83 Compare Mat_8:30-32; Mar_5:11-15; Lev_11:7-8; 1Ki_22:22.

32 Hog raising was contrary to the law of Moses. Swine were unclean animals' unfit for food. Hence the Lord was quite justified in being the cause of their destruction. Indeed, there was a fitness in furnishing the unclean demons with unclean habitations.