Matthew 8:34

They besought him that he would depart] The drowning of 2,000 swine represented a considerable monetary loss, and they feared further losses if Jesus remained in their neighbourhood.

It is not clear whether the owners of the swine were Jews or Gentiles. The population of Decapolis was mainly, but by no means exclusively, Gentile. If the owners were Jews, their loss might be regarded as a punishment for keeping swine contrary to the Law. The rabbis said, 'Cursed be he who keeps hogs, and cursed be he who teacheth his son the wisdom of the Greeks'; and again, 'It is forbidden to trade in anything that is unclean.' 'Keeper of hogs' was a Jewish term of abuse. Coasts] RV 'borders.' St. Mark and St. Luke add that our Lord, departing from His usual custom, bade the demoniac proclaim his cure publicly. As the population was Gentile, there was no danger of a Messianic outbreak.

We have adopted the now widely-accepted view (see note 'Possession' at Matthew 4:24), that the demoniacs of the NT. were insane persons under the delusion that they were possessed with devils, but their recognition of Jesus as the Son of God, and in a less degree the phenomenon of double consciousness exhibited in this and other instances, are plausible arguments for the older view that the possession was real: see on Mark 5:1.