Template:Demoniact
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Demoniac
As an adjective a demoniac is "Possessed, produced, or influenced by a demon." Therefore, a "demoniac creatures."
Although the term may be someone "resembling, or suggestive of a devil; fiendish" or descriptive of or having "characteristic of, a demon or evil spirit; devilish", or it may be someone who has lost mental and physical control of themselves to a foreign entity acting like it was a spiritual parasite within a host.
The Place
Matthew 8:28 “And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes[1], there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.”
Mark 5:1 “They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes[2].”
Luke 8:26 “Then they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes[2], which is opposite Galilee.”
In the Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894 and Stephanus Textus Receptus 1550 we see Γεργεσηνῶν which reads “Gergesenes” (“Gergesenon”) in Matthew 8:28 while in Mark 5:1 and Luke 8:26, both have “Gadarenes” (“Gadarenon”) named as the location.
In Westcott and Hort 1881 and others have Γαδαρηνῶν which is also “Gadarenes”.
Why is there a seemingly conflicting accounts?
Both Gergesa and Gadara suggest some places east of the Jordan River and on the east side of the sea of Galilee. Are they specific locations or similar words identifying an area or a habitation of people?
| Matthew 8 verse 28 | ||
| Καὶ ἐλθόντος | αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ πέραν εἰς | τὴν χώραν τῶν Γαδαρηνῶν |
| Kaí elthóntos | aftoú eis tó péran eis | tín chóran tón Gadarinón |
| Having come | He to the other side | to the region of the Gadarenes,[1] |
|---|---|---|
| ὑπήντησαν αὐτῷ δύο δαιμονιζόμενοι | ἐκ τῶν μνημείων ἐξερχόμενοι, | χαλεποὶ λίαν ὥστε μὴ ἰσχύειν |
| ypíntisan aftó dýo daimonizómenoi | ek tón mnimeíon exerchómenoi, | chalepoí lían óste mí ischýein |
| These two demoniacs | from the monuments(tombs) | are very strong |
| τινὰ παρελθεῖν διὰ | τῆς ὁδοῦ | ἐκείνης. |
| tiná pareltheín | diá tís odoú | ekeínis. |
| anyone to pass | by the way | that. |
In Matthew 8 we see "Γαδαρηνῶν" Gadarinón, “Gadarenes”[2] which could mean only "beyond to the land of the Gadarenes" not referring to specific boundaries of a county as we might think today, but a general region.[3] Gergesenes expressed as "the country of the Gergesenes" can represent the people called “Girgashites”.[4].
In Mark 5:1 we seeτῆς θαλάσσης(over the sea) into the land of the Gerasenes(θαλάσσης). But again in the Textus Receptus of 1550 and 1894 afain we see Γαδαρηνῶν “Gadarenes”.[2]
In Luke 8:37 we see "the country" using the word Perichoros[5] which would be inclusive of a region.
Gergesa was also a city on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee where Jesus seems to be at the close of Matthew 8.
Gergesa, or גִּרְגָּשִׁי Girgashiy from which the name Gergesenes is taken, is an old town in the area of a lake called Tiberias. It has an edge with a steep place which the swine could have fallen from.
Two or one
Matthew 8 writes of (ὑπήντησαν αὐτῷ δύο δαιμονιζόμενοι) which is translated "two possessed with devils" but the two may or can be seen as one daimonizomai.[6] This is because a "daimonizomai" always includes the entity influenced or possessed and another entity or group who is the controller.
The other explanation could be that two were possessed and Mark and Luke do not mention the second possessed but only the one who recovered enough to be sent to Decapolis.
Report or allegory
Was there a demon controlling a man or was this merely an allegory with hidden meanings?
Well both could be true.
We know that people can have an emotional and even psychic grip on the mind of others. There is mass hysteria, hypnosis, Stockholm syndrome and other ways of controlling people, their mind and actions.
People are also uncomfortable with the idea of a spiritual or even a God from realm that cannot be seen or touched that can work miracles.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1086 Γεργεσηνός Gergesenos [gher-ghes-ay-nos’]
of Hebrew origin 01622 גרגשׁים; adj; AV-Gergesenes 1; 1 Gergesenes = "a stranger drawing near"?
- 1) also called Gadarenes, is assumed to have been located on the eastern shore of Lake Gennesaret
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 1046 Γαδαρηνος Gadarenos gad-ar-ay-nos’; from (a town east of the Jordan); a Gadarene or inhabitant of Gadara: — Gadarene.
: 1 Gadarenes = "reward at the end"
- 1a also called Gergesenes, was the capital of Peraea, situated opposite the south extremity of the Lake of Gennesaret to the south-east, but at some distance from the lake on the banks of the river Hieromax.
- 2 The term Peraea is used by Josephus to denote the district to which the rabbis refer as "the land beyond Jordan." This corresponds to the New Testament phrase peran tou Iordanou (Matthew 4:15; Matthew 19:1)
- 2a Under rulership of Hyrcanus the Jews influenced the area but with the death of Herod the Great it became part of the tetrarchy of Antipas (Ant., XVII, vii, 1).
- ↑ 5561 χώρα chora [kho’-rah] from a derivative of the base of 5490 chasma from primary chao (to "gape" or "yawn") a gaping opening, a chasm,through the idea of empty expanse; n f; AV-country 15, region 5, land 3, field 2, ground 1, coast 1; 27
- 1) the space lying between two places or limits
- 2) a region or country i.e. a tract of land
- 2a) the (rural) region surrounding a city or village, the country
- 2b) the region with towns and villages which surround a metropolis
- 3) land which is ploughed or cultivated, ground
- For Synonyms see entry 5875
- ↑ Genesis 10:16; Genesis 15:21; Deuteronomy 7:1; Joshua 3:10; Joshua 24:11; 1 Chronicles 1:14; Nehemiah 9:8
- ↑ 4066 περίχωρος perichoros [per-ikh’-o-ros] from 4012 peri of, for, and about and 5561 chora space or region; adj; AV-region round about 5, country round about 3, country about 1, region that lieth around about 1; 10
- 1) lying round about, neighbouring
- 1a) the region round about
- 1b) the region of Jordan
- 1) lying round about, neighbouring
- ↑ 1139 δαιμονίζομαι daimonizomai [dahee-mon-id’-zom-ahee] middle voice from 1142 daimon, a noun trans. devils meaning "a god, a goddess", or 1140 daimonion also devil or god, 1141 adj. daimoniodes devilish; v; TDNT-2:19,137; [{See TDNT 169 }] AV-possessed with devils 4, possessed with the devil 3, of the devils 2, vexed with a devil 1, possessed with a devil 1, have a devil 1; 13
- 1) to be under the power of a demon.
- In the NT, these are persons, afflicted with especially severe diseases, either bodily or mentally, (such as paralysis, blindness, deafness, loss of speech, epilepsy, melancholy, insanity, etc.) whose bodies in the opinion of the Jews demons had entered, and so held possession of them as not only to afflict them with ills, but also to dethrone the reason and take its place themselves; accordingly the possessed were wont to express the mind and consciousness of the demons dwelling in them; and their cure was thought to require the expulsion of the demon.
- a demoniac is one possessed with a spirit.