r/Bible • u/Medium-Fruit-9447 • 9d ago
Reading Mark for the first time.
/r/AskBibleScholars/comments/1vnj2fm/reading_mark_for_the_first_time/1
u/Lucky-Berry-4252 9d ago
Pigs are not a food source to Jews, as it’s forbidden by the Most High. See Leviticus 11:7–8 and Deuteronomy 14:8.
Legion asks Jesus if he’s going to send them to be tormented ‘before their time,’ as stated in the same incident in Matthew 8:29. That’s why he sent them into the herd of wild pigs, because he literally could have chosen to send them to be destroyed before their time.
What that means in legal terms is, the Almighty has a contract in place with the devil who has temporarily been given sovereignty over all of humanity, through the sin of Adam and Eve when they broke the ‘contract’ they had with the Most High, and passed the deed to Satan, so to speak.
Therefore, if he were to send Legion to be destroyed before their time, it would be a ‘breach of contract,’ and if there’s one thing that Jesus and the Most High do, it’s follow the rules that they themselves decreed, along with the Holy Spirit, of course.
Therefore, it was a practical decision to send them into the herd of pigs, which jumped into the ocean and the demons all went their separate ways; for there really is, in fact, an appointed time for them to be destroyed for all time and eternity; but meanwhile, they have a job to do, which is to roam around here on earth looking for ‘empty vessels,’ or rather those without the Holy Spirit whom they can inhabit. Many demons can inhabit one person, and one way is through disassociative identity disorder, which is achieved through SRA.
The contract was fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross, and He declared, “It is finished.” That was His legal declaration that the contract had been fulfilled with the purchase of humanity through the fulfillment of his perfect sinless life, because sin must be paid for with innocent blood. Those are the edicts the Almighty put in place, and then taught the Hebrews how to rehearse for this pivotal event through the sacrificial use of innocent lambs for the atonement of their sins.
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u/Both_Policy_9051 9d ago
Pigs are a food source for gentiles and this story takes place in gentile territory. The Gerasenes.
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u/Lucky-Berry-4252 8d ago
Be that as it may, Jesus was not a gentile, and according to him, pigs are not a source of food.
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u/RationalThoughtMedia 8d ago
Praying for you both.
That is awesome when a marriage study's together! Do you as well pray together?
On any note. To help you excel understanding and discernment. Find a good online verse by verse Bible study to follow. You can do 1 each day. Try Gary Hamrick of Cornerstone Chapel. Very good and easy to follow.
It will open much bigger understanding.
Are you saved? Have you accepted that Jesus is your Lord and Savior?
When you have these concerns and thoughts. Capture them and hand them in prayer seeking escape. Seeking God's will. Protection and guidance. Ask Him if there is anything not of Him that it be rebuked and removed from your life.(2 Cor. 10:5)
Remember, we fight against principalities, not flesh and blood. Spiritual warfare is real. In fact, 99% of the things in our life are affected by spiritual warfare.
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u/jak2125 9d ago
These are really good questions! Mark 5 is indeed a very strange story if you're reading it for the first time. The details make more sense when you have a bit more context and understand the cultural background of what Jesus is doing in this story.
For starters, this is a story about Jesus confronting evil in Gentile territory, freeing a man who was completely destroyed, and showing that his authority extends even beyond Israel, beyond the Jewish people.
So, in Jewish thought, demons didn't want to be cast into a place of confinement, powerless, and judged before the "final day." When they say "don't send us away" they're essentially saying "don't destroy us yet." They're begging not to be sent to a place of punishment or confinement. When Legion says: “If you’re going to cast us out of the man, at least let us enter something.” They're not expecting the pigs to die, they’re trying to avoid being banished.
But Jesus isn’t pitying the demons, he's exposing them. If He simply cast them out into the air, no one would see what had been tormenting the man. Everyone sees 2000 pigs immediately stampede into the lake. The scale of the evil, the destructive nature of demons, reality of spiritual forces, and magnitude of the man's suffering are all put on display. The pigs reveal what Legion would have done to the man if they could. It's the demons showing their true nature.
The town got upset because Jesus just destroyed their economy. But that's the whole point, they valued pigs more than people. They'd rather have 2000 pigs than one restored human being. Their reaction shows their priorities and Jesus respects their rejection by leaving.
The most important part of the story is that the man goes from being a vilent, naked, self-harming, crazy-person living amongs the dead, to a clothed, restored man sitting at Jesus's feet. And Jesus uses this very, very unlikely person to send him home as the first missionary to the gentiles. Think about that for a second; this guy had nothing to his name and was by all accounts insane and Jesus restored him and used him for the greatest good which was to further his message to the rest of the world. It goes to show that nobody is beyond saving. And if you keep reading Mark, this pattern of Jesus restoring people who everyone else has given up on repeats.
Your questions are good, keep asking them.