And he departed, and began to announce in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.
All Commentaries on Mark 5:20 Go To Mark 5
Theophylact of Ochrid
AD 1107
The Lord indeed asks, not that He Himself required to know, but that the rest might know that there was amultitude of devils dwelling in him.
Also that by fighting with us, they may make us more expert. It goes on, “Now there was there about the mountain a great herd of swine feeding.”.
But amazed at the miracle, which they had heard, they were afraid, and for this reason they beseech Him to depart out of their borders; which is expressed in what follows: “And they began to pray Him to depart out of their coasts;” for they feared lest sometime or other they should suffer a like thing: for, saddened at the loss of their swine, they reject the presence of the Saviour.
For he feared lest some time or other the devils should find him, and enter into him a second time. But the Lord sends him back to his house, intimating to him, that though He Himself wasnot present, yet His power would keep him; at the same time also that he might be of use in the healing of others. Wherefore it goes on: “And He did not suffer him, and saith unto him, Go home to thy friends "See the humility of the Saviour. He said not, ‘Proclaim all things which I have done to you,’ but, all that the Lordhath done; do thou also, when thou hast done any good thing, take it not tothyself, but refer it to God.
He therefore began to proclaim it, and all wonder, which, is that which follows: “And he began to publish.”.
Or by this it is signified that devils enter into those men who live like swine, rolling themselves in the slough of pleasure; they drive them headlong into the sea down the precipice of perdition, into the sea of an evil life where they are choked.
