And there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would allow them to enter into them. And he allowed them.
All Commentaries on Luke 8:32 Go To Luke 8
Ephrem The Syrian
AD 373
The Gadarenes established a ruling for themselves that they would not come out or view the signs of our Lord. Consequently he drowned their swine so that they would have to come out against their will. “Legion,” which had been chastened, is a symbol of the world. He commanded the demons to enter the swine and not the man. He, concerning whom they had said, “It is by Beelzebub that he casts out,” engaged in battle against Satan on the mountain and against Legion, the chief of his force. When they entered the swine, he drowned them at that very moment. The force of the merciful One who was keeping watch over this man was known by this. They were begging him not to send them out of that region and not to send them to Gehenna. Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron
