Where Did the Pigs Plunge? (Matt 8:26; Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26)

Ancient manuscripts of Scripture attest to three variants or options for the name to identify where Jesus cast some demons into pigs which then ran into the sea (Matt 8:26; Mark 5:1; Luke 8:26). The names given are Gadara, Gerasa, and Gergesa. Interestingly, of six major translations surveyed, none of them are uniform in their designation from one parallel passage to the next, as displayed by the chart appended to the end of this article. An examination of these three options will help us figure out where Jesus was in this story.

First, Gerasa was a city was over thirty miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee. It seems hard to imagine two-thousand pigs running over thirty miles to finally jump off a cliff into the sea.1 However, since the Synoptic authors all speak of “the country” or “the region of” where Jesus was, they may have chosen a representative city to note the region where Jesus was, even a city over thirty miles away.2 This option is the least likely of the three.

Second, Gadara is a city about five miles southeast of the Sea of Galilee. Again, though the distance is less, it still seems hard to imagine two-thousand pigs running over five miles to finally make it to the sea.3 Then again, since ancient Gadara may be associated with seafaring as indicated by the imprint of a ship on coins bearing its name, it could be that this name was original and was chosen because it was a large city associated with the coastal region where Jesus was.4 This option finds its strength in manuscript evidence,5 but, at the same time, there are no corresponding steep banks in the sea’s southeastern coast that may correspond to where the pigs plunged to their death (cf. Mark 5:13).6

Third, Gergesa is a city on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee. A strength in identifying this city as the location for the pigs’ death is that it is directly on the coast, obviously close enough for pigs to give a quick run into the sea.7 It also has “a suitably steep bank,” matching the description of the story.8 It is also identified as the proper location by archaeologists, theologians, and historians dating to as early as the second century A.D.9 All considerations in view, the name Gergesa is a textual option, and its early support from various quarters indicates this city may be where Jesus was.

—

1. James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark (PNTC; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 153. [↩]
2. Ibid. [↩]
3. Ibid. [↩]
4. Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (3rd ed.; New York: United Bible Societies, 1971), 23–24. [↩]
5. Ibid. Metzger discounts reasoning from Gergesa’s geography because it is not directly related to manuscript evidence. See below. [↩]
6. R. T. France, The Gospel of Mark: A Commentary on the Greek Text (NIGTC; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002), 227. [↩]
7. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark, 153. [↩]
8. France, The Gospel of Mark, 227. [↩]
9. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark, 153. [↩]