Mark - Lesson 7...Continued from page 2

DAY THREE:  A Begging Demon

Please carefully read Mark 5:10-13 and answer the following questions.

1.  What did the demon “spokesman” next do (v. 10)?

NOTE: The nkjv says the demon implored Jesus, which means begging.  Interestingly we’ll see this term used repeatedly in different ways in Mark 5.  The tense of the word means they begged Jesus again and again, as translated in the niv and nlt. 

2.  What happened to be nearby, and what did the demons beg Jesus to do (vs. 11, 12)?

3.   Many people, including this author, have made the mistake of wondering why good Jewish people were raising pigs since they were unclean animals (Leviticus 11:7-8; Deuteronomy 14:8).  However, we have to remember that this side of the lake was Gentile territory, or perhaps these were Hellenized Jews who embraced the idea of Greek culture and de-emphasized allegiance to Jewish laws and practices.[ix]  What did Jesus give them permission to do, and what happened to Porky and the gang (v. 13)?

4.  We may miss something important in this as well if we don’t think carefully. In the last chapter, the sea was personified as though it was an evil monster seeking to destroy Jesus.  Interestingly we saw that upon the demons entering the pigs, Jesus had foreseen something they hadn’t: their destruction!  The pigs ran violently toward the sea.  The Greek terms fascinatingly indicate that these pigs and the demons disappeared one by one into the sea, and as the old kjv put it, were choked, taken by the throat and strangled, drowning one after another; in effect this also meant “choking” those demons, implying they were destroyed as well.[x]

This was one temporary defeat of Satan and his plans.  Yet we today benefit from a far greater victory Jesus won.  How do the following passages describe this?

Romans 8:31-39

Colossians 2:13-15

Hebrews 7:27; 9:12, 24-26; 10:12-13

Scripture Memory:  Try to fill in the missing words in the blanks below, by memory if at all possible, and then review the passage several times today.

“Go __________________ to your _________________________, and tell them what _________________ things the Lord has ________________ for you, and how He has had ___________________________ on you.”  Mark 5:19b, nkjv