Matthew 8:28 – 34

28 When He had come to the other side, to the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way.

29 And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

30 Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding.

31 So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”

32 And He said to them, “Go.” So when they had come out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and perished in the water.

33 Then those who kept them fled; and they went away into the city and told everything, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men.

34 And behold, the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region

The boat landed on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. The country of the Gergesenes or as it is also known the Gadarenes. This is the province known as Decapolis, which had these cities in it, [Gerasa (Jerash) in Jordan, Dium later Capitolias also Dion, Aydoun in Arabic, in Jordan; Scythopolis (Beit She'an) in Israel, the only city west of the Jordan River; Hippos (also Hippus or Sussita; Al-Husn in Arabic) on the Golan Heights; Gadara (Umm Qais) in Jordan; Pella (west of Irbid) in Jordan.]

The two fierce men who met them were posessed by demons, which are angels who joined with Satan during his rebellion with God, they all lost the battle and were cast out of heaven. They are supernatural beings such as angels but ones who have joined Satan and obey his commands.

Beings who are inhabited by demons have severe ailments such as physical or mental ones such as paralysis, blindness, deafness, loss of speech, epilepsy, etc. These individuals were no longer in control of their bodies but did as the demons desired and spoke as they would. The only way to cure the individual was to cast out the demon.

They knew if Christ cast them out they would be reserved for Hades and would tormented until the judgment on the last day.

These demons believed if they could inhabit the swine they would not return to Hades but would remain on earth until the judgment so they asked to inhabit the swine.

Jesus granted their request but it did not benefit them for a long period of time. Demons at times caused great derangement in humans, this time it caused a madness in the swine which caused them to dive into the sea and drown there.

This event was so unusual that the keepers of the swine fled into the city and reported what had happened to the people.

The people then came and begged Jesus to leave, not because they feared the men who had been freed from the demons, because Mark reported the man became a follower of Christ and was no longer the wild man. (Mark 5:19 – 20)

These people were afraid others would lose their herds in the same manner if Jesus remained in their community.