Legion: An Exegetical Analysis


In this analysis I will be drawing from five passages found in Mark 5: 9-13, which is the story of the demonic possession by the demon which is called Legion. I will be drawing on the context of the whole passage which is Mark 5: 1-20, but my main focus and purpose of this analysis is to shed light on verses 9-13. I have referenced three different versions of these passages in different Bibles, the KJV, NIV and the NRSV, but I have found no significant difference, so the context in which I will use these references bares no large concern to the analysis, other than to show a harmony of the translations.

While this occurrence is accounted in the other synoptic Gospels, Mark gives us the longest and most detailed account of this occurrence. This is also the longest and most detailed occurrence in the gospel of Mark. This occurrence happens in the country of the Gerasene’s, which is stated in verse one of Mark 5, which it is uncertain exactly where this location is, but the herd of swine found in verse eleven of Mark 5 indicates that this is a territory of the Gentiles. Nothing about this land is kosher; everything was unclean; spirits, tombs, swine and the territory, but Jesus still had power just as much as in the land of the Jews. Which will prove to be of significance in my analysis when I start to touch on verses 9-13. The accounts found in Matthew and Luke is more vague than the account in Mark, which is rich with detail. This could mean that Mark may have had access to an eyewitness account of the event.

In verse 5 Jesus asks for the name of the unclean spirit that has possessed the man in which he replies, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” This is characteristic of the ancient belief that knowledge of a name gave you power over your adversaries. This was also evident in verse 7 where the demon already knows who Jesus was and says his name to try and have a somewhat of an upper hand. The fact that he replied with the name Legion which is actually a number rather than a name shows that the demons were trying to get out of a situation in which they felt powerless.

This shows significance in two ways, in that Jesus had power over the demons even though he knew not their names and in the fact that this is not only one demon of Satan’s work, but a whole army. Jesus had power over these demons despite both their trickery and their numbers.

Verse 10 shows us where the demon Legion was begging Jesus not to send them out of the country. This shows that the demons knew that Jesus had the power to cast them out and power over them. One significance of this is the popular ancient belief that demons were associated with a particular place, thus the reason for them not wanting to have to leave that country.
We now go into verse 11-12 where Legion is begging to be sent into a herd of swine that was feeding on the hillside. This would indicate that this was a mountainous region wherever it was and that this would be Gentile or Pagan Territory.5 The location has some variation throughout the Synoptic gospels.

In verse 13 Jesus allows Legion to enter into the swine and it states that the herd rushed off of the steep bank and into the sea. Now this a new thought that the pigs in panic ran down the steep hillside and died, as studies in the knowledge of psychology would show.5 This is a newer thought, but would compliment why the swine would have done such a thing, out of the shock of something entering in their bodies. I use this because I know my self, I have often wondered about the reason for the swine to cause their own deaths.

One significance in this is that the pigs die in the see, which would represent the abyss from which they came and would be forced to return. This is significant in the fact that it seems as though Jesus has bargained with Legion, but in doing so sends them to their death through the symbolic sea. In this fact Jesus accepts their proposal, but defeats their purpose of trying to find away out, in which his authority prevails.

The fact that all this surrounded Jesus, which signified un-cleanliness, the tombs, the swine, Gentiles, the demons and Jesus, still had power over all things. He had created order out of chaos. Jesus brings peace into a tormented personality and land.
In the later part Mark (5:15-17) it tells of the crowd’s reaction to what had happened. The crowd began to beg Jesus to leave their land. This shows that the crowd had no appreciation for what Jesus had done rather they, in the same way that Legion did not want anything to do with Jesus, had told him to leave and shunned him instead of showed their marvel, appraise and appreciation.

This signifies a truth of the human nature that is popular today in that no one wants to receive God and that most of the population is like the demon possessed man and the people in that they do not want to receive, but turn Christ away. Whether or not the loss of the pigs was actually the reason for the reaction of the crowd we can take an interpretation of that to mean that we could parallel this with our love for riches, being a demon that plagues us. If someone tries to tell us that our possessions make us sin, or cause sin we do not want to hear them and turn them away.

This occurrence ends in Mark 5:18-20 where Jesus gets on his boat, and the man whom had been demon possessed begs to go with Christ, but instead Christ tells him to go and tell his friends about what Christ had done for him. This is a way for Christ to show his power throughout the land because they all had known about this man whom was demon possessed and that even chains could not bind him, and now he was walking free and of sound mind. It leads us to believe that this man was of sound mind, and went and told all that he knew what Jesus had done for him.

These verses of Mark 5: 9-13 hold some very important lessons that we can obtain, if we only look deeper. These verses hold some critical information on the demon possession genre and how Christ deals with these. This is also the most detailed description of a demon possession, which we have in the book of Mark. I believe that is for a reason, because of all of the rich symbolism, which can be found in a deeper study of the passage.

There are also many parallels, which can be drawn upon from the man, which was demon possessed, and the reaction, which was received from the people of the land to the parallel made about the unclean spirits and the sea symbolizing the abyss. The most powerful message found in this story is the awesome power of Jesus Christ. He had power in the enemies land, and against odds of facing not only one demon, but a Legion of demons and it is clearly shown in verse 7 of Mark 5 that Jesus had complete control over these unclean spirits, and that the spirits recognized this also. These passages show the power that Christ had to heal anything that he could command even the unclean spirits and they would obey.