Gadara
Gadara was one of the leading cities of the Decapolis, the league of ten Greek cities east of the Jordan, and its territory ran down to the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It was in 'the country of the Gadarenes' that Jesus stepped off the boat - straight from stilling the storm - and was met among the tombs by the man possessed by Legion, whom no chains could hold. The demons begged to enter a nearby herd of swine (itself a mark of how thoroughly Gentile this territory was), and some two thousand pigs rushed down the steep place into the sea. The Gadarenes, more frightened by the power that healed than by the madman they had failed to bind, begged Jesus to leave - the only place in the Gospels that asked him to go away - yet he left behind the healed man as its first missionary, and on Jesus's next visit to the Decapolis, crowds came.
Details
- Region
- Decapolis
- Modern Location
- Umm Qais, Jordan
Key Passages
The Country of the Gadarenes
Mark 5:1-2
Jesus deliberately crosses the sea into Gentile tomb-country - the mission field nobody wanted - to free one man everyone had given up on.
1nd they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
The Gadarenes Ask Jesus to Leave
Mark 5:14-17
A healed man sits clothed and in his right mind, and the town's response is fear for its economy - the cost of deliverance felt too high at Gadara.
14nd they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
Did You Know?
The Gadara region's steep eastern shore is the only place around the Sea of Galilee where cliffs run down to the water - matching the swine's fatal stampede exactly.
Gadara was a sophisticated Greek city that produced famous philosophers and poets - the 'tombs madman' lived at the cultured Decapolis's back door.
The ruins at Umm Qais in Jordan still overlook the Sea of Galilee - visitors today can stand in Gadara and see the water where the herd perished.