Mark 5:3

3 who had his dwelling in the tombs: and no man could any more bind him, no, not with a chain;

Mark 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 5:3

Who had his dwelling among the tombs
Which is one of the characters of a madman among the Jews; who say it is F17

``the sign of a madman, that he goeth out in the night, (twrbqh) (tybb Nlhw) , "and lodges among the tombs", and rends his garments, and loses what is given to him.''

The same they say, in the same place, of an hypochondriac, and melancholy man; and of Kordiacus, which they give out F18 is a demon that possesses, and has power over some sort of persons:

and no man could bind him, no, not with chains;
so as to hold him for any length of time: not only cords were insufficient to hold, but even chains of iron; so strong was he through the possession; for this could not be by his own natural strength.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 T. Hieros. Gittin, fol. 48. 3. & Trumot, fol. 40. 2.
F18 Jarchi & Bartenora in Misn. Gittin, c. 7. sect. 1.

Mark 5:3 In-Context

1 And they came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes.
2 And when he was come out of the boat, straightway there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
3 who had his dwelling in the tombs: and no man could any more bind him, no, not with a chain;
4 because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been rent asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: and no man had strength to tame him.
5 And always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.