And always night and day, he was in the
mountains
And this being in an Heathen country, would have rendered him an
unclean person, if he had not been possessed with an unclean
spirit; for so runs one of the Jewish canons F19:
``he that walks in an Heathen land, on mountains and rocks, is unclean.''And in the tombs:
crying, and cutting himself with stones;
with sharp pieces of stone, which he picked up among the broken
tombstones, or from off the mountains, where he was night and
day; and besides taking up stones with his hands, and cutting
himself with them, he might cut his feet with the sharp stones of
the mountains, in which he ran about; these mountains were those,
that encompassed the sea of Tiberias; for of it is (htwa Nypyqm Myrhv) , "that the
mountains surround it" F20: for the place where this man was,
was near the sea of Tiberias, over which Christ was just now
come; and soon as he arrived on shore, he met him, and found him
in this condition. This man was a lively emblem of a man in a
state of nature and unregeneracy: he had "an unclean spirit", as
every natural man has; his soul or spirit is defiled with sin,
particularly his mind and conscience: this pollution is natural
to him; he brings it into the world with him; it is very
universal, it has spread itself over all the powers and faculties
of his soul, and is what he cannot cleanse himself from: "who can
say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?" (
Proverbs
20:9 ) . Nothing that he can do, or can be done for him by a
mere creature, can free him from it: nothing but the blood of
Christ, and that cleanses from all sin: this man, through the
possession of Satan, was a madman, and exceeding fierce and
furious: there is a spirit of madness in all unregenerate men;
they are exceeding mad against God, and Christ, and the saints,
as Saul was before conversion, ( Acts
26:9-11 ) . For who but madmen would stretch out their hands
against God, strengthen themselves against the Almighty, run upon
him, even on his neck, and upon the thick bosses of his bucklers?
( Job 15:25
Job 15:26 ) .
Who but such would oppose themselves to the Son of God, or do
despight to the Spirit of grace, who are equal in power and glory
with God the Father? or kick against the pricks, by persecuting
the members of Christ? Who but men out of their senses, would
seek to ruin and destroy themselves, both soul and body? This man
was altogether under the power and influence of Satan, and had a
legion of devils within him. Satan is in every unconverted man,
in every child of disobedience; and works effectually in him, and
leads him captive at his will: and he has besides a swarm of
fleshly lusts in him, which have the government over him. This
man had his dwelling among the tombs, where the dead lay: so
unregenerate men dwell among dead sinners, they have their
conversation among the men of the world, who are dead in
trespasses and sins, and according to the course of it: and as
this man could not be bound with chains and fetters, but these
were broke asunder by him; so wicked men are not to be bound,
restrained, and governed, by the laws, commands, and ordinances
of God; they despise them, break through them, and cannot be
subject to them, their language is, "let us break their bands
asunder, and cast away their cords from us", ( Psalms 2:3 ) . And as no
man could tame this man, so it is not in the power of men, by the
force of moral persuasion, by all the arguments, expostulations,
exhortations, promises, or threatenings, they can make use of, to
influence the carnal minds of men, or make any real change in
them: or bring them into a subjection to the law of God, or
Gospel of Christ, and remove from them the spirit of madness, and
opposition to all that is good: and to say no more; as this man
was mischievous to himself, and cut himself with stones, so
carnal men are the worst enemies to themselves; they cut and
wound themselves with their sins, though, like the madman, they
are not sensible of it; and if grace prevent not, will destroy
themselves, both soul and body, with their transgressions.