7: and crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me."

8: For he had said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!"

9: And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many."

20: And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decap'olis how much Jesus had done for him; and all men marveled.

Historical Commentary  This pericope is obviously unhistorical, containing several miracles and certain geographic absurdities. "The country of the Gerasenes" is thirty miles from the Sea of Galilee, not directly adjacent. However, Gundry (1993, p256) suggests that this may refer to the modern town of Kursi, which sounds a bit like Gergasa. The miraculous aspects of this story rule it out as a historical event. It contains numerous Markan themes and motifs -- boats, the shore, crowds, and crowds amazed at Jesus' powers. And most miraculously, in v15 the demoniac shows up dressed and ready to go. Where did the clothing come from? Must be a miracle!  A number of other possible sources have been suggested. Macdonald (2000) argues that this scene is based on the story of Polyphemus the one-eyed giant from the Odyssey (summarized on this site) and the story of Circe, who turns Odysseus' men into pigs.  Many New Testament scholars see a reference to a Roman legion occupying Palestine, either Legio 1 Italica, which had as its legionary standard a boar and was in the east in around 67, or more likely Legio X Fretensis, which had among its standards a bull, a tireme, a dolphin, and a boar, and was responsible for occupying Jerusalem after the Jewish War (ended 70 CE), staying  into the fourth century. After 70 it was stationed in Gerasa for a while (Winter 1974, p180-181). Against this interpretation is the fact that Gerasa is in Gentile rather than Jewish territory, where the legion would not have been viewed so negatively (Donahue and Harrington 2002, p166). However, in the second century Legio X was made the sole occupying legion of "Syria Palestina" (Hadrian's abusive name for the Jewish homeland), so a later date for Mark might be indicated. In addition to the symbol of the pig itself, Myers (1988, p191) points out that this pericope is saturated with military terminology.  The term agele that the writer uses for a "herd" of pigs is often used to denote a gaggle of new recruits for the military, the Greek term epetrepsen ("he dismissed them") echoes a military command, and the pigs' charge (ormesen) into the lake sounds like a military attack.  Cliff Carrington in his Flavian Testament has also pointed out some parallels between this and a passage in Josephus, where Jewish rebels, led by a rebel named Jesus (son of Shaphat), are chased into the nearby lake and killed by Titus' army. Myers (1988, p191) also sees possible Josephean parallels, with both War 4.9.1, and Antiquities 14.15.10. Joseph Atwill (2005) who in a forthcoming book uncovers a number of resonances between the fighting around Gadara and this passage, observes: "In the Gadara passage in War of the Jews Josephus tells us the number of prisoners taken captive: ‘There were besides two thousand and two hundred taken prisoners’ Josephus also informs us that, ‘ A mighty prey was taken also, consisting of Asses, and sheep, and camels, and oxen’. Notice that there were no swine taken."(p49) At the general level, enemy soldiers killed by drowning recalls the fate of Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea. The structure of the pericope is laid out below: A They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Ger'asenes. B And when he had come out of the boat, there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who lived among the tombs; and no one could bind him any more, even with a chain; C for he had often been bound with fetters and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the fetters he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out, and bruising himself with stones. D And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him; E  and crying out with a loud voice, he said, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me." F For he had said to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!" G And Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" H A He replied, "My name is Legion; for we are many." B And he begged him eagerly not to send them out of the country. H A Now a great herd of swine was feeding there on the hillside; B and they begged him, "Send us to the swine, let us enter them." G So he gave them leave. F And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea. E The herdsmen fled, and told it in the city and in the country. D And people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus, and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine. C And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their neighborhood. And as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. But he refused, and said to him, "Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." B And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decap'olis how much Jesus had done for him; and all men marveled. A And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, Whatever its source, nothing in this pericope supports historicity.

25: And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years,

31: And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, `Who touched me?'"

34: And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

9: And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping."

40: And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.

41: Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Tal'itha cu'mi"; which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."

42: And immediately the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement.

43: And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Historical Commentary  The structure of this pericope is classic Markan structure, with the story of the woman with bloody hemorrhage sandwiched between the account of Mark's raising of the daughter of Jairus. The writer of Mark has linked the two women by referring to both as "daughter," and by the woman's bleeding for twelve years connecting to the girl's age of 12 years. The girl has already died, while the woman is getting worse, with the implication that she will die. Miracles do not occur; both stories are fictional. In addition to being miraculous, evidence of OT creation abounds in the resurrection account. Mark has created the raising of Jairus' daughter out of the Elijah-Elisha Cycle:  Mark 5:21-43 2 Kings 4:8-37 synagogue ruler falls at Jesus' feet woman grasps Elisha's feet only daughter is dying only son is dying word reaches Jesus the child is dead word reaches Elisha the child is dead only a few disciples follow Jesus to see miracle Elisha alone with child Jesus touches child and it awakens Elisha touches child and it awakens parents are ecstatic with great ecstasy mother is ecstatic with all this ecstasy (IV Kgs LXX) The final parallel, a direct citation of the OT, is the writer's pointer to the source of the story. The healing of the hemmorrhaging woman also contains typical miracle motifs, including information that the woman had been sick for a long time, and that doctors could not help her. Such information is common in modern tales of miraculous healings as well. Funk et al (1997) point out that the words in the two pericopes here in Mk 5 are not sayings, are unmemorable, and probably would not have been preserved in any oral tradition of these stories. Hence, the words cannot be traced back to Jesus either. From the literary point of view, the writer contrasts the faith that brought about cures in Mark 5, with the faithlessness and fear of the disciples in the boat in the last pericope in Mark 4. Numbers 5:1-2 directs: 1: The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. Note how in Mk 1:40-45 Jesus heals a "leper" (skin disease) and then in Mk 5:21-43 Jesus heals a woman with a discharge, followed by the raising of a dead girl (ceremonially unclean due to contact with a dead body). Robert Price (2004) observes of concordances between the Gospel narratives and the Old Testament like this: "Earlier scholars (e.g., John Wick Bowman), as many today (e.g., J. Duncan M. Derrett), saw gospel echoes of the ancient scriptures in secondary coloring here or redactional juxtaposition of traditional Jesus stories there. But the more recent scrutiny of John Dominic Crossan, Randel Helms, Dale and Patricia Miller, and Thomas L. Brodie has made it inescapably clear that virtually the entirety of the gospel narratives and much of the Acts are wholly the product of haggadic midrash upon previous scripture."  The chiastic structure of this pericope is actually quite simple. A And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him; and he was beside the sea. B Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Ja'irus by name; and seeing him, he fell at his feet, and besought him, saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." C And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. D And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment E .For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well." F And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. G And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, "Who touched my garments?" H And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, `Who touched me?'" I And he looked around to see who had done it. J A But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. B And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." J A While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?" B But ignoring what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." I And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. H When they came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, he saw a tumult, and people weeping and wailing loudly. G And when he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a tumult and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." F And they laughed at him. E But he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. D Taking her by the hand he said to her, "Tal'itha cu'mi"; which means, "Little girl, I say to you, arise." C And immediately the girl got up and walked (she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. B And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. A He went away from there and came to his own country; and his disciples followed him. Due to the presence of Markan invention, creation off of the OT, and the supernatural, nothing in this pericope supports the historicity of the story.