Gergesa

Biblical Occurrences

Matthew 8:28-34, Mark 5:1-20, and Luke 8:26-39 record how Jesus healed a demon-possessed man on the far side of the Sea of Galilee. The demons asked to be allowed to enter a herd of swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea and drowned (Healing of the Gerasene demoniac). The name of the place where this occurred varies among the Greek manuscripts. The New Korean Revised Version renders the location in Matthew as "the region of the Gadarenes" and in Mark and Luke as "the region (land) of the Gerasenes." Some manuscripts read "the country of the Gergesenes" in the same passages, and the name Gergesa derives from this reading. The King James Version renders Matthew 8:28 as "the country of the Gergesenes."

Background

The existence of three different names appears to stem from geography. Gerasa (modern Jerash in Jordan) lies several dozen kilometers from the Sea of Galilee, and Gadara, too, is a city about 10 kilometers from the sea. Early on, therefore, it was pointed out that neither location fits well with the account of the herd rushing straight down a steep slope into the sea. The third-century church father Origen wrote that there had been an ancient village called Gergesa near the shore, with a steep slope close by.

Many scholars today associate Gergesa with Kursi on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. In the late twentieth century, the remains of a Byzantine-era monastery and church were discovered there during road construction, indicating that people of that period commemorated the site as the location of this miracle. Because the ancient place name cannot be definitively identified with the modern site, however, the identification is treated as conjectural. Some have also linked the name to the Girgasites of the Old Testament (Genesis 10:16), but the basis for this connection is uncertain.

Significance in the Wider Biblical Narrative

This region was inhabited mainly by Gentiles. The keeping of swine likewise indicates that it was not Jewish territory. The event is therefore read as an example of Jesus' ministry reaching people beyond the land of the Jews. In Mark 5:19-20, the man who had been healed proclaimed throughout the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

• Textual question: Textual critics (scholars who compare manuscripts to determine the original wording of the text) generally regard "Gerasa" as the older reading in Mark and Luke and "Gadara" as the older reading in Matthew. Some of them hold that "Gergesa" entered later manuscripts as a result of Origen's geographical conjecture. By contrast, those who give priority to the Textus Receptus, the text followed by the King James Version, support the reading "Gergesenes" in Matthew.
• Attempts at harmonization: Several proposals seek to account for the differing names. A leading interpretation holds that Gerasa and Gadara were the names of major cities or administrative districts representing the wider area, while Gergesa was the small village where the event actually took place.
• What the text does not say: The claim that the Kursi ruins mark the site of the event rests on later tradition and conjecture; the Gospel texts do not state it directly. The discrepancy between Matthew, which mentions two demon-possessed men, and Mark and Luke, which mention one, is treated as a separate question.

In the Korean Church

The name does not appear in the text of Korean Bibles. It is used chiefly in commentaries and Bible dictionaries that explain the differing place names for this event. The Kursi ruins are sometimes included in Holy Land pilgrimage itineraries in Israel.