Psalm 106:1-18; 2 Kings 21:1-18; 1 Cor. 10:14-11:1; Matt. 8:28-34
What is wrong with these kings who chase after other gods? Manasseh’s wickedness extended beyond even Ahab’s when he chose to erect altars to other gods in the house of the Lord and even sacrificed his son by burning him. Manasseh would have seen and known the great things the Lord had done in delivering Israel during his father, Hezekiah’s time. Knowing this, how could he possibly have gone after these other gods? His evil was greater in the eyes of the Lord than the evil done even by the pagan peoples who had occupied the land prior to the Israelites taking over. The old saying that God has no grandchildren is more true with respect to Manasseh than most of us could imagine. His father was a godly man who was used by the Lord and whose witness was to great acts by the Lord on his behalf and yet his own son was perhaps the single most apostate king in Israel’s history.
So, why are two men mentioned by Matthew but not by either Mark or Luke? As one of the disciples, Matthew was probably an eyewitness to the event while Mark and Luke were second hand accounts based on apostolic testimony. Likely there were several men in this locale and two did approach the Lord as he came into their “turf” and equally likely one was more demonized than the other and his deliverance and healing more remarkable. Also, there is some historical evidence that one of these men actually began to spread abroad the news of his healing by Jesus in the region and therefore there would have been a way to independently verify the story by simply going and asking about such a man. At any rate, does it matter if all three sources agree that Jesus did a remarkable work of deliverance from a legion of demons? Why would the people have begged him to leave the region after doing this work? Recall that in Luke 5 Peter’s reaction to the catch of fish at Jesus’ direction was to say, “Go away from me Lord, I am a sinful man.” Such a display of power is frightening and these people testified to extraordinary power by begging Jesus to go away, just as Peter had initially done.
Paul deals with the issue of idols by saying that they are actually nothing at all so don’t worry about them. However, he does instruct the Corinthians to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols if someone tells them this specifically has been sacrificed to an idol. They are not to participate in anything that would give the impression that they are affirming such practices in any way. In Corinth there were many gods that were worshipped and it would have been difficult to avoid the reality that any given vendor could have sacrificed this animal to an idol. Think of today when orthodox Jewish people shop only with kosher butchers. Paul says that Christians need not observe those dietary laws and are free to buy in the markets because Jesus has revealed these false gods to be nothing. Freedom, though, is not license. All that we do is meant to give glory to God and so our freedom is circumscribed by that reality. The questions we ask ethically are, “Is this helpful to the kingdom and does it build up either me or the body of Christ?” We self-limit the exercise of our freedom for the glory of God.
All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice.
Him serve with fear, His praise forth tell;
Come ye before Him and rejoice.
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