{"id":4500,"date":"2024-02-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/reading-plan\/february-16\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T21:12:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T02:12:18","slug":"february-16","status":"publish","type":"reading-plan","link":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/reading-plan\/february-16\/","title":{"rendered":"February 16"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Insight from Mark 5<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mark does not say whether the characters in this story were Jews or Gentiles, however, there are reasons to think that the people here may have been Jews. It may be significant that Mark doesn\u2019t specifically say that the people involved were Gentiles (notice, he does say this regarding a woman in Mark 7:26). Some have said that the people here must be Gentiles because Jewish people were not permitted to eat pigs. However, the large herd of pigs might be a sign of the wickedness of the Jewish people in this place. Also, this passage seems to be a reflection of Isaiah 65:1-7, a passage detailing the rebellion of God\u2019s people. Notice, particularly, verses 2-5: \u201cI spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices; a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens and making offerings on bricks; who sit in tombs, and spend the night in secret places; who eat pig\u2019s flesh, and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels; who say, \u2018Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.\u2019 These are a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. Tom Kelby, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Book of Mark with Study Notes: A Preacher\u2019s Guide to the Book of Mark<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, second printing (Webster, WI: Hands to the Plow, 2017), 24.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesus isn\u2019t asking the demon for its name because he needs to know his name in order to cast it out (he cast out many demons without asking the name), and he isn\u2019t asking the demon its name in order to give his followers a formula for casting out demons. He asks the demon its name so his followers will know this is an actual battle and they will know how many enemies there are. Jesus is one man going to battle against a whole legion of enemy soldiers (a Roman legion was a troop of about 6,000 soldiers). Tom Kelby, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Book of Mark with Study Notes: A Preacher\u2019s Guide to the Book of Mark<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, second printing (Webster, WI: Hands to the Plow, 2017), 24.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_crdt_document":""},"class_list":["post-4500","reading-plan","type-reading-plan","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan\/4500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reading-plan"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/reading-plan"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/handstotheplow.org\/am\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}