Luke 8:31

And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(31) To go out into the deep.—Better, into the abyss. The word is not found in the other Gospels, and it clearly means, not the deep waters of the Galilean lake, but the pit, the “bottomless pit” of Revelation 9:1-2; Revelation 9:11. The man, identifying himself with the demons, asks for any doom rather than that.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:22-40 Those that put to sea in a calm, even at Christ's word, must yet prepare for a storm, and for great peril in that storm. There is no relief for souls under a sense of guilt, and fear of wrath, but to go to Christ, and call him Master, and say, I am undone, if thou dost not help me. When our dangers are over, it becomes us to take to ourselves the shame of our own fears, and to give Christ the glory of our deliverance. We may learn much out of this history concerning the world of infernal, malignant spirits, which though not working now exactly in the same way as then, yet all must at all times carefully guard against. And these malignant spirits are very numerous. They have enmity to man and all his comforts. Those under Christ's government are sweetly led with the bands of love; those under the devil's government are furiously driven. Oh what a comfort it is to the believer, that all the powers of darkness are under the control of the Lord Jesus! It is a miracle of mercy, if those whom Satan possesses, are not brought to destruction and eternal ruin. Christ will not stay with those who slight him; perhaps he may no more return to them, while others are waiting for him, and glad to receive him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See this passage explained in the Matthew 8:23-34 notes, and Mark 5:1-20 notes.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Lu 8:26-39. Demoniac of Gadara Healed.

(See on [1602]Mt 8:28-34; and Mr 5:1-20).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 8:26"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they besought him,.... That is, all the devils, the whole legion of them, entreated Jesus, under whose power, and at whose dispose they were:

that he would not command them to go out into the deep; meaning, not the deep waters of the sea, for thither they ran the swine at their own request; but the bottomless pit of hell, where others of these spirits lay in chains of darkness; and so the Ethiopic version renders it, "into hell": they desired, that when they went out of this man, they might not be ordered thither, or remanded to their former prison; for they knew that if he gave the word of command, they must obey; but that they might be suffered to continue in that country, and range about on earth, or be any where, rather than in hell.

Geneva Study Bible

And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 8:31. εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον, into the abyss (of Tartarus) instead of Mk.’s ἔξω τῆς χώρας, out of Decapolis.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. they besought] If parekalei be the right reading, it should be rendered “he besought Him,” for the plural is used in the next verse.

to go out into the deep] The ‘abyss’ (Hebrew tehom) intended is perhaps the prison of wicked spirits (Romans 10:7; Judges 6; Revelation 20:3).

St Mark says “that He would not send them out of the country.”

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 8:31. Εἰς τὴν ἄβυσσον, into the deep) תהם, LXX. ἄβυσσος; often; comp. Revelation 9:11; Revelation 20:3. In the deep or abyss, 1) They are not worshipped by bad men; 2) They cannot injure men; 3) They feed (brood) upon their own wretchedness, and do not, however, as yet seem to be tortured in that place of confinement. The power of Jesus Christ extends over animals, demons, and the abyss: and the demons acknowledged the fact.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 31. - And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. This time the voice and the request apparently proceed from the terrible presence which had made the soul of the unhappy man their temporary habitation. The direful confusion in the state of the poor demoniac is shown by this request. By whom was it made? The bystanders could discern no difference between the possessed and the spirits dwelling in the afflicted human being. So St. Mark, in his relation, puts these words into the demoniac's mouth, "And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country;" apparently here partly conscious of his own personal being, and partly identifying himself with the demoniac forces which were afflicting him. The request is a strange one, and suggests much anxious thought. What is the abyss these rebel-spirits dreaded with so great a dread? It would seem as though, to use Godet's thought, that for beings alienated from God, the power of acting on the world is a temporary solace to their unrest, and that to be deprived of this power is for them just what a return to prison is for the captive. St. Mark's expression here is a curious one. He represents the spirits requesting Jesus "not to send them away out of the country." The two accounts put together tell us that these spirits were aware, if they were driven out of the country - whatever that expression signified, this earth possibly - they must go out into the deep, the abyss, what is called "the bottomless pit" in Revelation 9:1, 2, 11. Any doom seemed to these lost ones preferable to that. The whole train of thought suggested by the incident and the words of the Lord is very terrible. We see at least one reason why the first preachers of the Word have selected this exorcism. It indeed lifts a bit of the curtain which hangs between us and the night of endless woe! Luke 8:31

Vincent's Word Studies

Command them

The plural, referring to the legion.

The deep (ἄβυσσον)

Lit., the bottomless. Transcribed into our abyss, as Rev. Mark has a quite different request, that he would not send them out of the country (Mark 5:10). In Romans 10:7, used of Hades, to which Christ descended; and in Revelation always of the bottomless pit. The demons refer to their place of abode and torment.