This will be an ongoing exegesis on the Gospel According to Mark. Included will be my own interpretations, the interpretations of others that I find interesting or compelling, and where necessary, reflections on how the process of translation has introduced nuances that may or may not have been intended by the author(s).
1.1: The author is the first to acknowledge the “true identity” of Jesus (Jesus Christ, the Son of God).
5:13: The event of the unclean spirits leaving the man and entering the swine causing them to run off the bank into the sea does not fit in well with the geography of the area per 5:1. Gerasa (country of the Gerasenes, which is now modern Jerash, Jordan) is about 35 miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee, making it impossible for the swine to run off a steep bank into the sea. Some later scribes changed the desination to ‘Gadara’ and ‘Gergesa’. In fact, Matthew, who according to most scholars, relied on Mark and subsequently redacted him to write his own Gospel changes it to ‘Gadara’, which is definitely closer to the Sea of Galilee but not close enough for a herd of pigs to run off a bank directly into the sea.
