[geologist]

All the talk about "swine" flu brought to memory a question about a Bible incident concerning swine. I think everyone is familiar with the story about Jesus and the devils possessed man at the country of the Gadarenes, and the devils going into a herd of swine and then the herd freaking out and drowning in the lake. There are accounts of this in three of the four Gospels.

In each account the legion of devils asks not to be cast out, but allowed to enter the herd of swine. Here are the three accounts of the request:

Matthew 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

Mark 5:10 And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country.

Luke 8:30-33 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.

The account in Luke is most revealing. They ask not to be sent out into the deep. Then they end up in a lake of water:

Luke 8:30-33 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked.

The word "deep" in this passage is the Greek word (abussos) which Strongs defines as depthless, i.e. (specially) (infernal) "abyss":--deep, (bottomless) pit.

The word "lake" in this passage is the Greek word (limne) as a pond (large or small):--lake.

Now, obviously, the "deep" that these devils feared being cast out into was not the nearby "lake" of water. No, they feared being cast into a fearful place.

The only other place in the New Testament where the English word "deep" has the same Greek meaning (abyss) is here:

Romans 10:7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

Well, this place of the dead certainly fits the criteria of a place of "torment" (Matthew's account), and it is certainly "out of the country" (Mark's account).

It would suggest that this is the place where the rich man found himself after death:

Luke 16:28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

Who are these devils? They can not be the spirits of anything that has died, else they should already be consigned to the deep. They do not appear to be angels, because the Bible does not call them angels. They are called "devils"

In the OT they are described as:

Leviticus 17:7 And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations.

ryes sa`iyr saw-eer'
or sabir {saw-eer'}; from 8175; shaggy; as noun, a he-goat; by analogy, a faun:--devil, goat, hairy, kid, rough, satyr.

and:

Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.

dv shed shade
from 7736; a doemon (as malignant):--devil.

So what are these shaggy and malignant critters and, more importantly, when were they created and for what original purpose?