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The AWAD theme for this week is "biblical allusions".
The AWAD for Day 1 is "gadarene".
Do you remember when a headlong rush
Was widely known as a gadarene rush?
Now the rush to your brain
Is called crack cocaine
And crack turns your brain into mush.
gadarene (GAD-uh-reen) noun
A headlong rush
[After the town of Gadara in a biblical story where two demon-possessed men ask Christ to send them into a herd of swine. They dash into the herd and all the animals rush violently over a cliff.] per Anu
Note: I believe the word "gadarene" described in Anu's AWAD today is the adjective [without the capital "G"], not the noun "Gadarene".
Dictionary.com defines "Gadarene" [with a capital "G"] as an alternate form of the place name "Gadara".
Enter "gadarene" in Dictionary.com and you get:
Gad·a·ra ( P ) Pronunciation Key (gdr-)
An ancient city of Palestine southeast of the Sea of Galilee. It was one of the Greek cities of the Decapolis.
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Gada·rene (gd-rn, gd-rn) adj. & n.
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When we consider the biblical source of "gadarene", we find that the dictionary meaning, "unthinking"*, is superficial, if not altogether misleading. In the bible story, a man possessed by a "legion" of demons approaches Jesus asking him to use his powers to "send us into the swine". Presumably, the "unclean spirits" who possessed the man found their accommodations within their human host somewhat cramped. Jesus granted the legion what they wished, but then sent their new hosts hurtling over a cliff. This freed the possessed man and terminated the legion of "unclean spirits" at one and the same time, in a fell swoop [quite literally]. Was this "gadarene rush" to death "unthinking"? Certainly, in the mind of the swine, and also in the mind of the bewildered "unclean spirits". But not in the mind of Jesus, to be sure. The real meaning of a "gadarene rush" is not what the dictionaries tell us.It is a fatal stampede, engineered by someone on purpose, not unthinkingly, but shrewdly and purposefully, to purge an evil. Anyway, that is what I take from the biblical story which follows: The Gadarene Demoniac HealedThe Gospel according to St. Mark - 5 Mt. 8.28-34 · Lk. 8.26-39 http://www.bartleby.com/108/41/5.htmlNow there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.
12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.
13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine; and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand,) and were choked in the sea.
14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine.
17 And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.
18 And when he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him.
19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.
20 And he departed, and began to publish in Decap'olis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel.* Encarta: gadarenefast and without thinking: rushing headlong en masse (literary)Merriam-Webster adds the word "precipitate" which M-W defines thus: Main Entry: pre·cip·i·tate Function: adjective 1 a : falling, flowing, or rushing with steep descent b : PRECIPITOUS, STEEP
2 : exhibiting violent or unwise speed
- pre·cip·i·tate·ly adverb
- pre·cip·i·tate·ness noun
synonyms PRECIPITATE, HEADLONG, ABRUPT, IMPETUOUS, SUDDEN mean showing undue haste or unexpectedness.
PRECIPITATE stresses lack of due deliberation and implies prematureness of action <the army's precipitate withdrawal>.
HEADLONG stresses rashness and lack of forethought <a headlong flight from arrest>.
ABRUPT stresses curtness and a lack of warning or ceremony <an abrupt refusal>. IMPETUOUS stresses extreme impatience or impulsiveness <an impetuous lover proposing marriage>. SUDDEN stresses unexpectedness and sharpness or violence of action <flew into a sudden rage>.
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How many heroes their lives did yield
In an unknown grave in a potter's field?
Yet do not weep
For we shall keep
Their memories blazing as on a shield.
potter's field (POT-uhrs feeld) noun
[i}A burial place for poor or unidentified people.
[The term derives from the name of the area where Judas was buried after he hanged himself. The land was bought with pieces of silver he had received for betraying Christ.] per Anu
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
In the bible story, a man possessed by a "legion" of demons approaches Jesus asking him to use his powers to "send us into the swine". Presumably, the "unclean spirits" who possessed the man found their accommodations within their human host somewhat cramped.
Not quite, Plutarch. Look at verses 6-10:
6When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; 7and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ 8For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ 9Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ 10He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. NRSV(http://bible.oremus.org/browser.cgi?passage=Mark+5.6-10)
So, "Legion" only asked to be sent into the swine when it was clear that Jesus was going to cast them out of the man.
In reply to:
Jesus granted the legion what they wished, but then sent their new hosts hurtling over a cliff.
The text does not say Jesus sent the swine hurtling over the cliff, merely that that is what happened. The question of whether he gave "Legion" permission to enter the swine knowing that the pigs would run over the cliff is best left to a board of more theological bent.
Bingley
Bingley
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Good analysis, Bingley.
You make 2 points here:
1. So, "Legion" only asked to be sent into the swine when it was clear that Jesus was going to cast them out of the man.
Yes, I see you are right. My account is wrong. The "legion" did ask Jesus to "send us into the swine", but only out of fear of a greater evil: that they would be cast out of the country altogether.
2. Jesus obliged the "legion" by sending them into the swine, and the swine proceeded to throw themselves lemming-like to their deaths over a cliff. You observe, correctly, that the text does not tell us if Jesus had anything to do with this.
If anyone can help us with this, Bingley, it is not because they have a greater "theological bent". It can only be that they have access to a text which you and I haven't consulted. Any meaning which does not emerge from the words themselves, or from other words which bible scholars consider authoritative, is conjectural.
I made the inference, and I agree it was an inference, that Jesus sent the swine hurtling over the cliff to terminate the "legion", for three reasons:
A. Jesus had no reason to negotiate with the "unclean spirits". They were thralls of the devil [the story is titled "The Gadarene Demoniac Healed"], they were at his mercy completely, and they could do nothing but evil wherever they resided, in whatever country, in whatever host. If the "legion" was not at the mercy of Jesus, they would not have asked to be sent into the swine to avoid a harsher outcome.
B. If the "legion" were merely set free from their human host and cast into another country, they would be free to enter another human host. Where is the profit in that for Jesus? He saves one man to contaminate another? Perhaps many others, as we are talking about a "legion" here.
Is Jesus caring only of those whom he meets in person? Let us give Jesus more credit than that, I argue.
C. Swine are not lemming. They have no known propensity for self-destruction. While any herd of animals can be swept up in the frenzy of a stampede, what prompted some swine to destroy themselves, initiating a stampede, so suddenly, so conveniently?
My Conclusion
When the "legion" approached Jesus asking him to exercise mercy by sending them into the swine, rather than into another country, we don't know that Jesus ever intended to send them into another country. In fact, upon reflection, we can see that Jesus never could have had that intention. In fact, we can see that it must have been his intention to send them to their doom all along.
And that is what he did, Bingley, though the text leaves it to us to figure it out. He sent them to their doom.
The Only Mystery
The only mystery here, Bingley, is why the text left it to the reader to figure this out.
Perhaps because the author of the text wanted the reader to discover, for himself or herself, the love which Jesus has for all of humanity, the reader included -- for that is the true meaning of this bible story, I believe.
True wisdom is only achieved through original insight.
At least, that's the way I see it, Bingley.
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Precious freedom always comes at a cost
For there are always surly rulers to accost
Who fear their powers
Will fall like towers.
A crown of thorns they are, but they are lost.
crown of thorns (kroun ov thornz) noun
1. An onerous burden or an affliction that causes intense suffering.
[per Anu]
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Good cheer is a widow's cruse.
Give a cheery "Hello" and amuse
Just one, and that one,
Will share all the fun.
Good cheer is hard to refuse.
widow's cruse (WID-oz KROOZ) noun
An inexhaustible supply of something that appears meager.
[From the biblical story of the widow's jug of oil that miraculously replenished itself to supply Elijah during a famine. A cruse is a small earthen pot for holding liquids.]
per Anu
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Fame is more esteemed than cash
Which cannot buy a headline splash.
And even power isn't half
As grand as fame, the golden calf.
Fame will flame as bright when markets crash.
golden calf (GOL-den KAHF) noun
Something unworthy that is excessively esteemed, especially money.
[In the biblical story Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments only to find Israelites worshiping a calf made of gold.] per Anu
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