A Spirit of Cleanliness

And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains:

4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.

5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him,

7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.

8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.

9 And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

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

11 Now 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

Mark 5:2-15

Diagnosis: Demonic possession with a spirit of uncleanness

Symptoms: Self-harm, cutting, mutilation, isolation, loneliness are noted as the patient is kept isolated from all others by nature of the condition, superhuman strength, violence, untended emotions

Treatment: You can imagine the social isolation that resulted from such a condition and also the wounds of those who had tried to help. It seems that the spirit even accused Jesus of being there to add to his torment despite the spirit itself being the one that tormented. The mental state of such a one could only be described as agony without any self-awareness of the thing that caused him the harm. It was deceptive also because it appeared self-beneficial in escaping when others were trying to help. Therefore, the spirit kept the person bound through deception. To treat this condition, the spirit had to leave the person to cleanse the deception.

Here, the spirit appears unusually strong, so it is quite possible that it had come on while the person was in near death condition. It also deceived its' own self into thinking that others were the problem. Therefore, to cure the loneliness and isolation brought, the spirit had added a collection and renamed itself legion. In this case, the collective describes the state of the whole. When you have one or two demons, you might find some reason but when you have a whole host that occupied a place by deception, they must come out at his word. It appears the demons also did not wish to leave this place as they had none other to call home. Therefore, they asked to go into the swine where at once the many swine became one. It is almost a herd mentality if you will of everyone follow the leader. Except, because they rejected the Lord, they had no one else and thus were destroyed.

Prognosis: After the deception and uncleanness was gone, the person's recovery was immediate. By the time the townspeople got there, the man affected had recovered. Notice his appearance as being clothed and mentally well.