Here we come to one of the supposed inconsistencies of the Bible. How many demonized people were among the tombs? We don’t know, but obviously there were at least two. Mark and Luke concentrate on one.

Because we generally bury people underground, it’s easy to get a false picture of where these men stayed. Tombs were more likely to be a cave-like structure, or a mausoleum, with a doorway for entry. Generally, after the soft tissue decayed, the bones were boxed and stored with those of other family members, long sense dead.

When was this? Probably, almost twenty-four hours has passed since Jesus and his disciples had not been able to eat for the press of the crowd. The people surely waited until after dawn to come out to the area of the tombs to check on what had occurred. It’s doubtful they would have approached these two—and perhaps other dreaded men—in the night. If so, then the initial encounter between Jesus and the demoniacs would have been pre-dawn.

Only Matthew mentions that there were two who were delivered of their demons. Perhaps Mark and Luke concentrate on the one because he later became an advocate of Jesus among the citizens of the Gadarenes. The other beneficiary of deliverance may not have been mentioned because, like so many others, he took his good fortune for granted. He may have lacked the gratitude of the one who proclaimed throughout the ten-city area “what Jesus had done for him.”

The story ends with a sad note. Unlike those of Sicar, who were blessed by an extended time with Jesus, the people of the Gadarenes asked him to leave. They feared the changes he bought to their lives.