Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man — and told about the pigs as well — the eyewitness report covers both aspects of the event: what happened to the man and what happened to the pigs. The telling about the pigs suggests that the economic dimension is significant in the community's processing of the event. Two thousand pigs represents an enormous financial loss. The simultaneous report of the man's healing and the herd's destruction forces the community to weigh these two outcomes against each other — and the next verse shows which side the scale tips toward.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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