Pork in Israel and Judah?

Ever wonder about this?

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Matthew 8:28-31(NKJV)

28When He had come to the other side, to the country of the £Gergesenes, there met Him two demon-possessed men, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. 

29And suddenly they cried out, saying, “What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?”

30Now a good way off from them there was a herd of many swine feeding. 

31So the demons begged Him, saying, “If You cast us out, £permit us to go away into the herd of swine.”

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They're Jews.  They don't eat pork.  Where did the swine (pigs) come from?

Well here is what I found.

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Gergesa, (also Gergasa or the Country of the Gergesenes) is a place on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee that is described in the New Testament Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke. According to these books, in Gergasa Jesus drove Legion out of a wild man and into a herd of pigs.

Gergesenes means "those who come from pilgrimage or fight."[1]

Many New Testament manuscripts refer to the "Country of the Gadarenes" or "Gerasenes" rather than the Gergesenes. Both Gerasa and Gadara were cities to the east of the Sea of Galilee. They were both Gentile cities filled with citizens who were culturally more Greek than Semitic; this would account for the pigs in the biblical account. Gerasa and Gadara are accounted for in historical accounts (by writers such as Pliny the Elder and Josephus) and by archaeological research. Today they are the modern towns of Jerash and Umm Qais.

Pasted from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gergesa>

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This is just one small example of what I wrote about how easy it is to do Biblical research today.  I read the passage, wondered to myself what the heck were pigs doing in Israel.  Typed the name of the area where they were, Gergesanes, into Yahoo and I got my answer, that quick and that easily.

Some might say big deal but let me show you what it added to my understanding of scripture.

This is a map of ancient Israel, showing that Kingdoms of Judah and Israel.  I had always been confused by the references to the two.  The map helped me to understand that the Kingdom of Israel was to the north and included Samaria.  The Kingdom of Judah was to the south and included Jerusalem.

So one of the things that I learned from this map and had not understood before was that Samaria was part of the Kingdom of Israel.  When I have read in the NT about how most Jews didn't associate with Samarians, I thought that they were a different people.  Turns out that they weren't.

The next thing that I've found from this is that most of Jesus' ministry took place to the north, in the read circle.  I hadn't realized that before.

And lastly, the red X is approximately where the swine were, just off of the southeast coast of the Sea of Galilee.   As we learned from Wikipedia, that area had many Gentiles.  I had never realized that before.  Just kind of interesting.

As you study God's word,  be sure to take advantage of all the tools available to us as we diligently seek Him.  You'll be amazed at what you can learn!