“What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?”
Matthew 8:29. What have we to do with thee? Willingly would they, by this word, drive him far from them. But when they see that they are held under restraint, and that it is in vain for them to decline his authority, they complain that they are tormented before the time, and likewise mingle entreaty.
Christ's power here is absolute: He commands not only disease and nature but the very demons themselves, even while in His humiliation. This victory over a legion of devils in Gentile territory is a foretaste of His conquest over Satan's whole kingdom when He enters His glory.
AI summary
Commenting on Matthew 8:28-34
And there was a good way off from them,.... "Nigh unto the mountains", as Mark says, or "on the mountain", as Luke, bordering on the sea shore; so that though it was at some distance, yet within sight. The Vulgate Latin, and the Hebrew edition of Munster read, "not far off"; and the Persic version, "near them": which agree with the accounts of Mark and...