And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.
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 they that kept them fled,.... The hog herds, men of very low life, and whose employment was very infamous and reproachful, as has been observed. These, amazed at what they had seen, distressed with the loss of the swine, and so of their employment, and frightened also lest they should incur the blame and displeasure of their masters, ran away in great haste, fear...
Although Christ seldom wrought any destructive miracle, and although he certainly foresaw that the swine would perish in the waters; yet that the people might see how great the power and malice of the devil would be, if not restrained by Christ, he permitted him to ever into the swine: Christ said unto them, Go; and how glad was Satan of this permission to enter...