Journal: Ashland Theological Journal
Volume: ATJ 42:1 (NA 2010)
Article: The Problem of the Grazing Herd of Pigs in Mark 5:1–20
Author: Russell Morton

ATJ vol 42 p. 25

The Problem of the Grazing Herd of Pigs in Mark 5:1–20

Russell Morton*

Almost thirty years ago, I was a doctoral student in a class on miracle stories in the Gospels at the University of Chicago where we were examining the story of the Gerasene Demoniac in Mark 5. While sharing our translations, I was asked to read 5:11, “And there was along the mountain a great herd of pigs grazing” [my translation]. It suddenly struck me as a bizarre statement, so I asked, “Do pigs graze? The reaction of the class was a moment of confusion, and someone mentioned, “It does look like they are being treated like a herd of sheep.” Could this story have arisen only in a Jewish source, unfamiliar with the husbandry of pigs? There are two basic problems with the account of the pigs. First, is the description of the pigs’ feeding habits. Are they, in fact, grazing? Second, why were they described, contrary to all that is known about swine, as a “herd,” that stampeded down the mountain to be drowned in the sea (Mark 5:13)?

The Grazing of the Pigs (Mark 5:11)

Most modern translations of Mark 5:11 read that the pigs are “feeding” (NRSV, NASB, NIV, NCV). While technically correct, the Greek, βόσκειν, when referring to animals, most often means “to feed on herbage, graze, feed.” It is used this way in Isaiah 5:17; 11:7 and Josephus, Jewish Wars 6.153 and in Sybilline Oracle 3.789.1 The term bears similar meaning in classical texts. In the passive it means either to graze like cattle or to feed.2 Thus, while possibly referring to the feeding behavior of animals in general, it is more specifically a reference to herbivores grazing.

This observation leads to the further question, is this an appropriate way to describe pigs? Pigs are not strictly herbivores but omnivores, and while they do eat various plant material, such as roots, berries, etc., their behavior is not normally described as “grazing.” It is, rather, “rooting.” This behavior was noted in the ancient world.

ATJ vol 42 p. 26

The horned animals,3 both tame and wild, and all that are not saw-toothed, are all eaters of grain and herbage, unl...