Gadarenes

Matthew 8:28 And upon His coming to the other side to the country of the Gadarenes two men possessed by demons coming out from among the tombs met with Him, exceedingly troublesome, so that not anyone is able to pass by through that road.  

The King James Version has here Gergesenes, and not Gadarenes. The account of the events concerning the possessed man and the swine, is given in three gospels, at Matt. 8, Luke 8 and Mark 5. In the King James Version it is Gadarenes in Mark and in Luke. The name of the district in which this event took place is a matter of much dispute and speculation, even in the earliest times. Among the mss. five different names appear, and each of these will be discussed briefly here, relying upon comments from Thayer’s lexicon.

• Γαδαρηνός (1046), “of Gadara, a Gadarene. Gadara was the capital of Peraea (Joseph. b. j. 4, 7, 3), situated opposite the southern extremity of the Lake of Gennesaret to the south-east, but at some distance from the lake on the banks of the river Hieromax (Plin. h. n. 5, 16), 60 stadia from the city Tiberias (Joseph. vita 65)...” (Thayer). The references from Josephus’ Wars and Pliny’s Natural History, and Thayer also cites Josephus’ Antiquities further on, show that Gadara is a likely candidate, and so it appears in the text here.
• Γαζαρηνός, “of Gazara, a Gazarene”, the word is not treated by Strong or Thayer, since it appears nowhere in the A.V. It is the name of a town in Ephraim, far from the Sea of Galilee (Lake of Gennesaret), and appears often in the Septuagint (Josh. 16:5 and 21:21; I Chr. 14:16; I Macc. 9:52 et al.).
• Γερασηνός (which has no Strong # but is given an entry in Thayer’s:) “Gerasene, i.e. belonging to the city Gerasa (τὰ Γέρασα, Joseph. b. j. 3, 3, 3): Matt. viii. 28...Mk. v. 1... Lk. viii. 26 and 37...according to very many codd. seen by Origen. But since Gerasa was a city situated in the southern part of Peraea (Joseph. 1.c. [passage cited], cf. 4, 9, 1), or in Arabia...that cannot be referred to here...” (Thayer). And Thayer also cites an edition of Origen’s writing, which shows the antiquity of the uncertainty concerning this location, which shall also be evident below.
• Γεργεσηνός (1086) “Gergesene, belonging to the city Gergesa, which is assumed to have been situated on the eastern shore of Lake Gennesaret : Mt. viii. 28...But this reading depends on the authority and opinion of Origen, who thought the variants found in his Mss. Γαδαρηνῶν and Γερασηνῶν...must be made to conform to the testimony of those who said that there was formerly a certain city Gergesa near the lake. But Josephus knows nothing of it, and states expressly (antt. 1, 6, 2), that no trace of the ancient Gergesites [A.V. Girgashites...] (mentioned Gen. xv. 20; Josh. xxiv. 11) had survived, except the names preserved in the O.T. Hence in Mt. viii. 28 we must read Γαδαρηνῶν...and suppose that the jurisdiction of the city Gadara extended quite to the Lake of Gennesaret...” (Thayer).
• Γεργυστηνός, or “Gergustene, of Gergusta”, is found nowhere but in one ms. in Mark, and so is not treated by Strong or Thayer.

Manuscript support for these various names is as follows:

	Luke 8:26	Luke 8:37	Matt. 8:28	Mark 5:1
Gadara	A, W, M	A, W, M	B, C	A, C, M
Geresa	P 75, B, C, D	P 75, B, C, D		א, B, D
Gergesa	א, Ξ	א, P	W, M
Gazara			א
Gergusta				W
NA27 reading	Geresa	Geresa	Gadara	Geresa
A.V. reading	Gadara	Gadara	Gergesa	Gadara

Based upon ms. support, and the antiquity and perceived reliability of the mss., I would be obliged to follow the NA27 in each instance. However, I have chosen to follow the opinions of Thayer in this matter, based upon the historians’ records. There are several names in the Old Testament similar to Gadara (Geder, Gederah, etc.) yet none of them can be connected to this place. Instead, all of them seem to be far to the south, in the ancient land of Judah.

Race

Matthew 8:34 And behold, the whole city came out for a meeting with Yahshua and seeing Him they exhorted that He would pass over from their districts.

There is nothing in Scripture or in history that we can ascertain about the race of these people. Luke (8:26) tells us that this district was adjacent to Galilee. There were many settlements of Greeks, Romans, White Syrians (as Strabo tells us that the Syrians were White) and even some remnant Israelites in this area. An examination of the Old Testament reveals that there were children of Israel who escaped the Assyrian captivity, not taken by the Assyrians, although they were nevertheless cut off from their relationship with Yahweh.  

What is obvious here, however, is that these people would rather continue to suffer with the status quo, than to see change come even if it were for the better. They preferred the world – and their swine – to the Word of God. That, to me, is a very good portrait of most of our own race today. Most so-called Christians would never trade in their swine for any amount of the Truth.

Notes

From the Christogenea Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew - Chapters 8 & 9