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The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

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<strong>the</strong> form in which <strong>the</strong> Jewish speaker clo<strong>the</strong>d <strong>the</strong><br />

consciousness <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> demons, with which his own<br />

was identified.<br />

It may be conjectured, that it was partly in order to<br />

break this identification, or ra<strong>the</strong>r to show <strong>the</strong><br />

demonised that it was not real, <strong>and</strong> only <strong>the</strong><br />

consequence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> control which <strong>the</strong> demons had<br />

over him, that <strong>the</strong> Lord asked his name. To this <strong>the</strong><br />

man made answer, still in <strong>the</strong> dual consciousness, '<br />

My name is Legion: for we are many.' * Such might<br />

be <strong>the</strong> subjective motive for Christ's question. Its<br />

objective reason may have been to show <strong>the</strong> power<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> demoniac possession in <strong>the</strong> present instance,<br />

thus marking it as an altoge<strong>the</strong>r extreme case. <strong>The</strong><br />

remembrance, that <strong>the</strong> answer is once more in <strong>the</strong><br />

forms <strong>of</strong> Jewish thinking, enables us to avoid <strong>the</strong><br />

strange notion (whe<strong>the</strong>r it express <strong>the</strong> opinion <strong>of</strong><br />

some, or <strong>the</strong> difficulties <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs), tliat <strong>the</strong> word '<br />

Leo^ion ' conveys <strong>the</strong> idea <strong>of</strong> six thous<strong>and</strong> armed<br />

<strong>and</strong> tfcrong wamors <strong>of</strong> evil.* For, it was a common<br />

Jewish idea, that,

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