Matthew 8:29 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Mark saith, Mark 5:8, that Jesus first said to him, Come out of the man; and, Mark 5:6,7, when he saw Jesus afar off he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee, that thou torment me not. Luke's relation, Luke 8:28,29, is much the same with Mark s. The devils possessing these poor creatures, hearing Christ, to whose power they knew they were subject, to command them out of this man, or these two men, said, What have we to do with, thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? The devils knew Christ to be the Son of God, though the Jews would not believe it; they say unto him, What have we to do with thee? A usual phrase, made use of where men had no desire to be troubled with the company, converse, or importunity of others, Joshua 22:24 2 Samuel 16:10 2 Kings 9:18 2 Chronicles 35:21 Joel 3:4 1 Thessalonians 2:4, when they came to them with some ungrateful motions, &c. Art thou come hither to torment us before the time? Either they look upon their dispossession as a torment, for the devil is not at quiet but when he is doing evil; and as this is the temper of the old serpent, so we shall observe that he communicates it to his seed, Proverbs 4:16: or else the devil was afraid lest Christ should have commanded him to his chains before the day of judgment.