So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine.
Ver. 31. So the devils besought him] For threaten him they dared not, as little as the Gadarenes, Matthew 8:34, because they found themselves overpowered. At one time they had set upon our Saviour with utmost might and malice in the wilderness. The matter is well amended now. The same power, when he pleases, can change the note of the tempter to us. He will tread Satan under our feet shortly, Romans 16:20. That which Vegetius said of chariots armed with scythes and hooks will be applied to the devils; at first they were a terror, and after a scorn.
Suffer us to go into the herd of swine] Possumus dicere porcorum quoque setas fuisse apud Deum numeratas nedum sanctorum capillos. We may safely say, that the bristles of swine are numbered with God, saith Tertullian (de Fuga), much more the hairs of saints; not one of them falls to the ground without their heavenly Father. Satan desired to have forth Peter to winnow, as Goliath desired to have an Israelite to combat with; he could not command him. He could not make lice, Exodus 8:18, fire a house, Job 1:19, drown a pig, without divine permission. Now we are of more price than many pigs before God, as that martyr well inferred. And if a legion of devils had not power over a herd of hogs, much less have they over Christ's flock of sheep, saith Tertullian.