Hebrew Inscriptions Found at Legion Miracle Site

Photo Credit: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Hebrew Inscriptions Found at Site in Kursi

In the Galilee, at Kursi or the area called the Gadarenes, where the “Legion Miracle” of Luke 8:26-39 took place, the water level dropped and exposed 1600 year old Hebrew inscriptions at the entrance of an ancient synagogue.

According to an article published by Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Haim Cohen and Prof. Michal Artzy, the archaeologists on the project, stated “the person to whom the inscription was dedicated must have had a tremendous influence on the local people. There is no parallel for such a detailed and expensive dedication in archaeological findings to date in Israel,” notes Prof. Artzy. 

The findings at the site took the researcher back 2000 years, to Jesus’s visits to the area as described in the New Testament. In particular, to the “Land of the Gederenes,” a name that refers to Kursi. According to the New Testament, Jesus came to Kursi after crossing the Sea of Galilee. Since this is the only harbor in the area, the scholars believe that this story, together with the inscription indicating the Jewish origins of the settlement, together provide archaeological evidence that this site may indeed be the Kursi of the New Testament.

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Legion Miracle According to Luke

This is the story of the Legion Miracle from the Gospel of Luke:

Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs.

When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!”

For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.

Jesus asked him, saying, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him. And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.

Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned.

When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind.

And they were afraid. They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned.

Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.” And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. Luke 8:26-39 

Visit Kursi, the site of these newly found Hebrew inscriptions and where Jesus told the demons to enter the swine, right before they jumped on the cliff to their death on a Living Passages Christian Tour.