🔼The name Gergesenes: Summary
- Meaning
- Clay Dwellers, Pottery People
- Etymology
- From Gergesa, perhaps from Girgashite, from גרגושתא (gargushta), red clay.
🔼The name Gergesenes in the Bible
The name Gergesenes occurs in some versions of Matthew 8:28, Mark 5:1, Luke 8:26 and 8:37 only. The three cities Gerasa, Gadara and Gergesa were all part of, or closely associated, with the Decapolis: a culturally federated cluster of cities east of the Sea of Galilee. This Decapolis formally included Gerasa and Gadara but not Gergesa, which sat slightly more to the north but conveniently on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It appears that early commentators on the original versions of the story decided that Jesus, even though he was to perform a series of formidable miracles regarding the roving demoniac(s), could not have crossed over the Sea of Galilee and land in the region of the Decapolis. And so they took the liberty of replacing the reference to either Gerasa or Gadara with the for them more realistic Gergesa.
🔼Etymology of the name Gergesenes
It's not immediately clear where the name Gergesa comes from, but it's rather obviously similar to the name Girgashite, which belonged to an ancient Canaanite tribe, whose land was promised to Abraham (Genesis 15:21). The name of this tribe in turn is difficult to explain but bears a striking resemblance to the Aramaic word גרגושתא (gargushta), which referred to a lump of dark or reddish clay that was good for pottery and even makeup. This word is attested in several Semitic languages but doesn't appear to have been recorded in Hebrew.
But whether or not the name Gergesa technically relates to the name Girgashite is probably not as important as the link between Jesus' landing on the far shore of the Lake of Galilee (in or close to the land of "Ten Town", which may serve as a wink to the Ten Tribes), and the promise of God that Abraham would inherit the Girgashite land (and see Galatians 3:7).