GREAT THINGS ENTERPRISE
CLAUDE BLACK
Mark 5:3
Chains
I’ve been around chains as long as I can remember. My first memory of a chain was one my paternal grandfather used; he called it a log chain. As a welder in a steel mill, I often welded chain links, links measuring an inch or more in diameter. On the other hand, my wife has a necklace chain so fine one almost needs a magnifying glass to see the links.
In the New Testament era, the Romans developed a method for making chains with small links. They drew hot iron through increasingly small holes in draw plates to make wire; then a blacksmith bent the wire and forge-welded the ends. Most surviving Roman iron chains have elongated links. While not specifically mentioned in the New Testament, Jewish craftsmen in the Old Testament knew the technique of making wire and chains. (cf. Jeremiah 30:7; 40:1)
There are untold uses for chains. Biblical writers frequently mention chains, usually in the context of human bondage (Judges 16:21; 2 Chron. 33:11; Psalm 107:10; Acts 12:6-7; 26:29). Recently, viewers have seen televised pictures of shaved-headed, white-clad men with manacled hands and feet being frog-marched to cages by other hooded men.
St. Mark wrote about a poor, troubled man who lived in the tombs in the hills of Gerasene, a region in the Decapolis. He wrote, “Who lived in the tombs, and no one was able to bind him, not even with chains.” (Mark 5:3) It is useless to attempt a diagnosis of this man’s condition—Mark said he had an unclean spirit, one manifestation of which was unusual physical strength. To emphasize this, Mark used an awkward triple negative construction—not even, no longer, and anyone. Translators try to smooth this out as I’ve tried to do above; this, however, loses some of its emphatic intent. Mark used the triple-negative emphatic construction one other time (14:25).
Some writers interpret this scene metaphorically (e.g., Matthew Henry), seeing the chains that people with evil spirits break as standing for the Scriptural standards, social standards, and legal standards of the Kingdom of God. However one reads this story, the plight of the tomb-dwelling man is one to be avoided.
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