*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
There met him a certain man out of the city It is uncertain whether Luke means that he was a citizen of Gadara, or that he came out of it to meet Christ. For, when he was ordered to go home and proclaim among his friends the grace of God, Mark says, that he did this in Decapolis, which was a neighboring country stretching towards Galilee; and hence it is conjectured that he was not a native of Gadara. Again, Matthew and Mark expressly state that he did not go out of the city, but from the tombs, and Luke himself, throughout the whole passage, gives us to understand that the man lived in solitary places. These words, therefore, there met him a certain man out of the city, I understand to mean, that, before Christ came near the city, the demoniac met him in that direction. As to the opinion that the man dwelt among the graves, either because devils are delighted with the stench of dead bodies, or gratified by the smell of oblations, or because they watch over souls which are desirous to approach their bodies; it is an idle, and, indeed, a foolish conjecture. On the contrary, this wretched man was kept among the graves by an unclean spirit, that he might have an opportunity of terrifying him continually with the mournful spectacle of death, as if he were cut off from the society of men, and already dwelt among the dead. We learn from this also that the devil does not only torment men in the present life, but pursues them even to death, and that in death his dominion over them is chiefly exercised.
The country of the Gadarenes - Or, according to several MSS., Gerasenes or Gergasenes. See on Matthew 8:28 (note), and Mark 5:1 (note).
And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes,.... In Matthew 8:28 it is called the country of the Gergesenes; see Gill on Matthew 8:28 as it is here, in the Arabic and Ethiopic versions; and "of the Gerasenes", in the Vulgate Latin; but the Syriac and Persic versions read, "of the Gadarenes", as in Mark 5:1. See Gill on Mark 5:1.
which is over against Galilee: from whence the ship launched, and Christ and his disciples came.
A certain man who had devils. For notes on the cure of the Gadarene demoniac, see Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-21.
*More commentary available at chapter level.