{And he gave them leave} (kai epetrepsen autois). These
words present the crucial difficulty for interpreters as to why
Jesus allowed the demons to enter the hogs and destroy them
instead of sending them back to the abyss. Certainly it was
better for hogs to perish than men, but this loss of property
raises a difficulty of its own akin to the problem of tornadoes
and earthquakes. The question of one man containing so many
demons is difficult also, but not much more so than how one demon
can dwell in a man and make his home there. One is reminded of
the man out of whom a demon was cast, but the demon came back
with seven other demons and took possession. Gould thinks that
this man with a legion of demons merely makes a historical
exaggeration. "I feel as if I were possessed by a thousand
devils." That is too easy an explanation. See on 烘t 8:32| for
"rushed down the steep." {They were choked} (epnigonto).
Imperfect tense picturing graphically the disappearance of pig
after pig in the sea.  Lu 8:33  has apegnig(885c), {choked off},
constative second aorist passive indicative, treated as a whole,
 Mt 8:32  merely has "perished" (apethanon; died).