John Calvin Commentary Luke 8:26

"And they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is over against Galilee." — Luke 8:26 (ASV)

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 from this 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, leads 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 for the opinion that the man lived among the graves—either because devils are delighted with the stench of dead bodies, gratified by the smell of offerings, or because they watch over souls desiring 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, so that it might have an opportunity to continually terrify him with the mournful spectacle of death, as if he were cut off from the society of men and already lived among the dead. We also learn from this that the devil not only torments men in the present life but pursues them even to death, and that in death his dominion over them is primarily exercised.