Mark 7:31

(in Marc. 2, 31) Decapolis is a region of ten cities, across the Jordan, to the east, over against Galilee.c When therefore it is said that the Lord came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis, it does not mean that He entered the confines of Decapolis themselves; for He is not said to have crossed the sea, but rather to have come to the borders of the sea, and to have reached quite up to the place, which was opposite to the midst of the coasts of Decapolis, which were situated at a distance across the sea. It goes on, And they bring him one that was deaf and dumb, and they besought him to lay hands upon him.

The Lord did not wish to stay in the parts of the Gentiles, lest He should give the Jews occasion to say, that they esteemed Him a transgressor of the law, because He held communion with the Gentiles, and therefore He immediately returns; wherefore it is said, And again departing from the coasts of Tyre, he came through Sidon, to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis. Which is rightly placed after the deliverance of one possessed with a devil, for such an instance of suffering came from the devil. There follows, And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears.

Mystically, Tyre is interpreted narrowness, and signifies Judæa, to which the Lord said, (v. Isa. 28:20) "For the bed is grown too narrow," and from which he turns himself to the Gentiles. Sidon means 'hunting,' for our race is like an untamed beast, and 'sea,' which means a wavering inconstancy. Again, the Saviour comes to save the Gentiles in the midst of the coasts of Decapolis, which may be interpreted, as the commands of the Decalogue. Further, the human race throughout its many members is reckoned as one man, eaten up by varying pestilence, in the first created man; it is blinded, that is, its eye is evil; it becomes deaf, when it listens to, and dumb when it speaks, evil. And they prayed Him to lay His hand upon him, because many just men, and patriarchs, wished and longed for the time when the Lord should come in the flesh.