Kevin Barney, Luke 8:28, And A Touchstone

[urroner]

So, I'm reading Kevin Barney's Footnotes to the New Testament for Latter-day Saints, Volume 1 - The Gospels and I have really enjoyed it...a lot.

In Luke 9:28, the Lord and his disciples come upon a Gadarene demoniac and the possessed tell the Lord "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not."

For the word "torment," there is a footnote which says

baσaνίσῃς basanisēs test using a touchstone, hence to test for genuineness, to examine,

and ultimately to torture.

Okay, I don't know what a "touchstone" is, so I goggled it.and found this.

A hard black stone, such as jasper or basalt, formerly used to test the quality of gold or silver by comparing the streak left on the stone by one of these metals with that of a standard alloy.

Okay, that's interesting, but what does that mean?

[volgadon]

The touchstone bit is merely the origin of the verb, nothing more complicated than that. http://books.google.com/books?id=SyMAezBEXzYC&pg=PA209&dq=gadarenes+touchstone&hl=en&sa=X&ei=h0njUYDrAYOvyAH8vIDwAw&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=gadarenes%20touchstone&f=false

[strappinglad]

I find it notable that the demon{s} recognized Jesus and His status and also that of God. There was no desire to have Him around because of His power to disturb their possession.