The Bible designates "madness," or alienation of mind, by various terms, all of which seem to be onomatopoetic. These various words seem to be derived from the strange and fierce or mournful cries uttered by the unfortunate victims of this dread malady. In De 28:34 the word "maddened" is meshugga`, participle of shagha` (compare also 1Sa 21:15). With this corresponds the word mainomai, in the New Testament. In 1 Sam 21:13 (Hebrew 14) the word is a form of the verb chalal, which is also a derivative from the sound indicated.
In certain cases, though by no means uniformly, madness is ascribed to demon-possession (Lu 8:26 f) . One is struck by the fact that mental derangement occupies a very small place in Scripture.
Louis Matthews Sweet