Mark 7:31-37

The Healing of a Deaf-Mute. The cure of the Syro-Phœ nician woman's daughter threatens the privacy Jesus sought in Tyre. He therefore withdraws to Decapolis (another Gentile district, Matthew 4:25 *), going northward through Sidon, and presumably reaching Decapolis by a circuitous route which avoided Galilee. (Wellhausen's conjecture, Bethsaida for Sidon, is unnecessary.) The incident that follows is peculiar to Mk. Jesus heals a deaf-mute, by means not unusual in that age (cf. account of healings by Vespasian in Tacitus, Hist. iv. 81). Mt. omits this story, perhaps because the methods employed (cf. Mark 8:23) savour of magic. Mk., a popular writer, is interested in the details and in the actual word used. The rare word mogilalos, with an impediment in his speech, recalls Isaiah 35:5 f., and the conclusion, He hath done all things well, possibly means, How exactly He fulfils the prophecy! It is Messiah's part to loose bonds, i.e. restraints imposed by demonic power (cf. Luke 13:16). The desire of Jesus to do this miracle privately and keep it secret is intelligible, and need not be traced to any dogmatic presupposition of Mk. The failure of His wishes is also intelligible.