Mark 8:22

And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. AND HE COMETH TO BETHSAIDA - Bethsaida-Julias, on the northeast side of the lake, whence after this He proceeded to Caesarea Philippi (). AND THEY BRING A BLIND MAN UNTO HIM, AND BESOUGHT HIM TO TOUCH HIM. See the note at ....

This miracle, which is omitted by the other two Evangelists, appears to have been related by Mark chiefly on account of this circumstance, that Christ _restored _sight to _the blind man_, not in an instant, as he was generally accustomed to do, but in a gradual manner. He did so most probably for the purpose of proving, in the case of this man, that he had full liberty as to his method of proceeding, and was not restricted to a fixed rule, so as not to resort to a variety of methods in exercising his power. On this account, he does not all at once enlighten the eyes of _the blind man_, and fit them for performing their office, but communicates to them at first a dark and confused perception, and afterwards, by laying on his hands a second time, enables them to see perfectly. And so the grace of Christ, which had formerly been poured out suddenly on others, flowed by drops, as it were, on...

22-26 Here is a blind man brought to Christ by his friends. Therein appeared the faith of those that brought him. If those who are spiritually blind, do not pray for themselves, yet their friends and relations should pray for them, that Christ would be pleased to touch them. The cure was wrought gradually, which was not usual in our Lord's miracles. Christ showed in what method those commonly are healed by his grace, who by nature are spiritually blind. At first, their knowledge is confused; but, like the light of the morning, it shines more and more to the perfect day, and then they see all things clearly. Slighting Christ's favours is forfeiting them; and he will make those who do so know the worth of privileges by the want of them....

Verse 22. _THEY BRING A BLIND MAN UNTO HIM_] Christ went about to do good, and wherever he came he found some good to be done; and so should we, if we had a proper measure of the same zeal and love for the welfare of the bodies and souls of men....

TO BETHSAIDA - See the notes at Matthew 11:21. AND THEY BRING A BLIND MAN UNTO HIM - The healing of the blind man of Bethsaida is recorded only by Mark. BESOUGHT HIM TO TOUCH HIM - That is, to heal him, for they believed that his touch would restore his sight....

EXPOSITION MARK 8:1, MARK 8:2 The opening words of the first verse seem to imply that our Lord remained for some time on this, the north-east, side of the Sea of Galilee. THE MULTITUDE BEING VERY GREAT. The word here rendered "very great" is παμπόλλου, a word not to be found anywhere else in the New Testament. But according to the best authorities, the true reading is πάλιν πόλλου; so that the words would run, _when there was again a great multitude. _It has been supposed with some reason that, as an old ecclesiastical Lection began with this chapter, this may have led to the substitution of παμπόλλου for πάλιν πόλλου, in order to make the Lection more complete in itself, avoiding this reference to the context. In the origina

AND HE COMETH TO BETHSAIDA,.... The city of Andrew, Peter, and Philip, John 1:44; a fishing town, which was situated by the sea of Galilee. Beza's ancient copy, and the Gothic version, wrongly read "Bethany". The Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions read, "they came"; Christ, and his twelve apostles, who landed at this place: AND THEY BRING A BLIND MAN UNTO HIM; for Christ had been here before, and was known by the inhabitants of the place; who, as soon as they heard of his arrival, and knowing what miracles were done by him, brought a poor blind man, of their town, to him, to be cured by him: AND BESOUGHT HIM TO TOUCH HIM; having heard of, or seen cures performed by him this way. This man is an emblem of such who are spiritually blind: he had no natural sight at all; he could see nothing; he had not the least glimmering of any thing, until he was tou

Mark 8:1. _In those days the multitude being very great, and having nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples unto him, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now been with me three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far. And his disciples answered him, From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wilderness._ Why did they not ask their Master what he could do in such an emergency as that» After so much experience of his power as they had already had, it is wonderful that they did not refer the matter to him, and say, «Lord, thou canst feed the multitude; we beseech thee do it.» But they did not act so wisely; instead, they began questioning about ways and means. «From whence can a man satisfy these men with bread here in the wi...

CHAPTER 8 __ 1. The feeding of the Four Thousand. (Mark 8:1. Matthew 15:32) 2. The Pharisees ask a sign. (Mark 8:10 .Matthew 16:1) 3. The Warning against the leaven of the Pharisees. (Mark 8:14 .Matthew 16:5 .) 4. The healing of the blind man. (Mark 8:22) 5. Peter's Confession. (M

THE BLIND MAN OF BETHSAIDA. This cure is described and wrought in a thoroughly popular manner. The use of spittle (Mark 7:33) was widespread in those days. A similar cure is attributed to Vespasian (Suet. _Vesp._ ch. 7). HNT adds a Greek parallel, Alcetas Halicus. The same being blind saw a vision. The god seemed to come to him and force open his eyes with his fingers, and he first saw the trees which were in the temple. To take this story as symbolizing either the education of the disciples (Loisy) or the conversion of Israel in two stages (Bacon) is to misunderstand the naï ve popular character of the gospel....