Mark 8:22 - Exposition

This miracle is recorded by St. Mark alone. And he cometh to Bethsaida . A better reading is ἔρχονται for ἔρχεται , they come unto Bethsaida. Which Beth-saida? It seems most probable that it was Bethsaida Julias. This Bethsaida was in the tetrarchy of Philip, who improved and adorned it, and named it Julias, in honor of the emperor's daughter Julia. A reference to Verse 27 seems to make it quite clear that it must have been this Bethsaida, and not the Galilean Bethsaida on the other side of the lake. It is not surprising that there should have been, adjoining this great lake, more than one place called Beth-saida, i.e. the "place of fish." And they bring a blind man unto him, and besought ( παρακαλοῦσιν ) — literally, beseech— him to touch him. St. Mark is fond of the graphic present. There is here, as at Mark 7:32 , something almost like dictating the mode of cure. They seem to have imagined that the healing virtue could not go forth from Christ except by actual contact.

Mark 8:23 .

And he took ( ἐπιλαβόμενος )—literally, took hold of— the blind man by the hand, and led him —this is the rendering of ἐξήγαγεν ; but a great weight of manuscript authority points to ἐξήνεγκεν as the better reading, brought him— out of the village ( ἔξω τῆς κώμης ). This Bethsaida was a village; but Philip had raised it to the rank of a city ( πόλις ), though it still seems to have retained its old appellation. Our Lord "led" or "brought" the blind man out of Beth-saida, for the same reason that he led the deaf and dumb man ( Mark 7:33 ) away from the multitude:

Here were three acts—

We gather from Mark 8:25 that our Lord's hands were applied to the blind man's eyes. From the analogy of the miracle in the last chapter ( Mark 7:33 ), we may perhaps infer that our Lord touched the man's eyes with saliva on his finger, and that the hands were withdrawn before he asked him if he saw aught.