22. And he cometh to Bethsaida—Bethsaida Julias, on the northeast side of the lake, whence after this He proceeded to Cæsarea Philippi ( :-). and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him—See on :-. read more
23. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town—Of the deaf and dumb man it is merely said that "He took him aside" ( :-); but this blind man He led by the hand out of the town, doing it Himself rather than employing another—great humility, exclaims BENGEL—that He might gain his confidence and raise his expectation. and when he had spit on his eyes—the organ affected—See on :-. and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught. read more
24. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking—This is one of the cases in which one edition of what is called the received text differs from another. That which is decidedly the best supported, and has also internal evidence on its side is this: "I see men; for I see [them] as trees walking"—that is, he could distinguish them from trees only by their motion; a minute mark of truth in the narrative, as ALFORD observes, describing how human objects had appeared to him during that... read more
25. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up; and he was restored, and saw every man clearly—Perhaps the one operation perfectly restored the eyes, while the other imparted immediately the faculty of using them. It is the only recorded example of a progressive cure, and it certainly illustrates similar methods in the spiritual kingdom. Of the four recorded cases of sight restored, all the patients save one either came or were brought to the Physician. In the case of... read more
26. Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town—Besides the usual reasons against going about "blazing the matter," retirement in this case would be salutary to himself. :-. PETER'S NOBLE CONFESSION OF CHRIST—OUR LORD'S FIRST EXPLICIT ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS APPROACHING SUFFERINGS, DEATH, AND RESURRECTION—HIS REBUKE OF PETER, AND WARNING TO ALL THE TWELVE. ( = Matthew 16:13-27; Luke 9:18-26). For the exposition, see on :-. read more
2. The requirements of discipleship 8:34-9:1 (cf. Matthew 16:24-28; Luke 9:23-27)Jesus now proceeded to explain to His disciples that suffering would not only be His destiny but theirs too. read more
Jesus and His disciples were still in the Decapolis region east of the lake. Three days had passed and the crowds were now hungry, having exhausted the provisions they had brought with them. Perhaps Jesus waited three days to see if the disciples would ask Him to feed this crowd as He had fed the former one (Mark 6:31-44). They did not. Jesus’ compassion for the multitude led Him to articulate their plight. Still the disciples did not ask Jesus to meet the need. Even the similar surroundings... read more
1. The feeding of the 4,000 8:1-9 (cf. Matthew 15:32-38)This miracle repeated the lesson of the feeding of the 5,000 for the disciples who had not learned what they should have from the former miracle (Mark 8:17-21). [Note: See E. Schuyler English, "A Neglected Miracle," Bibliotheca Sacra 126:504 (October-December 1969):300-5.] "Mark clearly understood that there were two occasions when Jesus miraculously fed a multitude." [Note: Lane, p. 272.] read more
C. The second cycle of self-revelation to the disciples 8:1-30The disciples had not yet understood the lessons that Jesus sought to teach them. Mark constructed his Gospel to show that in His discipleship training Jesus repeated lessons to train them. One writer noticed the following repetitive parallel structure in this section of the Gospel. [Note: Lane, p. 269.] read more
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Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Mark 8:21
21. How is it that ye do not understand?—"do not understand that the warning I gave you could not have been prompted by any such petty consideration as the want of loaves in your scrip." Profuse as were our Lord's miracles, we see from this that they were not wrought at random, but that He carefully noted their minutest details, and desired that this should be done by those who witnessed, as doubtless by all who read the record of them. Even the different kind of baskets used at the two... read more