Matthew 20:31

And the multitude rebuked them, that they should hold their peace: but they cried out the more, saying, Lord, have mercy on us, thou Son of David.

Trench taught that the multitude might have acted out of consideration for the Master in thus trying to restrain the cries of those blind men; but it appears far more probable that Christ's old enemies, the Pharisees, or their spies, were also present (though not mentioned), and that their efforts sprang from an evil desire to silence those loud proclamations of Christ as the Messiah, a fact so abundantly attested by Jesus' mighty works, and so generally known among the people, that such a spark as might have been provided by the cries of those blind men could have set off a great demonstration. On no other occasion is it recorded that the multitude tried to silence a cry for help. Thus, there must have been some rare and unusual reason for it in this case. The repeated cries, "Thou Son of David," echoing up and down the wayside were just such an affront to the Pharisees as to provoke their interference with it if, as might be supposed, they were present. Be that as it may, whether done by that multitude with or without Pharisaical inducement, Satan must have been the prime instigator. No humor may have been intended in this wonderful narrative, but elements of it are undoubtedly present. Just imagine the spiritually blind Pharisees trying to "shush" the cries of those blind beggars who were screaming to high heaven in the presence of a great multitude that here indeed was the Messiah, a fact perfectly clear to everyone except his evil lordship, the Pharisee!