SUMMARY.--The Four Thousand Fed.
At Dalmanutha.
Seeking a Sign from Heaven.
The Blind Man Healed at Bethsaida.
Peter's Confession at Cæsarea Philippi.
The Death and Burial of the Son of Man.
Peter Rebuked.
Taking the Cross and Following Christ.
10. Into the parts of Dalmanutha.Matt. 15:39
says "Magdala." Neither place exists now, but they are supposed to have
been near each other on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee.
Abbott suggests that they were two different names for the same place,
a common circumstance. [188]
11-13. The Pharisees came . . . seeking of him a sign from
heaven. See notes on
Matt. 16:1-4.
14-21. The disciples had forgotten to take bread. For notes on
the warning against the leaven of the Pharisees and Herod, see
Matt. 16:5-12.
Matthew
says "Sadducees" instead of "Herod." Herod was a Sadducee, and the
Sadducees generally were his supporters.
22. He cometh to Bethsaida. Near the mouth of the upper Jordan
into the lake. It was upon the eastern bank of the river. The account
of the miracle that follows is only given by Mark.
And they bring a blind man unto him. The people, not the
disciples, brought him. He was brought (1) either because he could not
find the way alone, or (2) because he had not faith that would induce
him to go, and so was brought by the faith of his friends. This man was
not born blind. He had evidently seen men and trees aforetime.
23. Led him out of the town. As he had taken the deaf man out of
the crowd
(Mark 7:33).
The Lord often sought to escape publicity.
When he had spit on his eyes. I suppose that this unusual course
was intended to develop in the man the faith which the Lord made the
usual condition of healing.
24. I see men; for I behold them as trees, walking. Certain moving
forms about him, but without the power of discerning their shape or
magnitude; trees he should have accounted them from their height, but
men from their motion.
25. Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes. This is the only
example of a progressive [189]
cure. I suppose that it was an example of progressive faith. The Lord
could have healed him with a word, but he wished to save the soul as
well as the body.
26. Sent him away to his house. Evidently he did not live in
Bethsaida, as he was forbidden to go into the town, or to tell the
story there.
27-30. Jesus went forth . . . into the villages of Cæsarea
Philippi. For notes on Peter's confession of Christ, see
Matt. 16:13-20.
Compare
Luke 9:18-21.
Cæsarea Philippi was a heathen town, in the extreme north of
Palestine, near the foot of Mount Hermon, and one of the sources of the
Jordan.
31-38. He began to teach them, etc. For the first announcement
of the suffering of our Lord, the rebuke of Peter, and the lesson
concerning the cross, and saving the soul, see notes on
Matt. 16:21-28.
Compare
Luke 9:22-27.
Verse 38
is peculiar to Mark in this connection, though given in
Matt. 10:32, 33,
on which see
notes.
[190]