Mark 7:31

Mark 7:31-36. He came unto the sea of Galilee, &c. — See note on Matthew 15:29-31 . They bring unto him one that was deaf and had an impediment, &c. — Greek, Μογιλαλον : “He was not absolutely dumb, but stammered to such a degree, that few understood his speech, Mark 7:35 . However, the circumstance of his being able to speak in any manner, shows that his deafness was not natural, but accidental. He had heard formerly, and had learned to speak, but was now deprived of hearing, perhaps, through some fault of his own, which might be the reason that Jesus sighed for grief when he cured him. And they beseech him to put his hand upon him — His friends interceded for him, because he was not able to speak for himself, so as that any one could understand him. His desire of a cure, however, may have prompted him to do his utmost in speaking, whereby all present were made sensible of the greatness of the infirmity under which he laboured. Our Lord’s exuberant goodness easily prompted him to give this person the relief which his friends begged for him. Yet he would not do it publicly, lest the admiration of the spectators should have been raised so high as to produce bad effects; for the whole country was now following him, in expectation that he would soon set up his kingdom.

Or, as Gadara, where his miracle upon the demoniacs had been so ill received, was part of this region, (see on Luke 8:26 ,) he might shun performing the miracle publicly, because it would have no effect upon so stupid a people. Whatever was the reason, he took the man with his relations aside from the crowd; and, because the deaf are supposed to have their ears shut, and the dumb their tongues so tied, or fastened to the under part of their mouth, as not to be able to move it, (see Mark 7:35 ,) he put his fingers into the man’s ears, and then touched or moistened his tongue with his spittle, to make him understand that he intended to open his ears, and loose his tongue.” — Macknight. This, perhaps, was the only reason for these symbolical actions, or our Lord might have other reasons for doing them, of which we are ignorant. “If any should ask,” says Dr. Doddridge, “why our Lord used these actions, when a word alone would have been sufficient; and such means (if they may be called means) could in themselves do nothing at all to answer the end, I frankly confess I cannot tell, nor am I at all concerned to know. Yet I am ready to imagine it might be intended to intimate, in a very lively manner, that we are not to pretend to enter into the reasons of all his actions; and that where we are sure that any observance whatever is appointed by him, we are humbly to submit to it, though we cannot see why it was preferred to others, which our imagination might suggest.

Mark 7:31-37 . A narrative peculiar to Mark. Matthew, at Mark 15:30-31 —here foregoing details, of which he has already related many—only states in general that Jesus, having after the occurrence with the Canaanitish woman returned to the lake, healed many sick, among whom there were also deaf persons. Mark has preserved a special incident from the evangelic tradition, and did not coin it himself (Hilgenfeld). πάλιν ἐξελθών ] his reference to ἀπῆλθεν εἰς , Mark 7:24 . διὰ Σιδῶνος ] (see the critical remarks): He turned Himself therefore from the region of Tyre first in a northern direction, and went through Sidon (we cannot tell what may have been the more immediate inducement to take this route) in order to return thence to the lake. If we should take Σιδῶνος not of the city, but of the region of Sidon ( Σιδονία , Hom. Od. xiii. 285; Ewald, Lange also and Lichtenstein), the analogy of Τύρου would be opposed to us, as indeed both names always designate the cities themselves . ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ὁρίων τ . Δεκαπόλεως ] He came (as he journeyed) through the midst ( Matthew 13:25 ; 1 Corinthians 6:5 ; Revelation 7:17 ) of the regions belonging to Decapolis , so that He thus from Sidon arrived at the Sea of Galilee, not on this side, but on the farther side of Jordan (comp. on Matthew 4:25 ), and there the subsequent cure, and then the feeding the multitude, Mark 8:1 , occurred, Mark 8:10 .

Mark 7:32 . κωφὸν μογιλάλον ] is erroneously interpreted: a deaf man with a difficulty of utterance (see Beza, Grotius, Maldonatus, de Wette, Bleek, and many others). Although, according to its composition and according to Aëtius in Beck. Anecd. p. 100, 22, μογιλάλος means speaking with difficulty , it corresponds in the LXX. to the אִלֵּם , dumb. See Isaiah 35:6 . Comp. Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, Exodus 4:11 . Hence it is to be understood as: a deaf-mute (Vulgate, Luther, Calovius, and many others, including Ewald), which is also confirmed by ἀλάλους , Mark 7:37 , and is not refuted by ἐλάλει ὀρθῶς , Mark 7:35 . The reading μογγιλάλον , speaking hollowly (B** E F H L X Γ Δ , Matthaei), is accordingly excluded of itself as inappropriate (comp. also Mark 7:35 ). Mark 7:33 . The question why Jesus took aside the sick man apart from the people, cannot without arbitrariness be otherwise answered than to the effect that He adopted this measure for the sake of an entirely undisturbed rapport between Himself and the sick man, such as must have appeared to Him requisite, in the very case of this sick man, to the efficacy of the spittle and of the touch.

(31) Departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. —The better MSS. give “from the coasts of Tyre through Sidon.” The latter city lay about twenty miles to the north. Accepting this reading, it marks the extreme limit of our Lord’s journeyings—we can hardly say of His ministry, for there is no indication that He went there as a preacher of the Kingdom. We may however, perhaps, trace the feeling which prompted the visit in the words, “It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon,” in Luke 10:14 , and in the “Other sheep, not of this fold,” in John 10:16 . Decapolis.—Another instance of St. Mark’s use of a Roman nomenclature. St. Matthew says simply, “He departed thence, and came by the Sea of Galilee.” For Decapolis, see Note on Matthew 4:25.

Mark 7:31 . Τῶν ὁρίων , the boundaries ) That is, through the midst of Decapolis. [The region comprising Decapolis was situated, for the most part, outside of Galilee ( Matthew 4:25 ), beyond Jordan, and some portion of it, if this view be accepted, on the southern side of Galilee, and was accordingly chiefly inhabited by Syrians and heathens. To this region appertain Gadara ( Mark 5:20 ) and Cæarea Philippi. There is frequent mention in the Evangelists, about this time, of the heathen borders; whence it is evident that the Saviour traversed the whole land of Israel.—Harm. p. 313.] [ Mark 7:32 . κωφὸν , deaf ) The narrative of this deaf man, as also of the blind man, concerning whom ch. Mark 8:22 treats, is recorded in Mark alone.—V. g.]