(36) Hearing the multitude pass by.—Better, a multitude, the Greek having no article, and its absence better expressing the vague impression left on the blind man by the sound of many footsteps and voices.

18:35-43 This poor blind man sat by the wayside, begging. He was not only blind, but poor, the fitter emblem of the world of mankind which Christ came to heal and save. The prayer of faith, guided by Christ's encouraging promises, and grounded on them, shall not be in vain. The grace of Christ ought to be thankfully acknowledged, to the glory of God. It is for the glory of God if we follow Jesus, as those will do whose eyes are opened. We must praise God for his mercies to others, as well as for mercies to ourselves. Would we rightly understand these things, we must come to Christ, like the blind man, earnestly beseeching him to open our eyes, and to show us clearly the excellence of his precepts, and the value of his salvation.See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 20:29-34. Lu 18:35-43. Blind Man Healed.

In Mt 20:29-34, they are two, as in the case of the Demoniac of Gadara. In Matthew and Mark (Mr 10:46-52) the occurrence is connected with Christ's departure from Jericho; in Luke with His approach to it. Many ways of accounting for these slight divergences of detail have been proposed. Perhaps, if we knew all the facts, we should see no difficulty; but that we have been left so far in the dark shows that the thing is of no moment any way. One thing is plain, there could have been no collusion among the authors of these Gospels, else they would have taken care to remove these "spots on the sun."

Ver. 36-43. See Poole on "Matthew 20:30", and following verses to Matthew 20:34, See Poole on "Mark 10:46", and following verses to Mark 10:52, where this whole history is more fully opened. It is here again very remarkable, how much Christ attributes to faith:

Thy faith hath saved thee, Luke 18:42, which can be no otherwise understood, than of faith as the condition that was required in the person to be healed, for it is most certain that Christ by his Divine power was the efficient cause of this blind man’s healing; but he exerted this Divine power upon that exercise of faith which he discerned in the blind man, whose faith seemeth to be a degree higher than that of the leper’s, Luke 17:13, who said no more than Jesus, Master. Jesus, thou Son of David, was much more than this. It speaks the blind man’s persuasion, that Christ was the Messiah; for it was an uncontrolled tradition amongst the Jews, that the Messiah was to be the Son of David. Christ rewards the least exercises of true faith, but much more the higher exercises of it. It doth not appear that this blind man was fully informed who the Messiah should be, viz. God man, but so far as he knew he professeth, he calleth Jesus the

Song of Solomon of David.

And hearing the multitude pass by,.... Their "voice", as the Syriac version expresses it; the noise of their feet, and especially of their tongues;

he asked what it meant? what was the meaning of this concourse of people, and of this clamorous noise; or, as the Syriac version reads, "who it should be?" what person of note was passing by, that there was such a multitude after him? to which the answer best agrees.

And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.