Matthew 20:29

And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(29) As they departed from Jericho.—Looking back to Matthew 19:1, which speaks of our Lord having departed “beyond Jordan,” we may believe that He crossed the river with His disciples at the ford near Jericho (Joshua 2:7). On this assumption, the imagery of Matthew 20:22 may have been in part suggested by the locality. The river recalled the memory of His first baptism, by water; that led on to the thought of the more awful baptism of agony and blood.

Benson Commentary

Matthew 20:29. And as they departed from Jericho — As he went out of Jericho with his disciples: (Mark,) behold two blind men — Mark and Luke mention only one of them, blind Bartimeus, who, it seems, was far the more eminent of the two, and spoke for both. These blind men, hearing the multitude pass by, asked what it meant, (Luke 18:36,) and being told that Jesus of Nazareth passed by, they cried, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. The multitude rebuked them, because, &c. — The original words in this place, επετιμησεν αυτοις ινα σιωπησωσιν, should rather be rendered, charged them to hold their peace — And so they will rebuke and charge all who begin to cry after the son of David: but let all those who feel their need of him, and want help from him, imitate these blind men, and cry the more, otherwise they will fall short of a cure.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

20:29-34 It is good for those under the same trial, or infirmity of body or mind, to join in prayer to God for relief, that they may quicken and encourage one another. There is mercy enough in Christ for all that ask. They were earnest in prayer. They cried out as men in earnest. Cold desires beg denials. They were humble in prayer, casting themselves upon, and referring themselves cheerfully to, the Mediator's mercy. They showed faith in prayer, by the title they gave to Christ. Surely it was by the Holy Ghost that they called Jesus, Lord. They persevered in prayer. When they were in pursuit of such mercy, it was no time for timidity or hesitation: they cried earnestly. Christ encouraged them. The wants and burdens of the body we are soon sensible of, and can readily relate. Oh that we did as feelingly complain of our spiritual maladies, especially our spiritual blindness! Many are spiritually blind, yet say they see. Jesus cured these blind men; and when they had received sight, they followed him. None follow Christ blindly. He first by his grace opens men's eyes, and so draws their hearts after him. These miracles are our call to Jesus; may we hear it, and make it our daily prayer to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See Mark 10:46-52, and Luke 18:35-43; Luke 19:1, where this account of his restoring to sight two blind men is also recorded. "And as they departed from Jericho." This was a large town about eight miles west of the Jordan, and about 19 miles northeast from Jerusalem. Near to this city the Israelites crossed the Jordan when they entered into the land of Canaan, Joshua 3:16. It was the first city taken by Joshua, who destroyed it to the foundation, and pronounced a curse on him who should rebuild it, Joshua 6:20-21, Joshua 6:26. This curse was literally fulfilled in the days of Ahab, nearly 500 years later, 1 Kings 16:34. It afterward became the place of the school of the prophets, 2 Kings 2:5. In this place Elisha worked a signal miracle, greatly to the advantage of the inhabitants, by rendering the waters near it, that were before bitter, sweet and wholesome, 2 Kings 2:21. In point of size it was second only to Jerusalem. It was sometimes called the city of palm-trees, from the fact that there were many palms in the vicinity.

A few of them are still remaining, 2 Chronicles 28:15; Judges 1:16; Judges 3:13. At this place died Herod the Great, of a most wretched and foul disease. See the notes at Matthew 2:19. It is now a small village, wretched in its appearance, and inhabited by a very few persons, and called "Riha, or Rah," situated on the ruins of the ancient city (or, as some think, three or four miles east of it), which a modern traveler describes as a poor, dirty village of the Arabs. There are perhaps fifty houses, of rough stone, with roofs of bushes and mud, and the population, two or three hundred, in number, is entirely Muslim. Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, vol. ii. p. 443) says of this village, that there are some forty or fifty of the most forlorn habitations that I have seen. And this is Jericho! These houses, or rather huts, are surrounded by a special kind of fortification, made of nubk, a species of bush very abundant in this plain. Its thorns are so sharp and the branches are so platted together that neither horse nor man will attack it." The road from Jerusalem to Jericho lies through what is called the "wilderness of Jericho," and is described by modern travelers as the most dangerous and forbidding about Palestine. As recently as 1820, an English traveler, Sir Frederick Henniker, was attacked on this road by the Arabs with firearms, who left him naked and severely wounded. See the notes at Luke 10:30. Jesus was going to Jerusalem from the east side of the Jordan Matthew 19:1; his regular journey was therefore through Jericho.

As they departed from Jericho - Luke says, "As he was come nigh unto Jericho." The original word used in Luke, translated "was come nigh," commonly expresses approach to a place, but it does not of necessity mean that always. It may denote nearness to a place, whether going to it or from it. It would be rendered here correctly, "when they were near to Jericho," or when they were in the vicinity of it, without saying whether they were going to it or from it. Matthew and Mark say they were going from it. The passage in Luke 19:1 - "and Jesus entered and passed through Jericho" - which seems to be mentioned as having taken place after the cure of the blind man, does not necessarily suppose that. That passage might be intended to be connected with the account of Zacchaeus, and not to denote the order of time in which these events took place; but simply that as he was passing through Jericho, Zacchaeus sought to see him, and invited him to his house. Historians vary in the circumstances and order of events. The main facts of the narrative are observed; and such variations of circumstances and order, where there is no palpable contradiction, show the honesty of the writers - show that they did not conspire together to deceive, and are in courts of justice considered as confirmations of the truth of the testimony.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Mt 20:29-34. Two Blind Men Healed. ( = Mr 10:46-52; Lu 18:35-43).

For the exposition, see on [1332]Lu 18:35-43.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Matthew 20:34".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And as they departed from Jericho,.... Which, was distant about ten parsas, or miles, from Jerusalem (i), through which Christ just passed, and had met with Zacchaeus, and called him, and delivered the parable concerning a nobleman's going into a far country. The Syriac and Persic versions render the words, "when Jesus departed from Jericho"; and the Arabic, "when he went out of Jericho"; not alone, but "with his disciples", as Mark says; and not with them only, for a great multitude followed him out of the city; either to hear him, or be healed by him, or to see him, or behold his miracles, or to accompany him to Jerusalem; whither he was going to keep the feast of the passover, and where they might be in some expectation he would set up his kingdom. The Ethiopic version reads it, "as they went out from Jerusalem", contrary to all copies and versions.

(i) Bartenora in Misn. Taraid, c. 3. sect. 8.

Geneva Study Bible

{6} And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him.

(6) Christ by healing these blind men with only one touch, shows that he is the only light of the world.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Matthew 20:29. Comp. Mark 10:46 ff.; Luke 18:35 ff.

Καὶ ἐκπορ. αὐτῶν ἀπὸ Ἱεριχώ] The Synoptists make no mention whatever of the visit to Ephraim and the journey to Bethany (mentioned in John 11:54; John 12:1); indeed, their narrative (Matthew 21:1 f.) positively excludes at least the latter of these. This divergence, and not a mere want of precision, should be fairly acknowledged (comp. note on Matthew 21:1), and not explained away by means of ingenious conjectures (Paulus, Schleiermacher, Neander, comp. also Sieffert, who suppose that Jesus may have entered Bethany along with the rest of the pilgrims in the evening, and may have left it again next morning or the morning after; see, on the other hand, on John 12:17 f., note). A further discrepancy is to be found in the fact that Luke represents the healing as having taken place ἐν τῷ ἐγγίζειν αὐτὸν εἰς Ἱεριχ., and that Mark and Luke mention only one blind man, although the first mentioned divergence has been turned to account in the way of supporting the hypothesis that Matthew has blended together two distinct cases of healing, one of which is supposed to have taken place when Jesus was entering the town, the other when He was leaving it (Theophylact, Neander, Wieseler, Ebrard, Krafft). The difficulty connected with the mention of two men is not removed by a supposed reminiscence of Matthew 9:27 ff. (Strauss), nor explained by supposing that the blind man of Bethsaida, Mark 8:22, may have been included (Holtzmann, Volkmar); but it proves that, in point of authenticity, Matthew’s account compares unfavourably with the characteristic narrative of Mark, which bears traces of being the original account of what took place. Comp. note on Matthew 8:28 ff.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Matthew 20:29-34. Blind men (man) at Jericho (Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43). The harmonistic problems as to the locality of this incident (leaving Jericho, Mt. and Mk.; entering, Lk.) and the number of persons healed (one Mk. and Lk., two Mt.) may be left on one side, as also the modern critical attempts to account for the origin of the discrepancies. Those interested may consult for the former Keil and Nösgen, for the latter Holtz., H.C., and Weiss-Meyer.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

29. a great multitude] The caravan of Galilæans and others going up to Jerusalem for the Passover. Their numbers would protect them from attack in the dangerous mountain defiles leading to the capital. Jericho was at this time a flourishing city. It was opulent even in the days of Joshua from the fertility of the surrounding plain, its extensive commerce, and from the metals found in the neighbourhood. Levelled to the ground and laid under a curse by Joshua, it was afterwards made a fortified city by Hiel the Bethelite, and regained a portion of its former prosperity. At this period the balsam trade was a principal source of its wealth.

Herod the Great beautified the city with palaces and public buildings, and here he died. After Herod’s death Jericho was sacked and burnt, but restored by his son Archelaus.

“Jericho was once more a ‘City of Palms’ when our Lord visited it. As the city that had so exceptionally contributed to His own ancestry; as the city which had been the first to fall, amidst so much ceremony, before ‘the captain of the Lord’s host and his servant Joshua,’ we may well suppose that His eyes surveyed it with unwonted interest.”—Smith’s Bib. Dict. Art. “Jericho.”

29–34. Two Men cured of Blindness

Mark 10:46-52. Luke 18:35-43.

There are remarkable divergences in the Synoptic accounts of this miracle. Some indeed have supposed that different miracles are related by the Evangelists. St Mark speaks of one man, “blind Bartimæus, the son of Timæus.” St Luke also mentions one only, but describes the incident as taking place “when Jesus came nigh unto Jericho,” whereas St Matthew and St Mark state that the miracle was wrought “as they departed from Jericho.”

It is of course possible that St Luke narrates a separate miracle. The only other solution is to suppose an inaccuracy in an unimportant detail.

Bengel's Gnomen

Matthew 20:29. Ὄχλος πολύς, a great multitude) which had been in that city.[896]

[896] And were subsequently present at His royal entry.—V. g.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 29-34. - Healing of two blind men at Jericho. (Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43.) The miracle narrated in this passage is common to the three synoptists, but with some remarkable differences, not one of them agreeing altogether in details. St. Matthew speaks of two blind men, St. Luke and St. Mark of one only, and the latter mentions this one by name as Bartimaeus. St. Matthew and St. Mark make the miracle performed as Jesus quitted Jericho; St. Luke assigns it to the approach to the city. Thus the number of the cured and the locality of the miracle are alike variously stated. It is an easy solution to say, with St. Augustine, Lightfoot, and Greswell, that two, or perhaps three, distinct facts are here related; and it is not absolutely impossible. though altogether improbable, that in the same locality, under identical circumstances, like sufferers made the same request, and received the same relief in the same manner. But we are not driven to this extravagant hypothesis; and the unity of the narrative can be preserved without doing violence to the language of the writers. As to the number of the blind men, we have seen the same discrepancy in the case of the demoniacs at Gadara solved by supposing that one of the two was the more remarkable and better known than the other. Hence, in this incident, the tradition followed by some of the synoptists preserved the memory of this one alone, who may have become known in the Christian community as a devoted follower of Jesus, the other passing into obscurity and being heard of no more. Another hypothesis is that a single blind man first addressed Christ as he entered Jericho, but was not cured at that time. Jesus passed that night in the city at the house of Zacchreus (Luke 19:1-10); and on the morrow, when leaving Jericho, was again entreated by the blind man, who meantime had been joined by a companion, and healed them both. There are other solutions offered, e.g., that there were two Jerichos - an old and a new town - and that one blind man was healed as they entered one city, and the other as they left the other; or that the term rendered "was come nigh" (Luke 18:35) might mean "was nigh," and might therefore apply to one who was leaving as well as to one entering the city. But we weary ourselves in vain in seeking to harmonize every little detail in the Gospel narratives. No two, much less three, independent witnesses would give an identical account of an incident, especially one which reached some of them only by hearsay. Inspiration extends not to petty circumstances, and the credibility of the gospel depends not on the rectification of such minutiae. Verse 29. - Jericho. The Lord was on his way to Jerusalem to meet the death which he was willing to undergo, and to win the victory which he was by this path to accomplish. His route lay through Jericho, as the march of his forerunner Joshua had led. Joshua had set forth to conquer the promised land; Jesus sets forth to win his promised inheritance by the sword of the Spirit. "The upland pastures of Peraea were now behind them," says Dr. Geikie, speaking of the approach to Jericho ('The Life of Christ,' 2:384), "and the road led down to the sunken channel of the Jordan, and the 'divine district' of Jericho. This small but rich plain was the most luxuriant spot in Palestine. Sloping gently upwards from the level of the Dead Sea, 1350 feet under the Mediterranean, to the stern background of the hills of Quarantana, it had the climate of Lower Egypt, and displayed the vegetation of the tropics. Its fig trees were pre-eminently famous; it was unique in its growth of palms of various kinds: its crops of dates were a proverb; the balsam plant, which grew principally here, furnished a costly perfume, and was in great repute for healing wounds; maize yielded a double harvest; wheat ripened a whole month earlier than in Galilee, and innumerable bees found a paradise in the many aromatic flowers and plants, not a few unknown elsewhere, which filled the air with odours and the landscape with beauty. Rising like an amphitheatre from amidst this luxuriant scene, lay Jericho, the chief place east of Jerusalem, at seven or eight miles distant from the Jordan, on swelling slopes, seven hundred feet above the bed of the river, from which its gardens and groves, thickly interspersed with mansions, and covering seventy furlongs from north to south, and twenty from east to west, were divided by a strip of wilderness. The town had had an eventful history. Once the stronghold of the Canaanites, it was still, in the days of Christ, surrounded by towers and castles. A great stone aqueduct of eleven arches brought a copious supply of water to the city, and the Roman military road ran through it. The houses themselves, however, though showy, were not substantial, but were built mostly of sun-dried bricks, like those of Egypt; so that now, as in the similar case of Babylon, Nineveh, or Egypt, after long desolation, hardly a trace of them remains." A great multitude. A vast crowd of pilgrims, bound for Jerusalem to keep the Passover, accompanied Jesus and his disciples. The number of people that this great festival attracted to the central place of worship seems to us incredibly large. Josephus ('Bell. Jud.,' 6:09. 3) reckons them at three millions. Doubtless our Lord was followed by many of those whom he had benefited, and others whom he had won by his teaching; and these, at any rate, would witness the ensuing miracle. Matthew 20:29