Section 81b
Healing a blind man at Bethsaida
Bethsaida
Mark 8:22-26
22When Jesus came to Bethsaida, some people brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. 23So he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then he spit on the man's eyes, laid his hands on him, and asked him if he saw anything. 24The man looked up and said, “I can see people, but they look like trees walking around.” 25So Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes again and had him look up. Then the man's sight was restored, and he saw everyone clearly. 26And Jesus sent him away to his house, saying, “Do not go into the village or tell anyone in the village what has happened.”
Notes
Bethsaida
Bethsaida, the “house of hunters/fishermen,” was a town east of the Jordan River and just north of the Sea of Galilee. Phillip the Tetrarch, the son of Herod the Great, extensively rebuilt the town and named it “Julias” after Julia, the wife of Augustus Caesar.
When Phillip died he was buried in Bethsaida. In this vicinity, Jesus fed the 5,000, healed a blind man, and left Bethsaida’s shore to walk on the water. This region was known for abundant fish and fowl.
The ruins of Bethsaida are 1 mile off the Sea of Galilee. Some scholars maintained that it was implausible for a fishing village to be so far from the water. There is a small harbor village right on the water and it is probable that the main city was indeed a mile away.