Mark 7:31-37

³¹ Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.

³² Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him.

³³ And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.

³⁴ Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

³⁵ Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.

³⁶ Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.

³⁷ And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”

Matthew only mentions that Jesus traveled and healed in the area but makes no mention of the specific deaf, mute man who Jesus healed.

Phoenicia is northwest of the Sea of Galilee. Our Lord thus went southeast, and skirted the eastern shore of this sea to reach the region of Decapolis, which was on the southeastern shore. — Wuest, page 154.

impediment (v.32) = lit. “with difficulty.” The man was not absolutely dumb. Various commentators suggest he stuttered, or spoke harshly, or mumbled.

aside (v.33) = privately. The miracle was not performed in the midst of a crowd. Perhaps at this time Jesus did not want the crowd to bring a lot of sick people to Him, or perhaps it had something to do with the timing of His ministry — the Jews had accepted Him as healer but not as Messiah.

The Lord could, and did, heal in many different ways — by word, by touch, even remotely. Perhaps He stuck His fingers in the mans ears and touched His tongue to arrest His attention and evoke his faith, or to show exactly what He was about since He couldn’t explain it to a deaf man.

sighed (v.34) — the word can mean “groaned.” Jesus looked up in prayer and signed, perhaps in sympathy. Wuest believes it may have been an indication of the physical and mental toll that healing took on Jesus.

ears (v.35) = hearing

impediment (v.35) = band, string, that which bound his tongue

he spoke (v.35) — Tense is “he began to be speaking”

plainly (v.35) — before, he could only make inarticulate noises

commanded (v.36) — The Greek indicates that this command was made for the personal interest of Jesus. It was for His sake and for the sake of His future ministry that He commanded them not to tell anyone what had happened. But the more urgently and often He asked them not to talk, the more they talked.

proclaimed (v.36) = made a public proclamation.

astonished beyond measure (v.37) = struck with astonishment. Includes the double superlative “in superabundance” and “above.” The were astonished so much that they lost their self-possession.