Pharisaic Leaven. A Blind Man Healed.

  ^a 8 And Jesus perceiving it said, {^b saith,} unto them, ^a O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread?

  9 Do ye not yet perceive, ^b neither understand? ^a neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets

[cophini, probably traveling baskets] ye took up?

  10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets

[spurides, probably grain baskets or hampers] ye took up?

  11 How is it that ye do not perceive that I spake not to you concerning bread? ^b have ye your hearts hardened?

  18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

  19 When I brake the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets

[cophini] full of broken pieces took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.

  20 And when the seven among the four thousand, how many basketfuls

[spurides] of broken pieces took ye up? And they say unto him, Seven.

  21 And he said unto them, Do ye not yet understand? ^a But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?

  12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

[Jesus had resorted to metaphor because the word leaven better expressed his idea than did the word teaching. The formulated dogmas of the Pharisees were not so bad, but without warning, like a concealed grave. There are those to-day who are too skillful to be openly convicted of heterodox statements, but whose teaching, nevertheless, in its very essence and spirit, tends to infidelity.]

  9 Do ye not yet perceive, ^b neither understand? ^a neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets

  10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets

  11 How is it that ye do not perceive that I spake not to you concerning bread? ^b have ye your hearts hardened?

  18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

  19 When I brake the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets

  20 And when the seven among the four thousand, how many basketfuls

  21 And he said unto them, Do ye not yet understand? ^a But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?

  12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

  ^b 22 And they cometh unto Bethsaida. [Not the suburb of Capernaum, but Bethsaida Julias, a town on the east side of the Jordan, near where it flows into the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was proceeding northward toward Cæsarea Philippi.] And they bring to him a blind man, and beseech him to touch him.

  23 And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village

[Jesus increased the sympathy between himself and the man by separating him from the crowd. Our greatest blessing can only come to us after we have been alone with God]; and when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, Seest thou aught?

  24 And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold them as trees, walking.

  25 Then again he laid his hands again upon his eyes; and he looked steadfastly, and was restored, and saw all things clearly.

[The man's eyes were probably sore, and Jesus made use of saliva to soften and soothe them. But it was our Lord's custom to give variety to the manifestation of his power, sometimes using one apparent auxiliary means, and sometimes another; and also healing instantly or progressively, as he chose, that the people might see that the healing was altogether a matter of his will. The man had evidently not been born blind, else he would not have been able to recognize men or trees by sight, for those not used to employ sight can not by it tell a circle from a square.]

  23 And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village

  24 And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold them as trees, walking.

  25 Then again he laid his hands again upon his eyes; and he looked steadfastly, and was restored, and saw all things clearly.

  26 And he sent him away to his home, saying, Do not even enter into the village. [The man, of course, lived in the village, and to send him home was to send him thither, but he was to go directly home and not spread the news through the town, for if he did the population would be at once drawn to Jesus, thus breaking up the privacy which he sought to maintain.]