Luke 18:38

‘And he cried, saying, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me.” '

Knowing something of Jesus by reputation the blind man saw his main chance. This was perhaps the first time that he had actually been in the same place as Jesus. And he called out to Him for help.

‘Jesus, you son of David.' It is possible that, knowing of Jesus connection with the royal house, he simply meant this to be flattering, but it is far more probable that he meant more, and that he saw Jesus as Messianic, and used a local Messianic title. Yet as the crowd did not react to the name (their rebuke was because they thought he was making a disturbance and trying to beg from Jesus) and as Jesus made no comment, it is not likely that the crowd as a whole saw it as Messianic. But that need not mean that the man himself did not. He may well have been visiting Judea for the Passover from an area where such a title was used of the Messiah. Luke also probably sees it as significant. Here was prophetic recognition, whether conscious or subconscious, of Who Jesus really was, made on His approach to Jerusalem to die and rise again. And he probably saw it as significant that He was welcomed by a blind man in such terms when those who could see were oblivious of the fact.

‘Son of David.' This was certainly a Messianic title in later Jewish literature, but the only known such reference in pre-Christian literature was in the Psalms of Solomon Luke 17:23. It may thus have been a marginal rather than a popular Messianic title in Jesus' time. Perhaps then its popular use was localised in parts of Galilee, and the blind man was from that locality taking advantage of a key route to Jerusalem before the Passover. The coming of a son of David as deliverer was certainly a common idea in the Old Testament (Isaiah 9:6; Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; Ezekiel 34:23 and recognised in certain Psalms), and the crowds in Matthew 12:23 appear to have used it Messianically, as do two blind men in probably the same locality (Matthew 9:27), all of whom were in Galilee. This would support a Galilean locale. See also Luke 1:27; Luke 1:32; 2 Samuel 7:8.

Matthew 21:9; Matthew 21:15 may have been a more general use in typical Passover welcomes, or the result of visitors from the locality where it was used, the children in Luke 18:15 having picked it up from the crowd. The use of it by the Syrophoenician woman (Matthew 15:22) was probably a polite title to Him as a Jew, son of David meaning a Jew (compare ‘our father David' in Mark 11:10; Acts 4:25). That the Messiah would be the son of David was certainly recognised by the scribes (Luke 12:35) although that does not guarantee the use of the title by them at this stage.

So we must probably see it as a fairly peripheral Messianic title and as a good possibility that the blind man was hailing Him as Messiah in Galilean terms without the crowd on the whole recognising his intention.

The crowd here would largely have consisted of local inhabitants crowding the route taken by Passover pilgrims, although those on the road would also have included pilgrims from Galilee and elsewhere. None, however, appear to have reacted to the title which, had it been understood generally as Messianic, would have been surprising in view of the excitement which would be generated by the approach of Passover. On the other hand the Passover crowds who later hailed Jesus on His entry into Jerusalem would be mixed and would probably contain a large Galilean element.