Mark 7:32

‘And they bring to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech and they beg him to lay his hands on him.'

The fact that Mark deliberately brings out that all present expected Jesus to ‘lay His hands on Him' stresses the unusualness of the healing, because He actually did not do that. This suggests that Mark wants us to see significance in what He actually did do. The one who was brought was stone deaf as revealed by the resultant inability to speak properly. Had he had slight hearing he could have learned to speak properly. It may, however, be that the man was a deaf mute.

We do not know whether the man was a Jew or a Gentile. The fact that Jesus used Aramaic in His healing is hardly decisive. When He spoke the words the man was still deaf. Probably he is intended to represent both Jew and Gentile, for all were deaf to God and His word.

‘An impediment in his speech.' The Greek ‘mogilalon' is rare. Interestingly in LXX it occurs only in Isaiah 35:6, confirming the suggestion that Mark has that passage in mind. It indicates that an example of the presence of the Kingly Rule of God is about to be demonstrated. Its prime meaning is speech impediment, but it can mean dumb. Mark 7:35 ‘he spoke plainly' would suggest the former meaning here, although ‘dumb' in Mark 7:37 would support the latter. But as Mark is intending reference to Isaiah 35:6, where it does mean dumb, the double entendre is understandable.

Thus Mark (and Jesus) intends us to see the man as symbolising man in his deafness to the divine message (like the disciples would be seen to be - Mark 8:18). And because man is deaf he can only stutter when speaking about God. Jesus was concerned for His disciples to receive from this the message that they too were deaf and stuttering, and that the One Who would unstop the ears of the deaf and make the tongue of the dumb sing was now here. (If we can assume that the disciples were with Him this was a message for the disciples, He did not want the incident to be passed on outside - Mark 7:36). He was working up to Caesarea Philippi (Mark 8:27) which would come after the time in the region of Sidon.