Mark 8:23

‘And he took hold of the blind man by the hand and brought him out of the village.'

Again we note the parallel with the deaf and dumb man. ‘He brought him out of the village', compare ‘He took him aside from the multitude privately' (Mark 7:33). And that was what He had done to the disciples in order to open their ears and eyes, and yet sadly they were still inoperative (Mark 8:18).

‘The village.' Philip had made Bethsaida into a fairly large town, but this may be a reference to the old fishing village which was the basis of the later building of the town, and was still a relatively separate entity. It may, however, be that the local title ‘the village' had been retained for the whole through custom and usage.

‘And when he had spat on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”

Again we have similar treatment, the use of saliva, although applied differently to the different parts (compare Mark 7:33). The idea is that the words of Jesus will open the eyes of the spiritually blind as they will open the mouth of the spiritually dumb.