the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Bible Dictionaries
Bartimaeus
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
or ("son of Timaeus or Timai".) A blind beggar of Jericho, who had his sight restored by Christ as He was going out of the town (Mark 10:46); Luke (Luke 18:35; Luke 19:1; Luke 19:5) describes the cure as Christ was entering Jericho the day before. Probably the beggar, with the persevering faith which characterized him, applied to Jesus first as He was entering Jericho, and renewed his petition the next day, as Jesus was leaving Jericho. Eliciting, as He was wont, first of all from the blind man the expression of his want, "What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?" Christ next grants his prayer, and praises his faith "Receive thy sight; thy faith hath saved thee." Matthew (Matthew 20:29-34) describes it, as Jesus was going from Jericho; and mentions two blind men.
Probably Bartimaeus, after applying on the day of Jesus' entry into Jericho, was joined by the second blind man while Jesus was passing the night with Zacchaeus; so both shared in the cure on Christ's leaving Jericho. Bartimaeus, being the more prominent, is alone mentioned by Mark and Luke; just as they mention only the colt, Matthew both the donkey (the mother) and the colt; Luke (Luke 24:4) the two angels, Matthew and Mark the one alone who spoke. Seeming discrepancies establish the independence of the witnesses and the absence of collusion. Substantial agreement of many witnesses, amidst circumstantial variety, is the strongest proof of truth. Modes of reconciling seeming discrepancies may not be the true ones, but they at least prove the discrepancies not to be irreconcilable and that they result only from our ignorance of all the facts of each case.
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Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Bartimaeus'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fbd/b/bartimaeus.html. 1949.
