And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging:
And it came to pass, that, as he was come nigh unto Jericho - on his way through Peraea to his last Passover,
A certain blind man sat by the way-side begging. In Mark the name is given - "blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus," But there and in Matthew it was "as they departed from," or "went out of Jericho;" and in Matthew it is not one, But "two blind men," beggars, that on this occasion received their sight. Several critics-as Greswell, Ebrard, Ellicott, Neander, Wieseler, with some of the Fathers-suppose one to have been healed on entering, the other on leaving Jericho. Others to whom this seems far-fetched, would leave the facts as recorded to speak independently for themselves. One thing seems clear, that these three narratives must have been written quite apart from each other; and another, that these divergences in the circumstantial details strongly corroborate the historical truth of the facts. Perhaps, if we knew all the particulars, we should see no difficulty; but that we have been left so far in the dark, shows that the thing is of no moment any way. Had there been any collusion among the authors of these Gospels, they would certainly have taken care to remove these 'spots on the sun'-as Chrysostom, of the Fathers, with Olshausen, van Osterzee, and Alford, fail not to observe.