The Deaf Man with a Speech Impediment is the man in the Decapolis to whom Jesus said Ephphatha
—
Be opened.
They brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment,
and they begged Him to lay His hand on him.
He took him aside from the crowd privately.
He put His fingers into his ears,
and after spitting touched his tongue.
He sighed and said to him, Ephphatha.
His ears were opened,
his tongue was released,
and he spoke plainly.
He has done all things well.
He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.
Isaiah had promised this.
A Gentile shore heard it in Aramaic.
He is back in the region of the ten towns after Tyre and Sidon. A crowd wants a hand laid on. Jesus wants a man, not a demonstration. Aside. Private. Fingers in ears. Spit. Touch on the tongue. A sigh that sounds like the weight of a fallen world in one breath. Then a word the man cannot hear until it works: Be opened. Mark keeps the Aramaic so the church will not sand it into a slogan. Ears open. Bond on the tongue looses. Plain speech. He charges them to tell no one, and they proclaim it all the more. The verdict of the crowd is almost Genesis: He has done all things well. Isaiah 35 is on the floor—the ears of the deaf unstopped, the tongue of the mute singing for joy. The same chapter that promised blind eyes and springs in the wilderness. Feeding four thousand will follow in this same stretch of Gospel. First a man hears. Then a wilderness eats. The sigh is not failure. It is compassion with a sound. The opening is not magic mud for a show. It is creation speech over a closed door.
- Privately means the man is not a prop.
- Touch matches the need: ears, tongue, the exact locked gates.
- Ephphatha is command to creation, like Peace, be still.
- He sighed—Mark lets you hear the cost inside the power.
- Tell no one and they told everyone: glory leaks.
- All things well is Eden language after a curse that closed ears.
- Decapolis faith begs for a hand and gets a word that opens worlds.
- Decapolis – Gentile towns; brought by friends.
- Aside – From the crowd; personal.
- Fingers and Tongue – Touch where the bondage sat.
- The Sigh – Before the word.
- Ephphatha – Be opened.
- Plain Speech – Released tongue; opened ears.
- All Things Well – The crowd’s creed; Isaiah under it.
- Mark 7:31-37 – “Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’ And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.’”
- Isaiah 35:5-6 – Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
- Isaiah 29:18 – In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
- Exodus 4:11 – Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
- Psalm 40:5 – You have multiplied, O Lord my God, Your wondrous deeds… they would be more than can be told.
- Genesis 1:31 – God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
- Mark 8:1-9 – In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered… they ate and were satisfied. Four thousand.
- Matthew 11:5 – The deaf hear and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
- Mark 7:24-30 – The Syrophoenician woman’s faith just before this road.
They brought to Him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment.
He took him aside privately. He sighed and said, Ephphatha—Be opened.
His ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.
The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; the tongue of the mute shall sing for joy.
Do not leave him in the crowd as a case. Take the need to Jesus. Let Him touch the closed places. Be opened is still His word over ears that will not hear and tongues that will not bless. He has done all things well. Speak plainly when He looses you.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.