And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;
All Commentaries on Mark 7:33 Go To Mark 7
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
And spitting, He touched his tongue. Christ wrought harmoniously, as though by His healing saliva He would moisten and loosen the dumb mouth, which was bound through drought.
Now He spat not upon the mouth of the mute, but upon His own finger, and by means of His finger applied the saliva to the mouth of the mute, as may be gathered from the Greek. This was required by propriety and decorum. Moreover, when Christ opened the ears and unloosed the tongue of the body, He opened also the ears and tongue of the soul, that they might listen to His inspiration, and believe that He was the Messiah, and that they might ask and obtain of Him pardon of their sins.
Tropologically: Every one ought to seek the same thing, and say with the Psalmist, "0 Lord, open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise" ( Psalm 51:17). We ought to do the same as regards our ears, that we may be able to sing aloud with Isaiah ( Isaiah 1:4), "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned." Now this is done when He Himself with His own Finger, that Isaiah , the Holy Ghost (for He is "the Finger of God," Exod. viii19), and the spittle of Heavenly Wisdom of Solomon , which is He Himself proceeding forth from the mouth of the Most High, touches the tongue of the soul.
