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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - John 9:6 - 9:6
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
On the ground (χαμαὶ)
Only here and Joh 18:6.
Anointed (ἐπέχρισε)
Only here and Joh 9:11. The spittle was regarded as having a peculiar virtue, not only as a remedy for diseases of the eye, but generally as a charm, so that it was employed in incantations. Persius, describing an old crone handling an infant, says: “She takes the babe from the cradle, and with her middle finger moistens its forehead and lips with spittle to keep away the evil eye” (“Sat.,” ii., 32, 33). Tacitus relates how one of the common people of Alexandria importuned Vespasian for a remedy for his blindness, and prayed him to sprinkle his cheeks and the balls of his eyes with the secretion of his mouth (“History,” iv., 81). Pliny says: “We are to believe that by continually anointing each morning with fasting saliva (i.e., before eating), inflammations of the eyes are prevented” (“Natural History,” xxviii., 7). Some editors read here ἐπέθηκεν, put upon, for ἐπέχρισεν, anointed.
Of the blind man
Omit, and read as Rev., his eyes.