What kind of person is the blind beggar in the gospel?

Answer 1

All we know about the blind beggar is told in Mark 10:46-52. We do not even know his name, since Bartimaeus is not a personal name, but means 'Son of Timaeus' in Aramaic, information that is then repeated in Greek for emphasis (and translated into English in our Bibles). Clearly Bartimaeus is only important for being the son of Timaeus, yet we are not told who his father was. In copying from Mark, the authors of Matthew and Luke did not even consider this information important: Luke simply talks of a blind beggar, while Matthew elaborates the story to have two blind beggars.
Dennis R. MacDonald (The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark) has identified interesting parallels between Bartimaeus in the gospels, and Tiresias in Homer's Odyssey. The name 'Timaeus' means Honour, so Bartimaeus becomes a symbolic name meaning Son of Honour; Tiresias is a symbolic name meaning Sign or Portent. Both are blind. Though blind, Bartimaeus recognised Jesus as the son of David; though blind, Tiresias recognised Odysseus as the son of Laertes. The garment both wore was called a himation; this is clear because Bartimaeus symbolicaly threw his off. These parallels would be no more than an interesting coincidence, except that the story of Bartimaeus is linked (as pair L) through the parallel structure of Mark's Gospel to another story in which MacDonald has found many parallels to Homer's Odyssey. For an educated Greek, familiar with Homer's epics, the existence of the parallels would have reinforced the mental association created by the parallel structure, a summary of which follows:
A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

Because the name Bartimaeus means Son of Timaeus in Aramaic, we would assume that he was a Jew. However, Timaeus is an unlikely name for a Jew, but is a Greek name. It is also the name of a famous Dialogue by Plato, called Timaeus, about nature and creation. This raises the possibility that Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, was not a real person, but was an allegory.

By associating this story with the story of 'Legion' and its parallels to Homer's epic, then making allusions here to another story from The Odyssey, Mark would have created expectations among his readers that Bartimaeus was a special person. Seeing the name from Plato's Dialogue, some would have wondered whether Plato had been writing his Dialogue about Jesus.