Where is Bartimaeus mentioned in the Bible?

Answer 1

The story of Bartimaeus is in Mark's Gospel, at Mark 10:46-52. In the parallel structure of Mark, it forms a pair (pair L in the following summary) with the story of Jesus driving out 'Legion' demons and into swine. It is also in Luke chapter 18, but the author of Luke omitted the references to 'son of Timaeus'. Whereas the author of Matthew's Gospel copied around 90 per cent of Mark's Gospel, he appears to have considered this episode as too unimportant to include in his gospel, replacing it by a brief episode in which Jesus restored the sight of two beggars.
Bartimaeus is important only as the son of Timaeus, and we do not even know his name. Bartimaeus is not a personal name, simply meaning son of Timaeus in Aramaic, and this information is then repeated in the Greek language (translated into English). Moreover, Timaeus is an unlikely name for a Jew, as Timaeus must have been a Jew (hence Bartimaeus), but is a Greek name. It is also the name of a famous Dialogue by Plato, called Timaeus, about nature and creation. This is explained when we look at the parallel structure of Mark's Gospel, showing how the story of Bartimaeus is positioned against the story of the demoniac of Gadarene.

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)

Dennis R. MacDonald (The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark) has identified a number of close parallels between the story of the demoniac and a similar passage in Homer's Odyssey. He believes the demons said his name was 'Legion', as a deliberate reversal of when Polyphemus asked Odysseus for his name and he replied, 'Nobody'. Greeks learnt to read by studying the works of Homer and Plato, so when reading the story of Legion would have noticed parallels to Homer. When they then saw the story of Bartimaeus in a similar context, this would have brought to mind Plato's Timaeus. They could have wondered whether Plato had been writing about Jesus. Thus, Bartimaeus and Timaeus were not real persons but allegories

Answer 2

Bartimaeus was on the road leading out of Jericho when Jesus heal him of blindness.