Mark 8.24—An Apocalyptic Vision?

The article offers a new interpretation of the healing of the blind man of Bethsaida in Mark 8.22–26, and especially his vision of walking trees in verse 24. The argument begins with a survey of premodern reception and critical scholarship on the episode, revealing the lack of engagement with the blind man’s vision of the trees. It is then put into the context of references to humans and human groups as trees and plants in the Second Temple Jewish literature. The Markan blind man is shown to have received a very brief apocalyptic vision of walking trees, typical of the imagery of other visionary reports contained in the pseudepigrapha and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The conclusion of the argument summarizes the interpretative insights relating to Mk 8.22–26 and the second Gospel more generally.