Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 8:23

"And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, Seest thou aught?" — Mark 8:23 (ASV)

He took the blind man by the hand.—We note in the act the same considerate adaptation of the method of healing to the man’s infirmities as in the case of the deaf man in Mark 7:33. As far as the first three Gospels are concerned, these are the two instances of the “spitting” here recorded, but it is one of the links that connect Saint Mark with the fourth Gospel (John 9:6).

If he saw ought.—The better manuscripts give the very words, Do you see anything?