Verse 23 Out of the town. On account of the increasing hostility of the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus seems to have thought it best to be more and more cautious in his movements, and in the performance of his miracles. There seem to have been some circumstances in this case to require that the cure should be entirely private. It appears from Mark 8:26, that the man did not live within the town; and he therefore took him out beyond its limits, and cured him, and then directed him to go immediately home. We are left entirely uninformed in regard to the reasons for the ceremonies, and the successive steps by which this cure was performed.