Spit - Mark 7 and 8

Mar_7:33  And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;

Mar_8:23  And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.

Spit - Used 11 times in Scripture - 4 times in the OT.

From the verses above:

G4429 - A primary verb (compare G4428); to spit.

• G4428 - Probably akin to πετάννυμι petannumi (to spread; and thus apparently allied to G4072 through the idea of expansion, and to G4429 through that of flattening; compare G3961); to fold, that is, furl a scroll.

It has a sort of gross factor to it...Jesus spat and then touched the man's tongue.  Then he spits on someone's eyes.  In the OT if someone was spitting, it was a sign of disgrace.  Even the other uses of spit in the NT, was in reviling the Lord.

Mat 26:67  Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,

This is G1716 (as are the others in the NT) which means:

From G1722 and G4429; to spit at or on.

• G1722 - A primary preposition denoting (fixed) position (in place, time or state), and (by implication) instrumentality (medially or constructively), that is, a relation of rest (intermediate between G1519 and G1537); “in”, at, (up-) on, by, etc.

A few of the OT:

Num 12:14  And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's commentary on the above verse:

her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? — The Jews, in common with all people in the East, seem to have had an intense abhorrence of spitting, and for a parent to express his displeasure by doing so on the person of one of his children, or even on the ground in his presence, separated that child as unclean from society for seven days.

Deu 25:9  Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.

Spitting would normally be seen as a sign of disrespect, and in some cases could legally be prosecuted as battery.  So why was Jesus spitting NOT insulting?  In 7:33 he didn't actually spit on the person, whereas in 8:23 it's in/on the eyes.

As a blind person can you imagine someone spitting on your eyes...no idea it's coming, nothing to clue you in on the pucker up and preparation to the projectile of saliva.  Just wham.

A deaf mute receives holy spit and he could speak plainly - a blind man has spit in/on his eyes and then sees clearly.  And both were told NOT to tell.  How do you keep something like that hidden?

Why would Jesus want them NOT to talk about it?