Timaeus is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Timaeus was the father of Bartimaeus, the blind man whom Jesus healed near Jericho. He is mentioned only once in Scripture, in the Gospel of Mark, and only in connection with his son. The passage reads: “And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging” (Mark 10:46). Timaeus himself does not appear as an actor in the narrative; he is named solely to identify his son.
The setting is significant. Jesus was passing through Jericho on His final journey toward Jerusalem, accompanied by His disciples and a great crowd. At the roadside sat a blind beggar, identified by the double name “Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus.” In the culture of that day, a man was often known by his father’s name, and so Timaeus’s identity is preserved through his son’s healing. The text tells us nothing more about Timaeus—not his tribe, his trade, his faith, or whether he was living or dead at the time. He remains a name attached to his son’s story.
What Scripture records of Timaeus, then, is minimal but not meaningless. He was the father of a man in desperate need, a man who cried out to Jesus and received his sight. Beyond that single verse, the Bible is silent about him.
The Name
The name Timaeus comes from the Greek *Timaios*, which is derived from the verb *timao*, meaning “to honor” or “to value,” and is related to the noun *time*, meaning “honor,” “worth,” or “price.” The name is therefore commonly understood to carry the sense of “honored” or “highly prized.” This meaning is well established from the Greek root, though the New Testament itself does not comment on it. It is worth noting that “Bartimaeus” is a patronymic—Aramaic *bar* meaning “son of”—so the blind man is literally “son of Timaeus,” or “son of the honored one.”
A Closing Thought
Timaeus never speaks a word in Scripture, yet his name is forever bound to one of the Gospels’ most vivid scenes of mercy. He reminds us that faithfulness is often hidden. Perhaps he raised a son who, though blind and reduced to begging, still knew enough of Israel’s hope to cry out, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” We do not know what Timaeus did or believed, but we know his son met Jesus and walked away seeing. A parent’s quiet influence can reach further than any record of it.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: New
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- Mark 10:46 — And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.