<p>8:11 <em>And they gave heed to him</em>- See on 8:6<em> Gave heed</em>.</p><p><em>Because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries</em>- Illiterate people are inevitably going to be impressed by the miraculous, and this was why the early preaching of the Gospel was backed up by visible miracles. But as Robert Roberts put it, there was &quot;an economy of miracle&quot;. The Lord could have done far more than He did by way of miracles. But in this case in Samaria, all that was necessary was to budge the psychological stranglehold which Simon magus had over the people.</p>