THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/commentaryonauthOOdunwrich A COMMENTARY I ON TSK GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. A COMMENTAEY AUTHORIZED ENGLISH VERSION GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN COMPARED WITH THE SINAITIC, VATICAN, AND ALEXANDRINE MANUSCEIPTS, AND ALSO WITH DEAN ALFOED'S KE VISED TRANSLATION. BY THE KEY. FEANCIS HENKY DUNWELL, B.A., VTCATl OF HENSALL WITH HECK, (LATE HASTINGS EXHIBITIONER, QUEEN'S COLLEGE, OXFOBD). LONDON : J. T. HAYES, LYALL PLACE, EATON SQUARE ; AND 4, HENRIETTA STREET, OOVENT GARDEN. 1872. CORRIGENDA. The words from " The following " to " selected it," p. 143, were printed in the place where they stand by an oversight. They were intended for another purpose, and do not bear on the argument in the text. The note Lazarus in Introductory note to chapter xii. should have been in chapter xi. The Author is sorry to have to acknowledge, that, notwithstanding the great care that has been exercised, a feW mistakes in the Greek accents have been overlooked. 6wm A C!o.) Begrait Press, King Street, Begent Street, W. TO THE HONOURABLE CHARLES L. WOOD, THIS V0LU3IE IS , EESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, AS A BEPRESENTATIVE OF THE LAYMEN OF ENGLAND, WHO ARE STRIVING TO SECURE, FOR THE ENGLISH CHURCH, THE OLD ENGLISH DOGMATIC TEACHING. PKEFACE During the thirty years that I have been in Holy Orders, I have watched with eager interest the various Commentaries that have been published in England on different portions of the Scriptures. To many of these too much praise cannot be given, especially for the careful attention which has been paid of late years to the teaching of the Scrip- tures on the Incarnation, and on the effects of the Incarnation on man's present life, not merely on his future state, but on his present life, as preparatory for his future. But there is still required, as it appears to me, a Commentary on the New Testament for English readers and others, more critical in its character, and at the same time more Catholic in its doctrinal tone, as well as more continuous and con- nected in its explanations, than is usually the case with Commen- taries intended for general use. The present volume is submitted to the public, with a view to ascertain how far a Commentary of this kind, and by the same hand, would be acceptable to members of the English Church. The object aimed at throughout has been, to combine the ancient Faith of the Church with the results of modern investigation. A few words about its leading characteristics will not be deemed out of place. In preparing the following pages I have especially endeavoured to meet the case of that large and increasing class of intelligent readers, who feel a warm interest in every thing that tends to the elucidation , of the Scriptures, but who lack either the opportunity or the inclina- tion to consult numerous books of reference. Considerable advantage has been taken of the immense accessions, which the last half century has added to our stores for the illustration of the Old and New Testament, and in a no less degree of our English Authorised Trans- lation of them. Among these it will be sufficient to refer to the important addition made within the last few years to our Manu- scripts of the text, to the more critical examination of the historical M3i3880 Vlll PBEFACE. documents relating to the Jews, and to the various nations that were contemporary with them, and to the more accurate knowledge which we possess of the topography of Palestine. The three principal objects, which I have kept in view, are : — 1. To lay before the reader St. John's Gospel in a form so correct, that no exception could possibly be made against it, either as a text or as a translation. This has been accomplished chiefly through the labours of Professor Tischendorf, and the late Dean Alford and his four coadjutors. Each verse is given from the Authorised Version, and under that whatever various readings there are, in either the Sinaitic, Vatican, or j^lexandrine Manuscripts, and then any difference of translation as revised by the late Dean Alford and his friends. 2. To give the sense of St. John's words as interpreted by the best Commentators from the earliest times. After several unsuc- cessful trials to appropriate to each author his own, as far as possible, I relinquished the attempt, and have contented myself with endeavour- ing to weave into one connected whole, and within reasonable limits, intei-pretations ranging from the third century to the nineteenth. No age or school has been exclusively regarded, but what appeared best in each has been selected. In this Commentary no claim is made to originality. My object has not been to invent new interpretations, or new ways of expressing old interpretations, but to make use of other men's successful labours, and to throw these into a popular form for the common good. 3. By means of an introductory note to each chapter, as well as by foot-notes, to show the exact meaning of the original text or of the English translation ; to illustrate the history, geography, and customs referred to, and by means of extracts from travellers, chiefly modern, to bring before the mind of the reader a living picture of the various localities and scenes that are named. I have preferred, where possible, to give the glowing description of the travellers themselves, rather than a more concise but necessarily more dry summary of their words by myself. In this part each statement is attested by the name of the writer. I am answerable only for the selection. In the foot-notes will also be found all the most important im- provements in translation, and illustrations of the grammatical con- sti-uction, that have been suggested by Bishop Middleton in his Treatise on the Greek Article, by Archbishop Trench in his Synonyms of the New Testament f by Winer in his Grammar of the Neiv Testament PREFACE. IX diction, and by Dr. J. B. Lightfoot in his Revision of the New Testa- ment, as well as by others. It is acknowledged on all hands, that the best key to unlock the meaning and spirit of any ancient document is contemporary literature • To see the full force of this as applied to the New Testament, we have only to call to mind, how minute and numerous the religious observances of the Jews were in the days of our Saviour, and how intimately these were interwoven with all their public, social, and domestic life. To such a degree was this the case, that the life of a truly devout Jew, according to their meaning of the term, must have been, so to speak, an endless ritual. But the great mass of these rites and ceremonies were not prescribed in the Law of Moses, but in that body of traditionary interpretations, that had been accumulating for ages, and which in the time of our Saviour had become both bur- densome to the people, and destructive of the very spirit and intention of the Law. These traditionary rules had succeeded in rendering, the Law not only nugatory, as to any moral effect on the .Jewish mind, but positively injurious to it. Our Saviour's denunciations are not directed against the Law, but against their observance of it, and against those who insisted on such observance. " Woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, woe unto you Lawyers," were His usual words ; and to enter into the full meaning of His words, a knowledge of the received interpretation of the Law is scarcely less necessary than a knowledge of the Law itself. For we miss the point in a rebuke, when we know not the nature of the abuse, which calls forth the rebuke. Among the most successful students in this branch of literature, Dr. John Light- foot, Master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge, and who died 1675, has always stood in the foremost rank. Few greater services, as I conceive, can be rendered to the English Church, than to make Dr. Lightfoot's learning more accessible to the general reader. Probably no man ever possessed the same amount of Kabbinical learning, with the same accurate scholarship, that he did. But this, imbedded as it is in two thick folio, or in thirteen octavo volumes, is little known except to students. Copious illustrations of the meaning of St. John's words have been given from Lightfoot, based on the Rabbinical traditions. It will thus be seen that an attempt has here been made to bring the information, furnished to the public in the shape of a popular Commentary, up to a level with the knowledge and the scholarship of the present day, and that without any faltering as regards the b X PREFACE. Faith once delivered. The Christian Religion has nothing to fear from real learning. For past experience shows, that whatever new discoveries are made in any branch of science or literatm-e, so far as they bear on Holy Scripture or on the Christian Religion, they help to confirm and illustrate them. All, that is required, is a full and fair investigation, that the science be sufficiently understood, and fairly applied. For Christians can scarcely be expected to surrender their Faith to crude theories, or to deductions drawn from imperfect in- formation. It has been rather the fashion of late years to believe, that the Greek Text, from which the English Authorised Translation was made, was in a state of almost hopeless coiTuption, and that the Translation itself was, to say the least, full of inaccuracies, if not of actual mis- translations. The labours and publications of Professor Tischendorf and of the late Dean Alford, have therefore a peculiar interest for English Churchmen. For the one may be said to have been investigat- ing the genuineness of our text of the New Testament, and the other the accuracy of our Translation. No one will question their com- petency for the task which they undertook. They have laboured for years, each in his own department, as men only labour, who have a love for their work. The results of Professor Tischendorf's labours not only prove, but put it into the power of every man to verify this state- ment for himself, that the Greek Text of the English Authorised Transla- tion is singularly correct, and that the emendations introduced from the Sinai tic, Vatican, and Alexandrine Manuscripts, the three oldest and most valuable, are, with few exceptions, of the most trifling nature. The labours of Dean Alford and of his four coadjutors are also valuable in many points of view, and not the least, as proving the general accuracy of the Authorised Translation. The Church of England owes a large debt of gratitude to these men for their respective pub- lications, as showing the hoUowness of objections, which from their very nature many could make, but few were able to answer. One other result of their labours is exceedingly satisfactory. Neither the emendations made in the Text nor the alterations in the Translation have in any way affected, even in the slightest degree, any one single doctrine of the Christian Religion. Improvements many they have doubtless introduced, both in the way of a more genuine correctness of the Text, and also of a more scholarly accuracy in the Translation. But the Christian Faith stands exactly what it was, and as it was, before their publications. PREFAOE, XI From what has been effected by the labours of individuals in a private capacity, we may fairly infer what will be the result of the labours of men, when united together for the common object of re- vising our Translation of Holy Scripture. If their purpose be a thoroughly honest one, namely, to make our Venerable Translation a better representative of our improved knowledge of ancient Manu- scripts, as well as of our more delicate and correct rendering of the Greek, with the ample materials which we have at command, the gain will be immense. A judicious reproduction, for instance, of Trench, Alford, and Tischendorf, would be a blessing acknowledged by all. Our Translation would be a more exact and faithful representation of the original, and that original would be more like what it was, when it left the hands of the Evangelists and Apostles ; but there would be no alteration in the doctrines of the Church, not one, and scarcely a single text would be withdrawn from its office of proving what it was thought to prove before. But if with this there be also allied the sinister object of altering our ecclesiastical expressions of Christian Truth, in order to introduce into them unostentatiously, it may be, a greater degree of laxity, by rendering them into more colourless terms, the blessing will prove a curse, and the Kevisers will succeed, not in producing a Bible for the English Church, but in leaving a legacy for the various English Sects to wrangle over. To attempt to effect a theological revolution, under the cover of a purely scientific revision, would be a mistake, and would certainly entail failure on the whole scheme. In order to represent, as far as possible, the knowledge and the acquirements of the present day, the notes in this Commentary have been taken in a gi-eat measure from the works; of living authors. The following is a rough classification of the writers quoted, many of whom will be recognised as eminent authorities in their own depart- ment. Various Readings of the Greek Text. — Professor Tischendorf. Mr. Scrivener, Mr. Burgon. Critical Scholarship. — Dr. John Lightfoot, (17th century), Bishop Middleton, Dean Alford, Archbishop Trench, Dr. J. B. Lightfoot, Dr. Winer, &c. Topography and Customs of Palestine. — Bishop Pococke, (18th century). Dr. Robinson, Dean Stanley, Dr. Williams, Thom- son, Lady Strangford, (Miss Beaufort,) Miss Rogers, Lord b 2 XU PREFACE. Lindsay, Carnarvon, Mr. Porter, Hepworth Dixon, Captain Lynch, Macgregor, Wilson and Warren, and other memhers of the Palestine Exploration Society, &c. Historical Analysis.— The Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Canon Norris, Mr, Sanday, &c. It only remains to add, that if this volume should meet with sufficient favour to justify me in having incurred the risk of its publication, it will shortly be followed by a similar Commentary on the other three Gospels, treated separately and sjTioptically, and eventually by a Commentary on the Epistles, Hensall Vicarage, June 4dh 1B72* INTEODUOTOEY CHAPTEE. The Foueth Gospel. Did St. John the Apostle write the Fourth Gospel ? The Primitive Church, which had the best means of knowing, said that he did, and affirmed this with singular fulness and unanimity. Within the last few years this question has been again raised, and with the purpose of giving to it a different answer. The late Dean Alford, a cautious writer, and one who could not be accused of giving undue weight to the claim of divine Inspiration, which the Church makes for this Gospel, has thus summed up the evidence for and against the genuineness of St. John's Gospel, which is again but the summary of the arguments used by German writers, who have gone more minutely into this question than himself. Re- ferring to Liicke's Einlertung, he says, " The result of his researches on this subject is, that down to the end of the second century the Gospel was by all recognised and attributed to the Apostle whose name it bears, with the sole exception of the Alogi, an unimportant sect in Asia Minor, who from excessive opposition to the heresy of Montanus, rejected both the Apocalypse and Gospel of John, as favouring (according to them) some of the views of that heretic. Such an exception rather strengthens than weakens the general evidence of ancient Christendom in its favour, " Equally satisfactory is the testimony of the Fathers after the close of the second century. The citations by Irenaeus from this Gospel are very frequent and express, both as to its canonicity and the name of its author. And his testimony is peculiarly valuable, because (1) he was an an ti- Gnostic ; (2) his acquaintance with the whole Church, Eastern and Western, was greater than that of any other ecclesiastical writer ; and (3) in his youth he had conversed with Polycarp, himself a disciple of the Apostle John. Theophilus of Antioch, TertuUian, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus, Origen, Dionysius of Alexandria, Eusebius, — the ancient Syriac Version, the Peshito, — the adversaries of Christianity, Porphyry and Julian, — all these refer to the Gospel as without doubt the work of the Apostle John. ** We may then, as far as antiquity is concerned, regard its genuine- XIV INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. ness as established. But there is one circumstance which has fur- nished many modem writers with a ground for doubting this. Neither' Papias, who carefully sought all that Apostles and apostolic men had related regarding the life of Christ, — nor Polycarp, who was himself a disciple of the Apostle John, — nor Barnabas, nor Clement of Rome, in their Epistles, — nor, lastly, Ignatius (in his genuine writings), makes any mention of, or allusion to, this Gospel. So that in the most ancient circle of ecclesiastical testimony, it appears to be unknown or not recognised. ** But this circumstance, when fairly considered in connection with its universal recognition by writers following on theses rather serves for a confirmation of the genuineness of the Gospel. It confessedly was written late in the apostolic age. As far, then, as silence (or apparent silence) can be valid as an argument, it seems to show that the recognition of this Gospel, as might have been expected, was later than that of the others. And it is some confirmation also of this view, that Papias, if Eusebius (iii. 39) gives his testimony entire, appears not to recognise Luke^s Gospel, but only those of Matthew and Mark. It is remarkable, however, on the other hand, that Papias (Eusebius ibid.) recognises the First Epistle of John, which, as already re- marked, was probably written after the Gospel. This would seem to make it probable that we have not in Eusebius the whole tes- timony of Papias given : for it would certainly seem from internal grounds that the First Epistle and the Gospel must stand or fall together. " It is evident that too much stress must not be laid on the silence of Polycarp, from whom we have one short Epistle only. He also (apparently) was acquainted with the First Epistle of John. But he wrote with no purpose of giving testimony to the sacred books, and what reason therefore have we to expect in his Epistle quotations from, or allusions to, any particular book which did not happen to come within his design, and the subject of which he was treating ? *' The same may be said of the silence of Barnabas, Hermas, and Ignatius. Had any intention existed on the part of the primitive Christian writers of informing posterity about books which were counted canonical in their days, their silence would be a strong argument against any particular book : but they had no such intention : their citations are fortuitous, and most of them loose and allusory only. So that we cannot argue from such silence to the recognition or other- wise of any book, unless it be universal and continuous, which is not the case with regard to the Gospel. "Again, the kind of testimony furnished by Ireneeus is peculiarly valuable. He does not relate from whom he had heard that John wrote a Gospel, but he treats and quotes it as a well-known and long- used book in the Christian Church. What could ^ have induced Irenaeus to do this, except the fact of its being thus known and used ? So that this character of his testimony virtually carries it back farther INTBODUCTORY CHAPTER. XV than its actual date. Besides, when one who has had the means which Irenaeus had of ascertaining the truth in a matter, asserts things respecting that matter, the ordinary and just method is to suppose that he draws his information from his superior opportunities of gaining it, even though he may not expressly say so : so that when Irenseus, who had conversed with Polycarp himself, the friend of the Apostle John, quotes this Gospel as the work of that Apostle, we may fairly presume that he had assured himself of this by the testimony of one so well capable of informing him." — Alford's Greek Testament, Pro- legomena, p. 66. In the face of such unanswerable reasoning as the above, the old objections have been again brought forward within the last few years, and in such a form as to catch the eye not of the student but of the general reader, who could not be prepared with an answer to them. It is asserted in a tone of confident boldness and pertinacity, "that no genuine testimony to the authenticity of this Gospel is of an earlier date than the year of Christ 180 :" and " as far as regards external evidence — that there is not the same full and satisfactory amount of it in the case of the Fourth Gospel, as in that of the other three." To see the force, or rather the want of force, in these objections, it will be necessary to call to mind who were the Christian writers which flourished within the first 180 years after the Birth of Christ, what was the nature of their writings, and in what state those writings have come down to us. We shall not be far wrong in saying that the following list includes all the Christian writers of any note within the first 180 years after Christ, with the probable date at which they each flourished. St. Barnabas, a.d. 71 ; Clement, a.d. 96 ; Hermas, a.d. 100 ; St. Igna- tius, A.D. 107; St. Polycarp, a.d. 108; Papias, a.d. 116; Justin Martyr, a.d. 140 ; Dionysius of Corinth, a.d. 170 ; Tatian, A.D. 172 ; Hegesippus, a.d. 173 ; Melito, a.d. 177 ; Irenseus, a.d. 178. These writers may be conveniently divided into two classes : — 1. Those who are commonly spoken of as ancient Christian writers, because the names of some of their writings, or a few fragments of their writings, have been preserved by some later author, such as Eusebius and Jerome. 2. Those to whom have been generally attri- buted some of the treatises that are still extant. Under the first head five of these twelve writers must be ranked — Papias, Dionysius of Corinth, Tatian, Hegesippus, and Melito. No argument against the authenticity of St. John's Gospel can be drawn from the want of their evidence. For all that they wrote, with the exception of a few lines, is lost. The other seven — Barnabas, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus — wiU come under the second class, as being credited with having written some of the letters or early treatises that are still received as genuine. Of the first five no more need be said. Of the remaining seven, one, Barnabas, may have written his one work, Catholic Epistle, even before St. John wrote his XVI INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Gospel : four, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius, Polycarp, wrote so near the time that is usually assigned as the date of St. John's Gospel, a.d. 93, that we cannot reasonably expect to find in them any reference to it. It would therefore appear that of the twelve Christian writers, who, as we know, flourished within the first 180 years after the Birth of Christ, there are only two, Justin Martyr and IrensBus, that are not precluded, either by the loss of their writings or by the lateness in the publication of St. John's Gospel, from handing down to us any testi- mony in favour of its genuineness and authenticity. Lardner has shown that, there are not only proofs that Justin Martyr had read St. John's Gospel, but there are also unmistakeable references to it, even in those writings which are acknowledged by all to be by him. For instance : — Justin. St. Johk. 'O xP'O'T^jy elirevy &y p-n avayewndriTe ov 'O 'Irjaovs flvev, 'Ea*' fi^, ris yfVvriB-p /i^ iipovTai irphs fie, avO Zu Korwp- Xh<^O.VTO. It is also extremely improbable that Justin translated the prophecy direct from the Hebrew. For in that case we must believe that he translated by exactly the same four Greek words that St. John had used, INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. XVU and that he translated three of these words, and the same three words literally, while he altered one and the same one as St. John had done : a performance which those who are accustomed to translation from one language into another will not easily credit. A comparison of Zecha- riah's prophecy in Justin with the same prophecy in St. John will scarcely fail to produce the conviction that Justin was quoting from St. John's Gospel. Justin. St. John. "O^f/ovrai iis tv i^tKtvr-riffav- — Apolog. i. "Or^ovrai iis tv i^fKeyrriffay, lix. 37. p. 77. Thirlby's ed. These two instances may serve as examples of the way in which Justin Martyr refers to St. John's Gospel. Others are given by Lardner in his Credibility of the Gospel History (ii. p. 125, ed. 1838), and more recently by Mr. Kentish Bache, in a letter to Dr. Davidson (Kitto, London, 1871). As to the evidence, which Irenaeus gives to St. John's Gospel, it is impossible to state this in a clearer form than has been done by Dean Alford, and which has been already quoted from his works. TertuUian, who wrote at the end of the second century, when there had been sufficient time for the Fourth Gospel to become generally known to the Church, makes numerous quotations from it as the work of the Apostle St. John, — Professor Tischendorf says, not less than two hundred quotations. Thirty or forty years later Origen published a formal and very full Commentary on St. John's Gospel, a work which had occupied many of the best years of his life. Though St. Matthew's Gospel was written forty years before St. John's, there is no author who has written a commentary on St. Matthew earlier than Origen — at least, there is none whose works have come down to us. To estimate fairjy the value of the testimony, which the early Fathers have given to the various writings of thje New Testament by their incidental quotations from them, we must take into account several collateral considerations. Among others we must not forget the great scarcity of copies, which there must always have been, before the days of printing, in the case of any document immediately after its first publication : and that to quote any document would imply that this document was known not only to the person who quotes it, but also to those for whose edification and confirmation it is quoted. If, for instance, a Bishop in his Epistle to any particular Church, quoted the Gospel of St. John in confirmation of his words, it would imply that this Gospel was known not only to the Bishop who quotes it, but also to those to whom he was writing, and that it was acknowledged by them as a work of authority. It has been objected against St. John's Gospel that it was not quoted by the earliest writers, or by the earliest extant writers as fully as St. Matthew's was. A little reflection will show that, so far from being an objection to it, this is the very proof of its genuineness and XVlll INTKODUCTORY CHAPTER. authenticity. At the time Clement wrote his Epistle to the Corin- thians, ahout A.D. 96, St. Matthew's Gospel had been published and probably read in some of the Churches for forty years, while St. John's Gospel had not been published more than three years. There is the same interval between the first publication of St. Matthew's Gospel and the time that Clement wrote his Epistle, as there is between the first publication of St. John's Gospel and the time that Justin Martyr wrote. We should not therefore expect to find that Clement quotes St. John as often as he does St. Matthew, but that Justin Martyr quotes St. John as often as Clement quotes St. Matthew. Again, there is the same interval between the first publication of St. John's Gospel and the time that Tertullian wrote, as there is between the first publication of St. Matthew's Gospel and the time that Justin Martyr wrote. But there are twice as many quotations from St. John in Tertullian's writings, as there are in Justin Martyr from all the various books of the New Testament together. Mr. Sanday, the latest writer on this subject, and whose elaborate and exhaustive treatise has been published, while the sheets of this Commentary were passing through the press, does not rate the external evidence in favour of St. John the Apostle being the author of the Fourth Gospel so high as Dean Alford does. But he maintains as strongly as Dean Alford, that the external and the internal evidence for it taken together is perfectly conclusive. He says : " the subject of the external evidence has been pretty well fought out. The opposing parties are probably as near to an agreement as they ever will be. It will hardly be an unfair state- ment of the case for those who reject the Johannean authorship of the Gospel, to say, that the external evidence is compatible with that supposition. And, on the other hand, we may equally say for those who accept the Johannean authorship, that the external evidence would not be sufficient alone to prove it. As it at present stands, the controversy may be regarded as drawn : and it is not likely that the position of parties will be materially affected. ** Thus we are thrown back upon the internal evidence : and I have the less hesitation in confining myself to this, because I believe it to be capable of leading to a quite definite conclusion." — p. 4. Mr. Sanday then takes St. John's Gospel chapter by chapter, and submits it to a rigid examination, not as an inspired production, but as a document that commends itself to the reason on grounds purely theological, literary, and historical. Nothing can be more fair and able than the way in which Mr. Sanday handles his subject, on the low grounds that he takes. There may be, as it is said, a necessity in these days to take such grounds, biit the necessity for this certainly indicates a not very healthy state of Christian society. After Mr. Sanda/s preparatory investigation, which extends over 280 pages of his work, he approaches the following questions " Was the author of the fourth Gospel a Jew ? Was he a Jew of Palestine ? INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. XIX Was he a member of the original Christian circle ? Was he an eye- witness ? Was he the son of Zebedee?" All these questions he answers in the affirmative, and concludes his work with these words, " The Gospel is the work of the Apostle, the son of Zebedee : it is the record of an eye-witness of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ : and its historical character is such as under the circumstances might be ex- pected — it needs no adventitious commendation to make it higher." — p. 304. St. John is generally supposed to have written his Gospel at Ephesus. The traditionary date is somewhere about a.d. 90, which is much the same as modern scholars have assigned to it on inde- pendent grounds. MANUSCEIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. It is not proposed here to enter on the subject of the Manuscripts of the New Testament, further than to explain the references made to them in this Commentary, The particulars contained in these pages are taken chiefly from Mr. Scrivener's volume on the Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament, and from Prof. Tischendorfs Introduction to his edition of the English New Testament. To Prof. Tischendorf belongs the credit of having reduced the subject of various readings of the New Testament within convenient and definite limits. By his publication of the English New Testament with the readings of the Sinaitic, Vatican, and Alexandrine MSS., he has so far simplified a very intricate subject, that any intelligent reader can now understand at a glance, what is the weight of authority by which each reading is supported. It is sincerely to be hoped that this has not been done at the expense of truth or accuracy, But Mr. Scrivener, who has made a full collation of the Sinaitic Manuscript, has already raised the question, whether judging from internal evidence the character of the Sinaitic Manuscript is such, as to justify Prof. Tischendorf in attributing to it alone, or to it in conjunction with the Vatican and Alexandrine MSS., an authority against all other manu- scripts. (Scrivener's Preface to Coll. of Sinaitic MS., p. v*, vii*.) Copies of the New Testament yet existing in manuscript, and dating from the fourth century downward, such as have been discovered and set down in catalogues, are hardly fewer tha?i two thousand. There are little short of one thousand manuscripts proper pr Lec- tionaries of the Gospels, and about another thousand of all the other books put together, Manuscripts of the New Testament have been divided into Uncial and Cursive. I. The former called Uncial from uncia (an inch), referring to the size of the characters, are those manuscripts that are written in what are now called capital letters, formed separately, having no connection with each other, and (in the earlier specimens) without any space between the words, the marks of punctuation being few. Uncial letters prevailed in Greek manuscripts of the New Testa- MANUSCRIPTS OP THE NEW TESTAMENT. XXI ment from the fourth to the tenth century, and in the case of liturgical books to the eleventh century. II. CursivCj or running-hand, manuscripts are those written in letters more easily and rapidly made, those in the same word being usually joined together, with a complete system of punctuation, not widely removed from that of printed books. Cursive letters were employed as early as the ninth or tenth century, and continued in use until the invention of printing. The Uncial Manuscripts are few : in the Gospels about 34, but the greater part of these are fragments ; in the Acts 10 ; in the Catholic Epistles 6, and in the Pauline Epistles 14 (many of these fragments) ; and in the Apocalypse 4. The following are the principal Uncial Manuscripts : — 4<. Codex Sinaiticus, discovered in the Convent of St. Catherine, on Mount Sinai, by Prof. Tischendorf, in 1844 and 1859. Middle of fourth century. B. Codex Yaticanus, in the Vatican Library at Rome. Middle of fourth century. A, Codex Alexandrinus, in the British Museum, presented to Charles I. by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, 1628. Fifth century. C. Codex EphraBmi. No. 9 in the Imperial Library of Paris. Fifth century. B. Codex Bezae — Graeco-Latino ; University Library, Cam- bridge ; presented in 1581 by Theodore Beza. The following more particular information respecting the Vatican, Alexandrine, and Sinaitic MSS., and the Greek Text of the English Authorised Version, is taken from the Introduction to Prof. Tischen- dorf's English New Testament, 1869. " The Vatican^ Alexandrine y and Sinaitic Manuscripts. — Provi- dence has ordered it so that the New Testament can appeal to a far larger number of all kinds of original sources than the whole of the rest of ancient Greek literature. Before all others which it possesses, Christian scholars have for a long time highly valued two manuscripts, which to great antiquity add the distinction that they contain, not merely more or fewer portions of the sacred text, but the greater part of the entire New Testament as well as the Old. One of these manu- scripts is deposited in the Vatican at Rome, and the other in the British Museum. To these, within the last ten years, a third has been added, brought from Mount Sinai, and now at St. Petersburg. These three hold undoubtedly the first place among the many copies of the New Testament of a thousand years old : and by their authority will have to be judged and rectified, both the earlier Greek editions of the New Testament, and all existing modern translations of it. It should not be forgotten, however, that the three manuscripts of which we speak, difier among themselves both in age and importance, and XXll MANUSCRIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. that not one of them stands so high as to exclude all gainsaying of its bare authority. " The Codex Vaticanus came first into the possession of learned Europe. From what place it came into the Vatican Library is not known, but it is entered in the very first catalogue of the collection, dating from 1475. It contains the Old and New Testaments. Of the New it at present contains the four Gospels, the Acts, the seven Ge- neral Epistles, nine of St. Paul's Epistles, and that to the Hebrews as far as Chap. ix. 14 : but all that followed this place is lost, namely, the last chapters of the Hebrews, the two Epistles to Timothy, the Epistles to Titus and Philemon, and the Revelation. The text is written in three volumes to a page. The peculiarity of the hand- writing, the arrangement of the manuscript, and the character of the text itself, more especially certain remarkable readings, induce the opinion that the Codex is to be referred to the fourth century, and probably to about the middle of that century. *' The Codex Alexandrinus was, in 1628, sent as a present to King Charles I. of England, from Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constanti- nople. Cyril Lucar, who had formerly been Patriarch of Alexandria, brought it with him to Constantinople : and this explains why it is called the Alexandrian Codex. It is written in two columns to a page, and contains the Old and New Testaments. It is imperfect in the New Testament, having lost Matt. i. to xxv. 6 : John vi. 50, to viii. 52, and 2 Cor. iv. 13, to xii. 6. It contains, however, the two Epistles by Clement of Rome, which in it alone have descended to posterity : also an Epistle of Athanasius, and a production by Eusebius on the Psalter. On Palseographic and other grounds it is believed to have been wTitten in the middle of the fifth century. " The Codex Sinaiticus I (Tischendorf) was so happy as to discover in 1844 and 1859 in the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai. In the year last named I was travelling in the East under the patronage of the Emperor Alexander the Second of Russia, and to him it was my good fortune to transmit the manuscript. It contains the Old and New Testament, and is written with four columns to a page. The New Testament is perfect, not having been deprived of a single leaf. To the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are appended the Epistle of Barnabas complete, and part of the Shepherd of Hernias, which books even at the beginning of the fourth century were reckoned for Holy Scripture by a good many. We are led, by all the data upon which we calculate the antiquity of manuscripts, to assign the Codex Sinaiticus to the middle of the fourth century. The evidence in favour of so great an age is more certain in the case of the Sinaitic Codex, than in that of the Vatican manuscript. It is even not impossible that the Sinaitic Codex — we cannot say as much of the Vatican MS. — formed one of the fifty copies of the Bible which in the year 331 the Emperor Constantino ordered to be executed for Constantinople under MANUSCRIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. XXIU the direction of Eusebius, the bishop of Csesarea, best known as a Church historian. In this case it must be understood that the Em- peror Justinian, the founder of the Sinaitic monastery, sent it as a present from Constantinople to the monks at Sinai. " From what has been said it follows, that the first place, for antiquity and extent, among the three chief manuscripts, belongs to the Sinaitic Codex, the second place belongs to the Vatican, and the third to the Alexandrian. This arrangement is altogether confirmed by the condition of the text of the manuscripts. The text is not only in accordance with the writing of manuscripts in the fourth and fifth centuries, the same which was read in the East is precisely those centuries : but rather, for the most part it truly represents the text which was then copied from much earlier documents by Alexandrian scribes who knew very little of Creek, and therefore did not inten- tionally make the least alteration : — that is to say the very text which, in the third and second centuries, was spread over a great part of Christendom." Greek Text of the English Authorised Version. — " The English Authorised Version, equally with the Lutheran translation, is based upon the editions of the Greek text which Erasmus in 1516, and Eobert Stephens in 1550, had founded upon manuscripts written after the tenth century. Whether those Greek copies out of which Erasmus and Stephens prepared their editions, were altogether re- liable, that is, whether they exhibited as far as possible the Apostolic text, has long been matter of earnest discussion with the learned. Since the sixteenth century, Greek manuscripts have become known far older than those of Erasmus and Robert Stephens, and besides the Greek, also Syriac, Egyptian, Latin and Gothic, into which lan- guages the original text was translated in the second, third, and fourth centuries. Moreover, in the works of the Christian Fathers who wrote in the second and following centuries, many citations from texts of the New Testament have been found and compared. What was the result ? The learned saw on the one hand, that the text of Erasmus and Stephens, had been for the most part in use in the Byzantine national Church long before the tenth century : but on the other hand, they learned the existence of thousands of readings which had not been edited by Erasmus and Stephens. Now the problem came to be, what reading in each instance most correctly represented that which the Apostles had written. This problem is by no means g,n easy one : for variations in the documents are very ancient : Jerome already notices them. Even in the fourth century there were diver- sities in very many places of the New Testament. The learned have been and are very much divided in opinion as to which readings repre- sent the word of God most exactly, but one thing has been admitted by most who understand the matter, and it is that the oldest documents must come nearer to the original text, than those that are later." — Tischendorf s Introduction. XXIY MANUSCRIPTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. It is only fair to state that Mr. Scrivener, a very great authority, has formed a much higher estimate of the character of the Textus Receptus. He says : ** It is no less true to fact than paradoxical in sound, that the worst corruptions to which the New Testament has ever been subjected, originated within a hundred years, after it was composed ; that Irenaeus, and the African Fathers, and the whole Western with a portion of the Syrian Church, used far inferior manuscripts to those employed by Stunica, (Complutensian Editor) or Erasmus, or Stephens thirteen centuries later, when moulding the Textus Re- ceptus.'^ — Introduction to Criticism on New Testament, p. 886. The letter S. means the Sinaitic Manuscript. „ V. „ the Vatican. „ A. ,, the Alexandrine. S* V* A* point out any reading of S. V, A. which has been altered by some later hand ; though we give the original, and not the altered reading, in such cases. When we give an altered reading, it is marked S'- V'. A'. Alf. means Dean Alford's revised Translation (1870), INTRODUCTOEY NOTE. " Palestine stands alone ; alone in its boundaries of seas and sandy deserts, and snow-clad mountains ; and alone in the variety of its soil, climate, and productions. I do not claim for it either beauty or grandeur — which may be found in almost every region of the globe — but I claim for it peculiarities and contrasts to which no other region can afford a parallel Is there no poetry, nothing affecting to the imagination, in the physical structure of a country which is without a parallel on earth ? For within a space so small that the eye can take it in from more than one point, there are heights, like Hermon, covered with eternal snow, and depths, like the Jordan valley, with a heat exceeding that of the tropics ; there is on one side the sea, and on the other a lake whose surface is 1300 feet lower down, with soundings as deep again. Where is there such a river as the Jordan, whose turbulent waters never gladdened a human habi- tation, nor ever irrigated a green field — which pursues its continuous course for two hundred miles within a space easily visible, and ends at last in the sea of death never to reappear ? Where on earth is there such a variety of vegetation, from the palm on the sultry plain to the lichen beside the glacier ? Where such howling wildernesses, such dreary and utterly desolate wastes, with such luxuriant plains, fertile valleys, pasture lands, vineyards, and corn-fields ? Where such a climate varying through every degree of temperature and of moisture ?" — Eastivard, by Macleod, p. 176. *' In Palestine, as in Greece, every traveller is struck with the smallness of the territory. He is surprised, even after all that he has heard, at passing, in one long day, from the capital of Judaea to that of Samaria ; or at seeing within eight hours, three such spots as Hebron, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem. The breadth of the country, from the Jordan to the sea, is rarely more than fifty miles. Its length, from Dan to Beersheba, is about a hundred and eighty miles. The time is now gone by when the grandeur of a country is measured by its size, or the diminutive extent of an illustrious people can otherwise than enhance the magnitude of what they have done." — Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, p. 113. *' The length of the Holy Land from Dan to Beersheba is only one hundred and forty mUes, and its breadth sixty miles ; and yet this small area, the theatre of the most engrossing portion of the world's history from the earliest times, stiU remains only partially explored/* — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 471. 2 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. " Of Palestine we are shamefully ignorant, though the whole area of the country is not larger than Lancashire and Yorkshire together." — MacGregor's Jordan, p. 212. " The great elevation of this country above the level of the sea is most forcibly brought out by the journey we have made. From the moment of leaving the Arabah has been almost a continual ascent. We mounted the gi-eat Pass of Safeh, and having mounted, hardly descended at all, crossed the great table-land of Beersheba, and then mounted the barrier of the hills of Judah, and thence have been mounting ever since. Hebron is, in fact, only four hundred feet lower than Helvellyn, (three thousand and fifty-five feet). How well one understands the expression, * They went down into Egypt.' " — Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, p. 102. " The atmosphere of Palestine is very clear ; and there are many points from which Mount Hermon at one extremity of the Holy Land, and the Dead Sea at the other, can be distinctly seen, the view thus extending over a distance of one hundred and fifty miles. The hill tops also are all bare, and large trees are rarely seen." — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 441. " I am struck by what is also noticed by Miss Martineau — the Western, almost the English character of the scenery. Those wild uplands of Carmel and Ziph are hardly distinguishable (except by their ruined cities and red anemones) from the Lowlands of Scotland or of Wales; these cultivated valleys of Hebron (except by their olives) from the general features of a rich valley in Yorkshire or Derbyshire." — Stanley's Syria and Palestine, p. 101. In the time of our Saviour all Palestine was divided into three provinces— Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea. These were the territorial divisions, which succeeded to the overthrow of the ancient landmarks of the tribes of Israel and Judah, caused by their respective captivities. . I. Galilee, which in the Roman age was applied to a large province, seems to have been originally confined to a little circuit (the word Galil signifies a circle or circuit) of country round Kedesh Naphtali, in which were situated the twenty towns given by Solomon to Hiram, King of Tyre, as payment for his work in conveying timber from Lebanon to Jerusalem. (Josh. xx. 7 ; 1 Kings ix. 11.) They were then, or subsequently, occupied by strangers, and for this reason Isaiah gives to the district the name " Galilee of the Gentiles." (Isa. ix. 1.) It is probable that the strangers increased in number, and became during the Captivity the great body of the inhabitants ; extending themselves also over the surrounding country, they gave to their new territories the old name, until at length Galilee became one of the largest provinces of Palestine. In the Maccabsean period, Galilee contained only a few Jews, Hving in the midst of a large heathen population. (1 Mace. v. 20-23.) The name Galilee was applied to the whole northern section of Palestine, including the ancient territories of Issachar, Zebulun, COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 3 Asher, and Napthali. It was divided into two sections, *' Lower " and " Upper." Lower Galilee included the gi'eat plain of Esdi-aelon, with its oifshoots, which run down to the Jordan, and the Lake of Tiberias, and the whole of the hill-country adjoining it on the north, to the foot of the mountain range. It was one of the richest and most beautiful sections of Palestine. The chief towns of Lower GaUlee were Tiberias, Tarichaea, at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, and Sepphoris. The towns most celebrated in New Testament history ai*e Nazareth, Cana, and Tiberias. Upper Galilee embraced the whole mountain range lying between the Upper Jordan and Phoenicia. To this region the name " Galilee of the Gentiles " is given in the Old and New Testament. (Isa. ix. 1 ; Matt. iv. 15.) Galilee was the scene of the greater part of our Lord's private life and public acts. His early years were spent at Nazareth : and when He entered on His great work He made Capernaum His home, (Matt. iv. 13 ; ix. 1.) It is a remarkable fact that the first three Gospels are. chiefly taken up with our Saviour's ministrations in this province, while the Gospel of St. John dwells more upon those in Judaea. The Apostles were all Galilseans by birth or residence. (Acts i. 11.) " Galilee, always the garden of Syria, might become that of the world. Everything grows here, from the Caspian walnut to the Egyptian palm ; while the hills of Judah are stem and bare,^ and the meadows of Sharon burnt and dry. These wadies of Galilee are almost everywhere laughing with herbs and flowers. A forest of oak clothes the sides of Mount Carmel ; cedar clumps nestle in the clefts of Mount Hermon ; myrtles enlarge into trees, and myriads of orange- blossoms throw their scent into the air. Every hill is a vineyard, every bottom a corn-field. The delta of the Nile is not more sunny ; the vega of Granada is not more picturesque ; the ghota of Damascus is not more green and bright. For here the fierce sun and the refreshing rain come together, and water flows through Galilee not in. tanks and pools, but poured out royally towards the sea in str-eams." — Dixon's Holy Land, I., p. 187. II. Samaria. — This province took its name from the city of Samaria, the capital city of the kings of Israel. It included the tract of country originally occupied by the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, west of the Jordan, and was enclosed by Lower Galilee on the north, and Judaea on the south ; so that persons taking the direct route from Judaea to Galilee must needs go through Samaria. (John iv. 4.) The chief places of this district, noticed in Scripture, are Samaria, Salem, Saron, Sichem, or Shechem, and Antipatris. III. Judaea. — This was the most southern, and the most distin- guished district in Palestine, embracing the territories assigned to the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, and part of the tribe of Dan ; being nearly co- extensive with the ancient kingdom of Judah. Its B 2 4 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. metropolis was Jerusalem. Its general breadth was from the Jordan to Joppa. It was made a portion of the Koman province of Syria upon the deposition of Archelaus, the Tetrarch of Judaea, a.d. 6, and was governed by a Procurator, who was subject to the Governor of Spia. During the whole time of our Saviour's ministry, Pontius Pilate was the Procurator of Judaea. He was appointed, a.d. 26, in the twelfth year of Tiberius Caesar. " The Mountains of Judaea. — Their features are not those of a regular mountain chain like Lebanon ; but rather a cluster of rounded rocky hills, sloping down into dry tortuous valleys. They are scantily clothed with greyish and brown shrubs, intermixed with aromatic plants and gay flowers ; they are encircled besides by concentric lings of white rock, and studded with huge cairns of white stones, which give them a desolate and sometimes even forbidding aspect. Here and there we meet with deep picturesque glens where the winter-torrent beds are bordered with belts of olives, and the steep banks above glisten with the foliage of the prickly oak. Such are the features of the western declivities and broad summits of the Judsean hills ; but the eastern slopes are wilder and far more desolate. From the top of Olivet or the Frank Mountain, the eye wanders over a wilderness of white hills, jagged cliffs, and yawniing chasms, without tree, or shrub, or green grass tuft, until at length it rests on the leaden waters of the Dead Sea, lying in their deep mysterious bed, far away below. " A superficial observer from some western land of sunshine and showers may wonder at it, and write of the barrenness of Southern Palestine ; and with semi-sceptical surprise ask, * Is this that Land of Promise which flowed with milk and honey ? ' It may be well to remind such an one of the power of a Syrian sun, of the character of an eastern clime, and of the effect of centuries of neglect and desolation. The destruction of the woods which once covered the mountains, and the loss of the vegetation consequent on the want of tillage, have entailed upon the whole country a greater degree of drought than in early times ; and then again, the neglect of the terraces that supported the soil on the hiU-sides, has given fuU play to the winter rains, leaving tracts of naked roek where belts of corn once flourished, and vines spread out their long branches. To see what the hills of Judaea might be under proper care and culture, one has only to look at the western slopes of Lebanon. There is another proof of the ancient fertility and great resources of the country which no accurate observer can overlook — ^the vast number of ruined towns and villages which everywhere stud the landscape. In Judaea we may wander for miles and miles without seeing a vestige of present habitation, save the little goat-pen on the hill- side, and the flocks round the fountains ; but there is scarcely a fountain where fragments of walls and scattered heaps of stones do not indicate the sites of former dwelHngs." — Handbook of Palestine, p. 175. INTEODUCTOEY NOTE TO CflAPIEE I Jerusalem, as being the place which God had chosen in which to record His Name, was the chief city in Palestine. On the revolt of the ten tribes it became the capital of the Kingdom of Judah. Its ancient name was probably Jebusi, or Jehus, after the name of its occupiers, the Jebusites. (Joshua xv. 8 ; Judges xix. 10.) Jerusalem is thirty-two miles distant from the sea, and eighteen miles from the Jordan ; twenty from Hebron, and thirty-six from Samaria. One of the earliest notices of it is that the Children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it ; (Judges i. 8 ;) and almost the last notice of it in the New Testament is contained in the solemn warning, in which our Saviour foretold that Jerusalem should be compassed with armies, (Luke xxi. 20,) and the abomination of desolation standing in the Holy Place. (Matt. xxiv. 15.) In the fifteen centuries that elapsed between these two points, Jerusalem was besieged no fewer than seventeen times ; twice it was razed to the ground, and on two other occasions its walls were levelled. Judah and Simeon captured only the lower city ; the upper city remained in the hands of the Jebusites until David took it, about 1046 B.C. (1 Chron. xi. 4-7.) It remained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah until it was captured and sacked by Nebuchadnezzar, 586 B.C., and its inhabitants carried in captivity to Babylon. The decree of Cyrus, King of Persia, authorising the rebuilding of the Temple was issued 536 B.C. On this an immense number of the Jews returned to Jerusalem ; the Temple and the walls of the city were rebuilt. After centuries of misrule and misery, Judaea was reduced to a Roman province, the procurator of which did not reside at Jerusalem, but at Csesarea on the coast, a.d. 6. In a.d. 26, Pontius Pilate was made Procurator of Judaea. After the Crucifixion of our Saviour Jerusalem was captured and burnt by Titus, a.d. 70. Hadrian, A.D. 135, endeavoured to obliterate the very existence of Jerusalem as a city. The ruins which Titus had left were razed to the ground, and the plough passed over the foundations of the Temple. Its name was changed to (Elia Capitolina, and for many years the Jews were for- bidden to enter it on pain of death. In process of time its very name was forgotten. The Empress Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, visited Palestine, a.d. 326, and erected magnificent churches at Bethlehem and on the Mount of Olives. In the reign of Julian the Apostato 6 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. (a.d. .362) an unsuccessful attempt was made to lay the foundations of a temple. The work, as it is said, was interrupted by supernatural agencies, balls of fire from time to time bursting from the foundations. In the fourth and fifth centuries Jerusalem became the centre of attraction for Christian pilgrims. It was captured by Khalif Omar, A.D. 637 ; by the Crusaders, 15th July, 1099 ; in 1187 by Saladin. After various fortunes Jerusalem was restored to the Sultan, A.D. 1840. — Williams' Holy City ; Gibbon's Decline, ch, xxiii ; Smith's Bib, Diet, The following are a few of its principal features : — *' Jerusalem is emphatically a mountain city. The Bible teems with allusion to this peculiarity in its situation. Built on the very backbone of the country, the summit of that long ridge which traverses Palestine from north to south, and only approached by wild mountain roads, the position of the city was one of great natural strength, and this gave the inhabitants that feeling of security from hostile attack which seems to be implied by the Psalmist in the well-knovm verse, " As the moun- tains are round about Jerusalem, so is the Lord round about His people." (Ps. cxxv. 2.) The modern city stands, as the ancient one did before it, on the southern extremity of a spur, or plateau, enclosed by two ravines, which bear the familiar names of Kedron and Hinnom. The ravines rise at the watershed within a short distance of each other, at an altitude of 2650 feet above the Mediterranean; the easternmost, the Valley of Kedron, or Jehoshaphat, runs eastward for a mile and a half, and then makes a sharp bend to the south ; the westernmost, the Valley of Hinnom, after following a direction nearly south for one mile and a quarter, turns to the east, and passing through a deep gorge, joins the Kedron at Bir Eyul, a deep well south of the city. Both ravines are at first mere depressions of the ground ; but after the change in their respective courses they faU more rapidly, and at Bir Eyul are 670 feet below the original starting-point. A third ravine, the Tyropoeon — Valley of the Cheesemongers, or perhaps Tyrians, — rises well up in the plateau, and after passing through the city and dividing it into two unequal halves, joins the Kedron at Siloam. On the eastern spur. Mount Moriah, once stood the temples of Solomon, Zerubbabel, and Herod ; and on the western, which is 120 feet higher than Mount Moriah, were situated the Palace of Herod, the three great towers of Hippicus, Phaselus, and Mariamne, and the upper city of Josephus." — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 6. " The plateau on which the city stands slopes uniformly to the south-east, and contains about 1000 acres ; it is of tertiary limestone, and the upper beds provide an extremely hard, compact stone, called by the Arabs " Mezzeh ;" while the lower, in which most of the ancient tombs and cisterns have been cut, consists of a soft, white stone, called Melekeh." — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 8. " Jerusalem, in a sense the metropolis of the world, has still many nooks not even visited by men who can use their eyes and their pens, COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 7 and yet all that is left of that city would easily be contained in Hyde Park." — MacGrregor's Jordan, p. 202. " Jerasalem is surrounded by walls, high and imposing in appearance, but far from strong. . . . They were erected as they now stand by Sultan Suleiman, in the year 1542, and they appear to occupy the site of the walls of the Middle Ages, from the ruins of which they are mostly constructed. The circuit of the walls is 4326 yards, or nearly two and an eighth geographical miles. The form of the city is irregular, the walls having many projections and indentations."— Handbook to Palestine, p. 75. St. John's Gospel may be conveniently divided into four parts : — I. The Acts of Jesus before His solemn manifestation, while John was still baptizing, including chapters i., ii., iii., iv. — First Passover of his Ministry, (ii. 13.) II. His Acts in Judaea. — Second Passover, (v. 1.) III. His Acts in Galilee and Judaea, including chapters vi., vii., viii. ix., X., xi. — Third Passover, (vi. 4.) rV. His Passion in Jerusalem during the week of the Fourth Pass- over, His Besurrection, etc., including xii.-xxi. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [S.V. After John. A. The Gospel after, or according to John.] The Acts of Jesus before His Solemn Manifestation of Himself WHILE John was still Baptizing, including Chapters I. II. III. IV. First Passover op His Ministry. (II. 13.) CHAPTEK I. 1 The Divinity, Humanity, and Office of Jesus Christ ; 15 The tes- timony of John ; 39 The calling oj Andrew, Peter, dc. The Incarnation may justly be called the basis of the Christian religion. A flaw here would bring down the whole superstructure. Even an error in apprehending it would materially afi'ect a man's whole moral system. Hence St. John in his writings endeavours, first of all, and above aU, to establish this fact, and to correct the various false views which were growing up around him. He had already done this in his Epistles, and he pursues the same course in the opening verses of his Gospel. The Incarnation, the fact itself, and the way in which it was to be understood, was the first battle-field in the early Church. In St. John's own day, Anti-Christs, men who either denied the truth and reality of the Incarnation, or who explained it away, had already begun to give the Church cause for trouble and anxiety. It is not with Jesus Christ as it is with mere man. Our existence dates from our conception, or at least, from our birth. He did not begin to exist for the first time when He was born of the Blessed Virgin. He had been from all eternity. In order that there might be no possibility of mistake on this head, the Evangelist, before he relates the birth of Jesus Christ, proceeds to state His Eternal Generation : 10 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.^ 2 The same was in the beginning with God. The Word, the Second Person in the Godhead, was in the begin- ning, before all time, before all creation. It is plain that in the first verse the word God is used essentially, of the Godhead, and personally in the second verse, of God the Father. It is probable that the Evangelist quotes the words *'In the begin- ning " from the first chapter of Genesis, and uses them in the same sense in which they are used there, namely, in the beginning of the Creation. He does not by these words assign any date or limit to the existence of the Word, but simply states that He was in, or at the beginning of the Creation. The natural inference from this is that He, who was at the beginning of the Creation, before all time, was, as we with our finite capacities express it, from everlasting, from all eternity. The threefold form in which this is declared : the Word was with God — the Word was God — ^the same was in the beginning with God — expresses (1) That the Word is a distinct Person from the Father. (2) That He is One with the Father — of the same nature as the Father. (3) That He is from all eternity. Being with the Father He is a difi'erent Person from the Father ; being God, He is co-equal with the Father. Such is the relation of the Word to God. He is 1 ♦* The Word, not pronounced, bat wise in some of the writings of the Tal- substantial, not the voice of an articulate mudists, and Philo Judaeus, in lib. ♦ De Bpeech, but the begotten substance of the Mundi Opificio,' explaineth this title." — ■ Divine efficacy. Lightfoot, i. 392 and 393. *' From the places of the Old Testament, The Word was God (©ebs ^v 6 \6yos.) where the Son of God is called the Word, — " With respect to 0ebs, there is, I be- lt became most familiar and ordinary lieve, no instance in the New Testament, among the Jews to use this title per- though the word occura more than thir- Bonally for Him. And this may be a teen hundred times, in which it does not second reason deduced from that that conform to that law of Eegimen which was named before, why the Evangelist forbids an anarthous appellative to be here useth it, namely, as a name most governed by one having the article pre- familiarly and commonly known among fixed , and hence such a phrase as 6 mos His own people. Examples hereof might . 0eoG is not to be found. In some other be alleged out of the Chaldee Paraphrast, respects also its follows the common rule even by hundreds. It will suffice to of appellatives, e.g., in rejecting the allege some few: Gen. xxviii. 20, 21, 'If article where it (0ebs) is the Predicate of the Word of the Lord be my help,' and, a proposition which does not reciprocate, ' The Word of the Lord shall be my God ; ' as in John i., for as to ®€hs being some- Exod. xix. 17, ' Moses brought forth the times used in an inferior or quahfied people to meet the Word of the Lord ; ' sense, there is not a single instance of Isa. i. 14, ' Your appointed feasts My such an use in the whole New Testament. Word abominateth ; ' and verse 16, * Put Qehs is God, or a God, either true or false, away the evil of your doings from before real or imaginary ; but never superior or My Word ; ' and chap. xlv. 2, * My Word inferior.'' — Middleton on Greek Article^ shall go before thee,' etc. etc. ; and in p. 206 ; see also, p. 240. hundreds of other places. And so like- See note on verse 23. COMMENTAKY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 11 Himself God, He is from all eternity, He is of the same nature as the Father. His relation to created things is contained in the following verse : — 3 All tilings were made by Him ; and without Him was not anything made (that was made).^ (Alf. That hath been made.) The Word was the Creator of all things. All things -were made by Him : but not by Him as a mere instrument ; but by Him as a willing, intelligent co-operator in the work of Creation. As the Creator, the Word is the author of all natural life. He is also the author of all moral life. 4 [In Him was life]: and the life was the light of men. [S. In Him is life.] 2 5 And the light shineth (in darkness) : and the dark- ness comprehended it not. (Alf. In the darkness.) Moral darkness, the darkness of the soul, is indicated by ignorance of God, by sin, vice, wickedness. In like manner, the tokens of light in the soul are fear of God, holiness, virtue, goodness. Whatever of these existed in the world before the Incarnation, the power to perform them was derived from the Word. The way in which He diffused the knowledge of God and of right and wrong among men before His coming, was by reason, by manifest indications of God and of His goodness in the works of creation, and by conscience. By these, in many and various ways in the individual and in the nation, the preparation of the world for greater blessings 1 Without Him was not anything life,' etc., a reading conceived to have made that was made. " Some end the been used by the Manichees, whereby to sentence here, and some but begin it, and prove duo principia, a good and a bad. some neither, but bring it a step further. " Ignatius Martyr, Epist. ad Antioch, Some point thus, ' All things were made Tatianus, in Harmon, Chrysostom, in loc, by Him, and without Him was nothing and others of the ancients, and the Arabic, made. That which was made in Him Syriac, Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch was life.' A reading which Chrysostom read as we do ; and so the very sense (Hom. 5 in John) saith was used by of the place requireth to read." — Light- heretics, whereby to prove the Holy Ghost foot, i. 392 and 394. to be a creature Others read it ^ in Him was Life. — ^v is the reading thus : ' All things were made by Him, of all the MSS. in the world, except the and without Him was nothing made Sinaitic and Codex Bezae. — Burgon On the which was made by Him.' And then last Twelve Verses of St. Mark, p. 110. they begin a new sentence : ' He was 12 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. when the fulness of time should come, was constantly f(oing on.^ In addition to these, His chosen people, Israel, had a special teaching ; by direct revelation from Himself, by the Law of Moses moral and ceremonial, and by His servants the prophets. Notwithstanding all this, men loved darkness rather than light; they lived lives of sin rather than of holiness. The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness did not receive nor understand it. In the Epistle to the Komans (chapter i.) St. Paul draws a fearful picture of the state of the heathen world before the Incarnation — of its ignorance and depravity.^ In verses 4th and 5th, the word " light " ia used virtually of Christ, for the light that was diffused from Him, the light that was in Him ; in the 7th and following verses it is used personally of Christ, Who is Himself the Light. There is a difference between a light and the true Light ; between a light that shineth among men, and the Light which is the source and fount of light to all other lights. John Baptist was a shining light among men ; but the Word was the true Light, the source from which John and all other saintly men derived their power to give light to others. John, by his holy, self-denying life, and by his fearless reproof of the sins of all around him, was so far raised above the men of that time, that they mistook him for the true Light. Holy as he was, he was not the true Light. His mission was to bear witness to the true Light, that through his testimony men might be in- duced to believe that He, Whom they knew as the son of Joseph and Mary, was the true Light, the Word, the Second Person in the Godhead. 6 There waa a man sent from God whose name was John. 1 Preparation for the Advent.—" The Jewish records exhibit to us the link be- history of the race of Adam before the tween man and the other world in the Advent is the history of a long and varied, earliest times, the poems of Homer show but incessant preparation for the Advent. us the being, of whom God was pleased to It is commonly perceived that Greece be thus mindful, in the free unsuspecting contributed a language and an intellectual play of his actual nature. The patriarchal discipline, Rome a political organization, and Jewish dispensations created and sus- to the apparatus which was put in readi- tained, through Divine interposition , a ness to assist the propagation of the Gos- state of things essentially special and ex- pel ; and that each of these, in its kind, ceptional ; but here, first we see our kind was the most perfect that the world had set to work out for itself, under the lights produced." — Gladstone's Juventus Mundi, which common Hfe and experience sup- p. 374. plied, the deep problem of his destiny. 3 Man's Downward Course. — The Nor is there, perhaps, any more solemn poems of Homer never can be put in or melancholy lesson than that which is competition with the sacred writings of to be learned from its continual downward the Old Testament as regards the one course. — Gladstone'^s Studies on Homer, invaluable code of Truth and Hope that i. p. 7. was contained in them. But while the COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHn's GOSPEL. 13 7 The same came (for a witness) to bear witness of the Light, that all men through Him might believe. (Alf. For witness.) 8 He was not (that Light), but (was sent) to bear witness of (that Light.) (Alf. The Light — came— the Light.) 9 (That was the true Light which lighteth every man that Cometh) into the world.^ (Alf. The true Light which lighteneth every man came.) By reason, by the works of creation, and by conscience men failed to recognise, and to pay the honour, which was due to God. Even when Grod came and dwelt among men, how few believed in Him, not to say, how few of those who were His own by creation, how few of those who were His own peculiar people ! So far were they from worshipping Him as God, that they put Him to death, the death which they themselves deemed accursed. The Komans were merely the instruments in His death ; the Jews were His accusers and the authors of His crucifixion. Of His twelve Apostles, of His seventy disciples, whom He had sent to teach and to work miracles, all forsook Him and fled. 10 He was in the world, and the world [was made by Him,] and the world knew Him not.^ [S.* Was made because of Him.] 11 He came unto (His own) and (His own) received Him not.^ (Alf. His own possessions — His own people.) 1 " This verse may be either read, lowed that of kSctixos as the sum total of * which coming into the world, lighteth the men living in the world (John i. 29, every man,' or as our English hath it ; iv. 42 ; 2 Cor. v. 19), and then upon this, which latter is approved the true. 1. By and ethically, those not of the eK/cA7j(r/a, the very place where the word coming, or the alienated from the life of God (John epx^/j-evov lieth, for it followeth not imme- i. 10 ; 1 Cor. i. 20, 21 ; James iv. 4 ; diately the word *&>s, but avepuirov, and 1 John iii. 13.) — Archbishop Trench on so being joined with it, reason and the the Synonyms of the New Test. p. 206. custom of grammar tell that it should be ^ Received. — "In verse 11 it is Trope- construed with it. 2. It is ordinary Xa^ov, in verse 12 it is eXa^ov, which among the Jews to call men by this peri- though they signify the same thing, yet phrasis, ' such as come into the world,' might some distinction of sense be ob- which idiom of the Hebrews the Evan- served in the distinction of words. For gelist followeth here. The Syriac readeth Christ came among the Jews bodily, yet as we do." — Lightfoot, i. 392. they would not so much as receive Him 2 The World. From the signification bodily, nor acknowledge Him for Messias of k6(tij.os as the material world, which at all ; but coming among the Grentiles is not uncommon in Scripture, (Matt, by His Word and Spirit, they received xiii. 39 ; John xxi. 25 ; Rom. i. 20,) fol- Him spiritually." — Lightfoot, i. p. 393. 14 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. God came unto mankind through the Economy of the Incarnation. The Jewish nation was " His own," by choice (Deut. vii. 6) : by purchase (Exod. xix. 4, 5) : by covenant (Deut- xxvi. 18) : and by kindred (Heb. ii. 16.) To the few who did receive Him He gave the privilege of becoming sons of God. He Himself, the Word, was the Son of God by Eternal Generation ; they were to become sons of God by birth. But this birth was not, like their human birth, by the will of man, by the will of their parents, but by the will of God. Their human or natural birth had taken place independently of themselves. A condition was required prior to this birth ; namely, they must believe in the Son of God the Word, who had come into the world. 12 But as many as received Him, to them gave He (power) to become (the sons of God), even to them that believe (on) His Name.^ (Margin, the right or privilege.) (Alf. Children of God— in.) 13 [Which were born], not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.^ [V.* A. Which were made.] By three separate forms of expression the Evangelist shows that the privilege of becoming sons of God was not an inheritance, to which they succeeded as a matter of course, because they were sons of Adam, but that it was a supernatural gift, over and above their natural endowments, and that it was given to whom He would and in the way in which He would. (1.) " Not of blood ;" it was not a birthright, nor in any way connected with natural descent. Their descent from Abraham, on which they prided themselves so much, could not give them this privilege of becoming sons of God; (2) "Nor of the will of the flesh ; " (3) " Nor of the will of man." It could not be acquired by any power inherent either in the body or in the mind of man. This birth is by the will, by the operation, of God. The effect of this birth on the soul cannot, like the natural birth, be recognised by 1 On His Name.—" That is, in or on modem languages, are used only in the Him. For the Name of God in Scripture singular, are in Greek authors and the doth often stand for God Himself, as Ps. New Testament employed, for the most Ixxvi ; Micah vi. 9 ; Acts iii. 16, etc. ' For part in the plural. This is owing to their God is without any mixture or composi- having, from a general, or Grecian, or tion, but a most pure and simple essence, Biblical point of view, a manifold or and therefore His Name and Himself are comprehensive signification. not two several things, as they be in the •' Of the plural ot/iora, as source of de- creatures, but one and the same.' — R. scent, a direct parallel occurs only in Menahem on Exod. 60."— Lightfoot i. 396. Eurip. * Ion ' 693, in the poetic style." 2 Of blood, literally of bloods {i^ ai/xd- — Winer's Grammar of New Testament^ ru>v). " Not a few nouns, which, in most p. 189. COMMENTAEY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 15 the senses. But nevertheless this birth is no fiction, no accommodation of language. It is more real than the natural bii*th, more lasting, more important to the soul, as much more so as the will of God excels the will of man. This birth of man by the will of God is a great mystery. But the Birth of God of a woman is a greater, a more wonderful mystery even than this. 14 And the Word (was made) Flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, (the glory) as of the only begotten (of the Father) full of grace and truth.^ (Alf. Became — glory — from the Father.) The Incarnation is revealed to us by Holy Scripture, and it must be explained consistently with the language of Scripture. This is no subject for unbelieving, speculative reason to define. The teaching of the Catholic Church, directed by the Holy Spirit, and limited by the language of Scripture and by the analogy of the faith, is to the follow- ing efi'ect : " The Word was made Flesh," not in the sense in which water is made wine by being mixed with it ; not in the sense in which food is made flesh by being taken into it and assimilated to it ; not in the sense in which gold is made into a statue by the skilful hands of the workman, but rather in the way in which the soul and body being united together make one man. The term " flesh " is here used for the whole man. It is used in this sense in many places in Holy Scripture. The following are instances : "By the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight." (Kom. iii. 20.) "Except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved." (Mark xiii. 20.) " That no flesh should glory in His presence." (1 Cor. i. 29.) By this union the nature of God was not changed into man, nor the nature of man into God. Each remained perfect, with its own power, its own weakness, so to speak, its own will. The union was in the Person. God and Man became One Person, Christ Jesus. In the One Person there were two natures, two wills. "And dwelt among us." Of old God had dwelt among His chosen people Israel, and had given visible tokens of His presence among them in the Tabernacle, and in the Temple. For thirty-three years the Word made Flesh sojourns or tabernacles among men. His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, though veiled by His 1 The glory as of, etc., {S6^av &s vera, though, if we regard the sense, fiovoyevovs iropo Trarphs). " The meaning this notion is implied in the comparison is simply, as of the only begotten, etc. {exactly as, i.e. the true, perfect glory of Even in this instance the particle, of the Son of God, etc.)." — Winefs Grammar itself, does not indicate what exists re of New Testament, p. 639. 16 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. Human nature, He manifests among them, in His Life, in His miracles, in His Transfiguration on the Mount, in His glorious Kesur- rection and Ascension. By the term "us," the Evangelist probably means himself and the rest of the disciples, who had been His intimate companions, and had witnessed His daily life and miracles, and who could most truly say, *' We beheld His glory." As one of the three who had been chosen to behold His glory in the Transfiguration, St. John may make special reference to that event. St. Peter had already said : " We have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we make known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount." (2 Peter i. 16.) St. John here adds his testimony to this fact : " We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father." There could be no question that the Word, the Second Person in the Godhead, was full of grace and truth. Though the Divine nature was veiled from the eyes of men by the Incarnation, It was not thereby diminished, or affected. The Word made Flesh, God Incarnate, was full of grace and truth. " In Him dwelleth aU the fulness of the God- head bodily." (Coloss. ii. 9.) The Evangelist supports his own testimony by that of John the Baptist. Even before Jesus had begun His ministerial life the Baptist had spoken of Him to his disciples, and when He did come, he cried, saying. This was He of whom I spake. In verse 15 the Baptist when speaking of Jesus, said : " This was He " (o5to9 yv) ; and in verse 27 and 30, he said, *' This is He " {ovTo^ ean). Some have explained this difference of tense in this way : When John delivered his first testimony and said : " This was He," it was immediately after Jesus had been baptized, and when the Spirit, in some manner visible to the bystanders had caught Him up from the very midst of the company and carried Him to the wilder- ness. It was on this, when Jesus had been just carried out of their sight, that John exclaimed to the people who stood there: " This was He, of whom I spake." On the other two occasions when John said, " This is He," Jesus Himself was present. 15 John (bare witness)^ of Him, (and cried,) [saying, 1 John beareth witness and cried restrained to this or that particular, vocal {fxapTvpei Koi K(Kpaye). — " The word fxap- and verbal testimony that John gave of Tvpii of the present tense is properly to Christ, nor even to all the vocal testi- be understood of John's whole ministry, monies that he gave of Christ, but to be function, and ofl&ce, as verse 7 explaineth dilated to John's whole Qourse and minis- it, He came for a witness ; not to be try that he beareth witness to Christ, in COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 17 This was He of Wliom (I spake.) He that cometh after me (is preferred) before me] : (for) He was before me. [S. Omits, saying : S.* This was He who cometh after me. Who is preferred before me.] (Alf. Beareth witness — and crieth — I said — ^taketh place — because.) Jesus came after the Baptist. His Conception was announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary six months after Elizabeth had conceived John. His Birth was after John's. He began His Ministry after John. But He was preferred before him, He was placed before him in honour, in dignity, and glory, because He was before him. He was God, while John was a mere man ; He was from all eternity, while John Baptist began his existence with his birth of Elizabeth. After he had introduced the testimony of John the Baptist the Evangelist resumes the subject of His fulness. 16 [And of His fulness] have all we received, and grace for grace. ^ [S. V. Because of His fulness.] (Alf. And out of His fuhiess all we received.) Many explanations have been offered of the words ''grace for grace," (%apt9 clvtI 'x^dpcro^). It may be that he intended to say, that through Jesus we receive continual accessions of grace ; that where one gi*ace is improved, another is given. The Evangelist may that God raised up such an one to be his speech of the Baptist, must needs have a forerunner. And the word /ce/cpaye, in distinct and different sense, because the the praater tense is to be applied to the word '6ti between them doth show that particular testimony that John gave of the one is made the reason of the other ; Christ in that his ministry ; so that the He was before me in place and pre- former word referreth to John's person, eminence, because He was before me in and his whole function, and the latter time and being. Now the word yeyove only to the manner of his executing of which seemeth to refer to the time past, one particular of that function." — ^Light- (and which hath occasioned ^fxTrpocrOev by foot, i. 517. some to be understood concerning priority " Is preferred before me. — efiirpoa-eev of time) is to be construed in such a fiov yeyovev, which the Vulgar Latin hath construction, as the word lyej^^e is in dangerously translated, ante me factus Matt. xxi. 42, and yei/6iJ.(vos, Acts iv. est, He was made before me : and accord- 11, words not of the present tense, and ingly the Arians in ancient time made yet necessarily to be rendered in the use of this phrase in this sense, against present time, is become the head of the the eternity of the Son. Whereas the corner." — Lightfoot, i. 518. word ifxTrpoadev (as Beza well observeth i Grace for grace (xapiv avrl x^-P^'ro^)* it) in the New Testament, doth con- kvT\ "has here a peculiar signilication, stantly refer to place, and not to time, as which, however, is easily traced to its Mark i. 2 ; Matt. xvii. 2 ; Luke xii. 8 ; primary import : — grace over-against, in and xix. 27, 28, and divers other places, equal measure with grace ; a subsequent and therefore our English hath well ex- portion of grace in the place of that which pressed it with an intimation of such a preceded, — and thus grace uninterrupted, thing, is preferred before me. For unceasingly renewed." — Winer's Graw war eijLirpoaQey [jlov and irpwrhs fiov, in this of New Testament, p. 382. C 18 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. also mean that the grace, which we receive through the Word made Flesh, corresponds with His fulness of grace ; that as He is the Son of God, so He gave them also, who believed in Him, power to become sons of God ; He by Eternal Generation, they by the birth which he has just described. He next compares the old system under which the Jews had been trained, " the Law," with the new system, " the Kingdom of Heaven." Moses, by God's direction, had inaugurated a system of special prepa- ration for the Incarnation by positive commands, and by ceremonial acts, of which the chief force lay in their being types and shadows of something to come : all comprehended under the term *' the Law." But this system, as being prophetic of the Incarnation, was in itself imperfect, and could only be completed by the coming of God in the Flesh. Jesus was God in the Flesh, He was the Word made Flesh. Moses had, it is true, given them " the Law," but he could not give them grace or power to keep the Law. Moses gave men the knowledge of what was right ; Jesus Christ, as being God, could alone give them the power to do it. 17 (For) the Law was given (by Moses), (but) grace and truth came (by) Jesus [Christ.] ^ [S. Omits Christ.] (Alf. Because — through Moses — omits, but — through.) Jesus Christ alone could give them grace to become sons of God. He alone could give them remission of their sins, peace with God, and power to fulfil the Law. The temporal blessings, and the temporal punishments, which Moses promised them, on their keeping or on their neglecting the Law, 1 Truth. — When it is said, the Law was as it did not nourish up unto eternal life given by Moses, but grace and truth came those that ate it. (John vi. 49.) He is by Jesus Christ (John i. 17), it is plain ^ afiirtKos ri aK-nQiv^ (John xv. 1), not that the antithesis cannot be between the thereby denying that Israel also was God's false and the true, but only between the im- vine, which we know it was (Ps. Ixxx. 8; perfect and the perfect, the shadowy and Jer. ii. 21), but affirming that none except the substantial. So, too, the Eternal Word Himself realized this name, and all which is declared to be rh s rh h.K7]Qiv6v (John this name implied, to the full. (Hos. x. 1 ; i. 9), not denying thereby that the Bap- Deut. xxxii. 32.) It would be easy to tist was also " a burning and a shining follow this up further ; but these exam- light" (John v. 35), or that the faithful are pies, which the thoughtful student wiU ♦'lights in the world" (Phil. ii. 15 ; Matt, observe are drawn chiefly from St. John, v. 14) ; but only claiming for a greater may suffice. The fact, that in his writings than all to be " the Light which lighteth the word aKt\div6s is used two and twenty every man that cometh into the world." times as against five times in all the rest Christ declares Himself o kpros 6 aA-nOiyhs of the New Testament, is one which he (John vi. 32), not that the bread which will scarcely dismiss as accidental. See Moses gave was not also " bread of also note on III. 18. — Archbishop Trench heaven" (Ps. cv. 40), but it was such only on Synonyms of New Testament, p. 25. in a secondary inferior degree : it was See also note on V. 35. not food in the highest sense, inasmuch COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 19 were but shadows of those which Jesus announced. Prosperity in this life was but a shadow of the life everlasting. Punishment in this world was but a foreshadomng of everlasting punishment with the devil and his angels. The rites, the ceremonies, the sacrifices under the Law were not perfect in themselves. They all foreshadowed One to come. One from Whom they derived whatever significance, what- ever efficacy, they possessed. They all foreshadowed, and they were all fulfilled in, the Word made Flesh. The reason here given why Jesus declared the will and the know- ledge of God perfectly, and why Moses did not, is that no one but He had seen God. The Patriarchs did not see God. They saw an angel or representative of God. No one had seen God but He Who was the Word, Who was One with God, of the same nature, and Who shared the most intimate relation with God, that language can express. Neither had the Incarnation diminished His Oneness with the Father, The Word made Flesh is perfect God and perfect Man. 18 No man hath seen God at any time : [the only begotten Son which is in the] bosom of the Father, (He hath declared Him).^ [S. V. The only begotten God which is (S. omits, which is) in the.] (Alf. He declared Him.) It is plain from the other Evangelists that St. John does not record all the testimonies which the Baptist bears to Jesus as the Christ. He probably selects the following* as the most public and official, as that given in direct answer to the authoritative inquiries of the Priests and Levites as to the nature of the office which John was sent to fill. 19 And this is (the record) of John, when the Jews^ 1 The Only Begotten God. — The relate in Luke xiii. 33 : 'It cannot be that minute but weighty variation J (i. e. 0eos) a prophet perish out of Jerusalem,' be- for vs {i. e. vios) is supported by Codd. cause a prophet could not be judged upon Sinaitic and Vatican ; by the codex Eph- life and death in any place but there. rsBmi, in the Paris Library, (p. m.), by L. "This Court and Council sent these 33, the Peshito and margin of the Phi- messengers to John to make inquiry after loxenian, the Memphitic, Eoman, iEthi- him, and after his authority ; and so la epic, and a host of Fathers. — Scrivener's the word, the Jews, to be understood in Collation of Sinaitic MS., p. xlviii. See this verse, for the representative body of also his Introduction to Criticisms of the the Jews in the great Judicatory. And Neio Testament, p. 436. they sent Priests and Levites to examine 2 The Jews. — " The scrutiny and judg- him, as men of the greatest knowledge ing of a prophet belonged only to the and learning in the Law, and men of the Sanhedrin or great Council at Jerusalem ; likeliest abilities to try him, and to dis- and so is the Talmudic tradition, in the pute and discourse with him according to treatise Sanhedrin Perek I. :" They judge that in Matt. ii. 7, 'The Priest's lipa not a tribe, nor a false prophet, nor the should keep knowledge, and they should high priest, but in the judicatory of Se- see the Law at his mouth.' " — ^Lightfoot, venty and One ; And to this law and i. 52L practice of theirs those words of Christ 2 20 COMMENTABY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. sent Priests and Levites [from Jerusalem] to ask him, Who art thou ? [V. A. Unto him from Jerusalem.] (Alf. The testimony.) There were many reasons to induce the priests and scribes to turn their eyes towards John the Baptist. By his priestly descent he was one of their own order. The miracle which had attended his birth would be well known in Jerusalem ; for it had happened when his father, Zacharias, was engaged in the public ministration of the service of the Temple. The sanctity of John's life, his baptism, the novelty of his preaching, of his dress and mode of living, and his success among the people, all combined to draw the attention of the authorities at Jerusalem to him. The signs of the times, too, were ominous of some great event. The sceptre had departed from Judah, and was now in the hands of Herod, the Edomite. The seventy weeks foretold by Daniel (ix. 24) for the coming of the Messiah were completed. As the national inter- preters of the Scriptures they would be well acquainted with all this. Their contempt for the claims of the carpenter's son, if rumours respecting Him had as yet reached them*, might lead them readily to acquiesce, in case John should declare himself the Messiah, the Christ. John's reply seems to indicate that their question was put in such a form as to require a direct answer whether he were the Christ or not ; and if not, as some think, to lead him to make such a claim. 20 And he confessed, and denied not ; [but confessed] I am not the Christ. [S. Omits, but confessed.] (Alf. And he confessed.) 21 [And they asked him]. What then ? (Art thou Elias ?) [And] he saith, I am not, [Art thou (that prophet ?) f And he answered, No. [S. And they asked again ; S. omits And ; S. art thon'a prophet ?] (Margin, a prophet.) (Alf. Art thou Elijah f— the prophet.) 1 Art thou a Prophet ? {6 irpo lep(p) [those that 54 COMMENTABY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. sold oxen, and sheep,] and doves, and the changers of money sitting. [S. That sold sheep and oxen.] (Alf. And He found.) 15 [And when He had made a scourge of small cords. He drove them] all out of the temple, (and the sheep, and the oxen) : and poured out the changers' money, and over- threw the tables. [S. He made a scourge of small cords and drove them.] (Alf. Both the sheep and the oxen — their tables.) 16 (And said unto them that sold doves), Take these things hence : make not My Father's house an house of merchandise. [A. And make not.] (Alf. And to them that sold the doves, He said.) 17 [And] His disciples remembered that (it was written, The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up). [S. V. Omit, And. S. V. A. Of Thine house eateth Me up.] (Alf. It is written. My zeal for Thine house shall eat Me up.) The market here mentioned was held in the Temple or in the outer Court, and, as mentioned above, was for the sale of such animals as were required for the sacrifices of the Temple. The money-changers were there to facilitate the purchase of these animals as well as the payment of the Temple-rate, the half-shekel, which each man from twenty years old was to pay as an offering- to the Lord. (Exod. xxx. 13.) No defence is set up for this traffic on the ground that it had a kind of quasi-religious character about it, as being chiefly in the hands of the priests, or that the animals were required for God's service, and the payment for the maintenance of the Temple and its worship, for incense-wood, shew- bread, etc., or that the sale was not exactly in the Temple, but in the outer Court. The house of God was for prayer, and not for trade, and the unhallowed selfish thoughts, which are too apt to mingle themselves with trade. It is probable that the practice of holding their market in the Temple Court was introduced after their return from the Captivity, as none of the prophets allude to it. This time Jesus accuses them of sacrilege only; the next time, when he expels them from the Temple He accuses them of extortion and injustice : He says they had made His Father's house a den of thieves.) Matt. xxi. 12.) COMMENTABY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 55 Some of the ancients were accustomed to look upon our Lord's expulsion of the buyers and sellers, etc., from the Temple as one of His gi-eatest miracles. One man, outwardly like themselves, backed by no earthly authority, ejects from the Temple a multitude, whose gains and whose character He attacks. The awe inspired by His deed, and by the manner of the doer of it, renders them powerless to resist. A strict translation of the Greek would rather imply that it was the sheep and the oxen which He drove out with a scourge of small cords : " And when He had made a scourge of small cords. He drove all out of the Temple, both the sheep and the oxen." {irdvTa^ e^e^aXev Ik tov uepov, rd re irpol^aTa fcal toO? /8oa9.) The holy indigna- tion of His manner, and the power of His words, as well as the conscious- ness of their own guilt would probably be sufficient to expel the men. Enraged at their expulsion from the Temple, at the interruption to their traffic, and at the charge of sacrilege, which Jesus brings against them, the Jews in turn accuse Him of acting without authority. They knew that He had received no countenance from the chief priests, and they require of Him a sign to proye that He was commissioned by God to act as He did. As a proof of His divine power, of His commission from God and Oneness with God, He appeals to His future Kesurrection. He does this in language which they misunderstand. This is one of the many instances where in His conversation with the Jews, our Saviour uses words in one sense, which they understand in quite a different sense, but which He does not explain to them. The reason doubtless is, that they are not in a frame of mind to receive such explanation. Either their faith or their knowledge is too imperfect. 18 (Then answered the Jews) and said unto Him, What sign shewest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things ? (Alf. The Jews therefore answered.) 19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this Temple,^ (tov vaov tovtov) and in three days I will raise It up.2 1 Destroy this Temple {xva-are rhv a disregard of logical; principles would vahu tovtov). — "Even recent expositors involve speech in inextricable confusion." erroneously take Imperative in John ii. — Winer's Grammar of New Testamenty p. 19 ; XX. 22, for a Future, supporting their 328. views by a reference to the Hebrew of ^ jn three days {iv rpi^ admits, and almost requires, what immediately follows, the Apostle the Present. The expression, ex^iv C«V very accurately distinguishes the Future aiwviou might, accordingly, be appro- from the Present." — Winer's Grammar of priately applied to one who is not as yet New Testament, p. 281. 80 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. water and the Spirit, is necessary for the new kingdom, the kingdom of God. In the concluding part of the chapter, the Baptist teaches his disciples that the same life, but which he calls everlasting life, can only be obtained by believing in Jesus as the Son of God. A mere change of opinions, a mere intellectual process, was not the condition required for the kingdom of heaven ; it must be a change of being, a new life, a new relation to God, which, imparted at the birth by water and the Spirit, would continue through all eternity.. ( 81 ) INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTER IV. Jacob's Well. — " The undoubted scene of our Lord's conversation with the Samaritan woman." — Kobinson's Later Researches, p, 132. ' ' At the edge of the plain of Mukna (Moreh) a mile and a half east of the town, is Jacob's well, on the piece of ground he purchased from the Shechemites. Not far from the well is the site of Joseph's Tomb. The identity of the well has never been disputed. Christians, Jews, Moslems, and Samaritans all acknowledge it, and the existence of a well in a place where water-springs are abundant, is sufficiently re- markable to give this well a peculiar history. " Some men were set to work to clear out the mouth of the well, which was being rapidly covered up. A chamber had been excavated to the depth of ten feet, and in the floor of the chamber was the mouth of the well, like the mouth of a bottle, and just wide enough to admit a man's body. We lowered a candle down the well and found the air perfectly good, and after the usual amount of noise and talking among the workmen and idlers, I, Lieutenant S. Anderson, R.E., was lashed with a good rope round the waist, and a loop for my feet, and lowered through the mouth of the well by some trusty Arabs, directed by my friend Mr, Falcher, the Protestant missionary. The sensation was novel and disagreeable. The numerous knots in the rope continued to tighten and to creak, and after having passed through the narrow mouth I found myself suspended in a cylindrical chamber, in shape and propor- tion not unlike that of the barrel of a gun. The twisting of the rope caused me to revolve as I was being lowered, which produced giddiness, and there was the additional unpleasantness of vibrating from side to side, and touching the sides of the well. I suddenly heard the people from the top shouting to tell me that I had reached the bottom, so when I began to move I found myself lying on my back at the bottom of the well : looking up at the mouth the opening seemed like a star. It was fortunate that I had been securely lashed to the rope, as I had fainted during the operation of lowering. The well is seventy-five feet deep, seven feet six inches diameter, and is lined throughout with rough masonry, as it is dug in alluvial soil. The bottom of the well was per- fectly dry at this time of the year (the month of May), and covered with loose stones. There was a little pitcher lying at the bottom un- broken, and this was an evidence of there being water in the well at some seasons, as the pitcher would have been broken had it fallen upon the stones. It is probable that the well was very much deeeper a 82 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. in ancient times, for in ten years it had decreased ten feet in depth. Every one visiting the well throws stones down for the satisfaction of hearing them strike the bottom, and in this way, as well as from the debris of the ruined church built over the well during the fourth century, it has become filled up to probably more than a half of its original depth ** The gardens in the Vale of Shechem were looking very beautiful at this time (May 1st). The fig-trees, the latest of all, were in full leaf, and the people commenced to reap in the plain on this day." — Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 467. "Maundrell, March 24th, 1697, found fifteen feet of water in the weU. In April, 1839, my friend, the Rev. S. Calhoun, found water in the well ten or twelve feet deep." — Robinson's Biblical Researches, iii. 109. ** A very obvious question presented itself to us upon the spot, viz., How can it be supposed that the woman should have come from the city, now half an hour distant, with her water-pot, to draw water from Jacob's well, when there are so many fountains just around the city, and she must also have passed directly by a large one at mid-distance ? But, in the first place, the ancient city, probably in part, lay nearer to this well than the modern one : and then, too, it is not said that the woman came thither /rom the city at all. She may have dwelt, or have been labouring, near the well ; and have gone into the city only to make her wonderful report respecting the strange prophet. Or, even granting that her home was in the city, there would be nothing improbable and unusual in the supposition, that the inhabitants may have set a peculiar value on the water of this ancient well of Jacob, and have occasionally put themselves to the trouble of going thither to draw. That it was not the ordinary public well of the city, is probable from the circum- stance that there was here no public accommodation for drawing water.'* - — Robiuson's Biblical Researches, iii. 111. No mention is made of any mechanical contrivance, by which the woman drew the water, and yet considering the great depth of the well there must have been some. She could not raise it with her pitcher. Modem travellers in Palestine have noticed several ways of raising water from the deep wells. " We came to a well at the foot of a hill, on which there is a village called Per^ : the oxen raise the water by a bucket and rope, without a wheel, and so by driving them from the well the bucket is drawn up." — Pocock's Travels, ii. 61. ** At the foot of the hill is what the monks call the well of Zabulon: the water is drawn by boys in leathern buckets, and carried in jars up the hill on women's heads." — Idem, ii. 62. "At Ajfur (between Jerusalem and Gaza) there was an ancient well in the valley, exhibiting quite a pastoral scene of patriarchal days. Many cattle, flocks of sheep, and kids, and also camels, were all waiting around the weU ; while men and women were busily COMMENTAEY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 83 employed in drawing water for them. These people at once offered, and drew water for us and our thirsty animals, without the ex- pectation of reward. The well was square and narrow ; by measuring the rope we found the depth to be sixty feet. A platform of very large stones was built up around it, and there were many drinking troughs. On the platform was fixed a small reel for the rope, which a man seated on a level with the axis wound up, by pulling the upper part of the reel towards him with his hands, while he at the same time pushed the lower part from him with the feet." — Kobinson's Biblical Researches, ii. 351. *' Here (Sumneil, between Jerusalem and Gaza) is a large public well at the foot of the hillock ; it measured 110 feet deep to the surface of the water, and eleven feet in diameter : the walls being circular and composed of hewn stones of good masonry ; women were drawing water from the well by a rope passing over a pulley, which they hauled up by running off with it a great distance into the field, in the manner of sailors," — Idem, ii. 368. The Samaritans. — After the Assyrian conquest of Israel, and the removal of its people into captivity, colonies from the East were placed in their deserted cities. The country having been desolated by war, wild beasts multiplied, and became the terror and scourge of the new inhabitants. The barren heights of Hermon and Lebanon, and the deserted jungles of the Jordan valley, are to this day infested with bears, panthers, wolves, and jackals. The strangers attributed the calamity to the anger of the local deity, of whose peculiar mode of worship they were ignorant. They therefore petitioned for Jewish priests to instruct them in religious rites ; and after they had heard their teachings, *' they feared the Lord, and served their own gods.'* (2 Kings xvii. 24-41.) Such was the origin of the Samaritans. Strangers by blood, they were merely iQstructed in some of the leading points of the Jewish religion by one or more Jewish priests : and still retained the gods of their own nations. In after times the Jews refused to acknowledge them in any way, and would not permit them to assist in building the second temple, though their refusal cost them many trials. (Ezra iv.) Being cast off by the Jews, the Samaritans resolved to erect a temple of their own on Gerizim. The immediate occasion appears to have been the circumstances related byNehemiah, that a son of Joiada, the high-priest, had become son-in-law to Sanballat, and had on this account been expeUed from Jerusalem. (Neh. xiii. 28.) The date of the temple may thus be fixed at about B.C. 420. Shechem now became the metropolis of the Samaritans as a sect, and an asylum for all apostate and lax Jews. (Joseph. Antiq. xi. 8-6.) These things tended to foster enmity between the two nations, which resulted in the total destruction of the Temple of Gerizim by the Jews, under John Hyrcanus. The very name Samaritan became a by- word and a reproach among the Jews, just as the name Yehudy, " Jew," is among G 2 84 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. modern Syrians ; and some even supposed that the Jews nicknamed the city of Shechem Sychar, *' Falsehood," to mark their opinion of the pretended origin of its inhabitants. In our Saviour's time the Samaritans retained their worship on Gerizim, though the temple was in ruins ; and they had some vague expectations of a Messiah. During the reign of Vespasian Shechem was rebuilt, and renamed Neapolis, " New City," an appellation which has run into the Arabic Nabulus — one of the very few instances in which the Greek has supplanted the Semitic name. The ancient Samaritans and modern Druses appear to have had very much in common both in character and origin. The ancient Samaritan was part heathen, part Jew ; and the modem Druse of Mount Lebanon is part heathen, part Christian; and some have thought that the modem Druses derive their origin from the very same tribes as the ancient Samaritans. " After the second captivity of Israel, Esarhaddon re-peopled the wasted strongholds of Samaria with the tribes whose names are given with so much particularity in Scripture, (2 Kings xvii. 24 ; and Ezra iv. 9,) races of fierce habit and degraded faith, whose heathen practices, engrafted on the corrupt Judaism which lingered amongst the earlier Samaritans, brought down on the new colonies the especial Nemesis of God. Of these fierce tribes there were some who, Cuthites in name, were of the family of the Koyal Scythians, or Gordyans, from the Gordiaean mountains, whom in sub- sequent times the Greeks knew by the name of Carduchi, (Xen. Anab.,) and with whom we are familiar as Koords. Some of these were settled in the Lebanon, and from them it has been said that the Druses spring, and draw the tenets of an ancient but unholy worship." — Lord Carnarvon's Druses of the Lebanon, p. 42. Pococke mentions another account of the origin of the Druses. He says : "If any account can be given of the original of the Druses, it is that they are the remains of the Christian armies in the holy war ; and they themselves now say that they are descended from the English."— jTrnt'cZs, ii. 94. ** If of old the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, the latter, the Samaritans of Nabulus, at the present day reciprocate the feeling : and neither eat nor drink, nor marry, nor associate with the Jews ; but only trade with them." — Robinson's Biblical Researches, iii. 107. ** There are not now two hundred Samaritans, all told, in the world. They themselves mention one hundred and fifty as the correct census. They are a strange people, clinging to their law and to the sepulchres of their fathers with invincible tenacity." — Thomson's Land and the Book, p. 477. ( 85 ) CHAPTER IV. 1 Christ talketh with a woman of Samaria, and revealeth Himself unto her ; 27 His disciples marvel ; 31 He declareth to them His zeal to God's glory; 39 Many Samaritans believe on Him; 43 He departeth into Galilee, and healeth the Ruler* s son that lay sick at Capernaum, Jesus had already paid one visit to Galilee since the commencement of His Ministry, and had then wrought the miracle which this Evangelist describes in the second chapter. He now undertakes a second journey thither. This is most probably the visit of which St. Matthew (iv. 12) and St. Mark (i. 14) both speak. But as neither of these Evangelists relate any of the acts of Jesus between His Temptation and John's imprisonment, they naturally record this His visit into Galilee im- mediately after their mention of the Baptist's imprisonment. The reason which St. John assigns for this journey into Galilee, is that the Pharisees or Sanhedrin at Jerusalem were beginning to grow jealous of His increasing influence with the people. The crowds that daily flocked to the baptism of John, had in their opinion become too great either for the public safety, or for the con- tinuance of their power in the nation, and the influence of Jesus was becoming greater even than that of John. Jesus therefore retires for a time into a more remote district. The fulness of time was not yet come for Him to yield Himself up to their malice. By removing into Galilee He would be almost beyond the influence and machina- tions of the Sanhedrin, and though He would still be within the jurisdiction of Herod, the more distant He was from the place of his abode, the less likely He was to attract Herod's attention, and to cause him in any way to interfere and attempt to put a stop to His Ministry. 1 [When therefore the Lord knew] (how the Pharisees) had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John. [S. When therefore Jesus knew.] (Alf. That the Pharisees.) 2 (Though) Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples. (Alf. Howbeit.) 86 COMMENTARY ON ST, JOHN's GOSPEL. 3 He left Judaea, and departed [again] into Galilee.^ [A. v.* Omits, again.] 4 (And) He must needs go through Samaria. (Alf. Now.) The expression, "He must needs go through Samaria,'* has doubt- less reference partly to the situation of the countries here mentioned, Samaria lying between Judaea and Gahlee. Jesus is now in Judaea, and to reach Galilee he must needs pass through Samaria. Josephus incidentally mentions that it was usual for the GaHlaeans to travel by the way of Samaria to Jerusalem, upon the celebration'of their festivals. But, like so many other expressions, it may have a latent reference to His gracious designs of mercy to this Samaritan woman, or Samaria in general. When he afterwards sent the Twelve Apostles, he said unto them : "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not." (Matt. x. 5.) He seems to recog- nise the alien descent of the Samaritans, and to treat them on the footing of GentUes. He does not forbid his Apostles to pass through Samaria, but not to go of set purpose to preach the Gospel to them. The reason, too, is given. The Gospel must first be preached to the " lost sheep of the house of Israel;" and their prejudice against it must not be excited by preaching to the Gentiles and the Samaritans : their time was not yet come. 5 (Then cometh He) to a city of Samaria, (which is) called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.^ (Alf. He cometh therefore — omits, which is.) 1 «' Prom Jerusalem to Nazareth, by " The first part of this jommey, a ride way of the hill towns of Shiloh, Sychar, of thirty-six miles from the Damascus Nain, and Endor, the distance, as a bird gate, to be done in about twelve hours, would fly, is about sixty-four miles, being brings you to one of the most lovely and nearly the same as that from Oxford to attractive spots in Palestine : the site o| London. By the camel paths, and there Joseph's tomb and Jacob's well, where are no other, it is eighty miles. A good Jesus, resting from his long walk, begged rider, having little baggage and less curio- the woman of Samaria to give him drink." sity, may get over the ground in two long — Dixon's Holy Land, ii. 72. days ; to do so, however, he must make up "It was the custom of the Galilteans, as his mind to spend twelve hours each day they went to Jerusalem to the Festivals, in the saddle, on stony hill-sides, with to go through the country of the Samari- very little water, and still less sjaade, under tans. — Josephus Antiq. xx. vi. 1. " And he the blazing light of a Syrian sun. An easy that would go soonest thither must go that journey, with time to rest and read, to see way, and it is three days' journey that way the wells, ruins, and cities on the route, from Galilee to Jerusalem," in vita sua. may be made in four days ; thoagh better a Sychar. — " It is read in some copies still in five. and by some expositors, with y in the first " The Lord and His disciples went syllable, as in the text of Chrysostom, through the land on foot ; resting by the Montanus, the Arabic, the Italian of Bm- wells, under the shade of fig-trees, in the cioli, Chemnitius, Grotius, &c., and by caves of rocks. some with i, Sichar, as the Vulgar Latin, COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL, 87 Sychar, or Shechem, must have been a very sacred spot to the Jews as well as to the Samaritans : and Jacob's acknowledged connec- tion with it is, as it were, one of the links that bind the Old and New Testament together. In the book of Joshua, (chapter xxiv. 32,) it is said that this parcel of ground became the inheritance of the children of Joseph, and that Joseph's bones were buried here. St. Stephen implies that others also of the patriarchs or their families were buried here. (Acts vii. 15.) 6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with His journey (sat thus on the well) :^ (and) it was about the sixth hour. (Alf. Was sitting thus by the well — omits, and.) Beza, Deodates Italian, the Spanish, . French, Dutch, and some Greek copies which these followed. Be it read whether way it is with Sychar or Sichar (as such changes are not strange) the place and city apparently was the same with Sichem, so famous in the Old Testament. And that appeareth plain by this, that it is said, there was the portion of land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph, which plainly was Sichem. (Gen. xxxiii. 18, 19 ; and xlviii. 22.)— Lightfoot, i. 593. This name is only found in St. John iv. 5, but it is universally considered to be the same as Sichem or Shechem, which is frequently mentioned in the Old Testa- ment history. Dr. Eobinson {Bib. Res. iii. 118) says, " In consequence of the hatred of the Jews, and in allusion to the idolatry of the Samaritans, the town Sichem pro- bably received among the Jewish common people the by-name of Sychar, which we find in the Gospel of St. John ; while Stephen; in addressing the more courtly Sanhedrin, employs the ancient name. (Acts vii. 16.) Sychar might be derived from a Hebrew root, meaning either false- hood or drunkard." Josephus describes Shechem as between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. The present Nabulus is a corruption of Neapo- lis ; and Neapolis succeeded the more an- cient Shechem. The city received its new name from Vespasian. The situation of the town is one of surpassing beauty. It lies in a sheltered valley, protected by Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north. The feet of these mountains, where they rise from the town, are not more than 500 yards apart. The bottom of the valley is about 1800 feet above the level of the sea, and the top of Gerizim 800 feet higher still. The site of the pre- sent city, which is believed to have been also that of the Hebrew city, occurs exactly on the water- summit; and streams is- suing from the numerous springs there, flow down the opposite slopes of the valley, spreading verdure and fertility in every direction. Travellers vie with each other in the language which they em- ploy to describe the scene that bursts here so suddenly upon them on arriving in spring or early summer at this paradise of the Holy Land. '♦ Here," says Dr. Eobinson (iii. 96) •' a scene of luxuriant and almost unparalleled verdure burst upon our view. The whole valley was filled with gardens of vegeta- bles, and orchards of all kinds of fruit, watered by several fountains, which burst forth in various parts, and flow westward in refreshing streams. It came upon ua suddenly like a scene of fairy enchant- ment. We saw nothing to compare with it in all Palestine. Here, beneath the shade of an immense mulberry-tree, by the side of a purling rill, we pitched our tent for the remainder of the day and night .... We rose early, awakened by the songs of nightingales and other birds, of which the gardens around us were full." 1 Sat thus (€/co0eC«To oiircas), " that is, in a weary posture, or after the manner as tired men used to sit down. De Dieu taketh it only for an elegancy in the Greek which might well be omitted ; and accordingly the Syriac hath omitted it and not owned it at all. But see it em- phatical in other places also : 1 Sam. ix. 13 ; 1 Kings ii. 7 ; Acts vii. 8."— Light- foot, i. 593. 88 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. What a mysterious dispensation, that He, who made the body, should feel the hunger and thirst and fatigue incident to the body, that He, who made the sun, should feel exhaustion from its heat ; that He, who made all things, should depend for sustenance, and for the support of His life, on the benevolent feelings of his own creatures. Holy women, it is said, ministered to Him of their substance, and He had a common purse with the Twelve Apostles. The hour may be mentioned either as a reason for His weariness — the sixth hour being the time when the sun was hottest and most exhausting — or as accounting for the presence of the woman, the sixth being the usual hour for di*awing water. If St. John calculates time in the same way as the other three Evangelists, i.e., beginning from sunrise, about six o'clock in the morning, the sixth horn- would be twelve o'clock at noon. But if, as some think, St. John uses a dif- ferent mode of reckoning, beginning, like ourselves, at mid-day, the sixth hour would be six o'clock in the evening. This woman appears to be alone. If the evening was the usual time for drawing water, she would scarcely have been quite alone, as the women in Eastern countries generally go in company, in troops, to draw water. 7 There cometh [a wonaan] of Samaria to draw water : Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink. [S. A certain woman.] 8 For His disciples were gone away into the city to buy (meat.) (Alf. Food.) That His disciples should have gone into the village of Sychar, apparently at some distance to buy food : that Jesus should find this Sama- ritan woman alone, when he could remonstrate with her on the wicked- ness of her life, nothing of this happened by mere accident. It was part of the same act of mercy, it was all foreseen and ordained. From His dress and dialect, she would easily recognise Him to be a Jew ; and she knew the feud that had existed between the Jews and Samaritans for hundreds of years. •' SvTcos has been considered redundant. the more vigorous rendering of iir\, with a But that adverb is thus frequently em- dative, to which they have here adhered, ployed after a participle to imply a repe- Yet it ought to be said that Winer {Gram- tition of the participial notion : tired with mar of New Testament) is on the side of the journey, sat down thus (sicut erat, in our version as it stands." — Archbishop consequence of being thus fatigued)." — Trench on Authorised Version, 90. Winer's Grammar of New Testament, 640. 4irl rrj tnjyri " on the well (the margin Onthe well (^irlT^iTTjy^). — "It should of the well), the structure round it, was be rather, by the well — in its immediate higher than the mouth of the well it- neighbourhood. On two other occasions, self."— Winer's Grammar of New Testa- namely, Mark xiii. 29, John v. 2, our ment, 410. translators have rightly gone back from COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL, 89 9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria ? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.^ [S. The woman of Samaria saith unto Him : S. omits, for the Jews have no deal- ings with the Samaritans.] (Alf. The Samaritan woman therefore — which am a Samaritan woman — for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) The latter clause of this verse is probably the explanation of the Evangelist, and not the words of the Samaritan woman. 10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee. Give Me to drink : thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. In these words Jesus endeavours to excite her desire to learn two things — the gift of God, and the real character of Him who was speaking with her. The gift of God was, by name, " living water,'* but in reality the Holy Spirit. He was in outward appearance a mere man, a Jew, as she had called Him, but in reality He was God. The quality of water differs so much, according to the condition in which it exists, that there may be said to be two very different kinds : 1. Water without motion, stagnant, collected in artificial cisterns ; 2. Living water, perpetually flowing from a natural spring. Jesus asks of the Samaritan woman water from the well, water more nearly re- sembling that collected in artificial cisterns ; and says, that if she had 1 For the Jews have no dealings that the Jews did not refuse to deal with with the Samaritans {6v yap a-vyxpcoy- the Samaritans in the way of trade, but ral lovdaloi 'Xaixapeirais). — I. "That trans- they would not borrow anything of them, lation which the French and English or accept anything from them gratis, or follow, seems to stretch the sense of the allow of any interchange of acts of kind- word beyond what it will well bear. For ness and courtesy between them, and granting the Samaritans were mere hea- concludes: "Nor, indeed, can the word thens, yet did not this forbid the Jews o-vyxpcivrai in this place intend anything having any kind of dealings with them, else. For whereas it was lawful for the for they did not refuse merchandising Jews to converse with the Samaritans, with any of the GentUe nations what- buy of them, use their labour, answer to ever. . . . their benedictions ' Amen,' lodge in their " II. That version, non utuntur Judcei towns (Luke ix. 52), I would fain know Samaritis, as Beza : or non contuntur, as in what sense, after all this, can it be the Vulgar, hardly reacheth the sense of said, lov^aioi 6v (ru7xp«»'Tot Saftoperrais, the word, or fully comes up to the truth but in this only, that they would not be of the thing." obliged to them for any kindness." — Lightfoot then goes on to prove by Lightfoot, ii. 538. quotations from ancient Jewish writings, 90 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. known who He was, she would have asked of Him, and He would have given her, " living water." In using the expression, " living water,'* Jesus means the water that causes life, the Holy Spirit. He is endea- vouring to raise her thoughts from earth, from the water of the body to the water of the soul, the Holy Spirit. The woman misunderstands his use of the words, ''living water," and expresses her doubts of His power to do this. He has nothing to draw water with, and he is not greater than Jacob, who gave this well. There is no other water here, as she argues, but that of this well : " and the well is deep, and thou hast nothing to draw with; from whence, then, hast Thou that living water." 11 [The woman saith unto Him], Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep : from whence [then] hast Thou that living water ?^ [S. V. She saith unto Him ; S. omits, then.] 12 Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, [and drank thereof himself,] (and his children) and his cattle ? [S. He drank also thereof himself.] (Alf. And his sons.) She praises the water of this well for its goodness and abundance. What Jacob himself and his children drank of must be good, what his cattle drank of, must be plentiful. Jesus does not reply to her question. Art Thou greater than our father Jacob ? but leaves her to conclude that He was greater than Jacob, from the superiority of the water which He would give, over that which Jacob had given. The water which He should give had two properties, which no other water had. He who drank of it should never thirst again ; and it should be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 13 Jesus answered and said unto her, (Whosoever) drinketh of this water shall thirst again. (Alf. Every one that.) 14 But whosoever (drinketh) of the water that I shall give him (shall never thirst) : but the water that I shall 1 Thou hast nothing to draw with draw with, as well as their vessels to carry {6vr€ avT\^fia ex^is) Camerarius out of water in, unless they made the same ves- Plautus latins a.vr\i\yLa situlam, Beza out sel serve for both uses, by letting it down of Austin hauritorium .... It seems to draw with a oord."— Lightfoot, i. 593. they brought their buckets with them to COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 91 give him (shall be) in [him] (a well) of water springing up into (everlasting life). [S. Omits, him.] (Alf. Shall drink-^shall not thirst for evermore — shall become — a fountain — eternal life.) The properties of water which ancient writers have mentioned a9 symholising the Holy Spirit, are numberless. Two are very striking, its power to purify, and its power to nourish. No stain can be cleansed without water, neither can any life be supported without water. But the thoughts of the woman still cling to earth. From His conversation with her thus far, she fails to learn either the character of Him who was speaking, or the nature of the *' living water." Of the two qualities which He mentions as belonging to the water which He can give, her desires settle upon that which appears most likely to apply to her own bodily wants. She divests His words of their proper meaning, namely, that he who received the gift of the Holy Spirit, should never require any other kind of spiritual strength in his conflict with Satan and his temptations ; and she applies them iq her own sense to the body, and to the thirst of the body. 15 The woman saith unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, (neither come hither) to draw. (Alf. Neither come all the way hither.) The prophets had spoken of " water" and of " living water" with reference to the soul, and as applying to the gift of the Holy Spirit, in such clear unveiled language, that had the woman been a Jew instead of a Samaritan, she would scarcely have failed to see His application of those terms. But this was the defect of her national creed. The Samaritans did not receive as Holy Scripture the prophets, or any portion of the Old Testament except the books of Moses, at least they did not receive them as of the same authority as the writings of Moses. Besides other passages, Isaiah had said, " With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isa. xii. 3) ; "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground : I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine ofi"spring." (xliv. 3.) "My people have committed two evils : they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." (Jer. ii. 13.) " In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inha- bitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." (Zech. xiii. 1.) *^ And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem," (xiv. 8). So far Jesus had not succeeded, so to speak, in raising the thoughts 92 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN*S GOSPEL. of this Samai'itan woman beyond her own daily bodily wants. He has apparently excited in her no interest to learn the nature of the "living water," or the character of Him who talked with her. He therefore touches another chord. 16 [Jesus saith unto her], Go, call thy husband, and come hither. [V. He saith unto her.] (Alf. He saith unto her.) 17 [The woman answered and said,] (I have no hus- band). Jesus said unto her. Thou hast well said, (I have no husband). [V. Answered and said nnto Him. S. omits, and said.] (Alf. I have not a husband.) 18 For thou hast had five husbands : (and he whom thou now hast) is not thy husband : (in that saidst thou truly).^ (Alf. And now he whom thou hast— in this thou hast spoken truth.) If, in the passage, *^ he, whom thou now hast, is not thy husband " a stress is to be laid on the word "thy," if after having had five legitimate husbands, the one whom she now had was so far from being her husband, that he was the husband of some other woman, the case is worse against her than at first sight appears. But when she honestly confesses that she has no husband, Jesus does not rouse her anger by unsparingly denouncing her sin. He first praises her for the truthfulness of her confession. She now begins to rise to the knowledge of His character, and it may be with a sincere desire to learn where to pray properly — she proposes to Him as a prophet, the great question of the day, whether the Temple of Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim, which overhung her own city of Sychar, was the right place for the worship of God. The Patriarch Jacob had offered sacrifice at Sychar, or Shechem. (Gen. xxxiii. 20.) From Mount Gerizim the six tribes had solemnly pronounced the blessings that should be on those who kept the Ten Commandments. (Deut. xxvii. 12.) At Shechem, Joshua before his death had recounted to the assembled Israelites God's merciful dealings "with them. (Josh, xxiv.) A temple, if not then standing, had 1 In that saidst thou truly. — toDto toOto h.\i]BS>s <^ifn\Kas (as Euhnol niain- h\T\6\s tipr\Kas, this hast thx)u spoken true, tains) would be ambiguous. — Winer's hoc verum dixisti. On the other hand, Grammar of New Testament, p. 486. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 93 formerly stood on Mount Gerizim. AH this might seem to convey a kind of right and legality to the worship offered there. But God had chosen one place for His worship, one place only for sacrifices to be offered to Him. He had said, " Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest : But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.'* (Deut. xii. 13.) This place was Jerusalem. Neither length of time, nor the eminence of the worshippers, could invest any other place with the right, which God had given to Jerusalem alone. 19 The woman saith unto Him, [Sir], I perceive that thou art a prophet. [S. Omits Sir.] 20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain : and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. [S. That it is in Jerusalem where.] 21 Jesus saith unto her, [Woman, believe Me,] ( [the hour Cometh, when ye shall] neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship) the Father. [S.V. Believe Me, woman ; A. The hour cometh that ye shall.] (Alf. An hour cometh when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem shall ye worship.) 22 Ye worship (ye know not what : we know what we worship : for salvation is of the Jews.) (Alf. That which ye know not : we worship that which we know, because salvation cometh of the Jews.) 23 (But the hour cometh), and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father (in spirit and in truth) : (for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.)^ (Alf. Howbeit an hour cometh — in spirit and truth — for such the Father also seeketh them that worship Him to be.) 1 In spirit and in truth. — Ej/ irvevnan preposition iv there denotes the element Koi a\7]9ela, which qualify irpoaKw-na-ova-iv, in which irpoa-Kvvfij/is exercised. — Winer's must not be resolved and degraded into Grammar of New Testament, p. 444. the adverbs irvivfiariKus koL a\7idws. The 94 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 24 God is a Spirit : and they that worship [Him] must worship [Him] in spirit and in truth. [S. Omits Him ; S. In the spirit of truth.] (Alf. Must worship in spirit and truth.) In his answer, Jesus first declares that the worship at present offered to God, whether at Jerusalem or on Mount Gerizim, should shortly, very shortly, he abolished. He then settles the question in dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans, and gives it in favour of the Jews. The Samaritans worship they know not what. The object of their worship, as well as the manner of their worship was wrong. Along with the God of Israel they worship false gods, the knowledge of which their fathers had brought with them from Babylon and its neighbourhood. The Jews know what they worship : for salvation is of the Jews. This was the case both as regards the old dispensation and the new. The will of God respecting Himself, and the way in which He would be worshipped, was in ancient times revealed to the Jews, and so far as it became known to the Gentiles, this knowledge was disseminated from the Jews. In the new dispensation, Jesus, the author of salvation, was born of the Jews, and from them He became a Light to lighten the Gentiles. But true as is the worship which the Jews offer when compared with that of the Samaritans, it is not to continue, nay, it is already superseded. God has chosen another mode of being worshipped, free from the defects of both these. With the true God the Samaritans worship false Gods. Their worship is not true. The Jews worship the true God, but their worship is not spiritual. It consists chiefly in the sacrifice of animals, in rites which begin and end with the body, and it is limited to one place, the Temple at Jerusalem. But all these are only shadows, types of the worship which Christ should establish. God's worship should be the worship of the heart, by acts of devotion, faith, hope, repentance. These, wherever offered, and by whomsoever offered, should be accepted by God in the place of the victims which had hitherto been offered to Him rightly at Jerusalem, but ignorantly, super stitiously, and unlawfully at Gerizim. In His Sermon on the Mount which our Saviour delivers only a short time after this. He shows that the righteousness, the practical life of the Christian, must exceed that of the Jew, and in His con- versation with this woman He shows that the worship of a Christian must differ from that of a Jew in two great particulars. . It must be the worship of the soul, not the worship offered by the body merely, and it must not be confined to any one locahty. He also gives the reason of this : " God is a Spirit : and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." 25 The woman saith unto Him, I know that Messias COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHU S GOSPEL. 95 Cometh, which is called Christ: (when He is come,) [He will tell us] all things. [S. He telleth us.] (Alf. When He shall come.) 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto Thee am He. The woman only expresses the general expectation, which existed at this time that the coming of the Messiah was at hand. Even if the Samaritans did not receive the prophets and would therefore he ignorant of Daniel's prophecy of the Messiah, the learned among them would be acquainted with the prophecy of Jacob, (Gen. xlix. 10,) and the rest would know it from common rumour. 27 And upon this came His disciples, and marvelled (that He talked with the woman) : (yet no [man said]). What seekest Thou ? or. Why talkest Thou with her.^ [S. Said unto Him.] (Alf. That He was talking with a woman — yet no one said.) 1 With the Woman (nerk ywaiKhs). So also Dr. John Lightfoot (17 cent.) trans- lates this passage. His opinion is that though the article is not expressed in the Greek, it is to be understood in the sense. He supposes that the surprise of the disciples was raised, not so much be- cause Jesus was talking with a icoman, but with a Samaritan. This had already been a cause of wonder to herself (ver. 9). He quotes a passage from Maimonides to show that the Jews were allowed to buy meat of, and to sell meat to, those with whom they were not allowed to enter into familiar conversation. " For they might not use any commerce, nor any converse with a person excommunicate (as the Samaritans were to the Jews), but only so much as for the providing of meat." — Maim, in Talmud, torah, per. 7. — Light- foot, i. 594. The following is Bp. Middleton's note on this, " Campbell lays some stress on the absence of the article, and thinks the meaning is, with any woman at all. From the absence of the article nothing can be inferred, because of the preposition. On the whole I am inclined to believe that the surprise felt by the Apostles was rather at our Saviour's conversing with this par- ticular woman, than with any woman in- discriminately The business of fetching water belonged exclusively to females ; and wells had, from that cause, become places of resort for the loose and licentious of both sexes. It is possible, therefore, that the surprise of the disciples might be excited, more especially by our Saviour's conversing with this particular woman, whom He had found in such a place ; and her appearance, probably, bespoke somewhat of her real character, as exhibited in the sequel of the story." — On the Greek Article, p. 243. Alford translates this, with a woman, and Dr. J. B. Lightfoot remarks on it : •' The English version, ' They marvelled that He talked with the woman,' implies that the disciples knew her shameful his- tory — a highly improbable supposition, since she is obviously a stranger whose character our Lord reads through His divine intuition alone : whereas the true rendering, ' He talked with a woman,' which indeed alone explains the emphatic position of ywaiKos, points to their sur- prise that He should break through the conventional restraints imposed by rab- binical authority, and be seen talking to one of the other sex in public. A rab- binical precept was. Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no not with his own wife." — Revision of English New Tes- tament, p. 115. Between these different translations and different explanations the reader must choose. But the passage can scarcely be cited as a clear instance of careless, or 96 COMMENTAEY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. The surprise of the disciples may have been caused either because He was holding a conversation with a woman, a stranger and in a lonely place, which they looked upon as a breach of Jewish propriety ; or, because He was holding a conversation with this particular woman, on the ground, either that she was a Samaritan, or that from certain indications, which the disciples easily recognised, she was a woman of infamous character ; but whatever was the source of their surprise, reverence for Jesus prevented them from giving expression to it. 28 The woman then left her waterpot, and (went her way) into the city, and saith to the men, (Alf. Went away.) 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did : is not this the Christ ? ^ (Alf. Is this the Christ ?) 30 [Then] they went out of the city, (and came unto Him.) (V. A. Omits, Then.] (Alf. Omits, Then — and were coming to Him.) She concluded that He was a prophet because He had revealed to her the secrets of her own life, and she believes He is the Messiah on His own word. In the fulness of her faith and zeal she leaves her waterpot, she forgets the errand on which she had been so intent, she neglects the water, with which her mind had been so full that she had no thoughts for the " living water," and hurries into the city to announce to others her good news. Her question, Is not this ? or, Is even, of faulty rendering on the part of little creditable to those who should have our Translators, supported as they are by kept their text inviolate, that they have such authorities as Dr. John Lightfoot not exercised a stricter vigilance over it, and Bishop Middleton. It is curious that having escaped error 1 " Is not this the Christ? (n-firi ovtos here, our translators should yet have fallen iffTiv 6 xpK^'T^s ;) Correcting all our pre- into it in the exactly similar phrase at vious translations, our Translators ren- John iv. 29, /jL-fin Ivtos ianv b xp^J'tSs ; dered the words, /x^rt Ivt6s ianv b iiSs where thty do render. ' Is not this the Ao/3t5 (Matt. xii. 23) with perfect accuracy: Christ ? ' but should have rendered, * Is ' Is this the son of David ? ' fully under- this the Christ ? ' The Samaritan woman standing that, according to the different in her joy, as speaking of a thing too good idioms of the Greek and English, the to be true, which she will suggest, but negative particle of the original was not dare not absolutely afldrm, asks of her fel- to re-appear in the English." — Acts vii. low-countrymen, * Is this the Christ ? 42 : John viii. 22. I am unable to say Can this be He whom we have looked for when the reading, which appears in all so long ? expecting in reply not a nega- our modem Bibles, ' Is not this the tive, but an a£Brmative answer.' " — Arch- Son of David ? ' first crept in : it is bishop Trench on Authorised Verstorij already in Hammond, 1669; but it is p. 101, COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHNS GOSPEL. 97 this the Christ, as it has been translated, does not imply any hesitancy, or halting in her own belief, but rather a desire that they should draw their own conclusion. 31 In tKe meanwhile His disciples prayed Him, saying, (Master), eat. (Alf. Rabbi.) 32 But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33 [Therefore] [said the disciples one to another], Hath any man brought Him ought to eat ?^ [S. The disciples say one to another (omit Therefore.)] 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is (to do the will) of Him that sent Me, and (to finish) His work. (Alf. That I should do the will— and should finish.) Our Saviour is gradually unfolding the object of His Own Mission, as well as that of His disciples, in their degree, and he incites them by various considerations zealously to fulfil it. As He had just done in His conversation with the Samaritaa woman, so He now acts with His disciples, He kindles their curiosity and interest by using words, that are in common use, in a higher sense. Words that are generally confined to the body and its wants. He applies to the soul. His hunger, His longing for the conversion of the Samaritans was so intense that the hunger of His body was nothing to it. According to your usual mode of reckoning. He says, there are yet four months unto the harvest ; but I can point out to you a harvest now ready, fields already ripe for the harvest : a harvest, too, in which those who gather it in shall receive as their wages not an earthly recompense but life eternal. The fields " white already to harvest " were the city of Sychar and the other cities of Samaria, the firstfruits of which was the body of men who were returning with the Samaritan woman to hear Jesus for themselves. The harvest was their conversion to the faith iu Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. The reapers were Jesus Himself and His disciples, who by their teaching were bringing to perfection 1 Hath any man, &c. — Mr; (/t^rt) is prised if he received one : John iv. 33. used when a negative answer is presumed Has any one brought Him anything to or expected. Some, however, think that eat ? (I do not think so ; especially as we fi-fj sometimes anticipates an afi&rmative are here in the country of the Samari- answer in the New Testament. But the tans. — Winer's Grammar of New Testa- speaker, in such case, always leans to a menU p. 534. negative answer, and would not be sur- H 98 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. the first principles of reverence towards God, which Moses and others had sown in their hearts. 35 (Say ye not), There are yet four months, and then Cometh harvest ? (Behold) I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, (and look on) the fields : for [they are white already to harvest]. [S. V. A. For they are white to harvest. Already (A. adds also) he that reapeth.] (Alf. Say not ye — lo— and behold — that they are white to harvest already.) 36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal : (that [both] he that soweth and he that reapeth) may rejoice together. [V. Omits, both.] (Alf. Omits, And — ^that both the sower and the reaper.) 37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.^ (Alf. For herein is [fulfilled] that true saying, One is the sower and another the reaper.) 38 I sent you to reap that whereon (ye bestowed) no labour : (other men laboured), and ye are entered into their labours. (Alf. Ye have bestowed — others have laboured.) Of the words " Say ye not there are yet four months and then eometh harvest," other interpretations have been offered ; but there is no sufficient reason to reject the literal meaning. If the literal sense be correct, it will fix the date of this conversation. Lightfoot (ii. 544) explains the words of verse 35 as pregnant with meaning. He quotes several ancient Jewish writers to show that the time for sowing wheat and spelt was during the months Tisri and Marheshvan, or from the middle of September to the middle of November, and that the time for sowing the barley was in the months Shebat aud Adar, from January to March, or seventy days before the Passover. The conclusion which he draws from this is that, though 1 That true saying {& ^Ki^eiphs).—" A the true saying," the article is absolutely few MSS. are without the article; but as necessary, as in St. John i. 9; vi. 32; M&ith'di well ohaerves, '' et abesae et adesse xv. 1. . . . The great majority of potest" If we render, •' in this instance MSS. ought, I think, to prevail; they are the saying is true," the article must be at least as fifty to one." — Middleton on omitted : but if, ** in this is exemplified the Greek Article, p. 244. COMMENTAKY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 99 Jesus says there are yet four months to the harvest, the seed for that harvest was only partially sown, the barley, the hope of the harvest to come, was not yet committed to the ground. The knowledge of this fact helps to throw additional light on our Saviour's words. Directing their attention to the multitudes of Samaritans whom He saw coming towards them, He said, " Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields : for they are white already to harvest." Behold what a harvest of souls are here, where there has been but scanty seed sown. Com- pared with the Jews, only little seed had been sown among the Samaritans, either in the time of the prophets, or during the Ministry of Jesus Himself. The last eight months He had spent in Judaea and Jerusalem, and this is His first visit to Samaria, and see how ready they are to receive His word and to believe in Him as the Christ. The harvest of the Jews began at the Passover. On the second day of the Passover the Law enjoined them to bring a sheaf of the first- fruits of their harvest, and wave it before the Lord, and from that day they counted seven weeks to Pentecost. (Levit. xxiii. 10-15.) The Passover was the fourteenth day of the first month — Nisan (the end of March and the beginning of April). Four months before the Passover would be about the end of our November. 39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed [on Him] for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that [ever] I did. [S. Omits, on Him ; S. V. Omit, ever.] (Alf. In Him.) 40 (So when the Samaritans were come) unto Him, they besought Him (that He would tarry) with them : and He (abode) there two days. [V. Were come together unto Him : S. And He abode with them two days.] (Alf. When therefore the Samaritans came — to tarry — tarried.) 41 And many more believed because of (His Own word). (Alf. His word.) 42 And said unto the woman, (Now we believe, not because [of thy saying]) [for we have heard (Him ourselves)], and know that this is indeed [the Christ] the Saviour of the world. [S. Of thy testimony ; S. We have heard Him ourselves ; S. V. Omiit, the Christ.] (Alf. No longer do we believe because of thy story — for ourselves — omits, the Christ.) h2 100 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. The honesty and sincerity of the Samaritans contrast well with the hardness and unhelief of the Jews. After converse with Him for two days only the Samaritans believe that Jesus is the Saviour of the world. After three years' preaching, after the performance of so many and of such mighty miracles, the Jews as a body refuse to believe in Him. Belief and unbelief in Jesus as God depended not so much on the proofs that were offered, as on the heart and on the previous life of those to whom the proofs were exhibited. It may be that Jesus remained only two days with the Samaritans out of consideration for the Jews, to avoid the reproach which they would be sure to fix upon Him for it, and the conclusion they would draw, that He could not be the Christ, because Christ was promised not to the Samaritans but to the Jews. 43 Now after (two days) He departed thence, and went into Galilee. [S. V. He departed thence into Galilee.] (Alf. The two days — He departed thence into Galilee.) 44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. 45 (Then when He was come) into Galilee, the Galilaeans received Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem at the feast : for they also went unto the feast. (Alf. When therefore He came.) Usually Nazareth, His own country, would be included under the term Galilee, but here His own country is used in contradistinction to Galilee. Jesus went not to Nazareth, because He knew that a prophet had no honour in his own country, but He went into Galilee, that is, into the other parts of GaUlee. Continuing his journey from Judaea into Galilee (iv. 3), which had been interrupted by His conversation with the Samaritan woman, our Saviour goes to Cana in Galilee, leaving or passing by Nazareth, (Matt. iv. 13,) because a prophet had no honour in his own country. Nazareth had been His residence. His country from childhood up to manhood, and the inhabitants despised Him, being, as they thought, the son of a carpenter. He probably goes to Cana to confirm by His presence the faith in Him which His former miracle had created. 46 (So Jesus came again into) Cana of GaUlee, where COMMENTABY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 101 He made the water wine. And there was a certain noble- man, whose son was sick at Capernaum.^ [S. So they came again ; V. So He came again ; S.* Where they made.] (Margin, Courtier, or ruler.) (Alf. So He came again unto.) 47 [When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went unto Him], and besought [Him] (that He would come down), and heal his son : for he was at the point of death. 46-47 [S. Now there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Caphamaum (Capharnaum, also V.) ; he hearing that Jesus was come out of Judsea into Galilee, went therefore unto Him ; S. V. Omit, Him.] (Alf. The same when he heard, etc., — to come down.) 48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.^ (Alf. Ye will never believe.) 1 A certain nobleman {Tjv ns fiaa-iXiKhs) — *' It is hard in the variety of construc- tions that are given of the Greek word Paa-iXiKhs, to tell what this man was that was so titled. The vulgar Latin and Erasmus render it regulus, a little king ; the Syriac, one of the king's servants ; which the Arabic followed in sense, though not in words. The Italian hath it signore, a great man, or of high degree : Nonnus, l^affiX^iios avijp, a man of the king's, which is the very epithet that is used by the Arabic, and several other expositions of it are given." — Lightfoot, i. 605. 2 Signs and Wonders. — " These words {repai, cTTjfJL^iov, Siivafiis, evSo^ov, irapdSo^ov, Bavfida-icv) have this in common, that they are all used to characterise the super- natural works wrought by Christ in the days of His flesh : thus o-Tj^gto*', John ii. 11 ; Acts ii. 19 ; repos. Acts ii. 22 ; John iv. 48 ; SvvafjLis, Mark vi. 2 ; Acts ii. 22 ; cySo^ov, Luke xiii. 17 : vapdSo^ov, Luke v. 26 : Oavfidaiou, Mark xxi. 15 : while the first three, which are far the most usual, are in like manner employed of the same supernatural works wrought in the power of Christ by His Apostles (2 Cor. xii. 12). They will be found, on examination, not BO much to represent different kinds of miracles, as miraqles contemplated under different aspects and from different points of view. " Tepas and (rrj/ieioi/ are often linked to- gether in the New Testament (John iv. 48 ; Acts ii. 22 ; iv. 30 ; 2 Cor. xii. 12), and times out of number in the Septuagint. "The same miracle is upon one side a TcpaSi on another a a-'f^neiov, and the words must often refer, not to different classes of miracles, but to different qualities in the same miracles ; in the words of Lampe (Com. in John, vol. i. p. 613), 'Eadem enim miracula dici possunt signa, qua- tenus aliquid seu occultum seu futurum docent: et prodigia {repara) quatenus aliquod extraordinarium, quod stuporem excitat, sistunt. Hinc sequitur signorum notionem latius patere, quam prodigiorum, omnia prodigia sunt signa, quia in ilium usum a Deo dispensata, ut arcanum indi- cent. Sed omnia signa non sunt prodi- gia, quia ad signandum res celestes ali- quando etiam res communes adhibentur," Origen long ago called attention to the fact that the name repara is never in the New Testament applied to these works of wonder, except in association with some other name. They are often called (TTjfieta, often Sv^'Ojuejs, often repara Kol iva^Ax-n /*«> &c., does not seem operated at least as much in ancient to correspond directly to the question, as in modem times, the changes gradu- Q4\fts vyi^s yevfo-Oai ; so that a simple ally introduced after publication by the yes, certainly, may be supplied. But the authors themselves into the various sick man did not stop at this simple afl&r- copies yet within their reach. Such re- mation, but immediately proceeded to vised copies would circulate indepen- state the obstacle which had hitherto pre- dently of those issued previously, and vented the fulfilment of his wish." — now beyond the writer's control ; and, Winer's Grammar of New Testament, 621. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 113 8 Jesus saith unto him, [Kise, take up] thy bed and walk. [A. Eise and take up.] 9 [And immediately] the man was made [whole, and took up] his bed and walked; (and on the same day was the sabbath.^) [S. Omits, And immediately : S. Whole, and rose and took up.] (Alf. Now on that day was the sabbath.) Knowing, either by His own power, or by the information of the bystanders, or from the man himself, that he had heen now a long time in that case, Jesus saith unto him. Wilt thou be made whole ? He does this to raise in him a longing for help, and an expectation of this help from Jesus Himself. It would seem that an expectation of help from Jesus was a necessary condition in all the cases in which He exercised His divine power to heal. It does not appear whether the angel was ever visible to the spectators, or whether his presence was only indicated by the moving of the water. But they all knew that the healing of the water was superhuman, and was not by any virtue inherent in the water itself. To heal the impotent man close to the pool, yet without any applica- tion of the water of the pool, would naturally suggest to a reflecting mind the similarity which there was in the power of Him who healed by His word, and the power of Him who healed through the water. He, who could heal the impotent man, who had been in this state for thirty and eight years, whether through the water or by His word, must be more than man. He must be God. Thus not merely by the miracle, but also by the locality in which the miracle is wrought, does Jesus lead both the man who had been healed, and those who had witnessed his healing, to draw some such conclusion as this for themselves. On other occasions, when He had wrought a miracle our Saviour adds some circumstance, either to show them the perfection of His work, or in some way to call their special attention to it. When He had multiplied the bread so as to feed 5000 men with five barley loaves and two fishes. He orders the fragments to be gathered up. (Matt. xiv. 20.) When He cleansed the leper He sent him to show himself to the priest. (Matt. viii. 4.) When He had raised Jairus's daughter from death He commanded that something should be given her to eat. (Mark v. 43.) When He had turned the water into wine He bade them bear it unto the governor of the feast. (John ii. 8.) 1 Thy bed {rhv KpdpfiarSv /6ua> or from iKvevw. The &c. The Septuagint have it /col 4^€vevws gain in perspicuity by a re-arrangement h.\'tiBiv6v (John, i. 8), tpm €k ^«tos, that of the words rendered 'light,' 'lamp,' Eternal Light, which, as it was never &c., and mainly through the clear dis- kindled, so should never be quenched, tinction between c r o z CHORAZIN CAPERNAUM y BETHSAIDA •/'" \ 111 / \ Ul k. -1 A i _ V / J • vL < TIBERIAS zS O < J o / a: 1 o 1 To their question, "When,'* which also implies the other question, '* How," " camest Thou here ? " Jesus does not reply. But He shows them that their motive in seeking Him was a wrong one. Their object was not to witness His miracles, and from thence to learn the nature of His office, to conclude from His works that he was the Messiah promised to them of old. They sought Him simply and solely for the bread, to have their hunger supplied without labour, without any regard to the miraculous manner in which it was pro- vided for them. He bids them labour, but not for the meat, which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which He the Son of Man, God Incarnate, could give them, because God the Father had sealed Him. When conversing with the woman of Samaria Jesus had raised her houghts from the water of the well to the living water, to life COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 147 everlasting, so here he leads the Jews on from the food of the hody to the food of the soul, from ^'the meat which perisheth to that meat which endureth unto everlasting life." That He could give the former of these, the food of the body, they were themselves witnesses. He here declares His power, as well as the reason of His power, to give the other. "For him hath God the Father sealed." On Him hath God the Father set the seal of His approval, and hath given Him the Impress of Himself. God the Father sealed the Son of Man, when at His Baptism there came a voice from heaven, saying, " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt. iii. 17.) The Son of Man is elsewhere (Heb. i. 3) called the Brightness of His Father's Glory, and the Express Image of His Person or of His substance. When God the Son took unto Him human nature He gave to it His Impress, the Seal of His Father. When the Word was made Flesh, the human nature received the Seal, the Impress of the Divine. 26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, ye seek Me, not because ye (saw the miracles), but because ye (did eat) of the loaves, and were filled. (Alf. Saw miracles — ate.) 27 (Labour not) for the meat which perisheth, [but for (that meat) which] endureth unto (everlasting life), [which the Son of Man shall give unto you] : (for Him hath God the Father sealed.) [S. But for that which : S. which the Son of Man gireth unto you.] (Margin. Work not.) (Alf. Work not — the meat— eternal life — for Him the Father sealed, even God.) Jesus could give them " the meat which endureth unto everlasting life," because Him had God the Father sealed. But Jesus had said that they must work for it. They therefore ask Him what the works were which they must do in order to obtain this meat. He replies that they must believe on Him, whom God hath sent, i.e., on Himself. Belief or faith is here, as often in Holy Scripture, put for all the active virtues that spring from beHef. Belief is the root from which all these grow natm-ally as its fruit. It is therefore used alone, but includes them all. 28 [Then said they] unto Him, (What shall we do), that we may work the works of God ? [A. They said.] (Alf. They said therefore — what must we do ?) 29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the L 2 148 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. work of God (that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.) (Alf. That ye should believe in Him whom He sent.) The Jews then reply that, hefore they can believe in Him they must see some works adequate to produce in them this belief. He had only fed them, 5000 of them, with superhuman food for a single day, and yet on the strength of this He required them to believe that He was God, whereas Moses only required their fathers to believe that he was God's servant, and yet to produce in them this belief he fed them, 600,000 of them, contiQually for forty years with manna. So gross and carnal are the Jews that they cling to the miracle of multiplying the bread, and overlook all the other miracles which Jesus had wrought among them; how He had healed the sick, cast out devils, opened the eyes of the bhnd, none of which Moses had done. Jesus wrought His miracles with the express purpose of proving to them that He was God : Moses wrought his miracles to prove that he was God's servant. On the strength of the miracles which he performed their fathers had believed Moses that he was, what he professed to be, God's servant. But they had not believed Jesus that He was, what He claimed to be, God, in consequence of His miracles. 30 They said therefore unto Him, (What sign shewest Thou [then]) that we may see, and believe Thee ? What dost Thou work ? [S. Omits, Then.] (Alf. What doest Thou then as a Sign ?) 31 Our fathers (did eat manna in the desert) : as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. ^ (Alf. Ate the manna in the wilderness.) In answer to this Jesus shows that He was greater than Moses, and that the bread, which He gave, was greater than that which Moses gave. 32 (Then said Jesus) unto them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not (that bread) from heaven ; but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. (Alf. Jesus therefore said — the bread.) 1 See note on John iii. 33. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN*S GOSPEL. 149 33 For the bread of God (is He which) cometh down from heaven, and giveth Hfe unto the world. (Alf. Is that which.) In these words He contrasts the manna, with the **true bread," and points out several important distinctions between them. The manna was given by Moses, who was a mere man; the "true bread " was given by God the Father. The manna was given to their fathers only, to the Israelites in the desert, but the true bread is given by God the Father to the world. The manna did not really come from heaven, but only apparently so. It was formed in the air at God's command, like the frost, or snow, or hail, and it is only called the bread of heaven as a type or figure of the true bread of heaven, but the true bread of heaven, the Word, came down from the bosom of the Father. The manna nourishes the body only, and that only for a time : the true bread nourishes both soul and body, and .that for ever. The dulness of these Jews in apprehending our Saviour's meaning of the words, "true bread from heaven," is not unlike that of the Samaritan woman with respect to His use of the expression, *' living water." After all the explanation which He had given her of the "living water," her thoughts had never risen above the water of the well, and she exclaims. Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. (iv. 4.) In like manner, the highest aim of these Jews was to obtain the food of the body, and without the necessary labour. 34 (Then said they) unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. (Alf. They said therefore.) Though Jesus had identified Himself with the meat which endureth unto everlasting life, or with the " true bread from heaven," yet up to this point He had spoken of Himself in the third person, now He begins to use the first person and speak of Himself in such a manner that they can scarcely mistake His meaning, at least so far as that He Himself is " the true bread from heaven." 35 [And Jesus] said unto them, I am the Bread of Life : he that cometh to me (shall never) hunger ; and he that believeth (on Me shall never thirst.) [V. Omits, And: S. Then Jesus.] (Alf. Omits, And— shall not — in Me ahall never thirst.) In the expression, "the bread of life," there is probably some allusion to the " tree of life." (Gen. ii. 9.) If our first parents had 150 COMMENTARY ON ST, JOHN's GOSPEL. eaten of the tree of life it would have prolonged their life, even though their life was one of misery. *' The hread of life " imparts immortality not to the body only, but to the soul also, and Jesus is the bread of life. Those who believe in Him, those who come to Him, shall never lack strength in their contest with Satan. They shall never hunger nor thirst any more. They shall never faint for want of super- natural grace. 36 But I said unto you (That ye also have seen [Me]), and believe not. [S. A. Omit, Me.] (Alf. That ye have even seen Me.) Either He had said these very words at some other time, and St. John has not recorded them, or they were the substance of what He had said above. 37 (All that) the Father giveth Me shall come unto Me : and him that cometh to Me, I will in no wise cast out. (Alf. AU which.) 38 [(For I came) down from heaven, not to do] Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. [S. For I came not down from heaven to do.] (Alf. For I am come.) 39 [And this is the Father's will, (which hath] sent) Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should (raise it up again at the last day.) [S. V. A. And this is the will of Him which hath.] (Alf. That sent— raise it up at the last day.) 40 (And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life : and I will) raise him up at the last day. [S. V. A. For this is : S. V. The will of My Father that] (Alf. For this is the will of My Father, that every one which looketh on the Son, and believeth in Him, should have eternal life : and that I should.) They had seen Jesus, they had seen, too, the miracles which He wrought before them, they had heard the testimony of John the Baptist, and yet, as a nation, the Jews did not believe in Him. Some of them would believe, and those He would not reject. To believe in COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 151 Him was the gift of the Father, and was the reward of His Passion. The prophet had long before said, "He shall see of the travail of His Soul, and shall be satisfied." (Isa. liii. 11.) Eternal life, the life of grace in the soul here, to be matured into the life of glory hereafter for ever, is given to those who believe on Jesus the Son of God, who is the bread of life. He would not cast out those who came to Him, because the Father had given them to Him as the reward of His Passion, and because He came down from heaven, i.e., because He was made Flesh, in order to do the will of His Father. So far from permitting them to perish. He would raise them up at the last day. Their coming to Him, their belief in Him, and union with Him, would be the very cause of their resurrection. 41 (The Jews then) murmured at Him, because He said, I am the Bread which came down from heaven. (Alf. The Jews therefore.) 42 And they said, Is not this Jesus, the Son of Joseph, [whose Father and mother we know] ? [(how is it then that He saith,] I came) down from heaven ? [S.* Whose father also we know: V. How now saith He?J (Alf. How then doth He say, I am come.) 43 [Jesus therefore answered and said] unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. [V. Omits, Therefore : S. Answered them and said.] (Alf. Omits, Therefore.) 44 No man can come to Me, [except the Father which] hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.^ [A. Except he which.] 45 It is written in the prophets. And they shall be all taught of God. Every man [therefore] that (hath heard, [and hath learned of the Father]), cometh unto Me.^ [S. V. Omit, Therefore: A. And hath learned the truth of the Father.] (Alf. Heareth from the Father, and learneth.) See note on xii. 32. xxv. 34, ol ivKoynyiivoi rov irarpds, means Taught of God (S:'5oktoi toO Oeov.)— blessed by the Father."— Winer's Gram- " That is, taught by God, as in St. Matt, mar of the New Testament, 202. 152 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 46 Not that any man hath seen the Father, [save He which is (of God), He hath seen the Father.] [S. Save He, which is of the Father, He hath seen God.] (Alf. From God.) Jesus bids the Jews not to murmur at what He had just said to them. The fault, the cause of their murmuring, lay not in His words, for they were true, but in the state of theii* own hearts, in their own want of divine light. Their belief, or their want of belief, in Him depended on the previous preparation of their heart. Those who had previously listened to the teaching of the Father would believe in Him. Those who had hitherto faithfully and conscientiously obeyed the laws of God the Father would be led on to believe in His future revelation of His Son. The conditions under which God effectually draws some men to believe in Him and others not are beyond man's knowledge. Practically all men are free to choose and free to refuse Him. As a rule, we see that men are drawn from one degree of perfection to another. This is strikingly seen with respect to the Incarnation. All those whom God chose as His instruments to bring about the Incarnation, or to whom it should be first revealed, were already eminent for their devout lives under another and less perfect dispensation. This is expressly stated in the case of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Luke i. 28) ; Joseph (Matt. i. 19) ; Zacharias and Elizabeth (Luke i. 6) ; Simeon (Luke ii. 25) ; and Anna (v. 37). Thus, according to the rules which had been already observed and displayed in God's providence those in that very crowd of Jews who were diligently striving to do the will of the Father as declared under the Mosaic dispensation would be convinced by the works which Jesus wrought, that He was the Christ. Conviction so as to produce belief in Jesus was not the effect of miracles unless acting on a teachable, obedient, devout spirit. No amount of miracles would succeed in persuading those whom the Father had not already drawn. But the reward of those who were drawn by the Father to believe in Him would be unlimited, it would be resurrection to eternal life. 47 Verily, verily, I say unto yon, He that beheveth (on Me) hath (everlasting life.) [S. V. Omit, On Me.] (Alf. In Me — eternal life.) 48 I am (that bread) of life. (Alf. The bread.) 49 Your fathers (did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.) (Alf. Ate the manna in the wilderness, and died.) COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 153 50 This is the bread, which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread, which came down from heaven : if any man [eat of this bread,] he shall live for ever : ([and] [the Bread that I will give is My Flesh), [which I will give] for the life of the world.] [S. Eat of My bread : S. Omits, and : S. The bread that I will give for the life of the world, is My Flesh : V. Omits, which I will give.] (Alf. Yea, and the Bread that I will give is My Flesh.) 52 The Jews therefore (strove among themselves), saying, [How can This Man] give us His Flesh to eat ? [S. How therefore can This Man.] (Alf. Contended among themselves.) If we review the last twenty-five verses we shall find that the chief subject of them, and that which connects them aU, like a vein running from one end to the other, is that Jesus is the author of life, of life to the soul here, and of life to the soul and body hereafter. Every variety of expression is used to convey this knowledge to them. He is the meat which endureth unto everlasting life. He is the true bread from heaven. He is the bread of life. He is the living bread which came down from heaven. The Jews said that Jesus was a mere man, the son of Joseph, and that His father and mother were living among them. Jesus Himself claimed to be God, as well as man, and therefore the author of life to man. If they wished to partake in eternal life they must believe that He was God, One with the Father, and equal to the Father. In order to partake of life they must believe in Him, they must believe that He, Jesus, whom they supposed to be the son of Joseph, was God, and therefore the source of life, and able to impart Kfe to them. This was the first step in order to obtain life eternal ; the next was to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. The first objection of the Jews was that He could not be the author of life, because He was only a man Kke themselves and descended from men like themselves. Their second objection was that no man could give them his flesh to eat. In answer to the objection of the Jews, " How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat ? " Jesus, in the next six verses, declares that this is possible, and, more than that, it is absolutely necessary. He does not explain to the Jews how they can eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, but He repeats, in almost every possible form, that in order to obtain life in the soul here, and life in the soul and body hereafter, 154 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. they must beKeve that He, Jesus the Son of Mary, was God, and they must eat His Flesh and drink His Blood. 53 (Then Jesus said) unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have [no life] in you, [S. Not everlasting life.] (Alf. Jesus therefore said.) 54 (Whoso) eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, hath eternal life : and I will raise him up at the last day.^ (Alf. He that.) 55 For My Flesh [is meat indeed,] and My Blood [is drink indeed.] [V. Is true meat : V. Is true drink.] 56 He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in Him. 57 As the living Father (hath sent) Me, and I live (by the Father) : (so) he that eateth Me, (even he) shall live (hy Me.) (Alf. Sent — ^by reason of the Father — even so — he also — by reason of Me.) 58 This is (That Bread) which came down from heaven : [not as your fathers did eat manna, and are 1 Whoso eateth My Flesh {8 rpdoywv fiov r^y cdpKo). — "It is very interesting to notice that our Saviour, in the sixth chapter of St. John's Gospel, uses two Greek synonyms , which is a general term, meaning to eat any kind of substance, and in any way. But when speaking of His own Flesh, He suddenly uses the word Tpdyo), which is a specific term, and means to chew food like a ruminating animal, to eat vegetable substances alone. It is one of those delicate refinements of the Greek text which we lose in our English Version, and which seems to have been intended by Him who is the Word, to connect more closely His Flesh and Blood with the manna and the bread. He limits the general term, applied to animal and vegetable food indiscriminately, to the manna and the bread. He enlarges the specific term apphed exclusively to vegetable food, so as to embrace His Flesh and Blood. His Flesh is Bread, and Bread is His Flesh. The broken Bread of the Supper is His broken Body; and we are to eat of It in both the senses sig- nified by ^os ouTos, 6 fjL^ yiu(i)(TKuv Thu had offered no evidence in support of it. vcJ/iov). fjL^ yivwa-Kwv conveys a censure, Could the court proceed without proof? To ov yivdxTKoiv would bo a simple predicate : arrest a man was to accuse him ; and what unacquainted with the Law." — Winer's evidence of crime were the Sanhedrin in Grammar of New Testament, 508. a position to lay before a Koman judge ? a Before it hear him. {ihu /li} aKdoarj), ♦' Until evidence were laid before it, the where 6 v6fios personified as a judge, is to Council could take no further steps ; and be repeated. — Winer's Grammar of New Jesus went on preaching and teaching ; Testament, 545. vexing the Pharisaic mind by openly Nicodemus saith unto them, &c. — sitting down to meat with sinners, and by '•The turn which Nicodemus gave to the doing good deeds on the Sabbath. He debate appears to have been this: the taught His followers a new prayer, in COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 181 52 They answered and said unto him, Art Thou also of GaHlee ? Search (and look) : for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.^ (Alf. And see.) These words appear to contain an unusual depth of scorn and contempt, and probably mean, Art thou of those Galilseans who believe in this Galilsean ? which they were to ask forgiveness of God only so far as they forgave their fellow- men. He stood on the Temple Court and told the people a story of a Good Sama- ritan. A good Samaritan ! on the Sab- bath next after that scene in which Nico- demus saved him from arrest by the Sanhedrin, He exasperated His accusers by curing the blind man." — Dixon's Holy Land, ii. 227. 1 Search and look [ipivvrio-ov koI IfSe). — " When two Imperatives are connected by Koi, sometimes the first contains the condition (supposition) under which the action indicated by the second will take place, or the second expresses an inevitable result. The expression ipevvrtaov koI 'iSe is more forcible than if it had been koI 6\pei. The result of the search is so cer- tain, that the exhortation to search is felt as equivalent to an invitation to look at, behold, what is asserted." — Winer's Gram- mar of Neiv Testament, 327. " Galilseans. — There never has been a time in which this beautiful province (Galilee) was not peopled by a mixture of races from the East and the West. " At the time when our Lord was a child in Nazareth, one of its midland towns — lying on the slope of a hill about four miles from the capital, Sepphoris — Ga- lilee was inhabited by a population of Greeks, Jews, Egyptians, Cypriotes, Ital- ians, Arabs : men speaking separate idioms, following hostile fashions, and kneeling to rival gods. " Thus the people of Galilee had become a mixed though not a blended commu- nity. Most of the reapers and sowers of grain were of Syrian stock: of the Ca- naanite rather than of the Arab branch. The vine-dressers and husbandmen were mostly Jews ; but Jews who were con- sidered by the men of Judah as provin- cials. Many of the artizans, most of the traders dwelling in towns, were descended from those princes of Tyre and Sidon, who had been driven by Alexander and Pompey from the sea. Other artizans and traders had come in the ranks of foreign armies from Antioch, Alexandria, and Rome. In cities which lay along the coast, like Ptolemais and Tyre, and in strong inland forts like Sepphoris and Gadara, lived the more supple and artistic Greeks, the workers in gold and marble, the rhetori- cians and painters, the orators, dancers, amatory poets, the professors of every art, and as the Jews considered them, the propagators of every vice. From Italy, from Gaul and Spain, a more robust, and perhaps a more licentious rabble had been poured over the country to eat it up ; legionaries, lawyers, gladiators, courtezans, charioteers, procurators and police. But the most picturesque figure in this pic- turesque group has still to be named. Through the midst of these peasants of the soil, these Jews of the hamlet, these Greek and Egyptian strangers of the city, roved the wild and pastoral tribes, the untamed children of Ishmael and Esau, men who still dwelt under their black tents, driving their flocks and herds from valley to valley, coming with the verdure,, going with the dearth, and owning no al- legiance to either Ctesar or to his tributary kings. " The only tongue that could pretend to' be a common vehicle for all these families was that of Greece. Every man of a higher grade than a hewer of wood and a drawer of water, every man who had to move about the province, who had to deal with the stranger, to appeal in a law court, to con- sult a physician, to discharge any public function, in fact, the merchant, citizen, priest, and courtier, was compelled to practise Greek. It was the only medium of the court, the college, and the camp. In the time when our Lord was a child at Nazareth, this noble language had that predominance in Galilee which English has acquired in Calcutta, French in Al- giers, and Turkish in Stamboul." — Dixon's • Holy Land, i, 187-195. 182 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. Nicodemus does not announce himself a believer in Jesus ; but be laj^s domi a general principle sanctioned by the law of Moses, and by the law of nature. His cautious answer may have been dictated by a constitutional timidity, or by a hope that if the Pharisees would only have the fairness to examine the doctiine and the claims of Jesus before they condemned Him they would not wish to condemn Him ; that, like the officers who were sent to apprehend Him, they too would be filled with admiration for Him. But the Pharisees, who are blinded by envy and spite, see not the want of truth, or the falsehood as well as the irrelevancy of their answer to Nicodemus. Many prophets had come out of Galilee. But if not, that was no reason why prophets should not still arise in Galilee. Deborah the Prophetess was from the country of Galilee. She dwelt between Kamah and Bethel in Mount Ephraim. (Judges iv.) Anna the Prophetess was from Gahlee, of the tribe of Asher. (Luke ii. 36.) The prophet Jonah was of Gathhepher, a town of Lower Galilee in Zebulun. (2 Kings xiv, 25.) There is also a general consent among commentators that the Prophecies of Hoshea were delivered in the kingdom of Israel. It was also anciently believed that Hosea belonged to the tribe of Issachar, which would be included in the more modern district of Galilee. Nahum was born in Elkosh, a small village in Galilee ; hence he was called Nahum the Elkoshite. (i. 1.) The Prophet Elijah the Tishbite was born, according to some, at Thisbe in the tribe of Naphtali, in Galilee ; according to others in Gilead, on the east side of the Jordan. EHsha was born at Abel- Meholah, in the northern part of the valley of the Jordan. Though neither of these were strictly in the district called Galilee, they were neither of tbem in the country of Judaea, or in the kingdom of Judah, but both in the kingdom of Israel. Nicodemus simply asks that they should hear Him before they condemn Him. The answer of the Pharisees shows that they had already condemned Him, and unheard. It was impossible, they said, that He could be the Christ, because the Christ should come from Bethlehem, in Judah, and Jesus was born in Galilee. 53 [And every man went unto his own house.] [S» V. Omit, this verse.] ( 183 ) INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTER VIII. The Temple consisted of two parts, the first of which was called the Holy Place. In this were placed the golden altar of incense (Exod. xxx. 1-10), the seven-branched golden candlestick (Exod. xxv. 31-39), and the table of shittim w^ood overlaid with gold, on which the shew-bread was placed. Into this the priests alone entered and performed their priestly offices. Here every morning and evening they burnt incense to God upon the altar of incense. Their office was also to see that the seven lamps of the candlestick of pure gold w^ere continually burning before the Lord. Every Sabbath Day they had to remove the twelve loaves of the shew-bread from off the table of shew-bread, and replace them with twelve new loaves. The inner portion of the Temple was called the Holy of Holies. Into this the high priest alone entered, and that only once a year, on the day of atonement. Here was placed the Ark of the Covenant, an oblong chest of wood covered with gold, two golden figures of cherubims ; the lid of the ark of pure gold, or " the mercy-seat," the two tables of stone, the Book of the Law, a pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded. (Heb. ix. 2-4.) But Jesus, who was of the tribe of Judah, and not of the tribe of Levi, would enter into neither of these, neither the Holy Place nor the Holy of Holies. In addition to this there were courts around the Temple open to the air. The innermost of these was the Court of the Priests. Here they performed all public services of religion, and offered sacrifices on the altar of burnt offerings. The court adjoining to this was called the Court of the People. In this the people prayed and beheld the sacrifices that were offered by the priests. Here it was that Jesus so often taught the people. Around this Court were porches or corridors, cloisters or arcades, covered above, under which they could retire when the weather did not permit them to walk in the open air. Here Jesus was walking when the Jews came round about Him, not in the Temple proper, nor in the Court of the Temple, but in the porch, the covered portion that went round the Court. " We have in our Version only the one word * Temple,' with which we render both lepov and i^ao? ; nor is it very easy to see in what manner we could have indicated the distinction between them, which is yet a very real one, and one the marking of which would often add- 184 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. much to the clearness and precision of the sacred narrative, 'hpov (=templum) is the whole compass of the sacred inclosure, the re/iei/o?, including the outer courts, the porches, porticoes, and other buildings subordinated to the Temple itself. But vao<; (— a3des), from i/ato), habito, as the proper habitation of God (Acts vii. 48; xvii. 24; 1 Cor. vi. 19) : the olKo v/utf.) discourses I profess to be.) The context " Ti]u afixi]v thniuffhout, altotjcther, which furnishes no ground whatever for prefer- in all laobability is to be understood in ring the interrogative to tho positive form John viii. 25 (see Lilcke's careful exami- of expression." — \^mQx'sGrammarof New iiutiou of tho passage) : altogether what I Testament, 485. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 197 27 TUey understood not that He (spake) to them [of the Father.] [S. Of the Father God.] (Alf. Was speaking.) The difficulty of the 25th and 26th verses is confessed by all who have attempted to explain and to connect them. Each commentator sees them in a different light. Jesus had just said to the Jews that they should die in their sins, because they did not believe in Him. They then ask Him who He is, and He replies to this effect: ^'I am He who, from the beginning of the Creation, spake unto you as the Word, and Who now speak unto you the Word made flesh. He then goes on to say that He had many things to say and to judge against them, but not now, for this is not the time for judgment. Now He will speak only what will confute their unbelief in Him, viz., that the Father who sent Him is true, and the things which He speaks to them are true, because He hears them of the Father. Jesus did not say that God is His Father in direct terms. He rather suggests it to their thoughts to dwell upon and become familiar with. Had they clearly understood that this was His meaning some of them would have believed it, but probably the greater part not. Those who did believe it would have shrunk from taking any part in His Crucifixion. Those who did not believe it would have been for putting Him to death as a blasphemer immediately. The economy by which men's Redemption was to be accomplished by the Death of the God Incarnate would have been interfered with. Those who were drawn by the Father came to believe that Jesus was God gradually, and probably not fully until after His Death. 28 [Then said Jesus unto themj, When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself: ([but as My Father] hath taught Me,) [I speak these things.] [S. Then said Jesus again: V. Omits, Unto them: S. As the Father: S. Sol speak.] (Alf. Jesus therefore said— but according as the Father taught Me.) 29 And He that sent Me is with Me : the FatherUiath 1 The Father hath not left Me alone. that is, He granted Me, after having sent — "In no part of the New Testament Me (ire/xif^as), also (hitherto) His uuceas- does the Aorist express what is ivont to be ingaid." — Winer's Grammar of New Testa- done. OuK d<|>7jK€ ixe ixovov & Trarrjp, the ment, 293. Father left Me not alone (on the earth), 198 COMMENTARY ON ST, JOHN'S GOSPEL. not left Me alone : (for) I do always those things that (please) Him. [S. And He that sent Me hath not left Me alone : He is with Me, for I do.] (Alf. BeoauBe — are pleasing to.) He Speaks of His Crucifixion as an exaltation. He was lifted up upon tlie Cross, and He was lifted up so as to become an object of worship to all generations. His Crucifixion was intended by the Jews as an act of dishonour and ignominy. He was by it exalted above all things. He foretells that their unbelief would be overcome by His Crucifixion, His Death and Resurrection, by His patience, love and zeal for their salvation, by His miracles, and wondrous works. The centurion was but one out of many who were struck with awe and with the belief that this was the Son of God. He asserts that after His Crucifixion they would believe that He had taught with the authority of the Father, and was One with the Father, that the Father who had sent Him into the world had been with Him and had worked with Him all through His sojourn among men. 30 As He spake these words, many believed (on Him.) (Alf. In Him.) 31 (Then said Jesus) to those Jews which (believed on Him), If ye continue in My word, [(then) are ye My disciples indeed.] [S. Ye are disciples indeed.] (Alf. Jesus therefore said — had believed Him — omits, then.) 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The many who believed in Him would doubtless be from the simple, honest, unbiassed multitude, and but few from the Pharisees, whose pride and strong prejudices kept them, as a body, aloof from Jesus. These had probably given some outward expression of their belief in Him which is not mentioned ; either by words, or by ranging themselves along with His other disciples. If they continue in their belief in Him and in His teaching, which they had embraced, they should be His disciples in more than name, and they should receive the reward of His disciples. They should know the truth not by mere hearing, but they should realize it by the knowledge of actual experience. For this belief in Him and the doctrine which He taught them should deliver them from the yoke and servitude of sin. Belief in Him will lead them on to repent and forsake their sins, and to lead a life of love to Him. Wilful indulgence in sin cannot exist in the heart along with hatred of sio m^ love to God. COBIMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 199 33 They answered Him, We be Abraham's seed, and (were never) in bondage to any man: how sayest Thon, Ye shall be made free ? (Alf. Have never been.) The Jews who make this answer are either not the same who had believed in Him, or they are some who believed but whose faith in Him was still very imperfect. What they say might be strictly true of the Jews of our Saviour's own time, but the statement is almost too general to be meant to be confined to them. The probability is that, in their eagerness to vindicate themselves from the reflection which, as they imagine, Jesus had cast on them, they have overstepped the bounds of historical accuracy. But Jesus, who had a very different meaning, in His answer takes no notice of what they had said, 84 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, (Whosoever) committeth sin is the (servant) of sin, (Alf. Every one that — bondman.) 35 (And the servant) abideth not in the house for ever ; [but the Son abideth ever]. [S. Omits, but the Son abideth ever.] (Alf. Now the bondman — the Son abideth for ever.) 36 (If the Son therefore) shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (Alf. If then the Son.) Though Jesus speaks in general terms here, and in the third person, His words have evidently a personal application to the men before Him. They were living in the daily practice, in the habitual commission, of sin, they were therefore the bondmen of sin. He personifies sin and represents it as a master, to give a more lively idea of the hard tyranny of sin, and to represent more forcibly that the devil is the tempter, the person who seduces men to sin, and leads them captive and punishes them for their compliance. The boast of these Jews was that they were the seed of Abraham. The events of Abraham's own household give an apt illustration of their relation, and of their position with respect to Abraham. He had two kinds of seed, the son of the bondwoman and the son of the free. Ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, was cast out, while Isaac, the son of the free, remained in his father's house and inherited his goods. They, though the seed of Abraham, if they continued the bondmen of sin, would be cast out from God's kingdom. The only condition, on which they could remain in His house, was to receive freedom from sin, by belief in Jesus the Son of God, whom Isaac prefigured. 200 COMMENTABY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 37 I know that ye are Abraham's seed : (hut) ye seek to kill Me, because My Word (hath no place hi you). (Alf. Nevertheless — gainetli no ground in you). 38 I speak that which I have seen [with My Father] : (and ye) do that [which ye have seen (with) your father.^] [V. With the Father : S. Which ye have seen from your father : V. Which ye have heard from your father.] (Alf. And ye likewise — from.) 39 They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. [Jesus saith unto them]. If ye were Abraham's children ye would do the works of Abraham. [S. Jesus answered them.] 40 But now ye seek to kill Me, a Man that hath (told you) the truth, which (I have heard of God) : this did not Abiaham.^ (Alf. Spoken unto you— I heard from God.) In this conversation mth the Jews Jesus makes a distinction between Abraham's seed (aTrepfia) and Abraham's children {reKva). He admits that they were Abraham's seed, that is descended from Abraham according to the flesh ; but by their actions they were so degenerated from Abraham that they could not be called his children. If they were Abraham's children they would do the works of Abraham. But Abraham always sought to save life and not to kill ; but they sought to kill Him, a Man who taught them the truth, which God only could teach them. The reason of this degeneracy was because His Word, His teaching had no influence with them. 41 Ye do the (deeds) of your father. [Then said they to Him,] (We be not) born of fornication : we have one Father, even God. [S. V. They said to Him.] (Alf. Works — ^wo were not.) 1 And ye do that which ye have seen 2 The truth which I have heard of with your father («al v/xels oZv ^wpaKare God (tV aX-fiOeiav, u\v iJKovaa irapa rdv irapa tu> varpl v/xwu, Trotetrt.) — " Tho odv 6edv.) — " Of verbs of perception olkovu is is far from being a mere expletive. It construedwith the Genitive (to hear />o?w, strikingly contrasts tho character of Jesus out of one.) Here o-kSvu is construed with witli that of the Jews {ijou also, therefore), the accusative, because the object is tho representing both as respectively spring- whole connection, and tho hearing meant ing, as it were, from one and the same is intellectual : while in the previous case principle — conformity to paternal direc- the object is simply certain sounds or tion and example." — Winer's Gra7?wnar 0/ words received by the car." — Winer's IJew Testament, 476. Grammar of New testament, 213. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 201 The conduct of the Jews to Jesus was of a piece with the rest of their actions. They were not hy that acting out of character. It was all through in keeping with the other works of him who was their father, the prompter and author of all their thoughts and works. As Jesus spake and taught what He had heard of His Father so they did what they heard from their father. When the Jews perceive that He is not speaking so much of natural descent from Abraham, but of spiritual liJvcness by imitation of faith and life, they reply that they arc not born of fornication, but have one Father, even God. Fornication was the word by which the prophets stigmatised idolatry, the forsaking the One true God for the worship of idols. The Jews reply that they are not the descendants of idolaters, such as the Gentiles, or such as the Samaritans were, but they worship the One true God, and so did their fathers. Abraham was called from the midst of the heathen to worship the true God, and they are his children, and continue to worship the same God as he. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love Me : for I proceeded forth, and (came) from God : (neither came I) of Myself, but He sent Me. (Alf. Am come — for neither am I come.) They say that God is their Father, and Jesus brings this to the test. If God were their Father they would love Him, for He is God in the most perfect sense of the word, by Eternal Generation from the Father, and by mission from the Father to take upon Him the nature of man. The expression, " I proceeded forth from and am come from God," is remarkably full and unusual, and its meaning would scarcely be satisfied by being confined to the Incarnation. He complains that they cannot understand His speech, His mean- ing, the drift of His words, not from any natural impossibility, but because of the hardness, the aversion of their own hearts. 43 Why do ye not understand My speech ? (even be- cause) ye cannot hear My word.^ (Alf. Because.) 1 Speech, Word. — " AaA-tci and \6yos to deny that it had any significance, are here set in a certain antithesis to one Otliers again, admitting the significance, another, and in the seizing of the point of have failed to draw it rightly out. It is this must lie the right understanding of clear that as the inability to understand the verse. What the Lord intended hy His ' speech ' (AaAtct) is traced up as a varying XaXid and x6yos has been very consequence to a refusing to hear His differently understood. Some, as Angus- word {\6yos) ; this last as the root and tine, though commenting on the passage, ground of the mischief, must be the have omitted to notice the variation. deeper and anterior thing. To hear His Others, like Olshauseu, have noticed, only word can bo nothing else than to givo 202 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL, 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the hists of your father (ye will do). He was a murderer from the begimiing, "(and abode not) in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own : (for) he is a liar, and the father (of it).^ (Alf. Ye love to do— and standeth not — because — thereof.) Words could scarcely express more distinctly the personality of the devil — viz., that man does not sin — because the properties of certain things accidentally fall in with his passions, or with the constitution of his nature, but because a being of power and intelligence infinitely superior to his is ever plotting his ruin, always on the alert to originate and suggest some action, or some course of action, to withdraw him from the allegiance which he owes to his Creator, The devil is their father, and they are his children, not by natural descent, but by imitation, because they love to do his lusts, Jesus alludes to two points in particular, in w^hich they loved to do the lusts of their father — viz,, murder and lies. He does this because they w^ero at that very time devising the means how to accomplish His Death, and because they said that He was a false prophet, a deceiver, and had a devil. The devil was a murderer from the beginning, even from the beginning of the Creation, It was he who brought about the fall of Adam and Eve, and through them the death of the whole human race. When one man rises against his fellow man, as Cain against Abel, and commits murder, the devil is the author, the suggestor of the murder ; and man is merely his instrument in executing it, the doer of his lusts. The devil, too, is the author of all that is false. Truth may be considered in several aspects as regards the heart, the mouth, and also room to His truth in the heart. They For he is a liar and the father of it who will not do this must fail to under- (tj/euo-Trjs ia-rl kuI 6 irar^p avrov.) — ^^'Avr6s stand His speech, the outward form and sometimes refers to an abstract deduced utterance which His word assumes. They from a preceding concrete, or vice versA. that are of God hear God's words. His {\l/€V(rr-ns iarl koI 6 trar^p avrdv.) {\pev5ovs) pilfiara as elsewhere (John iii. 34 ; viii. 47), see Liicke in loc. The other explanation, His \a\id, as here it is called, which they Father of the liar, appears neither gi-am- that are not of God do not and cannot matically simpler nor substantially pre- hear." — Archbp. Trench on 2'/ie jS?/non7/7H« ferable. Father of falsehood is a notion of N^7o Testament, 275. more appropriate to John, who had a 1 The lusts of your father ye will predilection for abstract terms." — Winer's do (tov iiriBvfxlas tov Trarphs vfiuu OtXtre Grammar of New Testament, 158. iroifiv.) — "The lusts of your father you will Bishop Middleton (on Greek Article) {are resolved and inclined to) do (carry disagrees with this interpretation, but is into effect, either in general (your hearts unable, with the present reading, to jmpelyou to follow the will of Satan), or be- suggest any other that is entirely satis- cause ye go about to kill Me." (Verse 40.) — factory. See his very interesting note, p. Winer's Qrammar of New Testament, 489. 251. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL, 203 with respect to action. The devil abode not in the truth, he abode not in the true and right course, in the lawful position in which God had created him, when through pride he rebelled against Him. He abode not in the obedience, in the allegiance which he owed to God, he was created an angel of light, and through his own deed he became dark- ness. The devil abode not in the truth, when through lies and misre- presentations he deceived Eve, and succeeded in bringing death upon mankind. AYhen men speak a lie they are not the author of it — the devil is the author, the inventor of it. They are themselves the victims of *' the liar," and are merely his instruments in uttering it. The devil was the author of the first lie, of the whole system or art of lying, and also of every individual lie. 45 (And because I tell you) the truth, ye believe Me not. (Alf. But because I speak.) 46 Which of you (convincoth) Me of sin ? [And] (if I say the truth,) why do ye not believe Me ? [S. V. Omit, And.] (Alf. Convictetli— If I speak truth.) 47 He that is of God heareth (God's words) : (Ye there- fore) hear them not, because ye are not of God. (Alf. The words of* God — for this cause ye.) They loved to do the lusts of the devil because he was their father. They would not believe Jesus, though He spake the truth, because God was not their Father. He challenges them to convict Him of sin in His life, or of falsehood in His teaching, and presses on them the conclusion that the sinlessness of His life and truth of His teaching would have ensured the reception of His words, if they had been, as they professed, of God. Unable to answer this unanswerable argument, the Jews replied that He was a Samaritan, and had a devil. 48 [Then answered the Jews], and said unto Him, Say we not well that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil ? [S. V. The Jews answered.] (Alf. The Jews answered.) It is nowhere recorded that the Jews were in the habit of calling Jesus a Samaritan, and yet these words would seem to imply as much. The religion of the Samaritans was a corruption of the Jewish, a mixture of Jewish worship with the worship of false gods, the know- 204 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. ledge of which they had brought with them from Assyi-ia. A Samaritan, therefore, was with the Jews a term of reproach for one who was half a Jew and half an idolater, an idolatrous schismatic. By this term they might mean that Jesus kept the law of Moses in part, but mixed up with it much that was new and false. The characteristic of devils is to arrogate to themselves the honour and glory that belong only to God. The Jews in saying that Jesus had a devil charged Him with taking to Himself, who was a mere man, the honour which belonged to God alone. To this which is the most serious part of their charge, He replies, but makes no reference to the first part — viz., that of being a Samaritan. 49 [Jesus answered], I have not a devil : but I honour My Father, and ye do dishonour Me. [S. Jesus answered and said.] 50 (And) I seek not Mine Own glory : (but there is) One that seeketh and judgeth. (Alf. But— there is.) 51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My (saying), he shall never see death. (Alf. Word.) He denies in express words that He has a devil, or the qualities of a devil. For a devil seeks his own glory, but He seeks the glory of His Father. Jesus honours the Father, but the Jews, in dishonouring Him dishonour the Father. Jesus seeks not His Own glory, but God the Father is seeking His glory, and is even now judging between Him and the Jews. The term judging here has no reference to the Last Judgment. In the Last Judgment it is expressly said that the Son of Man shall be the Judge. It rather refers to the daily visitations and judgments by which God chastises His disobedient people. Here, too, in all probability Jesus alludes to the sufferings which the Jews are on the very point of enduring at the hands of the Eomans, for their rejection and crucifixion of Him. In spite of the malignity and the venom of their reproach that He had a devil, Jesus still continues to press on them the ofter of eternal life. With the strongest form of asseveration amounting, as some think, almost to an oath, He declares that if they will keep His saying they shall never die. He does not refer to the death of the body, for that is not really death, any more than the life of the body is really life. If they will keep His word. He will impart to them life, the life of gi-ace in the soul, and they shall never fall into such sin as will quench the life of the soul, which shall be purified and strengthened until it ripens into the life of glory everlasting hereafter. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 205 52 [Then said the Jews] unto Him, Now we know that Thou hast a devil. Abraham (is dead), and the prophets, and Thou sayest, If a man keep My (saying,) [he shall never (taste of death.)] [S.V. The Jews said : V. He shall never see death.] (Alf. Died— word— taste death.) 53 Art Thou greater than our Father Abraham, which (is dead) ? and the prophets (are dead) : whom makest Thou Thyself ? (Alf. Died.) After all His instruction the Jews as yet could only gi-asp the idea of one kind of life, and of one kind of death, viz. : that of the body. They declare that His offer to keep them from tasting death is only another confirmation of their conviction, that He had a devil. Nothing in their opinion could account for such language, as He used, except the supposition that He was possessed with a devil. Not only was He a mere man making Himself greater than Abraham, and greater than the prophets, but even greater than God himself. Abraham kept God's word, and so did the prophets, and yet they all died. God's word conferred on them no such immunity from death, as Jesus here declares that the observance of His word will do. They are at a loss to conceive to whom He likens himself. The mistake of the Jews, which runs through all this, is in thinking of Abraham and the prophets as dead, and in confining death to the body. Even their bodies, which were dead, Jesus could raise up again at the last day. The souls of the righteous could never die, could never taste death, could never experience eternal separation from God. 54 Jesus answered, If I (honour) Myself, My (honour) is nothing: It is My father that (honoureth) Me : [of Whom ye say, (that He is your God).] [A. Of Whom ye say, He is our God.] (Alf. Glorify— glory — glorifieth — He is our God.) 55 (Yet) ye have not known Him : but I know Him : and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be a liar like unto you ; but I know Him and keep His (saying). (Alf. And — word.) If the honour or glory, which is given to Jesus, were given to Him by Himself, it would be of no value. But it is given to Him by the 206 COMMENTAKY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. Father, whom the Jews claim as their God. Though they say the Father is their God, they do not know Him. They do not show that they have any knowledge of Him, either hy sincerely worshipping Him, and hy living according to His commands, nor do they show that they know anything of His nature, otherwise they would have under- stood that Jesus the Messiah was the Son of God. They do not know that in the Godhead there are Three Persons, though but One God. The Jews proved themselves to be liars by saying that they knew God, when they worshipped Him not. Jesus is not like them, He knows Him and therefore He fulfils all His word. The Jews despised Jesus, but Abraham, whose children they boasted they were, did not ; He looked forward with delight to Him as his Saviour. The boast and glory of the Jews was in Abraham, but Abraham's glory was in Jesus. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day : and He saw it and was glad. 57 (Then said the Jews) unto Him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, [and hast Thou seen Abraham] ? [B. And hath Abraham seen Thee ?] (Alf. The Jews therefore said.) In their use of the term fifty years the Jews had probably some reference to the time at which the Levites began to be superannuated with respect to the service of the Temple. Their time of service lasted from thirty to fifty years. (Numb. iv. 3.) And the Jews had an opinion, that whoever died before fifty or at least fifty-two, died untimely, and as it were by cutting off. Thus their words imply : Thou art not yet come to the common years of superannuation, and dost Thou talk of having seen Abraham ? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham (was) I am.^ (Alf. Was made.) ^Before Abraham was, I am {irplv in the rendering of Luke vi. BQycvfaee Afipahfx yeviadai^ iyw iifil). — "It is im- oiKrlpiJLOvfi Kadios [»coj] 6 irar^p Ifiuv portaut to mark the distinction between oiKTipfjLuv iarip. Be ye merciful, as your cTi/ot and yiVicrQit, where our translators Father also is merciful. Here also the have not observed it. Thus our English original expresses the distinction between rendering of John viii. .58, ' Before Abra- the imperfect effort and the eternal attri- hara was, I am,' loses half the force of bute." — Dr. J. B. Lightfoot on Revision the original, -rpiv Afipadfi ytvtaBat, iyi> of New Testament, liS. iifxi^ ' Before Abraham was born, I am.' " Sometimes a Past Tense is included The becoming only can rightly be predi- in tlie Present, when, for instance, a verb cated of the patriarch, the being is re- expresses a state whieh commenced at an served for the Eternal Son alone. Similar earlier period, but still continues — a state in kind, though less in degree, is the loss in its whole duration as John viii. 58, COMMENTAKY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 207 The day which Jesus here calls "My day" aud which Abraham rejoiced to see, which he saw aud was glad, was the day of Christ's appearauce in the Flesh, the day of His Birth and life among men, the Incarnation, when the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us. Abraham is here but the representative of the righteous. He saw it with a faith, which realized it as though present. He saw it as revealed to Him by God, at different times, and in divers manners, as for instance in the ram caught in a thicket by his horns, and which he was to offer up for a burnt- offering in the stead of his son. (Gen. xxii. 13). He may have seen it too in another sense. The good tidings which caused so much joy to the angels, and to the shepherds, and to the saints on the earth, to Zacharias and Elizabeth, to Simeon and Anna and others, may not have been confined to them ; these good tidings may have been conveyed to the righteous, who were already removed from the earth, and who were awaiting the fulness of time for their redemption. Jesus here appropriates to Himself the form '^ I Am," by which God the Father had of old described Himself (Exod. iii. 14) : the Eternal, without change, without beginning or ending. In this sense the Jews understood Him and took up stones to stone Him as speaking blasphemy. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at Hhn: [but] Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple, [going through the midst of them, and so passed by.]^ [V. Omits, but : S. V. omits going through the midst of them, and so passed by.] (Alf. Omits, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.) The Jews had a tradition that the murder of Zacharias in the Temple by their fathers had (Lightfoot ii. 237) entailed upon the nation a fearful punishment. Yet so exasperated are they with Jesus that un- deterred by this story which was commonly believed among them they attempt His life in the Court of the Temple, taking up the stones, which in all probability lay there for the completion or the repair of some portion of the building. He hid Himself, probably not by secreting Himself in any pai-t of the building, but by rendering Himself invisible to them, and thus went out of the Temple. The words going through the midst of them are not found in the Sinaitic and Vatican MSS. but they may contain a very good explanation of the way in which He hid Himself. irpy A)3poa/i yev4adai iyu) iifxi. — Winer's hvTuv Kai Traprjy^u Svtws. The omission Grammar of New Testament, 282. is to be accounted for by the fact thiit just 1 Going through the midst of them, then the Ciiurcli lesson for Tuesday in &:c. — " The Valican and Sinaitic MSS. and the fifth week after Easter came to an Codox Beza are alone among MSS. in end." — Burgon on The Last Verses of omitting the clause 5i(\e^v 5ia ^4 the pool of Shelah. surprised to find it so entire, exactly Now, the former plainly and properly resembling the common prints of it. It signifies airea-TaXfjLeuos, but not so the is in the form of a parallelogram, and the latter. Probably the Evangelist added walls all round are of hewn stones. The this parenthesis on purpose to distinguish steps that lead down into it, at the eastern which of the pools the blind man was sent end, are no doubt the same which have to wash in, viz., not in tlie pool Shelah, been there for ages. The water covered which signifies KwSlav fleeces, but in the bottom to the depth of one or two the pool of Sheloah, which signifies feet. At the western end, climbing a tWcoTToA/ieVos, sent." — Lightfoot, ii. 571. little way into a cave hewn out of a rock, " There are two pools of Siloam, a we descended a few steps into the place small one, into which the waters from the from which the water flows into the pool. Virgin Fount fall after issuing from the It is connected by a long subterranean tunnel; the other a larger pool, now passage, running quite through the neck nearly filled up. This latter I suppose to the Fountain of the Virgin, or more COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 215 The Sinaitic and Vatican MSS. connect the Pool of Siloam with the verb " wash," and not with " Go." This is rendered by the Authorised Version, as well as by Alford's Revision, " Go, and wash in the Pool of Siloam." The Alexandrine MS. reads " Go to the Pool of Siloam and wash.'* Jesus was the Sent. He had so often repeated to the Jews the phrase that He was sent that it could scarcely fail to attract their attention. Siloam also means Sent. What the Pool of Siloam was to this blind man — viz., the source and fount of light — Jesus was to the world. He may have sent this blind man to wash in the Pool of Siloam, and to receive sight through the instrumentality of its waters, to remind them that He Himself was the Shiloh, " the Messiah," " the Sent " by the Father. That Jesus had in His mind some typical reference when He sent the blind man to the Pool of Siloam is rendered almost certain by the interpretation of its name being given by the Evangelist. The Evangelist did not give any interpretation of the term Bethesda, which was also a Hebrew word, and probably for the reason that no typical allusion was intended in the latter name. It had been already foretold that the Messiah or Shiloh, or the Sent, as the Jews understood it, would open the eyes of the blind. (Isa. xxix. 18 ; XXXV. 5.) He, who declared Himself again and again to be the Sent, had just opened the eyes of a man born blind through the instrumentality of the waters of a pool called Sent. Yet all this awakened in the mind of the Jew^s no insight into the real character of Jesus. 8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was [blind] said, Is not this he that (sat and begged ?) [S. V. A. Beggar.] (Alf. A beggar— sitteth and beggeth.) The Sinaitic, Vatican, and Alexandrine MSS. all read, and they which before had seen him that he was a beggar. It has been well remarked that the question of identity would be much more likely to properly the Fountain of Siloam, the " Go wash in the pool {DV076 pi^ai entrance to which is a considerable way els t))v KoKv^^i\Qpav.) — iis t)]v KoXvfi^'ftOpav farther up the Valley of Jehoshaphat. is, in regard to the sense, to be connected Through this passage the water flows with v-rrayf:. Comp. verse ii : Go into the softly from the fountain till it finds its pool and wash thyself in it. (Comp. way into the pool, not as generally repre- Luke xxi. 37.) See Liicke. Though sented in pictures by pouring over the viirreaBai its vSwp is as proper an expres- mouth of the cave, but secretly from sion as in aquam macerare, so Jer. xli. 7, beneath. Wild flowers, and among other eacpa^ev avrovs ets rh fpiap, he slew (and plants the caper-tree, grow luxuriantly cast) them into the pit. Comp. 1 Mace, around its border." — Mission to the Jeics vii. 19. — ^Winer's Grammar of Neio Testa- from Scotland, p. 154. ment, 434. 216 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. turn on whether he was really the person who had sat and begged. That proved — the whole city would remember — that it was a blind beggar who used to sit there. The greatness of the miracle, and the alteration of the face from that of a blind man to that of one, who sees for the first time in his life, of one delighted and amazed by the first sight of creation, must have been immense, enough surely to cause them to doubt, whether he were the same man or not. 9 Some said, This is he : [others said, He is Uke him] : (but he said) I am he. [S. V. others said, No, but he is like him.] (Alf. others said, Nay, but he is like him — he said.) 10 Therefore said they unto him, [How] were thine eyes opened ? [S. How, therefore.] 11 He answered [and said], A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said ijnto me, [Go to the pool of Siloam], and wash : [and I went] and washed, (and I received sight.) [S. V. Omit, And said : S. V. Go to Siloam : S. V. I went therefore.] (Alf. Omits, And said— Go to Siloam — I went therefore— and received sight.) 12 [Then said they] unto him, (Where is He? He said,) I know not, [S. V. And they said : A. They said.] (Alf. They said— Where is the Man ? He saith.) The man himself does not in any way attribute his recovery to the natural effect of the water of Siloam. He speaks of it merely as the instrument in the hand of Jesus for his recovery. He does not yet know that Jesus is God, he knows that his name is Jesus, either by common rumour, or by the report of the bystanders. He could not see Him before the miracle, and after it Jesus had withdrawn Himself. 13 (They brought) to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. (Alf. They bring.) 14 (And it was the sabbath day when) Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. (Alf. Now it was the Sabbath, on the day when.) COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 217 15 (Then) again the Pharisees also asked him how he (had received) his sight. [He said unto them], He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. [A. He said also unto them.] (Alf. Therefore — received.) 16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not (of God), because he keepeth not the sabbath day. [Others] said. How can a Man that is a sinner do such miracles 1 And there was a division among them. [S. V. But others.] (Alf. From God.) 17 [They say unto the blind man again]. What sayest thou of Him, that He hath opened thine eyes ? He said, He is a prophet. [S. V. A. They say therefore : S. Unto the formerly blind man.] (Alf. They say therefore.) The neighbours of the blind man are the unwitting instruments of furthering the designs of God. It was probably from no feeling of kindliness, but rather of hostility towards Jesus, or from fear of the Pharisees, that they bring him to the Pharisees to be examined by them. But this was the very way to render this miracle the best attested and the most widely kiaown of aU His works. These Pharisees seem invested with legal authority, and were probably a court of the Sanhedrin. They are divided in opinion respecting the matter. The one, and probably the smaller party, and which might include in it Nicodemus, Joseph the Arimathsean, and Gamaliel, Pharisees, who sat in the Sanhedrin, and who on other occasions counselled fairness and moderation, this party wished to form their conclusion solely on the evidence of the case itself. The animus of the other party is shown by the prominence which they give to the fact that the cure was wrought on the Sabbath Day. They wish to prejudge the miracle solely on this ground, without any reference to its own merits. This pretended miracle could not be real, or true, because it was wrought in violation of God's command to keep the Sabbath Day holy. This is their sole argument. Being unable to agree, they appeal to the man's own opinion of Jesus. He, grateful and sincere, and uninfluenced by any inferior motives, frankly and openly declares that Jesus is a prophet — that is, one commissioned by God to fulfil His work. They then turti to examine the evidence for the fact, or rather to see what flaw they can find in the evidence, for that is plainly their object. 218 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 18 (But the Jews) did not believe concerning liim, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. (Alf. The Jews, therefore.) 19 And they asked them [saying], Is this your son, who ye say was born blind ? how then doth he now see ? [S. Omits, Saying.] 20 [His parents] answered them, and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind. [S.V. His parents, therefore : A. But his parents.] (Alf. His parents answered and said.) 21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not : or who (hath opened) his eyes, we know not : [he is of age ; ask him] : he (shall) speak for himself. [V. Ask him, he is of age : S. Omits, Ask him.] (Alf. Opened— ask him : he is of age— will.) 22 These words (spake) his parents, because they feared the Jews : for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man (did confess that He was Christ) he should be put out of the synagogue.^ (Alf. Said — should acknowledge Him as Christ.) 1 He should be put out of the S3naa- after-comments of the Evangelists them- gogue {airoavvdryoiyos yewnrai) — " So chap. selves (e.g. Matt, i. 1 ; Mark i. 1 ; John i. 17), xvi. ii. airoffwaydyovs iroi-fiffovffiv iiixas, no instance of this usage can bo found. In granting that this is spoken of excommu- the body of the narratives we read only nication, the question may be whether it of 6 Xpiffrhs the Christ, the Messiah, whom is to bo understood of the ordinary ex- the Jews had long expected, and who communication, that is, from this or that might or might not be identified with the synagogue, or the extraordinary, that is, person "Jesus," according to the spiritual a cutting off from the whole congregation discernment of the individual. Xpia-rhs is of Israel. nowhere connected with 'Iriaovs in the *• Whosoever is excommunicated by the Gospels with the exception of John xvii. 3, President of the Sanhedrin is cut off from where it occurs in a prophetic declaration the whole congregation of Israel : and if so of our Lord, 'Iva, yivuffKtaaiv, rhv p.6vov then much more so, if it be by the vote of a\T]6ivov &ihv koL ^s tou (instead of a pronoun) is employed to de- iraTp6s mow." — Winer's Grammar of Neio note an emphatic antithesis Ac- Testament, p. 157. cordingly, it will be perceived that the COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 239 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you [from My Father] : for which of (those works) do ye stone Me ?^ [S. V. From the Father.] (Alf. The Father— these works.) 33 The Jews answered Him, [saying], For a good work we stone Thee not : but for blasphemy : [and] because that Thou being a man, makest Thyself God. [S. v. A. Omit, saying— S. omits, and] The Jews had themselves requested Him to tell them, without any reservation, or indistinctness of language, whether He were the Christ, intimating that if He were they would worship Him as such. Now when He declares that He is God in language which they cannot mis- understand, they take up stones to stone Him, giving as their reason, that He, being a Man, made Himself God. In the very act of hurling the stones at Him they are withheld by some secret power, and Jesus, in order as it would seem, to bring out more strongly than ever His equality and Oneness with the Father, puts a question to them. He had used words, which, as the Jews well saw, could have but one meaning, to make Himself equal with God. When they take up stones to stone Him, He asks them. For which of the many good works it was that they did this ? Was it for raising the dead, or healing the sick, or opening the eyes of the blind ? They reply it was not for any of His works, but for His words, for the blasphemy of His words, because that He, being a Man, made Himself God. Jesus acknowledges that they had understood His words aright. But He does not withdraw them, He does not retract in the least. He does not soften down His meaning but repeats and enforces it in a different form. He shows them that the word God is used in Scripture in two senses ; (1) In a lower sense it is applied to those who have a power delegated to them by God : and (2) in the highest sense it is the name of the Creator of all things. In the first sense they were gods, they were judges and rulers set over the people by God. In the second sense He was God ; He it was who gave them their power and authority. 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written [in your law], I said, ye are gods 1 [S. In the law.] 1 For which of those works do ye necessary preparations to do, as in John stone Me ? (5ia voiov avruv %pyov X. 32. 5toi irohv avruv ^pyov \i6dCer4 /te ; MddCfre fx€.) "Sometimes the Present "they had already taken up stones.") is employed to denote what is just about Winer's Grammar of New Testament, to take place — ^what one is intending to p. 280. effect, and what he has already made the 240 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 35 If He called them gods, unto whom the word of Grod came, and the Scripture cannot be (broken) ; (Alf. Made void.) 86 Say ye of Him, whom the Father (hath sanctified and sent) into the world. Thou blasphemest : because I said, I am the Son of God ? (Alf. Sanctified and sent.) They were called gods by the Psalmist (Ps. Ixxxii. 6-8) and He was God, but the difference between them was this, they were called gods because the word of God came to them, and gave them a certain authority : He was God, because the Father sanctified Him, and sent Him into the world, that is, because the fulness of the Godhead dwelt in Him bodily. They knew from the testimony of John the Baptist, that the Holy Spirit had descended upon Him, and that a voice from the Father had set His seal upon Him, had given His highest sanction to Him, and declared that Jesus was His Beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased. There was, as His words imply, the same difference between Himself and them, mere man though he seemed, as the Psalmist had made between the Most High and those, who were His children, between those who should die like men, and the God that judgeth the earth. Jesus then appeals to His words as proving His unity with the Father. If they will not believe His teaching, that He is One with the Father, that the Father is in Him, and He in the Father, He calls on them to examine the character of His works. His works are such as no mere man could perform. They must either admit, that He wrought them by His power as God, or they must admit, that the Father permitted Him to exert supernatural power in confirmation of a claim, which is not true, nay of a claim, which they themselves say is blasphemy, the highest blasphemy, if it be not true. Reduced to this extremity their exasperation knows no bounds, and they attempt again to take Him, but He escapes out of their hands, probably by giving them another proof of His Almighty power as God, by render- ing Himself invisible to them. 37 If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not.^ 38 (But if I do) though ye believe not Me, believe the 1 If I do not the works of My Father, generally 'if not' is expressed more {iioviroiwrii l^pyaroviraTpSsfioVy&^c). "If frequently by ii 6v than by ^t ^^, which I neglect My Father's works (and thus latter form most commonly signifies ♦ ex- withheld from you the proofs of My divine cept." — ^Winer's Grammar of New Testa- mission, &c.). In the New Testament ment, p. 499. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 241 works [that ye may know, and (believe)], that the Father is. in Me, [and I in Him.] [V. That ye may know and understand :— S. V. And I in the Father.] (Alf. But if I do them— understand— and I in the Father.) 39 Therefore they sought [again] to take Him : (but He escaped) out of their hand. [S. Omits, again.] (Alf. And He passed.) 40 [And went away again] beyond (Jordan)^ [into the place] where John at first baptized : (and He abode there.)^ [S. Omits, into the place : A. He went away therefore again.] (Alf. The Jordan— and there He tarried.) 41 And many (resorted) unto Him, and said, (John did) 1 And went away again beyond Jor- dan. — " To go down this road, (leading from Jerusalem towards the Jordan) as Jesus went down, on foot and with a com- pany of men, made a journey of two days. A mile below Bethany, in a wild glen, they came upon a little spring of pure water, then called En-Shemesh, and now known to travellers and pilgrims as the Apostles' Fountain. Beneath that spring on the hill-side and Jericho in the great plain, there was only one spot in which a man could find shade and drink: the half-way house, the khan at which caravans rested and travellers slept for the night. " In going to and fro, between Galilee and Judasa, Jesus must have often lodged in the arches of this khan. The wild glen, the desert country dividing two rich cities, offered every temptation to daring thieves, and nothing was more usual than for the people lodging at this inn for the night to see unhappy men, who had been robbed, disabled, and left in the sun to die. Such a sight must have suggested the parable of the Good Samaritan, spoken in the Temple Court : for the Lord's habit was to illustrate moral truths by circum- stances which were as familiar to His hearers as light and air. " Early on the second day of His journey, Jesus would reach the City of Palms, and crossing the Ford into Perea, would find Himself in the dominions of Antipas Herod, comparatively free and safe." — Dixon's Holy Land, ii. 227. ^ And there He abode. — " In its lower course, the sacred stream divided the Koman province of Jud^a from the semi- independent province of Perea, as in its upper course it parted Galilee from Trachonitis. The eastern bank lying in another country to the western, a man living near the Ford had the privilege of being able to select his own time for ac- cepting any process of arrest : unless, in- deed, Herod, who was still conducting operations on the desert frontier against Aj-etas, should think proper to give him up to Pilate : an event unlikely to occur, even if Pilate could be persuaded to ask it, since it was well known in Jewry that the procurator was on very bad terms with the prince. Pilate had been the cause of a great crime, which Antipas considered, and justly considered, an in- fringement of his sovereign rights. This offence is known in history as the Mas- sacre of the Galilaeans. " Under the safeguard of these suspicions and animosities between the two rulers, Jesus could remain near the Ford : preach- ing to the crowds who followed Him from Jericho and the hamlets of Perea : and waiting for the time of the great Feast, when He proposed to go up with the Galilcean caravan to Jerusalem and accept His appointed crown of thorns.' — Dixon's Holy Land, ii. 232. R 242 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. no miracle : but all things (that) John spake of this Man were true. (Alf. Came — John indeed did — whatsoever.) 42 And many believed (on Him) there. (Alf. In Him.) Jesus withdrew to Bethabara or Bethany beyond Jordan where John had baptized Him. He went there probably to recall to the minds of those who accompanied Him the testimony which John had at His Baptism borne to Him, as well as the testimony of the Father. They seem to have held the memory of John in great reverence, and to have treasured up his sayings. They reason like men who were open to conviction, anxious only to learn the truth. John, as they say, did no miracles, and yet we believed his words. Jesus has wrought many miracles, and in confirmation of the truth of what He says, why then should we not believe Him ? Besides, whatever John said respecting Jesus, so far as we are able to judge, was true ; He is, as John said He would be, greater than John in His miracles, in the gracious words that fall from His lips, and in the sanctity of His life ; we see that John's words are true so far, why should we not believe that they are true in all that he said respecting Him : why should we not believe that Jesus is, as John said, the Messiah, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world ? This honesty of heart prepared the way for their reception of the truth, and many believed on Jesus. Here Jesus remained till within a short time of the Passover, at which He should suffer, when He returned again to Jerusalem. ( 243 ) INTKODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTER XI^ Bethany.— " Sixty generations of men have come and gone since that day, yet Bethany (Beth-anyah, House of the Poor) is still the abode of poverty, a heap of stone sheds, mixed with some ruins, and peopled by a rabble of Arab peasants too lazy to work, too abject to thieve. Only two miles from Jerusalem, only one mile from GaHlaeans' Hill, it is yet out of the world : standing on a ledge of bare rock, looking down into the Cedron Gorge, across to the opposite ridge of Abu Dis, then into the intricate maze of limestone hills which go dropping from shelf to shelf into the plain of the Dead Sea. A track from Jerusalem to Jericho winds through it, over slippery sheets of stone, on which horse and camel find it difficult to keep their feet. A carob here, and a fig tree there, make the absence of verdure more keenly felt. " The situation of Bethany, if lonely and exposed, is also command- ing and picturesque. At the head of two wadies, covering the chief tracks through the wilderness, it is a needful outpost for Jerusalem, and must have been used as a watch-tower from the earliest times. Some old foundations of Jewish style and bevel would seem to show that Bethany was one of those places on the desert edge in which the Kings of Judah built watch-towers to protect the walls. Around this tower poor people would creep and huddle, throwing up their booths and houses beneath its walls, and nothing is more likely in Palestine than that such a village should be called by the name of Bethany (Beth-anyah) House of the Poor." — Dixon's Holy Land ^ ii. p. 205. On the derivation of the word Bethany, see a learned dissertation by Mr. Deutsch in Dixon's Holy Land, ii. p. 214. B ^ ( 244 ) CHAPTER XI. 1 Christ ralseth Lazarus y four days hiiried ; 45 Many Jeivs believe; 47 The high priests and Pharisees gather a council against Jesus ; 49 Caiaphas prophesieth ; 54 Jesus hid Himself; 55 At the Passover they inquire after Him, and lay wait for Him, The Evangelist St. John here omits many of the sayings of Jesus, and at once passes on from the events of December to those of March, that is, from His discourse at the Feast of Dedication and His retire- ment to Bethany beyond Jordan to the raising of Lazarus from the dead only a few days before His Crucifixion. 1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, (of Bethany, the town) of Mary and [her sister] Martha. [A. His sister.] (Alf. There was a certain man sick— from Bethany, of the town.) 2 It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.^ 1 It was that Mary which anointed the Lord, &c., [iju Se Mapia tj aXei^acra)-^ " The Participle Aorist is never employed instead of the Participle Future ; certainly not in John xi. 2, where the Evangelist alludes to an event long past, which he narrates for the first time in chap, xii." — Winer's Grammar of New Testament, p. 359. The following contains the reasons that may be urged against referring this to the anointing mentioned in the next chapter. " The words of xi. 2, ♦ It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair,' are most generally construed as pointing to that story in the next chapter, xii. 3. ♦ Then tookMary a pound of ointment of spikenard veiy costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair,' which seemeth very improper and unconsonant upon these reasons. "1. To what purpose should John use such an anticipation ? It was neither material to the story that he was entering on chap, xi, to tell that Mary anointed Christ's feet a good while after He had raised her brother : nor was it any other than needless to bring in the mention of it here, since he was to give the full story of it in the next chapter. "2. The word dXenf/oo-o is of such a tense as doth properly denote an action past, and so is to be rendered, if it be rendered in its full propriety, • It was Mary which had anointed.' "3. Whereas no reason can be given why John should anticipate it here, if he meant it of an anointing that was yet to come, a plain and satisfactory reason may be given, why he speaks of it here, as referring to an anointing past, namely because he would show what acquaintance and interest Mary had with Christ, which did embolden her to send to Him about her sick brother, for she had washed and anointed His feet heretofore. The words of John therefore point to an action past, and indeed they point at that story of the COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 245 3 (Therefore his sisters) sent unto Him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick. (Alf. His sisters therefore.) This is not the beggar Lazarus, whom Jesus described as sitting at the gate of the rich man. This Lazarus, from the entertainment which he gave to Jesus and from the number of guests that were invited, seems to have lived in circumstances of comfort and plenty. He is generally considered to have been a man of rank as well as of wealth. The number of Jews who came to console the sisters on the death of their brother, the tomb of Lazarus himself, and the costly ointment, all go to prove that the family was wealthy. Whether there were two anointings of Jesus or three, and whether these were by diiferent persons or by the same, has been a fruitful source of discussion from the earliest times, from the second century to the present. It has been occasionally held, though by very few, that there were three anointings : but the generality of commentators, and certainly those of most weight, have maintained that there were only two, the first recorded by St. Luke (vii. 37) in the Pharisee's house, but where is not named; the second in Bethany, recorded by St. Matthew (xxvi. 6) ; by St. Mark (xiv. 3) ; and by St. John (xii. 3). Another question is whether these two anointings of Jesus were by different women or by one and the same. The second anointing, that at Bethany, is expressly stated to be by Mary the sister of Lazarus. The other anointing is said to have been by " a woman in the city, which was a sinner." What was the city or who was the woman is not mentioned. A few verses after St. Luke relates that Jesus was accompanied by the Twelve and by certain women who ministered to Him of their substance, and whom He had healed of evil spirits and infirmities, and among them He names Mary, called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils. Hence it has been concluded that it was Mary Magdalene that anointed Jesus here. From the heading which the translators of the Authorised Version prefixed to chapter vii., it is evident that this was their opinion. But it is nowhere expressly stated that it was Mary Magdalene. Supposing this to be correct, there still remains another question. Was Mary Magdalene the same person as Mary of Bethany, the sister of Lazarus ? Among the Fathers, names of very high authority can be quoted as holding this opinion. The Church of Borne has founded her office for Mary woman-sinner washing the feet of Christ before, hereunto to refer you in his own with tears and anointing them with oint- Gospel, but the passage was so well and ment, and wiping them with her hair. renownedly known and recorded by Luke (Luke vii.) It is true indeed that John before, that he relateth to it as to a thing who useth these words that we arc upon, of most famous notice and memorial." — had not spoken of any such anointing Lightfoot, i. 249. 246 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. Magdalene on this supposition. It may be said that writers in the Western Church, as a rule, held that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany were the same, while waiters in the Eastern Church thought they were different persons. Of late years the opinion that they were not the same seems to have gained gi'ound, but no new arguments for it have been adduced. Jesus had lately been living at Bethabara, or Bethany, on the east side of Jordan, but the Bethany, where Lazaras dwelt, was on the west side, about two miles from Jerusalem, at the Mount of Olives. (Mark xi. 1.) To explain the connection of Jesus with the family of Lazarus, and the interest which He naturally took in its welfare, the Evangelist adds, *' It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick." Does this anointing refer to the one before the siclmess of Lazarus, or to the one after it? There is nothing in the form of the expression itself to decide this. It may refer to an event which had already taken place, or it may by anticipation be intended by the Evangelist to refer to the anointing, which he himself relates in the next chapter. If it refer to a former anointing, then Mary, the sister of Lazarus, and Mary Magdalene may have been one and the same. The sisters do not ask Jesus to come and heal their brother. But their message seems almost to imply a prayer. They state that their brother is sick, and remind Jesus of His love for him. 4 (When Jesus heard that), He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God (might) be glorified thereby. (Alf. But when Jesus heard it — mc.y.) In language which they could not understand at the time, but which, when afterwards understood, would serve as a further confirma- tion of then* faith, Jesus intimates to his disciples, and probably also to the messenger that was sent to Him, that the sickness of Lazarus will not end in his final removal from the scene of trial, but only for a time. He will be restored to it, and in a way that will increase the honour and glory of God among men. For, beholding his miraculous restora^ tion to life by Jesus, they will be compelled to believe that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. This was one way in which the siclmess of Lazarus would be for the glory of God. It is also probable that in using this expression Jesus had reference to His Own Death. He knew that the raising of Lazarus would be the occasion of His Own Crucifixion. When He opened the eyes of the man born blind the fury of the Scribes and Pharisees was wellnigh without bounds. The raising of Lazarus from COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 247 the (lead would add fuel to their malice. They would spare no pains to accomplish His Death. 5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. No reason is given why Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Doubtless it was from what He knew of them. His love was not from the instinctive feeling which a man has to his fellow creatures. It was from His admiration of their lives, of their deeds, and from His knowledge of their hearts. With the exception of the Evangelist St. John, it is said of only one other, besides this family at Bethany that Jesus " loved" them, and that other was the young man who had great possessions. (Mark x. 21.) Hence it has been suggested (Smith's Bible Dictionary, Article Lazarus), perhaps on too slender grounds, that Lazarus might be this young man. Their age might not be unlike, both young men, their social position would seem to correspond, and they both possessed virtues in an uncommon degree so as to draw forth the love of Jesus. The sickness of Lazarus would not appear to have been of a linger- ing nature, but sudden and rapid, as if from one of the fevers of the country, which terminate fatally in a day or two, and sometimes even in the course of a few hom-s. Hence his death, on the very day on which the messenger is despatched to Jesus, is no indication of remissness on the part of his sisters, but of the rapid progress of his sickness after his first attack. Li remaining where He was two days after He received the news of Lazarus's sickness, Jesus was consulting for their good, that they might have stronger grounds for believing that He was God. In all probability Lazarus was dead before the messenger from his sisters arrived. For when Jesus came to Bethany he found that he had lain in the grave four days already. According to the custom of tho country he would be buried either on the day of his death or certainly on the following day. Two days Jesus had delayed, one day was taken up with the journey of the messenger, and one whole day or part of another with the journey of Himself and disciples on foot. In allowing Lazarus to be buried, and his body to become decomposed, it would scarcely be possible for the Jews to deny the reality of the miracle. They could not allege that the vital powers had been, as it were, suspended for a time by sickness, and then restored by the force of nature. The Jews had endeavom'ed to evade His miracle of opening the eyes of the man born blind by declaiing that he had never been blind. Here there would be no possibility of escape. Having been buried four days they must acknowledge that Lazarus had been dead, seeing him alive, they would be compelled to admit that he had been raised from the dead by superhuman power. 248 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 6 (When He had heard, therefore) that he was sick, He abode two days still in the same place where He was. (Alf. When, therefore, He heard— at that time He continued two days.) 7 Then (after that saith He) [to his disciples], Let us go into Judaea [again]. [A. To His disciples : S. Omits, Again.] (Alf. After this He saith.) 8 (His disciples) say unto Him, (Master, the Jews of late sought to stone Thee) : and goest Thou thither again ? (Alf. The disciples — Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone Thee.) 9 Jesus answered. Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. 10 But if a man walk in the night he stumbleth; because (there is no light in him). (Alf. The light is not in him.) It is not usual for Jesus to announce beforehand to His disciples the place to which He is next going, or the route which He will take. On this occasion He does so, because the last time they were in Jerusalem the Jews had attempted to stone Him. By way of calming their fear, before going into Judaea, He declares to them His intention to do so. They remind Him of the treatment which He had received when last there, and so vivid is their recollection of it that though it is now two months since, they speak of it as " of late," or " but now." He replies that as the time for man's work and man's rest, the hours of the day and the night, are arranged by God, so the life of Him who is the Light of the world, the time for Him to accomplish the salvation of man is fixed by God, and cannot be shortened or altered by the fickle will of man. Neither have His disciples anything to fear for themselves in accompanying Him into Judaea. So long as He remains with them they need have no fear of persecution. The time will come when the Jews wiU persecute them, but that will be in the night, when He, the Light of the world, shall have been removed from them. Jesus is the Light. Whoever walks without this Light illuminating his soul by His Holy Spirit, and does not direct his life by His example, he will wander from the path of duty, and will stumble and fall into sin and error. 11 These things said He; and (after that) He saith unto COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 249 them, Our friend Lazarus (sleepeth) : but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.^ (Alf. After this— is fallen asleep.) 12 [Then said His disciples]. Lord, if (he sleep), he (shall do well). [S. V. Then said the disciples unto Him : A. Then said they unto Him.] (Alf. He is fallen asleep— will recover.) 13 Howbeit Jesus spake of [his death] : but they thought that He (had spoken of taking) of rest in sleep. [S. Of death.] (Alf. Was speaking of the taking.) 14 (Then said Jesus) unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.^ (Alf. Then said Jesus therefore.) 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, ^ These things said He, and after that said unto them {ravra iJircv, koI fiera rovro \4y€i ourots) neither ravra eiTrey, nor /xeVa tovto is redundant. The latter expression indicates a pause. — Winer's Grammar of New Testament, p. 630. 2 Then said Jesus therefore {rore Zw enrev) — Dr. J. B. Lightfoot points out seve- ral inadvertencies where the same word is twice rendered in the English Version, or where conversely the same English word is made to do duty for two Greek words. Of the latter, examples occur in John xi. 14. •' Then {t6t€ ovp) said Jesus unto tliem plainly," where " then " stands for two words — "then" local and "then" argumentative; or Kom. vi. 21, "What fruit had ye then (nVa odv Kapirhv eix^Tc t(Jt6) in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?" where exactly the same error is committed. Of the converse error — the double rendering of the same word — we have an instance in James v. 16, 7roA.u taxvet Serjo'ts Bikoliov ivepyovfuyr}, " The effectual fervent prayer of a right- eous man availeth much," where the word effectual is worse than superfluous. This last rendering I am disposed to ascribe to carelessness in correcting the copy for the press. The word would be written down on the copy of the Bishops' Bible, which the revisers used, either as a tentative correction or an accidental gloss ; and, not having been erased before the copy was sent to the press, would appear in the text. In the Bishops' Bible, which the translators had before them, the passage runs, " The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." — Eevision of New Testament, p. 182. Fountain of the Apostles. — ^We were momentarily in expectation of reaching San Saba, when coming to a fountain (welcome object !) I recognised it as the one we had passed the day before, within an hour of leaving Bethany — the ' Foun- tain of the Apostles,' it is called — and doubtless they often quenched tbeir thirst at it ; and He too, who became man, and hungered and thirsted for our sake! Why might it not have been there, resting before the ascent to Bethany, that ' Jesus said unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead ! ' " — Lord Lindsay's Letters in Holy Land, ii. 67. 250 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. to the intent ye may believe : nevertheless let us go unto him.^ 16 (Then said Thomas, which is called Didymns), unto his fellow disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with Hun. (Alf. Thomas therefore, which is called Pidymus, gaid.) Jesus is now in Bethabara, or Bethany, on the east side of Jordan, a day's journey from Bethany near Jerusalem, where Lazarus had lived with his sisters. As a preparation for the exertion of his superhuman power in raising Lazarus from the dead, He shows His disciples that, though absent from Lazarus, He knew in what condition he was. The messenger had stated that he was sick ; Jesus says that he is asleep ; he is dead. To them he was dead, to Him he was asleep, because He could and would shortly raise him to life again. None of His disciples seem to have understood the expression, *' he sleepeth ;" not even the three, who had already heard Him use it in a similar case once before. (Matt. ix. 24.) But neither the words, nor the miracle that had then followed, suggested to their minds His meaning on the pre- sent occasion. The feeling to which Jesus gives utterance, is not sorrow for the death of His friend Lazarus, but joy that He was not present. He was glad for their sakes, as well as for the sake of others. The restoration of Lazarus to life would strengthen their faith in Him as God, and it would induce many of the Jews to believe in Him. Had He been present Lazarus might not have died ; had He been present sooner, his body would not have become so decomposed ; his resurrec- tion to life would not have appeared a miracle so decisive or so striking in the eyes of men. Generally it is Peter who is most forward in zeal and devotion to his Master ; here it is Thomas, which name is the Hebrew for Didj^-^ mus, which is the Greek for Twin-born. Some suppose that he was born in some place that was inhabited by Jews and Greeks promis- cuously, and that the Jews called him by his Hebrew name, and the Greeks by his Greek name. His devotion to Jesus is such that ho proposes to his fellow disciples to accompany Him into Judfca again, and if He be put to death they, like true and faithful disciples, should 1 To the intent ye may believe (Koi (that I was not there), that yo may believe, Xalpu Sih {ifias, ?vo irto-reWTjTe). ""Iva i.e., now ye cannot but believe." — Winer's iria-Teva-rire is added to 8t vfias by way of Grammar of New Testament, p. 480. illustration : I rejoice on your account COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN*S GOSPEL. 251 die with Him. It is not weariness of life, or indifference to death, that Thomas wishes to express, but devotion to his Master. He does not say, Let us also go that we may die with Lazarus, but, Let us also go that we may die with Jesus. 17 (Then when) Jesus [came], He found that He had lain in the grave four days abeady. [A. Came to Bethany.] (Alf. When therefore.) 18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off :^ 19 And many of the Jews (came) to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother, (Alf. Had come.) 20 Then Martha, (as soon as) she heard that Jesus was coming, went (and met Him) : but Mary (sat still) in the house. (Alf. "Wlien — to meet Him — was sitting.) The nearness of Bethany to Jerusalem is mentioned to account for the number of Jews who came to console the sisters on their loss, induced by the ties either of kindred or of friendship. Martha, probably as the elder sister, or at least as the active practical manager of the house, who is busied with the affairs of every- day life, receives the first intimation of the approach of Jesus, and goes to meet him. Mary remains at home, wrapt in silent medi- tation and sorrow, and, in all probability, still ignorant that Jesus is at hand. 1 Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, necessary to specify the speaker's point about fifteen furlongs oflT {^u ?; Bridavia of view, it would be expressed in the (yyvs ru)y Upo(To\vixu)v ios airh o-raStcoj/ Genitive. The same appUes to temporal SiKaireure, and John xii. 1, six days before specifications. As it is usual to say vph the Passover {irph €| rjnipuu tou irdcrxa), e^ T)}xepwv, the form of expression was re- " These expressions, it has been thought tained when it was necessary to indicate should regularly run thus : ws o-raStous the point of time from which the period 5e/c. airh Tepoj, and c| ^epats irph rov in question was counted, as vph ej Tjfxfpoiu irdcrxa. It would appear, however, that rov iriffxa. However the matter may be in local specifications, Greek phraseology considered, the fact is, that both these was regulated by a different point of view, forms of expression (the temporal and the a7rc> o-ToSiwi' Zsk. (properly situated at a local) were of frequent occurrence in distance of fifteen furlongs, as in Latin, later Greek. — Winer's Grammar of New Liv. xxiv. 46. "Fabius cum a quingentia Testament, p. 579. fere passibus castra posuisset." If it were 262 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 21 (Then said Martha) unto Jesus, Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. (Alf. Martha then said.) 22 [(But I know that even now)] whatsoever Thou shalt ask of God, God will give it Thee.^ [S. V. Even now I know that.] (Alf. And even now I know that.) Martha's first words to Jesus express her belief in His power and in His love toward her brother — that is, her belief in His power as a mighty prophet, but not in His power as God. Of that she seems as yet scarcely to have entertained a thought. She is also ignorant that His object in coming is to raise her brother from the dead. She very naturally concludes that it is to comfort her sister and herself in their distress. Considering the miracles which Jesus had wrought, and tlie love which He had shown for Lazarus, the sisters may have indulged a kind of undefined hope that God, at His intercession, would restore their brother to life. Martha does not seem to believe that Jesus, by His Own power as God, could raise up her brother, but that God, at His intercession might. This was the lesson, which she had now to be taught. To lead her into a right state of mind, and to prepare her for a fuller and more correct belief in Him, for a belief in Him, not as a mighty prophet, but as God. 23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. 24 Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the Last Day. The doctrine of the Resurrection is evidently not new to Martha. It may be that Jesus, in His conversations with the family at Bethany, had instructed them in it ; or it may have been the common belief of the Jews at that time, or at least of a portion or school among them. Perhaps both these suppositions are true. It is plain that, in tlie time of the Maccabees about B.C. 160, a belief in the Resurrection was widely spread among the Jews (2 Maccab. xii. 43, &c.), and a few years after the Crucifixion the Pharisees are mentioned as prominently holding this beKef. (Acts xxiii. 8.) From the general Resurrection at the Last Day Jesus leads the thoughts of Martha on to a special and immediate Resurrection, and from a belief in Himself as a prophet to a belief in Him as God. 1 See note on John xvi. 23. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN^S GOSPEL. 253 Martha had said. Even now I know, that whatsoever Thou shalt ask of God, God will give it Thee. He teaches her that Ho Himself is God, that it is He who raises up the dead, and who gives life to the living, that through Him the dead shall rise, and through Him the living live. Before Jesus exercised His power as God He seems always to have required either from those for whose henefit it is exerted, or from the friends who make the request, a helief in His power as God, in His ability to work the cure which they ask. Probably it was in cases, where the patient was from physical causes unable himself to enter- tain any belief, that Jesus required. from his friends this belief in His power. Before He healed the lunatic child He required the father to believe in His power as God. He intimates, too, that the exercise of His divine power in healing his son would be in proportion to the father's belief in it. (Mark ix. 23.) He healed the man sick of the palsy when He saw the great faith of those who brought him. (Mark ii. 5.) Lazarus is dead, and Martha makes her request that, by His intercession with God, her brother may be restored to life again. Jesus explains to her that before He can restore her brother to life she must believe that He can do this by His power as God, not by His prayer to God. 25 [Jesus said] unto her, I am the Eesurrection and the Life : he that beUeveth in Me, (though he were dead), yet shall he live : [S. But Jesus said.] (Alf. Though he die.) 26 (And whosoever liveth and beUeveth in Me shall never die). Believest Thou this ? (Alf. And every one that liveth and believeth in Me shall not die for evermore.) Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. He alone can raise the dead, and He alone can give life to the living. His words imply that if Martha can believe this, her brother shall rise again, even before the last day. Jesus is the life of the soul, as well as the life of the body ; and when speaking of life He in general means the life of the soul. But the subject to which He now more immediately refers is the resur- rection of Lazarus from the grave. He therefore uses the word life, partly but not entirely with respect to the body. Lazarus, who is dead, shall be raised from bodily death through the belief of his sister. Those who are still living, and who believe in Jesus, shall never die. Then* bodies shall rest in the grave for a time, and then shall rise again. Their souls shall be quickened by His gi'ace here, and shall 254 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. dwell with Him hereafter in glory. Jesus is the source of life, both to the soul and to the body ; but those who would partake of this life must believe in Him as such. 27 She saith unto Him, Yea, Lord : (I believe) that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, (which should come) into the world. (Alf. I have believed — which is to come.) This confession of Mai-tha has been variously interpreted. Some have supposed that by His words, "I am the Eesurrection and the Life,*' &c., Jesus had opened her eyes as to His real character, and that she now for the first time saw clearly that Jesus, the Son of Mary, and her brother's friend, was in the highest sense the Son of God, the source of life to the dead and to the living. Others again have held that Martha may have used these words without entering much into their meaning* 28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master (is come, and calleth for thee). I (Alf. Is here, and calleth thee.) 29 [As soon as] she heard that, she arose quickly, and came (unto Him). [S. V. And as soon as.] (Alf. When she heard that— to Him.) 30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, [(but was in that place)] where Martha met Him. j;S. V* But was still in that place.] (Alf. But was still in the place.) 31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, (and comforted her), when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, [saying, She goeth] unto the grave to weep there. [S.V. Thinking, she goeth.] (Alf. And were comforting her— thinking that she was going.) The Evangelist does not relate that Jesus asked for Mary, but leaves this to be inferred from Martha's message to her sister. She delivers her message secretly to avoid the tumult which she feared COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 255 might take place if the Jews knew that Jesus was there. Thinking that Mary was going to the grave to weep the Jews accompany her, for such was the custom of the country, and thus they became eye- witnesses of the raising of Lazarus from the grave. Jesus had probably remained at the entrance to the town, because the grave of Lazarus would be outside. 32 (Then when Mary was come) where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not died* ^f. Mary therefore when she came.) Both the sisters greet Jesus with the same words, though Mary stops short, prevented perhaps by the excess of her grief, and does not say all that her sister had said. But the abundance of her sorrow does not prevent the expression of her reverence for Him. Both declare that the death of their brother would not have taken place had He been present ; meaning either that His love for their brother woiild have saved him from death, or that no such profanation as death could possibly take place in His presence. Maiy does not go on to express in words, as Martha had done, either her conviction or her hope that God would, at His intercession, raise up her brother from the grate. Whatever the heart may have felt the lips refused to utter it. 33 (When Jesus therefore saw) her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, (He groaned in the spirit), and was troubled, (Margin, He troubled Himself.) (Alf. Jesus therefore, when He saw— was greatly moved in His spirit.) Few single words in St. John's Gospel present gi'eater difficulties than the verb which is here translated, " He groaned," {ive^pL/juija-aTo.) Perhaps the simplest way to ascertain its meaning is to examine the sense in which it is used in other places where it occurs. The same Verb is used three times in the New Testament, but never in the Sep- tuagint. According to St. Matthew (ix* 30) and St. Mark (i. 43) it is the word which Jesus used after He had opened the eyes of the blind and had cleansed the leper, when he " straitly charged them {ive^pLfirjaaro aurot?) that no man should know it." Again the samd word is used by the Jews (Mark xiv. 5) when ** they murmured against Mary (eve^pLfi&vTo avrfj) for the pretended waste of the ointment which she had poured upon the head of Jesus. Somewhat of the nature of rebuke enters into all these meanings. As applied to Jesus here and in connection with the expression. He troubled Himself, it may be that He groaned to give an outward indica- 256 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. tion of the conflict wliicli was going on internally in His spirit. The same land of struggle may have been going on as afterwards took place more sharply in the Agony in the Garden. The cause assigned for His groaning was the death of Lazarus, and the sorrow of his sisters and their friends. In other words, it was sin and the sorrow which He saw ai'ound Him, and which sin had caused. The two feelings which seemed to animate Him especially at this time were syrapathy and indignation ; sympathy with the bereaved sisters, and indignation at sin and the author of sin, who had caused their distress. It is pro- bable that Jesus groaned, not to repress His indignation but to give expression to it. Indignation with Him was not an involuntary overpowering, irregular rising of the anger, as it is in mere man. In Jesus indignation was the holy feeling of anger in all its original purity. The object of His indignation was Satan and sin, and men only so far as they were the willing instruments of Satan. When Jesus saw the havoc of sin, the distress which sin had caused to these sisters, and their sorrow was but a specimen of the sorrow which filled the world, He groaned in the spirit and troubled Himself. 84 And said, Where have ye laid Him ? (They said) unto Him, Lord, come and see. (Alf. They say.) 35 [Jesus] wept. [S. And Jesus.] Except in special instances, and then only with the object of convincing the people of His power as God, Jesus does not exercise either His divine power or His divine knowledge in the transactions of daily life, but confines Himself to that which He could do and could know as Man. He therefore asks, " Where have ye laid him ?" By this question he arouses their attention, perhaps too He might raise in them the expectation of some miraculous work. The Man of Son-ows sheds His tears at the sorrows of His friends, and weeps with them. The misery of sin, and especially of the sin of unbelief, of which He saw the Jews would soon give an almost incredible proof, may have been one cause of His tears. Lazarus had been now four days in the grave, to restore him to life again was beyond the power of moi-tal man. But Jesus foresaw that if He should raise Lazarus from the dead, the Jews would be so far from confessing, that He had done this by His power as God, that they would seek to kill both Himself, because He had made this claim, and Lazarus, because His living presence among them was a proof of the truth of His claim. This might be one reason why Jesus wept. The sorrow of the sisters He could heal, by raising their brother from the dead ; COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 257 for the unbelief of the Jews, according to the economy of salvation, He had no cure to offer. Jesus is but three times recorded to have wept, once here at the death of Lazarus; again, when He wept over the rebellious city Jerusalem (Luke xix. 41) ; and again when His Own sufferings were the cause (Heb. v. 7.) 36 (Then said the Jews), Behold how He loved him ! (Alf. The Jews therefore said.) 37 (And) some of them said, Could not (this man), which opened the eyes of (the blind) (have caused that even this man) should not have died ? (Alf. But — this person — the blind man — have caused also that this man.) Only three months before this Jesus had opened the eyes of a man born blind. Through the examination of that miracle by the Pharisees the public attention had been drawn to it in an extraordinary degree. It had become known throughout all Judaea. When then the Jews saw Jesus standing over the grave of Lazarus and weeping for his death, they were at a loss to understand why the Man, who plainly had the power, had not given a proof of His love for Lazarus by preserving him from death. They were ignorant that the object of Jesus was to do more than prevent Lazarus from dying, that it was to raise him to life again after he had been dead and buried four days. His power they had witnessed. Of His affection for Lazarus they could not entertain a doubt. They beheld how He groaned and troubled Himself when He saw Mary weeping and the Jews weeping with her. On His way to the grave they had seen how He wept. When he arrived at the grave they were again witnesses of His trouble. 38 Jesus therefore again (groaning in Himself) cometh to the grave. (It was) a cave, and a stone (lay upon it.)^ (Alf. Greatly moved within Himself — now it was — lay against it.) 1 Tombs. — The following are some of has led a holy life. Their tombs are the different forms of tombs existing in generally placed in some conspicuous Palestine. spot, frequently on the top of a mount. " The numerous sepulchral chambers The sepulchre consists of a small apart- around Jerusalem are all excavated hori- ment with a cupola over it, white-washed zontally in the natural or artificial face externally." — Irhy and Mangles^ p. 57. of the rock .... The entrance is always " Three miles from Mount Tabor there at the side, and never from above." — are many sepulchres cut in the rock; Eobinson's Later Researches, p. 181. some of them are like stone coffins above " There are in Syria and Egypt numbers ground, others are cut into the rock, like of these tombs, which the Arabs erect to graves, some of them having stone covers the memory of any man who they think over them." — Pocock's Travels, ii. 65. S 258 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. Tombs in Palestine are of two kinds, either dug down in the ground like modern graves, to which our Saviour compares the Scribes and Pharisees, *^ for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men, that walk over them, are not aware of them " (Luke xi. 44) ; or they are hewn in the rock or mound, and are entered at the side like a room. These are often natural caves excavated and enlarged at the will of the owner. Along the side of this hollow cave or room niches are excavated from time to time, as they are required, and in them the dead are deposited. The word (eVt) rendered by our translators " upon " might have been translated quite as correctly '' against." Its meaning here must depend on the nature of the tomb, whether it was dug in the ground or excavated at the side of a rock. The latter is the traditional opinion, and the word cave {cnrrfKaLov) rather points to this kind of tomb. Jesus orders the stone to be removed. Thus they would have sensible proofs of the decomposition of the body of Lazarus, proofs both by the sight and the smell. Against this Martha gently remon- strates. Either she shrunk from the thought of Jesus seeing her brother in the condition in which he would now be, or she doubted whether it was possible for even Him to restore to life again one who had been dead four days. Our Lord's answer to her would rather im- ply the latter, it rather indicates some want of belief in Martha. She had said, " Even now I know that whatsoever Thou shalt ask of God, God will give unto Thee," but when the trial came her faith wavered, and she failed to see a ray of hope in His command to remove the stone. 39 Jesus (said), Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh : (for he hath been dead four days). (Alf. Saith — ^for he hath heen four days). 40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, (that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see) the glory of God? (Alf. If thou believe, thon shalt see.) •• Instead of the acres of inscriptions Olivet and Moriah, the rocky plateau on which cover the tombs of Egypt, not a the N.W. and the deep valleys of Hinnom single letter has been found in any an- and Jehoshaphat, are all cemeteries. The oient sepulchre of Palestine." — Stanley's tombs of Jerusalem are far more nu- Sinai and Palestine, p. 149. merous than her houses. Many of them " Every hill and valley round the Holy are evidently very ancient, and a few are City is tbickly studded with these memo- interesting from their historic and sacred rials of man's mortality. The summits associations." — Handbook to Palestine, p. of Zion and Bezetha: the slopes of 137. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN*S GOSPEL. 259 It is nowhere recorded that Jesus had said these identical words to Martha. The substance of them He had said, perhaps more than once. To her messenger He had said, '* This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby." (v. 4.) To herself He had said, " Thy brother shall rise again" (v. 23) ; and again, " I am the Eesurrection and the Life : He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And who- soever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this ?" (v. 25.) He promises Martha that, if she will believe, He will work a work, which will convince the people that its author must be God, and as such they will honour Him and worship Him. That work is the miraculous restoration of Lazarus to life. One condition, which Jesus requires for this is, that Martha should believe that He is able to do it. 41 (Then) they took away [the stone (from the place where the dead was laid)]. And Jesus (lifted np His eyes), and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou (hast heard Me). [A. The stone where he was : S. V. Omit from the place where the dead was laid]. (Alf. So — omits, from the place where the dead was laid — lifted His eyes upward — heardest Me.) 42 (And) I knew that Thou hearest Me always : but (because of the people which stand by) I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me. (Alf. Yet — for the sake of the multitude which stand around.) Such is the nature of the Hypostatic Union, that the Father always hears the prayers of His Son. Jesus has not to plead to bend the will of a dissentient Father. For there is a unity of will between Him and the Father. He gives thanks and offers prayers to the Father for the sake of the people, who stand around Him, to prove to them, that He is one with the Father and is sent by th^ Father. In the presence of the Jews Jesus prays to God, the Father of heaven, that, as a proof of their union, Lazarus, who had been dead four days may rise from the grave. Jesus does not pray for power to perform the miracle, but as a pit)of to the people of the unity of wiU and power, which there is between the Father and Himself. For their sakes too it is that He declares, that He is heard, and that the miracle will take place, and in confirmation of His words. 43 And when He (thus had spoken, He cried) with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. (Alf. Had thus spoken, He cried out.) B 2 260 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 44 (And he that was dead) came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes : and his face was bound about with a napkin, Jesus saith unto them. Loose him and let him go.' (Alf. And the dead man;. Jesus calls with a loud voice, as a sign of His authority over the dead ; perhaps also to indicate, that the separation of the soul and body of Lazarus had already taken place, and that the soul was not in the grave with the body but in some more distant abode. Jesus 1 Manner of Burial.— ' ' On tlie following morning (Oct. 26th) very early, I looked from the window, and saw a bier close to the door of a neighbouring house. It was a painted wooden stand, about seven feet by two, raised slightly on four legs, with a low gallery round it, formed of uprights far apart, and two cross bars. Two strong poles projected at each end from the corners. Above it a canopy was raised, made of freshly-gathered elastic palm branches. They were bent like half hoops, and then interlaced and secured lengthways, with straight fronds. I sketched it, and presently I saw the dead body of a man, handsomely dressed, brought out and placed upon it. His face was covered with a shawl. Four men lifted the bier from the ground, and rest- ing the poles on their shoulders, bore it to the mosque. After a little while, it was carried slowly along, passing the Con- sulate on its way to the Moslem burial- ground, preceded by about forty men solemnly silent, and followed by at least fifty women and children, shrieking wildly, singing and screaming. '* Between the palm-fronds I could plainly see the figure of the dead man, the head was foremost. . . . He had died just before midnight, after a few hours' illness. — Rogers' Domestic Life in Palestine^ p. 144. The Raising of Lazarus from the Grave. — " Why do the three earlier Evan- gelists not even mention this most stupen- dous of Christ's miracles ? The following answer has been suggested. They wrote in the lifetime of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. Well might one about whom there hung the mystery of having passed through death desire privacy. Nay, his own personal safety required it : for we read that the Sanhedrin sought his life, because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away and believed on Jesus I •' Not, therefore, till that generation had passed away was the miracle pub- lished. The last of the Apostles, writing sixty years or more after the event, far away at Ephesus, records with all the vividness of an eye-witness what had sunk deep into the memory of all the Twelve. So, too, and doubtless for like reason, he alone of the Evangelists publishes the name of him who came to Jesus by night, and brought spices to His tomb." — Canon Norris's Key to the Four Gospels, p. 62. " The argument from the silence of the Synoptists, which is much insisted upon by some critics who have not formed for themselves a clear and accurate concep- tion of what the Synoptic Gospels are, really counts for but little . . . •. " The significance of their silence, too, has been exaggerated by looking at it in the light of modem ideas. To us the raising of the dead stands apart from other miracles, is a class by itself as peculiarly unexampled and incredible. But that it was not so regarded at the time when the Gospel was written appears from this very narrative, where the Jews are made to ask whether He who opened the eyes of the blind could not have prevented the death of Lazarus altogether. So, in the Synop- tists, the answer that Jesus gives to the disciples of John groups together every class of miracle, the raising of tbe dead amongst them, without distinction. Simi- lar narratives in the Synoptists, in the Acts, and in the Old Testament, are given without any special relief or emphasis. And if the fourth Evangelist himself does lay more stress upon them, this belongs rather to his own peculiar conceptions than to the circle of popularly current ideas."^ Sanday's Historical Character of the Fourth Qospel, p. 185. COMMENTAKY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 261 addresses Lazarus by name and as if living, because tbe result of His command is the re-union of his soul and body, as will also take place in the resurrection at the last day. (1 Thess. iv. 16). Jesus had before bid the Jews remove the stone, and by that means, to become more than mere eye-witnesses of the condition in which the body of Lazarus then was. Now He commands them to loose him, and let him go. By making the Jews themselves assist in the circumstantial details, they became, as it were, co-operators with Him in the performance of the miracle. They were thus more able to bear witness to the truth of the miracle, and were more interested in doing so, than if they had been mere spectators of it. It is not improbable that his legs were tied together, and his hands bound to his side, to keep them in a straight position, and his face covered with a napkin, to prevent the distortion of his features from being seen as he was carried to the tomb. 45 [Then many] of the Jews which (came) to Mary, (and had seen) [the things which Jesus did,] believed (on Him). [S. And many — V. A. What He had done.] Alf. Many therefore— had come — and beheld — in Him). 46 But some of them (went their ways) to the Pha- risees, and told them what things Jesus had done. (Alf. Went away.) From the way in which these two sets of Jews are contrasted, it is plain that the latter went to the Pharisees with no friendly inten- tion towards Jesus. Their object is not to persuade them of the truth of the miracle, or to mollify their hatred towards Jesus, but to assist them in getting up some accusation against Him. 47 (Then) gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees^ 1 Then gathered the chief priests and line of argument is suggested by St. John, the Pharisees a Council. — "The high People were expecting a Messiah, one who priests, hitherto so calm, appear to have could command the secrets of nature, grown uneasy about the public peace. A who could free them from the stranger's meeting of the Sanhedrin being called to yoke, and a man who was reported to consider these reports, Caiaphas went have raised the dead to life, would be sure over from his palace on Zion to the Lish- to draw away the multitude, to excite dis- cath ha- Gazith to preside. As official high turbance, and bring on their city and priest he had a right to the chief seat ; nation the wrath of Kome. Caiaphas but in what he laid before the elders, he said nothing about false teaching, for must be taken as speaking, not only for what could a philosophic Sadducee care himself, but for Annas, for the Sadducees, whether a mob of dyers and porters and for all those politicians who leaned believed in a resurrection, in rewards and on Kome. Details are not given, but his punishments or not ? Caiaphas had faith 262 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. a council, and said, (What do we?^ for) this man doeth many miracles. (Alf. Therefore — What are we domg, seeing that.) 48 If we let Him thus alone, [all men will believe (on) Him] : and the Eomans will come and take away both our place and nation.^ [S. All men believe on Him], (Alf. In Him). So blinded are these Jews by hatred, that they do not see that their machinations can have no power against Him, who can open the eyes of the blind, and raise the dead. They are unable to question the reality of His last miracle, the raising of Lazarus from the dead, nay they admit that Jesus has wrought many miracles. They foresee that all the people will believe in Him. They reason that the people will wish to make Him their king, and that the Romans will use this as a plea to take away their political status, their place among nations, and to reduce their country into greater subjection than it is even now. All this they propose to avert by a course of the most flagrant injustice and iniquity. They have evidently no belief in the principle, that righteousness exalteth a nation. 49 (And one) of them, named Caiaphas, (being the high priest that same year), said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, (Alf. And a certain one — being high priest that year.) in the power of Ctesar, and a riot in making thence a secret and obscure Jerusalem meant to him a visit from journey, through a part of Samaria, per- Pilate, an addition to the garrison, per- haps of Galilee, passing thence to the haps a change of high priest. He lower Jordan and the ford from which He hinted that though they had lost much had first set out." — Dixon's Holy Land^ by tumults, they might lose yet more. ii. 237. Was it not better that one man should i What do we ? (n irotSv/iei' :)" The In- die, than that a whole people should be dicative Present sometimes occurs also in swept away. indirect questions, when, in Latin, the " Then the Sauhedrin agreed to consider Conjunctive would be used, as John xi. Jesus a dangerous man, a disturber of 47, ri troidvficy ; quid faciamus ? what can the public peace. Orders to arrest Him we do ? what is to be done ? The Indi- were given, and every one who knew of cative, however, here strictly denotes that His coming and going was warned to send something must undoubtedly be done, news of it to Caiaphas. The question rl iroiwfuv invites delibera- " To avoid this proclamation until His tion (comp. Acts iv. 16). On the con- time should come, Jesus left Bethany trary, ri voiovfiev implies that something and the living witness of His power, is to be done, and inquires what that is. — going first to Ephraim, a place on the Vfinei's Grammar of New Testament, -p. 299. edge of the wilderness of Judaea, eight or > The Bomans shall come, &c. nine miles from Jerusalem on the north, ** iXtvaovTai ot 'Pufiaioi) refers to the ap- near Salem and those springs at which proach of the Roman armies." — Winer's He had parted from John the Baptist, Grammar of New Testament^ p. 630. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 263 50 (Nor consider) that it is expedient [for us], that one should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. [S. Omits, for us — V. For you.] (Alf. Nor do ye consider.) 51 (And this) he spake not of himself : but baing high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus, (should die for that nation). (Alf. Now this — was about to die for the nation.) 52 And not for (that nation) only, but that also He should gather in one the children of God that (were scat- tered) abroad. (Alf. The nation — are scattered.) The priesthood was hereditary in the family of Aaron^ and the first- born of the oldest branch of it, if he had no legal blemish, was always the high priest. After their return from the Captivity this rule was frequently violated. Of late years the Roman governors had deposed one high priest and had substituted another in his place, very much according to their own pleasure without any regard to the Law of Moses. It was never limited to one year or to two, but by the caprice of the governors some had been allowed, to continue high priests for a few months, only, others for many years. But there is no reason to suppose that the Evangelist here refers to this malpractice. His words simply mean that Caiaphas was. high-priest during that year, that year when events of such mighty importance were taking place. Caiaphas or Joseph Caiaphas had been appointed high-priest by the Procurator Valerius Gratus, and he continued high-priest for eleven years, during the whole procuratorship of Pontius Pilate. Caiaphas did not understand the words which he uttered. It is plain from the Evangelist's explanation that Caiaphas by these words meant one thing, and that the Holy Spirit intended quite another. Caiaphas meant that it was better that one ma^n should die than that many should die,, that it was better that Jesus should die than that He should be the occasion of involving the whole nation in ruin. But the words, whicht the Holy Spirit put into his mouth as high-priest, apparently mean that it is expedient that Jesus should die for the whole nation, that is, in behalf of the whole nation, instead of, as a sacrifice or propitiation for the whole nation. Caiaphas gave his advice as a piece of state policy with a reckless indifference as to the innocence of Jesus, or the truth of His claims to be God. These he seems never to have considered. The poHtical status must be preserved. The claims of no one individual, of what- 264 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. ever nature they might be, could be allowed to interfere with that. Such was his mode of reasoning. The consequence of it was not the preservation of its political status, not the prosperity of Judaea as a nation, but its utter ruin and desolation. We have the authority of St. John that though Caiaphas himself did not attribute any such sense to his words, that the meaning conveyed in them by the Holy Spirit was that Jesus should die for the salvation of the Jewish nation, and not of the Jewish nation only, but of all nations, that by His Death He should gather together in one Church all His children, out of every nation under heaven. 53 (Then from that day) forth they took counsel to- gether (for to put) Him to death. (Alf. Therefore from that day — to put.) 54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews ; but (went thence unto a country near to the wilder- ness, into a city) called Ephraim, and there (continued) [with His disciples].^ [S. V. With the disciples.] (Alf. Departed thence into the country near the wilderness, to a city — tarried.) Several times during His Ministry the people, mistaking what He had said for blasphemy against God, and incited by their rulers, had taken up stones to stone Him. Now it is a deliberative assembly, the great Council of the Jewish nation, led on by Caiaphas the High Priest, which resolves to kill Him, and which decides upon this course of action after mature deliberation. Jesus as God knows this their decree, and as Man He takes the same precaution against it which other men would have done. He retires from Jerusalem to Ephraim, a city which is about five miles to the north-east of Bethel, and about twenty miles from Jerusalem, and not very far from the brook Cherith, near the 1 Ephraim. — " Further still is the dark east from Bethel, which accords exactly conical hill of Tayibeh, with its village with this place. It is also highly pro- perched aloft, like those of the Apen- bable that the city Ephraim, which nines, the probable representative of Abijah,kingofJudah, took from Jeroboam Ophrah of Benjamin (Josh, xviii. 23 ; 1 (2 Chron.xiii. 19) wasthesame asOphrah) Sam. xiii. 17) : in later times ' the city — the names are radically identical. With called Ephraim,' near to the wilderness, this too we may identify the city Ephraim to which our Lord retired, after the rais- of the New Testament, which was ' near to ing of Lazarus." — Stanley's Sinai and the wilderness,' and to which our Lord Palestine, p. 214. withdrew with Hie disciples after the "This ancient site appears to corre- raising of Lazarus. Josephus mentions spond with the position of Ophrah, a city Ephraim as one of the towns taken by of Benjamin, to which one band of the Vespasian." — Handbook to Palestine, p. Philistine spoilers went from Michmash. 209. It stood, according to Jerome, five miles COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 265 Jordan, where about 900 years before the prophet Elijah had hid him- self from the anger of Ahab and his wife Jezebel. Here Jesus retires with His disciples, probably to prepare Himself by prayer and medita- tion for the great struggle with the powers of darkness, which He is just about to commence. 55 (And the Jews' Passover was nigh at hand) : and many (went out of the country up to Jerusalem) before the Passover, to purify themselves. (Alf. Now the Passover of the Jews was nigh — went up out of the country to Jerusalem.) 56 (Then sought they) for Jesus, (and spake) among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that He will not come to the feast ? (Alf. So they sought — and said.) 57 Now [both] the chief priests and the Pharisees [had given (a commandment)] that, if any man knew where (He were), he should shew it, that they might take Him. [S. V. A. Omit, Both : S. V. Had given commandments.] (Alf. Commandment — He was.) The Passover was near at hand, the Passover at which Jesus was to offer up Himself as the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world. The people were already flocking from the country into Jerusalem. It was the custom to repair to Jerusalem some days before the commence- ment of the Feast, in order that those who laboured under any legal uncleanness might purify themselves by the requisite sacrifices and prayers, and might thus be duly prepared to keep the Passover. The rulers and Pharisees had already become impatient of delay, and were beginning eagerly to ask each other, whether He would come to the Feast. ( 266 ) INIRODUCTOEY NOTE TO CHAPTEE XII. Gathering for the Feast.— " Coming into Bethany, the nearest point of the great road to Galilaeans' Hill, the caravan broke up ; the company dispersed to the south and north, some seeking for houses in which they could lodge, others fixing on the ground where they meant to encamp. Those marched round: Olivet to the south, following the great road, crossing the Cedron by a bridge, and entering the Holy City by the Sheep Gate, near Antonia ; these mounted by the short path to the top of Olivet, glancing »t the flowers and herbage, and plucking twigs and branches as they climbed. Some families, having brought their tents with them from Galilee, could at once proceed to stake the ground ; but the multitude were content with the booths called Succoth, built in the same rude style as those in- which their father Israel dwelt. *' Four stakes being cut and driven in the soil, long reeds were drawn, one by one, round and through them. These reeds, being in turn crossed and closed with leaves, made a small green bower, open on one side only, yielding the women a rude sort of piivacy, and covering the young ones with a frail defence from both noontide heat and midnight dew. The people had much to do, and very little time in which it could be done. At sundown, when the shofa sounded, Sabbath would begin; then every hand must cease its labour, even though the tent were unpitched, the booth unbuilt, the children ex- posed, the skies darkening into storm. Consequently the poles must be cut, the leaves and branches gathered, the tents fixed, the water fetched from the wells, the bread baked, the cattle penned, the beds unpacked and spread, the supper of herbs and olives cooked before the shofa sounded from the Temple wall. But every one helped. While the men drove stakes into the ground and propped them with stones, the women wove them together with twigs and leaves, the girls ran off to the springs for water, the lads put up the camels and led out the sheep to graze. In two or three hours a new city had sprung up on the Galilaeans' Hill — a city of booths and tents — more noisy, perhaps more populous, than even the turbulent city within the walls. " This Galilaeans' Hill made only one field in a great landscape of booths and tents. All Jewry had sent up her children to the feast, and each province arrayed its members on a particular site. The men of Sharon swarmed over Mount Gideon, the men of Hebron occupied COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 267 the Plain of Kephaim. From Pilate's roof on Mount Zion the lines and groups of this vast encampment could be followed by an observer's eye down the valley of Gihon, peeping from among the fruit-trees about Siloam, dotting the long plain of Kephaim, trespassing even on the Mount of Offence, and darkening the grand masses of hill from Olivet towards Mizpeh. All Jewry appeared to be encamped about the Temple Mount. " From sundown all was quiet on the hill-sides and on the valley, only the priests and doctors, the Temple guards, the money-changers, the pigeon-dealers, the bakers of shew-bread, the altar-servants being astir and at their work. There was no Sabbath in sacred things. But everywhere, save in the Temple Courts, traffic was stayed, movement arrested, life itself all but extinct." — Dixon's Holy Land^ ii. p. 244. Lazarus. — " These cowering Arabs still call Bethany El Azariyeh, from the name of Lazarus, said in their country traditions to have been the village sheikh. From what is told by St. John it may be inferred that Lazarus was rich, well known, and of good repute — to wit, from his dwelling in a large house, from his habit of receiving guests, from the costly unguents used by his sister, from his owning a rock-hewn sepulchre, from the concourse of Jews who came over to mourn for him when he died. He may have been all that these Arabs gay — the sheikh of a poor village of lepers and paupers — in which case the excavated chamber now shown may have been his tomb." — Dixon's Holy Land, ii. p. 206. ( 268 ) IV. His Passion in Jerusalem during the Week of the Fourth Passover. His Eesurrection, &c., including Chapters XII.— XXI. CHAPTER XII. 1 Jesus excuseth Mary anointing His feet ; 9 The people flock to see Lazarus; 10 The high priests consult to kill Him; 12 Christ rideth into Jerusalem; 20 Greeks desire to see Jesus ; 23 He for e- telleth His Death ; 37 The Jews are generally blinded ; 42 Yet many chief rulers believe but do not confess Him ; 44 Therefore Jesus calleth earnestly for confession of faith. The following Calendar of the Passover- week is taken from Lightfoot (ii. 586) :— The Day or the Month : Nisan IX. X. XI. xn. xm. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. Week. The Sabbath. Sunday. Monday. Tuesday. Wednesday. Thursday. Friday. Saturday. The Lord's Day. The Evangelists' Account. VI Days before the Passover, Jesus sups with Lazarus at the going out of the Sabbath, when according to the custom of that country their suppers were more liberal. V Days before the Passover, Jesus goes to Jerusalem on an ass, and in the evening re- turns to Bethany (Mark xi. 11). On this day the lamb was taken, and kept till the Passover (Exod. xii.), on which day this Lamb of God presented Himself, who was the Anti- type of that rite. IV Days before the Passover, He goes to Jeru- salem again : curseth the unfruitful fig-tree (Matt. xxi. 18 ; Mark xi. 12) ; in the evening He returns again to Bethany (Mark xi. 19). Ill Days before the Passover, He goes again to Jerusalem : His disciples observe how the fig- tree was withered (Mark xi. 20). In the evening going back to Bethany, and sitting on the Mount of Olives, He foretelleth the destruction of the Temple and city (Matt, xxiv.), and discourses those things which are contained in Matt. xxv. This day He passeth away in Bethany. At the coming in of this niyht, the whole nation apply themselves to put away all leaven. He sends two of His disciples to get ready the Passover. He Himself enters Jerusalem in the afternoon. In the evening eats the Passover, institutes the Eucharist : is taken, and almost all the night had before the Courts of Judicature. Afternoon, He is crucified. He keeps the Sabbath in the grave. He riseth again. COMMENTARY ON BT. JOHN's GOSPEL. 269 In the last two verses of the preceding chapter we are told how the chief priests and the Pharisees were eagerly watching for the arrival of Jesus at Jerusalem, and how they had given commandment, that if any man knew where He was, he should show it, that they might take Him. In the first verse of this chapter it is related how six days before the Passover Jesus came not to Jerusalem, but to Bethany. The distance between Bethany and Ephraim, the place last named as the abode of Jesus, would be much the same as between Jerusalem and Ephraim, that is, about twenty miles. 1 (Then Jesus) six days before the Passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was [which had been dead, whom He raised] from the dead.^ [S. v. Omit, which had been dead : S. V. A. whom Jesus raised.] (Alf. Jesus then — whom Jesus raised.) The Passover was on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, which this year happened on a Thm*sday. Six days, or the sixth day before the Passover, would be the Jewish Sabbath, which lasted from sunset on Friday to the same hour on Saturday. This supper, there- fore would be on the evening of Saturday, the day on which the Sab- bath ended. Lightfoot (ii. 586) saya on the authority of Maimonides, that the Jews were accustomed to have a more liberal supper than usual in the evening of the day on which the Sabbath ended. We are not told whether Jesus had come direct from Ephraim, or how much of the journey he had travelled on the day on which He came to Bethany, or at what part of the day He arrived there. The expression, " where Lazarus was," does not preclude the possi- bility of his having accompanied Jesus with His other disciples to Ephraim. This conjecture receives some countenance from the men- tion incidentally made in the 9th verse, that much people of the Jews came to Bethany that they might see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead, as if they had not been able to satisfy their curiosity in the interval since his resurrection, on account of his absence from Bethany. At Bethany they made Him a supper. The Evangelist does not say who made Him a supper. It was probably the sisters and Lazarus who did this, as they are the only persons here mentioned by name. St. Matthew (xxvi. 6) and St. Mark (xiv. 3), both relate that He was received on this occasion in the house of Simon the leper. St. 1 Where Lazarus was, which had The sense, as he observes, is, * where been dead (Sirou ^v AdCapos 6 TedvrjKws) — Lazarus was, he who had been dead.' " Markland rightly censures the Latin His objection does not, and is not, meant Versions for rendering, ubi Lazarus fuit to apply to the English Version." — Bishop mortuus, and thus overlooking the Article. Middleton on Greek Article, p. 257. 270 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. John relates that Martha and Mary and Lazarus are present. Martha serves, Lazarus is one of the guests, and Mary, who is evidently no stranger in the house, anoints the feet of Jesus with the precious oint- ment. The probability is, that Simon the leper was a near relative of Lazarus and his sisters. Some have supposed that he was their father, and that he is called the leper because he was once a leper, and had been miraculously cleansed by Jesus, If he were a leper and still living, he would not be able to entertain guests, but would be cut off from all social intercourse with his friends. 2 (There they made Him a supper) : and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him. (Alf. So they made Him a supper there.) 3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment (of spikenard)^ very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair ; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.^ (Alf. Of pure spikenard.) As a guest at the table Lazarus would (prove the reality of his resurrection, and would amply dispose of any rumours to the effect that 1 Spikenard. — Dr. Johnson in his Die- subsequently attended. It lay through a tionary gives the following account of part of the province where the heat of spikenard : — " A 'plant, and the oil or the climate favoured the growth of aro- balsam produced from the plant. matic plants. The myrrh- bearing shrub " There are three sorts of spikenard. 1. grew there in profusion, and the herb The Indian spikenard is most famous. which produces nard was equally abundant. It is a congeries of fibrous substances The latter, trodden under foot by the adhering to the upper part of the root, of Grecian host, sent forth into the air ' a an agreeable aromatic and bitterish taste. stream of rich distilled perfume,' which It grows plentifully in Java. It has been delighted the sense. Following the army known to the medical writers of all ages. for commercial purposes were some Phoe- 2. Celtic spikenard is an eblong root, of nician merchants who loaded their cattle an irreg\ilar figure, a fragrant and aro- with a rich burden of nard and myrrh, matic but not very pleasant smell. It which, however, they did not long retain." had its name from Celtic Gaul, and is — Miltoid^B History of Greece, Gh&^.]ix.\ol, still found in great abundance on the viii. p. 177. Alpine and Pyrenean mountains. 3. > With the odour of the ointment {iK Mountain spikenard is a moderately large ttjs oarfiris rdv /xvpov) — " We must not oblong root of a plant of the valerian regard ^k rfjs oa-firis as merely equivalent kind, its smell and qualities resembling to a Genitive, but as denoting especially those of the Celtic spikenard" {ed. 1765). that whence the filling of the house was *' Alexander now led his army into the come : it was filled with (from) the odour Gedrosian desert. The march, at the out- of the ointment (with fragrance)." — set, did not threaten that accumulation Winer's Grammar of New Testament, p. of suffering and calamity by which it was 214. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN*S GOSPEL. 271 Jesiis had only raised a spectre from the grave, and not the veritable body of Lazarus himself. The literal translation is ointment of nard pistic {vdpBov iria-TLKfjf;) very costly. Nothing whatever is known respecting the meaning of the word ** pistic." Five or six different meanings have been assigned to it, but all founded on conjecture.^ Some have supposed that it referred to the place from which the nard was obtained, others to the nature or quality of the nard itself. In this uncertainty as to its real meaning. Bishop Taylor, in his Life of Christ (sect. 15) prefers to leave the word untranslated thus, ** Ointment of Nard Pistick." St. John says that it was Mary who anointed Jesus on this occasion. St. Matthew (xxvi. 7), and St. Mark (xiv. 3) merely say it was a woman. St. John wrote His Gospel last and at a time when all cause for silence as to her name may have disappeared. St. John says that she anointed the feet of Jesus. St. Matthew and St. Mark say that she poured the ointment on His head, and St. Mark adds that she brake the box and poured it on His head. The probability is that she brake the box and poured the ointment on His head, and then with the remainder anointed His feet, or the reverse. The wiping His feet with her hair is supposed by many to have preceded the anointing of them. There is nothing in the language of the narrative itself which is inconsistent with this view. She would wipe them to remove the dust which the open sandal would have allowed to gather round them on His journey, and thus to prepare them for the ointment which was too costly to be wiped off His feet by her hair. Besides Mary's object was to anoint the feet of Jesus, not her own hair. Jesus would reach Bethany perhaps wearied with the heat of the sun, and the toil of His journey. Mary would deem no office unbecoming her that would prove her love to Him who had shown them, in a manner which they could most thoroughly appreciate, that He was indeed the Kesur- rection and the Life. Instead of ministering to personal vanity and to sin, her hair would receive honour in being employed to wipe off the dust from the wearied feet of the Son of God. 4 ([Then saith] one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, [Simon's son], which should betray him), [S. V. But saith: S. V. Omit, Simon's son.] (Alf. Then saith Judas Iscariot, Bimon's son, one of His disciples, which was abont to betray Him.) 5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor ?^ ^ See Cornelius a Lapide. See also Twelve, was a Jew of Judaea, not of Ga- Winer'a Grammar of New Testament, ^.110. lilee; a man close and secret, fond of • Three hundred pence. — " Judas, son money and of power, inclined to Essenio of Simon, the last and lowest of the views and habits, a narrow bigot in heart 272 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 6 This he said, not (that) he cared for the poor : but because he was a thief, ([and had the bag, and bare what] was put therein).^ [S. V. And having the bag bare what.] (Alf. Because — and kept the bag, and took away what was put therein.) St. John said it was Judas who murmured. The other Evangelists do not mention Judas by name. St. Matthew (xxvi. 8) says, " When His disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, to what purpose is this waste?" St. Mark (xiv. 4) says, "There were some that had indignation in themselves." The explanation probably is that it was Judas who began the murmuring, who first gave utterance to this feeling of dissatisfaction, and who, by representing it as a waste, and a waste of what might have been so useful to the poor, induced the others to join in his indignation. From what we elsewhere know of the other disciples, their indignation would be sincere and honest, though misplaced, that of Judas would be only a cloak to hide his disappointment at missing so much from his grasp. St. Matthew (xxvi. 9) says the ointment might have been sold " for much ;" St. John ^* for three hundred pence ;" and St. Mark (xiv. 5) " for more than three hundred pence." This is another of those apparent discrepancies between the Evangelists, but where there is in reality no contradiction. and brain. His office among the brethren was not to teach and preach, but to carry the bag, to pay the bills for food and lodg- ing, to dispense alms to the needy. The fund was perhaps getting low in his purse, for they had been living much in the desert, making many quick journeys from place to place, followed by swarms of the poor and ailing, whom they were often obliged to feed. That box of unguent would have sold for three hundred denarii, a large addition to his chest. A denarius was a silver coin, the size and value of a Tuscan lira, eight pence of our English money. It was a labourer's wages, and something above a soldier's pay. Three hundred denarii made ten pounds, a very large sum in the miser's eyes." — Dixon's Holy Land, vol. ii. 249. See note on St. John vi. 7. 1 And bare what was put therein (koI rh fiaWSfifya ipdaraCfv) — "I cannot but think that it was St. John's intention to say not merely that Judas ' bare,' but that he ' bore away,' purloined or pilfered what was put into the common purse. It has the appearance of a tautology to say that He ' had the bag and bare what was put therein,' unless indeed the latter words are introduced to explain the op- portunity which he enjoyed of playing the thief, hardly, as it appears to me, a sufficient explanation. On the other hand the use of /Saatrci^eji/, not in the sense of portare, but of auferre, is frequent : it is so used by Josephus, Antiq. xiv. 7, 1, and in the New Testament, John xx. 15 ; and such, I am persuaded, is the use of it here. We note that already in Augustine's time the question had arisen which was the right way to deal with the words : for, commenting on the ' portabat ' which he found in his italic, as it has kept its place in the Vulgate, he asks, ' Portabat an exportabat? Sed ministerio portabat, furto exportabat.' Here he might seem to leave his own view of the passage un- decided : not so however at Epist. 108, 3. * Ipsi (Apostoli) de illo scripserunt quod fur erat, et omnia qusB mittebantur de dominicis localis auferebat.' After all is said, there will probably always remain upholders of one translation and up- holders of the other, yet, to my mind, the probabilities are much in favour of that version which I observe that the Five clergymen have also adopted." — Archbishop Trench on Authorised Version, p. 104. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOIIN'S GOSPEL. 273 Why Jesus should have allowed Judas to carry tho bag, when He knew that he could not resist the temptation to which it exposed him, is one of those mysteries which we shall only be able to answer when we understand why God allows any man to be exposed to temptation, which He knows he will not be able to resist. It may be that Judas was first selected for this purpose, because he showed an aptitude for making such arrangements as were required for supplying the daily wants of the disciples, and for relieving the poor, and that the oppor- tunity — the possession of the bag — had developed in him the hitherto latent feeling of avarice. His sin consisted in appropriating to his own individual use some of the money, which was given to him for the general good of Jesus and the disciples and the poor. That Judas was not an unblushing peculator, that he did not practise his thefts openly, but with the utmost secrecy, and with every outward appear- ance of upright dealing, is plain from the fact that the disciples do not seem to have suspected his motives on this occasion. They join with Judas in representing, that the value of the ointment might have been better spent in distributing to the poor, because they had not the slightest suspicion of his honesty. The fearful lesson, which the conduct of Judas teaches us, is the intimate relation which, in the nature of things, exists between appro- priating to oneself the goods given to us in charge for Christ and His poor, and the betrayal of Christ Himself, between avarice and treason to Christ. The latter of these is the necessary consequence of the former, not the accidental but the moral consequence, not in Judas only, but in every man. Betrayal of Christ, in some form or other, follows the love of money as regularly and as certainly as night follows day. 7 Then said Jesus, [(Let her alone : against the day of My burying hath she kept this)].^ [S. V. Let her alone, that she may keep this against the day of My burying.J (Alf. Let her alone, that she may keep it against the day of My burying.) 8 For the poor (always ye have with you) : but Me ye have not always. (Alf. Ye have always with you.) Of the three Evangelists who record this murmuring against Mary, St. Mark gives our Saviour's answer the most fully, and St. John the 1 Against the day of my burying hath Jesus meant figuratively that this anoint- she kept this {iis r^jv rj/jLcpav rou euTa■ {Dq consensu Evangelistarum iii. 1 : vol. iii. part i. 1158, Migne.) 304 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHn's GOSPEL. about the 20tli verse of this chapter, probably between the 20th and 21st verses, or, as some think, after the 22nd verse.^ The following might be the order of events during the evening. The Paschal supper being concluded, and their ordinary supper having begun, Jesus rose from the table and washed the feet of his disciples. Having sat down again. He spake the words which John has related from ] 2th to 20th verses. Then being troubled in spirit He spake of His betrayal. Jesus then institutes the Eucharist and commands them to offer it as His Memorial. After this He again speaks of His betrayal as related by St. Luke and St. John. Peter beckons to John to ask Him, who it was, and Jesus replied. He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when He had dipped the sop He gave it to Judas Iscariot : and after the sop Satan entered into him. Judas having received the sop immediately went out, and Jesus then delivered the discourse which St. John records. 21 When Jesus had thus said, He was troubled (in spirit), and testified and said. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me. (Alf. In His spirit.) 22 [Then] the disciples looked one on another, (doubt- ing) of whom He spake. [V. Omits, Then.] (Alf. Omits, Then — ^being in doubt.) 23 [Now] there was (leaning on) Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. [V. Omits, Now.] (Alf. Omits, Now — ^reclining at meat in.) 24 Simon Peter therefore (beckoned) to him, [that he should ask who it should be of whom He spake.] [V. And saith unto him, Say who it is of whom He speaketh : He spake.] [S. And saith unto him. Say who it is of whom He speaketh.] (Alf. Maketh a sign — Tell us who it is of whom He speaketh.) The custom of the country was to recline at meals two or three on one couch. Nearness to Jesus their Lord and Master was the ^ The institution of the Eucharist. — for the omission of the latter, are sufficient " There is no reason whatever to suppose, to refute the theories of which they form with some critics, that the foot washing is a part. The simple explanation is, that intended to take the place of the institu- the subject was too familiar to need repe- tion of the Eucharist. The random tition." — S&nd&y'B Historical Character of guesses that have been made to account the Fourth Gospel, p. 217. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 805 post of honour. This was not allotted to Philip or to Andrew, who were the disciples first called ; but to John the disciple whom Jesus loved. The reason is not assigned, why He loved him: it is generally believed to have been on account of his youthful, gentle, loving character. A proof of his modesty is given in the very way in which he relates this, omitting any mention of his own name. Besides reclining the nearest to Jesus at supper, St. John in his Gospel enters the most fully into the great Mystery of the Incarnation. He brings before us more fully than the other Evangelists Jesus the Son of Mary as the Eesurrection and the Life. Though it is not anywhere said, that the nature of St. John's Gospel was influenced by the innocence, meekness, and gentleness of his youth, and by his close communion with Jesus in his life, it would not be very unnatural to suppose that this was the case. As on other occasions, so here too, the zeal of St. Peter makes him one of the most prominent among the Twelve. It was probably not mere curiosity on his part that prompted this inquiry, but a desire to counteract the treachery. His zeal in the garden afterwards led him to offer resistance to the apprehension of Jesus by the soldiers. 25 ([He then lying]) on Jesus' breast saith unto Him, Lord, who is it ?^ [S. He therefore lying.] [V. He lying thus.] (Alf. He then leaning back thus.) 26 ([Jesus answered]). He it is, (to whom I shall [give a sop]), when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, [He gave it] to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. (V. Jesus therefore answereth,— All MSS. give the sop : V. Hetakethandgivethit.] [S. Jesus answereth and saith.] [Alf. Jesus therefore answereth— for whom I shall dip the sop, and give it to him — He taketh it and giveth it.) 1 He then lying on Jesus' breast ence occurs — not to the reclining position, {i-rrnrea-^v Se eKeivos inl rh a-Trjdos rod but to the sudden movement — in xxi. 20, 'irjo-oC). — "The English Version makes no '65 kuI avfTna-cv ev Tav6v^) by His depai-tm-e. He will come to them again. This promise He fulfilled on the Day of Resurrection, when He appeared to them in His glorified Body, and on the Day of Pentecost, when He sent down the Holy Spirit upon them. He then speaks of His Resurrection and of the effects of His Resurrection. Of the immediate future He uses the present. Of His own Resurrection He speaks as present, and of theirs, which will not be until the Day of Judgment, and which will be the efi'ect of His Resurrection, as future. In a little time — in the space of a few hours — the world should see Him no more though they should see Him.- When risen from the dead. He should not appear to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God. (Acts x. 41.) After His Resurrection, when they had been enlightened by the descent of the Holy Spirit, they should understand doctrines which now it was difficult for them to comprehend, and which, though He had explained to them more than once, they could not fully understand and receive now. 20 (At) that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. (Alf. In.) These three propositions are not to be understood in the same way, but each according to its own relation. Jesus is not in the Father in the same sense as He is in His disciples, and as they are in Him. Jesus is in the Father as being of the same essence, of the same divine nature, One with the Father and equal to the Father. He is in His disciples because He, through the Holy Spirit, dwelt in them. TJiey are in Him because they were engi-afted into Him the God Man. As an illustration it -has been said, that Jesus is in the Father as a ray is in the Sun, of the same nature. They are in Jesus as branches grafted into the Vine. He is in them as the Vine is in the branches, supply- ing life and sustenance to them. But the effect of Christ's resurrection should not be confined to the Apostles. It should be extended to all who loved Him, whether living at the time of His resuiTection or afterwards. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 321 21 He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me : and he that loveth Me, shall be loved (of) My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. (Alf. By.) The proof of their love to Jesus is to keep His commandments. The effect of their love is that God will love them and will manifest Himself unto them. 22 Judas saith unto Him, not Iscariot, [Lord, how is it] that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world ?^ [S. Lord, and how is it.] To the inquiry of Judas why Jesus would manifest Himself unto them and not unto the world, He, in effect, replies that the manifesta- tion of Himself after His resurrection, will be made to them only and to a few other witnesses chosen before of God (Acts x. 41), but that He will manifest Himself in another way to all who love Him and keep His words. 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My (words) : and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. (Alf. Word.) God is everywhere, and fills all things, and therefore when He is said to abide in one place and to remove to another, such expressions are used with reference to our limited capacities. Jesus uses these terms here to indicate the various operations of the Holy Spirit on iJude, or Judas, Lebbseus, and Thad- words 'lovSas ^laKiafiov. The generally deus (Luke vi. 16 'lovoau 'laKa>0ov An- received opinion is, that the Authorised thorised Version, " Judas the brother of Version is right in translating 'Judas the James") one of the 'Twelve Apostles. brother of James.' But we prefer to follow ♦' The name Judas only, without any dis- nearly all the most eminent critical au- tinguishing mark, occurs in the lists given thorities, and render the words ' Judas the by St. Luke vi. IG ; Acts i. 13 ; and in son of James.' The name of Jude only oc- John xiv. 22 (where we find ' Judas not curs once in the Gospel narrative fJohn Iscariot' among the Apostles), but the xiv. 22). Nothing is certainly known of the Apostle has been generally identified with later history of the Apostle. Tradition Lebbneus, whose surname was Thaddeus connects him with the foundation of the (Matt. X. 3 ; Mark iii. 18). Much difference Church at Edessa.— Smith's Biblical Dic- of opinion has existed from the earliest tionarij. times a3 to the right interpretation of the 322 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. men*s minds. God comes to a man when He imparts His grace and influences His heart, and the more love He shows by keeping His com- mandments the longer He abides with him, the more grace He imparts to Him. As love is shown by keeping God's commandments, so not to keep them is a proof of the want of love. 24 He that lovetli Me not keepeth not (My sayings) : and the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's which sent Me. (Alf. My words.) To keep prominently before their minds His Oneness with ' the Father He says that the word which they hear Him speak is not His, but His Father's, who sent Him. 25 These things have I spoken unto you (being yet present with you). (Alf. While yet abiding with you.) 26 But the Comforter (which is the Holy Ghost), whom the Father will send in My name. He shall teach you all things, and (bring all things to your remembrance, what- soever I have said) unto you. (Alf. Even the Holy Spirit — bring to your remembrance all things which I spake.) Many things Jesus had said unto them, which they could not then understand, either on account of their own incapacity or on account of the deep nature of the things themselves, and there were many things which He had not said unto them for the same reasons. All these, as well as all the other Mysteries of the Incarnation, the Holy Spirit would enable them to comprehend. He would instruct them in all things necessary for the foundation, and for the future growth of the Church. He says "Whom the Father will send in My name," to indicate the unity between the Three Persons in the Holy Trinity, and the mission of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son, and that His coming to them was the fruits of His Passion, and to supply His place to the Church. 27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you : [not as the world giveth give I unto you]. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. [S. Not M the world giveth unto you give I unto you.] COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPBL. 323 The world, men in general, when departing from each other, say, " Peace be unto you." They wish peace in words, but they cannot by that give peace. It is a mere form of speech, expressive of goodwill to each other. Jesus, when now departing from them, gives them His peace, peace in the highest sense, peace with God, and in such a degi-ee that they have no cause for trouble or fear. For a time He will depart from them, but only for a time. At this they ought rather to rejoice because, by His departure, He will fulfil the Mystery of the Incarnation. He will take captivity captive, and will receive for them gifts, the reward of His Passion. 28 Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved Me, ye would ([rejoice because I said I go) unto the Father : for My Father] is greater than I.^ [S. V. A. Rejoice because I go : V. A. For the Father.] (Alf. Have rejoiced that I go.) The latter part of this passage has at times been misunderstood. This has arisen from explaining the relation between God the Father and Jesus His Son, by reference to the relation which exists on earth between a father and his son. But the nature of the union which exists between an earthly father and his son is far too imperfect, ever to be a measure of the union which is between God the Father and God the Son, or even to convey an adequate conception of it. This can only bo understood from the consistent interpretation of the language in which this union is revealed. No better summary of this language has ever been made than is contained in the Creed called the Creed of St. Athanasius. " Equal to the Father, as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His Manhood." In this His inferior part, in His Manhood He was now about to ascend to the Father, and to receive the reward of His Passion. At this they ought to rejoice. To rejoice at His exaltation rather than to mourn at His departure was a proof of their love to Him. 29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye (might) believe. (Alf. May.) Jesus foretold to His disciples His departure from them, His Death, His Eesurrection, and return to them, not that they might condole with Him, or that they might take measures for their own 1 *' If ye loved Me, ye would rejoice with the Indicative to denote hypothetical (ii rtyairaTe /xc, e'xcipTjTe &u) if yeloved Me, reality." — Winer's Grammar of Neiv Tis- ye would have rejoiced; After conditional lament, p. 320. clauses with h we find ^v in the apcedosis Y 2 324 COMMENTARY ON 8T, JOHN's GOSPEL. conduct, but that they might believe in Him more fully, that they might believe that He foreknew ail that came upon Him, and that He laid down His Life of His Own will, and for the salvation of man, and that they might believe that He is the Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. 80 (Hereafter I will not talk) much with you : for the prince [of this world] cometh, and hath nothing in Me.^ [S.V.A. Of the world.] (Alf. I will no more talk— of the world.) 31 But that the world may know that I love the Father : and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence. '* The Prince of the World " comes through his agents, by their voluntarily yielding to his temptations. But Satan will find nothing in Jesus. He will have no right over Him ; he will find no sin in Him, and therefore not the right which sin gives him over other men. Though He die it will be because He lays down His life voluntarily that He may save mankind, and not because He is vanquished by Satan. His Death will be another proof to the world of His love to the Father, of His Oneness with the Father, and of His obedience to His commands. Jesus was free from sin, and obeyed the commands of the Father, by reason of the Hypostatic Union of the Word with the Flesh. The divine power directed all the passions and afiections of the Flesh, so that they were without sin. The weakness incident to the flesh, such as hunger, and thirst, and fatigue He underwent. But the weakness of the flesh, as the effect of man's fall, in the irregularity of passion, all these were rectified and sustained by the union of the Word with the Flesh. Though Man, He fulfilled all the commands of the Father, and not by constraint. Necessity or constraint are terms which cannot be applied to the Son of God. The beatific Vision, the sight of God which the Saints will enjoy, will assimilate them to Him in their lovo 1 xiy. 30, 81. " In punctuating these ceived of as only momentarily broken at verses, expositors vary between iv ifiol verse 31. Our Lord and His disciples ouK ^x^i ov5eV, dA\ 'lua — ttoioi. iyeipeffde, arise from the table as if to go. But wo and ovS4u. a\\ 'Iva — iroiw, iyeipfffde. In see from xviii. 1 {{i^rjxee) that they had general, such discrepancies of punctua- not yet left the house, or at least the city, tion, occurring in the New Testament, are We must, therefore, suppose that the con- not to be regarded as of much import- tents of chapters xv. and xvi., with the ance." — Winer's Grammar of New Testa- prayer of chap. xvii. were still gpoken in the ment, p. 72. upper room, though after the first motion ' Arise, let us go hence.—*' This dis- for departure."— Sanday's Historical Cha- course is apparently intended to be con- racter of the Fourth Gospel, p. 221. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL, 325 and in all their affections. They will desire but Him. In a similar way we may describe the obedience which Jesus rendered to the com- mands of the Father, not as the effect of constraint, but of love, and of such love as mere man knows not. Some have thought that when Jesus said, "Arise, let us go hence," He and the eleven arose from the table, and set out towards Gethsemane, and that on the way thither He uttered these His farewell words to them, from chapters xv. to xviii. Others, and with more probability, think that Jesus and His disciples arose from the table, and that before they left the Upper Koom, in which they had spent the evening. He delivered to them the following discourse, His last words to them before His Death. ( 326 ) INTEODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTER XV. Johannean Words. — *' The vocabulary of St. John's Gospel is eminently characteristic. It has several peculiar terms — such as the Word, the Light, the Life, the Truth, the World, Glory, Grace,— which, perhaps more than all others, bear upon them the clear stamp of the Divine signet. They are key- words, which open up new realms of thought to us, as suggestive as the streak of dawn along the Eastern hills. Like the jewels in the breast-plate of the Jewish High Priest they glow among the commoner terms with a mystic radiance which dispels the shadows of earth and time, and reveals the unseen and eternal. To these peculiar words may be added the word * true/ which occurs no less than twenty-two times in the Gospel of St. John, as against five times in all the rest of the New Testament. It illus- trates in a remarkable way the meditative simplicity of St. John's writings, in which all the ideas reduce themselves to a few compre- hensive terms." — Macmillan on The True Vine, p. 19. ( 327 ) CHAPTER XV. 1 The consolation and mutual love hetiocen Christ and His members, under the ^mrahle of the vine ; 18 A comfort in the hatred and persecution of the world ; 26 The office of the Holy Ghost and of the Apostles* The eleven Apostles were now about to be put to tbeir severest trial. Their faith in Jesus, as well as their love for Him, were both shortly to be brought to the proof. To prepare them for this, He delivers the parable of the Vine and its branches. He shows them the close union between Himself and them, and the bearing which their future conduct would have on this. Their union with Him was the great blessing of their lives, and their future happiness or misery would depend on the way in which they responded to this. The trials, to which they were on the point of being exposed, had not happened to them by chance ; they were sent by the Father, and for the very purpose of causing them to bear fruit corresponding with their condi- tion as members of Him, the God Incarnate. 1 I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Husband- man.^ Jesus, the Word made Flesh, is the True Vine, God the Father is the Husbandman, and the disciples are the branches. The disciples did not become branches in Him the Vine by their natural birth, or after the usual course of nature. Of no other man, and of no other Person in the Holy Trinity, but of Jesus, could it be said that He was the Vine and they the branches. They became branches in Him by being grafted into Him. This relation was the effect of a mysterious supernatural working. It was not a relation existing merely in the imagination, a mental process only. It was a union more real in the nature of things than that of the branches and the vine. This is the relation by birth, to which the Evangelist had before alluded in these words: — '*As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name : which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (i. 12). Many reasons have been given why Jesus selected the vine to illustrate the union between Himself and His discij^les. The proba- 1 See note iii. 33. 328 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. bility is that He has a reference to the Eucharist, which He had insti- tuted only a short time before, perhaps within the last hour, with the fi'uit of the yine. (Luke xxii. 18.) He had then instituted and left them a new Memorial of Himself, a new means of renewing their union with Him, as well as their belief in that union. It may be that there is something in the very nature and organism of the vine, that renders it peculiarly suitable to indicate the closeness of His miiou with His disciples. Jesus is the True Yine. Compared with Him all the other vines and their branches are but reflections, shadowy imitations. They are called by the same name, because they have somewhat of the same effect on the body as the True Vine has on the soul, to strengthen and to refresh. The God-Man is the True Vine because He alone can give the Holy Spirit to His branches. He is the True Life, because He alone can enlighten the soul of man. He is the True Light, because He alone can quicken the soul dead in sin. He is the True Bread, because He alone can give His Own Body to nourish the soul. Beyond the statement that He is the True Vine He says nothing respecting the Vine, but goes on to describe the condition of the branches and the nature of their culture by the Father. 2 Every branch in Me that bearetli not fruit He taketli away ; and every branch that beareth fruit (He purgeth it, that it may bring forth) more fruit.^ (Alf. He cleanseth, that it may bear.) Jesus says this primarily with reference to the Apostles, and then to all the faithful. Judas had been chosen as one of the Twelve. He had gone in and out with Jesus for three whole years. He had wit- nessed His miracles, and had Himself shared in His miraculous powers. 1 Branch. — " These words (kA^^uo, K\d- Ps. Ixxix. 12 ; Ezek. xvii. 0) : while we 5oj) are related to one another by descent have mention of the K\dSoi of the mustard- from a common stock, derived as they tree (Matt. xiii. 32), of the fig-tree (Matt, both are from K\dw frango; the fragile xxiv. 32), of the olive-tree (Kom. xi. IG), character of the branch, the ease with and of trees in general (Matt. xxi. 8)." — which it may be broken off, to be planted Archbishop Trench on Sytionyms of New or graffed anew, constituting the basis Testament, p. 174. and leading conception in both words. " Fniitfulness is the consummation At the same time there is a distinction of all that God has done in creation, in between them, this namely, that /c\^/xo human history, and in the work of redemp- ( = palmes) is especially the branch of tion. All sacraments and ordinances, all the vine [afj-ircKov KKrifiay Plato, Eep. i. providences and dispensations of goodness 853, a) : while k\6.Zos ( — • ramus') is the or of severity, are working together, like branch, not the larger arm, of any tree : the seasons of the year, and the influences and this distinction is always observed in of nature in ripening the natural harvest, the New Testament, where /cX^yua only in promoting the one great end of general occurs in the allegory of the True Vine and individual fruitfulness." — Macmillan (John XV. 2, 4, 6, G ; of Numb. xii. 24 ; on The True Vine, p. 131. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN*S GOSPEL. 329 Ho had even received the last tender mark of His love ; Jesus had washed his feet that very night. But mih all this Judas did not hear fruit, and the Father had removed him from the company of the Apostles. The rest of the Apostles had horn© some fruit. They had one and all expressed great faith in Jesus, and great love and zeal for Him. But secretly, unknown, perhaps, to themselves, their love for Him was mixed up with a stronger love of life and fear of the Jews. After the most earnest protestations of devotion to Him even to death, in a few hours they would all either deny or desert Him. After the Day of Pentecost we see them delivered from this fear. The Father had purged them that they might bring forth more fruit. He had filled them with the Holy Ghost, and the boldness of Peter and John even excited the attention of the High Priest and his friends. (Acts iv. 13.) 3 (Now ye are clean through the word), which I have spoken unto you. (Alf. Ye are clean already, by reason of the word.) The Father has many ways of cleansing His disciples, such as by His word, or by personal affliction in one of its manifold forms. His Apostles, He says, are clean abeady, by reason of the word which He had spoken unto them, probably alluding to the words which He spake to them at the table after supper. By this word He had freed them from much ignorance and vain confidence. Peter had been taught that he could not follow Him now. Thomas had learnt whither He was going, and the way. Judas (not Iscariot) now knew that he who had seen Jesus had seen the Father. They had all been taught to depend less on His sensible presence with them, and to rely less on the strength of their own resolution in time of temptation. These were some of the human frailties, from which He had cleansed them by His conversation with them this night. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. (As) the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine : no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. (Alf. Even as.) 5 I am the Vine, ye are the branches : He that abideth in Me, and I in Him, the same (bringeth forth) much fruit : for (without Me) ye can do nothing.^ (Alf. Bearetli — apart from Me.) 1 Without Me ye can do nothing negation, which is the more frequent (Xf^p'^s i/xov 6v BvvaaOe Troieli/ ouSeV). — case, and serve to make the principal " Two or more negations produce one negation more distinct and forcible, and 330 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 6 If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered : [and men gather them and cast them] into the fire (and they are burned).^ [S. And men gather it, and cast it.] (Alf. And they.burn.) 7 If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you [ye shall ask] what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. [V. A. Ask.] (Alf. Ask whatsoever ye wiU.) 8 Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit : (so shall ye be) My disciples. (Alf. And become.) 9 As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you : (continue ye) in My love. (Alf. Abide ye.) 10 If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love : even as I have kept [My Father's commandments], and abide in His love. [V. The Father's commandments.] 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy [might remain in you], and that your joy (might be) full. [V. A. Might be in you.] (Alf. May be in you — may be.) He exhorts them to abide in Him, and on this He promises to abide in them. He urges them to this by seven kindred reasons or considerations. exhibit the sentence as negative in all tanoous consequence ; whoever has fallen its parts, x^P^^ ^l^°" °^ ^{/yaade non po- away from Christ resembles a branch testis facere quidquam, that is, nihil broken off and thrown away). With potestis facere."— Winer's Grammar of $\r]B7ivai, the Presents avvdyova-iv, &c. are Neio Testament, p. 521. connected." — Ibid. p. 292. 1 If a man abide not in Me, he is cast And men gather them {koI ffwdyovffiv forth, &c. — "It is only in appearance out^).—" Words referring to something that the Aorist is used for the Future, antecedent are used in a loose relation. iav fii} ris fieivp iu ifioi, i$\'f]6Tj e^w us rh Here avrh refers to the Singular rh KXTJfJta, KXrjixa, in Bucli case, should such a thing which is in opposition to et ris." — Ibid. happen, it is cast away, not, it ioill be cast p. 654. away (its not abiding has the instau- COMMENTABY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 331 1. (v. 4) Because without Him they can bear no fruit. 2. (v. 5) If they abide in Him they will bear much fruit. 3 (v. 6) If a man abide not in Him he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. 4 (v. 7) If they abide in Him, whatever they ask of God they shall obtain. 5 (v. 8) Herein is the Father glorified, that they bear much fruit. 6 (v. 9) Because He has loved them, and it is right that they should love Him in return, and continue in His love. 7 (v. 11) That their joy may be full. The first and second considerations are drawn from their power to bear fruit, the third from their punishment, the fourth from their . reward. The fifth consideration refers to the way in which they will be able to magnify the glory of God by their success in converting the heathen to His worship. The sixth shows that, if they abide in Him the Vine the love which will exist between Himself and them will resemble the love which there is between Him and the Father, and that the effect will be similar ; that they will keep His commands with an earnestness which will resemble the unity of will between Himself and the Father. The seventh refers to the joy which their perfect union with Him will cause. As the branches to the vine, they must be united to Him the God- Man sacramentally, by the sacraments of Baptism and of the Eucharist, and also spiritually or mentally — that is by the affections of the soul. Where this is the case they will bear much fruit. Where the former exists without the latter, the branches though in the Vine become unfruitful, withered and dead here, and in the world to come will be cast out and burnt. 12 This is My coramandment, That ye love one another (as I have loved) you. (Alf. As I loved.) 18 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 [Ye are] My friends, if ye do (whatsoever) I command yon. [S. For ye are.] (Alf. The things which.) 15 (Henceforth I call you not) servants: (for) the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but I have 332 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. called you friends : for all things that I have heard of My Father, I have made known unto you. (Alf. I call you no longer — because — because I made known unto you all tilings that I lieard from My Father. ) 16 Ye (have not chosen) Me, but I (have chosen) you, and (ordained) you, that ye should go and [(bring forth fruit)] and that your fruit should remain : [that] whatsoever (ye shall ask) of the Father in My name [He may give] it you. [A. Bring forth much fruit: S. Omits, that : S. He shall giye.] (Alf. Did not choose — choose— and bear fruit— ye ask.) 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another. The distingnishing mark of the New Dispensation was to be the love which they had for each other. -Here he calls it, ** My command- ment," before (xiii. 34) He called it " a new commandment." Their love for each other was to be the characteristic of the brethren. His love to them was to be the standard and model for their love to each other. Those whom He calls " My friends '* are not those who love Him, but those whom He loves, and who may not be friends but enemies to Him. Hence there is no opposition between this passage and that (Romans v. 6, &c.), in which St. Paul magnifies the love of Christ because He laid down His Life for His enemies. He is still specially addressing the Apostles, and He enume- rates several proofs of the love, which He had shown to them in particular. He had called them and treated them as His friends, not as servants but fiiends. The proof of this was the instruction which He had given them. To show them that it was not mere human Imowledge, man's wisdom, the fruit of man's natm-al faculties. He calls it *' all things that I have heard of My Father." This was what He had already communicated to them, so far as they were in a condition to receive it, and He would impart it still more to them after the descent of the Holy They had not chosen Him to be their Master. He had chosen them to be His Apostles. Ho had appointed them to go and convert the world. Whatever they should ask God in furtherance of the salvation of the world, in the name of the Saviour, He would grant it. This promise relates not to their own personal private interest or convenience, but to the fulfilment of their mission as Apostles, for the ^ bearing of the fruit which may remain. 18 If the world (hate you), ye know that it (hateth Me) before it hated you. (Alf. Hateth you—hath hate A Me.) COMMEKTARY ON ST, JOHN's GOSPEL. 383 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own : but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, (The servant is not) greater than his lord. If they (have persecuted) Me, they will also persecute you : (if they have kept My saying), they will keep yours also. (Alf. There is no servant— persecuted— if they kept My Word.) 21 (But) all these things will they do unto you for My name's sake, because they know not Him that sent Me. (Alf. Howbeit.) He forewarns tke Apostles of the persecutions they would meet with, in their attempt to convert the world. In this, as in all other things, He was their Leader and Example. What had happened to Him, must also happen to them so far as they walked in His steps. The world are the men who are given up to the enjoyment of this world, without regard to the future, whether Jews or Gentiles. The world's hatred was a proof of their righteousness, the world's love a proof of their sin. He reminds them of His former saying to which, at the time of its utterance, He had called their most earnest attention, '* Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord." (xiii. 16.) The servant cannot refuse to do and suffer what his Lord does and suffers. He is the Lord, they are the servants. The persecution and death which He suffers they must not expect to escape. As they have persecuted Him, so they would His Apostles ; as they have believed Him, so they would His Apostles. The reason assigned for this is their disbelief in Him as the Messiah, their disbelief in the proofs which He gave, that He was sent by the Father, that He was God. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not sin : [but] now they have no (cloke) for their sin.^ [S. Omits, But.] (Mf^rgin, Excuse.) (Alf. They would not have— excuse.) 23 He that hateth Me, hateth My Father also. 1 If I had not come, &c. — *' Aorist in if I had not come, they would not hftve the condition, Imperfect in tho concla- haisin."'— Vdaci' 5 Grammar of New Tes- Bion — ii fi^ ^,\Qov . . . afxapriav ovk dxov—' tament, p. 321. 334 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, (they had not had) sin ; but now have they both seen and hated both Me and My Father. (Alf. They would not liave.) 25 But (this Cometh to pass) that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their Law, They hated Me with- out a cause. (Alf. Note not expressed in the original.) In these words He makes two distinct propositions. (1) In hating Him, they hated the Father. (2) They were inexcusahle in refusing to believe in Him, on the proofs that He gave them. So many and so convincing were the proofs that He gave them of His Mission from the Father that in disbelieving them they were guilty of the sin of hatred and unbelief. The unbelief of the Jews had a moral origin not an intellectual one. The seat of it was in the heart, not in the head. It was not that they w^ere unable to understand, how Jesus could be the Son of God. They refused even to investigate His claims, to hear His words and examine His works. Before the coming of Jesus they were anxiously looking forward for the Messiah. Jesus wrought the same miracles do^vn to the very letter, which the prophet Isaiah had foretold the Messiah would. (Isa. XXXV. 5, 6.) The reason why they refused to acknowledge Him, and why they hated Him, was that He broke through their traditions, that He set at naught their oral law, that He reproved their vices, their hypocrisies, that He preached to them a new life, and repentance of their past sins, that He laid claim to no earthly kingdom, and declined to deliver them from the yoke of the Romans. The Psalmist had foreseen and had foretold their hatred of Him, as weU as the nature of it, thus : *' Let not them that are Mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over Me, neither let them wink with the eye that hate Me without a cause (Ps. xxxv. 19); and " They that hate Me without a cause are more than the hairs of Mine head : they that would destroy Me, being Mine enemies wrongfully are mighty." (Ps. Ixix. 4.) Jesus again applies the words of the Old Testament to Himself as the natural object of them. Again, by Hi^ silence He bears testimony to the general accuracy of their ** Law.'* 26 [But] when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, He shall (testify) of Me.^ [S. Omits, Bat.] (Alf. Bear witness.) ' See note to xiY« 16, COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 335 27 And ye also (shall bear witness), because ye have been with Me from the beginning. (Alf. Are witnesses.) This is one of the passages from which we gather what we know re- specting the nature of the Holy Spirit. 1. He is the Thii-d Person in the Holy Trinity, distinct from hoth the Father and the Son. He is said to proceed from the Father and to he sent from the Father hy the Son. But He who proceeds from another, or is sent hy another, is distinct from Him from whom He proceeds, or by whom He is sent. 2. He is God, of the same nature as God the Father, because He proceeds from the Father. 8. He is said to proceed from the Father, and to be sent by the Son. 4. He is said to proceed from the Father, not to be begotten by the Father. It is impossible to express the deductions, which necessarily follow from this verse, more briefly or more correctly than in the words of the Creed called the Creed of St. Athanasius. *' The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God." And again, ** The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son : neither made nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding." This is but the legitimate expansion of our Saviour's Own words. • This is but another form of expressing the same truths which He here taught. The Holy Sjurit will bear witness that Jesus is the Son of God through the Apostles ; inwardly, by enlightening their minds, by enabling them to understand and to receive more fully than before the truths of the Gospel : outwardly, by giving them power to work miracles in proof that Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit will choose the Apostles through whom to bear witness, because they are naturally the most suitable instruments for this purpose. The people will most readily believe them, because they have had the best chance of knowing the truth, they have been the longest with Jesus. In the economy of grace as in the economy of nature everything is ordered and carried out with Divine wisdom, with the utmost perfection, and in all its stages. No want of unity in plan is anywhere perceptible. ( 336 ) INTEODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTER XVL Synagogue. — " The origin of the Synagogue is of uncertain date. Some think they find traces of it in very early times, hut little is loiown for certain until long after their return from the Captivity. Before a synagogue could he erected there must be not less than ten men of leisure and reputation resident in the place. Synagogues were erected in the highest part of the city, and one of their canons forbade a house to be built higher than the synagogue. According to Jewish writers, in the time of our Saviour the land was full of synagogues. In Jerusalem alone it is said there were 460, or, as others say, 480 syna- gogues. There were three days of meeting in the week, the second day (Monday), the fifth (Thursday), and the seventh (Sabbath)." — See Lightfoot. The White Synagogue (Capernaum).— The synagogue, built entirely of white limestone, must once have been a conspicuous object, standing out from the dark basaltic background ; it is now nearly level with the surface, and* its capitals and columns have been for the most part carried away or turned into lime. The original building is 74 feet 9 inches long by 56 feet 9 inches wide : it is built north and south, and at the southern end has three entrances. In the interior we found many of the pedestals of the columns in their original posi- tions, and several capitals of the Corinthian order buried in the rubbish. There were also blocks of stone which had evidently rested on the columns and had supported wooden rafters. Outside the syna- gogue proper, but connected with it, we uncovered the remains of a later building, which may be those of the Church which Epiphanius says was built at Capernaum, and was described by Antoninus a.d. 600, as a Basilica inclosing the house of Peter. It may be asked what reason there is for believing the original building to have been a Jewish synagogue, and not a temple or church. Seen alone there might have been some doubt as to its cliaracter ; but, compared with the number of ruins of the same character which have been lately brought to notice in Galilee, there can be none. Two of these build- ings have inscriptions in Hebrew over their main entrances ; one in connection with a seven-branched candlestick, the other witli figures of the Paschal lamb, and all without exception are constmcted after a fixed plan, which is totally diff'erent from that of any church, temple, or mosque in Palestine. For a description of the very marked pecu- COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 337 liarities, which distinguish the synagogues from other buildings, I would refer the reader to an article on the subject in the Second Quarterly Statement of the Palestine Exploration Fund. If Tell Hum be Capernaum, this is, without doubt, the synagogue built by the Koman centurion (Luke vii. 4, 5), and one of the most sacred places on earth. It was in this building that our Lord gave the well-kno^vn discourse in John vi., and it was not without, a certain strange feeling that on turning over a large block we found the pot of manna engraved on its face, and remembered the words, ' I am the Bread of Life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.' " — Re- covery of Jerusalemy p. 344. ( 338 ) CHAPTER XVI. 1 Christ comforteth His disciples against trihilation by the promise of the Holy Ghost, and by His resurrection and Ascension ; 23 Assureth their prayers made in His name to be acceptable to His Father; 33 Peace in Christ, and in the ivorld affliction, 1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. The things -which Jesus had spoken to them last, and which He terms " these things," were the persecutions which they should suffer, and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them. They were not to be offended and fall away because of the persecutions, and for two reasons, because they had not been taken by surprise. He had forewarned them, and because He had given them the Holy Spirit to support them under all these trials, however severe they might be. And severe they would be. For not only would they put them out of the synagogue, which in itself would be a civil death, a renunciation of all social comfort and distinction, but they would actually put them to bodily death, and in so doing they would think that they were doing God service, that they were offering to God an acceptable sacrifice. 2 [They shall] put you out of the synagogues : yea, (the time Cometh), that (whosoever) killeth you will think that he (doeth God service.)^ [S. For they may : A. Doeth service to the Lord.] (Alf. An hour cometh — every man that*— offereth a service unto God.) 3 And these things [will they do unto you], because they have not known the Father, nor Me. [S. They may do unto you : V. A. Omit, unto you.] (Alf. Omits, unto you.) The reason which He gives for these persecutions is not of a natui-e to excuse the persecutors, but rather to increase their condemnation. 1 Put out of the synagogue.— •' A that synagogue stands. With that compact heretic cannot Ae a Jew : cannot hve in and terrible body of men, religion and Jewry. When there is no longer a place society are one. An outcast from one is for a man in the synagogue, there is no an outlaw from the other."— Pixon's Holy longer a home for him in the city in which Land, ii. X56. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 339 It is their disbelief in Jesus as the Son of God, their refusal, in spite of the proofs offered to them, to believe that Jesus is sent by the Father. 4 (But) these things have I (told you), that [when (the time shall come)], ye may (remember [that I told you of them]). (And these things I said not unto you) at the beginning, because I was with you. [V. A. When their time shall come : S. That I spake of them.] (Alf. Nevertheless— spoken unto yon — their hour is come — remember them — But these things I told you not.) Either Jesus had not before spoken of the persecutions which they should suffer at all, or He had not foretold them to the extent, and in the severity, and with the minuteness with which He now speaks of them : or He had then spoken of them when far distant, but now when close at hand, on the very point of taking place. When before foretelling the persecutions which they should suffer, He had not, as now, promised the remedy for them, the Holy Spirit to enable them to bear them. While He was with them, whatever hatred the Jews might feel, whatever violence they might be guilty of, would be directed against Him and not against His disciples. Now that He was going away, both Jews and Gentiles would persecute them. He therefore fore- warns them of this, and promises to strengthen them by the gift of the Holy Spirit, in order that they might not faint under them. 5 But now I go My way to Him that sent Me : and none of you asketh Me, Whither goest Thou ? 6 ([But] because I have said) these things unto you> sorrow hath filled your heart. [A. Omits, But.] (Alf. Yet because I have spoken.) Thomas had, it is true, asked Him, ** Whither goest Thou ?" But beyond that they had manifested little interest in the matter. They had scarcely understood the answer, and had not followed it up with further inquiry, so as to draw out from Him any information as to the advantages which they would derive from His departure. Advantages they certainly were to receive by His leaving them, but this, in conse- quence of their present sorrow, they could not understand.^ 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth : It is expedient for \ See note on Chap. xiv. 16. z 2 340 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. you that I (go away) : for if I (go not away,) the Comforter wdll not come unto you : but if I (depart), I will send Him unto you. (Alf. Depart — depart not — go.) To console them in their son'ow, and to convince their judgment in spite of their sorrow, He condescends to use an unusual mode of speaking, and to add, as it were, asseveration to His simple assertion. **I tell you the truth, It is expedient for you that I go away." The disciples were like children who have to be weaned for their good, but against their own will, in order that they may receive food more suited to their age and condition. So long as Jesus remained with them, He would be the object of all persecution, not they. When once He should depart from them a totally new scene of trial would begin. Their con- dition would appear more desolate, but it would not in reality be so. The Advocate or Comforter, whom He would send to supply His place, though unseen, would be present with them. Their position in the world would be more prominent than before, but the Holy Spiiit would enable them to fill it. Their temptations would be increased tenfold, but the Holy Spirit would increase their power to withstand temptation more than tenfold. All this would be the fruit of His Ascension to the Father. They ought therefore rather to rejoice than to sorrow at this new and fuller dispensation. 8 And when He is come, (He will reprove the world) of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.^ (Margin. He will convince the world.) (Alf. He will convict the world.) 1 He will reprove the world, av top ap')(^iep€a.) (Alf. Annas therefore sent Him.) In the English Authorised Version this verse has been translated so as to favour the view of those who hold that the examination of Jesus, which St. Jolin is here relating, took place in the house of Caiaphas. A slight violence has been done to the original, in order to COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHn'S GOSPEL. 379 give it tlie appearance of a recapitulation of an event which had hap- pened some time before rather than a narration of what had taken place just at this precise time. Those who think that the examination which is recorded by St. John, took place in the house of Annas, must also believe that Peter's first denial of Jesus occurred in the court-j^ard of the palace of Annas. They must also believe that the house of Annas and Caiaphas were in the same range of buildings, and surrounded the same court-yard. As being the official residence of the high priest this might not be at all improbable. There are several things to indicate that all the three denials of Peter occurred in and about the same court-yard — viz., that attached to the palace, where Caiaphas the high priest dwelt. 25 And Simon Peter (stood and warmed himself). (They said therefore unto him), (Art not thou also) one of His disciples ? [He denied it and said], I am not. [A. He denied it, and saith.] (Alf. And Simon Peter was standing and warming himself — They said unto him — Art thou also.) 26 One of the servants of the high priest, (being his kinsman) whose ear Peter cut off, saith, Did not I see thee in the garden with Him ? (Alf. Beinj a kinsman of him.) 27 (Peter then denied again) : and immediately the cock crew. (Alf. So Peter denied again.) St. Matthew says that Peter " sat without in the palace," that is, he was in the court-yard of the palace, which he had entered by the door which the damsel kept, but he was not in the Council chamber where Jesus was being examined. The Council chamber was probably raised a little above the level of the court-yard, as St. Mark says, that Peter was beneath in the palace. This would enable Jesus to see Peter, when He turned and looked upon him after the second crowing of the cock, and by this look recalled him to the recollection of what He had before said unto him, which the first crowing had failed to do. By his temptation and fall Peter furnished a warning to men in all future ages — (1) Against confidence in their own strength to resist temp- tation ; (2) Against rashness in putting themselves in the way of temptation, and mixing unnecessarily with the enemies of Jesus ; (3) As one of the future chief pastors of the Church he would learn a lesson from his own fall, to have compassion on those who are over- come by the temptation of Satan. St» John is silent respecting the 380 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. examination of Jesus before the whole Council and His treatment there as related by St. Matt. (xxvi. 59, &c.), St. Mark (xiv. 55), and St. Luke (xxii. 66), PETER'S FIRST DENIAL OP CHRIST. St. Matthew xxvi. St. Mark xiv. St. Luke xxu. ■ St. John xviii. 69 Now Peter sat GO And as Peter was without in the palace ; beneath in the palace, and a damsel came there cometh one 5G But a certain unto him, of the maids of the high priest, and when she maid saw Peter beheld him warming himself as he sat by the fire. she looked and earnestly looked upon him. upon him. 17 Then saith the damsel that kept the door saying, Thou and said, And thou and said, This man unto Peter, also wast with Jesus also wast with Jesus was also with Him. of Galilee. of Nazareth. Art not thou also one 70 But he 68 But he 57 And he of this man's di&ciples ? denied before them all, denied, denied Him, saying, saying. saying. Woman, He saith I know not I know not neither understand 1 I know Him not. I am not. what thou sayest. what thou saj-est : and he went out into the porch : and the cock crew. SECOND DENIAL. St. Matthew xxvi. St Mark xiv. St. Luke xxii. 58 And after a Uttle while St. John xviii. 18 And the servants and officers btood there, who had made a fire of coals ; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves : and Peter stood with them, and warmed himseU. 71 And when he was gone out into the porch. 25 And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. another maid saw 69 And a maid saw another saw him, and him again, and him, and said unto them began to say to tbem said, that were there. that stood by, This is one of them. This fellow was also Thou art also of them. with Jesus of Nazareth. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou al«o one of His disciples ? 72 And again he denied with an oath, 70 And he And Peter He denied it again. said denied it, and said, I do not know Man, the Man. I am not. I am not. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL, 381 THIRD DENIAL. St. Matthew xxvi. St. Maek xiv. St. Luke xxii. St, John xviii. 73 And And 59 And about the nfter a while a little after. space of one hour after came unto him they that stood by, they that stood by another confidently and said to Peter, said again to Peter, affirmed, saying, Surely Surely Of a truth thou also thou this fellow also art one of them ; art one of them : was Mdth Him : for thou art a for he is a Galilajan, Galiliean. for thy speech and thy speech bcwrayeth thee. agrceth thereto. 26 One of the servants of the High Priest, being his kinsman whose ear Peter cut off, saitb. Did not I see thee in the garden with Him? 74 ■ Then bedycoac to Trdaxa)' This was early on the morning of Friday, the 15th, but Jesus and His disciples had already eaten the Paschal lamb on the evening before, that is, on Thursday, the 14th. How was this ? Two explanations of this have been offered. One is that the Jewish high priest and Council had been so intent on their one object, the death of Jesus, that they had neglected to kill and eat the T But that they might eat the Pass- over (aAA* 'iya ^dyuxri rh irdcrxa)' — *' I. We have already shown (ii. 353) that the eat- ing of the Paschal Lamb was never upon any occasion whatever transferred from the evening of the fourteenth day drawing to the close of it : no, not by reason of the Sabbath, or any uncleanness that had happened to the congregations, so that there needs little argument to assure us that the Jews eat the Lamb at the same time wherein Christ did. Only let me add this : Suppose they had entered Pilate's house, and had defiled themselves by entering the house of a heathen, yet might not that defilement come under the predicament of Dl^ ^13D ? If bo, then they might wash themselves in the even- ing and be clean enough to eat the Paschal Lamb, if it had been to have been eaten on that evening, but they had eaten it the evening before. "II. Tb uda-xa. The Passover, therefore, here doth not signify the Paschal Lamb, but the Paschal Chagigah, of which we will remark two or three things. " 1. Deut. xvi. 2, * Thou shalt sacrifice the Passover irnto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd.' Where E. Solomon, the flocks are meant of the lambs and the kids; the herd of the Chagigah. And R. Bechar in loc. The flocks are for the due of the Passover ; the herd for the sacrificea of the Chagigah. So also B. Nachman. The herd for the celebration of the Chagigah ; the flock for the Pass- over ; the oxen for the Chagigah. k •* 2. ThejChagigah was for joy and mirth, according to that in Deut. xvi. 14 : ' And thou shalt rejoice in the feast,' &c. Hence the sacrifices that were prepared for that use are called sacrifices of Peace, or Euchariatio offerings, sacrifices of joy and mirth. •'3. The proper time of bringing the Chagigah was the fifteenth day of the month. They eat and drank and rejoiced and were bound to bring their sacrifices of Chagigah on the fifteenth day, that is, the first day of the feast. "III. It was the fifteenth day of the month when the Fathers of the Council refused to enter into the Prietorium lest they should be defiled ; for they would eat the Passover, that is, the Chagigah. " 1. The Evangelist expresseth it, after the common way of speaking, when he calls it the Passover. " 2. The Elders of the Sanhedrin pre- pare and oblige themselves to oat the Chagigah [the Passover] on that day, because the next day was the Sabbath : and the Chagigah must not make void the Sabbath. The Chagigah was not to be brought upon the Sabbath day, as also not in case of uncleanness."— Lightfoot ii., 610, COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 888 Pasclial lamb at tlie proper time, the evening before. Their time had been spent first in arranging how to apprehend Jesus, and then by a lengthened and elaborate examination of Him to discover some ground, on which to prefer a civil charge against Him before Pilate, a charge of endangering the peace of the country and the safety of the Eoman Government. The other explanation is that the expression *' that they might eat the Passover " does not refer to the Paschal lamb, which the Jews had already eaten and at the very time during which Jesus and the Twelve were eating the Paschal Supper in the Upper-Eoom. By eating the Passover here it is suggested that St. John means, either " that they might go on keeping the Passover," or that they might partake of the extra sacrifices which were offered during the seven days of unleavened bread, as, for instance, the Chagigah or festival sacrifices, which were usual at all festivals, and especially at the Passover. Great as was the hj^pocritical scrupulosity of the Jews, it is difficult to believe that they could carry it so far as to change the day for eating the Paschal lamb, the very sin of Jeroboam, and then scruple to enter Pilate's house, lest they should be defiled, and so prevented from eating it on a day on which it was not appointed to be eaten. 29 (Pilate then) went out unto them [and said], What accusation bring ye against This Man ? [S. V. And saith.] (Alf. Pilate therefore.) 30 They answered and said unto him, If He were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered Him up unto thee. 31 [(Then said Pilate)] unto them, (Take ye him), [and judge him according] to your law. (The Jews therefore said) unto him. It is not lawful for us to put any man to death. [A. But Pilate said : S. And judge according.] (Alf. Pilate therefore said — Take Him yourselves — The Jews said.) 32 That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, [which He spake,] signifying (what death) He should die. [S. Omits, which He spake.] (Alf. What manner of death.) The Jews deliver Jesus up to Pilate. When he requires to know the charge which they bring against Him, they reply in general terms that He is a malefactor, a breaker of the laws of the country, and as such they request Pilate to proceed against Him according to law. Pilate who as yet did not understand that they intended the death of Jesus, 384 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. and not wishing to be merely the executioner of their decrees, offers them the choice of judging and punishing Jesus according to their own laws. This the Jews decline on the ground that death was the punish- ment which Jesus had deserved, and that it was not lawful for them to put any man to death. Some have thought that they meant, that it was not lawful for them to put any man to death at such a high festival as the Passover. But the most probable interpretation is, that as a con- quered nation, the Romans had withdrawn from them the right of capital punishment, and had reserved it for the Roman Governor alone. Evidently the Jews had their own reasons for declining to take Jesus and judge Him according to their own laws, even if they might inflict on Him the punishment of death, of which according to their laws, as they said, He was guilty. Perhaps they miglit wish to avoid the odium, which the death of Jesus might bring on them from the people, who were at all times fickle, and who had often shown con- siderable favour towards Jesus, and who miglit look upon His death, if inflicted by the Jewish high-priest, &c., as the result of their private envy and maUce. They might especially wish to avoid the appearance of severity at such a festival of mercy as the Passover. If Pilate put Jesus to death, it would be on a more public charge, and by a more ignominious death. If they accepted Pilate's offer and judged Him according to their own law, the charge against Him must be one of blasphemy, and His death would be by stoning (Levit. xxiv. 16), and the act would be that of the Jewish Sanhedrin alone. But if Pilate put Jesus to death, it must be on the ground of being a breaker of the law, a disturber of the peace of the country, a common criminal. His death would be by crucifixion, and the deed would be sanctioned by the authority of the whole Roman empire. St. John has nowhere recorded that Jesus exactly said that He should be crucified, which St. Matthew does (xx. 18) ; but he has spoken of Him as using an equivalent expression with reference to His Death, (xii. 32, 33.) 33 (Then Pilate) entered into (the judgment hall) again, and called Jesus, and said unto Him, Art Thou the King of the Jews ? (Alf. Pilate therefore— the palace.) Pilate had come to the gate of the palace to the chief priests and his party to receive their charge against Jesus. This charge had no relation whatever to blasphemy, of which alone they professed after their examination to have found Him guilty. They were quite aware that Pilate would pay no attention to such a charge. They therefore say, " We found this fellow pervei-ting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying, that He Himself is Christ a King," COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 385 (St. Luke xxiii. 2.) 1. He was perverting the nation ; 2. He was for- bidding to give tribute to Caesar ; 3. He was setting Himself up as King of the Jews. Here were three distinct charges, in every one of which Pilate as the Governor of Judaea had a du-ect interest. A new Pretender to the throne of Judaea ! This was of itself sufficient to arouse the prejudice of Pilate. Having heard this accusation, he re- turns to his prisoner in the palace, and said unto Him, Art Thou the King of the Jews ? 34 Jesus answered [him, Sayest thou (this thing)] of thyself, or did others tell it thee (of Me) ? [V. A. Omit him — S. Hast thou said this thing ?] (Alf. This— concerning Me.) As Governor of Judaea and therefore as the representative of Ca3sar its king, it was part of Pilate's duty to keep a ready ear to any claims that might be made to the sovereignty, and to put them down at once. Probably the object, that Jesus had in this question, was to force on Pilate's mind, that He had made no such claim, at least in the sense in which the Jews represented it. 35 Pilate answered, Am I a Jew ? Thine Own nation [and the chief priests] (have delivered Thee) unto me : what hast Thou done ? [S. And the chief priest.] (Alf. Delivered Thee.) 36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world : if My kingdom were of this world, [(then would My] ser- vants fight,) that I should not be delivered to the Jews : but now is My kingdom not from hence. [S. Then would also My.] (Alf. My servants would fight.) 37 Pilate therefore said unto Him, Art thou a King then ? Jesus answered, (Thou sayest that I am a King), [To this end] (was I born), and for this cause (came I) into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice. [A. To this end also.] (Alf. Thou sayest : for I am a King— have I been bom—am I come.) Having drawn his attention to the fact, that Pilate had himself 2 386 COMMENTAEY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. no ground for believing tliat He laid claim to Caesar's kingdom, but that this was a mere calumny of the Jews, Jesus answers his ques- tion, and admits that He is a King, and then points out the nature of the kingdom of which He is King — not one to interfere with the claims of Cffisar. He takes no notice of the surprise and scorn which Pilate had thrown into his question, Art Thou a King then ? Thou a King ! {ovkovv ^aaCkevfi el av;) Of the four Evangelists St. John alone relates the full answer of Jesus to Pilate's question, ''Art Thou the King of the Jews ?" The other three content themselves with giving only the latter part of His answer, '* Thou sayest," that is, I am, as thou sayest, the King of the Jews. Jesus meant that He was the I^ng of the Jews, inasmuch as He was the Messiah, but He laid no claim to be king in the sense in which Caesar or Herod was king. But the latter was the sense in which the Jews invidiously represented His claim to Pilate. The truth to which Jesus came to bear witness was (1) The know- ledge of the One True God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as opposed to the false gods of the heathen ; (2) It was the Incarnation, that Jesus, the Son of God, the Word, was made Flesh, was born of a Virgin in order to redeem man ; (3) That true happiness consists not in the possession of the riches and pleasures of the body, but in an ever-increasing likeness to God ; and that perfect happiness consists in the beatific Vision, or in the Vision of God which will transform man into His Own likeness. To be of the truth here means much the same as to be of God. Jesus had probably a double object in saying, *' Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice," partly to show the iniquity of the Jewish rulers, and partly to induce Pilate to act uprightly in his office as Judge. The Jewish high-priest. Scribes, and Pharisees were not of the truth. Their object was not the honour or the worship of God, but the gratification of their own selfish desires. Wealth, bodily pleasure, honour, or position in the world, was what they sought, how could they believe in Him, who came to bear witness unto the Truth ? 38 Pilate saith unto Him, "What is truth ? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, (I find in Ilim no fault at all.) (Alf. I find no fault in Him,) 39 But ye have a custom, that I should release unto you one at the Passover : will ye therefore that I release unto you the King of the Jews ? COMMENTARY ON ST, JOHN S GOSPEL. 887 40 (Then cried they [all] again), saying, Not this Man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber,^ [S. V. Omit all.] (Alf. Then tliey all cried out again.) Pilate was quite hidifferent to the truth. He asked the question, What is truth ? hut he had no interest in it. He cared not to learn how it was that Jesus should claim to be a king, hut that His king- dom was not of this world. St. John omits many of the circumstances connected with the trial 1 A Robber. — " These two words K\eTTT]s, and Xria-T^s occur together John X. 18, but do not constitute there or elsewhere a tautology, or mere rhetorical amplification. Both appropriate what is not theirs, but the kActtttjs by fraud and in secret (Matt. xxiv. 43 ; John xii. 6) ; the \T](rTr]s by violence and openly (2 Cor. xi. 26) : the one is the thief and steals ; the other is the robber and plunders, as his name from Aryfy or \€ia (as our own robber from Eaub, booty) sufficiently de- clares. They are severally the * fur' and the ' tatio ' of the Latin : fures insidianter at occulta fraude decipiunt = latrones audacter aliena diripiunt (Jerome, in Osee. 7, 1.) " Our Translators have always rendered KKevTTjs by thief ; they ought, with a like consistency, to have rendered Kyjo-t^s by robber; but it also they have' oftener rendered as thief, effacing thus the distinc- tion between the two. We cannot charge them with that carelessness here, of which those would be guilty who now should do the same. Passages out of number in our Elizabethan literature attest that in their day ' thief ' and ' robber ' had not those distinct meanings which since they have acquired. Thus Falstaff and his company, who, with open violence, rob the king's treasure on the king's highway, are ' thieves ' throughout Shakespeare's Henry IV. Still one must regret that in several places in our Version we do not find ' robbers ' rather than thieves. Thus at Matt. xxi. 13 we read : ' My house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves .•' but it is ' robbers ' and not ' thieves ' that have dens or caves ; and it is rightly ' den of robbers' at Jer. vii. 11, whence this quota- tion is drawn. Again Matt. xxvi. 55 : ' Are ye come out as against a t/u>/with swords and staves for to take Me ? ' but it would be against some bold and violent robber that a party armed with swords and clubs would issue forth, not against a lurking thief. The poor traveller in the parable (Luke x. 80) fell not among 'thieves' but among ' robbers,* bloody and violent men, as their treatment of him plainly declared. "No passage has suffered so seriously as this from this confounding of ' thief ' and ♦ robber ' as Luke xxiii. 39-43. The whole anterior moral condition of him whom we call the penitent thief is probably much obscured for us by the associations which naturally cling to this name. The two malefactors crucified with Jesus, the one obdurate, the other penitent, in all likeli- hood had belonged both to the band of Barabbas, who for murder and insurrec- tion had been cast with his fellow insur- gents into prison. (Mark xv. 7.) He too was himself a XriffTfis (John xviii. 40), and yet no common malefactor, on the con- trary ' a notable prisoner' {Uff/xios iiria-rjfxos, (Matt, xxvii. 16). Now, considering the wild enthusiasm of the Jewish population on his behalf, and combining this with the fact that he was in prison for an un- successful insurrection ; keeping in mind too the condition of the Jews at this period, with false Christs, false deliverers, every day starting up, we can hardly doubt that Barabbas was one of those fierce and stormy zealots who were evermore raising anew the standard of resistance against the Koman domination; flattering and feeding the insane hopes of their country- men that they should yet break the Koman yoke from off their necks. These men, when hard pressed, would betake them- selves to the mountains, and thence would levy petty war against their oppressors, living by plunder — if possible, by that of their enemies, if not, by that of any within their reach. *' And yet of stamp and character how different would many of those men, these 2c2 388 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. of Jesus before Pilate, which the other Evangelists relate, such as the repeated accusations of Jesus by the chief-priests and elders, to which He gave no answer, which are recorded by St. Matthew xxvii. 12-14 : such as the sending to Herod, and second proclamation of His inno- cence by Pilate, which is recorded by St. Luke xxiii. 5-16. St. John omits all this and goes on to relate — and that in a condensed form — in the 39th and 40th verses Pilate's attempt to release Jesus, and the opposition made to it by the rulers and by the crowd that had by this time collected at the gates of Pilate's palace. At the Roman Lectisternium it was usual to grant an acquittal to prisoners. (Livy v. 13.) It is not now known, whether the custom of releasing one at the Passover was introduced among them, by the Roman Governors as a means of conciliating the Jews, or whether it was an old Jewish custom. There is scarcely sufficient reason to lead us to conclude that, the practice of releasing a prisoner was confined to the Feast of the Passover. Doubtless the corresponding expression used by the other three Evangelists, and as given in the English Authorised Version, "that feast" (Matt, xxvii. 15; Mark xv. 6), *'the feast" (Luke xxiii. 17), would convey this impression. But it has been pointed out, that neither of these expressions is an accurate rendering of the original, but that they both, and especially the former, limit the meaning far too much. The con-ect translation of Kara ioprrjv is '^ at festival -time " or "at every feast," that is, at every feast which the Jews as a nation were accustomed to observe. maintainers of a last protest against a well imagine this penitent x-pa-rris to have foreign domination, probably be from the been. Should there be' any truth in this mean and cowardly purloiner, whom we view of his former condition — and certainly call the ' thief.' The bands of these it would go far to explain his sudden con- KTjcrral, numbering in their ranks some of version — it is altogether obscured by the the worst, would probably include also name of « thief which we have given him; some that were originally of the noblest nor can it under any circumstances bo spirits of the nation— even though they doubtful that he would be more accurately had miserably mistaken the task which called 'the penitent robber.'" — Ai-ch- their time demanded, and had sought to bishop Trench on Synonyms of New work out by the wrath of man the right- Testament, p. 153. eousuess of Qod. Such a one we may ( 389 ) INTEODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTER IIX. Those who love to linger on our Saviour's Passion and on tlie several instruments of His Passion, will not think the following extracts too long. The Crown of Thorns. — *' We encamped about a mile to the south of Jericho, and stayed there all that day : there was a small wood to the east of us, where I saw the Zoccum tree ; the bark of it is like that of the holly, and has very strong thorns, and the leaf is some- thing like that of the Barbary tree : it has a green nut : the skin or flesh over it is thin, and the nut is ribbed, and has a thick shell, and a very small kernel : they grind the whole, and press an oil out of it, as they do out of olives, and call it a balsam. But I take it to be the Myrobalanum mentioned by Josephus (Be bell. Jud. iv. 8), as growing about Jericho : especially as it answers very well to this fruit described by Pliny as the produce of that part of Arabia, which was between Judaea and Egypt. Some think that Christ was crowned with this thorn." — Pococke's Travels, ii. 32. *' Of other plants growing in the vale of Jericho, we noticed the Nebk, the most abundant thorn in the Holy Land, and which, it ia commonly thought, was that of which the crown of thorns of our Saviour was made. Hasselquist's {Voyage and Travels, Eng. Trans, p. 288) says, ' In all probability this is the- tree which afforded the crown of thorns put on the Head of Christ : it gi'ows very common in the East.' This plant was very fit for the purpose, for it has many small and sharp spines, which are well adapted to give pain. The crown might be easily made of these soft round, and pliant branches : and what in my opinion seems to be the greatest proof, is, that the leaves much resemble those of ivy, as they are of a very deep green. Perhaps the enemies of Christ would have a plant somewhat resembling that with which emperors and generals were used to be crowned, that there might be calumny even in the punishment." — Wilson's Lands of the Bible, ii. 11. " The thorn bushes, which during the summer and autumn had been so dark and bare, were clothed with delicate green sprays of finely- serrated leaves, which almost hid the sharp, cruel-looking thorns. They were sprinkled with little round buds ; when they opened, they threw out silky tufts of crimson, crowned with golden- coloured powder. The seed vessel is round, and divided into four quarters : at first it is 390 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN*S GOSPEL. almost white, but gicadually becomes pink : and at the apex there is a little green tuft, in the shape of a Greek cross. When the seed is quite ripe, it is about half-an-inch in diameter, and of a very shining red colour. I had been told it was of this thorn that the wreath was made which once crowned the Head of Christ. It may be so : and I have never seen a plant of which so beautiful, and at the same time so cruel a cro\^^l could be composed. This thorn is the Poterium spinosum. ** About Easter it is seen in all its beauty, the leaves glossy and full-grown, the fruit or seed-vessels brilliantly red, like drops of blood, and the thorns sharper and stronger than at any other time. No plant or bush is so common on the hills of Judaea, Galilee, and Carmel as this." — Rogers' Domestic Life in Palestine, p. 170. ** An Arab brought us some dhom apples, the fruit of the nubk, or Spina Christi. They were much withered and presented the appear- ance of a small dried crab-apple . It had a stone like the cherry ; but the stone was larger, and there was less fruit on it in proportion to its size. It was sub-acid, and to us quite palateable." — Lynch's Expedition to the Dead Sea, p. 286. *' The nubk or lotus tree, the Spina Christi of Hassclquist, called by the Arabs the dhom tree, has small dark-green, oval-shaped, ivy- like leaves. Clustering thick and irregularly upon the crooked branches, are sharp thorns, half an inch in length. The smaller branches are very pliant, which in common with the ivy-like appear- ance of the leaves, sustains the legend that of them was made the mock crown of the Kedeemer. Its fruit, resembling a withered crab- apple is sub- acid, and of a pleasant flavour."— I(iem, p. 290. ( 391 ) CHAPTEK XIX. 1 Christ is scourged^ crowned with thorns, and heaten ; 4 Pilate is desirous to release Him ; hut, being overcome ivith the outrage of the Jews, he delivered Him to he crucified; 23 They cast lots for His garments ; 26 He commendeth His mother to John ; 28 He dieth ; 31 His side is pierced ; 38 He is buried by Joseph and Nicodemus, 1 Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged Him. We learn from St. Luke that the object which Pilate had in view in thus scourging Jesus, whom he believed to be innocent, was to excite their compassion for Him, that after such a severe punishment they might be satisfied, and allow Him to depart. " Pilate, therefore, willing to release Jesus, spake again to them. But they cried, saying, Crucify Him, crucify Him. And he saith unto them the third time, Why, what evil hath He done ? I have found no cause of death in Him : I will therefore chastise Him and let Him go." (xxiii. 20-22.) Such being Pilate's object, he would make the scourging as severe as possible, in order to render Jesus more an object for their com- passion. Scourging was a Koman punishment, and where the punish- ment was intended to be severe, the whip which was used was a dreadful instrument (horribile flagellum, Horace calls it), knotted with bones or heavy indented circles of bronze, or terminated by hooks, in which case it was aptly denominated a scorpion. The infliction of punishment with it upon the naked back of the sufferer (Juv. 1. c.) was sometimes fatal." (Hor. Sat. i. 2, Al.f 2 And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on His head, and (they put on Him a purple robe).^ (Alf. They clothed Him with a purple robe.) 1 Smith's Classical Diet., Article " Fla- thorns {(Tripas ivpdrrjs). 44 A»d it was aboxit the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all the earth {icp oAtjj/ t^v "yrjp) until the ninth hour. (ews wpas iuudrrfs) 45 And the sun was darkened. All the four Evangelists agree as to the day on which the Cruci- fixion took place. It was the preparation — the day of preparation — the preparation of the Passover — the Jews' preparation day. Three of the Evangelists, St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, state that there was darkness over the land from the sixth hour to the ninth hour. The only apparent discrepancy in the account of the Cruci- fixion is that given hy St. Mark and St. John. St. Mark saj's, ''It was the third hour and they crucified Him," while St. John says it was " about the sixth hour ; and he (Pilate) saith unto the Jews, Be- hold your King !" and then delivered Him up to be crucified. The difficulty of reconciling these two statements was recognised in very early times. Cornelius a Lapide enumerates seven difi*erent ways, in which it had been attempted before his time to reconcile the accounts of St. Mark and St. John. One method was, as it is still, to suppose that there is an error in one of the MSS. either in that of St. Mark or of St. John. But neither the Sinaitic, Vatican, nor Alexandrian MS. lends any assistance towards a solution of the difficulty by a difi'erence of read- ing here. The only solution proposed in modern times, which was unknown to the Fathers and Commentators before the Reformation, is, that St. John is here using a different notation from that used by the rest of the Evangelists, and that he reckons the hours from mid-day or midnight like ourselves. This is said to have been an Asiatic mode of computing time, and is the interpretation followed by Bishop Wordsworth in his Greek Testament, but rejected by Dean Alford. 400 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, as all admit, reckon the time by the method in common use among the Eomans, which begins to count the hours from sunrise, or from about six o'clock in the morn- ing. Adopting these two different notations of time, Pilate, as stated by St. John, would deliver Jesus up to the Jews "about" six o'clock in the morning. The interval between six and nine would be con- sumed by the mockery of the soldiers, by the changing of His robe, and leading Him to Calvary, &c. ; at nine o'clock, the third hour of St. Mark, He would be crucified ; from twelve o'clock to three, that is from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, as related by St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, darkness would prevail over the earth. Even though this method were a perfect solution of the difficulties, and reconciled all the apparent discrepancies, there would still be one objection to it, which would appear great to all, and to many insuper- able. St. John nowhere in any part of his writings gives the slightest intimation, that he is using a notation different from that which the other Evangelists use. According to the received opinion St. John knew the narrative which the others had written, what they had said, and what they had left unsaid, and he wrote to supply what was lack- ing in theii* accounts, and especially to give a fuller relation of our Saviour's discourses. Is it then probable that he would introduce into the relation of the same events, a mode of reckoning the same hours totally different from theirs, and not give some intimation of this ? Another interpretation, which has the advantage of being old, is, that St. John is here using the same mode of reckoning the time which the other Evangelists use, but that St. Mark and St. John are not stating the time, at which the Crucifixion took place, from the same point of view. St. John does not say, it was the sixth hour when Pilate brought Jesus forth and delivered Him up to the Jews to be crucified, but about the sixth hour. This general statement of time may there- fore be received with the limitations, which the other Evangelists in- troduce into the narrative. St. Matthew and St. Mark say that from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour, and St. Luke from about the sixth hour. St. John does not refer to the darkness. From his use of the term (wo-et) about, it is plain that he is not intending an exact definition of the time in which these events took place. All that he may have meant to say, and all that his words really imply, is that Jesus was delivered up to the Jews to be crucified about the sixth hour, that is, before the darkness came over the earth. St. Mark's language may fairly be interpreted more strictly, because he does not himself, by the use of the word (wcrei) about, introduce any latitude into his statement of the time. The Crucifixion might therefore begin at the third horn-. But in the strict and literal use of words, Jesus would not be crucified either at the third or sixth hour. For the Crucifixion was a work of considerable time, probably COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 401 of several hours. A part of it might he at the third hour, or a part of it at the sixth hour, but the whole Crucifixion would extend over con- siderably more time than the striking of a clock. The Crucifixion was not one act but a series of acts. Thus the period from nine o'clock to twelve would probably not be at all too long for the whole series of injustice, mockeries, and cruelties which we gather up into the one word *' The Crucifixion." It may be therefore that St. Mark is describing the Crucifixion at its commencement, that it began at the third hour or nine o'clock in the morning, and that St. John is relating its completion, that all this was done somewhere about the sixth hour or twelve o'clock, that is, before the darkness came on. This then is the state of the case. All the four Evangelists mention the day in which the Crucifixion took place, and there is no variation except in the use of four different designations of the day, but all referring to one and the same day. Three of them state the hour when the darkness came over the earth, and the length of time during which it lasted, and they agree together perfectly. The only point, we must not say, in which the Evangelists do not agree, nor in which we cannot satisfactorily account for their apparent divergence from each other, but in which, perhaps, we may fail to prove to un- believing critics that they are in perfect accord, is, as to the hour of the Crucifixion mentioned by St. Mark and St. John. But there is nothing whatever in this apparent disagreement to cause distress or doubt to the most sensitive soul, who believes in the truth of the Christian Revelation. The best way, perhaps, is to admit that we have not now sufficient data, to enable us to dovetail together two relations of the Crucifixion, which happened eighteen hundred years ago, so per- fectly as to account for one hour or so in the three, and, therefore, that we are unable to convince an unwilling mind, that St. Mark and St. John are in perfect agreement. 15 [(But they cried out)], Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King ? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Csesar. [S. But they said: V. Therefore they cried out.] (Alf. They cried out therefore.) Pilate probably uttered these words to annoy the chief priests. He felt conscious that, by their appeal to his fears, they had beaten him in his attempt to release Jesus. He had made several efforts, and had only at last yielded to their threat of calling him disloyal, disloyal to Caesar. This had still left in his mind a degree of bitterness towards the chief priests, which he shows in several ways. 16 Then delivered he Him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led Him away. 2 D 402 COMMENTAKY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 17 [And He bearing His Cross] went forth (into a place) called the place of a skull, which is called (in the Hebrew) Golgotha.^ [S.V. And He bearing the Cross by Himself.] (Alf. Unto the place — in Hebrew.) The other three Evangelists relate that, as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, whom they compelled to bear the Cross after Jesus. St. John omits this incident, and only relates that Jesus left the city carrying His own Cross. The probability is, that Jesus was treated in all respects like a criminal, and that at first He carried His own Cross, and that being exhausted by the weight of the Cross, and by the treatment which He had received, His strength failed Him, and that then they laid hold of a chance passer-by to carry it for Him. This was done not with the object of relieving Jesus, but that they might the more speedily arrive at the place of Crucifixion. The strength of human nature, even of His Human nature, un- broken as it was by sinful indulgence, could no longer sustain the weight of suffering, which Jesus had endured in Soul and Body since the preceding evening. When he had left the Upper Koom with His disciples, He crossed over the brook Cedron to the Garden of Gethse- mane. Here followed His prayer and Agony. After a time, He was seized by the soldiers and conducted to the house of Annas, from thence to that of Caiphas, from thence to Pilate, from thence to Herod, and from Him back again to Pilate. In each of these places. He had endured from the soldiers and servants every species of indignity and suffering, that malice and cruelty could devise. In order to excite the compassion of the Jews, and so to procure His release, Pilate scourges Him, and then exhibits Him to the people as one who had suffered all that human nature could endure short of taking His life. In one form of suffering or another the whole night had been passed, and now in the morning, probably between nine and twelve. He is led out of the city towards Calvary, bearing His own Cross. Some have supposed that Simon of Cyrene, on the north coast of ^ Golgotha. — "The ground on this side member of the Sanhedrin, had bought a of the north road being rough, a place of bit of garden, with a wall of uncovered gardens and graves, and for that reason rock, in which he had hewn for himself a shunned by all builders except lepers, sepulchral vault. Outside Joseph's garden beggars, and the poorest class of Jews. stood a mound called Golgotha, Skull The gate opening from the city, into this Place, the Tyburn of Jerusalem, on which quarter was called Genath, the garden thieves, assassins, pirates, heretics, trai- gate. Almond trees grew in such profu- tors, teachers of falsehood, men the most sion that the pool of Hezekiah, lying close odious in Jewish eyes, were put to a by, had come to be known as the Almond shameful and cruel death, being nailed by Pool. On Gareb outside the garden gate, the hands and feet to a wooden cross, and a monument had been erected to the high left in the burning sun to die." — Dixon's priest John. A few paces from this struc- Holy Land, ii. 31, ture, Joseph of Arimathea, a noble Jew, a COMMENTABY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 403 Africa, must have been either a slave or a person of some low degree, otherwise they would not have impressed him into then* service for an office so ignoble, as to carry the Cross for Jesus, condemned as a criminal to the most ignominious death they knew. St. Mark (xv. 21) speaks of his sons as men who were well known to those, for whom he wrote his Gospel, in fact, as so well known that he indicates who Simon was, by speaking of him as the father of Alexander and Kufus. An explanation of this is to be found in the tradition which represents Simon and his family, as soon after this converted to the Christian Faith. He, who in a literal sense, had followed Jesus and borne His Cross, afterwards in another and a higher sense, follows Him and bears His Cross after Him. When St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, (xvi. 13) says, ^' Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine," it has generally been supposed that this was the son of Simon of Cyrene, and the Rufus mentioned by St. Mark. Some have also supposed that this Simon is the same Simon that was called Niger in the Acts (xiii. 1) : and with whom is associated a fellow-countryman, Lucius of Cyrene. Simon and Simeon are only two forms of the same name. Simon Peter was also called Simeon (Acts xv. 14). Commentators have given various explanations of the origin of the name of Calvary, or place of a skull, or the place called a skull (Calvaria). (Luke xxiii. 33.) Some have supposed that it might be from the conical shape of the place not unlike a skull or smooth mound ; but this is scarcely borne out by the fact. Others have thought that the place had its name from an old tradition, that here the skull of Adam was buried. The most probable account of the origin of this name is that this was the place of execution for common criminals, just as Tyburn once was in London. The very name and character of the place, in which the Saviour of mankind was crucified, was selected with the view of adding another mark of infamy to His death. St. Luke (xxiii. 27), alone of the Evangelists relates that as He went to Calvary a gi-eat company of people and of women followed, which also bewailed and lamented Him, and that He turned and bade them weep not for Him, but for themselves and their children, and that He then foretold the miseries which should shortly befall their country. If such suffering was inflicted on Him " the green tree,'* ever affording shade and comfort and blessing to all, ever bringing forth the fruits of righteousness, what would be done in the case of the Jews, " the dry tree," never yielding fruit, or promise of fruit, never affording shelter or comfort to the distressed, good for nothing but to be burned ? That Calvary was nigh to the city but not within it is clear. Such a place in the city would of itself have been a great defilement to it. Jesus " went forth " out from the city to it. " Jesus suffered without the gate." (Heb. xiii. 12.) The man who was stoned for breaking the Sabbath was by the express command of God stoned '' without the camp," (Numb. xv. 35.) 2 D 2 404 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHNS GOSPEL, 18 Where they crucified Him and (two other) with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. (Alf. Two others.) St. Matthew xxvii. St. Mark xv. Sr. Luke xxiii. St. John xix. 17 And He bearing His Cross went forth S3 And when lliey were como unto a place called Golgotha, that is, to say, a place of a skull, 22 And they bring Him imto the place Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. 33 And when they wore come to the place, Y, Inch is called Calvary, into a placo called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha : 3 They gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall : and when Ho had tasted thereof. He would not di-ink. 23 And they gave Him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but Ho received it net. there they crucified Him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. 18 where they crucified Him, and two otber with Him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. Archbishop Trench has shown that the term thieves is a very un- fortunate translation of the Greek word X)]o-Tat which is applied to these two men by St. Matt, (xxvii. 38), St. Mark (xv. 27), and that they probably belonged to the robber-band which was led by Barabbas. "VVe know from contemporary history, that many of the bands of Palestine had their origin in fair resistance to aggression, either on their own rights or on those of their country, and though these men might degenerate afterwards in their aim and habits from their first be- ginning, there would still be room left in their hearts for the exercise of many noble qualities, which would at once have been extinguished by a daily course of petty thieving. In one of these robbers there needed but the presence of the Righteous to draw from him a corre- sponding desire. The gi-ound on which the Jev.^s clamoured for the death of Jesus was that He had spoken blasphemy ; but their object in crucifying Him along with these two robbers, was to mislead the people and to identify Him with them, to represent Him to the spectators as guilty of similar crimes with theirs, and in short as one of their very band. 19 (And) Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the Cross. (And the writing was), Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. (Alf. Moreover— And there vras written.) COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL, 405 20 This title then read many of the Jews : (for) the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city : and it was written [in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin]. [S. V. In Hebrew and Latin and Greek.] (Alf. Because — in Hebrew, and in Greek, and in Latin.) 21 (Then) said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not. The King of the Jews : but that He said, I am (Kmg) of the Jews. (Alf. Therefore— the King.) 22 Pilate answered. What I have written I have written. The title was Avi'itten in three languages for the convenience of the large mixed population, that would then be present in Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover. It was written in Hebrew, but not the Hebrew in which the Old Testament was written. That had not been in use since their seventy years' captivity in Babylon, but in the Aramaic or the Hebrew, which they spoke when they returned from the Captivity, and which was stiU used by the common people of Palestine. In Greek, for those Jews who, either from their residence at Alexandria, or from their intercourse with foreigners, had learned and used the Greek language, and read the Septuagint. In Latin, for the Romans and those connected with the government of Caesar. TJie Latin language was in general use wherever the Roman conquests extended. The chief Priests object to the title which Pilate had written. He had unconsciously recorded his testimony that Jesus was the King of the Jews, not that He only claimed, or pretended to be, their King. They at once see the difference between this, and remonstrate with Pilate, and wished it to be prominently stated in the title that Jesua pretended to be the King of the Jews, not that He was the King of the Jews. This Pilate resisted, and gave as his reason that what he had written he had written correctly, and did not intend to alter. All the four Evangelists differ in their report of what this sentence was. The substance of it is the same in all of them ; but the wording, of it is different in all. The following is the title, as given by each of the four Evan- gelists : — St. Matthbw xxvii. 87 This 13 Jesus The Kingof the Jews. St. Mabk XV. 26. The King of the Jews. St. Luke xxiii. This is The Kinfj of theJews. [S.V. Tho King of the Jews is This.] St. John xix. 19. Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews. 406 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 23 (Then the soldiers), [when they had crucified Jesus], took his garments and made four parts, to every soldier a part : [and also His coat] : now the coat was without seam, (woven) from the top throughout. [S. Which had crucified Jesus : S. Omits, and also his coat.] (Margin, Wrought.) (Alf. The soldiers thprefore.) 24 They said therefore (among themselves). Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be : that the Scripture might be fulfilled [which saith]. They parted (My raiment (rd l/naTca)) among them, and for My vesture (rbu IfiaTiCfiov) they did cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did.^ [S. V. Omit, Which saith.] (Alf. One to another — My garments.) St. Matthbw xxtu. St. Make xv. St. Lukb xxiii. St. John xix. 23 Then the soldiers, 85 And tbey crucified Him, 24 And when they when they had crucified Him, had crucified Jesus, and 84 And parted they parted they parted took His garments His garments His raiment His garments (ja IfiaTia), (ra IfxdTia), (tos tfxdria), {to. IfidTia), and made four parts, to every soldier a part i and also His coat {rhy ;f tTWVa) : now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. 24 They said therefore among themselves, Let UB not rend it. Casting lots f casting lots and cast lots. but cast lots llpon them, what every for it, whose man should take. it shall be : that it that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith. might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted My garments among They parted My raiment (rd ifxaTia) among them, and upon My vesture did them, and for My vesture (rhu ifia- TKTfibv) they they cast lots. did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did. 1 «» lyiy veature. 'ifxariauSs, a word of com- paratively late introduction into the Greek language, is seldom, if ever, used, except of garments more or less splendid, stately, costly. It is the • vesture ' — this word ex- pressing it well (cf. Gen. xU. i2 ; Ps. cii. 26 ; Eev. xix. 13, English Version) — of kings, thus of Solomon in all his glory (1 Kings, x. V.-, is associated with gold and silver as part of a precious spoil (Exod. iii, 22 ; xii. 35) : is found linked with such epithets as iydo)o5 (Luke vii. 25), noiKiKos (Ezek. xvi. COMMENTAEY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 407 We gather from St. Luke (xxiii. 34) that it was before they parted His garments that Jesus cried, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what the;v do." There were four soldiers and a centurion, and they divided His outer garments (t/xarta) into four parts, and cast lots for his inner close-fitting vesture {^I'Tcov, or i/jLaTccrfjb6<;). It has been thought, and with great probability, that this vesture was the work of the Blessed Virgin herself. As has been beautifully observed, it had that of cost and beauty about it which made even the rude soldiers unwilling to rend, and so to destroy it. The prophecy which all this fulfilled, and which the Evangelist transcribes, is a verbatim quotation from Ps. xxii. 18, as rendered by the Septuagint. 25 Now there stood by the Cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother's sister (Mary, the wife of Cleophas,) and Mary Magdalene.^ (Margin. Cleopas.) (Alf. Mary, the [wife] of Cleopas.) St. Luke merely states in general that the women that followed Him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things (xxii. 49), without giving the names of any. The other three Evangelists men*- tion several by name : — Sx. Matihew xxvii. 56. St. Mark xv. 40. St. John xix. 25. His Mother, and His Mother's sister, Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene Mary the wife of Cleophaa, and Mary Magdilane. and Mary the mother and Mary the mother, of James of James the less and Josea, and of Joses, and and the mother of Salome. Zebedee's children. If we compare St. Matthew and St. Mark together, without regard to the various reading afforded by the Sinaitic MS. on this verse of St. Matthew, as it is not in its original perfect state, it will appear that Salome was Zebedee's wife. Anciently it was thought that Mary, the wife of Cleophas, was His mother's sister," mentioned by St. John. Of late years this has 18), Sidxpvffos (Ps. xliv 10), iroXvTTjkTis (1 Tim. ii. 9) : is applied to our Lord's X^rcav (Matt, xxvii 35 ; John xix. 24) which ■was appa(pos, and had that of cost and beauty about it which made even the rude soldiers unwilling to rend, and so to destroy it." — Archbishop Trench on Synonyms of New Testament, p. 176. ' Mary tlie wife of Cleophas or Clopas (Mapia^ ToO KAcoTra).—** The precise mean- ing is, among the women called Mary, the (particular one) of Clopas — the wife of Clopas. The Article is not used where the annexed Genitive is not intended to convey any precise distinction, as, Luke vi. 16, 'louSav laKci^Sov ; Acts i. 13, 'Iokw/So* AS^oiou."— Winer's Grammar of New Tes- lament, p. 143 ♦ 408 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. been questioned, and with some show of reason. St. Matthew and St. Mark both name three women w'ho are present, mthout reckoning the Blessed Virgin. If then, in agreement with the other two Evangelists St. John intends to mention three women as present besides the Virgin Mary, he must mean two distinct women by "His Mother's sister" and " Mary, the wife of Cleophas." This would leave Mary, the wife of Cleophas, as the mother of James and Joses, and Salome, the wife of Zebedee, as the sister of the Blessed Virgin. St. John does not mention Salome by name, and it is thought that he may have extended the same habit of reticence to his mother, which he uses w^ith respect to himself. For Salome being the wife of Zebedee would be the mother of St. John. If Zebedee's wufe was the sister of the Blessed Virgin, it may have been from her near relationship to His Mother that she requested for her two sons that they might sit, the one on His right hand, and the other on His left in His kingdom. (Matt. XX. 20.) 26 [(When Jesus therefore saw] His Mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He saith) unto His Mother, Woman, behold thy son ! [S. Now, when Jesus saw.] (Alf. Jesus, therefore, seeing His Mother, &c.— saith.) 27 (Then saith He) to the disciple, Behold thy mother ! And from that hour (that disciple) took her unto his own home. (Alf. And then saith He — ^the disciple.) Among the crowd assembled to witness the Crucifixion of Jesus, the Virgin Mary was probably the only one, who at all realized any- thing like the real nature of the Mystery, that was being transacted. She had long been used to keep the various parts of the Mystery of Redemption, and ponder them in her heart, as they gradually unfolded themselves before her. She above all women had found favour with God, and she had been chosen as the instrument for working out man's salvation. Great had been her personal holiness, and wonderful had been the privilege, with which she had been blessed. Now, as she stood before the Cross, a sword was to pierce through her heart. Slie had a trial to bear, such as had never fallen to the lot of woman before. She had to behold her Son and her God crucified before her eyes, and by the very men whose salvation He was thereby purchasing. The actions of our Saviour, so far as we understand them, are so full of deep significance that it is impossible for man to fix any limits to them, and to say that they mean no more than this or that. It would be presumptuous to say, that when Jesus gave to His Mother a COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHn'S GOSPEL. 409 son in St. John, and to St. John a mother in the Blessed Virgin, that He meant no more than that the disciple was henceforth to provide a home for His Mother. It is probable that this action is also part of the Great Mystery. In the fulness of His meaning He might refer partly to the hour, of which He had spoken at the marriage in Cana (ii. 4), and that He now acknowledges her claims on Him for the sup- ply of the necessaries of this life, as a Mother from her Son. Jesus commits His Mother, the most exalted of women, to the care of the most saintly of men, to St. John, the beloved disciple. This is the meaning which lies on the surface. What more His words may mean it is impossible for man, unless aided by the Holy Spirit, to discover. The only glimpse, which we have of the Blessed Virgin after the Resur- rection, is not in the retired home of the individual Apostle, but in the midst of the assembled Church. (Acts i. 14.) The fact that Jesus did not commit His mother to the care of Joseph, her husband, and therefore her natural guardian, has generally been considered a proof that Joseph was not now living. No mention is made of his death in the New Testament. 28 After this, Jesus laiowing that all things were now (accompHshed) that the Scripture might be (fulfilled), saith, I thirst.^ (Alf. Finished — accomplished.) St. John says, " after this," without stating how long after : but it must have been three hours after. For Jesus committed His Mother to the care of the beloved disciple at the beginning of the Crucifixion, before the darkness came on ; and He cried, " I thirst," almost at the end. The Psalmist, speaking in the person of Jesus, had said, hundreds of years before, *' They gave Me also gall for My meat ; and in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink." (Ps. Ixix. 21.) His thirst would be produced by want of food, by loss of blood from the scourging, and from the Crucifixion, and from exhaustion and excess of pain produced by hanging so long on the Cross. Great was the thirst which He endured in the Body from the Crucifixion ; but how great must have been His thirst for the salvation of souls which led to the Crucifixion ! 29 [Now] there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and 1 That the Scripture might he ful- and de Wette, to \4yei following. In the filled {'iua TfAeiud^ rj ypacpr].) — " iVa here latter case Yz/a denotes a purpose attributed means in order that, whether with Luther, by John to Jesus." — Winer's Grammar of we join 'Iva nKdOiQy to irivTa ijSr) New Testament, p. 480. TeTcAeo-Tai (so also Mayer), or, with Liicke 410 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. [they filled a spunge with vinegar,] (and put it upon hyssop,) and put it to His mouth. [V. A. Omits, Now : S. Therefore they put a spunge full of vinegar upon hyssop.] (Alf. And fixed it upon hyssop.) 30 When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar : He said, It is finished : and He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. St. Matthew xxTii. St. Mark xv. St. Luke xxiii. St. John xix. 29 Now there was set a vessel full of 48 And straightway 86 And vinegar : and they one of them ran, one ran and took a spunge, and filled it and filled a spunge filled a spunge with vinegar, full of vinegar. with vinegar and put it on a reed, and put it on a reed. and put it up on hyssop. and gave Him and gave Him, and put it to drink. to drink, to His mouth. 49 The rest said. saying, Let be, let us see Let alone ; let us see whether Elias will whether Elias will come to save Him. come to take Him down. 4S And the veil of the Temple was rent in the midst. 30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said. It is finished: 50 Jesus, wken He 87 And Jesus 46 And when Jesus had cried again cried. had cried with a loud voice, with a loud voice, with a loud voice, He said. Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit : and having said thus, And He bowed His head. yielded up the and gave up the He gave up the and gave up the ghost. .-^ ghost. ghost. ghost. It was custom aiy among the Romans, to give wine to persons Buffering excruciating torture, to give them strength to go through the punishment. Either in derision of Jesus, or with a view to increase His suffering, or from some other motive, the soldiers gave Jesus vinegar instead of wine. St. John says that they placed a spunge filled with vinegar on hyssop (vcrcrcoTra)) ^ St. Matthew and St. Mark say that they put it on a reed {KoXafKp). Considerable difference of opinion exists as to which is the hyssop of Scripture. Clusius, the Dutch botanist, says that the common hyssop was a low bushy plant ; but that the cultivated or garden hyssop of Palestine had a stalk a foot and a half high. One Evangelist, describing this with reference to its stalk, might call it a reed, and another, referring to its head, might speak of it as hyssop. Or, the reed and the hyssop may have been two different things bound together, the hyssop with its cup-shaped COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHNS GOSPEL. 411 head to hold the spiinge, and the reed to raise it to His lips. This may have heen the reed, which they put into His right hand as a mock emblem of His kingly dignity, and with which they smote Him on the head. (Matt, xxvii. 29, 30.) It is finished. The work appointed for Him to do is finished, the sufferings ordained for the Incarnate God to endure, the types and shadows of the Law, the prophecies of the Old Testament respecting the Passion are all finished, it only remains for His Human Soul to depart from His Body. Few words whicli have been uttered with reference to the history of man, contain in them such a depth of mean- ing as this, "It is finished. rereXearac. Then He bowed the head and gave up the ghost," as his own voluntary act, and at the time of the evening sacrifice. . While on the Cross Jesus spake seven times. These are not all recorded by the same Evangelist. St. Luke relates the I. and II., St. John the III., St. Matthew and St. Mark the IV., St. John the V. and VL, and St. Luke the VII. St. Matthbw xxvii. IV. Eli, EU, lama Sabachthani (46). St. Mark xv. IV. Eloi, Eloi, lama Sabachthani ? (34). St. Lukb xxiii. I. Father, forgive them» for they know not what they do (34). II. Verily, I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise (43). VII. Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit (46). St. John xix. III. woman, behold tky son ; . . . Behold thy Mother (26)4 V. I thirst (28). VI. It is finished (80). 31 The Jews therefore (because) it was the preparation, that the bodies (should not) remain upon the Cross on the Sabbath day (for that Sabbath day was an high day) be- sought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. (Alf. Since — might not.) 1 That their legs might be broken {'lua Kareaywaiv avrCov ra cr/ceA.7j.) — " Ordi- narily, as every one knows, the Copula agrees in number, and the Predicate in number and gender, with the Subject ; but the Predicate, if it consist of a substantive, may have a different gender and number from the Subject. It is only when pro minence is to be given to the plurality and distinct existence of the Subject that the Predicate is put in the Plural. "Iva Kar eay w(r IV avrwv (of the three persons crucified) ra (tk^Xt]. Previously tva fjL-fi /xeiur) Tct adt/xara is used." — Winer's Gram^ mar of New Testament, p. 536. 412 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 32 (Then came the soldiers), and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with Him. (Alf. So tlie soldiers came.) 33 [But when they came to Jesus (and saw that He was dead already, they brake not)] His legs : [S. But "when they came to Jesus tbey found that He was dead already, and brake not.] (Alf. And when they saw that He was dead already they brake not.) The Jews give, as tke reason for their desn-e to hasten the death of Jesus and the malefactors, their fear of polluting the approaching Sabbath by allowing the bodies to remain on the cross contrary to the law of Moses. (Deut. xxi. 21, 22.) It was now past three o'clock, and at sunset the Sabbath would commence, and that Sabbath was an high day. It was hallowed on two counts ; first because it was the first day of unleavened bread, a holy convocation to the Lord (Exod. xii. 16) ; and secondly, because it was the seventh day, the usual Sabbath. This was the reason which they allege. But mixed with this there may have been some fear, some misgiving as to the enormity of the deed which they had just accomplished. Fearful, supernatural events had taken place during the last three hours. From the sixth to the ninth hour, from twelve o'clock until three, darkness had been spread over the whole earth, the sun was darkened, and the veil of the Temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent, &c. All this may have awakened their conscience, and caused them to see how their conduct was condemned, or they may have feared lest the people should think so, lest the people, at all times fickle in their attachment, should turn against them as the authors of the deed, which had called forth such signal marks of dis- pleasure from God. Their legs would be broken by blows from some heavy instrument, either of wood or iron. This causing excess of pain and loss of blood would have the efi'ect of hastening their end. The Death of Jesus before the others was the natural eSect of the sufferings which He had endured in Soul and Body, of the exhaustion of all the powers of nature : it was pre-ordained to fulfil the types and prophecies respect- ing Him in the Old Testament dispensation, and to prevent this very breaking of His legs, and so the imperfection and disfigurement of His Body after the Resurrection. 34 (But) one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith (came there) out blood and water. (Alf. Nevertheless— there came.) COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 413 35 Aiid he tliat saw it (bare record), (and his record) is true : and he knoweth that he saith true, [that ye (might beheve.)] [S. A. That ye also might believe.] (Alf. Hath borne witness — and his witness — may believe.) The piercing of His side with a spear might not be from wanton cruelty on the part of the soldier, but in the proper fulfilment of his duty, to convince himself that Jesus was dead, and to prove to others, that though they had not broken his legs, they had taken sufficient precaution to ascertain that He was dead, before they removed His Body from the Cross. . The flow of blood and water from His side, after life had departed, was contrary to the laws of nature, which would have obtained in the case of an ordinary dead body. From known experiments we are driven to believe, either that this was a result natural to our Saviour's Body and to His only, or else that it was miraculously produced. The Church, from the very earliest times, has looked upon this flow- ing of blood and water from the side of Jesus, as containing in it a fulness of meaning : as indicating the means through which man's salvation is wrought — water and blood, and that through the Incarna- tion, flowing from the Divine Body of the Son of God. In early times too writers gave this as one reason among others, why they always celebrated the Eucharist with the mixed chalice of wine and water, as a memorial of the water and blood which flowed from the pierced side of Jesus, and as a symbol that our salvation is through the Word made Flesh, and through His Death on the Cross. Few subjects afl'orded greater scope for instruction and illustration among the early Fathers of the Church than this. Tradition records that the spear entered the right side of Jesus, and extended to the left through the heart, with a view of destrojdng the last remains of life, if He had not already laid down His life. This made the fifth wound in His Body — two in the hands, and two in the feet, and one in the side. The person, who bears witness to the truth of the fact, that water and blood flowed from the pierced side of Jesus, is the Evangelist St. John himself, and on no subject does He give a more deliberate and a more distinct testimony, than He does to the truth of this, the testimony of an eye-witness, and of an eye-witness who has no doubt of the truth of what He says. 36 For these things (were done), that the scripture (should be) fulfilled, A. bone of Him shall not be broken. (Alf. Came to pass — might be.) 414 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 37 And again, another Scripture saith, They shall look on Him whom they pierced.^ In the passage from which the first quotation is taken, it is not expressed in the same way as it is given here. There it is part of the command which God gave to the children of Israel respecting the way in which they were to eat the Paschal lamb. " In one house shall it be eaten : thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house : neither shall ye break a bone thereof." (Exod. xii. 46.) According to the usage of Scripture the application of the same language to the Paschal Lamb and to Jesus, would so far identify them together, as to make the one a type or prophetic figure of the other. As the blood of the Paschal lamb sprinkled on the door-posts preserved the children of Israel, from the destroying angel and from the death of the body, so the Blood of Jesus poured out upon the Cross preserves the true Israel from the death of the soul. In the second quotation which St. John says was fulfilled in Jesus and in the piercing of His side, the prophet Zechariah, who is speaking in the person of Jesus, says, *' They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced." (Zech. xii. 10.) This was fulfilled when the Centurion, probably the very man who with his spear had pierced His side, " glorified God, sa3dng, Certainly this was a righteous Man," and when " all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts and returned." (St. Luke xxiii. 47, 48.) But probably the fulfilment, which the Evangelist meant, will be at the Day of Judgment. To this he again alludes in his book of the Revelation : *' Behold, He cometh with clouds : and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him : and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." (i. 7.) Not only as nations and kindreds shall they look upon Him, but also as individuals, not only he who pierced Him with the spear, but also they who have pierced Him by their sins. 38 (And after this) Joseph of Arimathea,^ being a discipie 1 Date of the Crucifixion. — •' Browne, i Arimathsea. — " A tradition as early as in his Ordo Sceculorum, shows astronomi- the sixth century makes Neby Samwll the cally that in a.d. 29 the Paschal full Kamah.orRamathaim-Zophim, of theOld moon fell on a Friday — Friday 18th Testament the birth-place, residence, and March ; and adopts this as the date of the burial place of Samuel. But a compari- Crucifixion. ... It is satisfactory to re- son of the statements made in Scripture member that this year agrees with the with the topography of the country shows constant tradition of the first five centuries this tradition to be incorrect. When Saul (based doubtless on the Acts of Filate was in search of his father's asses he before that document was corrupted), that visited Samuel at Eamah. On his depar- Christ suffered in March in the consulship ture for Gibeah, his native city, the pro- of the Gemini, a.d. 29." — Canon Norris's phet anointed him king, and described his Key to the Gospel Narrative^ p. 139. way home as leading ♦ by Eachel's COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. 415 of Jesus, (but secretly) for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the Body of Jesus : and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore (and took the Body of Jesus.) [S. They came therefore and took Him : V. took His Body.] (Alf. And after these things — though in secret — and took away His Body.) Arimathaea was early identified with Kamah the birth-place of Samuel. This is mentioned seven times at least in the Old Testa- ment, and in the Septuagint it is rendered Armathaim or Armathaim Sepha. Its exact position has not been as yet ascertained. Joseph though a native of Arimathaea seems to have been now living at Jerusalem. St. Matthew calls Joseph a rich man, who was also himself Jesus' disciple (xxvii. 57). St. Mark calls him an honourable counsellor {ivo-^rificov (BovXevrrj^;) which also waited for the kingdom of God (xv. 43). St. Luke says he was a counsellor : a good man and a just. (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them :) he was of Arimathaea a city of the Jews : who also himself waited for the kingdom of God. (xxiii. 50, 51) : and St. John, that he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews. From all this it is plain that Joseph was a member of the Sanhedrin, and that he had either absented himself from the assembly at which it was determined to put Jesus to death, or that he had voted against it. Isaiah had already foretold that His rest should be glorious (xi. 10) ; and the Evangelist goes on to relate how this came to pass : how Joseph, sepulchre on the border of Benjamin.' Discussing the site of ArimathsGa, Eobin- (1 Sam. X. 2.) Gibeah was situated on son sums up thus : " All this serves to show Tuleil el Fill, only two and a half miles first, that Arimathaea was not Kenthieh east from this spot ; and Kachel's sepul- which lies directly on the road between chre is well known to be nearly seven Antipatris and Lydda ; and, secondly, that miles south. Hence every step Saul it probably did lie somewhere between would have taken from Neby Samwil Lydda and Nobe, now Beit N^ba, a mile towards Rachel's sepulchre would have north east of Yalo. Perhaps it is not too led him farther away from Gibeah". — much to hope that the ancient site of Handbook on Palestine, p, 217. Arimathaea may hereafter be discovered "Within the last few centuries a somewhere in that region, which, as yet, monkish tradition has identified Eamleh has not been fully discovered." — Eobin- with Eamathaim-Zophim, or Eamah of son's Later Researches, p. 142. Samuel, and with the Arimatha3a of the Dean Stanley says the position of New Testament. For this, however, there Eamah •' is the most complicated and dis- is no evidence. The names have no analogy puted problem of sacred topography. It — Eamleh signifying ' sandy ' and Eamah is almost the only instance in which the a • hill.'. ... In history there is no text of the Scriptural narrative (1 Sam. mention of Eamleh earlier than the ninth ix. 1 ; x. 10) seems to be at variance with century, and Abulfeda states that it was the existing localities." founded in the earlier part of the eighth " He enumerates eight different places, century by the Kalif Suleiman, after he all of which have been thought to be the had destroyed Ludd. The same fact is ancientArimathaeaand specifies the nature recordedby William of Tyre and others. — of their respective claims." — Sinai and Ibid. p. 263. Palestine, p. 224, 416 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. an honoui'able counsellor and a rich man, went in boldly nnto Pilate and begged to be allowed to bury the Body of Jesus, not as a criminal but as a man of distinction, as a prophet of God. Either Pilate could not refuse a man of Joseph's character, and in the 'position in which he was, or he was willing to make some amends for the weakness and injustice, which he had shown in yielding to the pressure of the Jews, and condemning to death one he had himself pronounced to be a just man, and in whom there was no fault. St. John omits to record Pilate's sui-prise that Jesus was already dead, but simply says that Pilate gave him leave and that then he took away the Body of Jesus. 39 (And there came also Nicodemus) [which at the first came to Jesus by night,] (and brought) a mixture of niyrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.^ [V. A. Whicli at the first came to Him by night.] (Alf. And there came Nicodemus also — to Him — bringing.) 40 Then took they [the Body of Jesus], and wound it m 1 " Myrrh is a vegetable product of the gum resin kind, sent to us in loose gra- nules from the size of a pepper corn to that of a walnut, of a reddish brown colour, with more or less of an admixture of yellow ; its taste is bitter and acrid, with a peculiar aromatic flavour, but very nauseous; its smell is strong, but not disagreeable ; it is brought from Ethopia, but the tree which produces it is wholly unknown. Our myrrh is the very drug known by the ancients under the same name ; internally applied it is a powerful resolvent, and externally applied it is discutient and vulnerary." — Johnson's Dictionary^ ed. 17G5. " MyiTh was used for embalming. (Herod, ii. 86.) Various conjectures have been made as to the real nature of the substance denoted by the Hebrew mor, and much doubt has existed as to the countries in which it is produced. Accord- ing to the testimony of Herodotus (iii. 107) , &c., the tree which produces myrrh grows in Arabia. Forstai mentions two myrrh- producing trees, Amyris Kalaf and Amyris Kafal, as occurring near Haes in Arabia Felix. The myrrh-tree which Ehrenberg and Hemprich found on the borders of Arabia Felix, and that which Mr. Johnson saw in Abyssinia are believed to be iden- tical ; the tree isBalsamodrendron myrrha, • a low thorny ragged- looking tree, with bright trifoliate leaves ;' it is probably the Murr of Abu '1 Fadli, of which he says, murr is the Arabic name of a thorny tree like an acacia, from which flows a white liquid, which thickens and becomes a gum." — Smith's Biblical Dictionary. "Aloes. — A precious wood used in the east for perfumers, of which the best sort is of higher price than gold, and was the most valuable present given by the Kiug of Siam, in 1G8(5, to the King of France. It is called Tambac, and is the heart or innermost part of the aloe tree, the next part of which is called Calembac, which is sometimes imported into Europe, and though of inferior value to the Tambac, is much esteemed ; the part next the bark is termed by the Portuguese Tao d'Aquila, or eagle wood ; but some account the eagle wood not the outer part of the Tambac, but another species. Our knowledge of this wood is yet very imperfect." — John- son's Dictionary. " It is usually identified with the Aqui- laria agallochum, a tree whicli supplies the agallochum or aloes-wood of commerce, much valued in India on account of its aromatic qualities for purposes of fumiga- tion and for incense. This tree grows to the height of 120 feet, being twelve feet in girth. It is however uncertain whether the Ahalim or Ahalulh is in reality the aloes-wood of commerce ; it is * quite possible that some kind of odorifer- ous cedar may be the tree denoted by these terms." — Smith's Biblical Dictionary. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL. 417 linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews [is to bury.] [A. The Body of God : S. Was to bury.] (Alf. They took therefore — as is the manner.) St. Matthew xxvii. St. Mark xv. St. Luke xxiii. St. Johk xix. 42 And now 88 And after this 57 When the even when the even was come, was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 50 And, behold. there came a there was a rich man man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, 43 Joseph of Arimathrea, named Joseph, Joseph an honourable a counsellor. counsellor : and he was a good man, and a just : (the same had not con- sented to the counsel and deed of them:) he was of Arimathaja, of Arimathsea, a city of the Jews : who also which also who also being himself was waited for himself waited for a disciple of Jesus' disciple : the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God. Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, 58 he went came and went in boldly 52 This man went besought to Pilate unto Pilate unto Pilate, Pilate and begged and craved »nd begged that he might take the Body of Jesus. the Body of Jesus, 44 And Pilate marvelled if He were already dead ; and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether He had been any while dead ? 45 And when he knew it of the centurion, the Body of Jesus. away the Body of JesuB : Then Pilate he and Pilate commanded the Body gave the Body gave to be delivered to Joseph. 46 And he bought fine linen him leave. He came therrfore and took the Body of Jesus, and there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloea, about an hundred pound weight. 59 And when Joseph and 53 And he 40 Then took they had taken the Body, took Him took It down, and wrapped It in the Body of Jesus, he wrapped It in and wrapped Him in and wound It in a clean Uueu cloth. the linen. linen. linen clothes with the spices, as the maimer of the Jews is to bury. 2 E 418 COMMENTABY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. St. Jolm is the only one of the four Evangelists who mentions Nicodemus. He alone relates that Nicoclemus first came to Jesus hy night to receive instruction from Him, (iii.), that he afterwards defended Him against the Pharisees in the Council, and that now he brought the necessary spices, and assisted Joseph in the pious office of wrap- ping the Body of Jesus in linen clothes with the spices, and laying It in the tomb. . From the expression which St. John uses, it would ap- pear that Nicodemus paid more than one visit to Jesus, though that alone is recorded, " Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night." Some Commentators have thought, that they brought a hundred pound weight of myrrh and aloes, as a proof of their liberality and affection for Jesus, and of their determination that there should be no deficiency, not that all this was required. This may or may not have been the case, nothing is stated either way. The quantity appears large, though it may not have been too much for the manner in which the Jews buried, and when they wished to pay the highest possible honour. The Jews derived their burial customs from the Egyptians, who were well known to have been lavish in the use of spices in em- balming their dead. 41 Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden : and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. 42 (There laid they Jesus therefore, because of the Jews' preparation day : for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.) (Alf. There therefore by reason of the Jews' preparation day, because the sepulchre was nigh at hand, they laid Jesus.) It was past three o'clock before Jesus yielded up His Spirit. At sunset would begin the Sabbath, on which no burial could take place. Whatever arrangements respecting the burial of Jesus had to be made, must be before the Sabbath began, or left undone until it was over. Some time would have elapsed, while Joseph had gone to Pilate to beg the Body of Jesus, and while Pilate made the inquiries as to whether Jesus was already dead, which he thought it necessary to make. There was, therefore, no time to remove His Body to a more distant burial place. In the place where He was crucified, there was a garden : and in the garden a new sepulchre wherein was man never yet laid. There therefore by reason of the Jews* j)reparation day, be- cause the sepulchre was nigh at hand, they laid Jesus. St. Matthew alone relates that a great stone was rolled to the door of the sepulchre, that at the request of the Jews Pilate granted a guard to watch the sepulchre, that the sepulchre was made sure^ the stoiie soultJd, find the guard set, COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 419 The Body of Jesus was laid in a garden and in a new tomb. But it was laid there not from choice but from convenience. St. John does not say that it was chosen, because it was a rich man's tomb, or because it was a new tomb, or because it was in a garden, but because the time was short and this tomb was conveniently near. 2 i; 3 ( 420 ) INTEODUCTOEY NOTE TO CHAPTER XX. Sepulchres. — " There were more common and more noble SepiUcnres. The common were in public burying places, as it is with us ; but they were without the city. And through that place was no current of water to be made, through it was no public way to be, cattle were not to feed there, nor wood to be gathered from thence. ** The more noble Sepulchres were hewn out in some rock, in their own ground, with no little charge and art. You have the form of them described in these words : "*He that selleth his neighbour a place of burial, and he that takes of his neighbour a place of burial, let him make the inner parts of the Cave four cubits, and six cubits : and let him open within it eight sepulchres.' They were not wont, say the Glosses, to bury men of the same family here and there, scatteringly, and by them- selves, but altogether in one Cave : where if any one sells his neigh- bour a place of burial, he sells him room for two Caves, or hollows on both sides, and a floor in the middle. " The tradition goes on. * Three sepulchres are on this side, and three on that, and two near them. And those sepulchres are four cubits long, seven high, and six broad.' " To those that entered into the sepulchral Cave, and carried the bier, there was first a floor where they stood and set down the bier, in order to their letting it down into the sepulchre : on this and the other side there was a Cave or a hollowed place, deeper than the floor by four cubits, into which they let down the corpse, divers coffins being there prepared for divers coi-pses. K. Simeon saith, * The hollow of the cave consists of six cubits and eight cubits, and it opens thirteen sepulchres within it, four on this side and four on that, and three before them, and one on the right hand of the door, and another on the left. And the floor within the entrance into the Cave consists of a square, according to the dimensions of the bier, and of them that bear it, and from it open two Caves, one on this side, another on that.' K. Simeon saith, * Four at the four sides^of it.' Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel saith, * The whole is made according to the condition of the ground.* *' From these things now spoken you may more plainly understand many matters, which are related of the Sepulchre of our Saviour. ** Mark xvi. 5. The women entering into the Sepulchre saw a young man sitting on the right * side :' in the very floor immediately after the entrance into the Sepulchre, COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 421 ** Luke xxiv. 3. ' Going in they found not His Body/ &c. verse 5. * While they bowed down their faces to the eartli,' verse 12. * Peter ran to the sepulchre, and when he had stooped down, he saw the linen clothes.' That is, the women and Peter after them, standing in the floor bow down their faces, and look downward into the place, where the sepulchres themselves were, which, as we said before, was four cubits deeper than the floor. '' John XX. 5. * The disciple whom Jesus loved, came first to the Sepulchre ; and when he had stooped down (standing on the floor, that he might look into the burying place) saw the linen clothes lie : yet went he not in. But Peter went in,' &;c. ; that is, from the floor he went down into the cave itself, where the rows of the graves were (in which nevertheless no corpses had been as yet laid, besides the Body of Jesus :) thither also after Peter, John goes down. " And verse 2. * But Mary weeping stood at the sepulchre without : and while she wept she stooped down to the sepulchre, and saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and another at the feet, where the Body of Christ had lain.' *' She stood at the sepulchre without: that is, within the Cave on the floor, but without that deeper Cave, where the very graves were, or the very places for the bodies : bowing herself to look down thither, she saw two angels at the head and foot of that coffin, wherein the Body of Christ had been laid." — Lightfoot, ii. 89. ( 422 ) CHAPTER XX. 1. Mary cometli to the Sepulchre ; 3 So do Peter and John, ignorant of the Resurrection; 11 Jesus appeareth to Mary Magdalene; 19 And to His Disciples; 24 The incredidity, and confession of Thomas; 30 The Scripture is sufficient to salvation. 1 (The first day of the week) cometh Mary Magdalene early, (when it was yet dark), unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone, taken away [from the sepulchre.]^ [S. From the door of the sepulchre.] (Alf. Now on the first day of the week — while it was yet dark.] iMejdel, Magdala.— "One hour's ride along the shore brings us to this wretched hamlet, now the only inhabited spot in the plain of Gennesaret. In riding along, the wonderful richness of the soil strikes us. Nowhere else have we encountered such thistles, such grass, and such weeds — and such grain on the few spots culti- vated. Josephus described Gennesaret eighteen centuries ago as an earthly Para- dise, where the choicest fruits grew luxu- riantly, and eternal spring reigned. His words were not much exaggerated ; for now, though more a wilderness than a paradise, none can fail to remark its fer- tility. The shore is lined with a wide border of oleander : behind this come tangled thickets of the lote-tree : and here and there are little groups of dwarf palm. The voice of the turtle is heard on every Bide, and quails spring up from our feet at almost every step. " Mejdel contains about twenty huts, and the ruins of a tower of modem date. Between the village and the shore are foundations and heaps of rubbish. Yet the name of this hamlet has been incor- porated into every language of Chris- tendom. It was the birth-place of Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus ' had cast seven devils,' and to whom He appeared immediately after His Resurrection. The name and sight of the village will call Up that solemn scene related in John xx. 11- IS:'— Handbook to Palestine, p. 408. " But the most sacred region of the lake — shall we not say of the world ? — is the little plain of Gennesareth, which has been already mentioned, on the western shore. Few scenes have undergone a greater change. Of all the numerous towns and villages in what must have been the most thickly-peopled district of Palestine, one only remains. A collection of a few hovels stands at the south-eastern comer of the plain — its name hardly altered from the ancient Magdala or Migdol — so called, probably, from a watch-tower, of which ruins appear to remain, that guarded the entrance to the plain. Through its connection with her whom the long opinion of the Church identified with the penitent sinner, the name of that ancient tower has now been incorporated into all the languages of Europe. A large solitary thorn-treo stands beside it. Its situation, otherwise unmarked, is dignified by the high lime- stone rock which overhangs it on the south-west, perforated with caves, recall- ing, by a curious, though doubtless unin- tentional coincidence, the scene of Cor- reggio's celebrated picture." — Stanley's Siiiai and Palestine, p. 382. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN S GOSPEL, 423 St. Mark had related that " a stone " was rolled unto the door of the sepulchre, and St. Matthew that " a great stone " was rolled to the door of the sepulchre, and that the stone was sealed and a guard set. Neither St. Luke nor St. John mentions the stone until they re- late, how that the women found it rolled away from the door of the sepulchre. By comparing St. John's account with that given by the other three Evangelists, we shall be the better able to see the time at which they first went to the sepulchre, their object in going, as well as who the individuals were who went. St. Matthew xxviii. ST. Mark xvi. 1 And when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magda- lene, and Mary the Mo- ther of James -and Sa- lome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint Him. St. Luke xxiv. St. John xx. 1 In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to da^-n 2 And very early in the 1 Now upon the first day 1 The first day of thd toward morning of the week, week the first day of the week the first day of the week. very early in the cometh Mary Magdalene came Mary Magdalene morning, early. and the other Mary they came they came when it was yet dark, to see the sepulchre. unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices unto the sepulchre. ' which they had prepared, and certain others with them. St. John names only Mary Magdalene, probably because she was conspicuous among the rest by her zeal and ardour. She evidently is the leader of the party. The object of these women in going to the sepulchre was not to see if Jesus were risen. That was a thought, which had never crossed their minds. They went, in the abundance of their love and reverence, to anoint His Body with sweet spices. When alive they had loved and revered Him with an unbounded affection, and now that He was dead, they went to perform for Him the offices of love and affection, in the way that was most congenial to the Jewish mind. As soon as it was possible to purchase the spices, that is, after sunset on the day of the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the less, and Salome had gone into the city for that purpose, and had then carried the spices to the sepulchre, while it was yet dark. It was dark though it had become morning. They had no motive in waiting for the morning. It was night when they left to ^o and buy the spices, but the sun had risen or the morning hours had begun, before they reached the place of burial. The same women had bought the spices, as were before mentioned beholding Him on the Cross, with the exception of the Blessed Virgin^ 424 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. She is not now with them. She went not with them to anoint His Body, for she probably alone of all the party knew, that He would not be there, that He would have risen. Doubtless in retirement she pon- dered on the completion of the Mystery. We may reverently assume, that this was in some way vouchsafed to her by some personal com- munication, and not only through the report of the women and the disciples. Many have believed, that Jesus had first of all appeared to His Mother privately, though this is nowhere recorded in Scripture. But this would not be contrary to analogy, it would rather be in per- fect keeping with the way, in which the Mystery of the Incarnation had been revealed to mankind. St. John here omits many particulars, that are related by the other Evangelists, such as the earthquake, the descent of the angel of the Lord from heaven, the rolling away of the stone from the door of the sepulchre, and the angel's message unto the women. 2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them. They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him.^ Either the women did not understand the angel's words that Jesus was risen, or they did not believe them. For Mary repeats to the disciples their first impression, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid Him. St. John named only Mary as going to the sepulchre, but her words show that others were with her. The expression *' we know not " shows that she is speaking for herself and her companions, in fact as the leader of the party. 3 Peter therefore went forth, and (that other disciple), [(and came to the sepulchre.)] [S. Omits, and came to the sepulchre.] (Alf. The other disciple — and they went toward the sepulchre.) ^ And cometh to Simon Peter, and to here is that the two disciples were not in the other disciple {epx^rai irphs "Xinuya the same place, non una fuisse utrumque Tlf rpov Koi irphs rhu &\\ov fxadrjrijy). discipulum." — Winer's Grammar of New " When two or more substantives, governed Testament, p. 439. by one and the same preposition, and ^ And the other disciple did outrun directly joined together by a copula, follow Peter {koX 6 &K\os nad-nr^s TpotSpafxey each other, the preposition is most natur- rdxiov rod Uerpov.) " He ran on before, ally repeated, if the substantives in ques- faster than Peter (closer specification)." — tion denote things conceived to be distinct Winer's Grammar of New Testament, and independent. Bengel's conclusion p. 627. from the repetition of the preposition COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 425 4 [(So) they ran both together : and the other disciple did outrun Peter,] and came first to the sepulchre. [S. And they ran both together, but the other did outrun Peter : A. but the other.] (Alf. And.) As the younger and more active of the two, St. John reaches the sepulchre first, but does not enter it until his companion had come up, perhaps from a feeling of modesty, and out of deference to St. Peter as his senior in age, and superior in position among the Apostles ; or it may be that he was seized with a sudden feeling of fearful reverence towards the Dead. 5 (And he stooping down, and looking in, saw) the linen clothes lying : yet went he not in. (Alf. And stooping down, and looking in, he seeth.) 6 [Then cometh Simon Peter] following him, and went into the sepulchre (and seeth the linen clothes lie.) [S. V. Then cometh also Simon Peter.] (Alf. And behoideth the linen clothes lying.) 7 And the napkin, that was (about His head,) not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. (Alf. On His head.) The positions of the several pieces of linen, with which His Body was wrapped, St. John relates more minutely than the other Evan- gelists, for he alone is recording here, what he saw with his own eyes. He had noted them carefully, as they were the first things to strike his attention. They were to him so many indications of His Kesurrec- tion. They first prepared St. John to believe that Jesus might have risen. This belief — first produced by the sight of the sepulchre — was afterwards confirmed by other evidence which could not be gainsaid. One thing, that drew St. John's special attention to the linen, lying as it was, wrapped in two separate places in the sepulchre, was the knowledge that when a dead body was wrapped in linen with spices, myi-rh, aloes, &c. the linen had a tendency to adhere to the body. The myrrh was of a gummy, glutinous nature, and would make it ex- tremely difficult to remove the linen from the Body. St. John him- self — and he alone of the four Evangelists — had related that they wound the Body of Jesus in linen clothes with the spices (xix. 40). Had any one wished to remove the Body, to stay to unwrap the clothes was only adding to the risk of detection. But this had been the work of one who was deliberate and careful in doing, what he had 426 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN^S GOSPEL. done. There were no marks of hurry, no signs of haste from fear of discovery. 8 (Then went in also that other disciple), which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed. (Alf. Then went in therefore the other disciple also.) 9 [For as yet they knew not] the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. [S. For as yet he knew not.] Many Commentators^ both ancient and modern have thought that the Evangelist meant to say here, that in consequence of what he saw in the sepulchre, he believed the words which Mary Magdalene had said unto them, namely that they had removed the Body of Jesus from the sepulchre. But it is far more in accordance with the context, that what he believed was, that Jesus had risen from the dead. For the first time the truth flashed upon his mind, that this was what Jesus Himself taught them. As yet, up to this time, he had not known, he had not understood the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. He had heard the words before, but without giving them any particular meaning, or at least any literal meaning, only such as was figurative. But now the appearance of the sepulchre, with its linen so carefully wrapped up and laid in different places, brought to his recol- lection the words of Jesus Himself, and forced on his mind the fact of the Kesurrection. It was the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead, w^hich produced in St. John the conviction that Jesus had risen again ; but it was what he saw in the sepulchre that brought the Scripture to his recollection, and prepared him to receive this con- viction. St. Peter had the same evidence, but he did not as yet believe that Jesus was risen from the dead. Perhaps there was in his very nature a backwardness to receive a new truth, except on the fullest proofs. It is true that he had formerly been the first to confess that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. (Matt. xvi. 16) ; that in a moment of impetuous zeal he had attempted to defend his Master at the risk of his own life (John xviii. 10). But the gentle, loving temperament of the youthful St. John may have been more re- ceptive of the great Mysteries of the Incarnation. 10 (Then) the disciples went away again unto their own home. (Alf. So.) 1 For the ancient commentators see Cornelius 4 Lapide, and for the modern see Dean Alford in loco. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 427 The two disciples depart unto their own home ; John believing that Jesus had risen, and Peter wondering, at a loss how to account for appearances. Mary remains rooted to the spot by love to her Lord, and by grief because they had removed, as she thought, His Body, and she knew not where they had laid Him. 11 [But Mary stood without at the sepulchre] weeping : and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, [S. But Mary stood in the sepulchre : A. Omits without.] 12 And (seeth) [two] angels in white sitting, (the one) at the head, and the other at the feet, where the Body of Jesus had lain. [S. Omits, two.] (Alf. Beholdeth— one.) 13 [And] they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? [She saith] unto them. Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him. [S. Omits, and : V. And she saith.] What St. John had seen in the sepulchre had prepared him for a belief in the Resurrection of Jesus. What Mary sees was doubtless intended to prepare her for the appearance of Jesus Himself. The angels, their clothing in white, their posture sitting, the very place in which they sat, one at the head and the other at the feet, are all signs of His Resurrection, and of His Resurrection as perfect as He was when alive. St . John does not relate the reply and the message of the angel to Mary, which the other Evangelists do, but he goes on to relate the appearance of Jesus to her. 14 [(And] when she had thus said,) she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. [S. V. A. Omit, And.] (Alf. And having thus said.) 15 Jesus saith unto her. Woman, Why weepest thou ? Whom seekest thou? [She, supposing] (Him to he the gar- dener), saith unto Him, Sir, if thou (have borne) Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take Him away.- [S. Now she supposing.] (Alf. That it was the gardener— hast borne.) 428 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL. Jesus approached Mary from behind, and some suppose that the reason why she turned herself was, because she saw the angels assume an attitude of reverential worship, as if to some one behind her. Others have supposed that she tui-ned, merely because she heard the sound of advancing footsteps. It may be that Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene first, in con- sequence of the excessive love which she bore towards Him, but that her eyes were holden so that she could not at first recognise Him, as the efi'ect of her disbelief in the words of the angel, which said that He was alive, as well as a gentle rebuke for it. In his question, why weepest thou ? Jesus intimates that there is need of faith, not of tears. There is no need to weep for Him, who is risen, and who is declared by the angels to be risen. She took Him for the gardener, just as the two disciples, going to Emmaus a little later on the same day, supposed that He was a stranger. (Luke xxiv. 13.) 16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. [She turned herself, and saith unto Him,] Kabboni : which is to say, Master. [S. But she turned herself : S. V. And saith unto Him in Hebrew.] 17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch Me not ; for I am not yet ascended [to My Father] : [but go to My brethren] and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father : (and to My God and your God.) [S. V. To the Father : S. but (A. omits) go to the brethren : S. Behold, I ascend.] (Alf. And My God, and your GodO Mary would seem to have turned from Jesus towards the angels again, as if seeking from them some explanation of the cir- cumstances, when she heard the sound of her own name uttered by the voice of Jesus, and with all the sweetness and graciousness \vith which He had been accustomed to address her. Like the Shunamite woman of old (2 Kings iv. 27), she fell on her knees and caught hold of the feet of Jesus, and began to indulge in her feelings of ecstatic delight, in this act of worship towards Him, and calling Him Kabboni, a term intended to convey the highest honour and most enduring love. The difficulty of explaining the words fir} fiou ciirTov rendered " Touch Me not," especially in the connection in which they stand, may be inferred from the number of interpretations that have been given to them. Cornelius a Lapide gives no less than five different interpreta- tions of this passage. The explanation which he himself prefers, and which is the one advocated in this Commentary, found little favour with many of the ancient annotators, and not much more with many in modern times. COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN's GOSPEL. 429 We may fairly conclude, that what Jesus forbade to Mary was not any touching of His Body whatever, but the touching him under certain conditions ; either because there was a deficiency of love and reverence, or of faith and appreciation of His Divine nature, or because her adoration of Him from its length and rapture was unsuited to the present time, and to the commission with which He now entrusted her, namely, of announcing His Kesurrection to the rest of His disciples. We may infer this, because He almost immediately grants this privilege to a number of women, which number probably included Mary Magdalene herself. " And as they (the women) went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying. All hail. And they came and held Him by the feet {ifcpdrTjcrav dvrov rovs TroSa^) and worshipped Him. (Matt, xxviii. 9.) The very same day, in the evening, Jesus Himself invited His assembled disciples ''to handle" Him {'\jr7]Xa(l)r}a-aT6 fie.) (Luke xxiv. 39.) A week after this He invited Thomas to thrust His hand into His side. (John xx. 27.) All this took place before Jesus had ascended unto the Father. Evidently then the fact, that He had not ascended unto the Father, could scarcely be given as a reason, why Mary Magdalene should not touch Him, since it did not prevent the others from touching Him. Neither can we believe that Jesus allowed this privilege to Thomas accompanied with the words, " Be not faithless, but believing," and that He refused it to Mary Magdalene, who had shown to Him at least equal faith and far more love than Thomas. It could not be that Mary, when she was about to touch Him, was deficient in love or reverence, or in faith and appreciation of His Divine nature. We are apt to believe that she exceeded all the rest in love to Jesus, and that it was for this very reason, that He appeared to her first after His Resm-rection. Her faith in the angel's words may have been defective, but as soon as she recognised Jesus Himself, there was no lack of faith, no lack of love or reverence towards Him. Some explanation must be sought for more consistent with the context. This will probably be found in the meaning of the expression firi fiovdiTTov itself, which is imperfectly rendered, " Touch Me not." The literal meaning of these words is much more nearly represented by the English, *' Cling to Me not," or " Cease to cling to Me, or to clasp Me." In this sense ih4w, in our English Version. It would not have been easy, perhaps not possible, to do it : and yet there is often a difference between them, one very well worthy to have been noted, if this had lain within the compass of our lan- guage : and which makes the two words to stand very much in the same relation to one another as • diligo ' and ' amo ' in Latin Ernesti has successfully seized the law of their several uses, when he says : Diligere magis ad judicium, amare vero ad intimum animi sensum pertinet.' So that in fact Cicero in the following passage (Ep. Jam. xiii. 47) • Ut scires ilium a me non diligi solum, verum etiam amari is saying, — ' I do not esteem the man merely, but I love him,' there is something of the passionate warmth of affection in the feeling with which I regard him. *' But from this it will follow, that while a friend may desire rather ' amari ' than diligi by his friend, yet there are aspects in which the ' diligi ' is a higher thing than the ' amari,' the ayairaadai than the ^i\ui\w) Thee. He saith unto him. Feed ^Troifiaivf) My sheep (rck vp6fiaTf the Jewish nation, and the cessation of the Jewish worship, and hat St. Peter did not. Several dates have been fixed on for St. John's death. One of the earliest of these is a.d. 101. This would be in the ninety-third year of his age, and in the sixty-eighth from the Crucifixion of Jesus. It is generally believed that St. John was the will sufl&ciently appear that by those phrases is understood the dreadful judg- ment and overthrow of that nation and city. With these also agrees that of Jer. iv., from ver. 22 to 28, and clearly enough explains this phrase. To this appertain those and other such expres- sions as we meet with : 1 Cor x. 11, ' On us the ends of the world are come ;' and 1 Pet. iv. 7, • The end of all things is at hand.' " II. With reference to this, and under this notion, the times immediately pre- ceding this ruin are called the last days and the last times, that is, the last times of the Jewish city, nation, and economy. This manner of speaking frequently oc- curs, which let our St. John himself in- terpret. 1 John ii. 13 : ' There are many Antichrists, whereby we know it is the last time ;' and that this nation is upon the very verge of destruction, whenas it hath already arrived at the utmost pitch of infidelity, apostasy, and \\ickedness. " III. With the same reference it is, that the times and state of things imme- diately following the destruction of Jeru- salem are called a New Creation, New heavens, and a New earth. Isai. Ixv. 17 : ' Behold I create a New heaven and a New earth.' When should that be ? Read the whole chapter and you will find the Jews rejected and cut off, and from that time is that New Creation of the Evangelical world among the Gentiles. " Compare 2 Cor. v. 17, and Rev. xxi. 1, 2, where, the old Jerusalem being cut off and destroyed, a new one succeeds, and new heavens and a new earth are created. " 2 Peter iii. 13 : * We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth.' The heavens and the earth of the Jewish Church and Commonwealth must be all on fire, and the Mosaic ele- ments burnt up : but we, according to the promise made to us by Isaiah the prophet, when all these are consumed, look for the new creation of the Evangelical state. " IV. The day, the time, and the man- ner of the execution of this vengeance upon this people, are called ' the day of the Lord,' ' the day of Christ,' His coming in the clouds ' in His glory,' ' in His kingdom.' Nor is this without rea- son, for from hence doth this form and mode of speaking take its rise. " Christ had not as yet appeared but in a state of humility, contemned, blas- phemed, and at length murdered by the Jews : His Gospel rejected, laughed at, and trampled under foot : His followers pursued with extreme hatred, persecution, and death itself. At length, therefore, He displays Himself in His glory. His kingdom, and power, and calls for those cruel enemies of His, that they may be slain before Him. " Acts ii. 20 : * Before that great and notable day of the Lord come..' Let us take notice how St. Peter applies this prophecy of Joel to those very times, and it will be clear enough, without any com- mentary, what that ' day of the Lord is.' " 2 Thess. ii. 2 : ' As if the day of Christ was at hand,' &c. To this also do those passages belong. Heb. x. 37 : ' Yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come.' James v. 9 : ' Behold the Judge is at the door.' Rev. i. 7 : * He Cometh in the clouds ;' and xxii. 12 : ' Be- hold I come quickly ;' with many other passages of that nature, all which must be understood of Christ's coming in judg- ment and vengeance against that wicked nation. And in this very sense must the word now before us be taken and no otherwise, ' I will that he tarry till I come.' For thy part, Peter, thou shalt suffer death by thy countrymen the Jews : but as for him, I will that he shall tarry till I come and avenge Myself upon this generation : and if I will so, what is that to thee ? The story that is told of both these Apostles confirms this exposition : for it is taken for granted by all, that St. Peter had his crown of martyrdom before Jerusalem fell, and St. John sur- vived the ruins of it." — Lightfoot, ii. 625. 466 COMMENTARY ON ST. JOHN^S GOSPEL. youngest of the Apostles, and that he was the only survivor among them, at the overthrow of Jerusalem by Vespasian, a.d. 70. 24 This is the disciple [which testifieth] of these things, and wrote these things ; and we know that his testimony is true. [V. Which also testifieth.] 25 [And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I sup- pose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. [Amen.^J [S.* Omits, this verse : V. A. Omit, Amen.] (Alf. Moreover there are many other things — omits Amen.) St. John closes his Gospel with a distinct and formal declaration of the truth of what he had written, as the testimony of an eye and ear witness. On the truth of these things he states his character for honesty and capacity. In the expression " we know that his testimony is true," he implies that there are others associated with him, whose belief in their truth is as strong as his o"\vn. Either they were a few who remained of those, who lived during our Saviour's Ministry, or they had gained this conviction from St. John. To express the small number that he had recorded, but a very small number of the acts and miracles of Jesus, in comparison with the immense number which He wrought, the Evangelist uses an ex- pression which seems almost to amount to exaggeration. What he means to say is that no language can express the number and the greatness of the works, which Jesus wrought while upon eaiih. lAnd there are also many other (who alleges it five times over), and Pam- things, &c. — " No extant manuscript fa- philus downwards ; and it is exactly in vours the omission of ver. 25, although St. John's simple manner to assert the hyperbole it contains caused it to be broadly that which cannot be true to the suspected by some, as we learn from the letter, leaving its necessary limitation to Scholia to Codd. 36, 237 and others. But it the common sense of the reader." — Scrive- is quoted without the least misgiving by a ner's Introduction to Collation of Sinaitic long array of Patristic writers from Origen MS., lix. [INDEX ( 457 ) INDEX OF AUTHOES QUOTED IN THE NOTES. Alford's, Dean, Greek Testament (sixth ed., 1868), p. 374, &c. Beaufort's (Lady Strangford) Travels in Syria (1861), p. 61, 291. Burgon, Rev. J. W., On thel last Twelve Verses of St. Mark (1871), p. 11, 25, 187, 207, 238. Carnarvon, Earl of. Druses of the Le- banon (2nd ed:, 1860), p. 84. Cornelius, a Lapide, Commentary on Holy Scripture, 17th cent. (Paris, 1864)-, 53, &c. Dixon's, Hepworth, Travels in the Holy Land (1865), p. 3, 22, 41, 57, 60, 76, 86, 114, 155, 181, 208, 241, 243, 245, 261,267, 270, 338, 401,442. Early Travels in Palestine (Bohn's ed., 1848), p. 141, 142. Eothen (Tauchnitz ed.), p. 60. Gladstone, Right Hon. W. E., Studies on Homer (1856), p. 12, 49. , Juventus Mundi (1869), p. 12, 352. Irby and Mangles, Travels in the Holy Land (1844), p. 257, 292. Johnson's, Dr. S., Dictionary with Quota- tions (1737), p. 270, 416. Josephus' Antiquities, &c., p. 865, 440. Lightfoot's, Dr. John, Works, 2 vols. (1684), p. 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, 23, 24, 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 44, 50, 57, 62, 65, 66, 72, 87, 89, 90, 95, 101, 109, 110, 111, 115, 116, 121, 122, 126, 161, 173, 175, 176, 187, 188, 211, 213, 214, 218, 235, 268, 367, 382, 397, 420, 441, 455. Lightfoot, Dr. J. B., On Revision of the New Testament (1871), p. 95, 125, 135, 169, 178, 187, 206, 219, 232, 276, 305, 311, 315. Lindsay's, Lord, Letters on the Holy Land (1839), p. 34, 43, 60, 249. Lynch's, Lieut. W. F., Expedition to the Jordan and the Dead Sea (2nd ed., 1850), p. 22, 390. Macleod's, Dr., Eastward, p. 1. Macgregor's, Capt., Rob Roy on the Jordan (1869), p. 2, 7, 60, 129, 132, 136, 144, 446. Macmillan, Rev., Treatise on the True Vine (1871), p. 120, 154, 276, 326, 328. Middleton, Bishop T. F., On the Greek Article (new ed., 1833), p. 10, 69, 95, 98, 176, 188, 269, 295, 301, 343, 368, 374. Mission to the Jews from Scotland (1839), p. 35, 214, 228, 298, 367, 447. Mitford's History of Greece (8 vols., 1835), p. 270. Norris, Canon, Key to the Narrative of the Four Gospels (new ed., 1871), p. 260, 414. Origen's Works (Migne's ed., 1857), p. 25. Pococke's, Bishop Rich. (1745), Travels in the East, p. 26, 43, 82, 84, 142, 143, 257, 389. Porter, Rev. J. L., Giant Cities of Bashan (1867), p. 35. Handbook to Pales- tine, Murray's (new ed., 1868), p. 4, 7, 236, 258, 264, 414, 422, 432. Five Years in Da- mascus (1870), p. 225. 458 INDEX OF AUTHORS QUOTED IN THE NOTES. Becovery of Jerusalem, Wilson, Warren, &c. (1871), p. 1, 2, 6, 30, 41, 42, 61, 77, 82. 106, 107, 110, 131, 143, 155, 214, 336, 444. Eobinson's, Dr. Ed., Biblical Researches in Palestine (1841), p. 82, 83, 87, 113, 291. . Later Researches (1856), p. 59, 74, 81, 228, 257, 415, 433. Rogers, Miss, Domestic Life in Palestine (1862), p. 260, 291, 376, 390. Sandays, Mr., Authorship and Historical Character of the Fourth Gospel (1872), p. 260, 304, 324, 367, 368, 396. Scrivener's, Rev. F. H., Introduction to Criticism of the New Testament (1861), p. 19, 32, 111, 176, 187. Collation of Si- naitic MS. (2nd ed., 1867), p. 19, 456. Smith's Concise Dictionary of the Bible (2nd ed., 1871), p. 276, 321, 416. Stanley's, Dean, Sinai and Palestine (3rd ed., 1856), p. 1, 2, 34, 191, 258, 264, 415, 422. Thomson's, Dr. W. M., The Land and the Book (1863), p. 84, 226, 3 81. Thrupp's Ancient Jerusalem, p. 367. Trench, Archbishop, Authorised Version, p. 69, 88, 96, 221, 232, 272. Synonyms of the New Testament (new ed., 1865), p. 13, 18, 22, 78, 102, 116, 122, 124, 172, 185, 262, 284, 297, 328, 340, 346, 368, 376, 387, 391, 393, 406, 446, 449, 450. Williams's, Dr. G., Holy City (2nd ed., 1849), p. 364. Wilson's Lands of the Bible (1847), p. 225, 389. Winer's, Dr. G. B., Grammar of New Testament Diction, translated (sixth ed., 1866), p. 14, 15, 27, 56, 68, 79, 88, 92, 93, 97, 110, 112, 119, 121, 133, 138, 151, 164, 165, 167, 172, 173, 178, 179, 180, 181, 193, 196, 197, 200, 202, 207, 212, 215, 219, 220, 221, 223, 233, 238, 239, 240, 249, 250, 251, 261, 262, 270, 273, 281, 294, 295, 296, 301, 306, 307, 314, 316, 317, 323, 324, 329, 330, 333, 350, 355, 357, 360, 371, 373, 393, 395, 397, 407, 409, 411, 424, 438. Wordsworth, Bishop Chr. (4th ed., 1863), p. 374, &c. ( 459 ) INDEX TO THE NOTES. Advent, preparation for, p. 12. Adulterae pericope, accounted for, 186 ; explained, 188. Advocate a better word than Comforter for irapaKKriros, 311. AtVew and ipwrdco distinguished, 346. Angel at the pool of Bethesda, quoted by Tertullian, 111. "Au, when omitted, 221. ^AvaKeifKvos and avairecriip distinguished, 305. Anointed a\el\paffa (xi. 2) refers to the former anointing (Luke vii.), 244. Aorist does not express what is wont to be done, 197 ; Aorist Participle never employed as a Future, 244 ; only in appearance used as Future, 307, 330 ; Aorist in condition, imperfect in con- clusion, 333 ; does not stand for a Perfect, 355. Article, the, wrongly translated that, 178. 'Apxhv r)]v, means, throughout, altoge- ther, 196. Auto referring to a singular that has gone before, 320. Baptism, place of Christ's, 25. Bath, meaning of, 298. Boo-tAt/cbs, how translated, 101. Baskets when carried by the Jews and why, 136. Boo-Tt^Cf"'. 272. Beds, 113. Before iinrpocBev an adverb of place not of time in John i. 15 ; wrongly trans- lated by the Vulgate, 17. Be/3\7jK({Tos, 294. Bethany a more ancient reading than Bethabara in John i. 28, 25. Pethesda, Pool of, 106 ; meaning of the word, 110 ; an angel at the pool quoted by Tertullian, 111. Bethlehem, Jews believed that Christ would first appear here, a full grown man, 170. Branch, K\ri^ia and k\ci5os distinguished, 328 ; branches of Palm-trees, jSata and KKrina distinguished, 276. Brethren of Jesus, 43. Burial, manner of, 260. Caiaphas and the Council, 261. Cake, Passover, 291. Cana, whether Kefr Kana or Khurbet Kana, description of, 43. Capernaum, place of Christ's abode, 30 ; meaning of the word, 50 ; description and modem site, 155. Cedron, the brook, reading, meaning, 367. Church lessons account for the omission of passages in MSS., 207. Christ when used as a Proper name, 218. Clay forbidden to be put on the eyes on the Sabbath-day, 213. Cold of Jerusalem, 376. Conditional clauses with It, 323. Culture, natural, in relation to super- natural, 352. Crown, the, of thorns, 389. Crown, SiddTifia and ffT4i\6iv distinguished, 448. Aova and viirreu/ distinguished, 297. Meals, Eastern customs at, 296. Mejdel or Magdala, 422. Mtj {fi-fiTi) used when a negative answer is expected, 97, 172. M-f} and ou distinguished, 180 ; also, et fi-f) and ei oh, 240. Miracle, Test of, 49. Nathanael, spelt Nethaneel, an Old Testa- ment name ; while Philip, Andrew, and Nicodemus are of Greek origin, probably an Apostle, 33. Nazareth, a beautifxil description of it, comparing it in situation to a rose, 34 ; distance from Jerusalem, 86. Negative, particle, wrong translation of, 96. Negations, two or more produce one, 829. Nicodemus came to Jesus that night, 62. Nicopolis the same as Emmaus, 432. Nouns plural with singular meaning, 14. Officers, 172. On (^irlj the well, 88. Ovv, meaning of, 200. OuTos and eKcivos distinguished, 179. Other, the, disciple, 374. Palestine, character, extent, elevation, atmosphere, territorial division, 1, 2. Uaph, after Kdfx^avfiv, distinguished from airb, 233. IlapaKATjTos, better translated Advocate than Comforter, 311. lias with aX-fideia, 343. nSo-oj/ appropriately placed (John v. 22) 119. Palm-trees, the, meaning of the Article here, 276. Passover, in the expression that they might eat the Passover (John xviii. 28), refers to the chagigah, not to the Paschal Lamb, 382. Passover cake, 392. Pavement, the, where it was, 396. Pence, three hundred, 271. Penny, inadequate expression of its value, 135. Pericope adulterae accounted for, 186 ; explained, 188. Perception, verbs of, 200. Perfect, when used for the Present, 438. Pharisees used for Sanhedrin, 20. Uolfxvn flock, wrongly translated fold, 232. Pool of Siloam, 107, 214. Present active particle expresses con- tinuous action of faith, 119. Present tense used to denote what is just about to take place, 239 ; only in ap- pearance used for future, 314. Preparation, the, 397. Prophet, not any particular one foretold in Deut. xviii. 15, but a succession, 20. Tlphs, repeated before two substantives, 424. Pronoun avT6s used for emphasis, 371. Purple robe, 392. Kabbi, when first used, 29. Reprove, to, and convince or convict, dis- tinguished, 340. Sabbath, first second-day (SevTepSirpuToy), 109 ; how observed in the Temple, 114. Samaria, extent, chief towns, 3. Samaritans, origin of, 83. Sanhedrin, 208. Sea of Galilee. (See Lake.) 462 INDEX TO THE NOTES, Search the Scriptures {ipeware rhs ypa(phs), whether an Indicative or Imperative, 126. Sepulchres, common form of, Christ's Sepulchre, 420. Signs and wonders (repos, a-Tjfxeiov, &c.), distinguished, 101. Siloam, Pool of, 107,214. Sheep, their habits, numbers in Palestine, 225. Sheep-fold, low door into, 228. Servant {SdvXos, and minister {depdvwv), distinguished, 376. Solomon's Porch, 236. Spikenard, 270. Spirit and truth, in {iu vuevfian koI aK-fideia), 93. Siretpa rj> meaning of, 368. 'SvvT^xGv ^ 'It/o-ous, 368. 2vp€iv and e\Kviiv, distinguished, 284. Sychar, description of, 86. Synagogue, number in Jerusalem, 336 ; White Synagogue in Capernaum, 336 ; put out of the Synagogue, 338. Standeth (eo-TTjKej'), or hath stood, 24. Tabernacles, feast of, 161, 175, 191. Talmudic traditions explanatory of Christ's words, 122. Temple Up6v and uaSs distinguished, 184. Temple, Herod's, description of, 39. Temples, the three, dates of, description of, 39. Tombs in Palestine, 257. Thieves and robbers (KAeTTTTjs and \r)ffr-fis), distinguished, 387. Thorns, the crown of, 389. Tiberias, 440. T€riipriK€v, meaning of perfect tense, 273. Three hundred pence, 271. True saying, how with the article, and how without it, 98. True, saidst true differs from saidst truly 92. Thus '6vTa)s, meaning of, 86. Truth, opposed not to what is false, but to what is imperfect and shadowy, 18. Verses, differently divided, 11, 121, 324. Verse 25, ch. xxi. ; no authority for omis- sion, 456. Various readings caused by the com- mencement of a Church lectionary, 237. Verily, a peculiar use by the Jews, 36 why doubled by St. John, 64. Voice, Word, how distinguished, applied to the Baptist and to Christ, 21. Wash to, \ov(i} and viimiv distinguished, 297. Water-supply of Jerusalem, 106. Way, the, Christ Himself, wrongly trans- lated this way, that way, 315. Well, Jacob's, description of, 81. Wells, mode of drawing water from, 82. Woman, whether the disciples marvelled because Christ talked with a woman or with this particular woman, 95. Wilderness of Judasa, its character, 22. Withered, 111. Word, not pronounced but substantial, common title for Son of God in Chaldee Paraphrast, 10. World, its material and ethical meanings 13. &v, peculiar use of, 219. ( 463 ) INDEX TO THE COMMENTARY. Abraham's seed, meaning of, illustrated by events in his own household, p. 199. Abraham's seed (a-irfpfia) and Abraham's children {reKva) distinguished, 200. Across, meaning of, as applied to the Lake of Galilee, 133. Adricomius gives up the traditionary site of the feeding of 5000, followed by Reland and others, 143. Against, probably a more appropriate rendering of eVl than upon, 258. Amen, St. John always doubles it, 65. Andrew, 280. Annas had great influence, as ex-high- priest Sagan, father-in-law of Caiaphas, or as head of a Jewish party, 373. Anointings of Jesus, how many, &c., 245. Antichrists, said to have been sixty in number, 128. Apostolical Succession, the Church's warrant for, 435. Appearance of Jesus on the Resurrection- Day, 432. Arculf's testimony as to the traditionary site of feeding the 5000, 141. ArimathaBa, Joseph of, 288, 415. Ascension of the Human body into heaven a great Mystery, 314. Avarice and treason to Christ intimately connected, 277. Baptism, Christ's, how different from John's, 24, 73. Bartholomew, same person as Nathanael, 33. Believing a person and believing in a person, distinguished, 289. Bethany, an older reading in John i. 28 than Bethabara, 25. Bethesda, pool of, used for washing not animals but men, 111 ; the clause re- specting the angel troubling the pool not found in certain MSS., but quoted by Tertullian, 112. Bethphage, early tradition respecting its situation, 277. Bethsaida situated on the west side of the Lake, 141. Caiaphas, Joseph, high priest during Christ's Ministry, 373 ; his prophecy, 263. Calendar for the Passover week, 268. Calls with a loud voice to Lazarus, Jesus, why, 260. Cana. our doubt as to its site does not affect the truth of the Gospel narrative, 43 ; distant from Capernaum, twenty- five miles, 103. Christ used as a Proper name not until after His Resurrection, 355. Come, in expression till I come, meanings assigned to, 454. Communion with God through His Church, 227. Crucifixion spoken of as an exaltation, 198 ; St. Mark and St. John's account of it, how reconciled, 399. Day, My, meaning of, as applied to Abra- ham, 207. Day, the, used of Jesus continuing with them, 212. Death, not lawful for the Jews to put any man to, 384. Dedication, feast of, 235. Devil, his personality, a liar, &c., 202. Didymus, meaning of, 250. Door, the, into the sheepfold, Jesus 229. Dread, Jesus not saved from, 282. 'Epf$pifi-fi(raro He groaned, meaning of, 255. 'Efffiey used to express plurality of Per- sons, ev unity of substance (John x. 30) ,< 238. Ephraim, 264. 464 INDEX TO THE COMMENTAKY. Eucharist, institution of, not recorded by St. John, where in his narrative it should come in, 303. Examination of Jesus, two different opinions about it, 373. Faith in His power required by Jesus before healing, 253. Feed, fi6i\€7s and 0707ray distin- guis.hed, 450. Law, the, compared with the kingdom of heaven, 18, 49 ; its ceremonial wash- ings did not cleanse the heart, 68. Life everlasting, meaning of, 79, 120, 151, 204, &c. ; Jesus the source of life through eating His Flesh and drinking His Blood, 153, 156. Life, Jesus lays down His life volun- tarily, 233 ; used by Jesus partly of the body and partly of the soul, 252. Lifted up understood of Crucifixion, 285. Light used virtually of Jesus, and also personally, 12 ; difference between a light and the light, 12, 289. Manna, the, contrasted with the true Bread, 149. Mary, Blessed Virgin, meaning of Christ's words to her, " Woman, what have I to INDEX TO THE COMMENTARY. 465 do with thee ?" 46 ; did not go with the other women to the tomb on the morning of the Resurrection, and why, 424 ; where next seen, 409. Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany, were they the same, 246. Merciful applied to the Father, 368. Miracles, Christ's, their completeness usually shown, 113, 137 ; Jesus wrought the same miracles which it was fore- told God would work, 125 ; why He prayed before His miracles, 136 ; tra- ditionary site of the miracle of feeding the 5000 altered by Adricomius, though exposed by Cornehus ^ Lapide, fol- lowed by Reland and most modern Commentators, 143 ; do not necessa- rily carry conviction with them, 287. Myrrh, large quantity of, 418 ; its nature andieffect on thejlinen, 425. Naked, in what sense Peter was, 446. Nathanael, the same person as Bartho- lomew, 33 ; how an Israelite indeed, 36. Nard Pistic, 271. Nazareth, why objected to, 35 ; though generally included under the term Ga- lilee, once usedjin contradistinction to it, 100. New-birth, description of, 14, 66. Nicodemus, his character, position, mem- ber of the Jewish Sanhedrin, 62 ; the effect of his conversation with Jesus on him, 72, 288 ; only mentioned by St. John, 418. Night, the, used of Jesus' departure from them, 221. Nobleman's son, not the centurion's son, 103. Other, the, disciple, 376, ^Op(B7"68l6)476 VC 40616 M313880