Exercitations upon the Evangelist St. John
Chapters 7 and 8
1. "The first day of the month Tisri was the beginning of the year, for stating
the years, the intermissions of the seventh year, and the jubilees."
Upon this day was the 'blowing of trumpets,' Leviticus 23:24; and persons were sent out
to give notice of the beginning of the year. On this day began the year of the world 3960,
in the middle of which year Christ was crucified.
2. The second day; observed also as holy by the Jews that were in Babylon, that
they might be sure not to miss the beginning of the year.
3. A fast for the murder of Gedaliah: for so they expound those words, (Zech 8:19)
"the fast of the seventh month."
4. This day was the high priest in the apartment to which he then betook himself from
his own house, that he might inure himself by exercise to the rites of the day of
Atonement approaching, and be ready and fitted for the service of that day. "Seven
days before the day of Expiation they sequestered the chief priest from his own house, and
shut him up into an apartment, substituting to him another priest, lest accidentally there
should some sort of uncleanness befall him."
5-8. All those seven days, after he betook himself from his own house to this chamber
until the day of atonement, he sprinkles the blood of the daily sacrifice; offers the
incense; snuffs the lamps; and brings the head and legs of the sacrifice to the altar,
that he may be the more handy in his office upon the Expiation-day. In those seven days
they send him some of the elders of the Beth Din, that they may read before him the
office of that day. And at length those elders deliver him to the elders of the
priesthood, who instruct him in handling the incense; and lead him into the apartment abtines;
where they swear him, that he shall perform the service of that day according to rule, and
not according to the Sadducees.
9. Whereas for the whole seven days they permitted him to eat according to his usual
custom; the evening of this day approaching, they diet him more sparingly, lest a full
stomach should occasion sleep. They spend the whole night waking; and when they find him
nodding or inclining to sleepiness, then, either by words or some noise, they rouse and
waken him.
10. The day of Expiation, a solemn fast. On this day began the year of jubilee, when it
came about, Leviticus 25:9. And indeed this year, which is now under our consideration,
was the twenty-eighth jubilee, reckoning from the seventh year of Joshua, wherein the land
as subdued and rested from war, Joshua 11:23.
11-13. The multitude now gather together towards the feast of Tabernacles, that they
might purify themselves before the feast, and prepare necessaries for it, viz. little
tents, citrons, bundles of palms and willows, &c. But if any were defiled by the touch
of a dead body, such were obliged to betake themselves to Jerusalem, before the feast of
Expiation, that they might undergo seven days' purification before the feast of
Tabernacles.
14. They were generally cut or trimmed on the vespers of the feast for the honour of
it.
15. The first day of the feast of Tabernacles, a feast-day. Thirteen young bullocks
offered, &c. Numbers 29:13, and so on. The preparation of the Chagigah. They lodge
that night in Jerusalem.
16. The second day of the feast. Twelve young bullocks offered. The appearance of all
the males in the court.
17. The third day. Eleven young bullocks.
18. The fourth day. Ten.
19. The fifth day. Nine.
20. The sixth day. Eight.
21. The seventh day. Seven.
22. The eighth day. One young bullock offered.
Upon all these days there was a pouring out of water upon the altar with wine (a thing
not used at any other time); and for the sake of that, great joy, and singing, and
dancing; such as was not all the year besides.
"At the close of the first day of the feast, they went down into the Court of the
Women, and there prepared a great stage." [That is, benches on which the women stood
above, and the men below.] "Golden candlesticks were there" fixed to the walls:
"over these were golden cups, to which were four ladders set; by which four of the
younger priests went up, having bottles in their hands that contained a hundred and twenty
logs, which they emptied into every cup. Of the rags of the garments and girdles of the
priests, they made wicks to light those lamps; and there was not a street throughout all
Jerusalem that did not shine with that light."
"The religious and devout danced before them, having lighted torches in their
hands, and sang songs and doxologies. The Levites with harps, psalteries, cymbals, and
other instruments of music without number, stood upon those fifteen steps by which they
went down from the Court of the Women, according to the fifteen psalms of degrees, and
sang. Two priests also stood in the upper gate, which goes down from the Court of Israel
to the Court of the Women, with two trumpets in their hands. When the cock crew [or
the president gave his signal], the trumpets sounded: when they came to the tenth step,
they sounded again: when they came to the court they sounded: when they came to the
pavement they sounded: and so went on sounding the trumpets till they came to the east
gate of the court. When they came thither, they turned their faces from the east to west,
and said, 'Our fathers in this place, turning their backs upon the Temple, and their faces
towards the east, worshipped the sun; but we turn our faces to God,'" &c.
"The Rabbins have a tradition. Some of them while they were dancing said, 'Blessed
be our youth, for that they have not made our old men ashamed.' These were the
religious, and men of good works. And some said, 'Blessed be our old men, that have
made atonement for our youth.' And both one and the other said, 'Blessed be he who hath
not sinned; and he who hath, let it be forgiven him.'"
As to the reason of this mirth and pleasantness, we shall see more in our notes on
verse 38.
But if we take notice how Christ was received into Jerusalem five days before the
Passover, with those very rites and solemnities that were used at the feast of
Tabernacles, viz. "with branches of palms," &c. chapter 12:13, these words
may seem to relate to that time; and so the word feast might not denote the
individual feast that was now instant, but the kind of feast, or festival-time. As
if he had said, "You would have me go up to this feast, that I may be received by my
disciples with applause; but I do not go up to that kind of festivity; the time appointed
for that affair is not yet come."
Let us look a little into the way of Christ's arguing in this place: to me it seems
thus: "Moses, therefore, gave you circumcision, that you might rightly understand the
nature of the sabbath: for, I. Circumcision was to be observed by the fathers before
Moses, punctually on the eight day. II. Now, therefore, when Moses established the laws
about the sabbath, he did by no means forbid the work of circumcision on the sabbath, if
it happened to be the eighth day. III. For this did Moses give and continue
circumcision among you, that you might learn from hence to judge of the nature of the
sabbath day. And let us, therefore, argue it: If by Moses' institution and allowance it
was lawful, for the advantage of the infant, to circumcise him on the sabbath day, is it
not warrantable, by Moses' law, for the advantage of a grown man, to heal him on the
sabbath day? If it be lawful to wound an infant by circumcision, surely it is equally, if
not much more, lawful to heal a man by a word's speaking."
Jewish authors tell you, that Christ, before their times, had indeed been born in
Bethlehem, but immediately snatched away they knew not whither, and so hid that he could
not be found. We related the whole story before in our notes at Matthew 2:1.
They conceive a twofold manifestation of the Messiah; the first, in Bethlehem; but will
straightway disappear and lie hid. At length he will shew himself; but from what place and
at what time that will be, no one knew. In his first appearance in Bethlehem, he should do
nothing that was memorable; in his second was the hope and expectation of the nation. The
Jews therefore who tell our Saviour here, that "when Christ cometh, no man knoweth
whence he is," whether they knew him to have been born at Bethlehem or no, yet by his
wonderful works they conceive this to have been the second manifestation of himself: and
therefore only doubt whether he should be the Messiah or no, because they knew the place
[Nazareth] from whence he came; having been taught by tradition, that Messiah should come
the second time from a place perfectly unknown to all men.
Men not known by name or face to the priests, yet if they offered wine or oil, were
credited as to the purity and fitness of either, from their place of habitation. There are
numberless instances of men, though perfectly unknown, yet that may be credited, either as
to tithes, or separating the Trumah, or giving their testimony, &c. To the same
sense our Saviour, chapter 5:31, "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not
true"; i.e. in your judicatories it is not of any value with you, where no one is
allowed to be a witness for himself. And in this place, "'He that hath sent me,'
although you know him not, yet 'is he true, or worthy belief,' however I myself may not be
so amongst you."
And into what countries the Jews were scattered, the writings, both sacred and profane,
do frequently instance. So that if the words are to be taken strictly of the Greeks,
they bear this sense with them; "Is he going here and there amongst the Greeks,
so widely and remotely dispersed in the world?"
That distinction between the Hebrews and the Hellenists explains the thing. The Jews of
the first dispersion, viz. into Babylon, Assyria, and the countries adjacent, are called Hebrews,
because they used the Hebrew, or Transeuphratensian language: and how they came to
be dispersed into those countries we all know well enough, viz. that they were led away
captive by the Babylonians and Persians. But those that were scattered amongst the Greeks
used the Greek tongue, and were called Hellenists: and it is not easy to
tell upon what account, or by what accident, they came to be dispersed amongst the Greeks,
or other nations about. Those that lived in Palestine, they were Hebrews indeed as
to their language, but they were not of the dispersion, either to one place or
another, because they dwelt in their own proper country. The Babylonish dispersion was
esteemed by the Jews the more noble, the more famous, and the more holy of any other.
"The land of Babylon is in the same degree of purity with the land of Israel."
"The Jewish offspring in Babylon is more valuable than that among the Greeks,
even purer than that in Judea itself." Whence for a Palestine Jew to go to the
Babylonish dispersion, was to go to a people and country equal, if not superior, to his
own: but to go to the dispersion among the Greeks, was to go into unclean regions,
where the very dust of the land defiled them: it was to go to an inferior race of Jews,
and more impure in their blood; it was to go into nations most heathenized.
I. But what the Jews' opinion was about this matter and this day, we may learn from
themselves:
"On the eighth day it shall be a holy day; for so saith the Scripture, 'For my
love they are my adversaries, but my prayer is for them,' Psalm 109. Thou seest, O God,
that Israel, in the feast of tabernacles, offers before thee seventy bullocks for the
seventy nations. Israel, therefore, say unto thee, O eternal Lord, behold we offer seventy
bullocks for these; it is but reasonable, therefore, that they should love us; but on the
contrary, as it is written, 'For our love they are our adversaries.' The holy blessed God,
therefore, saith to Israel, 'Offer for yourselves on the eighth day.'" A parable.
"This is like a king, who made a feast for seven days, and invited all the men in
that province, for those seven days of the feast: but when those seven days were past, he
saith to his friend, 'We have done what is needful to be done towards these men; let thee
and me return to enjoy together whatever comes to hand, be it but one pound of flesh, or
fish, or herbs.' So the holy blessed God saith to Israel, 'The eighth day shall be a feast
or holy day,'" &c.
"They offer seventy bullocks for the seventy nations, to make atonement for them,
that the rain may fall upon the fields of all the world; for, in the feast of tabernacles,
judgment is made as to the waters": i.e. God determines what rains shall be
for the year following.
II. They did not reckon the eighth day as included within the feast, but a festival day
separately and by itself.
1. The casting of lots. Gloss: "As to the bullocks of the seven days, there
were no lots cast to determine what course of priests should offer them, because they took
it in order, &c.; but on the eighth day they cast lots."
2. A peculiar benediction by itself.
3. A feast by itself. Gloss: "For on this day they did not sit in their
tents." Whence that is not unworthy our observation out of Maimonides; "If
any one, either through ignorance or presumption, have not made a booth for himself on the
first day of the feast [which is holy], let him do it on the next day; nay, at the very
end of the seventh day." Note that, "at the very end of the seventh day";
and yet there was no use of booths on the eighth day.
4. A peculiar sacrifice. Not of six bullocks, which ought to have been, if that
day were to have been joined to the rest of the feast, but one only.
5. A song by itself. Otherwise sung than on other days.
6. The benediction of the day by itself; or as others, the royal blessing;
according to that 1 Kings 8:66, "On the eighth day Solomon sent the people away: and
they blessed the king." But the former most obtains.
"R. Judah saith, They offer one log every of those eight days: and they say to him
that offered it, 'Lift up thy hand': for upon a certain time there was one that offered it
upon his feet" [Gemar. He was a Sadducee. Gloss: The Sadducees do not approve the
offering of water], "and the whole congregation pelted him with their citrons. That
day a horn of the altar was broke."
"Whoever hath not seen the rejoicing that was upon the drawing of this water, hath
never seen any rejoicing at all."
This offering of water, they say, was a tradition given at mount Sinai: and that the
prophet Jonah was inspired by the Holy Ghost upon this offering of water.
I. They bring for it the authority of the prophet Isaiah, the house of drawing;
for it is written, "With joy shall ye draw water," &c. Isaiah 12:3.
II. But they add moreover, that this drawing and offering of water signifies the
pouring out of the Holy Spirit.
III. But still they add further: "Why doth the law command, saying, Offer ye water
on the feast of Tabernacles? The holy blessed God saith, Offer ye waters before me on the
feast of Tabernacles, that the rains of the year may be blessed to you." For
they had an opinion, that God, at that feast, decreed and determined on the rains that
should fall the following year. Hence that in the place before mentioned, "In the
feast of Tabernacles it is determined concerning the waters."
And now let us reflect upon this passage of our Saviour, "He that believeth in me,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." They agree with what he had said
before to the Samaritan woman, chapter 4:14; and both expressions are upon the occasion of
drawing of water.
The Jews acknowledge that the latter Redeemer is to procure water for them, as their
former redeemer Moses had done. But as to the true meaning of this, they are very blind
and ignorant, and might be better taught by the Messiah here, if they had any mind to
learn.
I. Our Saviour calls them to a belief in him from their own boast and glorying in the
law: and therefore I rather think those words, as the Scripture hath said, should
relate to the foregoing clause, "Whosoever believeth in me, as the Scripture hath
spoken about believing, Isaiah 28:16, 'I lay in Sion for a foundation a tried stone: he
that believeth,' &c.: Habakkuk 2:4. 'The just shall live by his faith.'" And the
Jews themselves confess, that six hundred and thirteen precepts of the law may all be
reduced to this, "The just shall live by faith"; and to that of Amos 5:6,
"Seek the Lord, and ye shall live."
II. Let these words, then, of our Saviour be set in opposition to this right and usage
in the feast of Tabernacles of which we have been speaking: "Have you such wonderful
rejoicing at drawing a little water from Siloam? He that believes in me, whole rivers of
living waters shall flow out of his own belly. Do you think the waters mentioned in the
prophets do signify the law? They do indeed denote the Holy Spirit, which the Messiah will
dispense to those that believe in him: and do you expect the Holy Spirit from the law, or
from your rejoicing in the law? The Holy Spirit is of faith, and not of the law,"
Galatians 3:2.
Chapter 8
Expositors, almost with one consent, do note that this story of the woman taken in
adultery, was not in some ancient copies; and whiles I am considering upon what accident
this should be, there are two little stories in Eusebius that come to mind. The one we
have in these words, He [Papias] tells us also another history concerning a
woman accused of many crimes before our Lord, which history indeed the Gospel according to
the Hebrews makes mention of. All that do cite that story do suppose he means this
adulteress. The other story he tells us in his Life of Constantine: he brings in
Constantine writing thus to him: "I think good to signify to your prudence, that you
would take care that fifty volumes of those Scriptures, whose preparation and use you know
so necessary for the church, and which beside may be easily read and carried about, may,
by very skilful penmen, be written out in fair parchment."
So indeed the Latin interpreter: but may we not by the word volumes of those
Scriptures understand the Gospels compacted into one body by way of harmony?
The reason of this conjecture is twofold: partly those Eusebian canons formed into such a
kind of harmony; partly because, cap. 37, he tells us that, having finished his work, he
sent to the emperor threes and fours: which words if they are not to be understood
of the evangelists, sometimes three, sometimes four, (the greater number including the
less,) embodied together by such a harmony, I confess I cannot tell what to make of them.
But be it so that it must not be understood of such a harmony; and grant we further
that the Latin interpreter hits him right, when he supposes Eusebius to have picked out
here and there, according to his pleasure and judgment, some parts of the Holy Scriptures
to be transcribed; surely he would never have omitted the evangelists, the noblest and the
most profitable part of the New Testament.
If therefore he ascribed this story of the adulteress to the trifler Papias, or at
least to the Gospel according to the Hebrews only, without doubt he would never insert it
in copies transcribed by him. Hence possibly might arise the omission of it in some copies
after Eusebius' times. It is in copies before his age, viz. in Ammonius, Tatianus, &c.
1. Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.
[Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.] But whether to the town of Bethany, or to
some booth fixed in that mount, is uncertain. For because of the infinite multitude that
had swarmed together at those feasts, it is probable many of them had made themselves
tents about the city, that they might not be too much straitened within the walls, though
they kept within the bounds still of a sabbath day's journey.
"'And thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents,' Deuteronomy 16:7.
The first night of the feast they were bound to lodge within the city: after that it was
lawful for them to abide without the walls; but it must be within the bounds of a sabbath
day's journey. Whereas therefore it is said, 'Thou shalt go unto thy tents'; this is the
meaning of it. Thou shalt go into thy tents that are without the walls of Jerusalem, but
by no means into thine own house."
It is said, chapter 7:53, that "every man went unto his own house"; upon
which words let that be a comment that we meet with, After the daily evening sacrifice,
the fathers of the Sanhedrim went home.
The eighth day therefore being ended, the history of which we have in chapter 7, the
following night was out of the compass of the feast; so that they had done the dancings of
which we have spoken before. The evangelist, therefore, does not without cause say that
"every man went unto his own house"; for otherwise they must have gone to those
dancings, if the next day had not been the sabbath.
3. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and
when they had set her in the midst.
[A woman taken in adultery.] Our Saviour calls the generation an adulterous
generation, Matthew 12:39: see also James 4:4, which indeed might be well enough
understood in its literal and proper sense.
"From the time that murderers have multiplied amongst us, the beheading of the
heifer hath ceased: and since the increase of adultery, the bitter waters have been out of
use."
"Since the time that adultery so openly prevailed under the second Temple,
the Sanhedrim abrogated that way of trial by the bitter water; grounding it upon what is
written, 'I will not visit your daughters when they shall go a whoring, nor your wives
when they shall commit adultery.'"
The Gemarists say, That Rabban Jochanan Ben Zacchai was the author of this counsel: he
lived at this very time, and was of the Sanhedrim; perhaps present amongst those that set
this adulterous woman before Christ. For there is some reason to suppose that the
"scribes and Pharisees" here mentioned were no other than the fathers of the
Sanhedrim.
5. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest
thou?
[That such should be stoned.] Such. Who? what, all adulteresses? or all
taken in adultery, in the very act? There is a third qualification still: for the
condition of the adulteress is to be considered, whether she was a married woman, or
betrothed only.
God punisheth adultery by death, Leviticus 20:10. But the masters of traditions say,
that "wherever death is simply mentioned in the law," [that is, where the kind
of death is not expressly prescribed,] "there it is to be supposed no other than
strangling." Only they except; "a daughter of an Israelite, if she commit
adultery after she is married, must be strangled; if only betrothed, she must be stoned.
A priest's daughter, if she commit adultery when married, must be stoned; if only
betrothed, she must be burnt."
Hence we may conjecture what the condition of this adulteress was: either she was an
Israelitess not yet married, but betrothed only; or else she was a priest's daughter,
married: rather the former, because they say, "Moses in the law hath commanded us
that such should be stoned." See Deuteronomy 22:21. But as to the latter, there is no
such command given by Moses.
6. This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus
stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them
not.
[Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.] Feigning as
though he heard them not, had of old crept into some books: and it is plain enough
that it did creep in. For when Christ had given proof enough that he took cognizance of
the matter propounded to him by those words, "He that is without sin among you,"
&c., yet did he stoop down again, and write upon the earth.
Many have offered their conjectures why he used this unusual gesture at this time; and,
with the reader's leave, let me also offer mine.
I. The matter in hand was, judging a woman taken in adultery: and therefore our Saviour
in this matter applies himself conformably to the rule made and provided for the trial of
an adulteress by the bitter water, Numbers 5.
II. Among the Jews, this obtained in the trial of a wife suspected: "If any man
shall unlawfully lie with another woman, the bitter water shall not try his wife: for it
is said, If the husband be guiltless from iniquity, then shall the woman bear her
iniquity."
"When the woman hath drunk the bitter water, if she be guilty, her looks turn
pale, her eyes swell up, &c. So they turn her out of the Court of the Women; and first
her belly swells, then her thigh rots, and she dies. The same hour that she dies, the
adulterer also, upon whose account she drank the water, dies too, wherever he is, being
equally seized with a swelling in his belly, rottenness in his thigh, or his pudenda. But
this is done only upon condition that the husband hath been guiltless himself: for if he
have lain with any unlawfully himself, then this water will not try his wife.
"If you follow whoring yourselves, the bitter waters will not try your
wives."
You may see by these passages how directly our Saviour levels at the equity of this
sentence, willing to bring these accusers of the woman to a just trial first. You may
imagine you hear him thus speaking to them: "Ye have brought this adulterous woman to
be adjudged by me: I will therefore govern myself according to the rule of trying such by
the bitter waters. You say and you believe, according to the common opinion of your
nation, that the woman upon whom a jealousy is brought, though she be indeed guilty, yet
if the husband that accuseth her be faulty that way himself, she cannot be affected by
those waters, nor contract any hurt or danger by them. If the divine judgment proceeded in
that method, so will I at this time. Are you that accuse this woman wholly guiltless in
the like kind of sin? Whosoever is so, 'let him cast the first stone,' &c. But if you
yourselves stand chargeable with the same crimes, then your own applauded tradition, the
opinion of your nation, the procedure of divine judgment in the trial of such, may
determine in this case, and acquit me from all blame, if I condemn not this woman, when
her accusers themselves are to be condemned."
III. It was the office of the priest, when he tried a suspected wife, to stoop down and
gather the dust off the floor of the sanctuary; which when he had infused into the water,
he was to give the woman to drink: he was to write also in a book the curses or
adjurations that were to be pronounced upon her, Numbers 5:17, 23. In like manner our
Saviour stoops down; and making the floor itself his book, he writes something in the
dust, doubtless against these accusers whom he was resolved to try, in analogy to those
curses and adjurations written in a book by the priest, against the woman that was to be
tried.
IV. The priest after he had written these curses in a book blots them out with the
bitter water, Numbers 5:23. For the matter transacted was doubtful. They do not make
the suspected woman drink, unless in a doubtful case.
The question is, Whether the woman was guilty or not? If guilty, behold the curses writ
against her: if not guilty, then behold they are blotted out. But Christ was assured, that
those whom he was trying were not innocent: so he does not write and blot out, but writes
and writes again.
V. He imitates the gesture of the priest, if it be true what the Jews report concerning
it, and it is not unlikely, viz. that he first pronounced the curses; then made the woman
drink; and after she had drunk, pronounced the same curses again. So Christ first stoops
down and writes; then makes them as it were drink, in that searching reflection of his,
"He that is without sin among you"; and then stoops down again and writes upon
the earth.
9. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience,
went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was
left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
[Being convicted by their own conscience.] Our Saviour had determined to shame
these wicked men before the common people: and therefore adds that peculiar force and
energy to what he said that they could not stand it out, but with shame and confusion
drawing off and retiring, they confess their guilt before the whole crowd. A thing little
less than miracle.
12. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
[I am the light of the world.] "R. Biba Sangorius saith, Light is the
name of the Messiah. As it is written, Light dwells with him," Daniel
2:22. We have the same passage in Bereshith Rabba; saving that the author of these
words there is R. Abba Serongianus.
They were wont to adorn their Rabbins and doctors with swelling and magnificent titles
of Lights.
"A tradition. His name is not R. Meir, but Nehorai. Why therefore is he called R.
Meir? Because he enlightens the eyes of wise men by the traditions. And yet his
name is not Nehorai neither, but R. Nehemiah. Why then is he called R. Nehorai? Because
he enlightens the eyes of wise men by the traditions." O blessed luminaries
without light! Begone, ye shades of night! for "the Sun of righteousness" hath
now displayed himself.
13. The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy
record is not true.
[Thou bearest record of thyself.] This and the following passages uttered in
dispute, whether Christ was the light or no, bring to mind what was wont to be transacted
amongst them in their witnessing about the appearance of the new moon. We have it
in Rosh Hashanah.
I. It was to be attested before the Sanhedrim by two persons that they saw the
new moon. So Christ mentions two witnesses attesting him to be the light, viz. the
Father and himself, verse 18.
II. They did not allow the testimony about the new moon, unless from persons known to
the Sanhedrim: or if they were unknown, there were those sent along with them from the
magistracy of that city where they lived, that should attest their veracity. Compare
verses 18, 19: "I bear witness of myself, and ye know me not. My Father also bears
witness of me; but ye have not known my Father."
III. One witness is not to be believed in his own cause. So the Pharisees, verse
13, "Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true."
IV. The father and the son, or any sort of relatives, are fit and credible witnesses:
verse 18; "I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth
witness of me."
20. These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man
laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.
[In the treasury.] In the treasury, that is, in the Court of the Women;
where he had transacted the matter about the woman taken in adultery. It was called the
treasury upon the account of thirteen corban chests placed there. Of which we have
spoken in another tract.
25. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the
same that I said unto you from the beginning.
[The same that I said unto you from the beginning.] I. Amongst the several
renderings of this place, this seems the most proper; The same that I said unto you
from the beginning. So Genesis 43:18: The money returned.....at the first time":
and verse 20, We came indeed down at the first time to buy food.
The words thus rendered may refer to that full and open profession which our Saviour
made of himself before the Sanhedrim, that he was 'the Son of God,' or 'the Messiah,'
chapter 5: "Do you ask me who I am? I am the same that I told you from the
beginning, when I was summoned to answer before the Sanhedrim."
II. However, I cannot but a little call to mind the common forms of speech used so much
in the Jewish schools, the beginning and the end. Where, by the beginning
they meant any thing that was chiefly and primarily to be offered and taken notice of: by the
end what was secondary, or of less weight.
The question is, whether it were lawful for the priests to sleep in their holy
vestments. The end or the secondary question was, whether it was lawful for them to
sleep in them. But the beginning, or the thing chiefly and primarily to be
discussed, was, whether it was lawful for them to have them on at all but in divine
service. Hence the Gemarists, The tradition is, that they must not sleep in them, if
you will explain the end [or secondary question]: but let them put them off and fold
them up, and lay them under their heads [when they sleep]: this, 'the beginning'
[or chief matter in hand] determines: that is, that it is not lawful for the priest
so much as to wear his holy garments but when he is in holy service.
"It is a tradition of the Rabbins. If one, in walking near any city, see lights in
it, if the greatest number in that city be Cuthites, let him not bless them; if they be
most Israelites, let him bless it. They teach 'the beginning,' when they say, Most
Cuthites. They teach 'the end,' when they say, Most Israelites." For the
chief and principal scruple was, whether they should pronounce a blessing upon those
lights when there might be most Cuthites in the city that lighted them up: the lesser
scruple was, whether he should bless them if there were most Israelites in that city.
"There is a dispute upon that precept, Leviticus 17:13, If any one kill a beast or
bird upon a holy day, the Shammean school saith, Let him dig with an instrument and cover
the blood. The school of Hillel saith, Let him not kill at all, if he have not dust ready
by him to cover the blood."
The end, or the secondary question, is about covering the blood if a beast
should be killed. The beginning, or the principal question, is about killing a
beast or a fowl at all upon a holy day, merely for the labour of scraping up dust, if
there be none at hand.
There are numberless instances of this kind: and if our Saviour had any respect to this
form or mode of speaking, we may suppose what he said was to this purpose: "You ask
who I am? The beginning. That is the chief thing to be inquired into, which I now
say, viz. That I am the light of the world, the Messiah, the Son of God, &c. But what
works I do, what doctrines I teach, and by what authority, this is an inquiry of the second
place, in comparison to that first and chief question, who I am."
26. I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and
I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
[But he that sent me is true.] "I have many things to say and judge of you;
but he that sent me hath of old said and judged of you; 'and he is true,'
and they are true things which he hath said of you." Of this kind are those passages,
Isaiah 11:10, "Make the heart of this people fat," &c.; and 29:10, "The
Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep," &c.: and from such kind
of predictions it is, that Christ concludes this concerning them, verse 21, "Ye shall
die in your sins."
33. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man:
how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
[We be Abraham's seed, &c.] They were wont to glory of being Abraham's
seed beyond all measure. Take one instance of a thousand:
"It is storied of R. Jochanan Ben Matthias, that he said to his son, 'Go out and
hire us some labourers.' He went out and hired them for their victuals. When he came home
to his father, his father said to him, 'My son, though thou shouldst make feasts for them,
as gaudy as the feasts of Solomon, thou wouldst not do enough for them, because they are
the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.'" And yet they confess "the merits
of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ceased from the days of Hosea the
prophet, as saith Rabh; or as Samuel, from the days of Hazael."
But how came they to join this, "We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage
to any man?" Is it impossible that one of Abraham's seed should be in bondage? The
sense of these two clauses must be distinguished: "We are of the seed of Abraham, who
are very fond and tenacious of our liberty; and as far as concerns ourselves, we never
were in bondage to any man." The whole nation was infinitely averse to all servitude,
neither was it by any means lawful for an Israelite to sell himself into bondage, unless
upon the extremest necessity.
"It is not lawful for an Israelite to sell himself for that end merely, that he
might treasure up the money, or might trade with it, or buy vessels, or pay a creditor;
but barely if he want food and sustenance. Nor may he sell himself, unless when nothing in
the world is left, not so much as his clothes, then let him sell himself. And he whom the
Sanhedrim sells, or sells himself, must not be sold openly, nor in the public way,
as other slaves are sold, but privately."
37. I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath
no place in you.
[But ye seek to kill me.] From this whole period it is manifest that the whole
tendency of our Saviour's discourse is to shew the Jews that they are the seed of that
serpent that was to bruise the heel of the Messiah: else what could that mean, verse 44,
"Ye are of your father the devil," but this, viz. "Ye are the seed of the
serpent?"
43. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
[Because ye cannot hear my word.] You may here distinguish between the manner
of speaking, or phrases used in speech and the matter or thing spoken.
Isaiah 11:4; "He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth." But they
could not bear the smart of his rod; they would not therefore understand the phraseology
or way of speech he used.
44. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
He was a murderer from the beginning, 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.
[A murderer from the beginning.] For so the Hebrew idiom would render he was
a murderer from the days of the creation. And so Christ, in saying this, speaks
according to the vulgar opinion, as if Adam fell the very first day of his creation.
[He abode not in the truth.] I. He abode not in the truth: i.e. he did
not continue true, but found out the way of lying.
II. He did not persist in the will of God which he had revealed concerning man. For the
revealed will of God is called truth; especially his will revealed in the gospel.
Now when God had pleased to make known his good will towards the first man, partly fixing
him in so honourable and happy a station, partly commanding the angels that they should
minister to him for his good, Hebrews 1:14; the devil did not abide in this truth, nor
persisted in this will and command of God. For he, envying the honour and happiness of
man, took this command of God concerning the angels' ministering to him, in so much scorn
and contempt, that, swelling with most envenomed malice against Adam, and infinite pride
against God, he chose rather to dethrone himself from his own glory and felicity, than he
would bear Adam's continuance in so noble a station, or minister any way to the happiness
of it. An angel was incapable of sinning either more or less than by pride or malice.
48. Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a
Samaritan, and hast a devil?
[Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil.] But what, I pray you, hath a
Samaritan to do with the court of your Temple? For this they say to Christ whiles he
was yet standing in the Treasury, or in the Court of the Women, verse 20. If you would
admit a Samaritan into the court of the Gentiles, where the Gentiles themselves
were allowed to come, it were much, and is indeed very questionable; but who is it would
bear such a one standing in the Treasury? Which very thing shews how much this was spoken
in rancour and mere malice, they themselves not believing, nay, perfectly knowing, that he
was no Samaritan at that time when they called him so. And it is observable, that
our Saviour made no return upon that senseless reproach of theirs, because he did not
think it worth the answering: he only replies upon them, "that he hath not a
devil," that is, that he was not mad.
57. Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou
seen Abraham?
[Thou art not yet fifty years old.] Apply these words to the time of
superannuating the Levites, Numbers 4, and we shall find no need of those knots and
difficulties wherewith some have puzzled themselves. Thou art not yet fifty years old,
that is, Thou art not yet come to the common years of superannuation: and dost thou talk
that "thou hast seen Abraham?"
58. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
[Before Abraham was, I am.] They pervert the question. Christ had said, 'Abraham
saw my day': on the contrary, they ask him, 'Hast thou seen Abraham?'
This phrase, I am, sometimes is rendered from the single word I. So the
Greek interpreters in the Books of Judges and Ruth: for you seldom or never meet with it
elsewhere.
Judges 6:18; "I will tarry or sit here." Ibid. chapter 11:27; Wherefore
I have not sinned against thee. Ibid. verse 35; For I have opened my mouth.
Ibid. verse 37; I and my fellows. Ruth 4:4; I will redeem it.
As to this form of speech, let those that are better skilled in the Greek tongue be the
judges.
59. Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of
the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
[Then took they up stones, &c.] Would you also murder another prophet in the
very court of the Temple, O ye murderous generation? Remember but Zacharias, and surely
that might suffice. But whence could they get stones in the court of the Temple? Let the
answer be made from something parallel:
"It is storied of Abba Chalpatha, who, going to Rabban Gamaliel at Tiberias, found
him sitting at the table of Jochanan the moneychanger, with the Book of Job in his hand
Targumized [that is, rendered into the Chaldee tongue], and reading in it. Saith he to
him, 'I remember your grandfather Rabban Gamaliel, how he stood upon Gab in the mountain
of the Temple, and they brought unto him the Book of Job Targumized. He calls to the
architect, saying, Ram him under the foundation.' R. Jose saith, They whelmed him
under a heap of clay. Is there any clay in the mountain of the Temple?" Gloss:
"There was mortar which they used in building."
It may be noted, by the by, that they were building in the Temple in the days of the
first Gamaliel, who sat president in the Sanhedrim about the latter days of our Saviour;
which confirms what I already have noted in chapter 2:20; and further teaches us whence
they might have stones in readiness; for they were now building, and they might have
pieces of stone enough there.
