7 Jesus says to them, Fill the water-vessels with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
Then Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, which bit the people; and much people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, in that we have spoken against Jehovah, and against thee: pray to Jehovah that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. And Jehovah said to Moses, Make thee a fiery [serpent], and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, and looketh upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass, if a serpent had bitten any man, and he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.
And ye shall go round the city, all the men of war, encompassing the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall carry before the ark seven blast-trumpets; and on the seventh day ye shall go round the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the blast-horn, that all the people on hearing the sound of the trumpet shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall flat, and the people shall go up, each one straight before him.
And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid has not anything at all in the house but a pot of oil. And he said, Go, borrow for thyself vessels abroad from all thy neighbours, empty vessels; let it not be few; and go in, and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels, and set aside what is full. And she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons: they brought [the vessels] to her, and she poured out. And it came to pass when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said to her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.
And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. And Naaman was wroth, and went away and said, Behold, I thought, He will certainly come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper. Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them and be clean? And he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants drew near, and spoke to him and said, My father, [if] the prophet had bidden thee [do some] great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he says to thee, Wash and be clean? Then he went down, and plunged himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
and says to them, Go into the village which is over against you, and immediately on entering into it ye will find a colt tied, upon which no [child] of man has ever sat: loose it and lead it [here]. And if any one say to you, Why do ye this? say, The Lord has need of it; and straightway he sends it hither. And they departed, and found a colt bound to the door without at the crossway, and they loose him. And some of those who stood there said to them, What are ye doing, loosing the colt? And they said to them as Jesus had commanded. And they let them [do it].
And the first day of unleavened bread, when they slew the passover, his disciples say to him, Where wilt thou that we go and prepare, that thou mayest eat the passover? And he sends two of his disciples, and says to them, Go into the city, and a man shall meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him. And wheresoever he enters, say to the master of the house, The Teacher says, Where is my guest-chamber where I may eat the passover with my disciples? and *he* will shew you a large upper room furnished ready. There make ready for us. And his disciples went away and came into the city, and found as he had said to them; and they made ready the passover. And when evening was come, he comes with the twelve.
But [the] angel of [the] Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Rise up and go southward on the way which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza: the same is desert. And he rose up and went. And lo, an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a man in power under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, who had come to worship at Jerusalem, was returning and sitting in his chariot: and he was reading the prophet Esaias. And the Spirit said to Philip, Approach and join this chariot. And Philip, running up, heard him reading the prophet Esaias, and said, Dost thou then know what thou art reading of? And he said, How should I then be able unless some one guide me? And he begged Philip to come up and sit with him. And the passage of the scripture which he read was this: He was led as a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in presence of him that shears him, thus he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation his judgment has been taken away, and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answering Philip said, I pray thee, concerning whom does the prophet say this? of himself or of some other? And Philip, opening his mouth and beginning from that scripture, announced the glad tidings of Jesus to him. And as they went along the way, they came upon a certain water, and the eunuch says, Behold water; what hinders my being baptised? And he commanded the chariot to stop. And they went down both to the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him. But when they came up out of the water [the] Spirit of [the] Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no longer, for he went on his way rejoicing. And Philip was found at Azotus, and passing through he announced the glad tidings to all the cities till he came to Caesarea.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on John 2
Commentary on John 2 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 2
Joh 2:1-12. First Miracle, Water Made Wine—Brief Visit to Capernaum.
1. third day—He would take two days to reach Galilee, and this was the third.
mother there—it being probably some relative's marriage. John never names her [Bengel].
3. no wine—evidently expecting some display of His glory, and hinting that now was His time.
4, 5. Woman—no term of disrespect in the language of that day (Joh 19:26).
what … to do with thee—that is, "In my Father's business I have to do with Him only." It was a gentle rebuke for officious interference, entering a region from which all creatures were excluded (compare Ac 4:19, 20).
mine hour, &c.—hinting that He would do something, but at His own time; and so she understood it (Joh 2:5).
6. firkins—about seven and a half gallons in Jewish, or nine in Attic measure; each of these huge water jars, therefore, holding some twenty or more gallons, for washings at such feasts (Mr 7:4).
7, 8. Fill … draw … bear—directing all, but Himself touching nothing, to prevent all appearance of collusion.
9, 10. well drunk—"drunk abundantly" (as So 5:1), speaking of the general practice.
10. the good wine … until now—thus testifying, while ignorant of the source of supply, not only that it was real wine, but better than any at the feast.
11. manifested forth his glory—Nothing in the least like this is said of the miracles of prophet or apostle, nor could without manifest blasphemy be said of any mere creature. Observe, (1) At a marriage Christ made His first public appearance in any company, and at a marriage He wrought His first miracle—the noblest sanction that could be given to that God-given institution. (2) As the miracle did not make bad good, but good better, so Christianity only redeems, sanctifies, and ennobles the beneficent but abused institution of marriage; and Christ's whole work only turns the water of earth into the wine of heaven. Thus "this beginning of miracles" exhibited the character and "manifested forth the glory" of His entire Mission. (3) As Christ countenanced our seasons of festivity, so also that greater fulness which befits such; so far was He from encouraging that asceticism which has since been so often put for all religion. (4) The character and authority ascribed by Romanists to the Virgin is directly in the teeth of this and other scriptures.
12. Capernaum—on the Sea of Galilee. (See on Mt 9:1).
his mother and his brethren—(See on Lu 2:51, and Mt 13:54-56).
Joh 2:13-25. Christ's First Passover—First Cleansing of the Temple.
14-17. in the temple—not the temple itself, as Joh 2:19-21, but the temple-court.
sold oxen, &c.—for the convenience of those who had to offer them in sacrifice.
changers of money—of Roman into Jewish money, in which the temple dues (see on Mt 17:24) had to be paid.
15. small cords—likely some of the rushes spread for bedding, and when twisted used to tie up the cattle there collected. "Not by this slender whip but by divine majesty was the ejection accomplished, the whip being but a sign of the scourge of divine anger" [Grotius].
poured out … overthrew—thus expressing the mingled indignation and authority of the impulse.
16. my Father's house—How close the resemblance of these remarkable words to Lu 2:49; the same consciousness of intrinsic relation to the temple—as the seat of His Father's most august worship, and so the symbol of all that is due to Him on earth—dictating both speeches. Only, when but a youth, with no authority, He was simply "a Son in His own house"; now He was "a Son over His own house" (Heb 3:6), the proper Representative, and in flesh "the Heir," of his Father's rights.
house of merchandise—There was nothing wrong in the merchandise; but to bring it, for their own and others' convenience, into that most sacred place, was a high-handed profanation which the eye of Jesus could not endure.
17. eaten me up—a glorious feature in the predicted character of the suffering Messiah (Ps 69:9), and rising high even in some not worthy to loose the latchet of His shoes. (Ex 32:19, &c.).
18-22. What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?—Though the act and the words of Christ, taken together, were sign enough, they were unconvinced: yet they were awed, and though at His very next appearance at Jerusalem they "sought to kill Him" for speaking of "His Father" just as He did now (Joh 5:18), they, at this early stage, only ask a sign.
19. Destroy this temple, &c.—(See on Mr 14:58, 59).
20. Forty and six years—From the eighteenth year of Herod till then was just forty-six years [Josephus, Antiquities, 15.11.1].
21. temple of his body—in which was enshrined the glory of the eternal Word. (See on Joh 1:14). By its resurrection the true Temple of God upon earth was reared up, of which the stone one was but a shadow; so that the allusion is not quite exclusively to Himself, but takes in that Temple of which He is the foundation, and all believers are the "lively stones." (1Pe 2:4, 5).
22. believed the scripture—on this subject; that is, what was meant, which was hid from them till then. Mark (1) The act by which Christ signalized His first public appearance in the Temple. Taking "His fan in His hand, He purges His floor," not thoroughly indeed, but enough to foreshadow His last act towards that faithless people—to sweep them out of God's house. (2) The sign of His authority to do this is the announcement, at this first outset of His ministry, of that coming death by their hands, and resurrection by His own, which were to pave the way for their judicial ejection.
23-25. in the feast day—the foregoing things occurring probably before the feast began.
many believed—superficially, struck merely by "the miracles He did." Of these we have no record.
24. did not commit—"entrust," or let Himself down familiarly to them, as to His genuine disciples.
25. knew what was in man—It is impossible for language more clearly to assert of Christ what in Jer 17:9, 10, and elsewhere, is denied of all mere creatures.