firms tlie vitw already maintained (Jolm ii. 23), that our Lord did many otlier miracles at Jerusalem at the first passover, when He was there, beside casting the buyers and sellers out of the temple, It is probable that the miracles recorded in the four Gospels are only a selection out of the number that Christ worked.
Here, as elsewhere, we see the special use of miracles. Thev served to arrest men's attention, and gave the impression that He who wrought them deserved a hearing. The Galileans were ready to receive Christ respectfully, because they had seen His miracles.
{They also went.... feast.] This sentence is a useful proof of the universality of the Jewish custom of attending the great feasts at Jerusalem, and especially the feast of the Passover. Even those who lived furthest off from Jerusalem, in Galilee, made a point of going to the Passover It serves to show the publicity of our Lord's ministry, both in life and death. When He was crucified at the Passover, the event happened in the presence of myi iads of witnesses from every part of the world. The overruling pro- vidence of God ordered things so that the facts of Christ's life and death could never be denied. " This thing was not done in a corner." (Acts xxv. 26.)
4-G. — [Jestis came again.... Can a.] The circumstance of our Lord going twice to Cana may be accounted for by remembering the fact that one of His disciples, " Nathanael," belonged to Cana, and that His mother, Mary, in all probability had relatives there. (See note on John iil 1.)
[A certain nobleman.] The Greek word rendered " nobleman " is only found here in this sense, as a substantive, in the New Testament. The marginal reading, " courtier or ruler," hardly makes it more clear. Some have conjectured that the nobleman must have been some one attached to Herod's court, and is therefore called " a royal person," which is the literal meaning of the word. Some, as Luther, Cliemnitins, Lightfoot, and Pearce, have also conjectured that " Chuza, Herod's steward," whose wife Joanna became one of our Lord's disciples, and "ministered unto Him," (Luke viii. 3,) must have been this nobleman. This is no doubt possible, and would be an interesting fact if it could be proved. But there is no authority for it, except conjecture. Lightfoot adds a conjecture, that if not Chuza it might have been Manaen. (Acts xiii. 1.)
The rarity of a nobleman and a person connected with a royal court seeking Christ under any circumstances, is observed by Glassins and others. It shows us that Christ will hive trophies of the power of His grace out of every rank, clas.s, and condition.