verse shows that the miracle had ceased when John wrote. He "used to go down,"— ''used to trouble the waters," &c. Ter- tullian declares expressly that the miracle ceased from the timo that the Jews rejected Christ.
5. — [^Infirmity thirty and eight years.'] This means the length of time during which the sick man had been ilL How old he was we do not know.
Baxter remarks, " How great a mercy is it to live eight and thirty years under God's wholesome discipline ! 0 my Grod, I thank Thee for the hke disciphne of eight and fifty years. How safe a life is this compared to one spent in full prosperity and pleasure !"
Those who see typical and abstruse meanings in all the least details of the narratives of Scriptures, observe that thirty-eight years was the exact time of Israel's wanderings in the wilderness. They see in the sick man, — helpless and hopeless till Christ came, — a type of the Jewish Church. The pool of Bethesda is Old Testament religion. The smaU benefit it conferred, — viz. : only healing one at a time, represents the narrow and limited benefit which Judaism conferred on mankind. The merciful interference of Christ on the sick man's behalf, represents the bringing in of the Gospel for all the world. These are pious thoughts, but it may well be doubted whether there is any warrant for them.
The notions that the pool of Bethesda was a type of baptism, and the five porches typical of the five books of the law, or the five wounds of Christ, appear to me mere ingenious inventions of man, without any solid foundation. Yet Chrysostom, Augus- tine, Theophylact, Euthymius, Burgon, Wordsworth, ar:d many others, maintain them. Those who wish to see a fuU reply to the theory, that the miracle at the pool of Bethesda is a typical proof of the doctrine of baptismal regeneration, will find it in Gomarus, the Dutch divine. He takes up Bellarmine's argument on th« subject, and anwers him completely.
6. — [When Jesus saw. ..knew.. Jong time^^ We need not doubt that our Lord knew this man's history by that divine knowledge which, as God, He possesses of all things in heaven and earth. To suppose that He ascertained by inquiry the state of his case before speaking to him, is a weak, meagre, and frigid interpre- tation. As a practical truth, it is a most comfortable doctrine that Jesus knows every sickness and disease, and all its weary history. Nothing is hid from Him.
[He said unto him.'] This is an example of our Lord being the first to speak and begin conversation, as He did with the woman of Samaria. (John iv, 7.) Unasked, unsolicited, unexpectedly, He mercifully addressed the sick man. No doubt He always
JOHN CHAP, y, 273
begins in man's heart .before man begins with Him. But He does all things, as a Sovereign, according to His own will; and it is not always that we see Him taking the first step so entirely of Himself, as we do here.
[Wilt thou be made whole?] The English language here fails to give the fuU force of the Greek. It means, "Hast thou a will? Dost tho.1 wish? Dost thou desire to be made whole?" The question was perhaps meant to awaken desire and expecta- tion in the man, aad to prepare him in some sense for the bless- ing about to be bestowed on him.
Is not this, to take a spiritual view, the very language that Christ is continually addressing to every man and woman who hears His Gospel ? He sees us in a wretched, miserable, sin-sick condition. The one thing He asks us is, " Hast thou any wish to be saved ? "
7. — [The impotent man ansiuered^ him, Sir.] The word rendered "Sir" is the same that is more commonly rendered "Lord." It is the same that is rendered " Sir " aJl through the fourth chap- ter, in the history of the Samaritan woman.
[/ have no man... .put me into the pool.] This is no doubt mentioned as an intentional proof of the heartlessness and un- kindness of human nature. Think of a poor invalid waiting for years by the water, and having not a single friend to help him! The longer we live on earth the more we shall find that it is a selfish world, and that the sick and afflicted have few real friends in time of need. " The poor is hated even of his neighbour." (Prov. xiv. 20.) Christ is the only unfailing friend of the friend- less and helper of the helpless.
B. — [Rise, taJce up thy bed and walk.] Here, as in other similar cases, it is evident that miraculous healing power went forth with the words of our Lord. Thus, " Stretch forth thy hand " (Mark iii. 5) ; " Go show yourselves to the priests " (Luke xvii. 14). Com- mands like these tested the faith and obedience of those to whom they were given. How could they possibly do the things commanded, if impotent, like the man before us ? Where the use of doing them, if stili covered with leprosy, like the ten lepers? But it was precisely in the act of obedience that the blessing came. The whole power is Christ's. But He loves to make us exert ourselves, and show our obedience and faith.
- Augustine finds in the command, " Take up thy bed," au exhortation to the love of our nei^-hbours, because we are to bear one another's burdens; and in the command, " walk," an exhor- tatio.i to love God ! Such allegorizing appears to me very un- warrantable, and calculated to bring the Bible into contempt^ as a book that can be made to mean anything. 12*^