Christ's Church, Christ's ministers, and Christ's ordinan- ces. It is quite another thing to come to Christ Himself. Happy is he who not only knows these things, but acts upon them !
Notes. John VII. 37—39.
87. — [In. ..last day... great day... feast. ] There seems to be an in- terval of three days between this verse and the preceding one. At any rate it is certain that our Lord went to the temple and taught "about the midst of the feast." (v. 14.) There seems no break from that point, but a continuous narrative of teach- ing and argument up to this verse. There is therefore no ac- count of what our Lord did duriug the three latter days of the feast. We can only conjecture that He taught on uninter- rupted, and that a restraint was put by divine interposition on His enemies, so that they dared not interfere with Him.
Whether this " last day of the feast" means the eighth day or the seventh, is a question not decided.
(1) Some, as Bengel, and others, think it must be the seventh day, because in the account of the feast of tabernacles given by Moses, there is no special mention of anything to be done on the eighth day ; (Levit. xxiv. 33 — 43 ;) while on each of the seven days of the feast there were special sacrifices appointed, a spe- cial reading of the law once every seven years, and also, accord- ing to the Jewish writers, a solemn drawing of water from the pool of Siloam, to be poured on the altar in the temple.
(2) Others, as Lightfoot, Gill, Alford, Stier, Wordsworth, and Burgon, think it must be the eighth day, because in reality the feast could hardly be said to be finished till the end of the eighth day; and even in the account of the feast in Leviticus, it is said that the eighth day is to be "a holy convocation " and a " sab- bath." (Lev. xxiii. 36 and 39.)
The point is of no practical importance ; but of the two opin- ions I incline to prefer the second one. The words seem to me to indicate that all the ceremonial of the feast was over, the last offerings had been made, and the people were on the point of dispersing to their respective homes, when our Lord seized the opportunity, and made the grand proclamation which immedi- ately follows. — It was a peculiarly typical occasion. The last feast of the year was concluding, and before it concluded our Lord proclaimed publicly the great truth which was the com- mencement of a new dispensation, and Himself as the end of all sacrifices and ceremonies.
The objection that no drawing and pouring of water took place on the eighth day, appears to me of no weight. That our Lord referred to it, is highly probable. But I think He re- ferred to it as a thing which the Jews had seen seven days run«