" the Light of the world." (John viii. 14.) Bucer says, u This chapter is a sermon in act and deed, on the words, ' I am the Light of the world.' "
In the miracle which occupies the whole of this chapter, the following special circumstances deserve notice : (1) It is only- related by St. John. (2) Like each of the few miracles in St. John, it is described with great minuteness and particularity. (3) It is one of the four miracles wrought in Judasa, or near Jerusalem, mentioned in St. John. He records eight great miracles altogether: four in Galilee,— turning the water into wine, healing the nobleman's son, feeding the multitude, and walking on the water, (chap, ii., iv., and vi. ;) and four in Judaea, — purifying the temple, healing the impotent man, re- storing sight to the blind, and raising Lazarus. (Chap, ii., v., vi., and ix.) (4) It is one of those miracles which the Jews were especially taught to expect in Messiah's time : " In that day shall the eyes of the blind see out of obscurity." ( Isai. xxix. 18.) (5) It is one of those signs of Messiah having come, to which Jesus particularly directed John the Baptist's attention: "The blind receive their sight." (Matt. xi. 5.) (6) It was a miracle worked in so public a place, and on a man so well known, that it was impossible for the Jerusalem Jews to deny it.
It is hardly necessary, perhaps, to bid any well-instructed Christian observe the singularly instructive and typical char- acter of each of the eight miracles which John was inspired to record. Each was a vivid picture of spiritual things.
Hengstenberg observes that three of the four great miracles wrought by Christ in Judcea exactly represent the three classes of works referred to in Matt. xi. 5, " The lame walk, the blind see, the dead are raised up." (John v. ; ix. ; xi.)
\_He saw a man... blind from 7iis birth.'] The man was probably sitting near the temple gateway, to attract the notice of wor- shippers going to and fro, like the man described in Acts. (Acts iii. 2.) From blindness he would naturally be dependent on charity. The Jewish law specifies the blind as peculiarly de- serving of attention. (Levit. xix. 14; Deut. xxvii. 18.) To give sight to one who had not lost the use of his eyes by dis- ease or accident, but had never seen at all, was of course a mighty miracle.
Let it be noted, that our Lord "saw" the blind man, and healed him of His own free will, unasked, and unexpectedly. As in the case of the impotent man, (John v. 6,) He did not wait to be entreated, but was Himself the first to move. Let it however be noted at the same time, that if the man had not been by the wayside, our Lord would not have seen him.
Chrysostom observes, that when the Jews " would not re- ceive our Lord's sayings, and tried to kill Him, He went out of the temple, and healed the blind, mitigating their rage by His