[5691] Pes. 115 b.
[5692] Ps. cxiii to cxviii.
[5693] St. John xiii. 21.
[5694] St. John xiii. 22.
[5695] The reading adopted in the R.V. of St. John xiii. 24 represents the better accredited text, though it involves some difficulties.
[5696] On the circumstance that John does not name himself in ver. 23, Bengel beautifully remarks: Optabilius est, amari ab Jesu, quam nomine proprio celebrari.'
[5697] The statement is in regard to Hillel, while the Temple stood.
[5698] Mark the definite article - not a sop.'
[5699] Jer.Chall. 57 b.
[5700] St. John xiii. 28.
[5701] St. Matt. xxvi. 24; St. Mark xiv. 21.
[5702] St. John xiii. 30 should be rendered,'having taken,' not received.'
[5703] To a Jew it might seem that with the sop,' containing as it did a piece of the Paschal Lamb, the chief part in the Paschal Supper was over.
[5704] The Mishnah expressly allows the procuring even on the Sabbath of that which is required for the Passover, and the Law of the Sabbath-rest was much more strict than that of feast-days. See this in Appendix XVII., p. 783.
[5705] St. John.
[5706] The first in ver. 32 of our T.R. seems spurious, though it indicates the logical nexus of facts.
[5707] Probably the word reward' is wrongly chosen, for I look on Christ's exaltation after the victory of His Obedience as rather the necessary sequence than the reward of His Work.
[5708] St. John xiii. 31-35.
[5709] Could there possibly be a hiatus in our present Gospel? There is not the least external evidence to that effect, and yet the impression deepens on consideration. I have ventured to throw out some hints on this subject in The Temple and its Services,' Appendix at close.
[5710] The most important of these, perhaps, is the rendering of covenant' for testament.' In St. Matthew the word new' before covenant,' should be left out; this also in St. Mark, as well as the word eat' after take.'
[5711] St. Matt. xxvi. 26; St. Mark xiv. 22.
[5712] 1 Cor. x. 10.
[5713] Though, of course, most widely differing from what is an attempt to trace an analogy between the Ritual of the Romish Mass and the Paschal Liturgy of the Jews, the article on it by the learned Professor Bickell, of Innsbruck, possesses a curious interest. See Zeitsch. fur Kathol. Theol. for 1880, pp. 90-112.
[5714] I would here refer to the admirable critical notes on 1 Cor. x. and xi. by Professor Evans in The Speaker's Commentary.'
[5715] The words area hitherto unprinted utterance on this subject by the late Professor J. Duncan, of Edinburgh. __________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER XI. THE LAST DISCOURSES OF CHRIST - THE PRAYER OF CONSECRATION. [5716]
(St. John xiv.; xv.; xvi.; xvii.)
THE new Institution of the Lord's Supper did not finally close what passed at that Paschal Table. According to the Jewish Ritual, the Cup is filled a fourth time, and the remaining part of the Hallel [5717] repeated. Then follow, besides Ps. cxxxvi., a number of prayers and hymns, of which the comparatively late origin is not doubtful. The same remark applies even more strongly to what follows after the fourth Cup. But, so far as we can judge, the Institution of the Holy Supper was followed by the Discourse recorded in St. John xiv. Then the concluding Psalms of the Hallel were sung, [5718] after which the Master left the Upper Chamber.' The Discourse of Christ recorded in St. John xvi., and His prayer, [5719] were certainly uttered after they had risen from the Supper, and before they crossed the brook Kidron. [5720] In all probability they were, however, spoken before the Savior left the house. We can scarcely imagine such a Discourse, and still less such a Prayer, to have been uttered while traversing the narrow streets of Jerusalem on the way to Kidron.
1. In any case there cannot be doubt, that the first Discourse [5721] was spoken while still at the Supper-Table. It connects itself closely with that statement which had caused them so much sorrow and perplexity, that, whither He was going, they could not come. [5722] If so, the Discourse itself may be arranged under these four particulars: explanatory and corrective; [5723] explanatory and teaching; [5724] hortatory and promissory; [5725] promissory and consolatory. [5726] Thus there is constantand connected progress, the two great elements in the Discourse being: teaching and comfort.