interests are wholly diverse ; why do you mingle them ?—otmw ἥκει ἡ ὥρα pov, not as Bengel, ‘‘discedendi hora,” but, mine hour for brin ging relief. This implies that He too had observed the failure of the wine and was waiting a fitting opportunity to interfere. Thai the same formula is more than once used by Jesus of His death (see chap. vii. 30, vili. 20) merely indicates that it could be used of any critical time. Euthymius says it here means “the hour of miracle working”. Wetstein quotes from R. Sira ‘non quavis hora fit miraculum ”’. Especially true is this of the first miracle- of the Messiah, which would commit Him to a life of publicity ending in an ignominious death. That Mary found hope in the οὕπω is obvious from ver. 5.
She did not find His reply wholly refusal.
794
fiv. 28. 1 λέγῃ ὑμῖν, ποιήσατε. 6. Μσαν δὲ ἐκεῖ * δρίαι * AiOwar ἓξ Ἡ κείµεναι
Kings . XViil. 23. g @ Cor. iii. , a 2 τρεις.
h Mk. vii. 3. wR, i 2 Chron.
iv. 5. 2 j Rev. iv. 8. Winer, p. 496.
She therefore says to the servants (ver. 5), 6 τι ἂν λέγῃ ὑμῖν ποιήσατε. The διακόνοι, Or servants waiting at table, might not otherwise have obeyed an un- important guest. His orders might perhaps be of an unusual kind.—Ver. 6. There were there, hard by or in the feast-room, there were ὑδρίαι λίθιναι ἐξ κείµεναν, “six stone water jars stand- ing’. Stone was believed to preserve the purity and coolness of the water. [According to Plutarch, Tib. Gracchus, these jars were sometimes used for drawing lots, wooden tablets being put in the jars and shaken.) Similar stone jars are still used in Cana and elsewhere. They were κείµεναι, set; “in purely classical Greek κεῖμαι is the recognised passive perfect of τίθεµαι’’ (Holden, Plutarch’s Themist., p. 121).--κατὰ τὸν καθαρισμὸν τῶν Ἰουδαίων. For the wash- mg of hands and vessels. Cf. Mk. vii. εε Abluendi quidem ritum habebant ex Lege Dei, sed ut mundus semper nimius est in rebus externis, Judaei praescripta a Deo simplicitate non contenti con- tinuis aspersionibus ludebant: atque ut ambitiosa est superstitio, non dubium est quin hoc etiam pompae serviret, quemadmodum hodie in Papatu videmus, quaecunque ad Dei cultum pertinere dicuntur, ad meram ostentationem esse composita,” Calvin. The number and size are given that the dimensions of the miracle may appear. There were six χωροῦσαι ava μετρητὰς δύο ἢ τρεῖς, “holding two or three firkins each ”’.— ava is here distributive, a classical use; ef. also Mt. xx. g, 10, Mk. vi. 40. Accord- ingly the Vulgate translates ‘“‘ capientes singulae metretas binas”. The Attic μετρητής held about nine gallons, so that averaging the jars at twenty gallons the six would together contain 120 gallons. The English translation has jirkin, that is, vierkin, the fourth of a barrel, a barrel being thirty imperial gallons. It is difficult to assign any reason for giving the number and capacity of these jars, except that the writer wished to convey the idea that their entire contents were changed into wine. This prodigality would bring the miracle into closer resemblance to the
κατὰ τὸν καθαρισμὸν τῶν Ιουδαίων, ' χωροῦσαι ; ἀνὰ μετρητὰς δύο 7. λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς, “΄Γεμίσατε τὰς ὑδρίας datos.” Καὶ ἐγέμισαν αὐτὰς Χξως ἄνω. k 2 Chron. xxvi. δ.
8. Καὶ λέγει αὐτοῖς, -'᾿Αντλήσατα
gifts of nature. Also it would furnish proof, after the marriage was over, that the transformation had been actual. The wedding guests had not dreamt it. There was the wine. It was no mesmerio trick. Holtzmann, in a superior manner, smiles at the prosaic interpreters who strive to reduce the statement to matter of fact.—Ver. 7. The first order Jesus gives to the διακόνοις is one they may unhesitatingly οὐεγ.--Γεμίσατε τὰς ὑδρίας ὕδατος, “ Fill the water jars with water,’’ the water being specified in view of what was to follow.—kai ἐγέμισαν αὐτὰς ἕως ἄνω, “and they filled them up to the brim”’. The corre- sponding expression, ἕως κάτω, is found in Mt. xxvii. 51. ἕως ἔσω and ἕως ἔξω are also found in N.T. to indicate more precisely the terminus ad quem. In this usage ἕως is not perceptibly different from a preposition. ‘“ Up to the brim” is specified not so much to indicate the abundant supply as to suggest that no room was left for adding anything to the water. The servants did all their part thoroughly, and left no apparent room for Jesus to work. Thus they became instrumental to the working of a miracle. —Ver. 8. The second order might stagger them more, ᾿Αντλήσατε viv, καὶ φέρετε τῷ ἀρχιτρικλίνφ. The ἀρχιτρί- Κλινος was originally the person whe had charge of the triclinium or triple couch set round a dining table: “«ρτας- fectus cui instruendi ornandique triclinii cura incumbit”; a butler or head waiter whose duty it was to arrange the table and taste the food and wine. Petron. Arb. 22, “Jam et Tricliniarches ex- perrectus lucernis occidentibus oleum infuderat”. But apparently the person indicated in this verse is rather the συμποσιάρχης or συµποσίαρχος, the chairman elected by the company from among the guests, sometimes by lot. Cf. Horace’s ‘* Arbiter bibendi,” Od., Π., 7. The requirements in such an official are described in Ecclus. xxxii. 1; Plato, Laws, Ρ. 640 ; see also Reid’s edition of Cicero, De Senect., p. 131. In general he regu- lated the course of the feast and the conduct of the guests. [Holtzmann and Weiss both retain the proper meaning of