20---26.
22. Meta ταῦτα ἦλθεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς καὶ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν
”Ἰουδαίαν γῆν. καὶ ἐκεῖ διέτριβε
23. ἦν δὲ καὶ Ἰωάννης βαπτίζων ἐν Αἰνὼν ἐγγὺς τοῦ Σαλεὶμ, ὅτι * ὕδατα πολλὰ ἦν ἐκεῖ ' καὶ παρεγίνοντο καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο. γὰρ ἦν βεβλημένος εἰς τὴν φυλακὴν ὁ Ἰωάννης.
719
w Adj. witk yn here and in Mk. i. 5 only. Cp Acts xvi. 1; xxiv. 24.
Ps. xxxii.
per αὐτῶν καὶ ἐβάπτιζεν.
24. ᾿ οὕπω 25. ᾿Εγένετο οὖν
a A δα ος {ζήτησις ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν Ιωάννου μετὰ ᾿Ιουδαίων 1 περὶ καθαρισμοῦ: 6. Nah.
26. καὶ ἦλθον πρὸς τὸν Ιωάννην, καὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ, “ Ῥαββὶ, ὃς ἦν σὺ μµεμαρτύρηκας, ἴδε οὗτος
- a e μετὰ σοῦ πέραν τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου, ᾧ
cy
i. 12. Rev i. 15.
y Mt. iv. 12 xiv. 3.
Ι fovdarov in NcABL, adopted by T.Tr.W.H.R.
by the Logos and come to the Light”’. Cf. chap. xviii. 37.
Vv. 22-36. The ministry of Fesus in Fudaea after He left Ferusalem. This falls into three parts: (1) a brief account of the movements and success of Jesus and the Baptist which provoked a com- parison between them, 22-26; (2) the Baptist’s acceptance of the contrast and final testimony to Jesus, 27-30; (3) the expansion by the evangelist of the Baptist’s words, 31-36.—Ver. 22. μετὰ ταῦτα, subsequent to the ministry in Jerusalem Jesus and His disciples came εἰς τὴν ᾿Ιουδαίαν γῆν, “into the Judaean country,’’ the rural parts in contradis- tinction to the metropolis. ‘‘ Nam quum ex Judaeae metropoli exiret Jesus, non poterat simpliciter dici proficisci in Judaeam; . . . maluimus ergo terri- torium convertere quam terram,” Beza. So in Josh. viii. 1 (Codex Ambrosianus), ‘«T have given into thy hand the King of Gai καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν γῆν αὐτοῦ”. Cf. also John xi. 54.---καὶ εἲὲκ διέτριβεν, “'απά there He spent some time with them’’; whether weeks or months depends on the interpretation of iv. 35.--καὶ ἐβάπτιζεν, that is, His disciples baptised, iv. 2.—Ver. 23. ἦν δὲ kal... ἐκε. And John also was baptising, although he had said that he was sent to baptise in order that the Messiah might be identified; which had already been done. But John saw that men might still be prepared for the reception of the Messiah by his preach- ing and baptism. Hence, however, the questioning which arose, ver. 25. The locality is described as Αἰνὼν ἐγγὺς τοῦ Σαλείμ. ‘‘ The Salim of this place is no doubt the Shalem of Genesis xxxiii. 18, and some seven miles north is ’Ainin {= Springs], at the head of the Wady Far’ah, which is the great highway up from the Damieh ford for those coming from the east by the way of Peniel and
Succoth” (Henderson’s Palestine, p. 154). The reason for choosing this locality was ὅτι ὕδατα πολλὰ jv ἐκεῖ, 6 because many waters were there,’ or much water; and therefore even in summer baptism by immersion could be continued. It is not “the people’s refreshment” that is in view. Why mention this any more than where they got their food ?—«at παρεγίνοντο, the indefinite third plural, as frequently in N.T. and regularly in English, “ they continued coming ”’.—Ver. 24. ove γὰρ ... ὁ Ιωάννης, “for not yet had John been cast into prison’: a clause inserted for the sake of those who might have gathered from the synoptic narrative that John was cast into prison immedi- ately after the temptation of Jesus, Mk. i. 14, Mt. iv. 12. John having been present with Jesus through all this period can give the sequence of the events with chronological precision.— Ver. 25. ἐγένετο οὖν [yrnois... There arose therefore—that is, in con- sequence of the proximity of these two baptisms—on the part of John’s disciples [ἐκ, cf. Herod. ν. 21 and Dionys, Hal. viii. Ρ. 556] a questioning, or discussion, with a Jew about purifying, that is, generally, including the relation of those two baptisms to one another, and to the Jewish washings, and the significance of each. The trend of the discussion may be gathered from the complaint to the Baptist, ver. 26. As the discussion was begun by the disciples of John, it would seem as if they had challenged the Jew for seeking baptism from Jesus. For their complaint is (νετ. 26) ‘PaBBi... πρὸς αὐτόν. That Jesus should baptise as well as John they could not under- stand. Really, the difficulty is that Jesus should have allowed John to go on baptising, and that John should not him- self have professed discipleship of Jesus. But so long as John saw that men were