Vv. 22, 23, and 24 form one sentence, in which John describes the observations made by the crowd the following morning and their consequent
18---26.
75t
eis τὸ πλοιάριον, ἀλλὰ pdvor οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἀπῆλθον, 23. ἄλλα δὲ1 ἦλθε πλοιάρια ἐκ Τιβεριάδος ἐγγὺς τοῦ τόπου ὅπου ἔφαγον τὸν ἄρτον, εὐχαριστήσαντος τοῦ Κυρίου: 24. ὅτε οὖν εἶδεν ὁ ὄχλος ὅτι Ἰησοῦς οὐκ " ἔστιν ἐκεῖ οὐδὲ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, ἐνέβησαν καὶ αὐτοὶ xi 40, ote eis τὰ πλοῖα, καὶ ἦλθον eis Καπερναοὺμ, ζητοῦντες τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν. 25. καὶ εὑρόντες αὐτὸν πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης, εἶπον αὐτῷ, “ Ῥαββὶ,
πότε Ode 7 γέγονας ;”
26. ᾽Απεκρίθη αὐτοῖς 6 “Ingots καὶ εἶπεν, y Lk. x. 32.
“Auhy ἁμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, "ζητεῖτέ µε, οὐχ ὅτι εἴδετε σημεῖα, ἀλλ᾽ ps iv. 48.
1 δε omitted in BL 33.
action. The observations they made are described under Ἰδών, which never finds its verb, but is resumed in ὅτε οὖν εἴδεν of ver. 24; and their consequent action is described in the main verbs of the sentence ἐνέβησαν (ver. 24) καὶ ᾖλθον. With the unconscious but accurate ob- servation of a fishing population in such matters, the crowd had noticed that there was only one boat lying on the beach at that point, and further that the disciples had gone away in it and had not taken Jesus with them. But in the morning, having presumably passed the night in the open air, and having gathered at the lake-side below the scene of the miracle, they found that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there. Apparently they expected that the disciples would have returned for Jesus, and that they might
find both Him and them on the shore.
Disappointed in this expectation, and concluding that Jesus had returned by land as He had come, or had left in one of the Tiberias boats, they themselves entered the boats from Tiberias, which had been driven ashore by the gale of the previous night, and crossed to Caper- naum, This account of the movements and motives of the crowd seems to give each expression its proper force. The fact parenthetically introduced, ver. 23, that boats from Tiberias had put in on the east shore, is an incidental con- firmation of the truth that a gale had been blowing the night before. What portion of the belated crowd went back to Capernaum in these Tiberias boats we do not know.—eipévres αὐτὸν πέραν τῆς θαλάσσης, having found Him on the other side of the lake, that is, on the Capernaum side, εἶπον ... yéyovas, ‘they said to Him, Rabbi, when camest thou hither?” ‘‘ Quaestio de tempore includit quaestionem de modo” (Bengel). For this use of γέγονας cf. νετ. 19; and Cebes, Tabula, πρὸς τὸν ἰατρὸν γινόµενος,
and Lucian, Asinus, ἐπεὶ δὲ πλησίον τῆς πόλεως ἐγεγόνειμεν (Kypke). They came seeking Him, but were surprised to find Him. To their question Jesus makes no direct reply. He does not tell them of His walking on the water.
In vv. 26-65 we have the conversation arising out ofthe miracle. The first break in it is at ver. 41. From ver. 26-40 Fesus explains that He is the Bread of Life.— Ver. 26. ᾽Αμὴν . . . ἐχορτάσθητε. In this pursuing crowd Jesus sees no evidence of faith or spiritual hunger, but only of carnal- ity and misunderstanding. Ye follow me οὐχ ὅτι εἴδετε σημεῖα, “' not because you saw signs,” not because in the feeding of the 5000 and other miracles you saw the Kingdom of God and glimpses of a spiritual world, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι ἐφάγετε ἐκ τῶν ἄρτων καὶ ἐχορτάσθητε, but because you received a physical satisfaction. This gave the measure of their Messianic expectation. He was the true Messiah who could maintain them in life without toil. Sense clamours and spirit has no hunger.—yoprafew, from χόρτος, means “to give fodder to animals,” and was used of men only “as a depreciatory term”. In later Greek it is used freely of satisfying men ; see Kennedy’s Sources of N.T. Greek, p. 80; Lightfoot on Phil. iv. 12,—Ver. 27. ἐργάζεσθε . . . ὑμῖν δώσει. ‘ Work not for the meat which perisheth.” épyafopat means “I earn by working,” “‘ I acquire,” see passages cited by Thayer zm voc, The food which He had given them the evening before He called βρῶσιν ἀπολλυμένην: they were already hungry again, and had toiled after Him for miles to get another meal. Rather must they seek τὴν βρῶσιν . . . αἰώνιον, the food which abides els ζωὴν αἰώνιον, that is, which is not consumed in the eating but rather grows as it is enjoyed. Cf. iv. 14. This food 6 vids τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὑμῖν δώσει. He does not call Himself ‘‘ the Prophet,”