28—37.
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πέμψαντά pe. 34. " Ἱητήσετέ µε, καὶ οὐχ εὑρήσετε" καὶ ὅπου εἰμὶ b Hos. v. 6.
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ἐγὼ, ὑμεῖς οὗ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν.
35. Εἶπον οὖν οἱ ουδαῖοι πρὸς
ἑαυτοὺς, “Mod οὗτος μέλλει πορεύεσθαι, ὅτι ἡμεῖς οὐχ εὑρήσομεν
αὐτόν; μὴ εἰς τὴν ᾿ διασπορὰν τῶν ) Ἑλλήνων μέλλει πορεύεσθαι, ish, . ασ et. 1.
καὶ διδάσκειν τοὺς Ἕλληνας ;
, ‘ > ey ο 4 . > ολ κ. 4 ς ο] 2. Ζητήσετέ µε, καὶ οὐχ εὑρήσετε' καὶ, Ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ, ὑμεῖς οὐ
Φύνασθε ἐλθεῖν ;
36. τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ λόγος ὃν εἶπε, Deut.
XXXxil. 26. xii. 20. Is ix. 12.
37- Ev δὲ τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ “TH µεγάλῃ τῆς ἑορτῆς εἰστήκει 6k xix. 31.
᾿Ιησοῦς, καὶ ἔκραξε λέγων, “' Εάν τις
pe is a Johannine addition; chiefly because of ver. 35. But this misunder- standing proves nothing ; for the people never apprehended who was meant by ‘Him that sent Him’”’.]—Ver. 34. In ver. 34 He views with pity (cf. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,” etc.) their too late awakening to a sense of their need: ζητήσετέ µε καὶ οὐκ εὑρήσετε. ‘ The tragic history of the Jewish people since their rejection of Jesus as Christ is con- densed into these words,” Reith. Cf. Lk. xvii. 22, ‘The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it”; also Lk. xix. 43, 44; and Is. lv. 6. εἰκὸς yap πολλοὺς . . . ζητεῖν αὐτὸν Βοηθὸν καὶ μᾶλλον ἁλισκομένων Ἱεροσο- λύµων, Euthymius, Even though they may then know where He has gone, they cannot follow Him, ὅπου εἰμὶ ἐγώ ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν, “where I am” {not εἶμι, “I will ρο”], {.ε., in the presence of Him that sent me, “ye cannot,” as ye now are and by your own strength, ‘come’. For the full mean- ing see chap. vili. 21-24.—-Ver. 35. This was quite unintelligible to the Jews, εἶπον οὖν . . . ἐλθεῖν. The only mean- ing they could put upon His words was that, finding no reception among the Jews of Judaea and Galilee, He intended to go to the Jews of the Dispersion and teach them and the Greeks among whom they lived. The διασπορὰ τῶν Ἑλλήνων does not mean, as Chrysostom and Euthymius suppose, the Gentiles διὰ τὸ διεσπάρθαι πανταχοῦ, but the Jews dis- persed among the Gentiles, see Deut. XXVili. 25, Jer. xxxiv. 17, 1 Pet. i. 1, Jas. i. 1 (cf. Schiirer, Div. II., vol. ii., and Morrison, Fews under Roman Rule). But the following clause, καὶ διδάσκειν τοὺς Ἕλληνας, indicates that they sup- posed He might teach the Greeks them- selves ; thus ignorantly anticipating the course Christianity took; what seemed unlikely and impossible to them became
Exod. xii. 16.
Supa, ἐρχέσθω πρός µε καὶ actual,—tis ἐστιν οὗτος ὁ λόγος... The saying has impressed itself on their memory, though they find it unin- telligible. How they could not go where He could, they could not fathom. Cf. Peter’s ‘‘ Lord, why can I not follow Thee now?” and the whole conversa- tion, chap. xiii. 33-xiv. 6, “Νο one comes to the Father but through me”’. Vv. 37-44. Fesus proclaims His ability to quench human thirst with living water, —Ver. 37. ἐν δὲ τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ... This exact specification of time is given that we may understand the significance of the words uttered by Jesus. The Feast of Tabernacles lasted for seven days (Lev. xxiii. 34, Neh. viii. 18), and on the eighth day was “an holy convo- cation,” on which the people celebrated their entrance into the holy land, aban- doning their booths, and returning to their ordinary dwellings. On each of the seven feast days water was drawn in a golden pitcher from the pool of Siloam, and carried in procession to the Temple, in commemoration of the water from the rock with which their fathers in the desert had been provided. On the eighth day, which commemorated their entrance into “a land of springs of water,” this ceremony was discontinued. But the deeper spirits must have viewed with some misgiving all this ritual, feeling still in themselves a thirst which none of these symbolic forms quenched, and wondering when the vision of Ezekiel would be τε- alised, and a river broad and deep would issue from the Lord’s house. Filled with these misgivings they sud- denly hear a voice, clear and assured, Ἐάν tis διψᾷ, ἐρχέσθω πρός pe καὶ πινέτω: that is, whatever natural wants and innocent cravings and spiritual aspirations men have, Christ undertakes to satisfy them every one. To this general invitation are added words so enigmatical that John finds it necessary