The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 220

the form of the Wisdom or Logoe fesliml of Ver. 1.-0n the third de.:, there wa1 a rrov. ix. nnd Ecclus. i. 16-18 e.nd xxiv. marriage in Ce.na 1 of Ge.Wee, and the l ~25. The Logos is here the symposi- mother of 1esua wa.a there. Should the sup- nreh, Rnd the fc,11,st corresponds -with the posed discovery of Dethabar11o or Bethany beyond Jordan, at a spot B short distnnoe bridRl fcstil'Rl of the ApocRlypse. Scl'ere.l south of the Lnko of Gennosareth, bo vori• hypotheses hnl'e been fashioned, in order to fled, then there is no difficulty in nccepting cxplRin the forgery of the narrntil'e, and the view of Baur RB to the identity of the they arc quite RB numerous as the nttompted "third dny," reckoning it M the morrow of solutions by orthodox expositors of the pur- the dny on which Nnthane.ol was ca.llecl to be a disciple. The first day mentioned would bo pore or signific.nnce of the miracle. It is eh. i. 29; the second day, eh. i. 35; and the perfect.ly gratuitous and arbitrary on the third identical with the dny mentioned in oh. part of Baur to condemn the narrative i. 43, 45. There would be time for the mpid because he could not find support for it in journey from the Jorda.n to Cerna.. But if the synoptic Gospels. We have seen (sec the third day be interpreted more natumlly, ns tho third ufter the day mentioned in oh. Inn-oduction) that each evangelist, and i. H-51, time is given for the journey from especially Matthew and Luke, had separate the traditional site near Jericho to either of access to a group offocts and sayings peculiar the ~ites which olaim to be tho scene of this to himself, and nearly as numerous and earliest miracle. It is a mnrch of twenty memorable as those which characterize the hours, which would occupy two or three days. Moreover, ns wedding-feasts often Fourth Gospel. Daumgartcn-Crusius is occupied in Palestine sesron or even fourteen V.TOng in plo.cing this event at the lowest days (Gen. :xxix. 27; Judg. xiv. 15; Tobit point of the series of miracles of this Gospel. viii. l!l; ix. 4; x. 1), the festivities may be.ve It is necessary to complete the view which been advanced, and some explanation be thus the evangelist formed of the miraculous given of the exhaustion of the supply of wine. Consequently, there are several power of Christ, for him to demonstrate justifications and explanations of thnt which authority over the matter (~"-'I) of the is condemned by Baur and others e.s an un- created universe.. In eh. -.i. he illustrates historical element. If the first day was that Christ's relation to the forces of nature, on which John bore his testimony before when the Lord hushed the storm and the Sanhedrin ; the second, eh. i. 29 ; the third, eh. i. 35; the fourth, eh. i. 43, 45 ;- walked on the see. ; in eh. :r:xL, by 110.rrating the day of the wedding e.t Cane. would be the a miraculous draught of fishes, be exhi- seventh, and thus a sacred week, correspond- bits the Lord's control over the animate ing with the solemn week that terminated creation ; and in other instances, the like with Easter Day, would be seen to have mastery over the human bndy, over its found plllce in the earliest periods of the ministry. The mother of Jesus was there. diseases, necessities, and death (see eh. iv., Since Nathanael of Cane. was summoned as v., 'Vi., xi). If the other evangelists barn e. friend, and since the first group of the dis- passed it by, we must remember that they ciples were familiar with each other and him, ignore the entire period of our Lord's the inference is that the bride or bridegroom activity which intervened between the was an intimate friend of the entire pa.rty. Weiss claims the reference to the little town temptation e.nd the imprisonment of John of Ce.na " o.s another of those recolleotions, the Baptist. The disciple to whom Jesus which testify indubitably to the historical on the cross entrnst.ed the care of his mother character of the Gospel" (' Life of Christ,' vol. might have specie.I reasons for recording i. p. 377). The presence of the mother of the o.lmotrt the only scene in which that mother Lord at Cana makes it also probable that she bad, after the dee.th of Joseph, removed from played any pa.rt. The most impressive cir- JS' azo.reth to Cana. This is confirmed by cumstance is the.t the disciples of John, who the ea.sue.I remark in Mark vi. 3 that his had learned his stem denunciation of sin sisters only were still resident in their for- e.nd his call to repentance, were to be taught mer home. Moreover, it would explain the that the highest life was not to be secured return of Jesus from the scene of his bap- tism to his temporary home (but see ver. 12). by abjuring marriage, and throwing a tragic The traditional Kefr Kenneh is situated on gloom over hnme.n life, but by hallowing and con,ecrating the borne, the source a11d nurse 1 Alford, R.T., e.nd T.R. spell Kavti; of the natural life. Christ first purifieti the Westcott o.nd Hort, Kava ; Tischeudorf (8th home, then the temple, then the individual. edit.) and Woym., Kava, OR, II, 1-26.) TUE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. Al