The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 266

the current eynoptio chronology of the com- Beershebn., even M, in the synoptics, we find mencement of the GalilmRn ministry (one him iu Crosarcn. Philippi, the northernmost whioh mnde this imprisonment a note of portion of the Holy L1md. Certn.inly ho me.:, time), ehows that the period described in have tarried there during the eight months, this ~spel, and the baptismal energy of but we have no right to establish it from ,Jesus m JndtBa, e,ud the profoundly in- this passage. It is not said that J osus was nt teresting events mentioned in eh. iii. and 11!:non. Dr. Ilarcl11,y (I 858) ropo1·ts the dis- iv., were not inoompntible with admitted covery of lEnon at Wady Far'ah, e. secluded facts. It also suggests that the character valley five miles north-east of Jerusalem of our Lord's ministry in the neighbour- (Grove, Smith's 'Diet. Bible'). The receni hood of the metropolis was closely allied discoveries of the Palestine Exploration with thnt which the synoptists described Society find this Enun (.Aynun) and S11,leim e,s obtaining in his early Ga,lilman efforts. not far from the .Asl.:ar, or Sychar, where We are impressed by the solemn silence Jesus rested when John's ministry had which hos fallen over these eight months. been suddenly arrested. (Edersheim thinks It may ho accounted for on the general that this Enou and Salim in Wady Far'ah principle of the evangelist, which was to leading from Samo.rio. to the Jordan, are too fasten upon and pres11rve the memory of far ape.rt; but see 'Pal. Exp. Fund Report,' a few solemn moments which especially 1874, p. 141 ; 'Pict. Palestine,' ii. 237; impressed his own mind, and which hnd 'Tent-Work in Palestine,' i. 91-93.) Alle- been overlooked or nnknown by Matthew gory reaches the point of absurdity when we and the other evangelists. Moreover, it is are told by Thoma that neither place nor time. more tha.n probable that the author of this are historic. The Salem is (says be), accord- Gospel wa.s not with the Master during the ing to Ps. Ixxvi. 2, the tabernacle or place whole of this period. There are, however, of God, and therefore, according to Philo, hints that the rumours of the spiritual might indicates the Logos, who thencefo1·th be• and gathering power of Jesns had produced oomes the Illumine.tor and Ruler. "The a great effect upon John the B:i,ptist, and multitude of waters" would be suitable, qualified the tone of his le.et testimony. necessary, to any great gathe1·ings such WI Ver. 23.-And J'ohn also was baptizing in those which had followed the Baptist to the .lEnon, near to Salim, because there were banks of the Jordan, o.s well as for bap- ma.ny waters there ; and they came, and were tismal processes. Such e. site for lEnon baptized. There is much difficulty in de- is far more probable, on historical grounds, termining the site of .lEnon, near Saleim. than is the southern extremity of Judma; for Eusebius and Jerome (in 'Onomo.sticon ') Herod would have had no jurisdiction there, place it in the northern part of Samaria, e.nd won.Id not have been tempted to arrest about eight miles sooth of Scythopolis John's ministrations, nor would be or (Jerome, • Ad Evagrium,' Ep. 126; Epiph., Herodias have suffered from the Baptist's •H:er.,' Iv. 2; Winer, 'Real Wiirt.,' L 33; rebuke of their e.dultery, if suoh reproaches Liicke, in 1.oc. ; Thomson, ' The Land and had been spoken so far away from the centre the Book,' ii 176). This does noi well of his tetmrchy. If, however, John had nccord with the statement that Jesus was "in ms.de no secret of his disapproval in regions J udree.," e.nd proposed to "pass through so near to Galilee e.nd Perme., over which he Samaria" (cf. ver. 22; eh. iv.1-4). It may presided, the consequent irritation of the be observed, however, that our narrative voluptuous prince may have been more does not limit the scene of our Lord's J udmo.n easily aroused, e.nd his vengeance more ministry to any one place, nor does it assert legitimately taken. But how came John to that the Baptist and J elltli were in near be still e.cl.ministering baptism with 11 group proximity, but rather the reverse. '.l'here is of disciples of his own, and doing this long a S/1.ilhim mentioned in Josh. xv. 32, with after the amazing announcements he had which is associated an ain (or fountain)--& made in the spring of the year with reference word closely resembling ".lEnon." 'l'his lo the rank and functions of the Lord would seem to have been in the south of Jesus? This na1Tative is the tiue key to . Judrea. Godet thinks that, since .Ain and the otherwise inexplicable contrariety be- .Bimmon nre associated with each other in tween the Johannine testimonies to Ch1iet .Josh. :xii. 7 and I Chron. iv. 32, and an and the message from the prison as de- En-.Bemmon is spoken of in N eh. xi 29, that scribed by tho synoptiets. It is the solution we Lave in this blending t.lie origin of the of the mystery that one who hailed Jesus as word ".lEnon." He thinks that the presence the Son of God and the Lamb of God and of waters is more likely to be specified in e. Baptizer with the Holy Spirit, and who was dry region like that of the border of Edam declared by Christ himself to be the greRtest than in a fertile district like Samaria. ; e.nd of woman born, was, notwithstanding, "lees he goes on to argue that Je8'UJJ may therefore than the lea,it in the kingdom of hooven.'• have tra,elled 110u~ between Hebron and J9hn iB here shQwn by tliej()fl,f'th evangalu, OH, m. 1-36.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 129