The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 316

that his boy lived. The oblique form ls destruction." No mere coincidence, no com- ccrtC1inly far more re11sonnblo, less mechani- mon accident. And himsel! believed and Cl\l, and more likely to he.ve been altered his whole household; believe,! in tho Di vino into the direct fortn by e.n inc1rnlious copyist claims of Jerns. This is the earliest mention from the previous verse, than to he.vo con- of '' household faith" (cf. Acts x. H; xvi. stituted the original toxt. Noto the.t J eB11s 15, 34). In this co.se a whole picture rises used the most dignified title," son" (u/6,); before our eye. The mother the sisters the the father employs the tender diminutive serv_ants, the entire family, h~ shared U: the (1ra,6lov); while the servants nee the domestio anxiety, had sympathized in the juurney to term (,rais). Cana, and now accepted the exalted claims Ver. 52.-The father is full of joy C1t the of Jesus. Faith is graciously contagions. blessed intelligence, but naturally seeks at The nearness of the unseen world often re- onoe to link the event with the word nnd will veals the features of the God-}fan. The or Jesus. He therefore inquired from them suggestion has frequently been hazarderl tho hour in which ho began to amend (,coµ,f,&- that this {Jae1,J\1,cos was Chuza, the house- ,,.,pov le1xe). (This peculiar phrase is suit- steward of Herod, whose wife, J00.nna, able on the lips of a man of rank ; litero.lly, ministered to Jesus (Luke viii. 3 and "he did bravely, exceedingly well ; " and xxiv. 10). ,coµ,f,o,s txeiv is occasionally used in contradis- Ver. 54.-This is again a second sign which tinction with ,ccl,co,s tx«v in 11 similar sense. J'esns did, when he had come out of JnfuBa Epictetus, 'Diss.,' ili.10-13.) They say to into Galilee. The point is that each return him, therefore, Yesterday during the seventh from Jnd:Ba to Galilee had been charged with holll' the fever left him. The advocates of special emphasii b7 the occurrence of a John's adoption of the Roman computation " sign." We are told (eh. ii. 23; iii. 2) of time suppose that this was seven p.m., and, of signs wrought in Jerusalem, and, con- therefore, that a night had intervened on the sequently, it could uot be meant to be the return journey (so Westcott, Edersheim, and second sign wrought by him. The -rrcz/1.,v Moulton). This _is not necessary, because, refers to the h,8wv clause, i.e. to the repetition even on the Jewish computation, from sun- of his entrance on work in Galilee. The rise to sunset, though tile seventh hour must first sign was the transformation of the then mean between noon and one p.m., it water; the second, under similar conditions, could not have happened that much before was the healing a. dying child by his word midnight he should have broken into the (so Godet, Lange, and Westcott). streets of Capemaum. At that hour the noon might be spoken of as "yesterday." This passage of St. John's Gospel which we This, however, is not imperative; for, if the distance between Capemaum and Cano. was have now reviewed is a. distinct periocl of our from twenty to twenty-five miles, and if the Lord's life and ministry, concerning which nobleman had travelled to Can11, on the day the synoptists were silent; e.nd it is mar- that he presented his request, it is cleo.r that vellously complete in itself. It is an epitome a night's halt might e11,sily have been re- of the whole life of the blessed Lord, and quired. Baur and Hilgenfeld make the note of time an attempt on the part of the writer presents an outline and specimen of hia to exaggerate the marvel, as if the distn.nce method and his work. The disciple unucimell through which the will of Christ a~serted it- seems always at the side of the LorJ. A. self could augment the wonder, or that the mighty spell had fallen 011 him; and he was real supernatural could be measured by mile- beginning already to discern in him the stones, And Thoma thinks so poorly of the originelityoftheJohannist, that he imagines characteristics which ultimately directed him to have worked into his narrative some him to compose the prologue. The penetra- of the small details of the Cornelius and tion of the hidden secrets of all hearts-first Peter interviews in Acts x. his own, then those of Cephas o.nd Nathanael, - Ver. 53.-The father then knew (came to and the motives of l\Iary, and the spirit of know, by putting the fo.cts together) that his Nicodemus, ihe intentions of the Pharisees, son began to amend in the same holll' in whioh Jesus said to him, Thy son liveth. the secrt1t life of the Samarita:iess, and tile 'fhe word W[IS mighty, none other than thn.t inchoate 11,nd imperfect faith of the noblerut1.11. very voice of tlie Lord "which healeth all Jesus is presented to us in marvellously our diseases," and "redeemethour lives from different, yet mutually complementary, re- l11tions. (1) Gathering susceptible spirits to by A, B, 0, D; Tisohendorf (8th edit.) sub- stitutes for it ,cal ij-yyerJ\av, with N, D; 1md himself, and judging men by the reception they all mlll J\/.yovHs, omitted by N, D, nud they were giving or not giving to his word; a.~'rou for o'ou, with N, A, ll, C. C-fJ· Nathnnael, Nicodemus, tli,i Jews, the  180 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [cu. IV, 1-64,