The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 340

sBiling Jesus, on tho ground of his persistent ro.tive. It is more conceivable, however, <lctcrminBtion to honl sickness o.n<l hopeless that John did, on grounds mentioned by ronlo.<lies on the so.bbo.th <la.y. 'fhis Jeru- Caspari (see Introduction), accompo.ny his snlom "sign," o.n<l the claim he mn<le on the Lord, and learned, by what he heard of lhese ground of it, ho.cl roused the cry, nn<l wa.s greo.t words, and by subsequent conl"eree still the mnttor of contention. The claims with Jeana, the burden of the mighty reve- of the Purim foust tum priucipo.lly on the fa.et lation. Thoma sets to work in the most tlmt, since it occurred, about a, month before dogmatic way, e.n<l Weiss with a pcrfc:ctly tho Po.ssover, on the 141h or 15th of A,lar, different spirit, to demonstrate the identity this visit might lw.ve ta.ken place in the of the narrative which follows, with the course of the four months referred to in eh. famous story of the cure of the paralytic iv. 35, o.n<l therefore between tho sojourn in "borne of foar" which occurs in the synop. So.mnrio. un<l the Passover of eh. vi. 4, which tic narrative. Thoma goes further, and Jesus dirl not o.tten<l. Dr. Moulton (as- imagines the.t the supposed healing of the suming the o.northrous form of the fop-rf,) paralytics by both Peter and Pe.ul are also thinks thnt the feast is left undeter11Jined here idealized. because there we.a nothing in it typical of Ver. 2.-Now there is in Jerusalem. A our Lord's work, and fulfilled in his Person. phrase denoting intimate acquaint.o.nce wi.th Such a. position renders the visit itself the topography of the city, an,] the pre- strange e.nd apparently uncalled for. These sent tense suggests either a hint of a ruin long ge.ps, silences, during which there is no yet existing after the fall of Jerusalem, record of event or discourse,conatitute e. lead- or it may betray the fact that the evan- ing feature of the gospel history, and indeed gelist wrote down at the very time some of most of the history of both Old e.nd New details of the incident which formed the Testaments. To my mind there is e.dvan- occasion of the following discourse, and toge rather the.n otherwise in supposing never, in his later editing of the document, more time than e. few months to have been omitted or altered the form of his sentence. consumed in theGalilme.n ministry described At the sheep (market) or (gate) a. pool, sur- in Mo.rk ii. e.nd iii. Tregelles and the Re- named in Hebrew :Bethesda, having live visers, with Westcott and Hort, have rele- porticoes or porches. The adjective rpofJa.rncfi gated the lievnpo1rpcfnq, of Luke vi. 1 to the requires some substantive to be introduced, margin, but Tischendorf (8th edit.) e.nd e.nd since there is no reference to any sheep- Canon Cooke, eto., retain the rema.1:koble market in the Old Testament, little justifi- expression, on the overwhelming evidence cation ce.n be found for the gloss cont.ained of a host of authorities. If it stand, which in the Authorized Version. There was o. we believe it must, then during the Gali- "sheep-gate" mentioned in Neh. iii. 1, 32 laie.n ministry, and in the interval which pre- and xii. 39. There is no reason against ceded the Passover mentioned in eh. vi. 4, this method of supplying the sense, except there is a reference to the proximity of a this, the.t there is no other instance of the previous Passover and a previous harvest; word ,r0,\,i, or "gate," being omitted after the Ge.lilree.n opposition to Christ on this this fashion. The" sheep-gate " stood next. question of ritual being at its very height. in Nehemiah's recite.I, to the "fish-gate,'' If so, the feast must he.ve been the Passover. e.nd it was built by the priests. The old The question cannot be finally settled, and "sheep-gate" is now known by the name commentators a.re in hopeless conflict with of St. Stephen's Gate, to the north of the one another. It must be admitted tho.t the He.ram ea-Sherif, or temple area, from which majority of modern critics assume the Feast the path leads down into the valley of the of Purim to be that intended, and thereby Kedron, Bnd if "gate" be the proper term reduce the length of our Lord's ministry to add to .,,.pofJa.Tucfi, and we have its site from Cana to Calvary to two short yeo.rs. fixed by the modern St. Stephen's Gate. And Jesus went up to Jeruse.lem. This then we must look for the pool surnamed wo.s before the forms.I call of the twelve Ilethesda in that vicinity. Eusebius and apostles, and there is no proof tho.t he wo.s Jerome speak of a piscina probatica es accompo.nie<l by his disciples. Mo.ny of visible in their day, hut do not determine the commentators (11.nd see Weiss, 'Life of its site. Robinsou (' Bihl. Researches,' i. Obrist,' vol. ii. 321) urge the.t not even John p. 489) did not accept the identification of hiwself wo.s present on the occasion, from the sheep-gate with St. Stephen's Gate, o.nd the absence of lifelike touches o.nd pe.rtiou- places the former more to the south, ond larity of incident. 'l'here is, however, muoh nte.ror to whe.t is now called the Fountain detail in the first fifteen verses. The great of the Vugin. This founts.in, on Robinson's discourse that follows is not broken into visit, displayed some curious phenomena. of d ru.me.1.io dialogue, and does oerto.inly pre- periodical e.nd intermittent ebullition, re- sent more of the biographer's subjective ceiving a. supply of water from another t1·eo.tment than other portions of the nar- source. It wa.s foUild by Robinson to ha 2(16 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. JOHN. [en. v. 1-47.