The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 384

mountnln" (-rb ~pot) ie, ne he thinks, B simi- John to the Lord himself: Whence e.re we 11'ucle of the Mount Sinai, o.ncl, o.s the latter to buy 1 (brencl) loaves, that these multitudos representecl the giving of the Lo.w, this was may eat l 'fhis very question shows the associated with the mounto.in of Boatitucles. intimote relations between our Lord and his He goes further, o.nd sees in the Johannine disciples-the touch of oatnre. The iden ti- narrntivo the Christinn (agapre) feasts, ancl fication of his interests with theirs is in the thedolivero.nco of the Apostle Paul from ship- " we." Why should Philip bo selected for wreck I He is even more ingenious still, the questioning or suggestion? Lutharclt o.nd auggeets thnt the" five thoueancl" fed a.rgues that it was e. part of the needed o.t the first mira.culoue meal, ,vith twelve eclucation of the.t apostle that he should baskets of fragments, corresponcl with the have been eubmittecl to the seo.rchin"'0 anxiety. results of the first preo.ching of the twelve It is indeecl added- 11postles, and tho.t the seven loo.ves among Ver. 6.-This he said to test him; but it the four thousand reflect " the many hun- is doubtful whether more is involved than dreds" who were benefited by the seven o.n endearnur to entice from Philip the evangelists, He endeavours by a most elabo- e.nswer of faith, such e.g. as" Lord, all thini:;s rate process to make it appeo.r that John a.re possible to thee." Philip of Bethsaid,\ he.s here combined into one tableau minute was, moreover, in e.11 probability, present at traces derived from the five several accounts the wedding-feast o.t Cana, and might have of the two miracles. The old re.tionalistio anticipated some such sign of the resources theory was that the miracle was only an of his Lord. The other hints of Philip's exaggere.ted poetical ste.tement of the fact; character are severally consistent with this. that a good example of charity on the part Philip had said in the first instance to of the apostles was followed by others, and Nathanael, "Come and see." "Seeing is so food wo.s found for the entire multitude. believing;" and Philip, on the night of the This hypothesis breaks on the rock that the Passion, after much hearing and seeing of e.uthors of these Gospels intended to convey Jesus, so.id, "Lord, show us the Father, and e. perfectly different idea, The affect of it sufliceth us ; " for he had even then not such cheap philanthropy e.nd prngmo.tio risen to the loftiness of the perception that travesty of a royal e.ct would not have been the Father had been and was being revealed that the multitudes would he.ve rushed to in Christ's own life (eh. xiv.). Pllilip's the conclusion the.t he he.d done a kingly personal acquaintance with the immediate deed, or one in the least we.y calculated to vicinity is more likely to be the reason suggest the notion the.t he could feed e.rmiee of his being put to this proof; while the e.t hie will. All efforts to extirpe.te by such tact of the inquiry as addressed to him is theories the supernatural chare.oter of the an undeeignod note of the identity of the occurrence fail, o.nd force the rce.der back Johannine Christ with that portr:i.yed by upon the plain statements of the fourfold the eynoptists. Bengel's suggestion, that narrative. Philip was entrusted with the commisso.riat Ver. 5.--J'esus therefore, seated with his of the twelve, is hardly consistent with the disciples on the rising ground in full view fact that Judas kept the common purse, of the le.kc with its shipping and its fringe We are expre,sly told that Jesus did not of villo.gee, and of the gathering crowds of put the question in consequence of any pilgrims to the Passover, having lifted up deficiency of know ledge or resources on his his eyes, and having beheld that a great mul- own part, but to test the character a.nd tone titude oometh (was coming) unto him, saith. of Philip's mind. He him.sell knew what Matthew (xiv. 14), Mo.rk (vi. 34), and Luke he was about to do, Thus, by a slight touch, (ix, 11) show that the miro.cle whioh they we see the blending of the distinctly human e.11, with John, prepare to describe was pre- with the consciously Divine elements of tho.t ceded by a day in which the Lord instructed unique persone.lity of his. There were to the multitudes, "had compo.esiou upon hie Divine consciousness no go.pa of reality, them," "taught them mo.ny things," "spa.ke but he so threw himself into human con- to them conoerning the kingdom of God," ditions that he could ask the question and " healed their sick." The fast npproach of pass through the experience of a man. The the multitude wns the occe.sion of e. sugges- whole kenotio controversy is, of course, in- tion whioh Jesus me.de to Philip. The other volved in the solution of the problem offered evangelists record the reopening of the 1 'A-yopJ.",.,I'-•" is preferred by Tregelles, oonversl\tion on tile so.me theme, stimulated by the question e.lready put to Philip in the Tieohendorf (8th edit.), R.'r. e.nd on very forenoon, and on this ocoo.sion origine.~ by abuncl11nt authority, in place of ci-yopciaoµ.ev the dieoiples. The company arrived by the of T.R., which has only three later uncials, hee.d of the lake (cf. Me.rk vi. 33," They ran K, U, V, and some me.nusrripts of the afoot out of all the cities "): and the first Italio Ven.ions and a Cow Fathers to sill.lo- compassionate though' is attributed by tion iL  '.250 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [on. v1, 1-11