The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 451

gmnd fel\trnoe of the Old Testl\me11t oon- of lllioe.h v. 2, but those of Is&, :II. I and coption of the Coming One. 'Whether even J er. :s-s:iii. 5, passBges which anticipe.to the the wisrst of thorn had lel\rned to oombine Messiith's descent from David, 'l'hese woro all these features of Prophet, Priest, 1md minor points in the greo.t tablea11 of John's King. of Shiloh, of the Bre.uClh of the Lord, Gospel. He who believed with overwhelming of the Le.rub of God, e.ud Pri11c-o of Pee.co, conviction that Jesus was the Logos made into one individue.l, is open to doubt. They fiesh, the Son of God, mid the ris~n e.nd might believe the.t their eyes saw much, 1md glorified Lord, bestowing the Spirit of his yet wait for more (of. John the Bo.ptist's own wondrous Person upon his Churoh, mesee.ge from the prison). would not trouble much about these mis- Yer. 41.-0there ea.id, This is the Christ. takes of the people oonceming the e.noillo.ry These mnst hnve pressed the e.rgument details of his 8!\l'thly career which, when he further. The Lord must he.ve seemed to wrote, hBd become universo.lly known. It them to combine the yet more explicit signs, was, however, instructive, he.If o. oentury not only of the Prophet the.t should come later, to see how flimsy, unvere.oious, and into the world, but of the e.nointed Kiug worthless the objections were whioh po.seed e.nd Priest-the Christ of their current from lip to lip at this crisis in the life of expeete.tion. :But some 1 said, Doth the Christ our Lord. A Greek of the time of Hadrian oome out of G&lilee 1 Here criticism we.s e.t would he surely very unlikely to have once e.t work upon obvious e.ppea.rances, but represented this condition of the Jerusalem misunderstood fe.cts. W e.s he not ce.lled mind. Now, some of those who believed "Jesus of N e.ze.reth " ? His life ho.d been that he was a great Prophet, the predicted spent there, his ministry in the mo.in Prophet, yet refused to agree with others reetrictod to the northern province. These who ho.iled him as the Christ. The division questions girn e. vivid scene and portray e. or violeut po.rty-split (uxluµa) in the crowd greo.t emotion. The people e.re resting on on that "lo.st great day of the feast" may the let.ter of prophecy (Micah v. 2), where have ha.d persons fliendly to him on both the Me.ssiah, as understood by their own sides ; but on one side at least there were teachers (see Matt. ii. 5), was to proceed those who were ready to side with Pharisees from Bethlehem ; but they overlook the and "Jews" and lay hands upon him. remarke.ble prediction in Isa. ix. 1, where Ver. 44.-And some of them ; i.e. of those (h].i..ice is spoken of as the scene of extra- who refused to accord him Messianio recep- ordinary illumination. tion beco.use he had not commenced his Vere. 42, 43.-Ha.th not the Scripture se.id, ministry at Bethlehem, nnd hnd not flaunted That the Christ oometh of the seed of David, his De.vidic ancestry. Some of the multi- and from :Bethlehem, the vi.lle.ge where David tude were ready on their own account to WBS 1 Therefore a division arose in the act, or at least to aid or abet the baffled multitude beoe.use of him. De Watte, Baur, officers of state in their task: would have We~ Keim, and others have tried to prove taken him ; but no man le.id hands on him. from this that the evangelist was ignorant The so.me mysterious power, the same con- of Christ's birth at Bethlehem. "Hilgenfeld flicting fear of the result among the en- candidly owns tho.t thiB pa.see.go assumes thusie.stio crowd then wo.ving their palm the author's knowledge of this very faot" bro.nches and shouting" the great Hosanna,'' (Godet) It was unknown to the multitude, nay, the all-wise providence of God, re- wLo were not at the.t moment awe.re how strained them yet a.gain. "His hour was this argument would ultime.tely be pressed not yet come." by the first pree.chers of the gospel John Vers.45,46.-In ver. 32 we learn th11.t Pha- leaves the objection unanswered, because he risees and chief priests bad seut " officers" knew tl,e.t all his readers, fe.milie.r with the to lay hands on him, to seize their opportu- synoptic ne.rre.ti ve, would answer it for them- nity for an arrest; but, sharing somewhat i;elves. As respects the well-known belief the outburst of enthusiasm which we.vered current in John's later years, and conlirmad between his claims to be the Prophet or the by tLe ecclesie.stiC6l tradition of Hegesippus Christ, and only subsided for a moment on ( Eusebius, 'Hist. Eccl,' iii 19, 20), that a miserable and unveracious plea., they did the rel.e.tives of Jesus were snmmoned, as not dare to execute tLe command of their descendants of David, into the Emperor masters. The offioers therefore oame to the Domitie.n's presence, it is clear that Jesus ohief priest■ and Pharisees (the e.bsenoe of we.s believed to be the Lnmble Leir of De.vid's the o.rticle To6s before .Z.ap,ualous shows that throne e.nd fo.mily, so the.t Lis readers would they were regarded as one body, who Le.d see the.t he fulfilled not only the prophecy charged these officers to undertake the duty in which they signally failed) ; and they • R.T. o.nd Tregelles, with B, L, T, X, ( l1uivo1, the latter) said to them, Why did ye ree.d oi o, inst.cad of lf>,.>,01 of Tiechendorf not bring him 1 Foiled in their iutonLion ( 8th edit.). •AAAo, Ii• is ilie rea.cling of T .B. to carry out lhe order of the committee oa. vu. 1-63.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. 321