however, be no impropriety in the reference wit_hout specifying the topic or them~ nn to tho cessation of o.n extrnorclino.ry session which he dwelt. ThA calm moniing wn.s or oommittco of tho So.nhedrin, when the soon ovcrclo11ded, nnd the people violently officers 1111.cl returned without their prize. excited, by a very ominous disturhn.nce, Ch. viii. 1.-llut Jesus went to the planned with subtle caro n.nrl mn.licious in- Mount of Olives. This resort of our Lorri tention on the p!1rt of thr. authorities, who is not elsewhero referrecl to in John's Gospel, were rertdy at all oosts anrl. by any devi~ although it WBB mentioned by St. Luko to break the spell which Jesus was exerting (xxi. 37 ; xxii. 39) ne the scene of the Lord's over some of the people. 1·etirement cluring the nights of the Inst Ver. 3.-And the scribeg and Phariseaa week of hie life. J ohn'e mention of ench n are bringing-dragging by main force-(to habit ns this nt an eo.rlier period would in hlm 1) a woman taken in adultery;• and, almost any other litcre.ture be regardtd as having caused her-forced her, notwithstancl- mutual confirmation of the two documents, ing the hideous shame of her discovery-to while the fact the.t "Bethany" lay on the stand in the midst, they say unto him, opposite aide of the hill, and the "garden" Master.• The "scribes" a.re not ehewhrrc wns, ae o. matter of fact, bidden on its slopes, referred to in John's Gospel, although the and that both of these focts arc known to the phrase, " scribes and Pharisees," is ,ery fre- writer (eh. xi. and xix.) deprive the bare quently used in the synoptic Gospels for the mention of the name of any ine.utheutic opponents of our Lord ancl the subjects of character. his invective. They come together in t.h,, Ver. 2.-Now at daybreak. The worrl final scenes as combining to thwart 11nd llp8pau does not occur in J obn ; 1rpwt and tempt him. John refers to "Pharisees" 1rpwta are our evangoliet'e words for "early twenty times, and four times in connection morning," though ~,rb Tbv ~pBpav ie found in with the "priests;" but never with the Luke x.xiv. 1 and Acts v. 21. Ee came "scribes." 'l'be scribes are elsewhere in again to the temple(the temple-courts-/,pav, the New Testament spoken of as· va,u.,Ko( or not va&s, is here used); and all tho people voµo~1Ba.rrKaJ\01, and also as "rabbis" in the oame to hlm. The form 1ras o >..a&s is a Mishna. The scribes and Pharisees are no deviation from John's usull.l phrase, although deputation from the S1mhedrin, nor are they >..a&s ie found in eh. xi. 50 and xviii. 14. representatives of the party of Zealots, as 'fhere is some ground for the deviation. some have pretended. There is no indica- The scenes of the previous day had been tion of any mere sectional animosity or of o.ny broken up iuto various groups. 'fhe favour- genuine desire to receive an authoritative or ing crowd from the provinces sympathized prophetic response to their inqniry. The with a portion of the Jernsll.lem popu- Sanhedrin itself wonld certainly not have lRce; then the hostile crowd at the beck of condescended at this epoch to have sub- the authorities hacl been checked by the mitted any question of its own action to the "officers" who had been themselves baffled arbitrament of Jesus. Numerous witne,ses and thunderstruck with the dignity nnd of the o.ct of adultery are inconceivable, claims of Jesus. Great excitement had pre- though in the excitement ancl confnsion of vailed, and before the stormy scenes and the Feast of To.bernacles in a crowded eitv recriminations of the previous day recom- and suburbs, this may have been more mence<!, the whole temple throng oome unto feasible than might otherwise be supposed. him. If tl10 eighth day of the feast was The probability is that the act was undeni- referred to-i.e. if the great day of the feast nbly oommitted in such a way as to bring were the eighth day-the difficulty of the this woman under the cognizance of these whole people having gathered about him ie reformers or defenders of the theocracy who diminished, beco.use there'\'l'ere speoialgather- cropper! up on all sides, and that a group of ings for the eighth day (see notes, eh. vii. 37). big0ts rnw at once that capital might be made It might have seemed that they had com- for their o.ntngonism to Jesus by proposing posed their differences, aud were uow wniting to him a query which would, however it might some symptom and signal of the great Leader's will. [And he eat down, and was 1 Omitted by D and four uncial manu- teaching them. 1] 'fh ie expression is synciptio scripts, and by R.T. rather than Johannine; i.e. it belongs to the • 'E1rl in D, M, S, V, and a hundred cur- methods of the Galilreun ministry (Matt. v. sives; but •• in E, G, H, K, etc. The br, 1 ; Mark ix. 35) rather than to the hostile ie preserved by R. T. D reads a.µapnl"; encounters of the metropolis (but see Matt. most other authorities read µo•x•l~. xxiii. 2). He was prepared for long dis- 1 D, .\l-you<TtV llC'ff'E,pd(ovrEs atJ.,..&v o1 tepE'is
oouree and various instrue.tion. Here, as fva l-x.wrrw Ka1"11")'aplav a~Tav, "The priests in oh. vii. 14, the word lB{Bacn« • ie need tempting him, that they might have accusa- tion ogainst hi111, say." This clause is 1 This clause is omitted l>y D. trnneposed from the close of ver. 6. THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO ST. JOHN. [oH, vm. 1-611