The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 483

and imminent peril from these bold e.,owe.ls. sho,11 seek me,'' but ye shall die in you;: !!In. The clause o.dded by the eve.ngelist, And no The Iv here indicat~s rather the condition man seized him, beoauae bis hour was not in which they shoukl die than the cause of yet oome, is a phrase repeated frequently, e.nd their rleath. "In," not" of" (so Hengsten- one which dale.ye, by e. stre.nge refrain, the berg, Meyer, ancl Luthardt). He did not say, tragic consumme.tion ( see In trod nction, § VII. "perish by reason of this sin," but "die vn 5 (4)). Here it shows the.t some further this sin." They will die looking vaguely, attempt was made to lay violent he.nds on him, hopelessly, for tbe Saviour whom they have, which for the moment fe.iled. Seeing that in such an hyperbole of spiritual dulness e.vownls of his Divine ne.ture wrought to a and of bitter malice alike, misnnderstnod frenzy the passions of some of his hearers, and rejected. They will pass through th.e and finally led to his condemnation for 11 gate of death with no deliverance from sin cnpite.l offence, the eve.ngelist age.in e.nd secured. Knowing neither the Father nor e.gain shows that the Lord-who made these the eternal life and light manifested in claims on his trial, as given in the synop- himself, they will seek and not fin, I, they tists-had frequently reiterated them at peril will die unsanctified, unatoned, unreconciled of his life. The language of the high priest No gleam of light will play over the dark shows how bitterly the ecclesiastical e.n tho- ness of the grave. Whither I go, ye cannot rities resented this assumption. The Fourth come. The eternal home of the Father's love Gospel makes the synoptic account of this will not open to such angry search. Such matter more inte!ligible by showing 11B that ntter misunderstanding as they had evinced, it was not an isolai:ed occurrence. such point-blank refusal to walk in his Ver. 21.-This verse introduces II new light, will impede and block the way to scene and place, and perhaps II new day. the hearl of the Father, whose perfect reve- The e.udience may have greatly changed, lation and sufficient plea.ding they steadily even if it had within it some of the same resist. The language of. this verse is pro- bewildered and exaspere.ted enemies. Again bably the condensation and conclusion of a he said, therefore. The o~v refers to the fact much longer debate. that his liberty had not been infringed, Ver. 22.-The lewa therefore said (were The providence of God, the fear of the saying one to the other), Will he kill him- peoplA, the inadequacy or confusing nature self, that (because) be saith, Whither I go, of the reports of his speech which had been thither ye ollllllot come 1 This query WAS taken to tbe e.uthorities, had for a while one of harsh mockery, and can hardly be e.rrested the tragedy. " No one laid hands exaggerated in malign intent. The suicide on him." In consequence of this oiroum- was supposed to have his place in Gehenna. stance he said nnto them again (i.e. on a According to Josephus (' Bell. Jnd.,' iii. subsequent occasion), I go away, and ye shsJl 8. 5), "the darkest regions of Harles would seek me. So much he bad said before to receive the souls of such." The Jews then "the Jews," adding, "Ye shall not find scoff at his departure as a spontaneous resort me" (oh. vii. 34). Thus also he spake, to a. fe.te towards which they did not care or later on, to the disciples, adding, " Thither mean to follow him. Edersheim declares ye cannot come" ( eh. xiii. 33). On all this passage of Josephus not to be sustained three· occasions he was misunderstood. by rabbinical authority, and he doubts tllis His departure was a mystery to the Jews, aspect of theit- scorn. He limits it to the who thought, or at least said, that he, a Jewish guess the.t Jesus mUBt be contem- pseudo-Messiah, might be contemplating a plating self.murder, and as putting delibe- mission to the Greeks and to the Dispersion. rately such II distance between them and His departure to the Father by II blood- him that they could not traverse it. The stained pathway, by violent death, was un- very fact that they had it in their hearts to speakably perplexing to his most intimate destroy him makes it probable the.t they friends. The be.re idea utterly conflicted were looking beyond the act of suicide, either with the current notion of the Christ; but to the hell of popular belief or the he.tred it was in the last case (eh. xiv.) modified of contemporaries. They obviously thought by'the promise that, though he was about to that none but e. suicide can determine the leave them and to return to his Father, yet time of his departure. Cllrist proceeded to he would come a.go.in-they should onoe show them that tile reason why his dee.th more behold him, and he would provide a would separate them from him was a funde.- place for them. Still, they would not be mento.l ,Jifference of nature. able for a while to follow him, even though Ver, 23.-Yet this essential divergence willing to lay down their life for his sake is not based on fatalistfo grounds, but on ( eh. xiii. 33, eto. ). But in the fooe of a more moral ones. The argument of the twenty- bitter misuuderst1mding and an utter in- fourth verse expla.it1s the description of ver. ability to perceive 1md know either him or 23. The ground of this utter a.lienatiou is the Father, Christ llll,id not only, "Ye the le.ck of belief, which will leave them in  356 'l'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [oH. vm. 1-59,