The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 6

intric·MiP• of this problrm it ie nnneceesary of the miracle, the a11tagoni'8tn of the I'hari• to ent<•r. The pools of Siloe.m e.?e etill to be ,eeB, and the pereeo1ttion of the healed man. seen near the mouth of the Tyropsion ve.lley. Ver. 8.-The neighbolll"I therefore, and The point of connection with the Founte.in they who beheld him aforetime that (or, be- pf the Yirgin cannot be doubt.eel, nor oou cause) he waa e. beggar.• Thie is the ll.rst the fart he disputed that from Siloe.m, during time that his well-known position is men- Uw FeRst of Tnbernaolee, the 1!8.cred wnters tioned, and (if we tre.nsln.te 3.,-, "beoe.use ") were brought in solemn procession and with the vory fact of bis begging (p1-obnbly with sacrPd rite (see eh. vii.). Our Lord sent lond voice) hn.d run.de him a well-known !.he blind mnn, thus stnrtled into some re- individual. Said, le not this he that eat e.nd cepth·ity of grace, to that which was the begged t symbolic source of the water of life. Ho Ver. 9.-Some said, It ia he: others, l!l'ri \ 1 did this on the se.bbath day, claiming co- but he ie like him. So great a change migl It operation with J chornh in his truly sabbe.tio well he.vo provoked inquiry as to his idea- deed: "111-1- Father worketh hitherto, e.nd tity, and the two cfosses of speakers o.dd I ..-ork." Siloam he.d been already the type amnziug vivacity to the picture. He (l,c,;.. of that ..-bich Jc.,·•us was in reality, when he vos)-the man who now stood forth as the he.d cried nnd so.id, •• If any man thirst, let centre.I object of the excited group (see him come unto me, and drink." Conse- Westcott for the use of l1e,,vos elsewhere in quent],, there is strild.ng appositeness in St. John: eh. ii. 21; v, 11 ; x. 6; xiii. 30; the langunge of St. John here parentheti- xix. 21)-rather than "he himself "-he cally introduced (which is, being interpre- said, I am (he) that se.t and begged, The ted, Sent); i:,i',~, equirnlent to missio, from me.n settles the doubt offhand, I am he. ~~~, equi"l'alent to mittu or missus, which The evidence or identity, if the question may be synonymous with ,:i1',i;, tlz. the be raised, is at once settled. The vivacity and verisimilitude or the scene reduce the etrengthened pe.rticiple Ke.l with passive le.boured parallel with St. Pe.ul to literary signification. John ie correct in his ety- trifling. mology. Siloam probably derived its name Ver. 10.-They said therefore to him, from tl1e fa.et thlt its waters were sent from How the!l were thine eyes opened t If the higher sources, through known channels, you are the very man, how has thie come mtb special significe.nce as God's gift for a.bout? the preservation of the life of the people, Ver. 11.-He-the man there singled out and the agelong memorial of his goodness. -answered (and said), The Me.n that ii The old poet Nonntll!, Enthynlios, and Meyer called J'eSllS made •ole.y, and anointed my see here a reference to the man who was eyes, and said to me, Go to the • Biloam, ''sent" thns to wash end be healed; but and wash. So I went, and when I washed n host of commentators, from Theophylact, I reoeived my sight. Nothing more as yet Calvin, Cornelius a Lapide, down to Lu- than the D1une of his Henefactor bus broken thardt, Godet, end Westcott, rightly ur~e upon him. The no.me is full of significance tho.t "Siloam," as meaning "Sent," was m to him-the "Se.viour," the "Healer;" but John's thought emblemo.tic of him who had he knows nothing of his Messianio cle.ims, so often spoken of himself as the Sent of nor of hie Divine authority. He began, God. The point of the parenthesis is that where all disciples must, with the Man. the very name of this healing end symbolic The manner of man soon wakes within him founto.in is a type of Messiah, who thus loftier qoestionings and a better explana- identifies himself with the Heo.ven-sent gifts tion. At present the process seems magical, of tl,e Divine hand. lie then (therefore)'de- altogether inexplicable. Clay e.nd Siloam parted, and wuhed. The blind man needed no guid;, to Siloam, and if he had done so 1 npo,n.C-r7Js is the reading of N, A, B, O, there would have been a score of helpers or D, K, L, X, ten cursives, e.nd several ver• cnrions on-lookers anxious to test the mean- sions, end ie preferred by R.T., Tregelles, ing of the Lord's comma.nd. And he ea.me Tischendorf (8th edit.), Westcott and Hort, awuv from Siloam, seeing; in all the strange Meyer, and Godet, to Tvtp>..&s. ><nd • 'l':"onderful excitement of e. wan who, • Ouxt if,>..>..' 8µ.o,os is the rending or N, B,. with his first possession of this imperial C, L, X, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, e.nd is sense, w!lB moving indeed in a ne'l1· "'.o!·ld. adopted by R.T., Tischendorf (8th P.dit.), TLe miracle, of course, provokes the cntwal Westcott e.nd Hort, but not Godet, It adds school either into repudiating the super- piquancy. They he.ve beguu to doubt, natural element, or doubting the hietorical though they acknowledge resemblaoce. fact. Tlwma dreams through a world of • !IC, B, D, L, K, Old Latin and Syrie.o Ver- parallels with the healing and apostleship sions read -rbv Jl1>..t.1dp., with :R.T., Tischen- of St. Pe.ul. dorf, and Tregellea, instead of .,.¾., 1eol<vµ./3~- V t:rs. 8-34.-(9) The Pf"OO/ of the reality 6p1W -rou Jl1l<t.1dJ-1, found in other uncio.ls. (llf, Jl[, 1-4l.] 'l'I-IJil GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. ,JOITN.