The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 85

'fho cliRoiples 1110 more in rear for thoir nnrl HO to cref\tefor himgolf" f\ thirteenth hour" ~foslor thRn for thomeelvee. 'fhe residence to the <lay, in which be would secnro no beyond Jordan hacl beon briof, nm! lhey nre blessing ; that the Lorri conrlemned tho pro- amazed that lhe Lord will so soon put him- pose.I, knowing Lhnt he was immortal till his eolf in the power of that seething nnrl hostile hour ho.cl come; anrl that if we shrink from crowd. How differont this fongue.ge from e. co.11 of duty, an<!. thus snve ourselves, ndding tlmt of his own brothers (eh. vii. 3-5) I an unhallowed incremeut to our day of use- Ver. 9.-Jesus answered, Are there not less work, we incur the like condemnntion, twelve hours in the day 1 If a man walk in we ahnll atnmble. Let it be observe,! that tho day, ho stumbleth not, beoause he seeth the reason for working in the night is not tho light of this world. Tho answer of Jeana because we have twelve hours for duty and ie 11, ful'llier dolivero.nce concerning the no more, but because, though we have a time human law o.nd sea.son (1<a1p&,) of work-a of service and an opportunity, we have let po.rnble drawn from earthly o.nd human both slip pa.at us, and then the work is diffi- o.nalogiea, which will unqueetiono.bly l11J.Ve cult e.nd perilous if we do attempt it. Some a direct be11ri11g on tho conditions of Divine have said that Judas, Peter, Thomas, etc., service at 111! time, and is therefore npplicable walked in the night, ancl that they stumbled to the disciples with himself. It receives e.nd fell. also speoinl significance from some aspects of Ver. 10.-Bnt if a man walk in the night, Christ's own ministry, e.nd from the step he he sta.mbleth, because there is no light in had just now deole.red that he intended to him. He shuts himself off from the light or tD.ke. Of course, the parable is based upon God-given opportunity, and carries no lamp the conditions of human work; one of these in his soul. There is no necessity to sup- conditions is light, e.nothcr of them is time. pose, in eh. ix. 4, that the day was dro.wing Light ie necesse.ry for nil the wise efforta of to e. close, or tbnt in this place II no.tural day men-the light of de.y, the light of this world we.a dawning; bot there is some probability or the sun; we must see whither we e.re from this phraseology that John adopted going, in order to avoid the occasions of the Bo.hylonian rather tho.n the Romo.n stumbling. We must submit to this com- method of computing the hours of the day. prehelll!ive condition, or we fail (of. here Thie has decided bearing on severo.l im- eh. ix. 4, "I must work the works of him portant questions (notes, eh. i 39; iv. 6, 52; that sent me while it is day; the night xix. 14). The "twelve hours" shows, at all cometh, when no mo.n can work"). There events, that the Jews at this time generally are two kinds of night of which he speaks. reckoned from sunrise to sunset. It must be One is the night which arrests all le.hour, remembered that the day diftere<l consiJer- the night of death; and the other is the night ably in length e.t different parts of the year, of ignorance e.nd unbelief, when the light from fourteen holll'B to nine; but perhaps that is in e. man becomes darkness, when, if the emphatic use of the expression derives a man does attemp.t to work or walk, he will special interest from the fa.et that the equinox stumble. Meyer and some others, from the waa approaching. reference to another condition, viz. that of Ver. 11.-These things spa.ke he, and pro- lime, persist in limiting the notion of the bably many more words expository of the day to tho.t of the period of service, e.bout vast principle of service which he here pro- which the Lord so.ye o.lso some very solemn pannded; and after this (for /Lnci TOVTo things; o.nd Meyer objects to Luthnrdt and implies n. break, during whioh the disciples others, who give to the sun, to the light of pondered his words) he sa.ith, Our frillDd this world, e.ny moral or apiritue.l meaning. Lau.rus ; implying that Lazo.rns wo.s well We need not limit the application. Light known to the disciples, e.nd that the Lord may mean knowledge of duty supplied by classes himself here, in wondrous condescen• God's providenoe o.ncl the revelation of his sion, with them. He elsewhere speaks of the will, e.nd so for as "day" is me.de by light, twelve as his "friends" (oh. xv. H, 15, it is important to notice it here. But time where he made it e. higher designation than is e.n equ11lly important condition, and ~ov,\o,; see also Luke xii. 4). John the wherco.s in eh. ix. 4, 5 the Lord laid Bo.ptist also ce.lls himself" the Bridegroom's emphasis upon the limited amount of oppor- friend" (eh. iii. 29). Though Lnz:u-us had tunily during whioh tho light lasts nud the passed into the region of the unknown and un- work cun be <lone ; so here there is an seen, he wo.s still" our friend." Hath fallen appointed perioi cluring whioh stumbling is asleep. Meyer says that Jesus knew this unnecessary: "twelve hours in the clo.y." by "spiritual fo.r-seeing;" and Gcdet thinks This (I take to be Christ's meaning) is one t.l•et he knew it by supernaturo.l process,e.n? of these hours, and before the night oomes hail known it e.11 a.long. It does not require " I roust work." Godet suggests that the much beyond whnt we know to have occul'red disciples, by this question, recommended him in thousands of instances, for om Lord to nnt to shorten his cnreer by courting danger, have peroeived thn.t his frieud_ha,l di,;u-had, 88 'l'I-IE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOilN,