The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 97

ai11l ne in nil genuine propheoiee there are (T,uke xxiii. 51), but the majority ove:rruled tTUJaninos meant by God heyond whn.t the the dissi<lents. This is the very climax of nttcror of them nt n.11 oonceived poesible. Bo their perversity. They have reaol ved on here. Thia he ape.ke not from himeelf: but the death-penulty. The sentence bas been being high prioet that awful, oritico.1 yee.r, he reoorded age.inst the Holiest. Priesthood prophesied. 'l'he high priest was believed in ond prophecy be.ve pronounced their final ancient timee to ho.ve the power of drawing vmdiot. They be.ve extinguished tbem- from Urim nnd Thummim the Divine deci> selve,. Nevertheless, the.t which proved the sions ns to future events (Exod. xxviii. 30; occosion of their D16lice became a further Numb. xxvii. 21), o.nd Ooinpbo.e, e.s priest-- proof of hu Divine goodness e.nd superhuman prophet, may thus ho.ve·conveyed e.n e.wful cln.ims. and sublimo truth through bnse ond evil Ver. 54.-Thia constitut.ed the close of dispositions. Curious inetanoes occur elee- hie earthly ministry after his ordinary whero (oh. vii. 27, 35): "He eo.ved others; method. 1811118 therefore walked ( of. oh. vii. himself he oe.nnot eave I" (Me.rk xv. 31); I) no more openly (.,,a.~{>71<T(~; cf. eh. vii. 4) when the people BBid, •• Hie blood be upon among the lewa; but he departed thence into us" (Me.tt. xxvii. 25); when Pilate, by un- the country nigh unto the wilderness, to a ooneoioue prophecy, ironically declared him oity called Ephraim. Westcott ee.ys the to be •• King of the Jews" (Ma.tt. xxvii. 37). place is mentioned in connection with Bethel Wiineche quotes n cnrioue case of uncon- (2 Chron. xiii. 19). Not far from Bethel, on scious prophecy, which the rabbinical writers the border between Benjamin e.nd Ephraim, nttributed to Pharaoh's daughter, when she is Tadyibeh e. conico.l hill with a village forecast the future legislator in the infant perched aloft, which Robinson (' Bihl. Res.,' derelict. The su betnnce of the prophetio ii. 127) e.nd Stanley(' Sinai and Palestine,' word extro.oted from his saying was that p. 210) identify with this Ephraim. In lellllS should die for the nation. Hengeten- this form the word does not appear in the berg wisely says, "Caiaphas could not have Old Testament, but Eusebins a.nd Jerome spoken other than of the >,.aor.'' When John make it twelve mile& from Jernse.lem, on the wrote, the difference between the >,.mos e.ud east of the road lee.ding to Siehem; e.nd Jo- the (61171 he.d vanished away. Israel he.d sephns (' Bell. Jud.,' iv. 9. 9) speaks of "two become an l611os, like .the rest. And not for little towne of Bethele. e.nd Ephraim, through the nation only, but-that he might also ge.ther which V espe.sie.n passed and left ge.rrisons.,. together into one (>,.ct&v) the ohildren ot God Hengstenberg identifies it with "Baal-he.mi, soattered a.broad-constitute e. new centre, which. is by Ephraim" (2 Se.m.. xiii. 23). life-giving e.nd se.cred in the covenant of his The maps of Ve.n der Welt and of the blood (of. 1 John ii. 2, e. very remarkable Palestine Exploration Society place it on parallelism). Who e.re the .-,,cva .-ou E>eou the site of Ephraim, Ephron (2 Cl.iron. l'imT1Cop,r1<Tµ.,11a. ? According to some, the xiii. 19), or Ophre.h (Josh. xviii. 23), a.bout dispersed Israelites, but surely the passage seven miles north-east from Bethel, and corresponds with the "other sheep," of .eh. give e.s second designation Apho.ra.im. The x. 16, a.nd refers to e.ll who enter by living intelligence must ha.ve reached our Lord faith in him into the full realization of the that the Sanhedrin he.d forme.lly pronounced Divine Fatherhood (see oh. i. 12 e.nd Eph. sentence age.inst him. This may have ii. 14) o.nd their own sonship. Christ is the induced him to retire from Jerusa.lem until true Union of Jew e.nd Gentile. the next great fee.at, when he would publicly Ver. 53.-Therefore from that day they took cho.llenge their allegiance. From this 001lllflel I to ele.y him. The oiiv shows that the neighbourhood our Lord could (e.s we learn e.d vice of Cainphe.s was followed, o.nd where- from the synoptists) have easily joined the as before this, minor courts and synagogues care.van from Perma, which, after crossing had plotted the ruin of Jesus, e.nd they J orde.n near Jericho, there set it.s fe.ce towards themselves had excommunicated his fol- Jerw,alem, or the ce.rave.n which me.y have lowers (oh. iL), yet, after this evil counsel, come through Se.maria t.o Bethel. There he they deliberated on the surest and safest abode 1 (tarried) with the I disoiplea.. M<Til: we.y of deatroying him. The sentence had . (says Godet) is not synonymous with atlv, gone forth. They bound themselves to but equivalent to-he con.fined himself in the secure his arrest for this purpose. Some of their number,. a sma.11 ~inority, including 1 ~. B, L, e.nd some anoient quotations Joseph of Al'tme.throo., disapproved of this read 'lpewe, which is followed by R.T., counsel, e.nd withdrew from their Moiety Westcott ud Hort, Alford, e.nd Tregelles ; but Tisae'ltd,orf (8th edit.), on the anthority 1 'E,BovAEOO'a.vTO; with ~, B, D, Tischon- of A D, I,· X. r, ~ etc., with Vulgate dorf (8th edit.), Westoott and Ho1·t, and U.T., (mor~batur) 11.nd other versions and T.R.. iusteacl of O'vvefJov>,.etlO','IJl'f'o of A, L, T.R., reads 5,frp,/3<. The mb.-ov is omitted by o.ud Alford (6th edit.). modem editors, with ~. B, D, I, r, ~.  100 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING 1'0 ST. JOHN. foH. xt. 1-67.