The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 419

He gem, e. mother to his de1uest friend. Ila foll of vinegar, proba.hly for the nR'l of the gave e. son moe\/reoious to the bereaved soldiers, a.nd occ~Rionally offorod to thn and desolBte e.n broken heart of hie sufferers to soothe a part or their torment. widowed mother. Inoonceive.ble thBt Weisse John cleerly aRsooiatee this foot with the nn- ehould oall this "the bneest eelf-Bdnla.tion." ooneoious fnlfilment of prophecy. Mfltthflw The animus mcmifested to this document hy gives it, with strange IA.Ck of connection, rt~ a oerte.ln school partakes of the animosity following the ory, "My God, my God, why of politiool pe.rtieanehip. J'rom the.t hour, he.et thou forse.ken me?" So they (Matthew, 10.ys the evangoliet, the diaoiple took her "one") having ple.oed I a IIJ>Onge full of the (eir Tei 1'3111) to his own home. This ma.y vinegar upon hyssop. Thie hyseop plant, have been some tompomry lodging in Jeru- if identice.l with the caper plant, dooe prr,- salem, but it is more probe.hie, as we have dace stems three or foul' feet long, and may eeen, that Salome and John hnd homes both therefore be identice.l with the " rcerl" m,m- in Jerusalem (see Introduotion, p. lvi.) and tioned in MaUhew e.nd Mark, wl,ile Lnko Caperna.um. The mere phro.se ie used in (xxiii. 36) refers the e.ct to tho sol,liers offer- oh. xvi. 82 in a more genera.I sense of e.ll the ing him vinege.r to drink, saying, "Let ua e.postloe. It is not neceeee.ry to believe that see whether Elias will come e.nd save him." John at once removed the ee.cred deposit e.nd They put it, brought it, preaented it to hia bequest of his dying Lord to the.t home, mouth. Thie wns not the stupefying drnught though it is jnet possible. Bengel and many which he refused, but an exhilare.ting one. others think so, but it is not necesse.ry to Ver. 30,-(d) "It is finislled I "-the great limit the meaning of "hour" to moment. 'llictory of completed sacrifir.e. When he he.d The dope.rtnre could hardly have ta.ken reoeived the vinege.r, he said (-re-r,7>..•0"Ta< ), place till e.ll was over. In this brief reference It is tlnished ! and he bowed his head and a key is given to whe.t John bece.me to delivered up his spirit. The other evangelists the Ohuroh. We must think of Se.lome e.nd record yet e.nother word of Divine and snb- John ever by the holy mother of the Lord, lime submission, "Father, into thy hands," whether at J ernealem, Ce.perne.um, or Ephe- etc. John simply adds the clime.x, e.nd leaves sus. The few words speak volumes, e.nd the Divine, inscrutable, mysterious fact in his reticence here, as elsewhere, gives an its awful grandeur. The world's debt was unnttore.ble gre.ndeur to his words. pa.id. The types e.nd symbolism of the old Vere. 28, 29.-(c) "I thirst "-tlle last covenant had been adequately fuIJllled. The agony. mighty work, nnderte.ken by him who would Ver. 28.-It does not come within the realize the ex pee ta tions of the oldest pro- purpose of John to record the portents phets and the uncon!lcious prophecies of whioh attended the fine.I scen&-either the heathendom, was done. Every iota arnl supernatural darkness on the one hand, or the tittle of the Law had been magnified. The rending of the veil of the temple on the other. ree.lity of which the temple and the sab- He does not record the visions of the saints, bath were shadows, the priesthood and tl10 nor the testimony of the centurion (see Me.tt. offerings innumerable were figures, had e.11 ll'Vii. 45-56: Mark xv. 33-39; Luke been ree.lized. TeTe,\f1TTa.1 I Consummatuni xxiii. 44-49). He does :qot record the est I From the ground of human nature, from further quotation of Ps. xxii.; the ory, the heart of the l\Iau in whom all the we.nts, "Eloi, Eloi, le.ma se.bachthe.ni?" nor the perils, sine, mysteries of the human race misinterpretation of the multitudes: nor the were ge.thered up, has gone the adequate ad- jeer at his dying agonies. But he does mission of the righteous judgment of God record tUIO of the worda of the Lord, whioh age.inst that nature in its present condition. they he.d omitted. He, moreover, implies Death itself becomes, not his she.me, but his the.t he had purposely left these omissions veritable glory. The n11 of humanity is to be filled up from the syaoptiste, for he bre.nded with an eternal curse, more deep adds, After this, J'esns, knowing that all than any previous manifeste.tion of the things had been ( -r•-re,\fO'T111) now finished, Divine jnetice could have produced; and said, I thirst, in order that the Boriptnre yet it loses its sting. God reconciles the might be fulfilled. John heard in this word world to himself by the death of his Son, the comprehensive cry which gathered up by this curse tllu, falling upon his Only all the yearnings and agonies of hie soul, Begotten. The earthly judges e.re con- which fulfilled its tre.vail, which expressed demned by their Victim. The gree.t e.nd the awful signifioe.noe of hie suffering, and 1 A, D, V, r, ~. n, Vulge.te e.nd Syrie.c, strangely filled up the prophetio picture (Pa. Wx. 21). read, ol ~~ T,\~O"Q.Jrl'U IT'll'Oyyov 6{ous ul, Ver. 29.-There we.a set there I e. vessel "They filled e. sponge with vineg11.r." So T.R.; but, with ~•, B, L, I, 33, 'l'regelles, 1 A, B, L, eto., omit oilv, and N substitutes Tischendorf, an<l R.T., read, no11ov oil, 8l; it is omitted by all modern editors. /'EO'-roii -roii 6(ous.  432 THE GOSPEL AOOORDING TO ST. JORN. [on. xn:.1-42, - - - --- --------------------- ------- hl•I. !'ncmv ia ifa!Olf 'Wt'unded unto death. with the ordinary weeklysl\bbl\th; (for great, The Sood of tbo woman brniBea lhe eerpent'e or high, wa■ the day of that sabbath) (of. heod when that Seed receivea the bruise in E1:od. xii. 16: Lev. x1:ili. 7; and notes on it,; own heel. The Pa.eohal Lamb ie slain. oh. xiii. 1 : uiil. 28: xix. 14). It wBs a The Lamb of God takes away the ein of the " groat" and " high " dny in a sense fo.r world. The prinoe of this world ie 088t ont. more profoundly impressive than o.ny that The reader must tum to the synoptic nsrra- could be derived from the coremoninl ennot- ti rn for the other porten te of the Cracifixion mente of the Hebrew code. The eabbnth -the eart.hqua.ke, the supernnturnl da.rknese, of hie rest oame at length. The toil, the the rending of the temple veil, and the testi- agony, are over, the whole world is trans- monv of the Roman centurion. The silence formed during its hours into his rcsting- of tl 1e Fourth Goepel concerning these events, plaoe. Thoro has been no B'lch enbbath on the supposition ofite late origin, or on the since the creative Word rested from o.11 his hypothesis of the glorifying myth, or upon work. In order that the bodies should not the suggest.ion that this evangelist was a remain on the oroea on the aabbath. This theologiziug mystic of the seoond century, statement, with the events whioh followed, who was merely fa.ehioning the narrative strongly confirms our interpretation of the to establish the doctri no.l thesis of the day of the Oruoiflxion. The Jews would Divine iucarna.tion of the Logos, becomes soarcely have justified a crucifixion on the entirely unintelligible. Bnt the hypothesis first sahbe.tio day of the feast, if they shrank that this eye-witness wu supplementing from the proceeding here described as in other well-1.,iown narratives with partioul8l'l' danger of to.Iring plll,00 on the ordinary Sllb- which cnme forcibly under hie own observa- ba.th. They follow the law (Dent. xxi. 22, tion, and made a deep impression upon his 23) so fa.r as it would apply, and hasten the own mind, is suggested by every line. Dr. dissolution of the cruoifiod, if it had not Westcott places " the seven words from the already occurred. ('I'hey) asked Pilate that cross " in the following order :- their legs might be broken (crushed) [1<czTE• ..,,.,.,iv, the same as aorist passive, """d')'llvµ, ( .1) Before th.e dar7mess- (Winer, Eng. trans., p. 85), a.p6rfi.-,11, first (l) "Father, forgive them: for they know aorist passive], and that they might be ta.ken not wba.t they do" (Lnke xxiiL 3!). away, as polluting corpses. The 0'1<<J,.01<o,r{cz, (2) " To-day she.It thou be with me in equivalent to crurifragium, is a Roman cus- Pe.radiBe " (Luke xxiiL 48). tom, ns it is clearly established by nume- (S) " Woman, behold thy son ! . . . be- rous authorities (Suet., 'Ang.,' 67; Seneca., hold thy mother!'' (oh. xix. 26). 'De Ira..,' iii. 32: see Wettstein) :-a brutal (b) During th.e darT.ness- custom, which e.dded to the cruel Rhame and (4) "My God, my God, why bast thou torment, even though it hastened the end. forse.kon me j> " (Mo.tt. xxvii 46 ; Mark Vere. 32-34.-Then oama the soldiers, xv. 34). and brake the legs ot the 11.ret-two of the (c) After th.e darhness- quaternion employed on the one deed, and (5) " I thirst" ( eh. xi.x. 28). two on the other-ilDd of the other whfoh (6) "It is finished I ,. ( eh. :rix. 30). was oruoi11.ed with him. But when they (7) "Father, into thy hands I commend oame to J'ea118, and saw that he waa already my spirit" (Luke xxiiL 46). dead, they brake not his lags. Their barbarous mercy was unnecessary, and John It is a question whether the sixth or seventh sa.w in this another correspondence with the word is the more triumphant. sacred symbolism and prophetic anticipa- Vere. Sl-37.-{6) The piercing of the tions of the Old Testament. But one of aide, with its &ignificance-th.e final cloae of the aoldiera pieroed-ge.shed, probably, for tJu life of earth. the word r,,,,E.,, is used in both senses-his Ver. 81.-The J'ew& therefore, becat11e it Bide with a apee.r (;,,_h,xp, a la.noe, a heo.vy was the preparation; that is, the day before formidable weapon) to give him the coup tLe sabbath (Mark xv. 42). This note of de grace, $hould their expectation not be time certainly bleude both the eynoptiets actually realized, and forthwith oame there- 1md John in tl,e assurance tliat the cruci- out blood and water. We do not enter into the fii..ion 1.ook place on a Friday. It WOii also, numerous physiological reasons which !:.ave uccording to the previous statement, the been advanced .by Griiner, Be.rtholinus, and preparation of the Pa.sso1·er, which, we have Dr. Stroud (' Physical Cause of the Death soon, lB Letter understood in that literal of Christ') for this event, but regard it as &enre tho.n in the i;ense of "the Friday of one of the great portents of the Cruoiflxion, Pn.asoYer week." Consequently, there was a which oannot be entirely explained as some twofold sanctity a.bout that pa.rti.oular se.b- physiologists have done. Dr. Seba.ff appears ba.th, seeing that the sabba.tio rest of the willing to accept the hypothesis that the day following the Pasche.I meal coincided extravase.ted blood, being first separated into 011. x1x. 1-42.J TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 8T. ,JOHN. 438