3

d If thou do these

4 For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and

c Matt. 12. 46. Mark 3. 31; Acts 1. 14.

large golden pitcher and drew water from the fount of Siloam, at the side of the temple mount, and thence returned in joyous procession to the grand altar, behind which he poured the water forth to descend to the subterranean watercourses beneath. This ceremony at once commemorated the miraculous furnishing of water to famishing Israel, and prefigured the higher impartation of the Holy Spirit to Israel's thirsting nation. So festal was this rite that the rabbins say that he who has not seen this Joy of the waters knows not what rejoicing is. In process of time, and, doubtless, in our Saviour's day, this feast had degenerated into profane revelry; so disgracefully, indeed, that a pagan writer, Plutarch, honestly records that it was a feast of Bacchus! Fully to understand the transactions and discourses at this visit to the metropolis, the whole passage as far as chap. x, 21, with its brief appendix of the Feast of Dedication, to x, 40, should be read.

3. His brethren-His brothers. That these were the sons of Joseph and Mary would scarcely have been questioned but for doctrinal reasons. See note on Matt. x, 3 and xiii, 55. Their names were James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. As Jesus was the eldest, and but slightly over thirty, these must have been in their green young manhood. This must account for their ambitious half-belief and half-disbelief of the Messiahship of Jesus They believed a miraculous basis for success to be in him if he will only show it out to the world; but he does not realize their idea of a divine, warlike, hero Messiah. After the sad yet wonderful events of the crucifixion and resurrection these brothers believed! They consented to accept as

5 For neither did his brethren believe in him.

6 Then Jesus said unto them,

d Chap. 18. 20.-e Mark 3. 21.

Messiah a Saviour of the world, instead of a Liberator of the Jews. This very James became "James the Just," the author of the Epistle of James, the bishop of Jerusalem, and the martyr to the faith he here disowns. And this Judas is the Jude author of the Epistle bearing that name.

Depart hence-Leave this obscure provincial Galilee. Go into Judea-Go to the headquarters of pure Judaism, to the great metropolis. Thy disciplesWho will be assembled in their fullest force at the feast, whether they belong to Judea or Galilee. They were doubtless aware that in eastern Judea the preaching of John and Jesus both had won many disciples to Christ. See the works - They believed that he could show works that might justify the faith of his disciples.

4. No man-Omitting the italics, (injudiciously inserted by the translators,) the verse may read, No man doeth anything in secret yet seeketh to be himself known openly. That is, no man does both stay in secret and desire to be public. It is inconsistent, and contrary to common sense or ordinary human conduct. If thou do these things-If thou proposest thyself to be a miraculous founder. There is a non-committalism in this if that leads the Evangelist to the explanation in the following verse.

5. Neither...his brethren believe-The brothers of a sinless, perfect child would, then, give him no credit for being such! However right he may be, they would always hold him wrong when he differed from themselves. So they do on the present occasion. He is waiting his "time" from the Father in his most perfect rectitude of soul, and these brothers rather think him a miraculous fool!

i

but your

ready.

9 When he had said the

h

you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

8 Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast;

Chap. 2. 4, & 8. 20: ver. 8, 30. Chap. 15. 19.

6. My time-My time for challenging the nation at the metropolis. The word time here has no doubtful meaning. See note on John ii. It has not the slightest reference, as some suppose, to his death. Jesus goes not up to this feast, because the divinely appointed and divinely signified time for going to it has not yet come. When that comes he will go. Your time-Is your own, and acknowledges no divine regulation. Alway ready-When you please.

7. The world-To which (verse 4) ye so ambitiously bid me show myself. Cannot hate you-You and it are quite too good friends. Me it hateth-The great world is wrong, and it hates the Holy One who would set it right.

8. I go not up yet-The best authorities decide that the word yet should be rejected from the text. His true words are, I go not up to this feast. That Jesus did not then intend to go up to the feast is perfectly clear from the reason alleged, namely, My time is not yet. This of course clearly means that when his time came he would go up. It came and he went. Jesus uses a word that applied only to the present, I go not. He spoke not for the future; but, obediently unknowing the moment, he leaves the decision of the time to the Father, and tells precisely as he knows. Not yet full come-Phraseology which clearly implies that his time was at an unknown nearness. Doubtless, the Divine Will was that Jesus should not encounter the preparations of the authorities to assassinate him at the beginning of the feast. Nor is he permitted to know and to reveal to his brothers his later coming, lest they

10 But when his brethren were gone up, then went ne also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

h Chapter 3. 19. Chapter 8. 20; verse C. should report it at Jerusalem, that he would be there before the close. At the proper moment, in the middle of the feast week, Jesus is suddenly within their midst, and amid the confusion of the elements he overrides and defeats all the machinations of the Jewish powers.

9. Abode still in Galilee-So that this conversation took place some days before the departure of his brothers to the feast. Did Jesus during this time send forward his disciples to prepare his quiet way through Samaria, in order that he might thence perform the solemn symbolical act of commissioning the Seventy? This might fully explain why he had no conscious certainty that the Divine Will would call him to stem the torrent of hate and fury at the metropolis.

10. Not openly-Not with the ordinary pilgrim caravans by the ordinary route on the east side of Jordan. As it were in secret-Not by any actual concealment; but informing no one except his apostles, and taking the cross route through Samaria. See map.

Jesus overmasters the commotions at the Feast of Tabernacles, 11-53. His first Feast-of-Tabernacles discourse, 11-36.

In the following striking narrative of the fermentation on his account at Jerusalem, we must first note the diffe ent parties engaged. There are, first, the Jews, (11,) or hostile Judaists, who embrace the special partisans of the rulers. Second, there are the people, (12,) who consist of the miscellaneous crowd who have come to the feast; including friends, enemies, and indifferentists towards e

11 Then the Jews him at the feast, and Where is he?

12 And k there was

concerning him: for some said, He is a good man: others said, Nay; but he deceiveth the people.

13 Howbeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the

Jews.

m

14 Now about the midst of

16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.

17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

n Matt. 13. 54; Mark 6. 2; Luke 4. 22; Acts 2.7.

sus. Third, there are Jerusalemites, (25,) the permanent residents of the metropolis. The chief priests and rulers, being Pharisees, not being generally present, are the real conspirators against his life, who would set the people on, or would apprehend him by their officers.

11. Where is he?-While he is in secret, engaged in his sacred mission, the Jews of the capital are on the alert for his coming, ready, doubtless, to make an end of his life.

12. The people-Among these masses there are of course all shades of opinion. The friends of Jesus would consist of Galileans and scattered inhabitants of Judea, who from the time of John's and Jesus's baptisms in the Jordanic region had never forgotten their faith. As the fierce inquiries after Jesus by the Jews are heard, a murmur passes through the crowd. Favorable but feeble assertions are heard that he is a good man; to which the charge of being a popular deceiver is retorted. The friends of Jesus are in a timid minority; and even if they were in a majority the organized force is in the hands of the Jews. quiet doubtless ensued as the conclusion arose, perhaps from the report of his brothers, that he was not to be present at the feast. Things are in this condition for the first three days of the feast, when an unexpected event takes place.

A

14. Jesus...into the temple, and taught -Jesus himself is suddenly found in

& 14. 10, 24.-p Chap. 8. 43.

the temple, and teaching! There is no proof of anything miraculous about it. But it is his hour now to brave the commotion, to proclaim the truth, and to make a show of the weakness of human power against God.

15. Jews marvelled Before they have time to adopt any measures these Judaists have, in spite of themselves, heard the discourse of Jesus, and a strange wonder arises, how one not a trained rabbi can discourse so learnedly and wisely. Letters-Sacred literature was all the letters or learning which the Jews had.

Reply of Jesus to the query how he learned to teach, 16-24.

His teaching or doctrine is direct from God, and is by him kept, 16–19; they too have a law from God through Moses, but break it in seeking his life. Then occurs a base interruption, 20; which disregarding, Jesus proceeds to illustrate their breach of law and his observance of it in the miracle at Bethesda, 21–34.

16. My doctrine-The words teaching and doctrine mean the same thing. His that sent me-It is God's own teaching through my lips.

17. Any man will do-More correctly, If any man wills to do his will. The first word will is not the auxiliary verb, but is the verb to will, to purpose, to put forth a volition. He who in his heart truly and persistently purposes to do