3 Jesus answered, Neither has this [man] sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God should be manifested in him.
Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities without end? For thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought, and stripped off the clothing of the naked. Thou hast not given water to the fainting to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. But the powerful man, he had the land; and the man of high rank dwelt in it. Widows hast thou sent empty away, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; Or darkness, that thou canst not see, and floods of waters cover thee. Is not +God in the height of the heavens? And behold the summit of the stars: how exalted are they! And thou sayest, What doth ùGod know? will he judge through the dark cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh on the vault of the heavens. Dost thou mark the ancient path which wicked men have trodden? Who were carried off before the time, whose foundation was overflowed with a flood; Who said unto ùGod, Depart from us! and what could the Almighty do to them? Yet he filled their houses with good. But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. The righteous see it, and are glad; and the innocent laugh them to scorn: Is not he who rose against us destroyed, and doth not the fire consume his residue? Reconcile thyself now with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. If thou remove unrighteousness far from thy tents, And put the precious ore with the dust, and [the gold of] Ophir among the stones of the torrents, Then the Almighty will be thy precious ore, and silver heaped up unto thee; Yea, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto +God: Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows; And thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee; and light shall shine upon thy ways. When they are made low, then thou shalt say, Rise up! and he shall save him that is of downcast eyes. [Even] him that is not innocent shall he deliver; yea, he shall be delivered by the pureness of thy hands.
And Jehovah said to Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and abstaineth from evil? And Satan answered Jehovah and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is spread abroad in the land. But put forth thy hand now and touch all that he hath, [and see] if he will not curse thee to thy face! And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy hand; only upon himself put not forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah.
And Jehovah said to Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and abstaineth from evil? and still he remaineth firm in his integrity, though thou movedst me against him, to swallow him up without cause. And Satan answered Jehovah and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life; but put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, [and see] if he will not curse thee to thy face! And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, he is in thy hand; only spare his life.
For all this I laid to my heart and [indeed] to investigate all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; man knoweth neither love nor hatred: all is before them. All things [come] alike to all: one event to the righteous and to the wicked, to the good, and to the clean, and to the unclean, to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
And he answering said to them, Think ye that these Galileans were sinners beyond all the Galileans because they suffered such things? No, I say to you, but if ye repent not, ye shall all perish in the same manner. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, think ye that *they* were debtors beyond all the men who dwell in Jerusalem? No, I say to you, but if ye repent not, ye shall all perish in like manner.
Believe *me* that I [am] in the Father and the Father in me; but if not, believe me for the works' sake themselves. Verily, verily, I say to you, He that believes on me, the works which I do shall he do also, and he shall do greater than these, because I go to the Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, this will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 9
Commentary on John 9 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 9
After Christ's departure out of the temple, in the close of the foregoing chapter, and before this happened which is recorded in this chapter, he had been for some time abroad in the country, it is supposed about two or three months; in which interval of time Dr. Lightfoot and other harmonists place all the passages that occur from Lu. 10:17 to 13:17. What is recorded in ch. 7 and 8 was at the feast of tabernacles, in September; what is recorded in this and the following chapter was at the feast of dedication in December, ch. 10:22. Mr. Clark and others place this immediately after the foregoing chapter. In this chapter we have,
Jhn 9:1-7
We have here sight given to a poor beggar that had been blind from his birth. Observe,
Now,
Jhn 9:8-12
Such a wonderful event as the giving of sight to a man born blind could not but be the talk of the town, and many heeded it no more than they do other town-talk, that is but nine days' wonder; but here we are told what the neighbours said of it, for the confirmation of the matter of fact. That which at first was not believed without scrutiny may afterwards be admitted without scruple. Two things are debated in this conference about it:-
Jhn 9:13-34
One would have expected that such a miracle as Christ wrought upon the blind man would have settled his reputation, and silenced and shamed all opposition, but it had the contrary effect; instead of being embraced as a prophet for it, he is prosecuted as a criminal.
Jhn 9:35-38
In these verses we may observe,
Jhn 9:39-41
Christ, having spoken comfort to the poor man that was persecuted, here speaks conviction to his persecutors, a specimen of the distributions of trouble and rest at the great day, 2 Th. 1:6, 7. Probably this was not immediately after his discourse with the man, but he took the next opportunity that offered itself to address the Pharisees. Here is,