13 And the passover of the Jews was nigh, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
And his parents were going yearly to Jerusalem, at the feast of the passover,
And the passover of the Jews was nigh, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the passover, that they might purify themselves;
`And it hath become a charge to you, until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the company of Israel have slaughtered it between the evenings; and they have taken of the blood, and have put on the two side-posts, and on the lintel over the houses in which they eat it. `And they have eaten the flesh in this night, roast with fire; with unleavened things and bitters they do eat it; ye do not eat of it raw, or boiled at all in water, but roast with fire, its head with its legs, and with its inwards; and ye do not leave of it till morning, and that which is remaining of it till morning with fire ye do burn. `And thus ye do eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and ye have eaten it in haste; it is Jehovah's passover, and I have passed over through the land of Egypt during this night, and have smitten every first-born in the land of Egypt, from man even unto beast, and on all the gods of Egypt I do judgments; I `am' Jehovah. `And the blood hath become a sign for you on the houses where ye `are', and I have seen the blood, and have passed over you, and a plague is not on you for destruction in My smiting in the land of Egypt. `And this day hath become to you a memorial, and ye have kept it a feast to Jehovah to your generations; -- a statute age-during; ye keep it a feast.
`Observe the month of Abib -- and thou hast made a passover to Jehovah thy God, for in the month of Abib hath Jehovah thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night; and thou hast sacrificed a passover to Jehovah thy God, of the flock, and of the herd, in the place which Jehovah doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle there. `Thou dost not eat with it any fermented thing, seven days thou dost eat with it unleavened things, bread of affliction; for in haste thou hast come out of the land of Egypt; so that thou dost remember the day of thy coming out of the land of Egypt all days of thy life; and there is not seen with thee leaven in all thy border seven days, and there doth not remain of the flesh which thou dost sacrifice at evening on the first day till morning. `Thou art not able to sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, except at the place which Jehovah thy God doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle -- there thou dost sacrifice the passover in the evening, at the going in of the sun, the season of thy coming out of Egypt; and thou hast cooked and eaten in the place on which Jehovah thy God doth fix, and hast turned in the morning, and gone to thy tents; six days thou dost eat unleavened things, and on the seventh day `is' a restraint to Jehovah thy God; thou dost do no work.
After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
`And in the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, `is' the passover to Jehovah; and in the fifteenth day of this month `is' a festival, seven days unleavened food is eaten; in the first day `is' an holy convocation, ye do no servile work, and ye have brought near a fire-offering, a burnt-offering to Jehovah: two bullocks, sons of the herd, and one ram, and seven lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones they are for you; and their present, flour mixed with oil, three-tenth deals for a bullock, and two-tenth deals for a ram ye do prepare; a several tenth deal thou preparest for the one lamb, for the seven lambs, and one goat, a sin-offering, to make atonement for you. `Apart from the burnt-offering of the morning, which `is' for the continual burnt-offering, ye prepare these; according to these ye prepare daily, seven days, bread of a fire-offering, a sweet fragrance, to Jehovah; besides the continual burnt-offering it is prepared, and its libation; and on the seventh day a holy convocation ye have, ye do no servile work.
`Three times in a year doth every one of thy males appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which He doth choose -- in the feast of unleavened things, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths; and they do not appear before Jehovah empty;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on John 2
Commentary on John 2 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 2
Joh 2:1-12. First Miracle, Water Made Wine—Brief Visit to Capernaum.
1. third day—He would take two days to reach Galilee, and this was the third.
mother there—it being probably some relative's marriage. John never names her [Bengel].
3. no wine—evidently expecting some display of His glory, and hinting that now was His time.
4, 5. Woman—no term of disrespect in the language of that day (Joh 19:26).
what … to do with thee—that is, "In my Father's business I have to do with Him only." It was a gentle rebuke for officious interference, entering a region from which all creatures were excluded (compare Ac 4:19, 20).
mine hour, &c.—hinting that He would do something, but at His own time; and so she understood it (Joh 2:5).
6. firkins—about seven and a half gallons in Jewish, or nine in Attic measure; each of these huge water jars, therefore, holding some twenty or more gallons, for washings at such feasts (Mr 7:4).
7, 8. Fill … draw … bear—directing all, but Himself touching nothing, to prevent all appearance of collusion.
9, 10. well drunk—"drunk abundantly" (as So 5:1), speaking of the general practice.
10. the good wine … until now—thus testifying, while ignorant of the source of supply, not only that it was real wine, but better than any at the feast.
11. manifested forth his glory—Nothing in the least like this is said of the miracles of prophet or apostle, nor could without manifest blasphemy be said of any mere creature. Observe, (1) At a marriage Christ made His first public appearance in any company, and at a marriage He wrought His first miracle—the noblest sanction that could be given to that God-given institution. (2) As the miracle did not make bad good, but good better, so Christianity only redeems, sanctifies, and ennobles the beneficent but abused institution of marriage; and Christ's whole work only turns the water of earth into the wine of heaven. Thus "this beginning of miracles" exhibited the character and "manifested forth the glory" of His entire Mission. (3) As Christ countenanced our seasons of festivity, so also that greater fulness which befits such; so far was He from encouraging that asceticism which has since been so often put for all religion. (4) The character and authority ascribed by Romanists to the Virgin is directly in the teeth of this and other scriptures.
12. Capernaum—on the Sea of Galilee. (See on Mt 9:1).
his mother and his brethren—(See on Lu 2:51, and Mt 13:54-56).
Joh 2:13-25. Christ's First Passover—First Cleansing of the Temple.
14-17. in the temple—not the temple itself, as Joh 2:19-21, but the temple-court.
sold oxen, &c.—for the convenience of those who had to offer them in sacrifice.
changers of money—of Roman into Jewish money, in which the temple dues (see on Mt 17:24) had to be paid.
15. small cords—likely some of the rushes spread for bedding, and when twisted used to tie up the cattle there collected. "Not by this slender whip but by divine majesty was the ejection accomplished, the whip being but a sign of the scourge of divine anger" [Grotius].
poured out … overthrew—thus expressing the mingled indignation and authority of the impulse.
16. my Father's house—How close the resemblance of these remarkable words to Lu 2:49; the same consciousness of intrinsic relation to the temple—as the seat of His Father's most august worship, and so the symbol of all that is due to Him on earth—dictating both speeches. Only, when but a youth, with no authority, He was simply "a Son in His own house"; now He was "a Son over His own house" (Heb 3:6), the proper Representative, and in flesh "the Heir," of his Father's rights.
house of merchandise—There was nothing wrong in the merchandise; but to bring it, for their own and others' convenience, into that most sacred place, was a high-handed profanation which the eye of Jesus could not endure.
17. eaten me up—a glorious feature in the predicted character of the suffering Messiah (Ps 69:9), and rising high even in some not worthy to loose the latchet of His shoes. (Ex 32:19, &c.).
18-22. What sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?—Though the act and the words of Christ, taken together, were sign enough, they were unconvinced: yet they were awed, and though at His very next appearance at Jerusalem they "sought to kill Him" for speaking of "His Father" just as He did now (Joh 5:18), they, at this early stage, only ask a sign.
19. Destroy this temple, &c.—(See on Mr 14:58, 59).
20. Forty and six years—From the eighteenth year of Herod till then was just forty-six years [Josephus, Antiquities, 15.11.1].
21. temple of his body—in which was enshrined the glory of the eternal Word. (See on Joh 1:14). By its resurrection the true Temple of God upon earth was reared up, of which the stone one was but a shadow; so that the allusion is not quite exclusively to Himself, but takes in that Temple of which He is the foundation, and all believers are the "lively stones." (1Pe 2:4, 5).
22. believed the scripture—on this subject; that is, what was meant, which was hid from them till then. Mark (1) The act by which Christ signalized His first public appearance in the Temple. Taking "His fan in His hand, He purges His floor," not thoroughly indeed, but enough to foreshadow His last act towards that faithless people—to sweep them out of God's house. (2) The sign of His authority to do this is the announcement, at this first outset of His ministry, of that coming death by their hands, and resurrection by His own, which were to pave the way for their judicial ejection.
23-25. in the feast day—the foregoing things occurring probably before the feast began.
many believed—superficially, struck merely by "the miracles He did." Of these we have no record.
24. did not commit—"entrust," or let Himself down familiarly to them, as to His genuine disciples.
25. knew what was in man—It is impossible for language more clearly to assert of Christ what in Jer 17:9, 10, and elsewhere, is denied of all mere creatures.