John 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).

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.