John 2
CHAPTER 2
John 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 ( John 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 Acts 4:19 Acts 4:20 ).
mine hour, &c.--hinting that He would do something, but at His own time; and so she understood it ( John 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 ( Mark 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 Solomon 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.
his mother and his
John 2:13-25 . CHRIST'S FIRST PASSOVER--FIRST CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE.
14-17. in the temple--not the temple itself, as John 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 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 Luke 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" ( Hebrews 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 ( Psalms 69:9 ), and rising high even in some not worthy to loose the latchet of His shoes. ( Exodus 32:19 , &c.).