John 5:12

12 "Who is this man who told you, 'Pick up [your bedroll] and walk?' " they asked.

John 5:12 Meaning and Commentary

John 5:12

Then asked they him
Suspecting who had made him whole, and gave him this order:

what man is that which said unto thee, take up thy bed and walk?
they take no notice of the cure, being unwilling to give any glory to Christ, and still less to spread it; but chose rather that it should be obscured, hid, and unobserved; but they laid hold on that, which they thought might be improved to his reproach and scandal; and they call him a man, as supposing him to be a mere man, and a wicked man too, for giving orders to transgress a tradition of the elders, though no mere man could work such a cure as this was. And so the Jews since, though they cannot find fault with the cure, which they put an "if" upon, yet are highly displeased with the order, to take up his bed and carry it:

``if (say they F1) he wrought a cure, lo, that is good, but why did he bid him take up his bed?''

the answer may be, to show that he was cured.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 Vet. Nizzachon, p. 207.

John 5:12 In-Context

10 so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "This is the Sabbath! It's illegal for you to pick up your bedroll."
11 He replied, "The man who made me well told me, 'Pick up your bedroll and walk.' "
12 "Who is this man who told you, 'Pick up [your bedroll] and walk?' " they asked.
13 But the man who was cured did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple complex and said to him, "See, you are well. Do not sin any more, so that something worse doesn't happen to you."
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