But Jesus did not commit himself unto them
The sense according to some of the ancients is, that he did not
commit the whole of the Gospel to them; he did not make known to
them all his mind and will; this he only did to the twelve
apostles, his special disciples and friends; nor was the time
come, that he would make known, or have made known, the things
concerning his person, office, obedience, sufferings, death, and
resurrection from the dead: but rather the meaning is, that he
did not trust himself with these persons, who believed in him, on
the basis of his miracles; he did not take them into the number
of his associates; he did not admit them to intimacy with him;
nor did he freely converse with them, or make any long stay among
them; but soon withdrew himself from hence, and went into other
parts of Judea, and into Galilee:
because he knew all men:
good and bad: all openly profane sinners, and all their actions;
not only their more public ones, but those that are done in the
dark, and which are the most secretly devised, and levelled
against the saints; and he so knew them, as to bring them into
judgment: and all good men, true believers; he knows their
persons, as they are his Father's choice, his gift of them to
him, his own purchase, and as called by his grace; and so as to
distinguish them at the last day, and give up the full account of
every one of them to his Father: he knows the worst of them, the
sin that dwells in them, their daily infirmities, their secret
personal sins; their family sins, both of omission and
commission; and their church sins, or which are committed in the
house of God; and takes notice of them, so as to resent them, and
chastise them for them; he knows the best of them, their graces,
their faith, hope, love, patience, humility, self-denial, &c;
he knows their good works, and all their weaknesses and their
wants: and he knows all nominal professors, on what basis they
take up their profession, and what trust they place in it; he can
distinguish between grace and mere profession, and discern the
secret lusts which such indulge, and the springs and progress of
their apostasy: he knew all these men, that upon seeing his
miracles, professed at this time to believe in him; he knew the
hypocrisy and dissimulation of some of them; and he knew the
notions they had of a temporal Messiah, and the temporal views
they had in believing in him; and their design to set him up as a
temporal prince, as some afterwards would have done: knew the
flashy affections of others, who were like John's hearers, that
were pleased for a while; he knew what sort of faith it was they
believed in him with, that it would not hold long, nor they
continue with him; for he knew not only all persons, but
(panta) , "all things", as
some copies read here; see ( John 21:17 ) .