There was a man of the Pharisees
The Syriac version adds, "there"; that is, at Jerusalem; and who
was among those that believed in the name of Christ, upon seeing
the miracles he did at the feast of the passover, in that place.
This man was not a common and ordinary man, but a man of note and
eminence, of dignity and figure; and who was of the sect of the
Pharisees, which was the strictest sect for religion and
holiness, among the Jews; and which, as corrupt as it was, was
also the soundest; as having not only a regard to a Messiah, and
to all the writings of the Old Testament, but also believed the
doctrines of angels and spirits, and the resurrection of the
dead, which the Sadducees denied; but yet they were implacable
enemies of Christ; and therefore it is the more to be wondered
at, that such an one should come to him, and desire a
conversation with him:
named Nicodemus;
frequent mention is made of (Nwyrwg Nb Nwmydqn) , "Nicodemon ben Gorion", the
brother of Josephus ben Gorion F16, the writer of the Wars and
Antiquities of the Jews; and there are some things which make it
probable, that he was the same with this Nicodemus; for the
Nicodemon the Jews speak so much of, lived in this age; as
appears, not only from his being the brother of Josephus, but
also from his being contemporary with R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, who
lived in this time, and until the destruction of the temple;
since these two are said F17 to be together at a feast, made for
the circumcision of a child. Moreover, he is represented as very
rich, and is said to be one of the three rich men in Jerusalem
F18, and who was able to have
maintained (hnydm) , a
city ten years F19; and they speak of his daughter, as
exceeding rich: they say, that she had for her dowry a thousand
thousand golden denarii, or pence; and that her bed was strewed
with (i.e. the furniture of it cost) twelve thousand golden
denarii; and that a Tyrian golden denarius was spent upon her
every week, for a certain kind of soup F20; and
the wise men decreed her four hundred golden denarii, for a box
of spices every day F21; and it is elsewhere F23 said,
five hundred: and this our Nicodemus was very rich, as appears
from his liberality at the funeral of our Lord, ( John 19:39 ) . Moreover,
the Nicodemon of the Jews, is said to be a counsellor F24 in
Jerusalem; and so was this, as seems evident from ( John 7:32 John 7:50 John 7:51 ) and it may be
further observed F25, that the right name of Nicodemon,
was Boni F26; now Boni elsewhere F1, is
said to be one of the disciples of Jesus, as Nicodemus was
secretly, and perhaps at, and after his death openly, as his
associate Joseph of Arimathea was; to which may be added, the
extreme poverty that his daughter is by them said to be reduced
unto; for they report, that R. Jochanan ben Zaccai saw her
gathering barley corns from under the horses' hoofs in Aco
F2; or as it is elsewhere said, out of
the dung of the beasts of the Arabians; when she asked alms of
him, and he inquired of her, what was become of her father's
substance. Now to this low estate, the family of our Nicodemus
might be reduced, through the persecution of the Christians by
the Jews. The name is Greek, as at this time many Greek names
were in use among the Jews, and signifies the same as Nicolas;
but the Jews give an etymology of it, agreeably to the Hebrew
language; and say, that he was so called, because the sun,
(hdqn) , "shone out for
his sake": the occasion and reason of it, they tell us, were this
F3; Nicodemon, upon want of water at
one of the feasts, agreed with a certain man for twelve wells of
water, to be returned on such a day, or pay twelve talents of
silver; the day being come, the man demanded the water, or the
money; Nicodemon went and prayed, and a plentiful rain fell, and
filled the wells with water; but meeting the man, he insisted on
it that the day was past, the sun being set, and therefore
required the money; Nicodemon went and prayed again, and the sun
shone out; and they add, that there are three persons for whom
the sun (hmdqn) , "was
prevented", detained, or hindered in its course, (a word nearer
his name than the former,) Moses, and Joshua, and Nicodemon ben
Gorion; for the two former they produce Scripture, and for the
latter tradition: hence it is elsewhere said F4, that
as the sun stood still for Joshua, so it stood still for Moses,
and for Nicodemon ben Gorion: but to proceed with the account of
our Nicodemus, he was
a ruler of the Jews;
not a civil magistrate; for the civil government was now in the
hands of the Romans; but an ecclesiastical ruler; he was a member
of the sanhedrim, which consisted of the doctors, or wise men,
and priests, Levites, and elders of the people; and so was a
dignified person, and as afterwards called, a master in Israel.