John 5:12

12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your pallet, and walk'?"

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Vet. Nizzachon, p. 207.

John 5:12 In-Context

10 So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet."

11 But he answered them, "The man who healed me said to me, 'Take up your pallet, and walk.'"

12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your pallet, and walk'?"

13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.

14 Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you."