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woman, who was a notorious sinner, could not but love Jesus ardently, who had converted her, and given her good hope that God would be merciful to her. 47. Wherefore, I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; namely, by me, for the reasoning will not hold without this. Wherefore, Jesus on this occasion, in the hearing of Simon and all the guests, plainly assumed to himself the prerogative of the Son of God, the right of forgiving mens sins. Accordingly, the guests, understood him in this sense, as appears from the reflection which they made upon his speech (ver. 49.) for she loved much. The clause or nyans may be better translated, therefore she has loved much, being put here for dior. Her sins which are many are forgiven, therefore she has loved much. Accordingly it is added, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Our Lord did not make the application, of this parable more directly, but left Simon to do it, because he could not but see that if love invites love, and merits à return, Jesus would have been ungenerous, had he treated this woman with rude insolence. Having expressed greater love to him, she deserved higher returns of gratitude from him than even Simon himself; for which reason he was not to blame when he allowed her to wash his feet with tears, and wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kiss them, and anoint them with sweet scented ointment. Jesus having thus vindicated the woman, spake to her, and kindly assured her that her sins, of which he knew she had truly repented, were actually forgiven. 48. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.-49. And they that sat at meat with him, began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? They were exceedingly offended at the power which he claimed. But Jesus, contemning their malicious murmurings, repeated his assurance by telling the woman that her faith had saved her from the punishment of her sins, and bidding her depart in peace, that is, impressed with a strong sense of the love of God, and filled with the satisfaction which naturally arises from that attainment. 50. And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. 70

XLIV. Pious women supply Jesus with money, and accompany him to the passover. Luke viii. 1,-3.

THE day after our Lord dined with Simon (to nadin) he and his twelve apostles departed from Capernaum, with an intention to go up to Jerusalem, to the passover. He did not however keep the direct road. He set out early, and proposed to preach in many towns and villages by the way. Luke viü. 1. And it came to pass afterward that he went throughout every city and village preaching, and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God; that is, the joyful tidings of God's reconcilable

ness

ness to men, of the necessity of reformation, and of the acceptableness of repentance, even in the chief of sinners. His going through the cities and villages to preach, are the terms made use of by the evangelists, when they describe his departure from Capernaum, the place of his ordinary residence. Therefore, being used on this occasion, it is highly probable that Simon the Pharisee, with whom our Lord dined the day before he departed to preach in the cities and villages, lived in Capernaum. And as this latter gave him the invitation immediately after he had finished the discourse occasioned by the Baptist's message, Jesus must have been in Capernaum, or near it, when that message came to him. By the harmony, it appears that Jesus now departed from Capernaum, in order to go up to the passover. Luke informs us, that in this journey he was accompanied also by certain pious women, who in all probability were going likewise to the feast, and who supplied him with money, not on the present occasion only, but as often as he stood in need of it. Of this number were Mary Magdalene, a lady of the first rank in Judea, out of whom he had cast seven devils, and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward. Mark agrees with Luke in the circumstance of our Lord's being supported by the charity of his friends. For speaking of the women who were present at Christ's crucifixion, he says, ch. xv. 41. that when Jesus was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered unto him of their substance." The evangelists no where else tell us, in what way our Lord and his apostles were supported. The reason why a lady of Joanna's quality had become an attendant of Christ, is assigned by Luke. She was one of the women which had been healed by him of evil spirits and infirmities. *And the twelve were with him. 2. And certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary Magdalene, (See on Luke vii. 37. § 43.) out of whom went seven devils, 3. And Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Hered's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

SECOND PASSOVER.

§ XLV. The infirm man at Bethesda is cured, John v. 1,-47.

ABOUT this time happened the feast of the Jews which John has given the history of, chap. v. 1. After this there was a feast (on (10gr the feast) of the Jews. This in all probability was the feast of passover. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Luke's general description of our Lord's journeying, mentioned in the preceding section, will easily comprehend his journey to and from Jerusalem, on occasion of this feast, as a similar passage in Mak comprehends his journey to and from the third passover. See 63. 37. The feast under consideration is supposed to have been VOL. II. E

the

the passover, because that solemnity was called the feast, ( sogn) by way of eminence, Matt. xxvii. 15. Mark xv. 6. and because immediately after it, we find the disciples on the Sabbath in the fields, rubbing the ears, probably of barley, a kind of grain which was always fit for reaping at the passover. See the next

section.

*

Within the walls of Jerusalem, near the sheep-gate mentioned Neh. iii. 1. there was a public bath, which from its five porches (50 porticos, piazzas, or covered walks) seems to have been of a pentagonal form, the porticos being probably built around it. This bath, for its singular usefulness, was fitly called Bethesda, the house of mercy, a bathing place with porticos or covered walks being a most agreeable and salutary building in those warm climates, where excessive heat was not only troublesome, but noxious to health. John v. 2. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep market, a pool which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.-3. In these, in the porticos of this bath, lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4. For an angel went down † at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water; that is, moved

• There was a public bath.] That the word xoλvμge signifies a bath, is plain from the sense of its primitive nonvμbar, to swim, Acts xxvii. 43. and from Joseph. Ant. xv. 3. who uses it to denote the baths at Jericho. Wherefore, their opinion who affirm that this pool served for washing the sheep designed for sacrifice, before they were driven into the temple, and the entrails also of the beasts sacrificed there, seems to be without foundation. Besides, it is inconsistent with the situation of Bethesda, near the sheep gate in the south-east wall of the city, or according to the compilers of the Universal History, in that which was on the north east, a great way from the temple.

† Ver. 4. At a artain season.Į nasa nasgor by times, or as some understand it, at that season, the season of the feast mentioned ver. 1, confining the mirace of the pool to this particular feast. See Num. ix. 6, 7. LXX. For since the evangelist does not say, that the waters of Bethesda had their sanative quality at any other feast, we are at liberty to make what supposition seems most convenient. Perhaps the silence of Philo and Josephus upon this miracle, may induce some to think, that it happened only at one pas over. For though many infirm people lay in Bethesda, if the angel, as is probable, de-cended frequently during that solemnity, the miracle would be no sooner known, than multitudes would come and wait at the pool, to be cured by the moving waters However, if the number of the sick who gathered on thi occasion, and the phrase xara xaigov, shall incline any to believe, that the waters of Bethesda had an healing quality at other passover also, the silence of the writer before mentioned needs not be much regarded, it being well known that they have omitted greater transaction, which they had as good an opportunity to know; I mean that multitude and variety of miracles which our Lord performed in the course of his ministry. That the water of Bethesda should at this time have obtained a miraculou healing quality, was without doubt in honour of the personal appearance of the Son of God on earth. Perhaps it was intendad to shew, that Ezekiel's vision of waters issuing out of the sanctuary,

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moved it in a sensible manner. Whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had *, was cured, however inveterate, obstinate and incurable his disease might be. Among the crowds which lay in the porticos of Bethesda, there was one who had an infirmity, probably a paralytic disorder, thirty-eight years, John v. 5. And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. The length and greatness of this man's affliction, well known to Jesus, as appears from ver. 6. together with his poverty, ver. 7. were sufficient reasons for our Lord's making choice of him to experience the mercy of his healing power, a power infinitely superior to the virtue of the waters, while he let the rest remain in their affliction. Had our Lord at this time restored none of them to health, he would not have acted contrary to the general account which the evangelists give of his goodness on other occasions, viz. "That he healed all who came to him." For such diseased persons, as left their habitations with a persuasion of his power and benignity, were fit objects of his mercy, while the sick at Bethesda were no more so than the other sick throughout the country, whom he could have cured barely by willing it, had he so pleased. They had no knowledge of him, or, if they knew aught about him, they had no just notion of his power, and were expecting relief from another quarter. When Jesus came to the person on whom he chose to manifest his power, he asked him if he desired to be made whole? 6. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? This question he proposed, that the man might have an opportunity of declaring his case in the hearing of the multitude, (see verse 13.) because such a declaration tended to make the miracle more conspicuous. It seems he designed to rouse the attention of the inhabitants of the capital, resolving to lay the evidences of his mission before them, in the discourse which this miracle was to occasion.

was about to be fulfilled, ch. xlvii. of which waters it is said, ver. 9. They shall be healed, and every thing shall live zubither the river cometh.

*This fourth verse is not indeed in the Cambridge MS. which formerly was Beza's, nor in one or two more of great authority. See Dr Mill's judgment of it, in that part of his prolegomena, to which he refers the reader in his note on the text. But though it should be rejected, the difficulty for which some would have it cancelled, remains still; because the seventh verse implies, that cures were performed in this pool, and that only one at a time was cured, and consequently that these cures were miraculous. If so, it is as easy to conceive that an angel moved the water and gave it its healing quality, as to fancy those cures were performed miraculously any other way.-Grotius thinks that the angel is said to have descended, not because he was ever seen to do so, but because the Jews were persuaded that God brought such things to pass, by the ministration of angels; so that from the violent motion of the water, and the cure fol. lowing it, the presence of an angel was with reason supposed.

casion. The impotent person answered sorrowfully, 7. Sir, I have no man when the water, is troubled to put me into the pool, but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me; he was so destitute, that he had neither friend nor relation to wait on him or to assist him, and so poor that he could hire nobody to do him these offices.-8. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed and walk. Though it was the Sabbath day, and the doctors affirmed, that the bearing of any burden was a profanation of the holy rest, Jesus ordered the man to carry his bed away, because it was fit that the miracle should be rendered indubitable, by the suddenness and perfection of the cure, shewed in the vigorous exertion of the man's strength. Besides, when the people who on the Sabbath ceased from working, met the man as they were walking about, and reproved him for carrying away his bed, he could not avoid telling them what had happened. It was therefore a very proper method of making so signal a miracle universally known. John v. 9. And immediately the man was made whole; he was made whole all of a sudden. So that the cure being effected in an instant, while he was not expecting any such favour, nor knew to whom he owed it, (verse 13.) nobody can pretend that the power of imagination contributed thereto in the least degree. And took up his bed and walked. The paralytic finding himself whole, did not object against his Saviour's command, though contrary to the precepts of the doctors. He rose up immediately, and by carrying away his bed with uncommon vigour, shewed the greatness and perfection of his cure. And on the same day was the Sabbath, i. e. either the first holy convocation in the feast of unleavened bread, that is, the morrow after the passover solemnity, which was one of the greatest Sabbaths, (John xix. 31.) or the ordinary Sabbath happening in the passover week, and consequently the day on which the disciples plucked the ears of corn, to be mentioned in the next section. It is remarkable, that the Jews who met the man did not converse with him upon his cure, though in all probability many of them knew he had been long infirm, but upon the unlawfulness of carrying away his bed. 10. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the Sabbath day, it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. See the carrying of burdens on the Sabbath prohibited, Jer. xvii. 21, 22. 11. He answered them, He that made me whole; he that with a word restored my strength in an instant, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed and walk: He meant, that being a worker of miracles and a prophet, his injunctions could not possibly be sinful. Nevertheless, such was the wickedness or stupidity of the Jews, that they did not ask who had cured him, but with an angry tone of voice required him to tell them who had bid him profane the Sabbath. 12. Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk. To this he

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