--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 329 of 769 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/329/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation, section 329. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/329/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 2 of 2. ## 329. John · 12 of 57 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/329/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/329/#p-N ### Verse 36 [¶1] And he that reapeth receiveth wages - Or, And already the reaper receiveth wages. By making the word ηδη, already, the beginning of this verse, on the authority of some excellent MSS. and versions, a more consistent sense is obtained than from the common arrangement, where ηδη terminates the preceding verse. [¶2] Already the heavenly sower, Jesus Christ, becomes the reaper of the produce of the seed which he had so lately sown; and receives the wages which he desired, the high gratification of saving immortal souls; and gathers in his fruit unto eternal life. So the sower and the reaper, who are here one and the same person, rejoiced together, having seen the seed time and the harvest take place on the same day. The sower had not time to leave the field which he had sown, till it was full time to gather in the harvest! ### Verse 37 [¶4] Herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth - Or, One is the sower, and another is the reaper. In what respects you, of this business, this proverb is true - One is the sower, etc., for I have sent you to reap, to preach my Gospel, and gain converts, where ye have not labored - have not sown the first seeds of eternal life. Others have labored - the patriarchs and prophets, and ye are entered into the fruits of their labors. They announced the Messiah who was to come, and the expectation of the people was excited, and they longed for his appearance; but they were gathered to their fathers before they could see the fruit of their labor. You are come to tell the people that the kingdom of God is among them, and that God has visited his people. [¶5] The proverb which our Lord mentions above was taken from what ordinarily happens in the course of the Divine providence, where one takes a great deal of pains to procure that of which another reaps the benefit. See instances of this proverb, [Lev 26:16] : Ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. [Mic 6:15] : Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but not anoint thee with the oil. See also [Hos 7:9]. The Greeks had the same proverb: Αλλοι μεν σπερουσι, αλλοι δ'αν αμησονται. So had the Latins: Aliis leporem excitasti. You have beat the bush, and another has found the hare. See the famous verses of Virgil beginning with, Sic vos non vobis, in which the fowls, the sheep, the bees, and the oxen, are elegantly brought in as illustrations of the propriety of the proverb. [¶6] Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves. [¶7] Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves. [¶8] Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes. [¶9] Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves. [¶10] So you, ye birds, of wondrous skill possest, [¶11] Not for yourselves construct the curious nest. [¶12] So you, ye sheep, who roam the verdant field, [¶13] Not for yourselves your snowy fleeces yield, [¶14] So you, ye bees, who every flower explore, [¶15] Not for yourselves amass the honied store. [¶16] So you, ye patient kine, inured to toil, [¶17] Not for yourselves subdue the stubborn soil! [¶18] Bishop Pearce gives this text a remarkable turn. The verse he translates thus: I sent you away, that ye might reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; i.e. I did not send you to the city ([Joh 4:8]) for this purpose only, that ye might buy meat; but I sent you away chiefly with this intent, that there might be a harvest for you to reap upon your return; though you sowed no seed, and bestowed no labor for that purpose. While you were gone, I sowed spiritual seed in the heart of a Samaritan woman; and she is gone, and is about to return with many of her city, whom she has brought to believe, ([Joh 4:39-42].) These, and the many more which will believe upon hearing my doctrine, ([Joh 4:41]), will all be a harvest arising out of the seed which I sowed in your absence, and on which, therefore, ye bestowed no labor. He farther adds, that the Greek θεριζειν, stands for του θεριζειν, and such expressions are often used to signify, not the end and design, but the event only. Pearce's Comment. ### Verse 39 [¶20] Many of the Samaritans - believed on him for the saying of the woman - This woman was the first apostle of Christ in Samaria! She went and told her fellow citizens that the Messiah was come; and gave for proof, that he had told her the most secret things she had ever done: see on [Joh 4:29] (note). This word, which is twice repeated, in [Joh 4:29] and here, strongly intimates that a more particular conversation had taken place, between our Lord and the Samaritan woman, than what is here related. ### Verse 40 [¶22] He abode there two days - We are not told that he wrought any miracles among them; this does not appear to have been necessary: they were a simple-hearted, teachable people, and they credited him on the evidence of his own eternal truth. Why are not miracles wrought now? Miracles were only for the establishment of the doctrines of Christianity, where they were first preached; we profess to believe these doctrines; therefore, to us, miracles would be useless. Where the doctrine is credited, no miracle is necessary: the Samaritans believed, and no miracle was wrought among them; for the simple reason, it was not necessary. ### Verse 42 [¶24] We have heard him ourselves - On seeing and hearing our Lord, the faith of those who had already believed on the woman's testimony was abundantly confirmed; and, besides those, may others believed who had not heard the woman speak. [¶25] This is indeed the Christ - The promised Messiah. [¶26] The Savior of the world - Not of the Jews only, but of the Samaritans, and of the whole Gentile world. ### Verse 43 [¶28] Went into Galilee - Bishop Pearce thinks that some words have been lost from the end of this verse, which may be supplied thus: Went into Galilee, but not to Nazareth; for Jesus himself had declared, etc. In [Mat 13:57]; [Mar 6:4], and [Luk 4:24], which are the only texts where Jesus is said to have declared this, he always spake of Nazareth only, and not of Galilee in general, a country where he lived for the most part, and wrought the greatest number of his miracles, and made the most converts. ### Verse 44 [¶30] Jesus himself testified - He bore testimony to the general truth of the following proverb. See on [Mat 13:57] (note). ### Verse 45 [¶32] The Galileans received him - They received him as the promised Messiah, because of the miracles which they had seen him perform at Jerusalem, at the Passover. See [Joh 2:23]. ### Verse 46 [¶34] Where he made the water wine - See the notes on [Joh 2:1], etc. Cana was on the road from Nazareth to Capernaum and the Sea of Tiberias. [¶35] A certain nobleman - An officer of the king's court: for this is the meaning of the original word, βασιλικος, which the Vulgate translates regulus, a little king. This officer belonged to Herod Antipas, who was then tetrarch of Galilee. Jerome calls him Palatinus, and says he was an officer of the king's palace. Others think it was Chuza, mentioned [Luk 8:3]; and others think it was Manaen, spoken of [Act 13:1]. One of these opinions may be true, but all solid proof is wanting. This officer, whoever he was, appears to have had his ordinary abode at Capernaum, and hearing that Christ was at Cana, he came express from Capernaum thither, to entreat him to heal his child. ### Verse 48 [¶37] Except ye see signs and wonders, etc. - Our Lord does not tell this man that he had no faith, but that he had not enough. If he had had none, he would not have come from Capernaum to Cana, to beg him to heal his son. If he had had enough, he would have been contented with recommending his son to our Lord, without entreating him to go to Capernaum to heal him; which intimates that he did not believe our Lord could do it at a distance. But the words are not addressed to the nobleman alone, but to all the Galilean Jews in general; for our Lord uses the plural number, which he never does when addressing an individual. These people differed widely from the people of Sychar: they had neither a love of the truth, nor simplicity of heart; and would not believe any thing from heaven, unless forced on their minds by the most striking miracles. They were favored with the ministry of John Baptist; but, as that was not accompanied with miracles, it was not generally credited. They require the miracles of Christ, in order that they may credit the advent of the Messiah. There are many like these Galileans still in the world: they deny that God can have any influence among men; and as to the operations of the Holy Spirit, they, in the genuine Galilean spirit, boldly assert that they will not credit any man who professes to be made a partaker of them, unless he work a miracle in proof of his pretensions! These persons should know that the grace of working miracles was very different from that by which a man is saved; and that the former might exist, even in the most astonishing measure, where the latter did not. See [1Cor 13:2]. ### Verse 49 [¶39] Sir, come down, etc. - He did not think our Lord could cure him without being present, and seems here to feel himself hurt, because our Lord did not come at his first entreaty. It is difficult for a proud man, or a man in office, to humble himself, or to treat even God Almighty with proper respect. The spirit of this man seems not much unlike to that of Naaman the Syrian, [2Kgs 5:11]. ### Verse 50 [¶41] Go thy way; thy son liveth - Had our Lord gone with him, as he wished, his unbelief could not have been fully removed; as he would have still thought that our Lord's power could not reach from Cana to Capernaum: in order to destroy his unbelief at once, and bring him into the fullness of the faith of his supreme power, he cures him, being apparently absent, by that energy through which he fills both the heavens and the earth. Here it may be observed, our blessed Lord did what this man requested him to do, but not in the way in which he wished it to be done. God will save all to the uttermost who call upon him, but not in the way in which they may desire. Eternal life is the free gift of God, and he has a right to give it as he pleases; and he always gives his gifts in that way in which his glory is best promoted, and our eternal interest secured. [¶42] The man believed the word - And yet it appears that he had suspended his faith upon a certain condition: "If I find on my return that my son is healed, I will believe that Jesus is the Messiah." ### Verse 52 [¶44] Then inquired he of them the hour - The servants, overjoyed to find their master's son so suddenly restored, set off to meet him, that they might impart to him tidings which they knew would be so very agreeable; and he, intent on having his faith settled, began immediately to inquire what time it was when the fever left him, to see whether his cure was the effect of some natural cause, or whether it was done by the power of Christ. [¶45] Yesterday at the seventh hour - At the time we would call one o'clock. Dr. Macknight thinks the Roman hour is intended; i.e. seven o'clock in the evening; and this he thinks is the reason why our Lord did not accompany the nobleman: for, as Cana was a day's journey from Capernaum, had our Lord gone at that hour he must have traveled in the night, from which it might have been inferred that he could not cure the child without being personally present. Harmony, vol. i. p. 52.