--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 350 of 769 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/350/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 2: Lamentations to Revelation, section 350. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/350/" --- # 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. ## 350. John · 33 of 57 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/350/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-2-lamentations-to-revelation/350/#p-N ### Verse 47 [¶1] Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council - The Pharisees, as such, had no power to assemble councils; and therefore only those are meant who were scribes or elders of the people, in conjunction with Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas, who were the high priests here mentioned. See [Joh 18:13], [Joh 18:24]. [¶2] What do we? - This last miracle was so clear, plain, and incontestable, that they were driven now to their wit's end. Their own spies had come and borne testimony of it. They told them what they had seen, and on their word, as being in league with themselves against Jesus, they could confidently rely. ### Verse 48 [¶4] All men will believe on him - If we permit him to work but a few more miracles like these two last (the cure of the blind man, and the resurrection of Lazarus) he will be universally acknowledged for the Messiah; the people will proclaim him king; and the Romans, who can suffer no government here but their own, will be so irritated that they will send their armies against us, and destroy our temple, and utterly dissolve our civil and ecclesiastical existence. Thus, under the pretense of the public good, these men of blood hide their hatred against Christ, and resolve to put him to death. To get the people on their side, they must give the alarm of destruction to the nation: if this man be permitted to live, we shall be all destroyed! Their former weapons will not now avail. On the subject of keeping the Sabbath, they had been already confounded; and his last miracles were so incontestable that they could no longer cry out, He is a deceiver. [¶5] Both our place and nation - Literally, this place, τον τοπον: but that the temple only is understood is dear from [Act 6:13], [Act 6:14]; 2 Maccabees 1:14; 2:18; 3:18; 5:16, 17; 10:7; where it is uniformly called the place, or the holy place, because they considered it the most glorious and excellent place in the world. When men act in opposition to God's counsel, the very evils which they expect thereby to avoid will come upon them. They said, If we do not put Jesus to death, the Romans will destroy both our temple and nation. Now, it was because they put him to death that the Romans burnt and razed their temple to the ground, and put a final period to their political existence. See [Mat 22:7]; and the notes on chap. 24. ### Verse 49 [¶7] Caiaphas being the high priest that same year - By the law of Moses, [Exo 40:15], the office of high priest was for life, and the son of Aaron's race always succeeded his father. But at this time the high priesthood was almost annual: the Romans and Herod put down and raised up whom they pleased, and when they pleased, without attending to any other rule than merely that the person put in this office should be of the sacerdotal race. According to Josephus, Ant. xviii. c. 3, the proper name of this person was Joseph, and Caiaphas was his surname. He possessed the high priesthood for eight or nine years, and was deposed by Vitellius, governor of Judea. See on [Luk 3:2] (note). [¶8] Ye know nothing - Of the perilous state in which ye stand. ### Verse 50 [¶10] Nor consider - Ye talk more at random than according to reason, and the exigencies of the case. There is a various reading here in some MSS. that should be noticed. Instead of ουδε διαλογιζεσθε, which we translate, ye do not consider, and which properly conveys the idea of conferring, or talking together, ουδε λογιζεσθε, neither do ye reason or consider rightly, is the reading of ABDL, three others, and some of the primitive fathers. Griesbach, by placing it in his inner margin, shows that he thinks it bids fair to be the true reading. Dr. White thinks that this reading is equal, and probably preferable, to that in the text: Lectio aequalis, forsitan praeferenda receptae. [¶11] That one man should die for the people - In saying these remarkable words, Caiaphas had no other intention than merely to state that it was better to put Jesus to death than to expose the whole nation to ruin on his account. His maxim was, it is better to sacrifice one man than a whole nation. In politics nothing could be more just than this; but there are two words to be spoken to it: [¶12] First, The religion of God says, we must not do evil that good may come: [Rom 3:8]. [¶13] Secondly, It is not certain that Christ will be acknowledged as king by all the people; nor that he will make any insurrection against the Romans; nor that the Romans will, on his account, ruin the temple, the city, and the nation. This Caiaphas should have considered. A person should be always sure of his premises before he attempts to draw any conclusion from them. See Calmet. This saying was proverbial among the Jews: see several instances of it in Schoettgen. ### Verse 51 [¶15] This spake he not of himself - Wicked and worthless as he was, God so guided his tongue that, contrary to his intention, he pronounced a prophecy of the death of Jesus Christ. [¶16] I have already remarked that the doctrine of a vicarious atonement had gained, long before this time, universal credit in the world. Words similar to these of Caiaphas are, by the prince of all the Roman poets, put in the mouth of Neptune, when promising Venus that the fleet of Aeneas should be preserved, and his whole crew should be saved, one only excepted, whose death he speaks of in these remarkable words: - "Unum pro multis dabitar caput." "One life shall fall, that many may be saved." [¶17] Which victim the poet informs us was Palinurus, the pilot of Aeneas's own ship, who was precipitated into the deep by a Divine influence. See Virg. Aen. v. l. 815, etc. [¶18] There was no necessity for the poet to have introduced this account. It was no historic fact, nor indeed does it tend to decorate the poem. It even pains the reader's mind; for, after suffering so much in the sufferings of the pious hero and his crew, he is at once relieved by the interposition of a god, who promises to allay the storm, disperse the clouds, preserve the fleet, and the lives of the men; but, - one must perish! The reader is again distressed, and the book ominously closes with the death of the generous Palinurus, who strove to the last to be faithful to his trust, and to preserve the life of his master and his friend. Why then did the poet introduce this? Merely, as it appears to me, to have the opportunity of showing in a few words his religious creed, on one of the most important doctrines in the world; and which the sacrificial system of Jews and Gentiles proves that all the nations of the earth credited. [¶19] As Caiaphas was high priest, his opinion was of most weight with the council; therefore God put these words in his mouth rather than into the mouth of any other of its members. It was a maxim among the Jews that no prophet ever knew the purport of his own prophecy, Moses and Isaiah excepted. They were in general organs by which God chose to speak. ### Verse 52 [¶21] And not for that nation only, etc. - These, and the preceding words in [Joh 11:51], are John's explication of what was prophetic in the words of Caiaphas: as if John had said, He is indeed to die for the sins of the Jewish nation, but not for theirs alone, but for the sins of the whole world: see his own words afterwards, [1Jn 2:1], [1Jn 2:2]. [¶22] Gather together in one - That he should collect into one body; - form one Church out of the Jewish and Gentile believers. [¶23] Children of God that were scattered abroad - Probably John only meant the Jews who were dispersed among all nations since the conquest of Judea by the Romans; and these are called the dispersed, [Joh 7:35], and [Jam 1:1]; and it is because he refers to these only, that he terms them here, the children of God, which was an ancient character of the Jewish people: see [Deu 32:5]; [Isa 43:6]; [Isa 45:11]; [Jer 32:1]. Taking his words in this sense, then his meaning is this: that Christ was to die, not only for the then inhabitants of Judea, but for all the Jewish race wheresoever scattered; and that the consequence would be, that they should be all collected from their various dispersions, and made one body. This comports with the predictions of St. Paul: Romans 11:1-32. This probably is the sense of the passage; and though, according to this interpretation, the apostle may seem to confine the benefits of Christ's death to the Jewish people only, yet we find from the passage already quoted from his first epistle, that his views of this subject were afterwards very much extended; and that he saw that Jesus Christ was not only a propitiation for their sins (the Jews) but for the sins of the whole world: see his 1st epistle, [1Jn 2:2]. All the truths of the Gospel were not revealed at once, even to the apostles themselves. ### Verse 53 [¶25] They took counsel together - Συνεβουλευσαντο, they were of one accord in the business, and had fully made up their minds on the subject; and they waited only for a proper opportunity to put him to death. ### Verse 54 [¶27] Walked no more openly - Παρῥησιᾳ, He did not go as before through the cities and villages, teaching, preaching, and healing the sick. [¶28] Near to the wilderness - Some MSS. add, of Samphourein, or Samphourim, or Sapfurim. [¶29] A city called Ephraim - Variously written in the MSS., Ephraim, Ephrem, Ephram, and Ephratha. This was a little village, situated in the neighborhood of Bethel; for the scripture, [2Chr 13:19], and Josephus, War, b. iv. c. 8. s. 9, join them both together. Many believe that this city or village was the same with that mentioned, 1 Maccabees 5:46; 2 Maccabees 12:27. Joshua gave it to the tribe of Judah, [Jos 15:9]; and Eusebius and Jerome say it was about twenty miles north of Jerusalem. [¶30] And there continued - Calmet says, following Toynard, that he stayed there two months, from the 24th of January till the 24th of March. ### Verse 55 [¶32] The Jews' passover was nigh at hand - It is not necessary to suppose that this verse has any particular connection with the preceding. Most chronologists agree that our Lord spent at least two months in Ephraim. This was the last passover which our Lord attended; and it was at this one that he suffered death for the salvation of a lost world. As the passover was nigh, many of the inhabitants of Ephraim and its neighborhood went up to Jerusalem, some time (perhaps seven or eight days, for so much time was required to purify those who had touched the dead) before the feast, that they might purify themselves, and not eat the passover otherwise than prescribed in the law. Many of the country people, in the time of Hezekiah, committed a trespass by not attending to this: see [2Chr 30:18], [2Chr 30:19]. Those mentioned in the text wished to avoid this inconvenience. ### Verse 56 [¶34] Then sought they for Jesus - Probably those of Ephraim, in whose company Christ is supposed to have departed for the feast, but, having stayed behind, perhaps at Jericho, or its vicinity, the others had not missed him till they came to the temple, and then inquired among each other whether he would not attend the feast. Or the persons mentioned in the text might have been the agents of the high priest, etc., and hearing that Christ had been at Ephraim, came and inquired among the people that came from that quarter, whether Jesus would not attend the festival, knowing that he was punctual in his attendance on all the Jewish solemnities. ### Verse 57 [¶36] Had given a commandment - Had given order; εντολην, positive order, or injunction, and perhaps with a grievous penalty, that no one should keep the place of his residence a secret. This was their hour, and the power of darkness; and now they are fully determined to take away his life. The order here spoken of was given in consequence of the determination of the council, mentioned [Joh 11:48-53]. [¶37] Christ's sympathy and tenderness, one of the principal subjects in this chapter, have already been particularly noted on [Joh 11:33]. His eternal power and Godhead are sufficiently manifested in the resurrection of Lazarus. The whole chapter abounds with great and important truths, delivered in language the most impressive and edifying. In the whole of our Lord's conduct in the affair of Lazarus and his sisters, we find majesty, humanity, friendship, and sublime devotion, blended in the most intimate manner, and illustrating each other by their respective splendor and excellence. In every act, in every word, we see God manifested in the Flesh: - Man in all the amiableness and charities of his nature; God in the plenitude of his power and goodness. How sublime is the lesson of instruction conveyed by the words, Jesus wept! The heart that feels them not must be in the gall of bitterness, and bond of iniquity, and consequently lost to every generous feeling. [¶38] On the quotation from Virgil, on the 50th verse, a learned friend has sent me the following lines. [¶39] My dear Sir, - I have observed that in one part of your Commentary you quote these words of Virgil, Unum pro multis dabitur caput; and you are of opinion that Virgil here recognizes the doctrine of atonement. There is a passage in Lucan where this doctrine is exhibited more clearly and fully. It is in the second book, v. 306. Cato, in a speech to Brutus, declares his intention of fighting under the standard of Pompey, and then expresses the following sentiment: - [¶40] O utinam, coelique Deis Erebique liberet, [¶41] Hoc caput in cunctas damnatum exponere poenas! [¶42] Devotum hostiles Decium pressere catervae: [¶43] Me geminae figant acies, me barbara telis [¶44] Rheni turba petat: cunctis ego pervius hastis