130 Reflections on the interview of Christ with Nathaniel.

xii.

SECT. the illustrious Person foretold under that title, and am intended for that glorious throne, around John which the highest angels shall account it their 1.51. honour to appear as humble attendants, when the whole world shall be convened before it.

IMPROVEMENT.

Ver. How cautiously should we guard against popular prejudices, 46 which possessed so honest a heart as that of Nathaniel, and led him to suspect that the blessed Jesus himself was an impostor, and that no good could be expected from him because he had been brought up at Nazareth! But his integrity prevailed over that foolish bias, and laid him open to the conviction of evidence, which a candid inquirer will always be glad to admit, even when it brings the most unexpected discovery.

How amiable is the character here given of Nathaniel! An 47 Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile! May the attainment of so excellent a character, and a resemblance to him in it, be the daily aim and emulation of all who have the honour to be called into the Israel of God!

48

A constant intercouse with God in secret devotion will be a happy expression of one branch of this sincerity, and an effectual means of promoting the rest. Let it therefore be our care that the eye of him that seeth in secret may often behold us in religious retirement, pouring out our souls before God, and humbly consecrating them to his service. The day will come when those scenes of duty which were most cautiously concealed shall be commemorated with public honour; and when he who now discerns them, and is a constant witness to the most private exercises of the closet, will reward them openly. (Matth. vi. 6.)

Happy were those who saw the miracles performed by the Son 51 of man while he was here on earth! and happy those favourite spirits of heaven which were ascending and descending as ministers of his to do his pleasure! But in some degree yet happier are they who, having not seen, have believed; John xx. 29. As their faith is peculiarly acceptable, it shall ere long be turned into sight. They shall behold much greater things than ever were seen below, and more extraordinary manifestations of his glory than they can now conceive; and, being brought with all his people to surround his throne, shall join in those nobler services which attendant angels render him above.

SECT.

Christ goes to a marriage feast at Cana.

SECT. XXIII.

131

Christ attends a marriage feast at Cana in Galilee, and miraculously changes water into wine. John II. 1-11.

JOHN II. 1.

AND the third day

Jesus was there.

NOW

JOHN II. 1.

xiii.

John

there was a marOW the third day after Christ's coming SECT. ringe in Cana of Gali- into Galilee, and discoursing there with Ice; and the mother of Nathaniel in the manner we have related above, there was a marriage at Cana, a town in Galilee, II. 1. which originally belonged to the tribe of Asher (Josh. xix. 28,) and Mary the mother of Jesus was there; it being the marriage of a near relation or an intimate friend of hers. And Je-2 sus, and those of his disciples that were with him, (namely the two disciples that had followed him from the banks of Jordan, with Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel,) being known to be in the neighbourhood, were invited to the marriage: and Jesus, not affecting the austerities which became the character and ministry of John the Baptist, freely accepted of the invitation, and favoured them with his instructive presence.

2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

3 And when they wanted wine, the mo

ther of Jesus saith unto him, They have no

wine.

Now, as it was known that Jesus would be 3 present at the feast, this, in conjunction with the events which had lately arisen, occasioned a greater resort of company than was expected; and when the wine provided for the entertainment of the guests fell short, the mother of Jesus, who either had seen some of his miracles in private, or received from him some hint of his intention now, thought proper to inform him of

a Cana, a town in Galilee.] It lay toward the southern part of the land of Asher (Josh. xix. 28.) and might be called Cana in Galilee, to distinguish it from another town of that name in Cælosyria mentioned by Josephus. Antiq. Judg. lib. xv. cap. 5. (al. 6.) sect. 1. p. 751. Havercamp.

The mother of Jesus was there.] Some have supposed this marriage to be celebrated at the house of Cleopas or Alpheus, whose wife was sister to the mother of our Lord, (John xix. 25,) and one of whose sons was Simon the Cananite, whom some have thought to be so called from his being an inhabitant of this Cana. (Mark iii. 18.) And this may be considered as the more probable, as Mary was not only present at the feast, but was concerned about supplying them with wine; and when the feast was over, we are told at ver. 12. that Jesus was attended, at his leaving Cana, not

it,

only with his own disciples, but with his
brethren, or his nearest kinsmen, who pro-
bably came thither as relations, to be pre-
sent at the marriage.---As Mary here is
spoken of alone, it may be reasonable to
conclude that Joseph was now dead, and
that he lived not to the time when Jesus
entered on his public ministry, especially
as he is no where mentioned in the gospel
afterwards. See Dr. Lightfoot's Harmony,
in loc.

c Either had seen some of his miracles in
private, or received some hint, &c.] With-
out supposing the one or the other of these,
one can hardly imagine why she should thus
apply to him on this occasion. For she could
scarce suppose he had money to buy any
large quantity; nor would it have been so
proper to have done it if he had, lest it
should have been interpreted as an affront
to the bridegoom. But the supply that she
expected

132

His mother charges the servants to obey his orders.

SECT. it, and says unto him, Son, dost thou observe they have no wine to carry on the feast?

xxiii.

4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee?

come.

John But Jesus, not approving it, that she should take II. 4. upon her to direct him in the exercise of his miraculous power, says freely to her, with an air of mine hour is not yet serious rebuke, and in a plainness of language suited to the simplicity of those ages and countries, O woman, what hast thou to do with me, thus to direct me how and when my miracles are to be wrought? Let me now say it once for all, this is a thing that does not lie within thy proper sphere; and in particular, for what is now proposed, my time of doing it is not yet come;f but it is best to wait a little longer, and leave it to my conduct to determine when it will be the fittest and the most convenient season for me to interpose.

5

5 His mother saith

the servants, Whatsoever he saith

In this his mother readily acquiesced, as con-
scious to herself that she had been over hasty in unto
the proposal; but yet, as she inferred from unto you, do it.
his answer that he intended them some extraor-

expected from him was by his working of
a miracle; and it is plain that, notwith-
standing the rebuke she justly met with,
yet she had still a view to this by her direc-
tion to the servants afterwards, ver. 5. to
do whatever he should order them.

d Owoman.] We have no reason to
conclude that there was any rudeness in
his addressing to his mother thus. For
though indeed it is a mauner of expression
that is very unusual among us, to call a
person woman, when we are speaking to
her, if she be one to whom we think that
any respect is due; yet some of the po-
litest writers of antiquity make the most
well-bred and accomplished princes use
it in their addressing unto ladies of the
highest quality; and even servants too are
sometimes represented as speaking to
their mistresses in the same language.
There are some instances of this referred
to in Blackwall's Sacred Classicks, Vol. I.
p. 206. to which many more might easily
be added.

e What hast thou to do with me?] Some have thought, ti quoi xa col, might be rendered, What is that to me and thee? "What does it signify to us, or what concern is it of ours, if they want wine?" But Jesus was of so benevolent a temper, and Mary seems to be so far concerned as a relation, that it does not in this sense appear to be so proper a reply. It seems rather to be intended as a rebuke to Mary; and it was surely expedient she should know that Jesus was not upon such occasions to be

dinary

directed by her. And nothing is more evident than that the phrase in other places has the meaning that our version gives it. See Matth. viii. 29. and Judges xi. 12. 2 Sam. xvi. 10. 1 Kings xvii. 18. 2 Kings iii. 13. and ix. 13. Septuag.

f My time not yet come.] Some are for adding a note of interrogation here (as Gregory Nyssen does) and so would render it, is not my time yet come? As if he had said, "Am I not old enough to know when to work miracles? and now that I have entered on my public ministry, is it not time that I should be exempt from thine authority, and should be left to govern my own actions without any direction." But I conceive the sense in which it is generally taken to be more natural and easy: and I would rather chuse to understand it of the time when he intended to perform this miracle, for which the proper moment, though very near, was not yet quite come; than to refer it in a more general way to the time of his doing miracles in public, or more particularly to restrain it to the time of his sufferings, which Christ indeed has elsewhere called his hour, and which Mr. L'Enfant supposes him here to intimate that he would not anticipate by provoking the Jews too soon; for thus it would have implied a denial of his mother's request, which it is plain from ver. 5. she did not apprehend, and which the event shows that Christ did not design.

Was

6 And there were

set there six water-pots

of stone, after the man

ner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins a

piece.

Christ turns the water into wine.

133

xxiii.

dinary supply, she says unto the servants, with SECT. some degree of authority, as being in part concerned in managing the feast, Whatever he shall John order you, see that you carefully do it; for he ií. 5. may have reasons for it beyond what you imagine.

Now there were set there, near the room in 6 which the feast was kept, six water-pots or jars of stone, from whence the water might be taken that was made use of by the guests to wash their hands and feet, and that was necessary for the washing of the cups and other vessels that were used at table, according to the Jewish custom of purifying, which in some instances was grown to such a superstitious nicetys as to require a considerable quantity of water to be ready upon such occasions: these jars were therefore of a considerable bigness, containing each of them two or three measures". And Jesus chusing, for wise 7 reasons, to make use of these rather than the vessels in which the wine had before been contained, after some convenient pause, that the failing of the wine might be the more observed, goes to the servants that were waiting, and says to them, Fill up those jars with water, And they 8 And he saith unto filled them up to the very brim. And, having 8 them, Draw out now, presently transformed the water by his Divine vernor of the feast. And power into excellent wine, he says unto them, Now draw some of it out, and carry it to the pre

7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water

pots with water. And they filled them up to

the brim.

and bear unto the go

they bare it.

g Was grown to such a superstitious nicety.] Besides the purifications that were appointed by the law of God, there was a multitude of others that were then practised in compliance with the tradition of the elders. Compare Mark vii. 3, 4. and see Godwin's Moses and Aaron, lib. iii. cap. 11. §4.

h Two or three measures.] The measures of the ancients are so very uncertain, that it is hardly possible to determine the exact content of these vessels. Some have computed them to contain about two or three hogsheads; and it is rendered so in our tranlation as to make them contain above a hundred gallons. But it is hardly probable the vessels were so large; and as the word Merglas signifies no more than measures, it is much better we should leave it as we find it, unless the quantity could be determined with more certainty. It seems most probable that, as the Jewish bath was the most common measure that was used in liquids, this is the quantity designed where measures are expressed without any limitation. And

VOL. VI.

sident

as the Jewish bath is reckoned to contain
four gallons and a half, the content of these
vessels, if they are computed only at two
measures each, will amount to no less than
fifty-four gallons, which may be reckoned
a sufficient quantity. See Dr. Lightfoot's
Harmony, in loc. and Godwin's Moses and
Aaron, lib. vi. cap. 9. ad fin.

Р

i Chusing to make use of these.] Jesus might rather chuse to make use of these large vessels, thus to add to the dignity of the miracle by the liberal quantity of wine produced; which we have no reason to believe was all drank that day. If the feast, as was usual, lasted several days (Gen. xxix. 27, 28. and Judg. xiv. 12-17.) a considerable expence might by this means be saved, and an equivalent given for the additional charge of entertaining so many of his disciples. Not to say that this would prevent any suspicion that the tincture or taste of the water might be derived from any remainder of wine in the vessels; for indeed the goodness of the wine thus made would be sufficient to obviate such a thought.

k When

134

xxiii.

John

Christ turns the water into wine.

9 When the ruler of

the feast had tasted the

water that was made

the servants which

at

the beginning doth set

SECT. Sident of the feast. And, in obedience to the orders Jesus gave them, they carried [it] to him. Now when the president of the feast had tasted 11.9. the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it came (though the servants that drew wine, and knew not the water very well knew), observing that it had whence it was: (but a finer flavour than any they had drank before, drew the water knew ;) the president of the feast calls for the bridegroom, the governor of the feast at whose expence he reckoned that this wine had called the bridegroom, 10 been provided, And says unto him, thou hast 10 And saith unto acted to-day in a very uncommon manner, for every man that makes a feast first sets out the good wine, and when they have drank plentifully, so that their taste is not so delicate as before, then brings out that which is worse; [but] thou hast kept the good wine until now, and towards the conclusion of the feast surprisest us with what is much better than we have yet tasted. This naturally gave the bridegroom an opportunity of declaring that he knew nothing of this new supply; which occasioned an examination of the servants, and so a discovery of what Christ had done in it.

him, Every man forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which kept the good wine is worse; but thou hast until now.

11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in

This was the beginning of his public miracles', which Jesus wrought (as we have now related) Cana of Galilee, and in Cana of Galilee, and thereby manifested his manifested forth his glory; and that in such an illustrious manner glory; and his discithat his disciples believed on him more stedfastly pies believed on him. than before, as the fact was so certain and so remarkable.

When they have drank plentifully.] Though day often signifies to drink to excess, yet it would be very unjust and absurd to suppose that it implics here that these guests had already transgressed the rules of temperance. None can seriously imagine the evangelist so destitute of common sense as to represent Christ as displaying his glory by miraculously furnishing the company with wine to prolong a drunken revel. It is much more reasonable to conclude that it signifies here (as it does in Gen. xliii. 34. Cant. v. 1. and Hag. 1. 6. Septuag.) only to drink so freely as innocently to exhilarate the spirits. And even this perhaps might only be the case of some of them, and particularly not of those who,

IMPROVE

drawn by a desire to converse with Jesus, might be but lately come in.

This beginning of his public miracles.] This interpretation seems much preferable to that of Grotius, who only supposes that this was the first miracle wrought at Cana, another being afterwards mentioned (John iv. 46. sect. 31), for it is plain there must have been a long series of miracles wrought here to justify such a manner of speaking, which doth not at all appear to have been the case.

It rather seems to be here represented only as the first of his public miracles; for it seems probable that the necessities of the family might sometimes have engaged him to have done something miraculous for its relief in private. See Rote C, p. 131.