Bible Commentaries
John 10

Verses 1-2

16 It is notable how many of our Lord's recorded signs were done on the sabbath. Doubtless this indicates the fact that their antitype is to be found in the sabbatism which comes at His epiphany. When man ceases work, then is the time for God to act. Man's struggles hinder His operations and obscure the glory which invests His deeds. Holy blind the Pharisees were to this great truth is apparent from the fact that some of them actually insisted that the Lord Himself was the sinner! How far astray are all of man's perceptions! The disciples supposed it must be the blind man or his parents, the Pharisees fasten guilt on the Lord, but only He sees the truth, that the religious, self-righteous Pharisees are blind sinners above all the rest.

24 The double testimony given to the Pharisees may be a premonition of the second witness to the truth which was given to the nation, as recorded in the book of Acts. There also they give Moses and the law a place above our Lord and His apostles, who were "unlettered and plain men" ( Act_4:13 ) , not fit to teach scholars like themselves! But what the blind man lacked in scholarship he more than made up in common sense and spiritual discernment. He is amazed at their ignorance!

34 "They cast him out." This was most dreaded among the Jews, for it meant social as well as religious ostracism. How painful it is, even now, to be cast out of religious organizations, for it has all the semblanee of being cast off by God Himself. But today, even as it was then, it usually is a token of divine favor such as the Philippians enjoyed ( Php_1:29 ), and leads to a more intimate and precious acquaintance with our Saviour. Indeed, we should deem it an exalted privilege to suffer for and with Christ and His truth. There is no higher token of His regard or surer way to His reward than association with Him in His rejection.

38 Salvation, whether from physical or spiritual blindness, or lameness or any disability, is not an end in itself. It is largely futile if it fails to lead to a close acquaintance with God through His Christ. His grace captivates our hearts. The harsh measures of men only show His love in a better light. So, when the man who had been blind was cast out he was immediately taken in and was introduced to the One Who had restored his sight. Nor is this all. Once he knows Him, his heart goes out in adoration, and God gets the worship He craves. This is the true end and consummation of all evil and all blessing. How blessed that he had been born blind! What a pity that the Pharisees had not also been blind! Yet when they are recovered from their spiritual blindness, they also will bow their hearts and worship the One Who opens their blind eyes.

1 The Eastern sheepfold was an enclosure surrounded by a wall of rough jagged stones, skillfully piled, without mortar, about three feet wide at the base, tapering to one foot at the top, and from four to eight feet high. A narrow opening in this wall formed the entrance. There was no movable gate or door, but the shepherd blocked up the entrance at night with his body and so was himself the door. To be safe from wild beasts at night the sheep must come in between his outstretched limbs. The sheep runs were usually in wild, unfrequented spots, infested by bold Bedouin robbers and by wild beasts, such as the jackal, the hyena, the bear, the leopard, and the lion. David battled with a lion and a bear while he kept the sheep of his father ( 1Sa_17:36 ). For this purpose the shepherd had a stout oak club (A. V. "rod") about two feet long, with a large knob on one end studded with heavy iron nails. The other end had a noose for his wrist to help him hold it, or for fastening to his leather girdle when not in use. The shepherd had this club and a crook (rod and staff), one for the sheep's enemies, the other for the sheep themselves. With one he led them, with the other he defended them, even at the risk of his life.

The Psalmist insists that "We (Israel) are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand" ( Psa_95:7 . See also Psa_7:41 ; Psa_77:20 ; Psa_78:52 ; Psa_78:70 ; Psa_79:13 ; Psa_80:1 ). Isaiah foretells the time when He shall feed His flock as a Shepherd ( Isa_40:11 ). Jeremiah pronounces a woe on the spiritual shepherds in Israel and predicts their return out of the countries whither He had driven them ( Jer_23:1-4 ). Ezekiel speaks at length of the nation under this figure ( Eze_34:1-24 ). Now our Lord takes up the same metaphor and announces Himself as the true Shepherd of Israel. This figure is carried through the Circumcision epistles. Peter is especially commissioned to feed His sheep ( Joh_21:16 ) and exhorts his readers to do the same. This figure is never used of the nations in the present economy of grace, except in the faded metaphor "pastors". It is a figure peculiarly adapted to the kingdom, for the true King is a shepherd, as David was.

Instead of His people guarding and gorging Him, He feeds and defends them. Our translators have actually rendered the verb "rule" on four occasions ( Mat_2:6 ; Rev_2:27 ; Rev_12:5 ; Rev_19:15 ). The nations, as such, are figured by wild beasts, such as a lion, a leopard, or a bear. Our relation to Christ is far more intimate than even the tender Eastern shepherd toward His sheep, for He is our Head, and we are members of His body. The actual body of Christ is the only living form from earth in the heavens and it is the picture of our celestial place and dignity, as well as our vital contact with our Head.

Verses 3-33

3 John the baptist was the door keeper who opened the door to the true Shepherd. Many another has come claiming to be Israel's shepherd, but they did not come in God's appointed way.

4 The Eastern shepherd never drives his sheep. He calls them. They will not follow a strange voice.

11 In His humiliation He was the ideal Shepherd defending His sheep. In His exaltation He is the great Shepherd, feeding them ( Heb_13:20 ).

16 The dispersion, outside the land, was reached by Peter ( 1Pe_1:1 ) , in his two epistles.

22 The Dedications must refer to the rededication of the temple, after three years' profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes, in the days of Judas Maccabeus, for Solomon's temple was dedicated in the seventh month, which was about the autumnal equinox, Zerubbabel's temple was dedicated in the twelfth month, the beginning of spring, but Judas Maccabeus held his dedication for eight days, beginning on the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month-in the midst of winter. Besides, neither Solomon nor Zerubbabel made it an annual celebration. Josephus tells about it in his Antiquities, book XII, chapter 7. He takes his account from the first book of Maccabees, IV, 36-59, and the second book, X,5-8. This festival was not of divine appointment, and mars the great series of seven festivals which are a prophetic forecast of Israel's history. These are in two groups, one of which has been fulfilled, and one still future. The Passover, Unleavened, First fruit, and Pentecost are history now. Trumpets, Propitiation, and Tabernacles will be fulfilled when Israel is again in God's reckoning. After the millennium, which is the antitype of Tabernacles, there will not be a rededication of the temple. On the contrary, the temple and its worship will be superseded by reconciliation where no ritual is needed.

22 The Dedications was a sentimental, human anniversary, which never would have been instituted had the people not been blind to the marvelous meaning of Jehovah's perfect series of festivals. It is usually called the feast of Lights. Such it was to the blind man! But to the

Jews as a nation, this light-human amendment of the law and the ritual-was darkness, and how great was their darkness! If our faith is in man and his works, how futile it is! The many church festivals of today are like the Dedications, without foundation in truth, however they may appeal to religious sentiment. God's festivals were filled with spiritual significance and force, which now demands the non-observance of days and set seasons.

Verses 34-42

34 The term "gods" is translated "judges" in Exo_21:6 ; Exo_22:8-9 , where it refers to men. But our Lord does not appeal to this, but to Psa_82:6 where the context clearly excludes men. The mighty spiritual powers of the past who overrule the affairs of mankind are called sons by God Himself. Even Satan is called a son of God ( Job_1:6 ). He is called the god of this eon ( 2Co_4:4 ). Now if God said to these subjectors, "Gods are you," notwithstanding the fact that they failed to right the wrongs of earth, how much rather shall He have called Him God Who shall dispossess them? To Him God says ( Psa_82:8 ): Rise, O God! Judge the earth, For Thou shalt be allotted all nations.

He had been undoing the deeds of these sons of God and doing all that was foretold of Him before their very eyes. And yet they thought they were not blind!

1 The rousing of Lazarus from among the dead is the seventh and last sign in John's account. Each succeeding sign finds the nation on a lower level. At the marriage feast of Cana they lacked the joy and gladness of the kingdom; the infirm man at Bethesda's pool lacked power; the disciples on the sea, tossed by the tempest, lacked peace; the blind man lacked sight; but Lazarus lacked life. The apostasy of the nation had developed to such a degree that death was the fittest symbol to describe them. This is the condition of Israel in the latter days, as the prophet Ezekiel saw them in the valley of dry bones ( Eze_37:3 ). The question is asked, "Shall these bones live?" And the bones are roused from death, and enter the land of Israel.

4 The cause of Lazarus' infirmity was not sin, as in the case of the man at Bethesda. It was the necessary prelude to the manifestation of His glory. Indeed, the Lord deliberately delayed His departure in order that he should die. So He deals with Israel. Their great cry is "Till when ?" ( Isa_6:11 ). Their restoration to life is postponed until they are beyond all hope, until their resurrection, spiritually as well as physically, is manifestly the work of the Lord.

9 The day, in the East, begins with sunrise and ends with sunset. It is always divided into twelve hours. In summer these are longer than in winter. As the sun is nearly always shining anyone can tell the time of day by merely glancing at his shadow.

11 Repose is the favorite figure of death in the Scriptures. Only four times is it used of the actual repose of sleep ( Mat_27:52 ; Mat_28:13 ; Luk_22:45 ; Act_12:6 ). Fourteen times is it found in its figurative sense ( Joh_11:11-12 ; Act_7:60 ; Act_13:36 ; 1Co_7:39 ; 1Co_11:30 ; 1Co_15:6 ; 1Co_15:18 ; 1Co_15:20 ; 1Co_15:51 ; 1Th_4:13-15 ; 2Pe_3:4 ). It is used of both believers and unbelievers ( 1Co_7:39 ). It likens death to that beneficial aspect of sleep which restores us to physical vigor and vitality. Death itself is an enemy, so we must look to the resurrection as the true inspiration for this figure. This is beautifully pictured in the case of Lazarus. Had he actually found repose in sleep he would doubtless have recovered. But his death amounted to no more than this after the Lord has restored his life by resurrection. Of his experience in death we are told nothing, for this figure precludes the thought. Normal sleep is itself without sensation, and "the repose of sleep" is unbroken oblivion until the awakening.

15 We know that the Lord was fond of Lazarus (3). How strange, then, to hear Him say "Lazarus died. And I am rejoicing . . ."! We might have said, "I am sorrowing ." It is our privilege, also, to look about us on all the distress and disaster and death and rejoice, not in the calamities themselves, but in the glory which will accrue to God when He deals with them. It is only as we see God's beneficent purpose in our trials that we can really endure them with joyfulness.

17 The four days may suggest the time during which the nation lies lifeless, before the resurrection of the day of the Lord. First they were under the law, and this dealt out death. Then came the personal ministry of Messiah which showed them to be but a corrupt corpse.

The rejection of the apostolic testimony in the Acts leaves them still worse. They become most offensive in the day of wrath.