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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Bengel Commentary - John 8:57 - 8:57
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Joh 8:57. Πεντήκοντα, fifty) For contention’s sake they exaggerate the number. But, had they not been altogether forgetful of His nativity at Bethlehem, they would have said, Thirty years old, and not much more. As it is, they imply this by their words, Thou hast not yet reached a half century, in other words, the year of superannuation; Num 4:3, The term of the Levite service, “From thirty years old and upward, even until fifty years old,” as Lightfoot observes; whence it seems, the expression is not unlike an adage. It is not likely, that Jesus by reason of sorrows had contracted a premature appearance of old age. Heb 1:9, “God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above they fellows:” Mat 9:15, “Can the children of the bride-chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them?” ch. Joh 11:19, “The Son of Man came eating and drinking.”-Ἀβραάμ, Abraham) He had died 1850 years before this colloquy.-ἑώρακας, hast thou seen) They speak (and rightly so, indeed; comp. ch. Joh 16:16; Joh 16:22, “A little while, and ye shall not see Me, and again, a little while and ye shall see Me,” etc.: “Ye now have sorrow, but I will see you again,”) by the force of correlatives. Since Abraham saw Thy day; Thou hast seen Abraham.