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Joh_2:6. Ἐκεῖ ] Whether in the feast chamber, or possibly in the vestibule, we are not told.
ὑδρίαι ] water-pitchers for carrying water, Joh_4:28; often in the LXX.; Dem. 1155. 6; Arist. Vesp. 926; Lysistr. 327, 358; Lucian, Dem. enc. 29.
ἕξ ] Not stated as explanatory of the Jewish custom, but as vividly describing the exact circumstances, yet not with any symbolic significance (six, Lange thinks, was the number of poverty and labour).
κείμεναι ] positae, set down, placed there. Comp. Joh_19:29; Jer_24:1; Xen. Oec. viii. 19 : χύτρας … εὐκρινῶς κειμένας .
κατὰ τὸν καθαρ . τῶν Ἰουδ .] i.e. for the sake of cleansing (the hands and vessels, Mat_15:2; Mar_7:3 ff.; Luk_11:39; Lightfoot, p. 974), which the Jews practised before and after meals. On κατὰ , in which, as in 2Ti_1:1, “notio secundum facile transit in notionem propter” (Kühner, ad Xen. Mem. i. 3. 12). Comp. Winer, p. 376 [E. T. p. 602].
μετρητάς ] In conformity with his Hellenic tendency, John gives the Attic measure, which, however, is equal to the Hebrew áÌÇú (Josephus, Antt. viii. 2. 9). The Attic metretes contained 12 χόες or 144 κοτύλαι , 1½ Roman amphorae, i.e. about 21 Würtemburg measures (see Wurm, de ponderum etc. rationib. 126), and about 33 Berlin quarts, in weight eighty pounds of water [about 87/8 gallons] (Bertheau, Gesch. d. Israel, p. 77). Comp. Böckh, Staatshaush. I. 127; Hermann, Privatalterth. § 46. 10. Each pitcher contained two or three metretae (which are not, with Ammon, to be referred to a smaller measure, nor even, with Ebrard, to that of an amphora); for as a row of six pitchers is named, ἀνά can, consistently with the context, only be taken in a distributive sense, not in the signification—which is, besides, linguistically untenable (see Winer, p. 372 [E. T. pp. 496–7])—of circiter, according to which all six must have held only about two or three metretae (Paulus, Hug). The great quantity of water thus turned into wine (252–378 Würtemburg measures, 106–160 gallons) seems out of all proportion, and is used by Strauss and Schweizer to impugn the historic character of the narrative; but it is conceivable if we consider the character of the miracle as one of blessing (compare the miraculous Feedings), and that we are to suppose that what was left over may have been intended by Jesus as a present for the married pair, while the possible abuse of it during the feast itself was prevented by the presence of the Giver. We must also bear in mind that the quantity was suggested to Him by the six pitchers standing there; and therefore, if the blessed Wonder worker had not merely to measure the amount of the need, He had occasion all the more not to keep within the exact quantity which the circumstances demanded, by changing the contents of only one or two pitchers into wine, and omitting the rest. The blessing conferred by the Wonderworker has also, considering the circumstances, its appropriateness and decorum, in keeping with which He was not to act in a spirit of calculation, but, on the contrary, to give plentifully, especially when, as was here the case, this abundance was suggested by the vessels which were standing there.