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Joh_21:12-13. Ἄριστον is, as little as in Mat_22:4, Luk_11:38, the principal meal, which, in spite of Joh_21:4, Hengstenberg suggests in the interest of allegorical interpretation, but breakfast.
ἐτόλμα ] dared, presumed. Although, that is, it had been possible for them, in respect of the external appearance, to doubt whether He was the Lord, they were nevertheless convinced of His identity, and hence dared not to ask Him: Who art thou? Reverential awe (comp. already Joh_4:27), in presence of the marvellous appearance of the Risen One, deprived them of the courage to do so. According to Augustine, Beda, Jansen, and several others, they dared not doubt, which however, is not expressed. Chrysostom aptly remarks: οὐκέτι γὰρ τὴν αὐτὴν παῤῥησίαν εἶχον · … τὴν δὲ μορφὴν ἀλλοιοτέραν ὁρῶντες καὶ πολλῆς ἐκπλήξεως γέμουσαν , σφόδρα ἦσαν καταπεπληγμένοι , καὶ ἐβούλοντο τι περὶ αὐτῆς ἐρωτᾶν · ἀλλὰ τὸ δέος καὶ τὸ εἰδέναι αὐτοὺς , ὅτι οὐχ ἕτερός τις ἦν , ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς , ἐπεῖχον τὴν ἐρώτησιν .
ἐξετάσαι ] to explore (Mat_2:8; Mat_10:11; Sir_11:7; Sir_13:11, frequently in the classics), sciscitari; strong expression from the point of view from which the respectful timidity of the disciples regarded the daring nature of the question.
εἰδότες ] Constructio κατὰ σύνεσιν . See Kühner, II. § 419a; Krüger, § 58. 4. 5.
Joh_21:13. ἔρχεται ] The δεῦτε , Joh_21:12, has summoned the disciples to the place of the meal where the fire of coals was; Jesus Himself, who had therefore stood at some distance therefrom, now steps forward, in order to distribute the breakfast.
τὸν ἄρτον ] points back to Joh_21:9, but τὸ ὀψάριον to Joh_21:9-10 : the bread lying there, etc. Both are again collective. It is not merely one loaf and one fish which Jesus distributes, as Hengstenberg, for the purpose of symbolically interpreting it of a heavenly reward of toil, assumes; see Joh_21:10.
A thanksgiving before the δίδωσιν is not related, not as though Jesus omitted τὰ ἀνθρώπινα (Euth. Zigabenus); nor as though He did not desire positively to offer Himself to their recognition (Lange, in opposition to Joh_21:12); nor, again, as though the meal was to be a silent[281] one (Luthardt, who adds: “for such is the table fellowship of Jesus and His own in the present aeon”); nor, again, because the meal represented future blessings (Hengstenberg),—but because here it is not a question of any proper meal, as in Luk_24:20, but rather only of a breakfast, of a morning meal, partaken of only while standing (there is no mention, moreover, of a lying down), which also was not to have, like that early meal of Paul, Act_27:35, a character of solemnity. It was not this breakfast in itself, which Christ prepared for the disciples, but that which preceded (the draught of fishes) and succeeded (Joh_21:15 ff.), which was the object for which the Risen One here appeared.
[281] That the meal passed generally in entire silence, as also Hengstenberg suggests, as little appears from the text as that Jesus did not Himself partake of it (Hengstenberg). In favour of a symbolical interpretation of details, a dismal and extravagant character is given to the incident. But the text breaks off with the distribution of the bread and of the mess of fish, and it says nothing of the progress of the breakfast.