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Joh_3:29-30. Symbolical setting forth of his subordinate relation to Jesus. The bridegroom is Jesus, John is the friend who waits upon Him; the bride is the community of the Messianic kingdom; the wedding is the setting up of that kingdom, now nigh at hand, as represented in the picture which the Baptist draws (comp. Mat_9:15; Mat_25:1 ff.). The O. T. figure of God’s union with His people as a marriage (Isa_54:5; Hos_2:18-19; Eph_5:32; Rev_19:7; Rev_21:2; Rev_21:9) forms the basis of this comparison. It may reasonably be doubted whether Solomon’s Song (especially Joh_5:1; Joh_5:6) was likewise in the Baptist’s thoughts when employing this illustration (Bengel, Luthardt, Hengstenberg); for no quotation is made from that book in the N. T., and therefore any allegorical interpretation of this Song with Messianic references cannot with certainty be presupposed in the N. T. Comp. Luk_13:31, note.
He to whom the bride (the bride-elect of the marriage feast) belongs is the bridegroom,—therefore it is not I.
The friend of the bridegroom ( κατʼ ἐξοχήν : the appointed friend, who serves at the wedding) is the παρανύμφιος , who is also, Sanhedr. f. 27, 2, called àåäá , but usually ùåùáï . Lightfoot, p. 980; Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. s.v.; Schoettgen, p. 335 ff.; and see on 2Co_11:2.
ὁ ἑστηκὼς κ . ἀκούων αὐτοῦ ] who standeth (tanquam apparitor, Bengel) and attentively heareth him, i.e. in order to do his bidding.[172] Contrary to the construction ( καὶ ), and far-fetched, is the rendering of B. Crusius: “who is waiting for him ( ἑστηκ .), and when he hears him, viz. the voice of the approaching bridegroom. (?)” Tholuck also, following Chrysostom, brings in what is not there when he renders: “who standeth, having finished his work as forerunner.” The Baptist had still to work on, and went on working. The ἑστηκ . must be regarded as taking place at the marriage feast, and not before that, during the bridal procession (Ewald, who refers to the frequent stoppages which took place in it); but it does not mean standing at the door of the wedding chamber, nor ἀκ . αὐτοῦ the audible pleasure of the newly married pair. An indelicate sensualizing (still to be found in Kuinoel) unwarranted by the text.
χαρᾷ χαίρει ] he rejoiceth greatly; see Lobeck, Paralip. p. 524; Winer, p. 424 [E. T. p. 584]. Comp. 1Th_3:9, where, in like manner, διά stands instead of the classical ἐπί , ἐν , or the dative.
διὰ τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ νυμφ .] This is not to be understood of his loud caresses and protestations of love (Grotius, Olshausen, Lange), nor of the command of the bridegroom to take away the cloth with the signum virginitatis (thus debasing the beautiful figure, Michaelis, Paulus), nor of the conversing of the bridegroom with the bride (Tholuck and older expositors),—all of which are quite out of keeping with the general expression; the reference is merely to the conversation and joy of the bridegroom amid the marriage mirth. Comp. Jer_7:34; Jer_16:9; Jer_25:10. The explanation, also, which makes it the voice of the approaching bridegroom who calls the bride to fetch her home, would need to be more precisely indicated (against B. Crusius and Luthardt), and is not in keeping with ὁ ἑστηκώς ;[173] the activity of Jesus, moreover, was already more than a call to the bringing home, which might have symbolized His first appearing. Comp. Mat_9:15.
Note, besides, how the ardent expression of joy stands contrasted with the envious feelings of John’s disciples.
αὕτη οὖν ἡ χαρὰ , κ . τ . λ .] ΟὖΝ infers the ΑὝΤΗ from the application of the figure: this joy, therefore, which is mine, viz. at the bridegroom’s voice.
πεπλήρωται ] has been fulfilled completely, so that nothing more is wanting to it. The Baptist, with prophetic anticipation, sees, in the successful activity of Jesus, and in the flocking of the people to Him, the already rising dawn of the Messiah’s kingdom (the beginning of the marriage). On πεπλήρ . comp. Joh_15:11, Joh_16:24, Joh_17:13; 1Jn_1:4.
ΔΕῖ ] as in Joh_3:14. This noble self-renunciation was based upon the clear certainty which he had of the divine purpose.
αὐξάνειν ] in influence and efficiency.
ἘΛΑΤΤΟῦΣΘΑΙ ] the counterpart of increase: to become less, Jer_30:16; Symm.; 2Sa_3:1; Ecclus. 35:23, al.; Thuc. ii. 62. 4; Theophr. H. pl. vi. 8. 5; Josephus, Antt. vii. 1. 5. Comp. Plat. Leg. iii. p. 681 A: αὐξανομένων ἐκ τῶν ἐλαττόνων .
[172] The working of Jesus was so manifest, and now so near to the Baptist, that this feature of the comparison is fully explained by it. Neither in this place nor elsewhere is there any answer to the question, whether and what personal intercourse the Baptist had already had with Him (Hengstenberg thinks “through intermediate persons, especially through the Apostle John”). In particular, the assumption that the interview with Nicodemus became known to the Baptist (through the disciples of Jesus who had previously been the Baptist’s disciples) is quite unnecessary for the understanding of the words which here follow (against Godet).
[173] For the παρανύμφιος does not stand there waiting for the bridegroom, but accompanies him on his way to the bride’s house. The standing and waiting pertain to the female attendants on the bride, Mat_25:1 ff.