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Joh_7:37. As the eighth day (the 22d Tisri) was reckoned along with the seven feast days proper, according to Lev_23:35-36; Lev_23:39, Num_29:35, Neh_8:18, as according to Succah, f. 48. 1, the last day of the feast is the eighth, it is clear that John meant this day, and not the seventh (Theophylact, Buxtorf, Bengel, Reland, Paulus, Ammon), especially as in later times it was usual generally to speak of the eight days’ feast of Tabernacles (2Ma_10:6; Josephus, Antt. iii. 10. 4; Gem. Eruvin. 40. 2; Midr. Cohel. 118. 3). In keeping with this is the very free translation ἐξόδιον (termination of the feast), which the LXX. give for the name of the eighth day, òÂöÆøÆú (Lev_23:36; Num_29:35; Neh_8:18), i.e. “assembly;” comp. Ewald, Alterth. p. 481.
τῇ μεγάλῃ ] the (pre-eminently) great, solemn. Comp. Joh_19:31. The superlative is implied in the attribute thus given to this day above the other feast days. Wherein consisted the special distinction attaching to this day? It was simply the great closing day of the feast, appointed for the solemn return from the booths into the temple (Ewald, Alterth. p. 481), and, according to Lev_23:35-36, was kept holy as a Sabbath. The explanation of ἐξόδιον in Philo, de Septenario, II. p. 298, that it denoted the end of the yearly feasts collectively, has as little to do with the matter (for τῇ μεγάλῃ has reference only to the feast of Tabernacles) as has the designation éåÉí èåÉá in the Tr. Succah, for this means nothing more than “feast day.” If, indeed, this day had, according to Tr. Succah (see Lightfoot, p. 1032 f.), special services, sacrifices, songs, still no more was required than to honour it “sicut reliquos dies festi.” Its μεγαλότης consisted just in this, that it brought the great feast as a whole to a sacred termination.
The express designation of the day as τῇ μεγάλῃ is in keeping with the solemn coming forth of Jesus with the great word of invitation and promise, Joh_7:37-38. The solemnity of this coming forth is also intimated in εἱστήκει (He stood there) and in ἔκραξε (see on Joh_7:28).
ἐάν τις διψᾷ , κ . τ . λ .] denoting spiritual need[269] and spiritual satisfaction, as in Joh_4:15, in the conversation with the Samaritan woman, and in Joh_6:35; Mat_5:6. We are not told what led Jesus to adopt this metaphorical expression here. There was no need of anything special to prompt Him to do so, least of all at a feast so joyous, according to Plutarch, Symp. iv. 6. 2, even so bacchanalian in its banquetings. Usually, a reason for the expression has been found in the daily libations which were offered on the seven feast days (but also on the eighth, according to R. Juda, in Succah iv. 9), at the time of the morning sacrifice, when a priest fetched water in a golden pitcher containing three logs from the spring of Siloam, and poured this, together with wine, on the west side of the altar into two perforated vessels, amidst hymns of praise and music. See Dachs, Succah, p. 368. Some reference to this libation may be supposed, because it was one of the peculiarities of the feast, even on the hypothesis that it did not take place upon the eighth day, derived either from the old idea of pouring out water (1Sa_7:6; Hom. Od. μ . 362, al., so De Wette); or, according to the Rabbis (so also Hengstenberg), from Isa_12:3, a passage which contains the words sung by the people during the libation. But any connection of the words of Jesus with this libation is all the more doubtful, because He is speaking of drinking, and this is the essential element of His declaration. Godet arbitrarily interpolates: “He compares Himself with the water from the rock in the wilderness, and represents Himself as this true rock” (comp. 1Co_10:4).
[269] Luther: “a heartfelt longing, yea, a troubled, sad, awakened, stricken conscience, a despairing, trembling heart, that would know how it can be with God.”