47. ἀπῆλθεν … ἠρώτα. Comp. Joh 4:27; Joh 4:30; Joh 4:40; Joh 4:50, and see on Joh 11:29. The leaving his son was a single act (aor.), the beseeching (Joh 4:31; Joh 4:40) was continuous (imp.). For ἵνα see on Joh 1:8. Some scholars think that in constructions like this ἵνα does not mean ‘in order that,’ but ‘that,’ and simply defines the scope of the request or command; comp. Joh 11:57, Joh 17:15; Joh 17:21, Joh 19:31; Joh 19:38, Joh 15:17; Joh 15:12, Joh 11:57. Winer, pp. 425, 573.
καταβῇ. Down to the lake (Joh 2:12); about 20 miles. See on Joh 1:7.
ἤμελλε. Μέλλειν here simply means ‘to be likely’ without any further notion either of intention (Joh 6:6; Joh 6:15, Joh 7:35, Joh 14:22), or of being fore-ordained (Joh 11:51, Joh 12:33, Joh 18:32).