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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 9:7 - 9:7
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7. νίψαι εἰς τ. κ. Either, Wash the clay off into the pool, or, Go to the pool and wash. Νίπτω, Attic νίζω, besides Joh 9:11; Joh 9:15 and Joh 13:5-14 occurs only Mat 6:17; Mat 15:2; Mar 7:3; 1Ti 5:10, and is always used of washing part of the body. For bathing the whole either λούειν (Joh 13:10; Act 9:37; Heb 10:22; 2Pe 2:22; Rev 1:5) or βαπτίζειν is used; the latter in N.T. always of ceremonial immersion (Joh 1:25-33, &c.). Πλύνειν (Rev 7:14; Rev 22:14; Luk 5:2) is to wash inanimate objects, as clothes and nets. Comp. LXX. in Lev 15:11, τὰς χεῖρας οὐ νένιπται ὕδατι, πλυνεῖ τὰ ἱμάτια, καὶ λούσεται τὸ σῶμα. see on Joh 13:10. The washing was probably part of the means of healing (comp. Naaman) and was a strong test of the man’s faith.
Σιλωάμ. Satisfactorily identified with Birket Silwân in the lower Tyropoean valley, S.E. of the hill of Zion. This is probably the Siloah of Neh 3:15 and the Shiloah of Isa 8:6. ‘The tower in Siloam’ (Luk 13:4) was very possibly a building connected with the water; perhaps part of an aqueduct.
ὁ ἑρμ. ἀπεσταλμένος. Which is interpreted, Sent. The interpretation is admissible; but the original meaning is rather Sending, Missio or Emissio aquarum, ‘outlet of waters.’ Comp. ‘the waters of Shiloah that go softly’ (Isa 8:6). S. John sees in the word ‘nomen et omen’ of the man’s cure: and he also appears to see that this water from the rock is again (see on Joh 7:37) an image of Him who was sent (Joh 3:17, Joh 8:42, Joh 18:3, &c.) by the Father, τὸν ἀπόστολον (Heb 3:1).
ἀπῆλθεν … ἦλθεν. He went away to Siloam and came home, as what follows seems to shew. Jesus had gone away (Joh 9:12); the man did not return to Him. Has any poet attempted to describe this man’s emotions on first seeing the world in which he had lived so long?