Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 10:42
And many believed on him there.
42. many believed on him there ] ‘There’ is emphatic. ‘ There,’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 42. Many believed on him there.] The people believed on him:
1. because of the testimony of John the Baptist whom they knew to be a good and a wise man, and a prophet of the Lord; and they knew he could neither deceive nor be deceived in this mater; and,
2. they believed because of the miracles which they saw Jesus work. These fully proved that all that John had said of him was true. The scribes and Pharisees with all their science could not draw a conclusion so just. Truth and common sense are often on the side of the common people, whom the insolently wise, the unsanctifiedly learned, and the tyrannically powerful sometimes disingenuously brand with the epithets of mob and swinish multitude.
1. THIS and the preceding chapter contain two remarkable discomfitures of the Jewish doctors. In the former they were confounded by the testimony of a plain uneducated man, simply appealing to the various circumstances of a matter of fact, at which they cavilled, and which they endeavoured to decry. In this chapter the wise are taken in their own craftiness: the Pharisees are confounded by that wisdom which is from above, speaking of and manifesting the deep things of God. Sometimes God himself stops the mouths of gainsayers; at other times he makes the simplest of his followers too mighty for the most learned among the doctors. Ancient and modern martyrologies of the people of God abound with proofs of both these facts. And the persecutions of the Protestants by the Papists in the reign of Queen Mary afford a very large proportion of proofs. In these the mighty power of God, and the prevalence of truth, were gloriously apparent. Both the word of God and the Protestant cause were nobly illustrated by those transactions. May that abomination that maketh desolate never more sit in the holy place!
2. It must be remarked, by every serious reader, that our Lord did frequently speak of himself to the Jews, as being not only sent of God as their Messiah, but as being one with him. And it is as evident that in this sense the priests and Pharisees understood him; and it was because they would not credit this that they accused him of blasphemy. Now, if our Lord was not the person they understood him to state himself to be, he had the fairest opportunity, from their strong remonstrances, to correct their misapprehension of his words, if they really had mistaken his meaning-but this he never attempts. He rather strengthens his assertions in his consequent discourses with them; which, had not his positions been true, he could not have done, even as an honest man. He not only asserted himself to be equal with God, but wished them to believe it to be true; and he amply confirmed this heavenly doctrine by the miracles he wrought.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Some believed on him as such whom John Baptist had spoken him to be; others possibly believed on him in the sense mentioned Joh 2:23; not to the saving of their souls, but as one sent of God, a great Prophet, no ordinary man. The rage of men shall not hinder the progress of the gospel.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
40-42. went away again beyond Jordan. . . the place where John at first baptized(See on Joh1:28).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And many believed on him there., Through the doctrine he preached, the miracles he wrought, and through comparing these things with what John had said of him: this shows the reason of Christ’s leaving Jerusalem, and coming into these parts; there were others that were to believe in his name: the word “there”, is left out in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Many believed on him there ( ). See John 1:12; John 2:11 for same idiom. Striking witness to the picture of the Messiah drawn by John. When Jesus came they recognized the original. See Joh 1:29-34. What about our sermons about Jesus if he were to walk down the aisle in visible form according to A.J. Gordon’s dream?
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And many,” (kai polloi) And many people,” of that area, Joh 10:41, where John the Baptist had faithfully labored.
2) “Believed on him there.” (episteusan eis auton ekei) “Believed in him out there,” in that place, because John the Baptist and his disciples had planted and watered, and God gave the increase here, Joh 4:36-38; 1Co 3:5-9; Ecc 11:1; Ecc 11:6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(42) And many believed on him there.The word there is, in the best texts, in a position of emphasis. And there many believed on Him. It marks the contrast between the rejection in Jerusalem and the reception at Bethania.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
REFLECTIONS
Reader! you and I here plainly discover that Christ is the good Shepherd. Both his office, relation, and character, under this sweet figure, he is chosen into by God the Father, and all his sheep given by the Father to him as his own. They were his, in this appointment, from everlasting. And now in the time-state of a wilderness, where the Lord finds them wandering, he comes to seek and save that which was lost. Have you and I known Christ under this endeared character? Have we the features Jesus hath here described, by which we alone, prove, that we are the sheep of his pasture. Nothing can be more plain than what Jesus hath here marked to discover his sheep from the world’s goats. He saith, the sheep hear his voice, they know his call, they follow him. A stranger they will not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of stranger’s. Have we these undeniable tokens? Oh! for grace to be so distinguished! Blessed it is to lie down in his fold, to feed in his pastures, and to go in and out by those wholesome waters of comfort, beside which, the Great Shepherd of Israel feeds his flock! Reader! Jesus wilt do by all his fold as the Holy Ghost hath said. He will feed, protect, heal, strengthen, guide, and, in short, do all that pertains to the office of a shepherd; he will carry the lambs in his arms, and gently lead those that are with young. And, to crown all, he will most effectually preserve from all evil, and give them eternal life, so that none shall perish, or any pluck them out of his and his Father’s hands. Hail! Almighty Shepherd of thy flock.
Reader! behold the triumphs of thy Lord over all the enemies of his Godhead, and against all the awful opposition made to his divine person and character. So was it then, so is it now, and so shall it be, until the Lord hath brought the whole under his footstool. Lord Jesus! establish thy people in their most holy faith, until that thou shalt bring them home unto the fountains of living water, where, as a Lamb in the midst of the throne, thou art feeding them, and where thou hast wiped all tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of thy people thou hast taken away from off all the earth!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
42 And many believed on him there.
Ver. 42. And many believed on him there ] Place is no prejudice to the powerful operation of the word, when by the Spirit it is made prolific and generative.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
believed. See App-150.
on. Greek eis. App-104.
there. Emphatic, in contrast with His treatment in Jerusalem.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Joh 10:42
Joh 10:42
And many believed on him there.-It is likely that the testimony of John at his baptism had a favorable influence in his behalf and his testimony and works caused many to believe on him at this place. [Johns preparatory work there was so thorough that they readily received and believed on Jesus. His work here was fruitful, due to the fact that all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true.]
Questions on John Chapter Ten
E.M. Zerr
1. What is used as a parable?
2. Is it possible to enter it unlawfully?
3. Who is here classed with thieves?
4.How does the shepherd enter?
5. Who recognizes him?
6. By whom is his voice heard?
7. In what way are they called and led?
8. Why do the sheep follow the shepherd?
9. Why flee from strangers?
10. How did the parable affect the hearers?
11. On what subject was the next parable?
12. What was the door into this?
13. All pretenders preceding him were what?
14. How did the sheep regard them?
15. By what must men enter?
16. With what results?
17. State the motive of the thief.
18. Tell that of the true shepherd.
19. How does he prove his faithfulness?
20. This contrasts with what character?
21. When does he flee?
22. Does he first provide for the sheep?
23. What happens to them?
24. Tell why the hireling flees.
25. Who mutually know each other?
26. State what is laid down for the sheep.
27. Was the first fold to be permanent?
28. Did it contain all of the sheep?
29. What was going to be done about it?
39. Tell the name of this second fold.
40. And its shepherd.
41. Why did his father love him?
42. State Jesus’ control over his life.
43. How did he obtain this power?
44. What discussion now took place by the Jews?
45. What deed was used in their argument?
46. Tell what was going on in Jerusalem.
47. Who surrounded Jesus?
48. State their inquiry.
49. Was it a candid one?
50. To what did Jesus refer for his proof?
51. How had they treated this evidence?
52. Why had they done so?
53. What is to be given the sheep?
54. Tell the assurances offered them.
55. Whose greatness guaranteed this?
56. State what two are one.
57. Why did they threaten to stone Jesus?
58. Tell what he asked them.
59. And their answer.
60. What writing did he then quote?
61. Tell what he called it.
62. How did he reason upon this scripture?
63. On what did Jesus stake his credit?
64. What did they again seek to do?
65. How was it prevented?
66. To what place did Jesus now go?
67. What about his following?
68. Tell what was said of John’s work.
69. And of his teaching.
70. With what result?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Joh 2:23, Joh 4:39, Joh 4:41, Joh 8:30, Joh 11:45, Joh 12:42
Reciprocal: Mat 21:26 – for Joh 7:31 – When