Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 5:5
And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
5. which had an infirmity, &c.] Literally, who had passed thirty-eight years in his infirmity. Not that he was 38 years old; evidently he was more; but he had had this malady 38 years.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
An infirmity – A weakness. We know not what his disease was. We know only that it disabled him from walking, and that it was of very long standing. It was doubtless regarded as incurable.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. Had an infirmity thirty and eight years.] St. Chrysostom conjectured that blindness was the infirmity of this person: what it was, the inspired writer does not say – probably it was a palsy: his case was deplorable – he was not able to go into the pool himself, and he had no one to help him; so that poverty and disease were here connected. The length of the time he had been afflicted makes the miracle of his cure the greater. There could have been no collusion in this case: as his affliction had lasted thirty-eight years, it must have been known to multitudes; therefore he could not be a person prepared for the occasion. All Christ’s miracles have been wrought in such a way, and on such persons and occasions, as absolutely to preclude all possibility of the suspicion of imposture.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What this mans name was, or what his circumstances in the world, or what his particular disease, we are not told; nor is it said that he had lain there thirty-eight years, but that he had so long laboured under his weakness: which, whether it was the palsy or no, is uncertain: probably it was a disease hardly curable by human art and ordinary means; for it cannot be thought but in that time he had used all rational means, which he finding of no value as to his case, he came and lay at this fountain, waiting for a cure in this way of miraculous operation.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5-9. thirty and eight yearsbutnot all that time at the pool. This was probably the most pitiable ofall the cases, and therefore selected.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And a certain man was there,…. At Bethesda’s pool, in one of the five porches, or cloisters, that belonged to it:
which had an infirmity thirty and eight years; what his infirmity was, is not said; he was one of the weak, or impotent folk, for so he is called, Joh 5:7. Some think his distemper was the palsy, and though he had had this infirmity so many years, it is not certain that he had waited so long in this place for a cure; though it may be, for that he had attended some time, is clear from Joh 5:7. Nor indeed can it be known how long there had been such a preternatural motion in this pool, and such a miraculous virtue in the water; some have thought, that it began at the repairing of the sheep gate by Eliashib, in Nehemiah’s time; so Tremellius and Junius, on Ne 3:1; and others have thought, that it had been some few years before the birth of Christ, and about the time that this man was first taken with his disorder. Tertullian says u, that there was in Judea a medicinal lake, before Christ’s time; and that the pool of Bethsaida (it should be Bethesda) was useful in curing the diseases of the Israelites; but ceased from yielding any benefit, when the name of the Lord was blasphemed by them, through their rage and fury, and continuance in it w; but in what year it began, and the precise time it ceased, he says not. The Persic version here adds, “and was reduced to such a state that he could not move”.
u De Anima, c. 50. w Adv. Judaeos, c. 13.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Which had been thirty and eight years ( ). Literally, “having thirty and eight years,” “having spent thirty and eight years.”
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Had an infirmity thirty and eight years. Literally, having thirty and eight years in his infirmity.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) ”And a certain man was there,” (en de tis anthropos ekei) “And there was a certain man laying at the entrance of the temple,” Act 3:2.
2) “Which had an infirmity,” (echon en te astheneia autou)”Having been held in his ailment,” as a slave to the illness, likely well known by reason of his many years of infirmity, as a woman of an illness for 18 years was one day, in a synagogue when the Lord met personally, and healed her, Luk 13:10-13; Luk 13:16-17.
3) “Thirty and eight years. ” (triakonta kai okto ete) “For a period of thirty-eight years,” a man with a chronic disease that was considered by doctors as incurable, much as the woman, Luk 8:4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
5. And there was a man there. The Evangelist collects various circumstances, which prove that the miracle may be relied on as certain. The long duration of the disease had taken away all hope of its being cured. This man complains that he is deprived of the remedy of the water. He had frequently attempted to throw himself into the water, but without success; there was no man to assist him, and this causes the power of Christ to be more strikingly displayed. Such, too, was the import of the command to carry his bed, that all might plainly see that he was cured in no other way than by the agency of Christ; for when he suddenly rises up healthy and strong in all the members in which he was formerly impotent, so sudden a change is the more fitted to arouse and strike the minds of all who beheld it.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Thirty and eight years.The period expresses, not his age on the one hand, nor the time of his being at Bethesda on the other, but the time during which he had suffered from the infirmity. Helpless and friendless, having spent half the lot of human life in that condition, he appeals without an uttered word to the Mercy which is present in the House of Mercy; and to him alone of those He healed does Christ of His own accord address the first question. The infirmity was in some way connected with youthful sin (Joh. 5:14), and the sufferer and his history would be well known to those at Jerusalem. The exact knowledge of the writer tells us that for thirty-eight years he had paid sins. penalty.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. An infirmity Probably a paralysis. From Joh 5:14 it seems probable that it was the consequence of his own vices.
Thirty and eight years Strange, say some, that in thirty-eight years this man should have found no friend to help him into the pool. But it is said, not that he had lain there thirty-eight years, but that his disease had been of that duration. He may not have been there a week.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And a certain man was there who had been an invalid for thirty eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had now been like that a long time, he says to him, “Do you want to be made whole?”.’
We are not told how Jesus knew that he had been there a long time and it is possibly intended to signify divine discernment. Alternately Jesus may have asked someone about the man and been informed of his situation, or it may be that someone accompanying Jesus, who knew of the man, drew His attention to him. Jesus could, of course, have healed him without recourse to him, but always His purpose in healing was to reach the heart so He involves the man in conversation.
‘For thirty eight years.’ The main point is that he had been disabled for a long time, but there may be intended here a reminder of Israel’s thirty eight years of disfavour as a result of their unwillingness to obey God (Deu 2:14) hinting at the fact that the man’s disablement is due to his too having disobeyed God in some way. Like Israel he was under God’s disfavour and was about to be given a new beginning. ‘Thirty eight years’ would immediately remind a Jew of that period, and the story would then indicate to him that in the coming of Jesus a ‘lame’ Israel was to be made to walk.
‘Do you want to be made whole?’ The question did not need to be asked. Everyone knew that the man was carried there because of a slim hope of healing. But Jesus’ idea was not to obtain information but to make the man think about his position and bring him into a condition where he can receive healing and benefit by it spiritually.
In the end Jesus’ concern was for the man’s spiritual state. This is brought out more in the case of the paralytic where He actually began by offering him forgiveness (Mar 2:1-12). Healing, while important in what it revealed, and while desperately sought by the sick person, was secondary. This is the opposite view to that of the world. They would in most cases consider the healing more important and the spiritual aspect second. But Jesus knew that the world’s deepest need was spiritual. This was the part of man that would be affected eternally. It affected his final destiny. Here was where the world really needed to be healed, but few sought it. Yet Jesus did not hurry the man into considering such aspects of the case. He knew that the seed must be sown and then be left to germinate. All was in the Father’s hands.
This incident is remarkable because it is one of only two cases we know of where Jesus healed without being asked. The other is the blind man in chapter 9. And in both cases He had a special lesson to teach, and was brought into conflict with the Pharisees. That is not to say that He did not perform other such miracles, for these incidents were described precisely because of their wider context, but it is surely significant that the other Gospels never draw attention to such activity (except perhaps Peter’s wife’s mother – Mar 1:29-31).
There were so many sick people in Palestine that Jesus could have spent all His time healing, and we never know of Him turning someone away. But He would sometimes have to conceal Himself from such crowds because He was finding the physical strain too much, and so as to be able to restore His strength by spending time in prayer with His Father. At such a time He pointed out that He had not come to heal but to proclaim to them the Kingly Rule of God (Mar 1:35-38), although healing was of course part of that proclamation (Isa 35:6; Isa 61:1-2). Thus He wanted men to know that He had come, not as a healer, but as a proclaimer of God’s Kingly Rule.
It is significant that Jesus did not deliberately practise mass healing. He healed each person individually, usually as they came to Him. It draws attention to the fact that there was a purpose for sickness and disease in the world, and that to heal on such a broad scale without being asked would actually have thwarted God’s purposes.
There were indeed many sick people around that pool that day, and yet as far as we know He only healed this one (compare Luk 4:25-27). The incident gains in importance from this fact.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The healing:
v. 5. And a certain man was here which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
v. 6. When Jesus saw him lie and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?
v. 7. The impotent man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
v. 8. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
v. 9. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked. And on the same day was the Sabbath. Among all the sick people that were lying in the porticoes at the pool’s brink there was no case more pitiful than that of a man who had spent thirty-eight years there in the misery of his sickness, thirty-eight years of alternating hope and despair, of eager longing and painful disappointment. Note: Many a person that is inclined to become impatient at a cross lasting but a few weeks or months might well consider this case and learn patience from the example of the man of Bethesda. Jesus, in accordance with His desire to help all men in whatever trouble they might be, visited also this hospital. He saw the man lying there in his misery; He knew that the poor fellow had spent a long time in that place. It was not merely that Jesus drew conclusions, or that He learned from the man himself or from his friends of his long sickness; His knowledge was that of omniscience. With a view to awaken the man to the nearness of divine power, the Lord addressed him with the question whether he wanted to become well. Through this question the Lord aroused and incited the desire and the longing of the man for the long-lost gift of health. The desire for help and salvation is awakened by the Savior Himself through His Word. The sick man gave a sad answer. He addressed Jesus as the Lord, indicating the beginning of faith in his heart; but he complained in a hopeless tone that he had neither relative nor friend, not a person in the wide world to help him into the water at the appointed time; and when at last he had dragged his helpless limbs over to the pool, some other person had preceded him, and therefore all his efforts were futile. For at each bubbling up of the water apparently only one could be healed. Note: The mere statement of trouble and misfortune is in itself a prayer and well acceptable to the Lord. And Jesus heard the prayer of faith. He gave the sick man the command to arise, a command to be obeyed on the moment by faith in Him who gave it. And not only that, but he should also take up his couch, or pallet, and walk, having been restored to full health and strength. This was a miracle in the true sense of the word, a deed against the course of nature. A sickness of thirty-eight years’ standing was completely routed and replaced by the full vigor of complete health, with a perfect use of all organs and members. The man followed the words of Jesus to the letter; for faith accepts, and clings to, the help of Christ. He went away, carrying his pallet, though the day, not without design on the part of Jesus, was the Sabbath.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 5:5. And a certain man was there, Among the crowds who lay in the porticos of Bethesda, there was one, who had an infirmity, , most probably a paralytic disorder, which hardly ever gives way to medicine, though recently contracted: how much less curable must it have been, after having continued 38 years! The inveteracy of this man’s disorder must have been known to many in the course of so long a time; and the reality of his indisposition, which was even prior to the birth of Christ, must have been equally notorious, and shewn the impossibility of any collusion between them. The lengthand greatness of the man’s affliction, well known to Jesus, (as appears from Joh 5:6.) together with his poverty, (Joh 5:7.) were sufficient reasons for our Lord’s making choice of him, to experience the mercy of his healing power; a power infinitely superior to the virtue of the waters. Had our Lord at this time restored none of these impotent folk to health, he would not have acted contrary to the general account which the evangelists give of his goodness on other occasions, namely, that he healed all who came to him; for such diseased persons as left their habitations with a persuasion of his power and dignity, were fit objects of his mercy; while the sick at Bethesda were no more so than the other sick throughout the country, whom he could have cured barely by willing it, had he so pleased. They had no knowledge of him, or if they knew ought about him, they had no just idea of his power, and were expecting relief from another quarter.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 5:5 . , . . .] i.e. “having passed thirty-eight years in his sickness,” so that belongs to . . (Joh 8:57 , Joh 11:17 ; Josephus, Arch . vii. 11. 1; Krebs, p. 150), and . . . denotes the state in which he spent the thirty-eight years. Against the connection of with . . . ( being in his sickness thirty-eight years; so Kuinoel and most others) Joh 5:6 is decisive, as also against the perversion of Paulus, who puts a comma after (“thirty-eight years old ”). The duration of the sickness makes the miracle all the more striking; comp. Luk 8:43 . There is no intimation of any reference to the sentence of death pronounced upon Israel in the wilderness (Baumgarten, p. 139 f.; comp. Hengstenberg).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
Ver. 5. Thirty and eight years ] A long while to be in misery: but what is this to eternity of extremity! We need have something to mind us of God, to bring us to Christ. King Alured prayed God always to send him some sickness, whereby his body might be tamed, and he the better disposed and affectioned to Godward.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
5 12. Second great division of the Gospel . JESUS IN CONFLICT WITH THE JEWS. 5, 6. JESUS THE LIFE. Beginning of the conflict .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
5. ] There are two ways of taking the construction of : (1) to regard . as = , and as the accus. of duration; which is objectionable on account of the article , (not on account of the present participle, as De Wette, for it is often found with duration of time,) and as being alien from John’s usage, which is (2) to place in this sense with an accusative of the time: see reff., and Joh 5:6 . So that the construction is . .
Observe, he had been lame thirty-eight years, not at Bethesda all that time.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 5:5 . . “And there was a certain man there who had spent thirty-eight years in his infirmity:” , cf. Joh 5:6 and Joh 8:57 ; and Achil. Tat., 24. How long he had lain by the water is not said. To find in the man’s thirty-eight years’ imbecility a symbol of Israel’s thirty-eight years in the wilderness is itself an imbecility.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
And, &c. See App-176.
man. Greek anthropos. App-123.
thirty and eight years. The period of the wanderings. Compare “from birth”, Joh 9:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
5-12. Second great division of the Gospel. JESUS IN CONFLICT WITH THE JEWS. 5, 6. JESUS THE LIFE. Beginning of the conflict.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 5:5
Joh 5:5
And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity.-The long affliction indicates the incurable nature and little probability of relief.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
thirty: Joh 5:14, Joh 9:1, Joh 9:21, Mar 9:21, Luk 8:43, Luk 13:16, Act 3:2, Act 4:22, Act 9:33, Act 14:8
Reciprocal: Job 13:26 – makest Psa 25:7 – the sins Mar 5:25 – twelve Luk 5:18 – General Luk 13:11 – eighteen
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5
This man’s case was chronic, for he had been afflicted 38 years.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 5:5. And a certain man was there, which had been thirty and eight years in his sickness. This sufferer (apparently one of the withered, though not altogether destitute of the power of motion) had endured thirty-eight years of weakness. How long he had been wont to resort to Bethesda we cannot tell: it may have been only for days or even hours.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
It was very commendable that the rich men did not engross this pool, and the benefit of it, to themselves, but suffered poor people to come to it. In this college of cripples, a poor man, that had been lame thirty-eight years, was found, who wanted strength to help himself, wanting money to hire others, and others wanting mercy to help him. Christ takes pity on him, and because he could not go to health, health is graciously brought to him, and that by the hand of the great physician Christ Jesus.
Observe here, 1. That not only are men’s bodies subject to innumerable infirmities and diseases, but it pleases God, for wise ends, to continue some of his servants labouring under bodily weakness for many years together, yea, even all the days of their life. Here is a poor man, for eight and thirty years together, under the discipline of God’s rod by bodily weakness.
Observe, 2. That it is the duty of the afflicted, to wait upon God in a diligent use of all means which God has appointed for their help and healing: as to trust to means, is to neglect God; so to neglect the means, is to tempt God. This poor man, no doubt, had made use of the means before, yet waits at the pool now.
Observe, 3. Though Christ well knew the ease of this afflicted person, and wanted no information, yet he asks him, if he were willing to be made whole: to make him sensible of his misery, to quicken his desires after healing, and to raise his expectations of help from him. Though Christ knows our wants, yet he takes no notice of them, till we make them known to him by prayer.
Observe, 4. The time when Christ wrought this miracle of healing upon the impotent man, it was upon the sabbath-day; and, as evidence of the certainty of the cure, Christ bids him, Take up your bed and walk.
Our Saviour’s miracles were real and beneficial, they were obvious to sense, and would bear the examination of all persons. The miracles which the church of Rome boast of will net bear the examination of our senses: their great miracle, transubstantiation, is so far from being obvious to sense, that it contradicts the sense and reason of mankind, and is the greatest affront to human nature that ever the world was acquainted with. And our Saviour’s working this and many other miracles on the sabbath-day, was for the testification of the miracles to all persons that would take notice of them.
Observe, 5. How unjustly the Jews tax the cripple that was healed with the breach of the sabbath, for taking up his bed, and walking on the sabbath-day? whereas the law only forbade carrying burthens on the sabbath-day for profit, in way of trade: but this man’s carrying his bed, was a testimony of God’s goodness and mercy towards him, and of his gratitude and thankfulness towards God.
Hypocritical and superstitious persons often-times pretend much zeal for observing the letter of the law, little respecting the moral sense and signification of it. Besides, our Saviour has a mind to let the Jews know that he was Lord of the sabbath, and that he hath power over it, and could dispense with it as he thought good.
Observe, lastly, The great modesty and humility of our blessed Saviour, how hateful all ostentation and vain-glory was unto him; for having wrought this famous miracle before the people at a public time, the feast of the passover, to shun all applause from the multitude, he conveys himself privately away from them: Jesus conveyed himself away, a multitude being in that place. Our Saviour’s business was to do much good, and make but little noise; he sought not his own glory.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 5:5-6. A certain man was there Among the crowds which now lay in the porticoes of Bethesda, was one who had an infirmity A weakness, as the word means; thirty and eight years He had probably lost the use of his limbs, at least, on one side, by a paralytic stroke. It is a great affliction to have the body so disabled, that instead of being the souls instrument, it is become, even in the affairs of this life, its burden. What reason many of us have to thank God for bodily health and strength, to use them for him, and to sympathize with those who are deprived of them, and especially with those, who, like this afflicted man, have been deprived of them for many years! This poor man had been in a state of great weakness, attended, doubtless, frequently with much pain, longer than most persons live. Shall we complain of one or two, or a few wearisome nights, or some short fits of affliction or pain, who, perhaps, for many years, have scarce known what it has been to be a day ill, when many others, holier than we, have scarce known what it has been to be a day well? When Jesus saw him lie Singling him out from the rest, and fixing his eyes upon him; he saith unto him With great compassion; Wilt thou be made whole? The length and greatness of this mans affliction, well known to Jesus, as is here observed, together with his poverty, (Joh 5:7,) were sufficient reasons for his making choice of him to experience the mercy of his healing power, a power infinitely superior to the virtue of the waters, while he let the rest remain in their affliction. Our Lord seems to have asked this afflicted man the above-mentioned question, to give him an opportunity of declaring his case in the hearing of the multitude: because such a declaration would tend to make the miracle more conspicuous, and to awaken the attention of the inhabitants of the Jewish capital to the evidence he was daily giving of his divine mission.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 5-7. There was a man there, held by his sickness for thirty-eight years. 6. When Jesus saw him lying,and knew that he had been already sick for a long time, he said unto him: Dost thou wish to be healed? 7. The sick man answered him: Sir, I have no one, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; and while I am coming, another goes down before me.
The long continuance of the malady is mentioned, either to set forth how inveterate and difficult to heal it was, or rather, according to Joh 5:6, to explain the profound compassion with which Jesus was moved on beholding this unhappy man. might be taken in the intransitive sense ( ); but the construction is so similar to that of Joh 5:6, where is the object of , that it is preferable to make the object of : Having thirty-eight years in this condition of sickness. One has what one suffers. It is not necessary to connect closely with , as if John meant to say that the sick person had been there for thirty-eight years.
Jesus appears here suddenly, as it were coming forth from a sort of incognito. What a difference between this arrival without eclat and His entrance into the Temple at the first Passover, Joh 2:13 ff.! Here it is no longer the Messiah; it is a simple pilgrim. Meyer translates : having learned, as if Jesus had received information. Weiss thinks that he heard the fact from the lips of the sick man himself. This meaning is possible; may, however, indicate one of those instantaneous perceptions by which the truth revealed itself to Jesus in the degree which was demanded by His task at the moment. Comp. Joh 1:49; Joh 4:17. The 14th verse will show that the entire life of the sick man is present to the view of Jesus. The long time recalls the thirty-eight years of Joh 5:5 : in this way is the identity of construction explained. The feast of Purim was celebrated among the Jews by works of beneficence and mutual gifts. It was the day of largesses. On Purim-day, said a Jew, nothing is refused to children. Jesus enters into the spirit of the feast, as He does also in chaps. 6 and 7, as regards the rites of the feasts of the Passover and of Tabernacles. His compassion, awakened by the sight of this man lying ill and abandoned (lying on a couch), and by the inward contemplation of the life of suffering which had preceded this moment (already), impels him to bestow largess also and spontaneously to accomplish for him a work of mercy. His question: Dost thou wish to be healed? is an implicit promise. Jesus endeavors thus, as Lange says, to draw the sick man from the dark discouragement in which this long and useless waiting had plunged him, and to reanimate hope within him. At the same time, Jesus by means of this question wishes to turn away His thought from the means of healing on which it was exclusively fixed, and to give him a perception of a new means, the living being who is to become for him the true Bethesda. Comp. the similar words of Peter to the impotent man, Act 3:4 : Look on us. Faith, awakened by his look fixed upon Him who is speaking to him, will be, as it were, the channel through which the force from above will penetrate within him. The answer of the sick man does not imply the authenticity of Joh 5:4, nor even necessarily that of the end of Joh 5:3. It is sufficiently explained by the fact, known or easy to understand, of the intermittent ebullition of the spring. We see by the words: I have no one, that he was solitary and poor.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
This man’s sickness appears to have been paralysis resulting in inability to walk at least (Joh 5:7) that seems to have been a result of sin (Joh 5:14). Perhaps a severe arthritic condition complicated his ailment. John’s reference to the length of his illness seems to be just to document its seriousness and the man’s hopeless condition. Some commentators tried to find symbolic significance in the 38 years, but that seems unwarranted to me. For example, 38 years recalls the period during which the Israelites wandered in the wilderness following their rebellion at Kadesh-barnea before they entered the Promised Land.