John 18:21

Joh 18:21. Τί με) Why ask Me, whom thou dost not believe? [It was suitable neither to the time nor to the place, for Him to set forth the particular dogmas of faith.—V. g.]—τί) This second τί depends on ἐρώτησον, ask.—οὗτοι, these) He points to the multitude then present, even these (here) know.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 18:21 . “Why do you interrogate me? Ask those who have heard, what I said to them.” Similarly Socrates appeals to his disciples. The οὗτοι might be construed as if Jesus looked towards some who were present.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me . . . they know what I . . . said--This seems to imply that He saw the attempt to draw Him into self-crimination, and resented it by falling back upon the right of every accused party to have some charge laid against Him by competent witnesses. (Also see on Mar 14:54.)

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(21) Why askest thou me?—Comp. Joh_5:31. The pronoun “Me” is not the emphatic word as it is generally taken to be. The stress is on the interrogative, “Why, for what purpose, dost thou ask Me? If you want witnesses, ask them which heard Me.”

Behold, they know what I said.—Better, behold, these know what I said. He pointed probably to some who were then present. In the next verse there is a reference to the “officers” who, as we know from Joh_7:32; Joh_7:46, had heard this doctrine.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. which heard] Better, who have heard; and ‘I have said’ should again be I spake.

they know] Or, these know, as if implying that they were present and ought to be examined. According to Jewish rule witnesses for the defence were heard first. ‘These’ cannot refer to S. Peter and S. John. S. Peter is still outside by the fire.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Why askest thou me?.... He seems surprised at the high priest's conduct, that he should put such questions to him, who stood bound before him; was brought there as a criminal, and was the defendant, and not obliged to accuse himself; nor could it be thought, that whatever evidence or testimony he should give, would have much weight with the persons before whom he stood.

Ask them which heard me, what I said unto them; he appeals to his hearers, many of whom were then present; and these his enemies, even his worst enemies, so clear was his case, so free was his doctrine from sedition and blasphemy, so innocent was he in the whole of his deportment and conduct, that he even submits to have his case issued and determined by what his hearers should say of him; and these not his friends, but his enemies; see Isa 50:8;

behold, they, or these,

know what I have said; pointing at some persons present, perhaps the very officers who had been sent to take him before, but returned without him, declaring that never man spake like him.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

21 Why askest thou me? ask them which heard me, what I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said.

Ver. 21. Why askest thou me?] We are to be ready always to give an answer to those that ask us a reason of our hope, so they do it to learn of us, and not to ensnare us. Thus I kept the ban-dogs {a} at staves’ end (saith Nicholas Shetterden, martyr), not as thinking to escape them, but that I would see the foxes leap above ground for my blood, if they can reach it (so it be the will of God), yet we shall then gape and leap for it. Mr Hawks, martyr, asked a parson that examined him, what kin he was to the weathercock of Paul’s? And told one Miles Huggard, a hosier {b} in Pudding Lane, who began to question him, that he could better skill to eat a pudding and make a hose, than in Scripture either to answer or oppose.

{a} A dog tied or chained up, either to guard a house, or on account of its ferocity; hence gen. a mastiff, bloodhound. ŒD

{b} One who makes or deals in hose (stockings and socks) and frame-knitted or woven underclothing generally. Also used more generally for a men’s outfitter or haberdasher. ŒD

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Why askest thou me? Ask them ... - Jesus here insisted on his rights, and reproves the high priest for his unjust and illegal manner of extorting a confession from him. If he had done wrong, or taught erroneous and seditious doctrines, it was easy to prove it, and the course which he had a right to demand was that they should establish the charge by fair and incontrovertible evidence. We may here learn:

That, though Jesus was willing to be reviled and persecuted, yet he also insisted that justice should be done him. He was conscious of innocence, and he had been so open in his conduct that he could appeal to the vast multitudes which had heard him as witnesses in his favor. It is proper for us, when persecuted and reviled, meekly but firmly to insist on our rights, and to demand that justice shall be done us. Laws are made to protect the innocent as well as to condemn the guilty. Christians, like their Saviour, should so live that they may confidently appeal to all who have known them as witnesses of the sincerity, purity, and rectitude of their lives, 1Pe 4:13-16.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Why askest thou me? Caiphas, in quality of judge, was to examine the crimes laid to the charge of the accused, by the testimony of witnesses. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

We are told by those that have written about the Jewish order in their courts of judgment, that their capital causes always began with the defensive part; and that it was lawful for any to speak for the defendants for a whole day together; (though they did not observe this in the cause of Christ); and their method was not to put the defendants to accuse themselves, but to examine witnesses against them. Our Saviour therefore appeals to their own order, and says,

Why askest thou me? It was, saith he, no secret action; I spake publicly, ask them that heard me speak; they know what doctrine I preached, and can accuse me if I delivered any false doctrine.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. Ask them which heard me—He hereby refuses, as is his right, to enter into any detail. Nay, he checks his inquisitor, in language of perfect respect as a venerable ruler, but with decided repulse as an illegitimate judge.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Why askest thou me? If thou wantest evidence touching my design, my disciples, or my teaching, ask, interrogate, those who have heard me, what I have said to them. Lo, these (pointing to numbers in the angry crowd around him) know what I spake unto them (the egw at the end of this sentence is very emphatic). Christ thus rebukes the craftiness and hypocritical endeavor of his enemies to induce him to inculpate his disciples, or to give his prosecutors matter against him. To false witnesses he preserved an invincible silence, and before Caiaphas and Pilate he answered to many of their queries not a single word, insomuch that these governors marveled greatly. However, the case was altered when Caiaphas, in full Sanhedrin, officially challenged him to say whether he was the Christ, and adjured him to declare whether he was the Son of God. Then, on the most public scale, knowing well the issues of his declaration, and of his oath-bound word, he did not hesitate to confess that he was the Son of God, and would come in the glory of his Father, and that he was no less than the Christ of God. On the present occasion, when Annas was seeking to justify his own craft, and to utilize the disgraceful betrayal which he had diplomatically and cruelly contrived, Jesus refused to incriminate either himself or his disciples. Renan has the temerity to say that this great announcement was quite superfluous, and probably was never made. Any conclusion whatever may be derived from historical documents, if such liberties may be taken with impunity.

The right people to ask.

I WHY JESUS COULD REFER TO HIS HEARERS. It is not every teacher that could refer confidently to his hearers, not even to his most attached and trustful ones. If he did, and if an accurate report could be got of all their impressions, the result might not be very complimentary to the teacher. He might find out that as yet he himself was only a learner. He might find out that he himself was only making guesses and dealing with the surface of things. But Jesus knew whence he came, and all he said was said with the spontaneity, the natural coherence, belonging to him who spake as never man spake. We know the impression the teaching of Jesus makes upon us, and we know that the miscellaneous crowds who first listened to it must have been impressed in the same way. It is not meant that they understood everything, or always understood rightly. But there was this impression, at all events, that Jesus spoke with authority, and not as the scribes. Jesus knew that the common people of the country were not against him, and his enemies also knew that they could not afford to inquire too curiously into the opinions of the multitude. That multitude might not be enthusiastic about Jesus, but a decided condemnation of him the multitude never would give, if only a sufficient number of people had been asked.

II A HINT FOR US IN OUR JUDGMENTS ABOUT JESUS. We are too much accustomed to fly to books about Jesus which have intellectual merit rather than personal experience in them. Jesus referred confidently to the great bulk of his auditors, even the common people. And we should try to find out what the common people think about him. If Jesus cannot bless everybody, he cannot bless anybody. The scribes and Pharisees made difficulties where the common people made none. And so we should do well in our difficulties to consider whether they are shared by others. There is great benefit in listening to the opinions of all sorts of people about Jesus Christ. It is well, on the one hand, to hear what can be said by the learned and academic mind; and it is also well, on the other, to listen to those who, behind all that has been peculiar in Christ"s teaching, all that has wanted learning whereby to understand it, have seen the universal truth that was meant to do them good. Christ"s teaching can lay hold of hearts and consciences when the most elaborate system of mere ethics has no grasp. Christ is more than anything he has said, and those who make no pretence to intellectual superiority or anything special, can see him through his every word and deed. We had better not reject Christ before we have listened well to the kind of people who have accepted him. Y.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Why askest thou me - Whom thou wilt not believe?

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

21. ἐρωτᾷς; ἐρώτησον (אBC1LX) for ἐπερωτᾷς; ἐπερερώτησον (Joh 18:7).

21. ἴδε οὖτοι. As if implying that they were present and ought to be examined. Witnesses for the defence were heard first. Οὖτοι cannot mean S. Peter and S. John: S. Peter is still outside by the fire. For ἴδε see on Joh 1:29.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21.] See ch. 5:31, which appears to have been a legal maxim.

οὗτοι, demonstrative: “videtur innuere quod digito extenso ad circumstantes provocaverit.” Bengel. The ὑπηρέται of ch. 7:46 may have been present: see next verse.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. For ἐρωτᾷς, ἐρώτησον, the rec., with some lesser uncials, has the stronger ἐπερωτᾷς, ἐπερώτησον (cf. v. 7).

τί με ἐρωτᾷς; It was a recognised principle of law that a man’s evidence about himself was suspect. See on 5:31.

τί ἐλάλησα αὐτοῖς … ἃ εἶπον ἐγώ. The two verbs have the same meaning (see on 3:11).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.