John 2:10

Joh_2:10

Thou hast kept the good wine until now.

We learn

I. THAT CHRIST HAS SYMPATHY WITH HOUSEKEEPERS. The wine gave out and Jesus came to the rescue. Dont fret when there is a scant supply in your household, but trust in God and do the best you can and He will help you. Christ is the best adviser and most efficient aid.

II. CHRIST DOES THINGS IN ABUNDANCE. A small supply would have been enough, but Christ gave one hundred and thirty gallons of the very best wine. Everything God does He does plenteously.

1. In nature.

2. In grace.

III. CHRIST DOES NOT SHADOW THE JOYS OF OTHERS WITH HIS OWN GRIEFS. Christ knew what was coming for Himself, but He hid His own grief to kindle their joy. So dont you infuse your own griefs into your children. They will have trouble enough by and by. Be glad that they cannot appreciate yours. Keep back the sorrows as long as you can. Let them enjoy life while they may.

IV. CHRIST IS NOT IMPATIENT WITH THE LUXURIES OF LIFE. The wine, that could have been dispensed with, ran short, and yet Christ replenished it. There is no more harm in honest luxury than honest poverty. There is no more religion in a new coat than in an old one. The world was once a paradise and will be one again.

V. CHRIST HAS NO IMPATIENCE WITH FESTAL JOY. the very miracle augmented it. The children of God have more right to laugh than others: no joy is denied them.

VI. CHRIST COMES TO US IN OUR EXTREMITY. When the wine had given out, and before there was any embarrassment thereupon, He came to the aid of these people.

1. So often in extreme poverty Christ has come to the relief of His people.

2. In the despair of conscious guilt.

3. In death.

VII. CHRIST GIVES HIS BEST LAST.

1. In Christian experience.

2. In glory. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

Infinite resources

Notice

I. THAT GOD MOVES BY A HIGHER LAW THAN MAN UNDERSTANDS Isa_55:8-9).

1. Men give their best first, but God adopts the principle of gradual development.

2. Men give sparingly, God gives abundantly.

II. THAT MAN IS SOMETIMES PRAISED FOR BLESSINGS THAT COME DIRECTLY FROM THE DIVINE HAND.

1. In legislation the politician is praised, and few ascribe the blessing to the Great Fountain of government.

2. In social life men have praised parental discipline, or scholastic education for a high tone of morality, whereas few acknowledge the Source of Purity.

(1) It is here that infidelity has erred; it has stopped at second causes and paused at the bridegroom, instead of inquiring for Christ.

(2) So with science; but science is only an agent. It may be a botanist, but who started the vital fluid? A geologist, but who wrote the rocky page? An astronomer, but who built the world?

(3) So with professing Christians.

III. THAT GOD SOMETIMES PRESENTS THE RESULT WITHOUT REVEALING THE PROCESS, In some departments of the moral universe processes belong exclusively to God, and results to man. In the discipline of our nature God conducts the mysterious process; whereas in the dissemination of the gospel man is required to undertake the agency. These three great principles may teach us

1. To recognize the Divine hand in every advancement. What have we that we did not receive. We should be humble, therefore.

2. Never to distrust the resources of God. You have never drunk the best wine which God can provide. He has unsearchable riches.

3. To repress inquisitiveness, and cultivate gratitude. Take thankfully what God provides. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)

Five characteristics of Christs working

I. APPROPRIATENESS. Christ does the right thing, in the right place, at the right time. The people did not want bread, nor clothes, nor health. Had they been rich the miracle would have been unnecessary; at an earlier period it would have been premature. And in His providence over our life Christ does nothing out of place or superfluously.

II. MYSTERY. Christ simply willed and the water was made wine: no one knows how.

1. So in physical life.

2. Human life.

3. Spiritual life.

III. SELF-ABNEGATION. The bridegroom received the credit for Christs act.

1. So in life the employer gets the credit for the skill and strength of the employee.

2. So in morals human cleverness and power get the credit for successes which should be given to the goodness of God.

3. So in the Church the means of grace are allowed to usurp the place of the Giver of grace.

IV. PROGRESS. The best last. This is the law by which Christ governs men.

1. By His providence.

2. Through His Spirit.

V. UNOSTENTATIOUS GENEROSITY. The need of which the guests were ignorant was anticipated by Christ. (J. W. Burn.)

Satans banquet and Christs

I. THE HOUSE OF SATAN, in which are four tables.

1. The table of the profligate--a gay table. The governor comes in. He has a bland smile and a robe of many colours. He brings

(1) The wine-cup of pleasure. The young man takes it, and sips at first cautiously. He does not intend to indulge much. But how sweet it is! He drinks a deeper draught, and the wine is hot in his veins. How blest is he! He drinks and drinks again, till his brain begins to reel with the sinful delight. This is the first course.

(2) Now, with a leer, the subtle governor riseth. His victim has had enough of the best wine. He brings in another, all flat and insipid--the cup of satiety. Who hath woe? who hath redness of the eyes? They that tarry long at the wine, figuratively and literally. The profligate soon discovers that all the rounds of pleasure end in satiety. Give me something fresh, he cries; and gaiety itself grows flat and dull.

(3) The governor commandeth another liquor to be broached. This time the fiend bears the black goblet of suffering. He who rebels against the laws of God must reap the harvest in his own body here.

(4) The last course remains--the grave. The profligate dies, and descends from disease to damnation.

2. There is another table, all clean and comely. The wine on it seems to have no intoxication in it. How contented are the guests! It is the table of self-righteousness. Satan, like an angel of light, brings forth a golden goblet containing the wine of

(1) Self-satisfaction. This wine makes the drinker swell with self-important dignity.

(2) This cup is eventually replaced by that of discontent and unquietness of mind. As confidence is wanted, it is found wanting.

(3) This is removed, and the cup of dismay is brought in. How many a man who has been self-righteous all his life has, at the last, discovered that the basis of his hope has gone.

(4) The last course must be the same as that of the profligate, inasmuch as Christ has been rejected.

3. The third table is crowded with most honourable guests--kings, princes, mayors, aldermen, and great merchants.

(1) Satan brings in a flowing cup, and says: Young man, you are starting in business; get rich as fast as you can. The youth drinks, and says: I have abundance now: my hopes are indeed realized.

(2) But next comes the nauseous cup of care. Riches canker his heart.

(3) After this comes the cup of avarice, which increases the burning thirst of which many have died clutching their money-bags.

(4) Then there is the cup of loss, in which money and the satisfaction it once gave perish.

4. The fourth table is set up in a very secluded corner for secret sinners. Satan steps in noiselessly

(1) with the cup of secret sin. Stolen waters are sweet.

(2) After that he brings the wine of an unquiet conscience.

(3) A massy bowl filled with black mixture, the fear of detection, next has to be quaffed.

(4) Discovery is the last cup. Be sure your sin will find you out, if not in this world, in the next.

II. THE HOUSE OF THE SAVIOUR.

1. Come and sit at the table of Christs outward providences.

(1) The first cup is often one of bitterness--the worst wine first. Christ seeks no disciples who are dazzled with first appearances.

(2) After the cup of affliction comes the cup of consolation.

(3) The cup of glory.

2. The table of inward experience.

(1) The first cup is the bitter cup of conviction.

(2) This gives place to the cup of forgiving love.

(3) The cup of everlasting bliss.

3. The table of communion.

(1) The cup of communion with Christ in His sufferings.

(2) The cup of His labours.

(3) The cup of good wine, communion with Christ in His resurrection and triumphs. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The feast of the Lord

I. FOR THE BELIEVER CHRIST KEEPS THE BEST WINE TILL THE LAST.

1. There are some of Gods best beloved who have never known what it is to get out of the depths of poverty, affliction, profitless toil, to whom it will indeed be true, when death gives them their discharge, that Christ has kept the good wine till the last--riches, happiness, rest.

2. This will be equally true of Gods favoured ones. The most highly favoured, who had been caught up to the third heaven, declared that he only saw through a glass darkly, and that there was a higher heaven yet. There are many aspects of the heavenly state, and in each of these the principle of the text holds good.

1. Here on earth the believer enters into rest by faith, and enjoys the peace which passeth all understanding. But drink of that as we may, the good wine has yet to come. The present peace is dashed by cares and doubts and disquietudes.

2. Heaven is a place of holy company. Here we have some of that wine, but our companions are compassed with infirmity. There the just are made perfect.

3. In heaven there is perfect knowledge. On earth we know much that makes us happy, but heaven is a place of complete and endless manifestations and joys.

II. CHRISTS REASONS FOR DOING THIS.

1. To make a broad distinction between His dealings and Satans.

2. Because it is His good pleasure.

3. That He may give us an appetite for the good wine.

4. That He may be glorified by the trial of your faith.

III. LESSONS:

1. Hasten towards the place where the good wine is kept.

2. If the best things are to come, let us not be discontented.

3. Why should we envy the worldling? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christs method and the worlds

I. THE WORLDS METHOD IS TO GIVE THE GOOD WINE FIRST.

1. The gay world, to the young, presents the appearance of a feast where everything is provided that can please the eye and gratify the taste. But experience strips off the disguise. Enjoyment brings satiety, and long ere the cup is drained the soul turns from it in dislike. There is not a more miserable creature than the man to whom the world has given all its blessings and has nothing more to promise. The novelty of this worlds pleasures is their greatest charm.

2. Take the case of the drunkard. He is dissatisfied with the low life of drudgery he leads, and pants after a higher life and a freer atmosphere. So he drinks to drown his sorrows and to promote his joy. But the hour of elation passes, and leaves a grievous sense of bodily discomfort and a profound sense of self-contempt. More so with the confirmed drunkard. It is long since he drank all the good wine which his lust could give him; and now he is drinking the bitter dregs of the wretched wine which biteth like a serpent, etc. There was a time when the tottering frame was instinct with health and vigour, and the palsied hand had a grip of iron, and the bloated face was full of comeliness and intelligence.

3. Nor is it otherwise with the avaricious man. How precious was the first piece of money that came long ago as a reward of industry. But as he drank deep of the golden cup of wealth the first fresh glow of happiness disappeared. Care and anxiety grew with fortune, and wants with the means of gratifying them.

4. So with the ambitious man. The first draught of ambitions cup is indeed the sweetest; all that follows is often bitterness and loneliness. The fruit is fair to the eye; but in the mouth it crumbles into ashes. It lures but to disappoint; it tempts but to betray.

II. OUR LORDS METHOD IS TO GIVE THE BEST WINE LAST.

1. This is illustrated in His own life. He drank the poorest wine first and then the best. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the cursed death of the cross; wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name.

2. So with the disciples; they drink of His cup and are baptized with His baptism. The law of His kingdom is first the cross, and then the crown; first suffering, and therefore glory. His blessings are not like random sunbursts through the clouds, or the irregular overflowing of an intermittent spring, but form parts of a gradually unfolding series. They are bestowed in proportion as our necessities arise and our faculties expand. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)

The best last

The world presents us with fair language, promising hopes, convenient fortunes, pompous honours, and these are the outside of the bowl; but when it is swallowed, these dissolve in an instant. Every sin smiles in the first address, and carries light in the face, and honey in the lips, but when we have well drunk, then comes that which is worse, a whip with six strings, fears and terrors of conscience, and shame and displeasure, and a caitiff disposition, and diffidence in the day of death. But when, after the manner of purifying of the Christians, we fill our waterpots with water, watering our couch with our tears, then Christ turns our water into wine--first penitents and then communicants--first waters of sorrow and then the wine of the chalice; for Jesus keeps the best wine to the last, not only because of the direct reservation of the highest joys till the nearer approaches of glory, but also because our relishes are higher after a long fruition than at the first essays, such being the nature of grace, that it increases in relish as it does in fruition, every part of grace being new duty and new reward. (Jeremy Taylor.)

Well drunk

Taste educated

At first the palate distinguishes with the utmost nicety the quality of the wine; but afterwards, as more of it is drunk, the keen edge of the taste is blunted, and it cannot distinguish between the different kinds, so that an inferior wine at this stage might be substituted for a superior one without the guests being any the wiser. The extraordinary pitch of perfection to which the sense of taste may be educated is shown by the experience of those who are employed, in docks and warehouses, to discriminate between samples of different kinds of wine and tea; but these men use the utmost caution in the exercise of their peculiar gift. They are careful only to employ a very small quantity of the article experimented upon; and they confine their trials within very narrow limits. Excess or familiarity destroys the sensitiveness of the nerves, and tends to deaden the impressions produced upon them. So alive are some musicians to this physiological fact, that they will not touch an instrument that is out of tune, lest their sense of harmony should be impaired. (H. Macmillan, LL. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 2:10. Λέγει, saith) So that those who were present might hear: see the preceding verse.—τὸν καλόν, the good) Therefore the bridegroom had set down wine, in the judgment of the governor of the feast, good enough; but Jesus gave better.—ὃταν μεθυσθῶσι) Simply the speech of the governor of the feast is repeated, as also the custom of the Jews: drunkenness is not approved of.—τετήρηκας, thou hast kept) He speaks as one ignorant of what had taken place, Joh 2:9.

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

Word for word, are drunken. Now this speech, to be drunken, is not always taken in evil part in the Hebrew tongue, but signifieth sometime such store, and plentiful use of wine, as doth not pass measure, as Gen. 43:34.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the good wine . . . until now--thus testifying, while ignorant of the source of supply, not only that it was real wine, but better than any at the feast.

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

Verse 10. The good wine until now.] That which our Lord now made being perfectly pure, and highly nutritive!

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) When men have well drunk.—The same Greek word is used in the LXX. in Gen_43:34, and rendered in the Authorised version “were merry;” but its general use in the Old Testament, as in classical writers, and its invariable use in the New Testament (Mat_24:49; Act_2:15; 1Co_11:21; Eph_5:18; 1Th_5:7; Rev_17:6, are the only passages) is to express the state of drunkenness. Our translators have shrunk from that rendering here, though it was before them in the “When men be dronke,” of Tyndall and Cranmer. The physical meaning of the word is to saturate with moisture, as we say, to be drenched, which is the same word as drunk. There is clearly no reference to the present feast. It is a coarse jest of the ruler’s, the sort of remark that forms part of the stock in trade of a hired manager of banquets.

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

10. when men have well drunk] Our translators have timidly shrunk from giving the full coarseness of the man’s joke: it should be when they have become drunken, when they are drunk. In Mat_24:49; Act_2:15; 1Co_11:21; 1Th_5:7; Rev_17:2; Rev_17:6, we have the same word rightly translated. Tyndall and Cranmer were more courageous here; they have ‘be dronke;’ and the Vulgate has inebriati fuerint. The error comes from the Geneva Bible. Of course he does not mean that the guests around him are intoxicated: it is a jocular statement of his own experience at feasts. Omit ‘then.’

thou hast kept the good wine until now] This was true in a sense of which he never dreamed. The True Bridegroom was there, and had indeed kept the best dispensation until the last.

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.

And saith unto him,.... The following words; expressing the common custom used at feasts:

every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; that is, it is usual with men, when they make entertainments, first to give the guests the best, the most generous, and strongest bodied wine; as being most suitable for them, and they being then better able to bear it, and it being most for the credit of the maker of the feast:

and when men have well drank; not to excess, but freely, so as that they are exhilarated; and their spirits cheerful, but their brains not intoxicated: so the word, as answering to the Hebrew word is used by the Septuagint in Gen 43:34,

then that which is worse; not bad wine, but , "that which is lesser"; a weaker bodied wine, that is lowered, and of less strength, and not so intoxicating, and which is fittest for the guests. So Martial (z) advises Sextilianus, after he had drank the tenth cup, not to drink the best wine, but to ask his host for wine of Laletania, which was a weaker and lower sort of wine.

But thou hast kept the good wine until now; which shows he knew nothing of the miracle wrought. And as the bridegroom here did, in the apprehension of the ruler of the feast, at this his marriage, so does the Lord, the husband of the church, in the marriage feast of the Gospel; and so he will do at the marriage supper of the lamb. The Gospel, which may be compared to wine for its purity, pleasant taste, and generous effects in reviving drooping spirits, refreshing weary persons, and comforting distressed minds, as also for its antiquity, was published before the coming of Christ, in the times of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets, but in a lower and weaker way; at sundry times, here a little, and there a little, by piecemeals, as it were; and in divers manners, by promises, prophecies, types, shadows, and sacrifices; and was attended with much darkness and bondage: but under the Gospel dispensation, which is compared to a marriage feast, it is more fully dispensed, more clearly published, and more freely ministered. The whole of it is delivered, and with open face beheld; and saints are made free by it; it is set in the strongest and clearest light; the best wine is reserved till now; God has provided some better thing for us, Heb 11:40. And so with respect to the future state of the saints, their best things are kept for them till last. They have many good things now; as the Gospel, Gospel ordinances, the blessings, and promises of grace, the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, presence of God, and communion with Christ, at least at times; all which are better than wine: but then there is an alloy to these; they are lowered by other things, as the corruptions of the heart, the temptations of Satan, the hidings of God's face, and a variety of afflictions; but they shall have their good and best things hereafter, and drink new wine in Christ's Father's kingdom, without any thing to lower and weaken it: they will have full joys, and never fading pleasures, and shall be without sin and sorrow; no more deserted, nor afflicted, and shall be out of the reach of Satan's temptations, and with Christ for evermore. Happy are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

(z) A Caupone tibi faex Laletana petatur Si plus quam decics, Sextiliane, bibis. L. 1. Ep. 25.

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

10 And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

Ver. 10. Every man at the beginning] Ingenium hominum adumbrat, natura fallax et sophisticum. Sic Satan nos ad se allicere solet, Pantheris in morem: Christus contra. His work is worst at first; the best is behind; the sweetest of honey lies in the bottom.

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.

Every man - It is customary, or it is generally done.

When men have well drunk - This word does not of necessity mean that they were intoxicated, though it is usually employed in that sense. It may mean when they have drunk sufficient, or to satiety; or have drunk so much as to produce hilarity, and to destroy the keenness of their taste, so that they could not readily distinguish the good from that which was worse. But this cannot be adduced in favor of drunkenness, even if it means to be intoxicated; for,

It is not said of those who were present “at that feast,” but of what generally occurred. For anything that appears, at that feast all were perfectly temperate and sober. It is not the saying of Jesus that is here recorded, but of the governor of the feast, who is declaring what usually occurred as a fact. There is not any expression of opinion in regard to its “propriety,” or in approval of it, even by that governor. It does not appear that our Saviour even heard the observation. Still less is there any evidence that he approved such a state of things, or that he designed that it should take place here. Further, the word translated “well drunk” cannot be shown to mean intoxication; but it may mean when they had drunk as much as they judged proper or as they desired. then the other was presented. It is clear that neither our Saviour, nor the sacred writer, nor the speaker here expresses any approval of intemperance, nor is there the least evidence that anything of the kind occurred here. It is not proof that we approve of intemperance when we mention, as this man did, what occurs usually among men at feasts.

Is worse - Is of an inferior quality.

The good wine - This shows that this had all the qualities of real wine. We should not be deceived by the phrase “good wine.” We often use the phrase to denote that it is good in proportion to its strength and its power to intoxicate; but no such sense is to be attached to the word here. Pliny, Plutarch, and Horace describe wine as “good,” or mention that as “the best wine,” which was harmless or “innocent” - poculo vini “innocentis.” The most useful wine - “utilissimum vinum” - was that which had little strength; and the most wholesome wine - “saluberrimum vinum” - was that which had not been adulterated by “the addition of anything to the ‘must’ or juice.” Pliny expressly says that a good wine was one that was destitute of spirit (lib. iv. c. 13). It should not be assumed, therefore, that the “good wine” was “stronger” than the other: it is rather to be presumed that it was milder.

The wine referred to here was doubtless such as was commonly drunk in Palestine. That was the pure juice of the grape. It was not brandied wine, nor drugged wine, nor wine compounded of various substances, such as we drink in this land. The common wine drunk in Palestine was that which was the simple juice of the grape. we use the word “wine” now to denote the kind of liquid which passes under that name in this country - always containing a considerable portion of alcohol not only the alcohol produced by fermentation, but alcohol “added” to keep it or make it stronger. But we have no right to take that sense of the word, and go with it to the interpretation of the Scriptures. We should endeavor to place ourselves in the exact circumstances of those times, ascertain precisely what idea the word would convey to those who used it then, and apply that sense to the word in the interpretation of the Bible; and there is not the slightest evidence that the word so used would have conveyed any idea but that of the pure juice of the grape, nor the slightest circumstance mentioned in this account that would not be fully met by such a supposition.

No man should adduce This instance in favor of drinking wine unless he can prove that the wine made in the waterpots of Cana was just like the wine which he proposes to drink. The Saviour’s example may be always pleaded just as it was; but it is a matter of obvious and simple justice that we should find out exactly what the example was before we plead it. There is, moreover, no evidence that any other part of the water was converted into wine than that which was “drawn out” of the water-casks for the use of the guests. On this supposition, certainly, all the circumstances of the case are met, and the miracle would be more striking. All that was needed was to furnish a “supply” when the wine that had been prepared was nearly exhausted. The object was not to furnish a large quantity for future use. The miracle, too, would in this way be more apparent and impressive. On this supposition, the casks would appear to be filled with water only; as it was drawn out, it was pure wine. Who could doubt, then, that there was the exertion of miraculous power? All, therefore, that has been said about the Redeemer’s furnishing a large quantity of wine for the newly-married pair, and about his benevolence in doing it, is wholly gratuitous. There is no evidence of it whatever; and it is not necessary to suppose it in order to an explanation of the circumstances of the case.

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

When men have well drank,[2] or plentifully; this is the literal sense: nor need we translate, when they are drunk, being spoken of such company, where our Saviour, Christ, his blessed Mother, and his disciples, were present. See Genesis xliii. 34; 1 Machabees xvi. ver. 16, where the same word may be taken in the same sense. (Witham)

===============================

[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

When they have drank well: cum inebriati fuerint, Greek: otan methusthosi. See Legh. Crit. Sac. on the word Greek: methuo.

====================

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).

The governor calls the bridegroom, (at whose cost the provision for the feast was to be provided), and minds him, that he seemed to have done contrary to the common practice of such as made feasts; for they used to bring forth their best wine first, when men’s palates were quickest, and least adulterated; and worse after that they had drank well; so the word μεθυσθωσι signifies, as appears by the Septuagint’s translation of the Hebrew word so signifying, Gen 43:34; Hag 1:6; not only men’s distempering themselves with wine, which it also sometimes signifieth; and this speaketh our translation of it, 1Co 11:21, are drunken, something hard, the word not necessarily nor always so signifying; and they must be very uncharitable to the primitive church of Corinth, who can think that it would permit persons actually drunken to come to the Lord’s table. But the custom, it seems, was, if they had any wine worse than another, to bring it out to their guests after that the edge of their palates was a little blunted with the taste of better. Now this bridegroom, as the governor of the feast (who knew nothing of the miracle) thought, had kept his briskest and most generous wine to the last; thereby giving a great approbation of the miracle, not only owning it to be true wine, but much better than they had before at the feast.

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

10. Men have well drunk—After their tastes have become somewhat obtuse; but perhaps in order that the appetite may not be further tempted. There are two methods of exculpating the present company from all imputation of intemperance derived from the ruler’s words. One is to show that the Greek word μεθυσκω, rendered “well drunk,” does not imply drunkenness; the other is to say that the ruler describes the customs of others, not the conduct of the present assembly. Professor Stuart, adopting the former method, argues that the word is derived from μεθυ, methu, sweet wine, or must, and hence signifies satiation and not intoxication. Kuinoel, adopting the same method, quotes the use of the word in the Greek Septuagint in Psa_33:5; Psa_65:11. He quotes two passages from the Greek of Philo the Jew, as follows: “It is a noble thing to take care of our fences, collect our revenues, be hospitable, and μεθυειν to drink to satiety.” But a very fitting passage is the next: “There is a twofold μεθυειν; one is to use wine, and the other is to be a fool with wine.” It must be admitted, however, that all its uses in the New Testament, besides the present, imply drunkenness. Mat_24:49; Act_2:15; 1Co_11:21; 1Th_5:7; Rev_17:2; Rev_17:6. Bengel takes the word in the severer sense, but, adopting the second method, argues that nothing is said about the present company, but only about the general custom. Kuinoel, however, replies that his following words, thou hast kept the good wine until now, implies that the present company was following the usual fashion. Yet, we reply, the custom might be the same whichever wine was used. People using fermented wines might use the best first to inebriation; people using the must might drink the best first to satiety; both for the same reason.

The good wine—A full testimony that the miracle was not spurious.

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

And saith, Every man at the first setteth on the good wine, and when men have drunk deeply, then that which is worse (literally, smaller): thou hast kept (guarded) the good wine until now. The classical passages supposed to illustrate this jovial saying throw little light upon it. The meaning is obvious enough, and there is no need to search in ancient wit for the original of a speech which is not too recondite to have been originated on this occasion. The best wine is appropriately given when the seneca are keenest, but when the climax of the festival has come, when they have drunk too deeply, or are intoxicated, then the weaker, poorer, and less fragrant wine is acceptable. There need be no reference whatever to the present company. Tholuck and the Revised Version modify the force of meyusywsi ; Meyer, Godet, and others see no difficulty in assigning to the word its proper meaning. (cf. Luk_12:45 1Th_5:7 Eph_5:18 Rev_17:2) The whole saying simply asserts, by an outsider, the concrete reality of a wonderful change that had occurred. He knew nothing of a miracle. He merely guaranteed unwittingly the phenomena that came within the range of his senses. This becomes more impressive because he knew nothing of the cause, and was profoundly ignorant of the claims of his strange and wonderful Guest. No further remark is offered. We are not told how the fact was referred to the will or authority of Jesus, to the kindness or generosity of the mother; or whether the company generally learned the mysterious powers of their fellow Guest. The bridegroom thus honoured made no reply that is recorded; and, by emphatic silence, the impression is conveyed that this manifestation of the power of the Lord was not, in his opinion, the coming of his "hour." Strange reticence is observed, but this is added

"Thou hast kept the good wine until now.

True religion and all its benefits are progressive. Instead of looking back to a golden age, the people of God have ever been encouraged to turn the gaze of their hearts towards the future. The counsels of God have been gradually unfolded, and the visions of inspired seers have in measure been realized. There is no sign of exhaustion in the resources of Divine grace, in the provisions of Divine beneficence. Every age of Church history, every period of Christian experience, has heard the amazed and grateful acknowledgment offered to heaven: "Thou hast kept the good wine until now.

I GOD"S GRACE IS PROGRESSIVELY REVEALED IN THE INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE OF CHRISTIANS. The longer Jesus is known, the more are his benefits realized, and the more is he valued. Advancing years, seasons of affliction and adversity, the approach of the end of the pilgrimage, afford growing opportunities of testing the faithfulness of the Father and the friendship of the Christ. The wine of grace mellows and refines with the lapse of time and the enlargement of experience.

II GOD"S GRACE IS PROGRESSIVELY REVEALED IN THE SUCCESSIVE EPOCHS OF THE WORLD"S AND THE CHURCH"S HISTORY.

1. Time has unfolded to the understanding and the heart of humanity the character of Christ. There certainly never was a time when that character was so studied and so appreciated as now.

2. Time has proved the extent and the variety of Christs power to bless. Days of persecution, days of missionary zeal, days of defence and confirmation of the truth, have succeeded one another; and every epoch seems to reveal to humanity the goodness of the wine in a heightened and more precious degree.

3. Time has shown what Christianity can do to develop and improve society. As new forms of social life have come into being, as new social needs emerge, as new difficulties arise in human relationships, these successive events make it evident that what the world wants is supplied in the Son of man. That new conditions of human society are approaching is certain; but it is equally certain that our Divine religion will prove its adaptation in the future as in the past. Under the guidance of Providence, there is in store for our humanity larger, richer, better life; and the Lord Christ shall fill the multiplied and ampler vessels with the choicest vintage of his love.

III GOD"S GRACE WILL BE PROGRESSIVELY REVEALED IN ETERNITY. The wine is good. here and now; Christ saves from sin, strengthens for duty, renews and purifies and blesses. But surely those who are brought to the kingdom above, where the question is not of conflict but of service, not of patience but of praise, shall, upon tasting the spiritual delights of eternity, be constrained to exclaim, "Thou hast kept the good wine until now. T.

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

And saith - St. John barely relates the words he spoke, which does not imply his approving them. When they have well drunk - does not mean any more than toward the close of the entertainment.

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

10. Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine. The language of the ruler is sportive, but still he states a custom. The best wine was offered when the appetite of the guests was sharpest and most critical. Have well drunk. Not intoxicated, but have drunk considerable. Satan gives his good wine first; so the drunkard finds it; so did the prodigal son. Afterwards he gives the bitter; red eyes, pain, hunger, wretchedness. Thou hast kept the good wine until now. What meaneth Christ making wine? In Palestine there were three kinds of wine: 1. Fermented wines, which, however, were very unlike our fiery liquors, and contained only a small per cent of alcohol. These were mixed with two or three parts of water. The fermented, at first mild, and then diluted with water, was only intoxicating when used in enormous quantities. 2. The unfermented juice of the grape. 3. An intoxicating drink called “new wine” in Acts 2:13. Whedon says: “We see no reason for supposing that the wine of the present occasion was that upon which Scripture places its strongest interdict (Prov. 20:1; 23:31; Isa. 22:13), rather than that eulogized as a blessing (Psa. 104:15; Isa. 55:1). Even adopting the view that it was fermented wine, it was totally unlike the fiery and undiluted drinks sold as wines in saloons, used in many families, offered at hotels and wine parties, and even poured out at communion tables. In the use of the usual wine of Palestine there is not the slightest apology for drinking as a beverage the alcoholic drinks which are the curse of our times. With regard to them the only safe rule is “to touch not, taste not, handle not.”

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

10. μεθυσθῶσιν. Have become drunk, are drunk. The A.V. does not give the full coarseness of the man’s joke, although in Mat 24:49; Act 2:15; 1Co 11:21; 1Th 5:7; Rev 17:2; Rev 17:6, the same word is rightly translated. The Vulgate has inebriati fuerint; Tyndall and Cranmer have ‘be dronke’; the error comes from the Geneva Bible. Of course the man does not mean that the guests are intoxicated; it is a jocular statement of his own experience at feasts.

ἕως ἄρτι. This was true in a sense of which he never dreamed. The True Bridegroom was there, and had indeed kept the best dispensation until the last. Ἄρτι occurs about 12 times in this Gospel, 7 in Matt., not at all in Mark or Luke. It expresses the present in relation to the past and the future, ‘at this stage,’ ‘at this crisis,’ whereas νῦν regards the present moment only, ‘now’ absolutely. Comp. Joh 5:17, Joh 9:19; Joh 9:25, Joh 13:7; Joh 13:19; Joh 13:33; Joh 13:37; Joh 16:12; Joh 16:31, &c.

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.

10.] The saying of the ἀρχ. is a general one, not applicable to the company then present. We may be sure that the Lord would not have sanctioned, nor ministered to, actual drunkenness. Only those who can conceive this, will find any difficulty here; and they will find difficulties every where.

The account of the practice referred to is, that the palates of men become after a while dull, and cannot distinguish between good wine and bad. Pliny (Nat. Hist. xiv. 13) speaks of persons “qui etiam convivis (vina) alia quam sibimetipsis ministrant, aut procedente mensa subjiciunt.” But the practice here described is not precisely that of which Pliny speaks, nor is there any meanness to be charged on it: it is only that, when a man has some kinds of wine choicer than others, he naturally produces the choicest, to suit the most discriminating taste. With regard to the word μεθυσθῶσιν, while there is no reason here to press its ordinary meaning, so neither is there any to shrink from it, as uttered by the ἀρχιτρίκλινος. The safest rendering is that of Tyndall and Cranmer, “when men be dronke;” “cum inebriati fuerint,” Vulg.

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

10. τὸν ἐλάσσω. The rec. text, with אcANΓΔΘ, prefixes τότε, but om. א*BLTbW.

The ἀρχιτρίκλινος speaks of a common practice at feasts as he knew them; viz. that when men’s palates had become dull by drinking—cum inebriati fuerint (vg.), “when men be dronke,” as Tyndale and Cranmer translate—inferior wine was served.

Schlatter quotes a Rabbinical tradition as to the wine drunk on the occasion of a boy’s circumcision: the father says to the guests as he offers it, “Drink from this good wine; from this I will give you to drink also at his wedding.” In the present case, the surprise of the ruler of the feast was due, not to good wine being served, but to its being served last. It was kept ἕως ἄρτι (cf. 5:17, 16:24 and 1Jn 2:9 for this phrase).

For the adj. καλός, see further on 10:11. καλός is used of wine, as here, in a fourth-century papyrus quoted by Moulton-Milligan, s.v.

τὸν καλὸν οἶνον τίθησιν. This suggests that the wine was placed on the table, as is our modern custom.

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

Have well drunk [μεθυσθωσι] . Wyc., be filled. Tynd., be drunk. The A. V. and Tynd. are better than the Rev. when men have drunk freely. The ruler of the feast means that when the palates of the guests have become less sensitive through indulgence, an inferior quality of wine is offered. In every instance of its use in the New Testament the word means intoxication. The attempt of the advocates of the unfermented - wine theory to deny or weaken this sense by citing the well - watered garden (Isa 58:11; Jer 31:12) scarcely requires comment. One might answer by quoting Plato, who uses baptizesqai, to be baptized, for being drunk (" Symposium, " 176). In the Septuagint the verb repeatedly occurs for watering (Psa 65:9, 10), but always with the sense of drenching or soaking; of being drunken or surfeited with water. In Jer. xlviii. (Sept.

Joh 2:31 26, it is found in the literal sense, to be drunken. The metaphorical use of the word has passed into common slang, as when a drunken man is said to be wetted or soaked (so Plato, above). The figurative use of the word in the Septuagint has a parallel in the use of potizw, to give to drink, to express the watering of ground. So Gen 2:6, a mist watered the face of the earth, or gave it drink. Compare Gen 13:10; Deu 11:10. A curious use of the word occurs in Homer, where he is describing the stretching of a bull's hide, which, in order to make it more elastic, is soaked [μεθυουσαν] with fat (" Iliad, " 17 390).

Worse [ελασσω] . Literally, smaller. Implying both worse and weaker. Small appears in the same sense in English, as small - beer.

Hast kept [τετηρηκας] . See on 1Pe 1:4.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.