John 9:14

Joh 9:14 . The reason of this action was that the cure had been wrought on a Sabbath. [“Prohibitum erat sputum oculo illinere Sabbato, sub notione aliquâ medicinali,” Lightfoot.]

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

Verse 14. It was the Sabbath] Some of the ancient rabbins taught, and they have been followed by some moderns, not much better skilled in physic than themselves, that the saliva is a cure for several disorders of the eyes; but the former held this to be contrary to the law, if applied on the Sabbath. See LIGHTFOOT'S Hor. Talm.

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

14. Now it was the Sabbath. Christ purposely selected the Sabbath-day, which must have given ground of offense to the Jews. He had already found, in the case of the paralytic, that this work was liable to slander. Why then does he not avoid the offense — which he could easily have done — but because the defense malignantly undertaken by men would tend to magnify the power of God? The Sabbath-day serves as a whetstone to sharpen them, to inquire more eagerly into the whole matter. And yet what advantage do they reap from a careful and earnest examination of the question but this, that the truth of the Gospel shines more brightly? We are taught by this example that, if we would follow Christ, we must excite the wrath of the enemies of the Gospel; and that they who endeavor to effect a compromise between the world and Christ, so as to condemn every kind of offenses, are altogether mad, since Christ, on the contrary, knowingly and deliberately provoked wicked men. We ought to attend, therefore, to the rule which he lays down, that they who are blind, and leaders of the blind, (Matthew 15:14,) ought to be disregarded.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(14) And it was the sabbath day—i.e., most probably, the last day, that great day of the feast of Joh_7:37. Nothing has taken place which makes it necessary to suppose any interval, and though the discourses seem long, they would have occupied but a short time in delivery. The whole narrative follows in unbroken order, which makes it difficult to suppose that a week intervened.

When Jesus made the clay.—This is mentioned as a servile work which contravened the Sabbath law. The anointing the eyes with spittle on the Sabbath was specially forbidden by the decrees of the Rabbis. They held that no work of healing might be performed on the Sabbath except in cases of immediate danger.

On the question of our Lord’s relation to the Sabbath day, comp. Notes on Joh_5:16 et seq., and on Mat_12:10; Luk_13:11-16; Luk_14:1-5.

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

14. it was the sabbath] We cannot be sure whether this is the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Joh_7:37) or the next Sabbath. There were seven miracles of mercy wrought on the Sabbath: 1. Withered hand (Mat_12:9); 2. Demoniac at Capernaum (Mar_1:21); 3. Simon’s wife’s mother (Mar_1:29); 4. Woman bowed down eighteen years (Luk_13:14); 5. Dropsical man (Luk_14:1); 6. Paralytic at Bethesda (Joh_5:10); 7. Man born blind.

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 it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay,.... Which was reckoned a violation of the sabbath, Joh 9:16, and was one reason why they had the man to the Pharisees to be examined, and why they were desirous of knowing where Jesus was:

and opened his eyes; by putting on the clay, and sending him to wash in the Pool of Siloam: nor did the miracle, nor the good done to the man, excuse with them, what they thought a breach of the sabbath.

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

14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.

Ver. 14. It was the sabbath day] And our Saviour knew it would be as ill resented as that other miracle on the sabbath day done, Joh 5:9, for which they sought to kill him. Men be they pleased or displeased, duty must be discharged. Tenenda regula, caecos ac duces caecorum negligendos esse.

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.

It was observed before, that Christ made choice of the sabbath day, as the day wherein he did many of his mighty works. It was on the sabbath day that he cured the impotent man who lay at the pool of Bethesda, Joh 5:10; and upon the sabbath day that he cured him who had the withered hand, Mat 12:10; and now again upon the sabbath day that he cured him who was born blind. Possibly he chose that day, because that was a day wherein he ordinarily preached that heavenly doctrine, which he confirmed by these miraculous works; or, perhaps, that he might take occasion from thence to instruct the Jews, if they would have received instruction, in the true doctrine of the sabbath, that they might not superstitiously think that it was not lawful to do acts of mercy on the sabbath day: certain it is, that himself maketh that improvement of it, Mat 12:1-8. Or to show them, that he was the Lord of the sabbath; and that, as his Father by his works of providence worketh on the sabbath day, so did he, being equal with his Father: by which argument he before defended himself for the cure of the impotent man on the sabbath day, Joh 5:17.

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

14. Sabbath day—The Evangelist here prepares us for the ground upon which the Pharisees will seek to invalidate the miracle.

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

Now it was sabbath on the day that Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The phrase is peculiar, and implies that the day may have been a festival sabbath. The introduction here shows that the difficulty of the neighbors and other friends had already been raised, and something more than a desire on their part for religious guidance actuated their appeal to the Pharisees. Why should the healed man be taken to the Pharisees, or the synagogue-court at all, unless some question of casuistry had been raised? The movement was one unquestionably adverse to Jesus. It could have had no other motive. Nor can any doubt arise that Jesus had violated the rabbinical rules of the sabbath, though his act had been in perfect harmony with the spirit and even letter of the Mosaic Law. The making of clay with the spittle and the sand was an infringement of the rule ("Shabbath," 24:3). It was curiously laid down in one of the vexatious interpretations (preserved in Jerusalem Gemara on "Shabbath," 14) that while wine could by way of remedy be applied to the eyelid, on the ground that this might be treated as washing, it was sinful to apply it to the inside of the eye" (Edersheim). And it was positively forbidden (in the same Gemara) to apply saliva to the eyelid, because this would be the application of a remedy. All medicinal appliances, unless in cases of danger to life or limb, were likewise forbidden. Consequently, the Lord had broken with the traditional glosses on the Law in more ways than one (see Winer, "Bibl. Realw.," 2:346; Lightfoot, "Ad Joan. 9.;" Wetstein on Mat_12:9; Wunsche, in loc.).

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

Anointing the eyes - With any kind of medicine on the Sabbath, was particularly forbidden by the tradition of the elders.

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

14. It was the sabbath day. Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. We have found in the case of the miracle at the pool of Bethesda how they were angered by any apparent violation of the day.

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.

14. ἐν ᾖ ἡμέρᾳ for ὅτε (simplification) with אBLX against AD.

14. ἦν δὲ σ. ἐν ᾗ ἡμ. Now it was a Sabbath on the day on which: τ. πηλὸν ἐποίησεν is specially stated as being an aggravation of the offence of healing on the Sabbath: see on Joh 5:9. There were seven miracles of mercy wrought on the Sabbath: 1. Withered hand (Mat 12:9); 2. Demoniac at Capernaum (Mar 1:21); 3. Simon’s wife’s mother (Mar 1:29); 4. Woman bowed down 18 years (Luk 13:14); 5. Dropsical man (Luk 14:1); 6. Paralytic at Bethesda (Joh 5:10); 7. Man born blind. In all cases, excepting 2 and 3, the Jews charged the Lord with breaking the Sabbath by healing on it.

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.

14.] Lightf. cites from a Rabbinical treatise on the Sabbath, “sputum etiam super palpebras poni prohibitum.” But the making the clay, as a servile work, seems to be here prominently mentioned.

Meyer notices,—and it is interesting, as a minute mark of accuracy,—that the man only relates what he himself, as being blind, had felt: he says nothing of the spittle.

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

14. ἦν δὲ σάββατον (cf. 5:9) ἐν ᾗ ἡμέρᾳ (so אBLW, but the rec. has simply ὅτε, with ADNΓΔΘ) τὸν πηλὸν ἐποίησεν. It was the kneading of the clay that primarily called for notice, as it was obviously a work of labour and so was a breach of the Sabbath.

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

It was the Sabbath day when [ην δε σαββατον οτε] . The best texts read, instead of ote when, ejn h= hJmera on which day. Literally, it was a Sabbath on the day on which.

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

Ver. 14. Keil remarks that the expression is not for, but now (δέ). There is therefore no indication here of the reason for which they brought him; it is an incidental remark, explanatory of what follows.

The words: He made clay are skillfully added in order to make prominent the anti-Sabbatic work in the miracle. Renan says of Jesus: “He openly violated the Sabbath.” We have already seen that there is nothing of this (vol. I., p. 461). In this case, as in that of chap. 5, Jesus had trampled under foot, not the Mosaic Sabbath, but its Pharisaic caricature. The word πάλιν, again, alludes to Joh 9:10. This expression, as well as the repeated and in this Joh 9:15, indicates a certain impatience on the part of the blind man, whom these questions weary. He already penetrates their designs. Thus, also, is the somewhat abrupt brevity of his reply explained. The division which manifested itself in the public, is reproduced in this limited circle. Some, starting from the inviolability of the Sabbath ordinance, deny to Jesus, as a transgressor of this ordinance, any divine mission; from this results logically the denial of the miracle. Others, starting from the fact of the miracle, infer the holy character of Jesus, and thus implicitly deny the infraction of the Sabbath. Everything depends on the choice of the premise, and the choice depends here, as always, on moral freedom. It is at the point of departure that the friends of the light and those of darkness separate; the rest is only a matter of logic. We must not translate ἁμαρτωλός by sinner. The defenders of Jesus do not dream of affirming His perfect holiness; the termination ωλος expresses abundance, custom; thus: a man without principles, a violator of the Sabbath, a publican. The question addressed to the blind man in Joh 9:17, has as its aim to wrest from him a word which may furnish a pretext for suspecting his veracity. As for him, he recognizes in the miracle, according to the received opinion Joh 3:2, the sign of a divine mission, and he frankly declares it.

Confronting of the blind man with his parents:

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.