40And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was first baptizing, and He was staying there. 41Many came to Him and were saying, “While John performed no sign, yet everything John said about this man was true.” 42Many believed in Him there.

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
Therefore they were seeking again to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The Jews tried to arrest Jesus again, but he got away from them.

King James Bible
Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,

Douay-Rheims Bible
They sought therefore to take him; and he escaped out of their hands.

Darby Bible Translation
They sought therefore again to take him; and he went away from out of their hand

English Revised Version
They sought again to take him: and he went forth out of their hand.

Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore they sought again to take him; but he escaped from their hand,

Weymouth New Testament
This made them once more try to arrest Him, but He withdrew out of their power.

World English Bible
They sought again to seize him, and he went out of their hand.

Young's Literal Translation
Therefore were they seeking again to seize him, and he went forth out of their hand,

Cross References

Matthew 12:14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

Luke 4:30 But passing through their midst, He went His way.

John 7:30 So they were seeking to seize Him; and no man laid his hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.

John 8:59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Verses 39-42

We have here the issue of the conference with the Jews. One would have thought it would have convinced and melted them, but their hearts were hardened. Here we are told,

I. How they attacked him by force. Therefore they sought again to take him, v. 39. Therefore, 1. Because he had fully answered their charge of blasphemy, and wiped off that imputation, so that they could not for shame go on with their attempts to stone him, therefore they contrived to seize him, and prosecute him as an offender against the state. When they were constrained to drop their attempt by a popular tumult, they would try what they could do under colour of a legal process. See Rev. 12:13. Or, 2. Because he persevered in the same testimony concerning himself, they persisted in their malice against him. What he had said before he did in effect say again, for the faithful witness never departs from what he has once said; and therefore, having the same provocation, they express the same resentment, and justify their attempt to stone him by another attempt to take him. Such is the temper of a persecuting spirit, and such its policy, malè facta malè factis tegere ne perpluant-to cover one set of bad deeds with another, lest the former should fall through.

II. How he avoided them by flight; not an inglorious retreat, in which there was any thing of human infirmity, but a glorious retirement, in which there was much of a divine power. He escaped out of their hands, not by the interposal of any friend that helped him, but by his own wisdom he got clear of them; he drew a veil over himself, or cast a mist before their eyes, or tied the hands of those whose hearts he did not turn. Note, No weapon formed against our Lord Jesus shall prosper, Ps. 2:4. He escaped, not because he was afraid to suffer, but because his hour was not come. And he who knew how to deliver himself no doubt knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to make a way for them to escape.

III. How he disposed of himself in his retirement: He went away again beyond Jordan, v. 40. The bishop of our souls came not to be fixed in one see, but to go about from place to place, doing good. This great benefactor was never out of his way, for wherever he came there was work to be done. Though Jerusalem was the royal city, yet he made many a kind visit to the country, not only to his own country Galilee, but to other parts, even those that lay most remote beyond Jordan. Now observe,

1. What shelter he found there. He went into a private part of the country, and there he abode; there he found some rest and quietness, when in Jerusalem he could find none. Note, Though persecutors may drive Christ and his gospel out of their own city or country, they cannot drive him or it out of the world. Though Jerusalem was not gathered, nor would be, yet Christ was glorious, and would be. Christ's going now beyond Jordan was a figure of the taking of the kingdom of God from the Jews, and bringing it to the Gentiles. Christ and his gospel have often found better entertainment among the plain country-people than among the wise, the mighty, the noble, 1 Co. 1:26, 27.

2. What success he found there. He did not go thither merely for his own security, but to do good there; and he chose to go thither, where John at first baptized (ch. 1:28), because there could not but remain some impressions of John's ministry and baptism thereabouts, which would dispose them to receive Christ and his doctrine; for it was not three years since John was baptizing, and Christ was himself baptized here at Bethabara. Christ came hither now to see what fruit there was of all the pains John Baptist had taken among them, and what they retained of the things they then heard and received. The event in some measure answered expectation; for we are told,

(1.) That they flocked after him (v. 41): Many resorted to him. The return of the means of grace to a place, after they have been for some time intermitted, commonly occasions a great stirring of affections. Some think Christ chose to abide at Bethabara, the house of passage, where the ferry-boats lay by which they crossed the river Jordan, that the confluence of people thither might give an opportunity of teaching many who would come to hear him when it lay in their way, but who would scarcely go a step out of the road for an opportunity of attending on his word.

(2.) That they reasoned in his favour, and sought arguments to induce them to close with him as much as those at Jerusalem sought objections against him. They said very judiciously, John did no miracle, but all things that John spoke of this man were true. Two things they considered, upon recollecting what they had seen and heard from John, and comparing it with Christ's ministry. [1.] That Christ far exceeded John Baptist's power, for John did no miracle, but Jesus does many; whence it is easy to infer that Jesus is greater than John. And, if John was so great a prophet, how great then is this Jesus! Christ is best known and acknowledged by such a comparison with others as sets him superlatively above others. Though John came in the spirit and power of Elias, yet he did not work miracles, as Elias did, lest the minds of people should be made to hesitate between him and Jesus; therefore the honour of working miracles was reserved for Jesus as a flower of his crown, that there might be a sensible demonstration, and undeniable one, that though he came after John, yet he was preferred far before him. [2.] That Christ exactly answered John Baptist's testimony. John not only did no miracle to divert people from Christ, but he said a great deal to direct them to Christ, and to turn them over as apprentices to him, and this came to their minds now: all things that John said of this man were true, that he should be the Lamb of God, should baptize with Holy Ghost and with fire. Great things John had said of him, which raised their expectations; so that though they had not zeal enough to carry them into his country to enquire after him, yet, when he came into theirs, and brought his gospel to their doors, they acknowledged him as great as John had said he would be. When we get acquainted with Christ, and come to know him experimentally, we find all things that the scripture saith of him to be true; nay, and that the reality exceeds the report, 1 Ki. 10:6, 7. John Baptist was now dead and gone, and yet his hearers profited by what they had heard formerly, and, by comparing what they heard then with what they saw now, they gained a double advantage; for, First, They were confirmed in their belief that John was a prophet, who foretold such things, and spoke of the eminency to which this Jesus would arrive, though his beginning was so small. Secondly, They were prepared to believe that Jesus was the Christ, in whom they saw those things accomplished which John foretold. By this we see that the success and efficacy of the word preached are not confined to the life of the preacher, nor do they expire with his breath, but that which seemed as water spilt upon the ground may afterwards be gathered up again. See Zec. 1:5, 6.

(3.) That many believed on him there. Believing that he who wrought such miracles, and in whom John's predictions were fulfilled, was what he declared himself to be, the Son of God, they gave up themselves to him as his disciples, v. 42. An emphasis is here to be laid, [1.] Upon the persons that believed on him; they were many. While those that received and embraced his doctrine at Jerusalem were but as the grape-gleanings of the vintage, those that believed on him in the country, beyond the Jordan, were a full harvest gathered in to him. [2.] Upon the place where this was; it was where John had been preaching and baptizing and had had great success; there many believed on the Lord Jesus. Where the preaching of the doctrine of repentance has had success, as desired, there the preaching of the doctrine of reconciliation and gospel grace is most likely to be prosperous. Where John has been acceptable, Jesus will not be unacceptable. The jubilee-trumpet sounds sweetest in the ears of those who in the day of atonement have afflicted their souls for sin.

Calvin's Commentary

37. If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38. But if I do, [301] though you believe not me, believe the works; that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him. 39. Therefore they sought again to seize him, but he escaped [302] out of their hands. 40. And again he went away beyond Jordan, to the place where John first baptized, and abode there. 41. And many came to him, and said, John indeed did no miracle; but all that John spoke about this man was true. 42. And many believed on him there.

37. If I do not the works Lest the Jews might reply that it was in vain for him to boast of sanctification, and of all that depended on it, he again draws their attention to his miracles, in which there was a sufficiently evident proof of his Divinity. This is in the shape of a concession, as if he had said, "I do not wish you to be bound to give me credit on any other condition than that you see the fact plainly before your eyes. [303] You may safely reject me, if God has not openly given testimony to me."

The works of my Father. He gives them this name, because those works were truly Divine, and because so great power shone in them, that they could not be ascribed to a man.

38. But if I do. He shows that they are held plainly convicted of unbelieving and sacrilegious contempt, because they render no reverence or honor [304] to what are undoubtedly the works of God. This is a second concession, when he says, "Though I allow you to doubt of my doctrine, you cannot deny, at least, that the miracles which I have performed are from God. You therefore openly reject God, and not a man."

That you may know and believe. Though he places knowledge before faith, as if faith were inferior to it, he does so, because he has to do with unbelieving and obstinate men, who never yield to God, until they are vanquished and constrained by experience; for rebels wish to know before they believe And yet our gracious God indulges us so far, that he prepares us for faith by a knowledge of his works. But the knowledge of God and of his secret wisdom comes after faith, because the obedience of faith opens to us the door of the kingdom of heaven.

That the Father is in me, and I in him. He repeats the same thing which he had said before in other words, I and my Father are one All tends to this point, that in his ministry there is nothing contrary to his Father. "The Father, he says, is in me; that is, Divine power is manifested in me."

And I am in my Father; that is, "I do nothing but by the command of God, so that there is a mutual connection between me and my Father." For this discourse does not relate to the unity of essence, but to the manifestation of Divine power in the person of Christ, from which it was evident that he was sent by God.

39. Therefore they sought again to seize him. This was undoubtedly that they might drive him out of the temple, and immediately stone him; for their rage was not at all abated by the words of Christ. As to what the Evangelist says, that he escaped out of their hands, this could not be accomplished in any other way than by a wonderful exertion of Divine power. This reminds us that we are not exposed to the lawless passions of wicked men, which God restrains by his bridle, whenever he thinks fit.

40. He went away beyond Jordan. Christ passed beyond Jordan, that he might not have to fight continually without any advantage. He has therefore taught us, by his example, that we ought to avail ourselves of opportunities, when they occur. As to the place of his retreat, the reader may consult the observations which I have made at Chapter 1, verse 28. [305]

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Alphabetical: Again and but eluded escaped grasp he him seeking seize their Therefore they to tried were

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March 18 Evening
His name shall be in their foreheads.--REV. 22:4. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep.--The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.--Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. After that ye believed, ye were sealed …
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May 11 Evening
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