Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 1:19

καί. The narrative is connected with the prologue through the testimony of John common to both. Comp. 1 John 1:5.

οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι. The history of this word is interesting. (1) Originally it meant members of the tribe of Judah. After the revolt of the ten tribes, (2) members of the kingdom of Judah. After the captivity, because only the kingdom of Judah was restored to national existence, (3) members of the Jewish nation (John 2:6; John 2:13; John 3:1; John 6:4; John 7:2). After many Jews and Gentiles had become Christian, (4) members of the Church who were of Jewish descent (Galatians 2:13). Lastly (5) members of the nation which had rejected Christ; the special usage of S. John. With him οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι commonly means the opponents of Christ, a meaning not found in the Synoptists. With them it is the sects and parties (Pharisees, Scribes, &c.) that are the typical representatives of hostility to Christ. But John writing later, with a fuller consciousness of the national apostasy, and a fuller experience of Jewish malignity in opposing the Gospel, lets the shadow of this knowledge fall back upon his narrative, and ‘the Jews’ to him are not his fellow-countrymen, but the persecutors and murderers of the Messiah. He uses the term about 70 times, almost always with this shade of meaning.

ἐξ Ἱεροσολύμων. After ἀπέστειλαν. S. John never uses the form Ἱερουσαλήμ excepting in the Apocalypse, where he never uses the form Ἱεροσόλυμα. S. Matthew, with the single exception of Matthew 23:27, and S. Mark, with the possible exception of Mark 11:1, never use Ἱερουσαλήμ. Both forms are common in S. Luke and the Acts, Ἱερουσαλήμ being predominant. As distinguished from Ἱεροσόλυμα it is used wherever the name has a religious significance, e.g. ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ (Galatians 4:25), cf. Matthew 23:27; Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 3:12; Revelation 21:2; Revelation 21:10. Ἱερουσαλήμ is found throughout the LXX. It was natural that the sacred name should be preserved in its Hebrew form; but equally natural that the Greek form should be admitted when it was a mere geographical designation.

ἱερεῖς. The Baptist himself was of priestly family (Luke 1:5).

Λευείτας. The Levites were commissioned to teach (2 Chronicles 35:3; Nehemiah 8:7-9) as well as wait in the Temple; and it is as teachers, similar to the Scribes, that they are sent to the Baptist. Probably many of the Scribes were Levites. The mention of Levites as part of this deputation is the mark of an eyewitness. Excepting in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:32), Levites are not mentioned by the Synoptists, nor elsewhere in N.T. excepting Acts 4:36. Had the Evangelist been constructing a story out of borrowed materials, we should probably have had ‘scribes’ or ‘elders’ instead of Levites. These indications of eyewitness are among the strong proofs of the authenticity of this Gospel.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 1:19

Old Testament

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