Vincent's Word Studies in the NT

John 13:18

I have chosen [ε ξ ε λ ε ξ α μ η ν]. Aorist tense, I chose. Not elected to salvation, but chose as an apostle.

That the scripture, etc. [ι ν α]. Elliptical. We must supply this choice was made in order that, etc.

Eateth [τ ρ ω γ ω ν]. With the exception of Matthew 24:38, the word occurs only in John. See on 6 54. Originally it means to gnaw or crunch; to chew raw vegetables or fruits, and hence often used of animals feeding, as Homer (" Odyssey, "6 90), of mules feeding. Of course it has lost its original sense in the New Testament, as it did to some extent in classical Greek, though, as applied to men, it more commonly referred to eating vegetables or fruit, as Aristophanes (" Peace," 1325) trwgein, to eat figs. The entire divorce in the New Testament from its primitive sense is shown in its application to the flesh of Christ (vi. 54). It is used by John only in connection with Christ.

Bread with me [μ ε τ ε μ ο υ τ ο ν α ρ τ ο ν]. Some editors read, mou ton arton, my bread.

Heel [π τ ε ρ ν α ν]. Only here in the New Testament. The metaphor is of one administering a kick. Thus Plutarch, describing the robber Sciron, who was accustomed "out of insolence and wantonness to stretch forth his feet to strangers, commanding them to wash them, and then, when they did it, with a kick to send them down the rock into the sea" (" Theseus "). Some have explained the metaphor by the tripping up of one's feet in wrestling; but, as Meyer justly says, "Jesus was not overreached." The quotation is from the Hebrew, not the Septuagint of Psalms 41:9 (Sept. 40.). The Septuagint reads, "For the man of my peace in whom I hoped, who eateth my bread, magnified his cunning (pternismon, literally, tripping up) against me."

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Vincent's Word Studies in the NT

John 13:18

Old Testament

New Testament