John 10: Jesus the True Shepherd
1 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them.
"In this famous parable..., our Saviour seemeth to drive two great designs: 1. To prove himself the true Shepherd. 2. To prove the Pharisees and teachers of those times thieves and robbers." (Poole) "The adoption by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 23:1-4), by Ezekiel (34.), and by Zechariah (Zechariah 11:4-17) of similar imagery to denote the contrast between the true and false shepherds, and the anticipation by the prophets of a time when the true and good Shepherd would fulfill all Jehovah's pleasure, throws vivid light on these words of our Lord." (Pulpit Commentary)
"In the Old Testament God was the Shepherd of the sheep and He would raise up a New David to be Shepherd over them. ‘I will set up One Shepherd over them, and He will feed them, even My servant David. He will feed them, and He will be their Shepherd. And I Yahweh will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them’ (Ezekiel 34:23-24)." (Pett's Commentary)
"Most surely – verily verily –I say unto you..." “The expression ‘verily, verily’, is one which is not used at the commencement of a discourse, and the discourse itself seems to be a continuation of what was said before... Jesus, in the close of the last chapter, had charged them with being blind, and of course of being unqualified to lead the people." (Barnes’ Notes)
Thus “he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” They had come into the sheepfold by “some other way” than by the door established by God. They were therefore “impostors in the sanctuary, and not ‘moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon them that office and ministry.’“ (Sutcliffe’s Commentary)— "But He that entereth in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep.”— "The 'door'... signifies... the lawful 'way' of entrance for the Shepherd, to those of His sheep then to be found in Judaism... The simple meaning of this is that Christ presented Himself to Israel in a lawful manner, that is in strict accord with the Holy Scriptures. 'He submitted Himself to all the conditions established by Him who built the house. Christ answered to all that was written of the Messiah, and took the path of God's will in presenting Himself to the people' (Darby). He had been born of a virgin, of the covenant people, of the Judaic stock, in the royal city-Bethlehem. He had conformed to everything which God required of an Israelite. He had been 'born under the law' (Galatians 4:4). He was circumcised the eighth day ( Luke 2:21), and subsequently, at the purification of His mother, He was presented to God in the Temple ( Luke 2:22)." (A.W. Pink)
"To him the Doorkeeper"-- the Porter-- "opens", "not Michael the Archangel, nor the Virgin Mary, nor Peter, the supposed doorkeeper of heaven, as say the Papists, nor Moses, as others, who wrote of Christ; ... but rather this intends God the Father, from whom Christ, as man and Mediator, derives His authority, and by whom He is let into, and invested with His office, as the Shepherd of the sheep; or else the Holy Spirit, who opens the everlasting floors of the hearts of men, of Christ's sheep, and lets Him in unto them…” (Gill), all in the Temple, even the Sanctuary, of which the earthly-- from which the beggar was barred-- is only a type.
"And the sheep hear His voice”— Jesus' voice— “and He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out,” as by that Cloud, which was Christ, lead Israel in the wilderness.
And why lead them out, when He has taken them in? “It is because outside the door there are multiplied thousands who are waiting to find the way of life. We go out to bring them in. Some one came out to take us by the hand, and shall not we, having entered in ourselves, go out to find still others. One of the last things our Lord ever did before He went to glory was to say, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.’” (Wells of Living Water Commentary)
"On the road they would meet other persons whom ‘they would not follow.’ Some would, as thieves and robbers, seek to lead them away, calling them by their names and imitating their Shepherd’s cry; but they have, by long usage, got to know His voice, and will not follow a stranger.— ‘But will flee from him.’— A strange word is a source of alarm to them. With the known tone of the shepherd’s voice they have learnt to associate protection, guidance, food. His voice recalls these associations. A stranger’s voice is something unknown, and therefore feared. It is as the voice of a plundering Arab who has called the flock before, or as the cry of a wild beast who has broken into the fold at night.
The associations with unfamiliar words are only of things which are evil." (Ellicott's Commentary)
John 10: Jesus is the Door of the Sheep
7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly"-- verily verily- "I say to you..." [- another continuation of the Master's teaching as He builds "precept upon precept, line upon line... here a little there a little."] "I am the door of the sheep." (7) "Our Saviour had before been speaking of the Door in another notion; there He spake of the Door of the Shepherd [,the Porter being the Father]; here, of the Door of the sheep: there, of the Door, that is, the true and regular way of entrance into the care, conduct, and government of the church; here, of the true way of entrance, not into the church militant only, but into the church triumphant." (Poole) "I am the Way by which ministers and people enter the true church. It is by His merits, His intercession, His aid, and His appointment that they enter.” (Barnes)
All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers... (8a) “Manes (that mad heretic) made an argument from this text against Moses and the prophets, as going before Christ. But Austin answereth, ‘Moses and the prophets came not before Christ, but with Christ.’ Intruders, whether before or since our Saviour’s days, are these thieves and robbers." (Trapp)
“When the Saviour says that 'all' were thieves, He speaks in a popular sense, using the word 'all' as it is often used in the New Testament, to denote the great mass or the majority. Thieves and robbers - … 'Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture;' (Jeremiah 23:1); and ’Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed; but ye feed not the flock.’ (Ezekiel 34:2-3) This had been the general character of the Pharisees and scribes. They sought wealth, office, ease at the expense of the people, and thus deserved the character of thieves and robbers. They insinuated themselves slyly as a thief, and they oppressed and spared not, like a robber.
But the sheep did not hear them... The pious and humble portion of the Jewish nation. Though the great mass of the people were corrupted, yet there were always some who were the humble and devoted people of God... So it will be always. Though the great mass of teachers may be corrupt, yet the true friends of God will mourn in secret places, and refuse to 'listen to the instruction that causeth to err.'” (Barnes' Notes)
”To the rulers who fattened themselves at the expense of the flock, the Sadducean high priests, and Pharisaic doctors, the Herods and the Roman procurators - all these wicked shepherds (in the sense of Ezekiel 34) had climbed into their place of domination over the flock by illegitimate means [though the government oppression was by God’s own hand]; and it was they who conspired against the Divine Shepherd, who would lay down his life for the sheep…” (Alan Richardson)
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved…(9a ) "The highest consolation of believers is, that when they have once embraced Christ, they learn that they are out of danger; for Christ promises to them salvation and happiness. He afterwards divides it into two parts. He shall go in and out (9b) , and find pasture. (9c) First, they shall go safely wherever they find necessary; and, next, they shall be fed to the full." (Calvin) He will have freedom to go out to save others and he will likewise be free to come in again. But the Spirit of Christ will be with him wherever he goes, if he is willing to obey Him. “He will have perfect freedom to enter, whenever storm or danger or night approaches." (Ellicott)
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. (10a)
"The men who are pictured in this description would not have thought of themselves in this way, but sadly this was the result of their behaviour. The way the Pharisees had treated the healed man, blind from birth, is one example of their depredations. He discerned between the different voices and followed the Shepherd, and so they threw him out of their flock. But he was welcomed into Jesus’ flock." (Pett's Bible Commentary)
“I have come”—“more correctly, I came" (Vincent)— “that they may have [eternal] life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (10b)— “not merely a continued living existence, but the fulness of immortal, heavenly, glorified life." (Whedon)
Of these false shepherds with their false theologies, Trapp admonishes: “Shun their society as a serpent in your way, as poison in your food. Spondanus (the same that epitomized Baronius) gives his reader Popish poison to drink so slyly, saith one, as if he were doing somewhat else, and meant no such matter… A little leaven soon soureth the whole lump. One spoonful of vinegar will quickly tart a great deal of sweet milk, but a great deal of milk will not so soon sweeten one spoonful of vinegar. Error (saith a noble writer) is like the Jerusalem artichoke; plant it where you will, it overruns the ground and chokes the heart.”
John 10: Jesus the Good Shepherd
11 “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and One Shepherd. 17 Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these sayings. 20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
Jesus said: ”I am the Good Shepherd.” (11a) "Erasmus renders the article here by the emphatic pronoun, 'I am that Good Shepherd, foretold by the prophets'. Isaiah 40:11. Ezekiel 34. Such also are our marginal references." (Sutcliffe) "He was here addressing Israelites, and Israel's ‘Shepherd’ was none other than Jehovah (Psalm 23:1; 80:1). When then the Savior said, ‘I am the Good Shepherd.’ He thus definitely identified Himself with the Jehovah of the Old Testament.” (Pink) He is the ”Shepherd of His Father's appointing, calling, and sending, to whom the care of all His sheep, or chosen ones, was committed. (Gill)— The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.(11b)— He died to become the Door that “whosoever will” might choose to enter into His fold and have eternal life. “This is one of the many Scriptures which clearly and definitely defines both the nature and extent of the atonement. The Savior ‘gave his life’ not as a martyr for the truth, not as a moral example of self-sacrifice, but for a people. He died that they might live.” (Pink) He is the Seed of the Woman, who “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25) and will one day crush the head of the serpent. (Genesis 3:15; Romans 16:20)
“But a hireling,"— "or, as my old MS. Bible reads it, the marchaunt, he who makes merchandise of men's souls” (Clarke)— "he who is not the Shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.” (12-13) “Those that deal in sheep, either keep them themselves, or by their near relations, as Jacob’s sons, and David, and Laban’s daughters did; or else they hired persons to keep them for them.” (Poole) The hireling sees the wolf coming and flees. “So the wolf [the devil] seizeth and scattereth the flock - He seizeth some, and scattereth the rest; the two ways of hurting the flock of Christ.” (John Wesley)
In contrast, witness the Good Shepherd’s relationship to every sheep of His pasture. Firstly, Jesus is no hireling, but rather He is their Owner (12). Moreover: "I am the Good Shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” (14b-15) “The sheep must know their Shepherd, and they can know Him as the Son knows the Father. The Son must know the Father to follow His will, and the sheep must know the Shepherd to follow Him faithfully. Jesus implied that the relationship the sheep enjoy with Himself is unique, as His relationship with His Father is unique. Yet each person maintains his own identity. Man does not become God, as the New Age movement, for example, teaches. The repetition of the Shepherd’s sacrificial death in this verse also stresses that knowing the Shepherd involves appreciating the extent of His love. ‘’Know’ (ginosko) in this Gospel connotes more than the cognizance of mere facts; it implies a relationship of trust and intimacy.’ [Tenney]…”
(Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable)
Jesus is not a hireling and, based on these verses, those who believe in Him are not hirelings. Situations will prove every spirit, if they are of God. (1 John 4:1) Yet to the hirelings in Judgement, “Christ will say as once Eliab did to David, ‘With whom hast thou left those poor few sheep in the wilderness?’” (JohnTrapp)
"And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and One Shepherd.” (16) "Our Lord speaks of other sheep, which are not of this fold. These are the Gentiles. He leads out first from the Jewish fold His sheep; then there are the other sheep whom He will bring and who will hear His voice. The result will be one flock and one Shepherd... Judaism was a fold, the church is not. The ecclesiastical folds in which Christendom is divided have been brought about by the Judaizing of the church. The fold no longer exists. There is one flock as there is one Shepherd; one body, as there is one Lord. All who have heard His voice, believed on Him, entered in by Him, are members of the one flock."
(Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible)
Witness the love of the Father for the Son. “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” (17-18) This love is based on the obedience of the Son. The Father loves everyone but a special love is reserved for the One who obeyed Him unto death, bringing salvation to the ends of the earth.
”The treachery of Judas, the armed band of priests' servants, the enmity of Scribes and Pharisees, the injustice of Pontius Pilate, the crude hands of Roman soldiers, the scourge, the nails, and the spear--all these could not have harmed a hair of our Lord's head, unless He had allowed them... Our Lord submitted to death of His own free will, because He knew that His death was the only way of making atonement for man's sins. He poured out His soul unto death with all the desire of His heart, because He had determined to pay our debt to God, and redeem us from hell. For the joy set before Him He willingly endured the cross, and laid down His life, in order that we, through His death, might have eternal life." (J. C. Ryle)
And the Father, likewise, loves obedient sons and daughters of God, who obey the Gospel of His Son unto the salvation of their soul. (cf. 2 Thess 1:8) “‘But the light shined in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.’ (1:5) There was a division among the Jews for these sayings. [Some reasoned, but] many of them said, He has a devil, and is mad.” (Alcuin)
John 10: Jesus Cleanses And Saves From Death
22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. 24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. 26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. 27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”
"John has here omitted all that Jesus did from the time when he left Jerusalem, after the feast of tabernacles in September was ended, until the feast of the dedication in the December following: and he did it probably because he found that the other evangelists had given an account of what our Lord did in the interval. St. Luke relates what our Lord did on his way from Galilee to Jerusalem, to this feast, Luke 17:11-37; Luke 18:1-14." (Adam Clarke)
The house of Yahweh was designed by God and the plans were given by David, because blood was on his hands, to his son- Solomon- to build. It housed the ark of the covenant, from that tabernacle in the wilderness, wherein was also "a pot of manna, the miraculous food provided by God (Ex 16:33), and Aaron's rod that had budded (Nm 17:10; Heb 9:4)." (Baker)... and it was all overlaid by the mercy seat. But this temple had been destroyed “by the Chaldeans and Babylonians, and rebuilt by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah [completed in 516 B.C.], as we read in the books known by those names.” (Poole) It was called Herod's temple with a portico called Solomon's Porch. "But John does not mean the ancient porch which was built by Solomon, which had been altogether destroyed by the Chaldeans, but that which the Jews — perhaps immediately after their return from the Babylonish captivity — built after the pattern of the ancient porch, and gave it the same name, that it might be more highly honored." (Calvin) In fact, porches surrounded all sides of the temple. The eastern portico known as "Solomon's Porch" was "the area where the stalls of the money changers and merchants were set up, where the Sanhedrin met, and where Christ and the scribes taught and debated (Mk 11:27; Lk 2:46; 19:47; Jn 10:23)." (Tyndale Dictionary)
Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem… “This feast was instituted by Judas Maccabaeus, in the year 164 b.c. The temple and city were taken by Antiochus Epiphanes in the year 167 b.c. He killed 40,000 inhabitants, and sold 40,000 more as slaves. In addition to this, he sacrificed a sow on the altar of burnt-offerings, and a broth being made of this, he sprinkled it all over the temple. The city and temple were recovered three years afterward by Judas Maccabaeus, and the temple was purified with great pomp and solemnity. The ceremony of purification continued through eight days, during which Judas presented magnificent victims [as Solomon did], and celebrated the praise of God with hymns and psalms (Josephus, Ant., b. xii. ch. 11). ‘They decked, also, the forefront of the temple with crowns of gold and with shields, and the gates and chambers they renewed and hanged doors upon them:’ 1 Maccabees 4:52-59... Josephus calls it the feast of lights, because the city was illuminated, as expressive of joy. The feast began on the 25th day of Chisleuanswering to the fifteenth day of December. The festival continued for eight days, with continued demonstrations of joy.” (Barnes’s Notes)
And it was winter - “There was no occasion to add 'it was winter', when the feast of the dedication was mentioned, because every body knew that, as that feast was held on the twenty-fifth of the month Cisleu, it was in the winter season." (Adam Clarke) But perhaps the Lord’s agricultural season was mentioned because it was more significant than the spiritual season. It was not one of the Yahweh’s feasts, but rather a feast of the Jews— annualized by them as seemed good in their own blind eyes. They had missed Christ in Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths— the feasts of Yahweh, as ordained in Scriptures.
“It was not one of the great feasts handed down from Moses; but it was popular among the people who called it: the feast of lights. A. M. Hunter said, ‘It was held at the winter solstice (Christmas) ... and was called `The Feast of the New Age.’” (Coffman's Commentary) “We do not read of any thing they did, saving offering sacrifices, and setting things in order, according to the law of Moses, and feasting; Josephus tells us they used ‘all lawful pleasures’. [BUT] We do not read, that either God appointed an annu
al feast of dedication for the sanctuary; nor Solomon, nor Ezra, for either of the temples; but we read twice in the book of Maccabees, and Josephus (writing the Jewish history) tells us, that Judas Maccabeus made it a law, that the feast should be kept yearly for eight days, in memory of that mercy which God had showed them.” (Poole)
So this feast was thus ordained by man as an annual time of remembrance of the ceremonial cleansing of the temple— “literally, the feast of the renewing, or of the renovation” (Barnes)— and in walked the Lamb of God into the eastern portico. He was the potential means of an actual cleansing and rededication of the place of worship, but they would not hear Him. “Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, ‘How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.’” (24) These were not new sayings of Jesus. You do not hear Me because you are not my sheep. I give eternal life to My sheep. "Though you maliciously endeavour to hinder men from believing on me, neither you, nor the powers of darkness, by whom you are actuated, shall be able to snatch my faithful people out of my hands” (Coke) “Then that you may not suppose that the Father’s power protects the sheep, while He is Himself too weak to do so, He adds, ‘I and My Father are one.’” (Chrysostom)
John 10: Arise O God, Judge the Earth
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” 33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a man, make Yourself God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’? [Ps 82:6] 35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe 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 out of their hand.
After speaking the truth to them at their man-made feast of dedication, the Jews took up stones yet again to stone Him. They did not charge Him with an unrighteous deed, but rather “You, being a man, make Yourself God.” And Jesus here replied, "Is it not written in your own Torah, ‘I said, You are gods’"? [Ps 82:6] And just as the lawyer uses old cases and decisions, Jesus used the precepts of the ancient Scriptures, which "cannot be broken" (35b), to make His case. "Wherever the Scripture speaks plainly on any subject, there can be no more question about it. The case is settled and decided. Every jot and tittle of Scripture is true, and must be received as conclusive..."
But Scriptures do not speak plainly here. We must dig to get the proper interpretation. We must here “be content to wait for more light, and to believe that all shall be made clear at last.” (J. C. Ryle) Let us not be as the carnal man, making a wrong decision on His Person, nor suppose that we become gods, taking the Words of the Master out of context.
Psalm 82 was a rebuke of the unjust judges of Israel, reminding them of the existence of their own Judge. Yahweh “stands in the congregation of the mighty and judges among the gods” (Ps 82:1)— Hebrew elohim, mighty ones; that is, the judges. Therefore He rebukes them, “How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Selah” (Ps 82:2) So, He admonishes, “Defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; free them from the hand of the wicked.” (Ps 82: 3-4) Then you will be like God.
But then Yahweh Judges them, “They do not know, nor do they understand; they walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable.” (Ps 82:5) And prophetically He concludes: “I said, ‘You are gods, [judges] And all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes.” (Ps 82:6-7)
Yahweh God told Moses— who He had indeed made as “a prince and a judge” over Israel (Exo 2:14)— “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.” (Exo 7:1) And Moses was faithful over all his house. (Heb 3:2)
Yet the Judges in the time of David, as well as in the time of Jesus, were not fair rulers over the Great Congregation. Therefore, "they shall die like men and fall like one of the princes." (Ps 82:7) They will not live forever.
“Arise, O God, judge the earth; for You shall inherit all nations.” (Ps 82:8) These Jews "were unrighteous in their judgments and so He comes Himself to execute judgment and to do justice to the afflicted and needy. And more than that, He will judge the earth and the nations." (Gaebelein) They and we are in the last days of this earth- the Church age. Judgment is reserved for the end; but for these Judeans, judgment had come in their rejection of Jesus. In fact, Israel- in the flesh only- are no longer the judges. Just judgement is given freely to those who trust in Jesus as God.
John 10: Jesus Retires to Bethania
40 And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. 41 Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.” 42 And many believed in Him there.
"'And He went away again beyond Jordan to the place where a John was baptizing at first...' (40a) Jesus leaves the holy city of Jerusalem for the plains of the Jordan, still within the providence of Judea. “In Matthew 19:1 we have the fuller expression, 'the coasts of Judæa beyond Jordan,' referring to the same locality. The whole of Judæa proper was Cis-Jordanic, and the 'Judah upon Jordan toward the east’ (Joshua 19:34) was the boundary 'toward the sun-rising' of the tribe of Naphthali... We have to think, then, probably of Bethania..., to the north of the Sea of Galilee, on the eastern side of the Jordan, as the place of our Lord’s retirement.
He had taught the Jews by divine words, and they had sought to stone Him (John 10:31...) He had appealed to divine works, and they had attempted to take Him by force (John 10:39...) He sees in all this the darkness which foreshadows the night, and He retires from the city to visit it no more until the final Passover, when the night will be at hand.
'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!' (Matthew 23:37)
'And there He stayed.' (40b) How long we have no means of judging. And many came to Him and said 'John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.' (41) ... This was not said to Him, but was a general remark suggested by the associations of the spot. The remark assigns to John the position as a witness which he claimed for himself, and which the Evangelist has made prominent in the narrative of his work. He did no sign, and therefore came short of the glory of Him whose signs they had seen and heard of; but more than any other he had recognised that glory, and directed men to it. His spiritual intuition, in advance of the generation in which he lived, was itself a sign, and all things which he had said about the Messiah had, in the events which had taken place since they had seen Him in that place before, been proved to be true. The witness of the past is linked to that of the present. The enthusiasm which John had kindled still burns.
And many believed on Him there. (40) The word 'there' is, in the best texts, in a position of emphasis. 'And there many believed on Him.' It marks the contrast between the rejection in Jerusalem and the reception at Bethania."(Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers)
Judea "at large must be left to suffer the due reward of their iniquities. In what follows we have a beautiful illustration of this present dispensation: 'Outside the camp.' Christ now was, but in this place, as the despised and rejected One, many resorted to Him. God would not allow His beloved Son to be universally unappreciated, even though organized Judaism had turned its back upon Him. Here beyond Jordan He works no public miracle..., but many believed on Him because of what John had spoken. So it is now. It is the Word which is the means God uses in bringing sinners to believe on the Savior. Happy for these men that they knew the day of their visitation, and improved the brief visit of Christ." (A.W. Pink)
These worshipped the Father "in spirit and truth.” John 4:21-24. They relied on the words of the forerunner only, who pointed them to the Words of Jesus, even the Lamb. "Reader! behold the triumphs of thy Lord over all the enemies of His Godhead, and against all the awful opposition made to his Divine Person and character. So was it then, so is it now, and so shall it be, until the Lord hath brought the whole under his footstool. Lord Jesus! establish thy people in their most holy faith, until that thou shalt bring them home unto the fountains of living water, where, as a Lamb in the midst of the throne, thou art feeding them, and where thou hast wiped all tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of thy people thou hast taken away from off all the earth!" (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
”Christ departs from... the Jewish people; and goes to a place where is water, i.e. to the Gentile Church, that has the waters of baptism. And many resort to Him, passing over the Jordan, i.e. through baptism." (Theophyl)