John 9:13

They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) They brought to the Pharisees.—More exactly, They bring . . . The present tense speaks of what they did, as the writer thinks of it in actual occurrence. Their question in the previous verse, and the fact stated in the following verse, seem to indicate that they did this in the spirit of opposition to our Lord. They may have been influenced also, as the parents were, by the agreement of the Jews to excommunicate any who should confess Christ (John 9:22). By the term, “to the Pharisees,” we are not to understand the Sanhedrin, which did not meet on the Sabbath, and which is not spoken of by St. John as simply “the Pharisees,” but a body of the leading Pharisees who were the most bitter foes of Christ, and who seem at this time to have formed practically a permanent committee of the Sanhedrin, always ready to take counsel or action against Him. (Comp. Notes on John 7:32; John 7:45; John 7:48.)

Benson Commentary

John 9:13-14. They brought to the Pharisees him that was blind — They brought him to the sanhedrim, which consisted chiefly of Pharisees, at least the Pharisees in the sanhedrim were most active against Christ. Some think they who brought this man to the Pharisees did it with a good design, to show them that this Jesus, whom they persecuted, was not the person they represented him to be, but really a great and good man, and one that gave considerable proofs of a divine mission. But it rather seems they did it with an ill design, to exasperate the Pharisees more against Christ, which certainly was not necessary, for they were bitter enough already. One would have expected that such a miracle as Christ had just wrought upon the blind man, would have settled his reputation, and silenced and shamed all opposition; but it had the contrary effect: instead of being embraced as a prophet for it, he is prosecuted as a criminal. They brought him to the Pharisees that he might be examined by them, in order that if there was any fraud in the matter, they might discover and expose it. The ground which was pretended for giving this information was, that it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened the blind man’s eyes. That which was good was never maligned but under the imputation of something evil. The profanation of the sabbath day is certainly a bad thing, and reflects much evil on a man’s character; but the traditions of the Jews had made that to be a violation of the law of the sabbath which was far from being so. And frequently was this matter contested between Christ and the Jews, that it might be settled for the benefit of the church in all ages; and that the difference between superstition and religion in the observance of this, as well as of various others of the divine precepts, might be clearly ascertained, and it might be fully known that it is lawful to do good on the sabbath day. The hypocritical rulers, however, of the Jews, pretended to take great offence at our Lord’s doing this act of mercy on that day. And Dr. Lightfoot has shown, that anointing the eyes on the sabbath day, with any kind of medicine, was forbidden to the Jews by the tradition of the elders.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

9:13-17 Christ not only worked miracles on the sabbath, but in such a manner as would give offence to the Jews, for he would not seem to yield to the scribes and Pharisees. Their zeal for mere rites consumed the substantial matters of religion; therefore Christ would not give place to them. Also, works of necessity and mercy are allowed, and the sabbath rest is to be kept, in order to the sabbath work. How many blind eyes have been opened by the preaching of the gospel on the Lord's day! how many impotent souls cured on that day! Much unrighteous and uncharitable judging comes from men's adding their own fancies to God's appointments. How perfect in wisdom and holiness was our Redeemer, when his enemies could find nothing against him, but the oft-refuted charge of breaking the sabbath! May we be enabled, by well-doing, to silence the ignorance of foolish men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

To the Pharisees - To the members of the Sanhedrin. They did this, doubtless, to accuse Jesus of having violated the Sabbath, and not, as they ought to have done, to examine into the evidence that he was from God.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. They brought to the Pharisees—sitting probably in council, and chiefly of that sect (Joh 7:47, 48).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Whether the neighbours, or his near relations, is not said. Nor is the place mentioned where this convention of Pharisees was, whether in the temple, or in some synagogue, or in the great court which they called the sanhedrim; nor is it material for us to inquire into.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

They brought to the Pharisees,.... That is, to the sanhedrim, which chiefly consisted of Pharisees; and so Nonnus calls them the priests and chief priests:

him that was aforetime blind; to be examined by them. And something like this is the method used by carnal relations and friends, who when they have any belonging to them under a work of grace, have them to their learned doctors of a different religion, to talk to them, and dissuade them from the ways of truth and godliness.

Geneva Study Bible

They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 9:13 f. Ἄγουσιν] These belong still to the persons designated in John 9:8. They act thus because the healing had taken place on the Sabbath (John 9:14), the violation of which they, in their servile dependence, believed it to be their duty not to conceal from the guardians of the law who ruled over the people. It does not, however, follow, from the fact that there were no sittings of the courts on the Sabbath, that the man was not brought on the day of the healing (so Lücke and several others suppose), but that by πρὸς τοὺς Φαρισ. is meant neither the Sanhedrim (Tholuck, Baeumlein), nor a synagogal court (Lücke, Lange),[49] of which, moreover, the text contains no notice (comp. John 7:45, John 11:47). Especially must it be remembered that in John the Sanhedrim is never simply designated οἱ Φαρισαῖοι (not even John 7:47), but always οἱ ἀρχιερεῖς κ. οἱ Φαρισ., or (John 7:32) in the reverse order. The Pharisees as a corporate body are meant, and a number of them might easily have come together at one of their houses to form a kind of sitting.

τὸν ποτὲ τυφλ.] A more precise definition of αὐτόν; see Buttmann, Neut. Gr. p. 342 [E. T. p. 400].

John 9:14 assigns the reason why they bring him.

τὸν πηλόν] the clay in question.

[49] Of such subordinate courts with twenty-three members there were two in Jerusalem. See Saalschütz, Mos. R. p. 601.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 9:13-34. The man is examined by the Pharisees, who eventually excommunicate him,

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13–41. Opposite Results of the Sign

13. They brought, &c.] Better, they bring him to the Pharisees, him that once was blind. These friends and neighbours are perhaps well-meaning people, not intending to make mischief. But they are uncomfortable because work has been done on the Sabbath, and they think it best to refer the matter to the Pharisees, the great authorities in matters of legal observance and orthodoxy (comp. John 7:47-48). This is not a meeting of the Sanhedrin. S. John’s formula for the Sanhedrin is ‘the chief priests and (the) Pharisees’ (John 7:45, John 11:47; John 11:57, John 18:3), or ‘the Pharisees and the chief priests’ (John 7:32).

Bengel's Gnomen

John 9:13. Πρὸς τοὺς Φαρισαίους, to the Pharisees) as if to inquisitors.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - They bring to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. The "Pharisees" is not a conclusive definition of the Sanhedrin itself, which is generally denoted by the addition of the phrase, "the chief priests" (John 7:32 or 45). The Pharisees were a highly organized society, and some well-known gathering of them may have been easily accessible. They were the generally accredited religious guides of the people. One thing militates against such a casual gathering. In ver. 18 the term, "the Jews," the synonym of the ruling ecclesiastical powers in the city, is once more introduced. Moreover, the authorities before whom the discussion and examination were taken appear to possess the power of excommunication from the synagogue. It appears that, in Jerusalem, there existed two minor councils or synagogue-courts, of twenty-three assessors each, corresponding with the similar courts in the Jewish cities, standing in relation to the Sanhedrim and possessing the faculty of delivering the minor degrees of excommunication from the congregation of Israel. It cannot be said that this presentation of the case to an ecclesiastical court of more or less authority necessarily took place on the day of the healing. It is an open question whether the courts sat on the sabbath. There is nothing to prove immediate trial of the matter. John 9:13