John 9:15

Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(15) Then again the Pharisees also asked.—As the neighbours and acquaintances had done before (John 9:10).

He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes.—The answer is the same as before, but briefer. It is that of a man who is answering against his will (comp. John 9:27) and does not care to say more than he is obliged to.

And do see.—This differs from “I received sight” (John 9:11). He now speaks as in conscious possession of the power to see. (Comp. John 9:25.)

Benson Commentary

John 9:15-16. Then again the Pharisees asked him, &c. — They hoped to find something in the manner of the cure, which would show it to be no miracle, or, at least, which would prove Jesus to be a bad man. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, &c. — He honestly and plainly told them the whole matter, as he had before declared it to the people. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, &c. — “On hearing the man’s account of the miracle, the Pharisees declare that the author of it was certainly an impostor, because he had violated the sabbath in performing of it. Nevertheless, others of them, more candid in their way of thinking, gave it as their opinion, that no deceiver could possibly do a miracle of that kind, because it was too great and beneficial for any evil being to have either the inclination or the power to perform.” — Macknight. How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? — This seems to intimate, that there were at least some miracles so glorious and so benevolent, that no evil agent would have either inclination or power to perform them; and that they reckoned this in that number. And there was a division — Or schism, Greek, σχισμα; among them — On this important question. The council was divided into two parties, which contended one against the other, although they continued in the same place. Thus discord, debate, and strife arose in the councils of Christ’s enemies, by which their designs against him were, for the present, defeated. If Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, both members of the sanhedrim, were now present, they would naturally distinguish themselves on this occasion; and Gamaliel too, on the principles he afterward avowed, (Acts 5:38-39,) must have been on their side.

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

The Pharisees asked him how ... - The proper question to have been asked in the case was whether he had in fact done it, and not in what way. The question, also, about a sinner's conversion is whether in fact it has been done, and not about the mode or manner in which it is effected; yet it is remarkable that no small part of the disputes and inquiries among men are about the mode in which the Spirit renews the heart, and not about the evidence that it is done.

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

The Pharisees asked him how he had received his sight; they had before heard it from others, but they now desire to hear it from himself; not (as appears) out of any good design, that they might be convinced of the truth of the thing, or that he who had wrought this miracle was the Son of God; but that they might have something to object against Christ, and to quarrel with him for, upon their traditions, with reference to the observation of the sabbath; of which we are told this was one. That it was unlawful for any to anoint their eyes with spittle on the sabbath day; they having a conceit that it was a medicinal application. The blind man is not ashamed to own the goodness of God to him to the Pharisees, but relates the same story which he before had related to the people.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then again the Pharisees asked him,.... Not that they had put any question of this kind to him before; but they also, as well as the neighbours, inquired of him,

how he had received his sight; from whom, and by what means:

he said unto them, he put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed and do see. This account agrees with the matter of fact, and with that he gave to his neighbours: he did not vary as to the truth of the relation, but this is somewhat more concise and short; and it is reasonable to suppose, that the Pharisees had talked much with him before, which made it less necessary to be more particular; for he makes no mention of the name of Jesus, nor of his making the clay, and the manner of it, nor of the Pool of Siloam, or his orders to go there and wash; See Gill on John 9:6; see Gill on John 9:7.

Geneva Study Bible

Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 9:15-16. Πάλιν] Glancing back at the same question asked by others (hence καὶ οἱ Φαρ.) in John 9:10.

πηλὸν, etc.] a clay He laid on mine eyes (μου ἐπὶ τ. ὀφθ.), etc. Comp. on John 11:32. Note how the man only states what he himself felt; hence there is no mention of the spittle. Compare already John 9:11.

ὅτι τὸ σάββ. οὐ τηρεῖ] A Rabbinical precept specially forbids the anointing of the eyes with spittle on the Sabbath. Maimonides Schabb. 21. Even if this were not yet in existence or recognised as binding, still the general principle was admitted that healing should take place on the Sabbath solely in case of danger to life (Schoettgen and Wetstein ad Matthew 12:9).

ἄλλοι] who judged more candidly and conscientiously. Grotius well remarks: “Qui nondum occaluerant.” They conclude from the miraculous element in the healing, so far as it implied a special divine help, which would not be vouchsafed to a sinner who disregarded God’s commands, that there must be something peculiar in this action performed on the Sabbath, rendering it unfair to pass the judgment in question on its performer without further consideration.

The Hyperbaton in the position, οὐκ ἐστὶν οὗτος παρὰ θεο͂ ὁ ἄνθρ., serves to lay stronger emphasis first on οὗτος, and then on παρὰ θεοῦ. Comp. in general Bernhardy, p. 460.

σχίσμα] comp. John 7:43.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 9:15. πάλιν … ἀνέβλεψεν. πάλιν looks back to the same question put by the people, John 9:10; the καὶ serving the same purpose. Their first question admits the man’s original blindness. The man’s reply is simple and straightforward.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

15. Then again] Better, Again, therefore. The man is becoming impatient of this cross-questioning: he answers much more briefly than at first (John 9:11).

Bengel's Gnomen

John 9:15. Καὶ οἱ) Και, also.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 15. - Again therefore the Pharisees, before whom the blind man had been brought, unwilling to rest with mere hearsay evidence of such grievous transgression of the Law, themselves also - or, in their turn - asked him (ἠρώτων, imperfect, were interrogating) how he received (recovered) his sight (see note on ver. 11). Not the miracle itself, but the manner of it interested and excited them. And he said to them, (He) put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and I see. This is a shorter and significant abridgment of the process already described. The healed man seems to guess, by their manner, that some charge was being meditated against his Benefactor, and he shrewdly omits the saliva and the making of the clay, and the order of the Savior, and the place whither he had been sent to wash. John 9:15