Eleazar, and Simon, who succeeded Annas and separated his term of office from that of Caiaphas, did not subsequently bear the title. The narrative is a mistake, and such an error could not have been committed by a native of Palestine,(1) and much less by an acquaintance of the high priest.(2)
There are also several geographical errors committed which denote a foreigner. In i. 28, the writer speaks of a "Bethany beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing." The substitution of "Bethabara," mentioned by Origen, which has erroneously crept into the vulgar text, is of course repudiated by critics, "Bethany" standing in all the older codices. The alteration was evidently proposed to obviate the difficulty that, even in Origen's time, there did not exist any trace of a Bethany beyond Jordan in Peræa. The place could not be the Bethany near
Jerusalem, and it is supposed that the writer either mistook its position or, inventing a second Bethany, which he described as "beyond Jordan," displayed an ignorance of the locality improbable either in a Jew or a Palestinian.(1) Again, in iii. 23, the writer says that "John was baptizing in Ænon, near to Salim, because there was much water there." This Ænon near to Salim was in Judaea, as is clearly stated in the previous verse. The place, however, was quite unknown even in the third century, and the nearest locality which could be indicated as possible was in the north of Samaria and, therefore, differing from the statements in iii. 22, iv. 3.(2) Ænon, however, signifies "springs," and the question arises whether the writer of the fourth Gospel, not knowing the real meaning of the word, did not simply mistake it for the name of a place.(3) In any case, there seems to be here another error into which the author of the fourth Gospel, had he been the Apostle John, could not have fallen.(4)
The account of the miracle of the pool of Bethesda is a remarkable one for many reasons. The words which most pointedly relate the miraculous phenomena characterizing the pool, are rejected by many critics as an interpolation. In the following extract we put them in italics: v. 3.—"In these (five porches) lay a multitude of the sick, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4. For an angel went down at certain seasons into the pool and was troubling the water: he, therefore, who first went in after the troubling of the water was made whole of whatsoever disease he had." We maintain, however, that the obnoxious passage is no spurious interpolation, but that there is ample evidence, external and internal, to substantiate its claim to a place in the text. It is true that the whole passage is omitted by the Sinaitic and Vatican Codices, and by C: that A(1), L, 18, and others omit the last phrase of verse 3, and that D, 33, which contain that phrase, omit the whole of verse 4, together with 157, 314 and some other MSS.: that in many codices in which the passage is found it is marked by an asterisk or obelus, and that it presents considerable variation in readings. It is also true that it is omitted by Cureton's Syriac, by the Thebaic, and by most of the Memphitic versions. But, on the other hand, it exists in the Alexandrian Codex, C3, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, IT, V, r, A and other MSS(1), and it forms part of the Peschito, Jerusalem Syriac, Vulgate, Watkin's Memphitic, Æthiopic and Armenian versions.(2)
More important still is the fact that it existed in the ancient Latin version of Tertillian, who refers to the passage;(1) and it is quoted by Didymus, Chrysostom, Cyril, Ambrose, Theophylact, Euthymius, and other Fathers. Its presence in the Alexandrian Codex alone might not compensate for the omission of the passage by the Sinaitic and Vatican Codices and C, D, but when the Alexandrian MS. is supported by the version used by Tertullian, which is a couple of centuries older than any of the other authorities, as well as by the Peschito, not to mention other codices, the balance of external evidence is distinctly in its favour.
The internal evidence is altogether on the side of the authenticity of the passage. It is true that there are a considerable number of [———] in the few lines: [———] and perhaps [———]; but it must be remembered that the phenomena described are exceptional, and may well explain exceptional phraseology. On the other hand, [———] is specially a Johannine word, used v. 4 and six times more in the fourth Gospel, but only five times in the rest of the New Testament; and [———] with [———] occurs in v. 4, 6, 9, 14, and with [———] in v. 11, 15, vii. 23 and nowhere else. [———] also may be indicated as employed in v. 4, 7 and five times more in other parts of the Gospel, and only eleven times in the rest of the New Testament, and the use of [———] in v. 4 is thus perhaps naturally