John 4:52

τὴν ὥραν παρ' αὐτῶν for παρ' αὐ. τ. ὥρ., a correction to bring παρ' αὐτῶν nearer to ἐπύθετο.

52. κομψότερον ἔσχεν. Literally, got somewhat better; a colloquial expression: κομψῶς ἔχεις, ‘you are getting on nicely,’ occurs as a doctor’s expression, Arrian, Diss. Epict. III. x. 13. The father expects the cure to be gradual: the fever will depart at Christ’s word, but in the ordinary way. He has not yet fully realised Christ’s power. The servants’ reply shews that the cure was instantaneous.

ἐχθὲς ὥραν ἑβδ. Accusative; during or in the seventh hour. Once more we nave to discuss S. John’s method of counting the hours. (See on John 1:39; John 4:6.) Obviously the father set out as soon after Jesus said ‘thy son liveth’ as possible; he had 20 or 25 miles to go to reach home, and would not be likely to loiter. 7 A.M. is incredible; he would have been home long before nightfall, and the servants met him some distance from home. 7 P.M. is improbable; the servants would meet him before midnight. Thus the modern method of reckoning from midnight to midnight does not suit. Adopting the Jewish method from sunset to sunset, the seventh hour is 1 P.M. He would scarcely start at once in the mid-day heat; nor would the servants. Supposing they met him after sunset, they might speak of 1 P.M. as ‘yesterday.’ (But see on John 20:19, where S. John speaks of the late hours of the evening as belonging to the day before sunset.) Still, 7 P.M. is not impossible, and this third instance must be regarded as not decisive. But the balance here seems to incline to what is antecedently more probable, that S. John reckons the hours, like the rest of the Evangelists, according to the Jewish method.