εἰς τὰ ἴδια ἧλθεν, “He came to His own”. In the world of men was an inner circle which John calls τὰ ἴδια, His own home. (For the meaning of τὰ ἴδια cf. John 19:27; John 16:32; Acts 21:6 3Ma 6:27-37, Esther 5:10, Polybius, Hist., ii. 57, 5.) Perhaps in this place “His own property” might give the sense as accurately. Israel is certainly signified; the people and all their institutions existed only for Him. (See Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6, “The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people, a peculium, unto Himself”; also Matthew 21:33.) οἱ ἴδιοι, those of His own home (His intimates, cf. John 13:1), those who belonged to Him, αὐτὸν οὐ παρέλαβον “gave Him no reception”. The word is used of welcoming to a home, as in John 14:3, πάλιν ἔρχομαι καὶ παραλήμψομαι ὑμᾶς πρὸς ἐμαυτόν. Even those whose whole history had been a training to know and receive Him rejected Him. It is not said of “His own” that they did not “know” Him, but that they did not receive Him. And in the parable of the Wicked Husbandmen our Lord represents them as killing the heir not in ignorance but because they knew him.

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Old Testament