John 12:37,38

“ Now, although he had done so many miracles in their presence, they did not believe on him, 38 that the word which Isaiah the prophet had spoken might be fulfilled: Lord, who has believed our preaching and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ”

However irrational is the fact with which John is about to occupy himself, it must be accomplished, for it was foreseen and foretold. How many motives to believe were there for the Jews in the appearance of Jesus, particularly in His miracles which were the testimony of God, the seal with which He marked His Son, signs the meaning of which it was easy to apprehend, especially for Jews (1 Corinthians 1:22)! The word τοσαῦτα, so many, in our gospels, refers always to number, not to greatness; comp. John 6:9; John 21:11; it is also sometimes its meaning in the classics; comp. the expression τοσαῦτα τε καὶ τοιαῦτα. These words imply that Jesus had done a much larger number of miracles than the six related in this book; comp. John 7:3; John 20:30. John did not wish therefore to relate everything that he knew. The term σημεῖα, signs, calls to mind the divine purpose in these works, and the words ἔμπροσθεν αὐτῶν, in their presence, their complete publicity. The imperfect, they did not believe, sets forth the continuance, the obstinate persistency of the Israelitish unbelief, notwithstanding the signs which were renewed every day before their eyes.

Scarcely any one seeks any longer to weaken the sense of ἵνα, in order that, by making it a ὥστε, so that. The passage quoted is Isaiah 53:1. The prophet, at the moment of describing the humiliation, the death and the exaltation of the Messiah, asks himself whether there will be any one in Israel who is disposed to welcome with faith a message such as this, so contrary to the carnal aspirations of the people. Now the Messiah to whom the prophecy refers cannot hope for a better welcome than the message itself. These two things, the message and the Messiah who is its subject, are so completely one and the same thing to the view of the prophet that in the second clause, parallel to the first, there is no more any question except of the Messiah (the arm of the Lord recognized). The reply to the question Who has believed? is, in the thought of the prophet, either no one, or a small number of persons; they can be counted. According to some, the expression ἀκοὴ ἡμῶν, our hearing, signifies: that which we hear from the mouth of Jehovah, either we prophets (Hengstenberg), or we Jews who have attained to faith, the prophet being included (Hofmann, Delitzsch, Keil). But it is much more natural to explain: “ That which we cause to be heard (we prophets).” It is certainly not the people hearing; it is the prophets preaching who can raise such a question. The first expression: that which we preach, refers to the suffering Messiah described in the following picture; the second: the arm of the Lord, to the acts of divine power of which He will be the agent, especially at His resurrection and at His exaltation, which are the crowning points of this picture (Isaiah 53:10-12). The prophecy had thus declared that a Messiah, such as God should send, would not find faith in Israel; His humiliation would to such a degree shock this people, who would not even have eyes to discern the manifestations of the divine power in His appearance. But the fact might be foretold without being desired by God. Well, it was at once desired and announced, so far that God Himself cooperated in its execution. Such is the advance from John 12:38 to John 12:39. Yes, in this blindness there is something supernatural!