John 2:23

John 2:23. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, at the feast, many believed in his name, beholding his signs which he did. In this verse we pass from the public presentation of Jesus to the people and ‘the Jews' in the house of His Father to His more private ministry in Jerusalem: rejected as the Son of God, He continues His work as a Prophet, doing many ‘signs,' and by these leading many to faith in His mission. The time spoken of is still the season of the Passover. The remarkable repetition, ‘at the Passover, at the feast,' may probably be intended to direct our thoughts especially to the very night of the paschal supper. If so, the purification of the temple may have fallen at the very time when every Israelite sought to purify himself and his house for the great festival that was now approaching. The words would also point to our Lord's observing the feast Himself. It is noticeable that we do not here read ‘the Passover of the Jews:' the desecration of the festival has been condemned in one of its manifestations, but the festival itself is honoured. John gives us no particulars of the ‘signs' which Jesus did; comp. chaps, John 21:25; John 6:4, and several passages in the earlier Gospels (e.g. Mark 1:34; Mark 6:55-56). The signs attested His words, which were the description of His ‘name' (see chap. John 1:12), and, beholding the signs, many became believers in His name, accepting Him as being in truth what He declared Himself to be. The faith was real but not mature; its imperfection is illustrated in the next verse.