“et multi venerunt ad eum, et dicebant : Quia Joannes quidem signum fecit nullum.”
“And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.”
“Many came to Him and said, “Although John never performed a sign, everything he said about this man was true.””
“Many came to him. They said, “John indeed did no sign, but everything that John said about this man is true.””
“And many came unto him; and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true.”
(1.) That they flocked after him (v. 41): Many resorted to him. The return of the means of grace to a place, after they have been for some time intermitted, commonly occasions a great stirring of affections. Some think Christ chose to abide at Bethabara, the house of passage, where the ferry-boats lay by which they crossed the river Jordan, that the confluence of people thither might give an opportunity of teaching many who would come to hear him when it lay in their way, but who would scarcely go a step out of the road for an opportunity of attending on his word.
Verses 39-42 No weapon formed against our Lord Jesus shall prosper. He escaped, not because he was afraid to suffer, but because his hour was not come. And He who knew how to deliver himself, knows how to deliver the godly our of their temptations, and to make a way for them to escape. Persecutors may drive Christ and his gospel our of their own city or country, but they cannot drive him or it out of the world. When we know Christ by faith in our hearts, we find all that the Scripture saith of him is true.