1. Reaction of the buyers and sellers when they saw Jesus (DA, Ch. 16)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “The sound of traffic and bargaining has ceased. The silence becomes painful. A sense of awe overpowers the assembly. It is as if they were arraigned before the tribunal of god to answer for their deeds…He speaks, and His clear, ringing voice – the same that upon Mount Sinai proclaimed the law…” (DA, p. 158).
Ellen White (1827-1915): “Every sound was hushed. The deep silence seemed unbearable. Christ spoke with a power that swayed the people like a mighty tempest… His voice sounded like a trumpet through the temple” (DA, p. 591).
Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “It was as if a hurricane, sweeping with deafening uproar of the elements over the lashed ocean, had been suddenly arrested and followed by a great calm. The silence was dreadful! …Every eye of the vast multitude seemed to fasten itself on the prophet, in expectation of some dread event. I thought of the world hereafter to be assembled before the tribunal of Jehovah, awaiting their sentence…Suddenly the voice of the Prophet was heard, clear, authoritative, and ringing like the trumpet that shook Sinai when the law was given, and made all people quake” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 186, 1855).
2. The priests and traders fled from Jesus (DA, Ch. 16, John 2:12-22)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “Officers of the temple, speculating priests, brokers and cattle traders, with their sheep and oxen rush from the place with one thought of escaping from the condemnation of His presence…Overpowered with terror, the priests and rulers had fled from the temple court….Why did the priests flee the temple?” (DA, pp. 158, 162; 1Red, pp. 74-78, 1877).
Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “Before Him fled the changers of money, priest and Levite, sellers of oxen, sellers of doves, escaping in such haste from the terrible displeasure of His countenance, that they left their property to its fate, seeking only their personal safety” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 187, 1855).
Note: John makes no mention of the Priests and the Rulers fleeing the temple.
3. In cleansing of the temple Jesus announced His mission (DA, Ch. 16)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “In cleansing of the temple, Jesus was announcing His mission as the Messiah, and entering upon His work” (DA, p. 161).
Thayer, Erastus William (1812-1902): “This act was really the introduction of the ministry” (Sketches from the life of Jesus, Historical and Doctrinal, p. 78, 1891).
Samuel J. Andrews (1817-1906) “… Lord’s Judean ministry … was begun by an open assertion of His Messianic character, in the cleansing of the Temple… and given miraculous proof of His divine commission” (The Life of Our Lord upon the Earth, p. 130, 1863).
4. Nicodemus witnessed Jesus cleansing the temple (DA, Ch. 17)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “Nicodemus held a high position of trust in the Jewish nation… he was an honored member of the national council…Christ’s exercise of authority in the cleansing of the temple had roused the determined hatred of the priests and rulers… He was a witness of the scene when Jesus drove out the buyers and the sellers; he beheld the wonderful manifestation of divine power” (DA, pp. 167, 168).
Otts, J. M. P. (1838-1901): “This man was a Pharisee, and of the rulers of the Jews. It also appears that he was not merely a member of the Sanhedrin, but that he also held in the court a most prominent and responsible official position…This Nicodemus came to Jesus by night – most likely the night of the great day of the feast on which Jesus had cleansed the temple and performed miracles on the temple-plateau in the presence of all the people. He did not come on his sole responsibility, but as representative of others who thought as he did, and who had sent him to interview Jesus on certain points involved in his public works and words of the previous day” (The Fifth Gospel, p. 200, 1892).
5. Interview with Nicodemus (DA, Ch. 17)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “In the interview with Nicodemus, Jesus unfolded the plan of salvation and His mission to the world… At the very beginning of His ministry …to the mind that was most receptive… Nicodemus hid the truth in his heart, and for three years there was little apparent fruit. But Jesus was acquainted with the soil into which He cast the seed” (DA, p. 176).
William Hanna (1808-1882): “It may even be doubted whether, in the whole range of the apostolic epistles, there be a passage of equal length in which the manner of our salvation through Christ is as fully and distinctly described. Delivered thus at the very beginning of our Lord’s ministry… It was a rare opportunity, one that never perhaps returned, to have before him one so qualified by capacity, by acquirement, by honesty, by earnestness to receive the truth… he saw good soil here into which to cast the seed… He knew indeed, that the seed then sown was long to be dormant. For three years there was no token of its germination” (The Life of Christ, pp. 136, 137, 1863).
6. Nicodemus became poor (DA, Ch. 17, John 3)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “He was scorned and persecuted by those who had paid him reverence in other days. He became poor in this world’s goods” (DA, p. 177).
John Gill (1697-1771): “…the extreme poverty that his daughter is by them to be reduced unto; …Now to this low estate, the family of our Nicodemus might be reduced, through the persecution of the Christians by the Jews” (Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible, 1748).
Daniel Whedon (1808-1885): “But it is said he afterwards became poor; and his daughter was seen by another rabbi gathering barleycorns for food from under the horse’s feet. Some have conjectured that this was the result of the persecutions he received for having embraced Christianity” (Whedon’s Commentary on the Bible, 1874).
John Lightfoot (1602-1675): “But so miserably was she and the whole family impoverished, that Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccahi saw her gathering barleycorns out of dung of the Arab’s cattle” (John’s Commentary on the Gospels, 1655).
Daniel March (1816-1909): “Then Jewish Talmud speaks of a Nicodemus so rich that he could support a whole city ten years on his own resources… Afterward he became so poor that his daughter had to live by begging” (Night Scenes in the Bible, p. 310, 1868).
7. Nicodemus never forgot the words of the interview (DA, Ch. 17)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “The words spoken at night to one listener in the lonely mountain were not lost. For a time Nicodemus did not publicly acknowledge Christ, but he watched His life, and pondered His teachings” (DA, p. 176).
William Hanna (1808-1882): “The memorable words, however, of the midnight meeting at Jerusalem had not been forgotten… In the troubled state of mind and heart, with what an anxious eye would Nicodemus watch the after-current of our lord’s history!” (The Life of Christ, p. 137, 1863).
8. Nicodemus relates the account of his Interview with Jesus to John (DA, Ch. 17)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “Nicodemus related to John the story of that interview, and by his pen it was recorded for the instruction of millions” (DA, p. 177).
William Hanna (1808-1882): “None but this ruler of the Jews may have heard the words of Jesus spake that night, and would be the last man to go and repeat them to others… It is in the Gospel of St. John alone that the interview with Nicodemus is recorded… How the beloved disciple came to his knowledge of it… He may have received it from the lips of Nicodemus himself” (The Life of Christ, pp. 136, 137, 1863).
9. The disciples of john envied Jesus (DA, Ch. 18)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “But the disciples of john looked with jealousy upon the growing popularity of Jesus” (DA, p. 178).
Stalker James (1848-1927): “Some mischief-makers endeavoured to excite envy in his mind by pointing out how his influence was passing away to another” (The Life of Jesus Christ, p. 52, 1891).
10. Enmity between the Jews and the Samaritans (DA, Ch. 19)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “The Jews and the Samaritans were bitter enemies, and as far as possible avoided all dealing with each other. To trade with the Samaritans in case of necessity was indeed counted lawful by the rabbis; but all social intercourse with them was condemned. A Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan, nor receive a kindness, not even a morsel of bread or a cup of water…The woman saw that Jesus was a Jew. In her surprise she forgot to grant His request, but tried to learn the reason for it” (DA, p. 183, 184, 1898).
Thomas Stephen: “… she took no notice of the stranger, seeing that he was a Jew, with whom the Samaritans had no dealings, but had against them a bitter enmity. To her surprise, however, Jesus courteously accosted her, and asked her to give Him some of the water she had drawn. Although for their own convenience the Jews might have commercial dealings with the Samaritans; yet they had no familiar or friendly intercourse with them; neither would they borrow or lend, nor give or receive any act of kindness; or receive any act of kindness; nor eat nor drink with the Samaritans” (A Gospel History of our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ: or, a Life of the Man of Sorrows, pp. 123, 124, 1853).
William Bacon Stevens (1815 -1887): “There existed between the two people a national hatred of most implacable kind…The Jews might buy of the Samaritans, they were not to borrow anything of them, were not to receive them into their houses, were not to accept from them any kindness, and were bound under an anathema not to eat or drink with them… between the Jews and the Samaritans there was no social intercourse” (The Parables of the New testament Practically unfolded, pp. 142, 149, 1871).
11. Greatest truth revealed to the Samaritan women (DA, Ch. 19)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “The plain statement made by Christ to this woman could not have been made to the self-righteous Jews. Christ was far more reserved when He spoke to them. That which had been withheld from the Jews, and which the disciples were afterward enjoined to keep secret, was revealed to her. Jesus saw that she would make use of her knowledge in bringing others to share His grace” (DA, p. 190).
Talmage, T. De Witt (1832-1902): “This was the first time Jesus positively acknowledged His Messiahship, and that He withheld such declaration from the Jews to reveal it to a Samaritan, to a people who for centuries had been under the ban of Jewish proscription and abuse…” (From Manger to Throne, p. 280, 1898 [1880]).
12. Jesus came to break down the walls of separation (DA, Ch. 19).
Ellen White (1827-1915): “Jesus began to break down the partition wall between Jew and the Gentile, and to preach salvation to the world. Though He was a Jew, He mingled freely with the Samaritans” (DA, p. 193).
Henry Kollock (1778-1819): “Jesus came to break down the separating wall between Jew and Gentile; to offer an atonement sufficient for the sin of the world; and to announce a system of religion suited to every people and to every land .Though his personal ministry was devoted to the Jews, to whom he had been promised…” (Sermons on Various Subjects in Four Volumes, p. 301, 1822).
13. Man severed from God (DA, Ch. 21)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “By sin we have been severed from life of God. Our souls are palsied” DA, p.203)
John Harris (1802-1856): “But man severed from the life of God; his soul is so palsied” (The Great Teacher, p. 110, 1835).
14. Stampede at Bethesda (DA, Ch. 21, John 5)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “but so great was the crowd when the water was troubled that they rushed forward, trampling underfoot men, women, and children, weaker than themselves. Many could not get near the pool. Many who had succeeded in reaching it died upon its brink” (DA, p 201).
Ingraham J. H (1809-1860): “Those nearest plunged madly in…The most weak and impotent being most eager, and being furthest off, made superhuman exertions, to gain to the pool,…to be hurled to the ground and trampled upon by others who were behind them…but I afterwards heard that before quiet was restored, several men were slain…” (The Prince of the House of David, p. 88, 1855).
15. Sickness was the result of sin (DA, Ch. 21, John 5: 1-14)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “His disease was in a great degree the result of his own sin, and was looked upon as a judgment from God” (DA, p. 202).
Ellen White: “Thus he taught them that disease is the result of violating God’s laws, both natural and spiritual” (DA, p. 824).
Jamieson (1802-1880): “Sin no more – a glimpse of the reckless life he had probably led before his thirty-eight year’s infirmity had come upon him, and which not improbably had brought on, in just judgment of God, his chronic complaint” (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871).
John Wesley (1703-1791): “It seems his former illness was the effect or punishment for sin” (Wesley’s Explanatory Notes, 1755).
Marvin R. Vincent (1834-1922): “The sickness was the result of sin” (Vincent’s Word Studies, 1887)
John Gill (1697-1771): “All disease of the body spring from sin” (John Gill’s Exposition of the Whole Bible, 1748).
Adam Clarke (1760-1832): “His former sins were the cause of his long affliction” (Clarke’s Commentary, 1831).
Albert Barnes (1798–1870): “The infirmity of this man was caused by sin – perhaps by vice in his youth… This is always the case with intemperance and gross pleasures” (Barnes’ notes on the Whole Bible, 1834).
Henry Kollock (1778-1819): “… since it is Jesus Christ himself, who searches all hearts and knows all events, who teaches us that the sufferings of this man proceeded form his sins; that his sickness was sent in punishment from some particular crime” (Sermons on various Subjects in Four Volumes, p. 276, 1822).
William Henry Furness (1802-1896): “You believe that suffering is a proof of sin in the sufferer” (A History of Jesus, p.100, 1833).
16. John’s disciples questioned why Jesus did not intervene to save John (DA, Ch. 22)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “They questioned why, if this new teacher was the Messiah, He did nothing to effect John’s release. How could He permit His faithful herald to be deprived of liberty and perhaps of life?” (DA, pp. 214, 215).
Stalker James (1948-1827): “If Jesus was the Mighty One they thought of Him, how could He allow His friend to come such an end?” (The Life of Jesus Christ, p. 106, 1891).
17. The demon possessed in the synagogue (DA, Ch. 26, Luke 4:33-35)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “Jesus in the synagogue spoke of the kingdom He had come to establish, and of His mission to set free the captives of Satan. He was interrupted by a shriek of terror. A madman rushed forward from among the people, crying out, “Let us alone; … All was now confusion and alarm. The attention of the people was diverted from Christ, and His words were unheeded… The mind of this wretched sufferer had been darkened by Satan, but in the Saviour’s presence a ray of light had pierced the gloom. He was roused to long for freedom from Satan’s control; but the demon resisted the power of Christ. When the man tried to appeal to Jesus for help, the evil spirit put words into his mouth, and he cried out in an agony of fear. The demoniac partially comprehended that he was in the presence of One who could set him free; but when he tried to come within reach of that mighty hand, another’s will held him, another’s words found utterance through him… He who had conquered Satan in the wilderness of temptation was again brought face to face with His enemy. The demon exerted all his power to retain control of his victim… The secret cause of the affliction that had made this man a fearful spectacle to his friends and a burden to himself was in his own life. He had been fascinated by the pleasures of sin,… But once in the downward path, his feet rapidly descended. Intemperance and frivolity perverted the noble attributes of his nature, and Satan took absolute control of him… He had placed himself on the enemy’s ground, and Satan had taken possession of all his faculties…” (DA, pp. 255, 256).
Daniel March (1816-1909): “On one occasion when Jesus was there, the silence and decorum of the sacred place were rudely broken by the startling outcry of a wretched creature whom demons of darkness had subjected to their cruel power… The mighty woe which had been brought into his soul by the power of Satan, broke forth in a cry which seemed to come equally from the man himself, and from the evil one that tormented him. There still remained in the enslaved and darkened soul, light enough to dissolve his own misery… And yet the unhappy man wanted the power to make an earnest and consistent appeal to Jesus for help. When his enfeebled will strove to offer the prayer, the indwelling demon possessed his voice and made him utter the petition that Jesus would “let him alone.”… The will of the man was possessed by another and a cruel power, and yet he had freedom enough left to groan beneath the weight of bondage which was upon him, and to desire deliverance by a mightier hand than his own. He had indeed first offered himself a prey to the powers of darkness by his own voluntary sin. He had opened the gate through which the enemy came in with his own hand and so his captivity had begun… The usurping demon put forth all his might to retain possession of the man, just because the divine deliverer was there… The wretched creature was torn and convulsed by the terrible struggle… And hence the demons were brought face to face with Jesus in the sanctuary… the defiant power followed Jesus into the synagogue on the Sabbath, and cried out with noisy and profane vehemence in the midst of the solemnities of divine worship and instruction” (Walks and Homes of Jesus, pp.91-94, 1866).
18. Good and evil angels contend for human souls (DA, Ch. 26)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “The spirits of darkness will battle for the soul once under their dominion, but the angels of God will contend for that soul with prevailing power” (DA, p. 256).
Ellen White: “I saw angels of God hasten to the assistance of all who were struggling with all their power to resist the evil angels and trying to help themselves by calling upon God with perseverance” (EW, p. 270).
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731): “Some tell us every single man, every individual, has a devil attending him, to execute orders (…) of the Devil… there is good spirit which attends him too, which… is always accessory to everything that we do that is good, and reluctant to evil… I shall only tell you, as to this story of good and evil angels attending every particular person; …if there are good and evil spirits attending us, that is to say, a good angel and a Devil” (The History of the Devil, p. 191, 1854 [first published in 1726]).
19. Leprosy was most dreaded disease (DA, Ch. 27)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “Of all diseases known in the East the leprosy was most dreaded. Its incurable and contagious character, and its horrible effect upon its victims, filled the bravest with fear. Among the Jews it was regarded as a judgment on account of sin, and hence was called “the stroke,” “the finger of God.” Deep-rooted, ineradicable, deadly, it was looked upon as a symbol of sin” (DA, p. 262).
Talmage, T. De Witt (1832-1902): “Of all diseases that affect humanity that of leprosy is at once the most loathsome, the most deadly and the most horrible… That from the time immemorial men have regarded with supreme horror the victims of leprosy is the most natural, and that the Mosaic law recognized the leprous as sufferers under God’s curse is not a matter for surprise… It was also an evidence that though leprosy was considered as a type of sin…” (From Manger to Throne, pp. 303, 304, 1889 [880]).
20. Loathsomeness of leprosy (DA, Ch. 27)
Ellen White (1827-1915): “Whatever he touched was unclean. The air was polluted by his breath” (DA, p. 262, 1898).
Constant Fouard (1837-1903): “They drust not approach closer, for any contact with them, even their passing breath, was a contamination” (Christ, The Son of God, Vol. II, p. 132, 1890).
