Teks -- John 13:5 (NET)

13:5 He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Joh 13:5 - Poureth

Poureth ( ballei ).

Vivid present again. Literally, "putteth"(as in Joh 13:2, ballō ).

Robertson: Joh 13:5 - Into the basin

Into the basin ( eis ton niptēra ).

From verb niptō (later form of nizō in this same verse and below) to wash, found only here and in quotations of this passage. Note the article, "the basin"in the room.

Robertson: Joh 13:5 - Began to wash

Began to wash ( ērxato niptein ).

Back to the aorist again as with diezōsen (Joh 13:4). Niptō was common for washing parts of the body like the hands or the feet.

Robertson: Joh 13:5 - To wipe

To wipe ( ekmassein ).

"To wipe off"as in Joh 12:3.

Robertson: Joh 13:5 - With the towel

With the towel ( tōi lentiōi ).

Instrumental case and the article (pointing to lention in Joh 13:4).

Robertson: Joh 13:5 - Wherewith

Wherewith ( hōi ).

Instrumental case of the relative ho .

Robertson: Joh 13:5 - He was girded

He was girded ( ēn diezōsmenos ).

Periphrastic past perfect of diazōnnuō for which verb see Joh 13:4.

Vincent: Joh 13:5 - A bason

A bason ( νιπτῆρα )

Only here in the New Testament. From νίπτω , to wash .

Wesley: Joh 13:5 - Into the basin

A large vessel was usually placed for this very purpose, wherever the Jews supped.

JFB: Joh 13:4-5 - He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments

Outer garments which would have impeded the operation of washing.

JFB: Joh 13:4-5 - and took a towel and girded himself

Assuming a servant's dress.

JFB: Joh 13:5 - began to wash

Proceeded to wash. Beyond all doubt the feet of Judas were washed, as of all the rest.

Clarke: Joh 13:5 - Poureth water into a bason, etc.

Poureth water into a bason, etc. - This was the office of the meanest slaves. When David sent to Abigail, to inform her that he had chosen her for wife, she arose and said: Behold, let thy handmaid be a Servant, to Wash the Feet of the Servants of my lord, 1Sa 25:41. Some of the ancients have supposed that our Lord began with washing the feet of Judas, to inspire him with sentiments of compunction and remorse, to melt him down with kindness, and to show all his disciples how they should act towards their enemies. Dr. Lightfoot supposes he washed the feet of Peter, James, and John only; but this is not likely: the verb αρχεσθαι in the sacred writings, signifies, not only to commence, but to finish an act, Act 1:1; and in the Septuagint, Gen 2:3. There is every reason to believe that he washed the feet of all the twelve. See on Joh 13:9 (note).

Calvin: Joh 13:5 - And began to wash the feet of his disciples

5.And began to wash the feet of his disciples These words express the design of Christ, rather than the outward act; for the Evangelist adds, that he began with Peter.

Defender: Joh 13:5 - wash the disciples' feet

Instead of serving each other, the disciples had been arguing who would be the greatest among them (Luk 22:24-27). This action of their Master convicted them, and they never argued this point again."

TSK: Joh 13:5 - poureth // to wash // feet

poureth : Joh 19:34; 2Ki 3:11; Eze 36:25; Zec 13:1; Eph 5:26; 1Jo 5:6

to wash : Joh 13:8; Exo 29:4; Lev 14:8; 2Ki 5:10-13; Psa 51:2; Isa 1:16; Act 22:16; 1Co 6:11; Tit 3:3-5; Heb 10:22; 1Jo 1:7; Rev 1:5, Rev 7:14

feet : Joh 13:10,Joh 13:12-14; Gen 18:4, Gen 19:2; 1Sa 25:41; Luk 7:38, Luk 7:44; 1Ti 5:10

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Joh 13:5

Poureth water into a bason; begins first to wash his disciples feet, then to wipe them with the linen cloth he had taken. All this was done in the form of a servant; so they used to do, as to guests that came to dine or sup with their lords or masters.

Lightfoot: Joh 13:5 - Into a basin. // He began to wash the feet, etc.

After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.   

[Into a basin.] "On that day, [when they made R. Eleazar Ben Azariah president of the council] the votes were numbered; and they determined concerning the basin wherein they were to wash their feet; that it should contain from two logs to ten."   

[He began to wash the feet, etc.] as to this action of our Saviour's washing his disciples' feet; it may be observed,   

I. It was an unusual thing for superiors to wash the feet of inferiors. Amongst the duties required from a wife towards a husband this was one, that she should wash his face, his hands, and his feet. The same was expected by a father from his son. The same from a servant towards his master, but not vice versa. Nor, as I remember, was it expected from the disciple towards his master, unless included in that rule, "That the disciple is to honour his master more than his father."   

II. The feet were never washed merely under the notion of legal purification. The hands were wont to be washed by the Pharisees merely under that notion, but not the feet; and the hands and the feet by the priests, but the feet not merely upon that account. That what was said before, concerning the basin wherein the feet were to be washed; must not be understood as if the feet were to be washed upon any score of a legal cleansing; but only care was taken by that tradition, lest through defect of a just quantity of water the feet and the person should contract some sort of uncleanness whilst they were washing.   

So that by how much distant this action of Christ's was from the common usage and custom, by so much the more instructive was it to his followers, propounded to them not only for example, but doctrine too.   

III. As to the manner of the action. It is likely he washed their feet in the same manner as his own were, Luk 7:38; viz. while they were leaning at the table (as the Jewish custom of eating was) he washed their feet; as they were stretched out behind them. And if he did observe any order, he began with Peter, who sat in the next place immediately to himself. This Nonnus seems to believe; to which opinion also there are others that seem inclined; and then the words he began to wash; must be taken in some such sense as if he made ready and put himself into a posture to wash. But perhaps this way of expression may intimate, as if he began to wash some of his disciples, but did not wash them all; which for my own part I could easily enough close with. For whereas Christ did this for example and instruction merely, and not with any design of cleansing them, his end was answered in washing two or three of them, as well as all. And so indeed I would avoid being entangled in the dilemma I lately mentioned, by saying, he did not only leave Judas unwashed, but several others also. What if he washed Peter and James and John only? And as he had before made some distinction betwixt these three and the rest of his disciples by admitting them into his more inward privacies, so perhaps he distinguisheth them no less in this action. These he foretold how they were to suffer martyrdom: might he not, therefore, by this washing; prefigure to them that they must be baptized with the same baptism that he himself was to be baptized with? and as the woman had anointed him for his burial, so he, by this action, might have washed them for that purpose.

Haydock: Joh 13:5

St. Ambrose and St. Bernard shew that this washing was mysterious, and significative of the very great purity expected of those that receive the blessed Eucharist.

Gill: Joh 13:5 - After that be poureth water into a bason // And began to wash the disciples feet // and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded

After that be poureth water into a bason,.... This also was a servile work, and what properly belonged to servants to do; see Joh 2:5. The bason to wash the feet in, called by the Jews רגלים עריבת, was fixed by their doctors to hold, "from two logs to nine kabs" ^t; not "from two logs to ten", as Dr. Lightfoot has rendered the passage referred to. A "kab" held about a quart of our measure, and a "log" was the fourth part of a "kab".

And began to wash the disciples feet. This custom of washing the feet was not used by the Jews at their passover, nor at their private entertainments, or common meals, but at the reception of strangers or travellers, which were just come off of a journey, whereby they had contracted dirt and filth, and was a servile work, never performed by superiors to their inferiors, but by inferiors to superiors; as by the wife to the husband, by the son to the father, and by the servant to his master; and was an instance of great humility in any others, as in Abigail, who said to David, "let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord", 1Sa 25:41, upon which place some Jewish Rabbins ^u have this note:

"this she said, על צד הענוה, "by way of humility", to show, that it would have been sufficient to her, if she became a wife to one of the servants of David, and washed his feet, as was the custom of a wife to her husband.''

But what a surprising instance of humility and condescension is this, that Christ, the Lord and master, should wash the feet of his disciples, when it was their proper work and business to have washed his? Though Dr. Lightfoot says, he does not remember that this was expected from the disciple toward his master, unless included in that rule, "that the disciple is to honour his master, more than his father"; whereas it was a fixed point ^w with the Jews,

"that all works which a servant does to his master, a disciple does to his master, except unloosing his shoe.''

Since therefore it was the work of a servant to wash his master's feet, a disciple was obliged to do this to his master likewise:

and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded; as he began he went through with his work; and having washed their feet, he wipes them clean; which may design the purity of the lives and conversations of the saints in general, and of the ministers of the Gospel in particular, whose feet are beautiful when shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, and their conversations are as become the Gospel they preach; both which they have from Christ.