John 3:1

§ 21. JESUS’S DISCOURSE WITH NICODEMUS 1-21.

1. There was a man John now proceeds to give a specimen of the many mentioned at the close of the last chapter (see our note John 2:23) who were converted by Jesus’s miracles, but not trustworthily converted at heart, in order to show how Jesus would deal with such a case. Thereby a believer by logic is guided to a faith of the heart.

Nicodemus Josephus, the historian, had a brother named Nicodemus Ben Gorion, (as the tradition reports,) who was a member of the Sanhedrim, and counted one of the three richest men of Jerusalem. He was able, say they, to have maintained the city for ten years; and marvelous account are given of the dowry of his daughters. But it is said he afterwards became poor; and his daughter was seen by another rabbi gathering barley corns for food from under the horses’ feet. Some have conjectured that this was the result of the persecutions he received for having embraced Christianity. This Nicodemus, it was said, was found living at the destruction of Jerusalem.

A ruler of the Jews He was one of the Sanhedrim, which consisted of priests, Levites, elderly men, and rabbis.