Abstract of Montefiore, Hugh W. “The Position of the Cana Miracle and the Cleansing of the Temple in St. John’s Gospel.”

Montefiore, Hugh W.  “The Position of the Cana Miracle and the Cleansing of the Temple in St. John’s Gospel.”  Journal of Theological Studies 50 (1949): 183-86.

Montefiore provides a suggestion as to the relationship between the miracle of turning water into wine at Cana and the cleansing of the temple, both in John 2.  He suggests that two passages from the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, Isaiah 9:1, and Ezekiel 47:1-10, may give some reason for the link.  Isaiah 9:1 in the LXX apparently refers to wine as well as light that will come out of Galilee.  In Ezek 47 the prophet tells of water coming out from the temple, and tradition had it proceeding first to Galilee.  Therefore, Montefiore suggests that John used this to symbolically refer to Christ as the New Temple in both instances.

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