One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
5. And there was a man there. The Evangelist collects various circumstances, which prove that the miracle may be relied on as certain. The long duration of the disease had taken away all hope of its being cured. This man complains that he is deprived of the remedy of the water.
This miraculous cure is not recorded by any other of the evangelists, who confine themselves mostly to the miracles wrought in Galilee, but John relates those wrought at Jerusalem. Concerning this observe, I. The time when this cure was wrought: it was at a feast of the Jews, that is, the passover, for that was the most celebrated feast.
Commenting on John 5:1-16
And a certain man was there,.... At Bethesda's pool, in one of the five porches, or cloisters, that belonged to it: which had an infirmity thirty and eight years; what his infirmity was, is not said; he was one of the weak, or impotent folk, for so he is called, Joh 5:7.