João 12:32

I - will draw all men unto me - After I shall have died and risen again, by the preaching of my word and the influence of my Spirit, I shall attract and illuminate both Jews and Gentiles. It was one of the peculiar characteristics of the Messiah, that unto him should the gathering of the people be, Genesis 49:10 . And probably our Lord refers to the prophecy, Isaiah 11:10 , which peculiarly belonged to the Gentiles: "There shall be a root of Jesse which shall stand for an Ensign of the people, to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious." There is an allusion here to the ensigns or colors of commanders of regiments, elevated on high places, on long poles, that the people might see where the pavilion of their general was, and so flock to his standard.

Instead of παντας , the Codex Bezae, another, several versions, and many of the fathers, read παντα , all men, or all things: so the Anglo-Saxon, I will draw all things to myself . But παντα may be here the accusative singular, and signify all men.

The ancients fabled that Jupiter had a chain of gold, which he could at any time let down from heaven, and by it draw the earth and all its inhabitants to himself. See a fine passage to this effect in Homer, Iliad viii. ver. 18-27.

Ειδ ' αγε, πειρησασθε θεοι, ἱνα ειδετε παντες,π

Σειρην χρυσειην εξ ουρανοθεν κρεμασαντες·π

Παντες δ ' εξαπτεσθε θεοι, πασαι τε θεαιναι. κ. τ. λ.

"Now prove me: let ye down the golden chain

From heaven, and pull at its inferior links,

Both goddesses and gods: but me your king,

Supreme in wisdom, ye shall never draw

To earth from heaven, strive with me as ye may.

But I, if willing to exert my power,

The earth itself, itself the sea, and you,

Will lift with ease together, and will wind

The chain around the spiry summit sharp

Of the Olympian, that all things upheaved

Shall hang in the mid heaven. So much am I,

Alone, superior both to gods and men.

Cowper.