SEV Biblia, Chapter 11:54
De manera que Jess ya no andaba manifiestamente entre los judíos; mas se fue de allí a la tierra que est junto al desierto, a una ciudad que se llama Efraín; y se estaba allí con sus discípulos.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - John 11:54
Verse 54. Walked no more openly] parrhsia, He did not go as before through the cities and villages, teaching, preaching, and healing the sick. Near to the wilderness] Some MSS. add, of Samphourein, or Samphourim, or Sapfurim.
A city chilled Ephraim] Variously written in the MSS., Ephraim, Ephrem, Ephram, and Ephratha. This was a little village, situated in the neighbourhood of Bethel; for the scripture, 2 Chronicles xiii. 19, and Josephus, War, b. iv. c. 8. s. 9, join them both together. Many believe that this city or village was the same with that mentioned, 1 Macc. v. 46; 2 Macc. xii. 27. Joshua gave it to the tribe of Judah, Josh. xv. 9; and Eusebius and Jerome say it was about twenty miles north of Jerusalem.
And there continued] Calmet says, following Toynard, that he stayed there two months, from the 24th of January till the 24th of March.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 54. Jesus therefore , etc.] Knowing the resolution the sanhedrim had taken to put him to death, and the schemes they were forming to apprehend him: walked no more openly among the Jews ; at, or near Jerusalem; he did not teach in their streets, nor work miracles, nor appear in public company: but went thence , from Bethany: unto a country near to the wilderness : whether this was the wilderness of Judea, where John came preaching, and near to which our Lord was before he came to Bethany, or the wilderness of Bethaven, ( Joshua 18:12), is not certain: into a city called Ephraim ; the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions, call it Ephren, and so some copies; it seems to be the same with the Ephraim of the Misnic and Talmudic doctors; concerning which they say f524 , Micmas and Mezonicha are the first for fine flour, and the next to them is Ephraim in the valley.
For it seems there were two Ephraims, one in the valley, and another in the mount it was a place very fruitful for wheat; hence that saying of Jannes and Jambres, the magicians of Egypt, to Moses f526 ; do you bring straw to Ephraim? which was a proverbial expression, the same with ours of carrying coals to Newcastle: they seeing Moses do signs and wonders, supposed he did them by enchantment; and the sense of their proverb is, do you bring enchantments into Egypt, where there are so many already? This Ephraim, the Jews say f527 , is the same with that in ( 2 Chronicles 13:19), and as there Bethel is mentioned with it, it seems to have been in the tribe of Benjamin: and it may be observed, that Josephus speaks of an Ephraim, along with Bethel likewise; so that they all seem to mean the same place; and according to the same writer, it was but a little city, and it may be an obscure one, for which reason Christ withdrew to it. Epiphanius makes mention of the wilderness of Bethel and Ephraim, through which he travelled, accompanied by a Jew, as he came up from Jericho to the hill country; and is very likely the same wilderness which is here spoken of; and by some called Quarentana, and placed by the river Chereth, in the tribe of Benjamin, north east of Jerusalem; and the same writer elsewhere calls f530 Ephraim, the city of the wilderness: according to Jerom f531 , it was twenty miles from Aelia, or Jerusalem; though according to Eusebius, it was but eight miles, which is thought to be the truest account; and by them both is said to be a very large village, and in which they may not differ from Josephus; for it might be a large village, and yet a little city. Jerom takes notice of a place called Aphra, in the tribe of Benjamin, which he says at that time was called the village Effrem, and was five miles from Bethel eastward; and of another called Aphraim, a city in the tribe of Issachar, which in his time went by the name of the village Affarea, six miles from the legion, northward; the former agrees best with this Ephraim. And there continued with his disciples ; spending his time in private conversation with them, teaching and instructing them in things concerning the kingdom of God, his time with them being now but short.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 54-57 - Before our gospel passover we must renew our repentance. Thus by voluntary purification, and by religious exercises, many, more devou than their neighbours, spent some time before the passover a Jerusalem. When we expect to meet God, we must solemnly prepare. N devices of man can alter the purposes of God: and while hypocrite amuse themselves with forms and disputes, and worldly men pursue their own plans, Jesus still orders all things for his own glory and the salvation of his people __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
ιησους 2424 N-NSM ουν 3767 CONJ ουκ 3756 PRT-N ετι 2089 ADV παρρησια 3954 N-DSF περιεπατει 4043 5707 V-IAI-3S εν 1722 PREP τοις 3588 T-DPM ιουδαιοις 2453 A-DPM αλλα 235 CONJ απηλθεν 565 5627 V-2AAI-3S εκειθεν 1564 ADV εις 1519 PREP την 3588 T-ASF χωραν 5561 N-ASF εγγυς 1451 ADV της 3588 T-GSF ερημου 2048 A-GSF εις 1519 PREP εφραιμ 2187 N-PRI λεγομενην 3004 5746 V-PPP-ASF πολιν 4172 N-ASF κακει 2546 ADV-C διετριβεν 1304 5707 V-IAI-3S μετα 3326 PREP των 3588 T-GPM μαθητων 3101 N-GPM αυτου 846 P-GSM
Vincent's NT Word Studies
54. Wilderness. The wild hill-country, northeast of Jerusalem.Ephraim. The site is uncertain. Commonly taken as Ophrah (1 Samuel xiii. 17), or Ephraim (2 Chron. xiii. 19), and identified with el-Taiyibeh, sixteen miles from Jerusalem, and situated on a hill which commands the Jordan valley.
55-57. xii. 1-11. Compare Matt. xxvi. 6-13; Mark xiv. 3-9.
