The exact chronology of the events from this point to the close of the tenth chapter is very uncertain and quite unimportant. One characteristic feature of the feast of the Tabernacles was the illumination of the temple; the two great candelabra of the Court of the Women were lighted, and it is said in the Rabbinical hooks that the light shone all over Jerusalem. Since Christ was accustomed to take his text from passing events, it is a not improbable surmise that this illumination afforded the suggestion for the discourse on the divine light which follows. The illumination of the temple commemorated the pillar of fire, as the ceremony of drawing water (see ch. 7:37, etc., notes) commemorated the striking of the rock in Horeb and the gift of water from it, and the dwelling in booths recalled the time when Israel dwelt in tents and booths in the wilderness. We may therefore see in Christ an antitype of the fiery cloud that guided Israel in their pilgrimage, and in the Shechinah filling the Tabernacle (Exod. 40:34, 35), an illustration of the light which Christ imparts to those that follow him. 12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I[309] am the light of the world: he that[310] followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. [309] chaps. 1:4; 9:5. [310] ch. 12:35, 46. =12. I am the light of the world.= The illumination of the temple lighted Jerusalem; that of the fiery cloud, Israel. Christ is the light, not merely of his disciples, or of the Jewish nation, but of the _world_, a word which here, as always in the N. T., stands for the whole human race. Comp. ch. 1:4, 9, notes. He is the _light_ as well as the life, coming to instruct as well as to revive; a Saviour from ignorance as well as from wilful sin. Therefore no ignorance or doubt need keep the soul that desires light away from Christ. He need not wait for instruction, any more than for reformation, before he comes to Christ.--=He that follows me need not walk in darkness.= The best reading is subjunctive, not indicative. _Following Christ_, not believing something about him, is the way out of darkness into light. Comp. ch. 7:17, and note the fact that in no single instance did Christ call on any one of his disciples to form correct opinions about him before becoming his follower. They followed first and learned afterward. Even he who doubts whether Christ is not a myth can still follow the ideal life.--=But shall have the light of life.= That is, the light which guides and nourishes the true, the spiritual life. Comp. ch. 6:48, “bread of life.” See Ps. 119:105, where the Bible is compared to a lantern carried to light the path on a dark night. He is a light not for the illumination of doubtful questions in science or metaphysics or abstract theology, but for the solution of practical problems in the moral and spiritual life.