32. *Rulers*, rather chief priests (ἀρχιερεῖς). The *ministers* were officers attendant upon the Sanhedrim, or engaged about the temple. See verses 45, 46; xiii. 3, 18, 22; xix. 6; Acts v. 22, 26. As the Sanhedrim was made up of chief priests, Pharisees, and Scribes, probably it was the Sanhedrim that sent these ministers to apprehend Christ. 33. Dixit ergo eis Iesus: 33. Jesus therefore said to Adhuc modicum tempus vobiscum them: Yet a little while I am sum: et vado ad eum qui me with you: and _then_ I go to misit. him that sent me. 33. Omit “eis” (to them). Christ’s words were probably directed not merely to the ministers, but to all the people. *Yet a little while I am with you*, _i.e._, almost six months more after this feast of Tabernacles, and then He would go to the Father. 34. Quaeretis me, et non 34. You shall seek me, and invenietis: et ubi ego sum vos shall not find me: and where I non potestis venire. am, _thither_ you cannot come. 34. *You shall seek me, and shall not find me.* Some think these words were fulfilled at the siege of Jerusalem, when many of the Jews must have looked in vain for help from Him whom they had put to death. Others, like Maldonatus, say the statement is conditional: even if you sought me, you should not find me, after a little while. Since the same words: “You shall seek me,” were afterwards addressed to the Apostles (xiii. 33), it is not likely that the reference is to seeking Him at the destruction of Jerusalem, for the Apostles did not seek Him then. It would also seem from xiii. 33 that the view of Maldonatus just stated is not probable, for in xiii. 33 there is not a conditional statement, but simply a prediction that the Apostles would seek Him. Hence we take it that in the text before us also, there is a prediction that the Jews after His departure would, when in distress and tribulation, desire to see Him once more among them. Doubtless, many Jews afterwards had such a desire, but it was in vain, for He had gone to Him that sent Him. *And where I am* (= shall be) *thither you cannot come*. These words too were afterwards addressed to the Apostles (xiii. 33), and we believe in the same sense as here. The meaning is that until death at least the separation would be complete, for He would be no longer here, and where He would be they could not join Him. Some take the words: “You cannot come,” as meaning here that the Jews on account of their sins could _never_ enter heaven. But since, as we have said, the same words were afterwards addressed to the Apostles, the view we have adopted seems more probable.