Then said the Jews unto him, thou art not yet fifty years old,.... One copy reads forty, but he was not that; no, not much more than thirty; not above two or three and thirty years old: the reason of their fixing on this age of fifty might be, because Christ might look like such an one, being a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, as well as of great gravity; or they might be free in allowing him as many years, as could be thought he should be of, and gain their point; for what were fifty years, when Abraham had been dead above two thousand?
and therefore he could never see Abraham, nor Abraham see him; moreover, this age of fifty, is often spoken of by the Jews, and much observed; at the age of fifty, a man is fit to give counsel, they say ; hence the Levites were dismissed from service at that age, it being more proper for them then to give advice, than to bear burdens; a Methurgeman, or an interpreter in a congregation, was not chosen under fifty years of age ; and if a man died before he was fifty, this was called the death of cutting off ; a violent death, a death inflicted by God, as a punishment; Christ lived not to that age, he was now many years short of it:and hast thou seen Abraham?
if he had not, Abraham had seen him, in the sense before given, and in which Christ asserted it, and it is to be understood. Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 21. T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 14. 1. Juchasin, fol. 44.
2. T. Hieros. Biccurim, fol. 64. 3. T. Bab. Moed Katon, fol. 28. 1. Macsecheth Semachot, c. 3. sect. 9. Kimchi in Isa. xxxviii.