What Does John 2:6 Mean?

(6) **Waterpots,** or *pitchers,* like to but larger than the vessels used for carrying water, as in John 4:28. These were placed in the outer court, away from the guest-chamber, for the governor of the feast is ignorant of the circumstances (John 2:9). It is natural that an eyewitness should remember the number and know roughly their size. There were six of them, containing about twenty gallons apiece; but hidden meanings referring to the number or the quantity are brought to the text, not derived from it. The measure rendered “firkin” is *metretes,* which is used for the Hebrew, “bath” in 2Chronicles 4:5. This (Jos. *Ant.* viii. 2, § 9) gives nearly nine gallons as the value of the “firkin,” which multiplied by two or three gives the contents of each pitcher as from about eighteen to twenty-seven gallons; or, approximately, from 100 to 150 gallons for the whole. Our own word “firkin” is probably “a little fourth,” and equal to nine gallons, or the fourth of a barrel (comp. Tierce, which is one-third). It is used only here in the Bible.