xviii. 18); as, moreover, she could not have gathered from the Pentateuch

the _time_ of His coming, she must have learned by rumour that the Jews were _at this time_ expecting the Messias; her words, “He will tell _us_ all things,” showed that she hoped for His coming in her own day.

It is difficult to say whether the words explanatory of Messias, *who is called Christ*, are the woman’s or our Evangelist’s. That the Evangelist explained the term before (i. 41), is not a proof that he does not do so again, for see John xi. 16; xx. 24; xxi. 2.

26. Dicit ei Iesus: Ego sum, 26. Jesus saith to her: I am qui loquor tecum. he who am speaking with thee. 27. Et continuo venerunt 27. And immediately his discipuli eius: et mirabantur, disciples came: and they quia cum muliere loquebatur. wondered that he talked with Nemo tamen dixit: Quid the woman. Yet no man said: quaeris, aut quid loqueris cum What seekest thou, or why ea? talkest thou with her?

26, 27. At length Christ reveals Himself; and now that He has excited her interest and awakened her faith, the disciples return from Sichar, and are astonished to find Him speaking publicly with a woman—a thing not usually done by Jewish doctors.

28. Reliquit ergo hydriam suam 28. The woman therefore left mulier, et abiit in civitatem, her waterpot, and went her way et dicit illis hominibus: into the city, and saith to the men there: 29. Venite, et videte hominem 29. Come, and see a man who qui dixit mihi omnia has told me all things quaecumque feci: numquid ipse whatsoever I have done. Is not est Christus? he the Christ? 30. Exierunt ergo de civitate, 30. They went therefore out of et veniebant ad eum. the city, and came unto him.

28‐30. The discourse being interrupted by the arrival of the disciples, the woman, forgetful or indifferent regarding the errand which had brought her to the well, *went her way into the city*, and soon returned with a number of her fellow‐citizens.

31. Interea rogabant eum 31. In the meantime the discipuli, dicentes: Rabbi, disciples prayed him, saying: manduca. Rabbi, eat. 32. Ille autem dicit eis: Ego 32. But he said to them: I cibum habeo manducare, quem have meat to eat which you vos nescitis. know not. 33. Dicebant ergo discipuli ad 33. The disciples therefore invicem: Numquid aliquis said one to another: Hath any attulit ei manducare? man brought him to eat? 34. Dicit eis Iesus: Meus 34. Jesus saith to them: My cibus est ut faciam voluntatem meat is to do the will of him eius qui misit me, ut that sent me, that I may perficiam opus eius. perfect his work.

31‐34. Meanwhile the disciples invite Jesus to eat, to whom He replies that He has meat to eat which they know not, that meat being, as He explains in verse 34, to do the will of Him that sent Him. It was no time for attending to the wants of His human nature; He had more serious work in hand in the conversion of the Samaritans.

35. Nonne vos dicitis quod 35. Do not you say, there are adhuc quatuor menses sunt, et yet four months, and then the messis venit? Ecce dico vobis: harvest cometh? Behold I say Levate oculos vestros, et to you, lift up your eyes, and videte regiones, quia albae see the countries, for they sunt iam ad messem. are white already to harvest.

35. *There are yet four months, and then the harvest cometh.* Maldonatus, followed by Father Coleridge, takes this to be a proverb(43) meaning that there is no need of hurry—that the matter in question is still far off. As, however, there is no evidence that such a proverb was current among the Jews, it is much better to understand the verse thus: You say what is true, that it is still four months till the harvest of nature; but lift up your eyes, and behold the harvest of grace in the men of Sichar who are approaching.

As the barley harvest in Palestine came in about the middle of April, this time, four months earlier, was the middle of December, the end of the first year of our Lord’s public life.(44)

36. Et qui metit, mercedem 36. And he that reapeth accipit, et congregat fructum receiveth wages, and gathereth in vitam aeternam: ut, et qui fruit unto life everlasting: seminat, simul gaudeat, et qui that both he that soweth, and metit. he that reapeth, may rejoice together.

36. He encourages His disciples to the work; in saving others they save themselves.

37. In hoc enim est verbum 37. For in this is the saying verum: quia alius est qui true: that it is one man that seminat, et alius est qui soweth, and it is another that metit. reapeth. 38. Ego misi vos metere quod 38. I have sent you to reap vos non laborastis: alii that in which you did not laboraverunt, et vos in labour: others have laboured, labores: eorum introistis. and you have entered into their labours.

37‐38. The Prophets and Doctors of the old Law had prepared the way for the Apostles and disciples of Christ; had ploughed and sown where they were now to reap. *I have sent you.* Mald., who holds that this is not the same journey with that referred to in Matt. iv. 12, Mark i. 14, and that the Apostles were already formally called by Christ, understands “I have sent” of an action already completed by Christ. As, however, it is more probable that the Apostles were not yet formally called (see Matt. iv. 12, 18; x. 1), it is better to understand this, with A Lap., of the Divine decree to send the Apostles on their mission afterwards.

39. Ex civitate autem illa 39. Now of that city many of multi crediderunt in eum the Samaritans believed in Samaritanorum, propter verbum him, for the word of the woman mulieris testimonium giving testimony: He told me perhibentis: Quia dixit mihi all things whatsoever I have omnia quaecumque feci. done. 40. Cum venissent ergo ad 40. So when the Samaritans illum Samaritani, rogaverunt were come to him, they desired eum ut ibi maneret. Et mansit him that he would tarry there. ibi duos dies. And he abode there two days. 41. Et multo plures 41. And many more believed in crediderunt in eum propter him because of his own word. sermonem eius.

39‐41. Many believed in Him on account of what the woman told them, and, after He had remained two days in Sichar, many more on account of His discourses.

42. Et mulieri dicebant: Quia 42. And they said to the iam non propter tuam loquelam woman: we now believe, not for credimus: ipsi enim audivimus, thy saying: for we ourselves et scimus, quia hic est vere have heard him, and know that Salvator mundi. this is indeed the Saviour of the world.

42. This is the Hebrew way of expressing that it was not _so much_ on account of the woman’s saying, as because they had heard Him themselves.

43. Post duos autem dies exiit 43. Now after two days he inde: et abiit in Galilaeam. departed thence: and went into Galilee. 44. Ipse enim Iesus 44. For Jesus himself gave testimonium perhibuit, quia testimony that a prophet hath propheta in sua patria honorem no honour in his own country. non habet.

43‐44. The connection between these two verses is obscure. (1) Verse 44 gives the reason why He had _left Galilee_, to which He now returns; or (2) the reason why He _passes Nazareth_, and goes on to Capharnaum (Matt. iv. 13), Tolet, A Lap., Corl.; or (3) the reason why He proceeded on His way from _Judea, His birthplace_, into Galilee, Mald., Patriz.

45. Cum ergo venisset in 45. And when he was come into Galilaeam, exceperunt eum Galilee, the Galileans Galilaei, cum omnia vidissent received him, having seen all quae fecerat Ierosolymis in the things he had done at die festo: et ipsi enim Jerusalem on the festival day: venerant ad diem festum. for they also went to the festival day.

45. He is well received by the Galileans, because the remembrance of His exercise of authority and of His miracles, on the occasion of the previous Pasch (ii. 15, 23), is still fresh in their memories.

46. Venit ergo iterum in Cana 46. He came again therefore Galilaeae ubi fecit aquam into Cana of Galilee, where he vinum. Et erat quidam regulus, made the water wine. And there cuius filius infirmabatur was a certain ruler whose son Capharnaum. was sick at Capharnaum. 47. Hic cum audisset quia 47. He having heard that Jesus Iesus adveniret a Iudaea in was come from Judea into Galilaeam, abiit ad eum, et Galilee, went to him, and rogabat eum ut descenderet, et prayed him to come down and sanaret filium eius: heal his son: for he was at incipiebat enim mori. the point of death.

46. *A certain ruler whose son was sick at Capharnaum*, on hearing that Jesus was in Cana, came and asked Him to _come down_ and heal his son, who was on the point of death. Origen thinks this ruler may have belonged to the household of Cæsar, and been on duty in Palestine at this time. But Josephus uses the word (βασιλικός) to designate the courtiers or officers of the Herods (see B. J. vii. 5, 2; Antt. xv. 8, 4); so that this ruler of Capharnaum may have been an officer of Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Galilee. Doubtless the ruler had heard of the miracle at the marriage feast in Cana (ii. 7, 11); and perhaps he had witnessed the evidence of Christ’s miraculous power at the feast of the Pasch (ii. 23).

48. Dixit ergo Iesus ad eum: 48. Jesus therefore said to Nisi signa et prodigia him: Unless you see signs and videritis, non creditis. wonders, you believe not. 49. Dicit ad eum regulus: 49. The ruler saith to him: Domine, descende prius quam Lord, come down before that my moriatur filius meus. son die.

48. Christ upbraids the ruler for his imperfect faith. The ruler is blamed either because he was waiting to _see_ a miracle before he would believe, or because he foolishly considered that it was _necessary_ for Christ to go down to Capharnaum in order to heal his son.

50. Dicit ei Iesus: Vade, 50. Jesus saith to him: Go thy filius tuus vivit. Credidit way, thy son liveth. The man homo sermoni quem dixit ei believed the word which Jesus Iesus, et ibat. said to him, and went his way. 51. Iam autem eo descendente, 51. And as he was going down, servi occurrerunt ei, et his servants met him: and they nuntiaverunt dicentes, quia brought word, saying that his filius eius viveret. son lived.

50. Jesus said to him, *Go thy way; thy son liveth*. It is plain, from all the circumstances, that this miracle is quite distinct from that recorded in Matt. viii. 5 and foll.; Luke vii. 2 and foll., though some of the Rationalists have sought to identify the two. There it is the centurion’s servant, here the ruler’s son, who is ill; there the illness is paralysis, here fever; there, though asked not to go, Christ goes to the sick person; here, though asked to go, he goes not.

52. Interrogabat ergo horam ab 52. He asked therefore of them eis in qua melius habuerit. Et the hour, wherein he grew dixerunt ei: Quia heri hora better. And they said to him: septima reliquit eum febris. Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.

52. *The seventh hour;* _i.e._, about an hour after noon, 1 p.m., or 7 p.m. See i. 39.

53. Cognovit ergo pater, quia 53. The father therefore knew illa hora erat, in qua dixit that it was at the same hour, ei Iesus: Filius tuus vivit: that Jesus said to him, Thy et credidit ipse, et domus son liveth; and himself eius tota. believed and his whole house. 54. Hoc iterum secundum signum 54. This _is_ again the second fecit Iesus, cum venisset a miracle that Jesus did, when Iudaea in Galilaeam. he was come out of Judea into Galilee.

54. It is not said that this was the second miracle He performed, but that it was the second He performed on coming out of Judea into Galilee. For the first, see ii. 6, 11, and compare i. 43.