to sLowthat this movement was intended to avciu the vlesicrns of the Pharisees against our Lord. If he had rcmaiue I in Judaea, He would have been cut off, and pat to death before the ap- pointed time. He therefore withdrew into the province of Gali- lee, where He was further off from Jerusalem, and where His ministry would attract less public notice.
Our Lord's conduct on this occasion shows us that it is not obligatory on a Christian to await danger to life and person, when he sees it coming, and that it is not cowardice to use ai' reasonable means to avoid it. We are not to court martyrdom, or needlessly to throw our lives awav. There is a time for all things, — a time to live and work, as well as a time to suffer and to die. Whether some of the primitive martj'-rs would have acted as our Lord did here may be questioned. Their zeal for martyr- dom seems sometimes to have paitaken of the character of fanaticism.
i. — [He must needs go through Samaria.'] Many pious and pro- fitable remarks have been made on this expression. It ha<* been thought to teach that our Lord went purposely, and out of the regular road, in order to save the soul of the Samaritan woman. It admits of grave question whether this opinion is well-founded. — There was no other way by which a person could conveniently go from Judaea to Galilee, excepting through Samaria. — The" expression, therefore, is probably nothing more than a natural introduction to the story of the Samaritan woman. The first in the train of circumstances which led to her conversion, was the circumstance that Jesus was obligeil to pass through Samaria, on His journey towards Gahlee. This accounted for His meeting with a Samaritan woman.
5. — [Then cometh....city... .called Sychar.] The common opinion is, that the city here spoken of is the same as Siehem or Shechem. (Gen. xxxiii. 18, 19.) Few places in Palestine, afcer Jerusalem, have had so much of Bible history connected with them. Here God first appeared to Abraham. (Gen. xii. 6.) Here Jacob dwelt when he first relurned from Padan-aram, and heie the disgraceful history of Dinah, and the consequent murder (-f the Shechemites took place. (Gen. xxxiv. 2, &c.) Here Jo.^epli's bretliren fed their flocks when Jacob sent him to them, little thinking he would never see him again for many years. (Gen. xxxvii. 12.) Here, when Israel took possess' on of the land of Canaan, was one of the cities of refuge. (Josh. xx. 7,8.) Here Joshua gathered all the tribes when he addressed them for the last time. (Josh, xxiv 1.) Here the bones of Joseph were buried, and all the patriarchs were interred. (Josh. xxiv. 32 ; Acts, vii. 16.) Here the principal events in the history of Abimelech took place. (Judges ix. 1, &c.) Here Rehoboam met the tribes of Israel after