in the following manner. They say that the words, " His own country," mus^t mean Jadasa, and Bethlehem, where Christ was born. The sense will then be, '' alter two days Jesus departed from Samaria, and went into Galilee, and not into Judiea, ba cause in Judoea He received no honour, and was not believed.* This solution seems to me unnatural and unsatisfactory. Our Lord's going to Galilee was a premeditated journey, and not a sudden plan decided on during His stay at Samaria. Beside this, there is no proof whatever that our Lord was not received and believed in Judaea. On the contrary. He "made and baptized" so many disciples in Judgea, that it attracted the notice of the Pharisees, and made it necessary for Him to " depart into Guhlee."
(b.) Augustine holds that " His own country" means Galilee, and seems to attach the following sense to the verse, " And yet Jesus testified that a prophet hath no honour in his own country, for when he came into Galilee no one believed on Him, except the nobleman and his house," This appears to me a far-fetched and unnatural interpretation. Tittman and Blomfield take much the same view, and render it, " Although Jesus had testi- fied, ' &c.
(c.) Chrysostom and Euthymius think that " His own coun- try" means Capernaum. This interpretation also seems to me improbable. We find Capernaum elsewhere called our Lord's " own city," but nowhere else " His own country." (See Matt, ix. 1.)
(d.) Theophylact suggests that the verse before us is inserted in order to explain " why our Lord did not always abide and continue in Galilee, but only came there at intervals. The reason was that He received no honour there." This also seems to me an unsatisfactory interpretation.
(e.) Alford aays, " The only true and simple view is, that thia verse refers to the next following, and indeed to the whole nar- rative which it introduces. It stands as a preliminary explana- tion of ' Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe,' and indicates the contrast between the Samaritans, who believed on Him for His own word, and His own countrymen, who only received Him because they had seen the miracles which He did at Jerusalem." This view of the text seems to me as fai-fetchevi and unsatisfactory as any of those I have mentioned Moreover I doubt much whether the Greek word rendered ''for," is ever used in the sense Alford puts on it, in the New Testament.
(/.) Tlie following explanation appears to me by far the most probable one. The words, " His own country," mean neither Galilee nor Judaea, but "Nazareth." The sense is, "Jesus de-
JOHN, ciJ.vp. IV. 257
parted f;om Samaria into Galilee, but not to His own country Nazareth, bccaute He lestilied, both now and on other occasions, that a prophet has no honour in his own country." — In contir- mation of the view I have maintained, it deserves notice, that in tlie six only places in which the Greek word here rendered "country" is found in the Gospels, beside the one before us, it always meaDS the town of Nazareth, and not the district in which Nazaieth is situated. (Matt. xiii. 54, 57 ; Mark vi. 1, 4 ; Luke iv. 23, 24.) The view I have supported is that of Cyiil, CalTin, Calovius, Lampe, Poole, De Dieu, Pearce, Doddridge, Dyke, and Olshausen.
Our Lord's use of a proverb in this verse is again worthy of notice. It is another proof of the value of proverbial sayings.
The lesson of the proverb is a very instructive one. It is one of the most melancholy proofs of man's fallen and corrupt state, that he never values what he is familiar with, and that familiarity breeds contempt. Ministers of the Gospel discover this by pain- ful experience, when they have resided many years in the same parish, and ministered long in the same congregation. Those who have the most abundant supply of Gospel privileges are often the people who value them least. " The nearer the church the further from God," is often found to be hterally true. Those who hve furthest off, and are obliged to deny themselves most in order to hear the Gospel, are often the very persons who take most pains to hear it.
One grain of comfort, however, may be extracted from this painful verse. A minister must not despair, and accuse himself of unfaithfulness, because the Gospel he preaches is not honoured in his own congregation, and many remain hardened and unbe- lieving, after he has preached to them many years. Let him remember thnt he is sharing his Master's lot. He is drinkino- the very cup of which Christ drank. Christ had no honour in Naza- reth, and faithful ministers have often less honour among their own people than they have elsewhere.
Pellican thinks that our Lord " testified " the truth contained in this verse in reply to some one who asked Him why He did not go to Nazareth. I prefer the opinion that it simply means our Lord " always did testify, and made a practice of testifying."
i5. — [Galilceans received him.'] The word "received" probably means no more than that they "received Him with respect and reverence," as One who was no common person. There is no warrant for supposing that they all received Him with true faith, and experimentally believed on Him as the Saviour of their souls.
[Having seen....things....Jerusalem....fea&:^ This expression con-