(1) December is the rainy season, and with ever3- wayside brook running full, Jesus would not have needed to crave a drink from the woman's pitcher to slake His thirst (cf. Ps 110"). (2) It is incredible that, when after the Passover He retired with His disciples from Jerusalem ' into the land of Jud;ea' (Jn 3"), in order doubtless to collect His thoughts and brace Him- self for the conunencement of His ministry, He should have protracted that season of repose for eight months. (3) More- over, as Origen remarks, the Evangelist's explanation of the enthusiasm wherewith the Galiheans received Him on His arrival (Jn 44''), implies that His miracles in the capital during the Passover season were fresh in their memories.
In truth there is here no chronological datum. The legion is a husbandman's proverb, like the other which follows immediately (v. 37). The seed was sown towards the end of December, and four months elapsed ere it was ripe (see Wetstein) ; and the proverb conveyed the practical lesson that results mature slowly (cf. Ja 5'). Jesus was pre- pared to sow the good seed of the Kingdom and have long patience until it should ripen, and it tilled His heart with surprise and gladness when He beheld His seed ripening in an hour. He spied the woman returning in haste from the town ac- companied Ijy an eager throng (Jn 42^-30)^ and He broke out, ' Ve iiave a .saying (Xe^ere, cf. X670S in V.37), It is yet four months, and the harvest cometh. Lo, I say unto you. Lift up your eyes, and behold the fields, that they are white for harvest ! '
2. ' A jirophct hath no honour in his own country, and among his oivn kinsfolk, and in his oivn hotise.' Jesus is re[)orted to have quoted this proverb on two occasions (Jn 4^-*, Mt ]3" = Mk 6^=:Lk 4-'^), and it was constantly exemplified in His experience. He was rejected by His townsfolk of Nazareth ; He was pronounced mad by His kinsfolk ; His brethren did not believe in Him.
Origen (in Joan. xiii. § 54) thinks that the proverb originated in the dishonour which the prophets of Israel had always suf- fered at the hands of their contemporaries (cf. He 1136 ■''») ; but in truth it was not peculiarly Jewish. ' Few of the most sagacious and wise,' says Plutarch {lie Exil. § 13), 'would you find cherished in their own countries.' ' Quidquid enim doini est,' says Seneca (rfe Bene/, iii. 3), 'vile est.' ' Sordebat [Pro- togenes] suis,' says Pliny (HN xxxv. § 3(i), ' ut plcrunique domestica.' Pericles would never dine abroad, lest he should be cheapened in the estimation of the company by the familiarity of social intercourse (Plut. Pericl. § 7 ; cf. de linit. Clir. i. 10, § 1 : ' Vellem me pluries tacuisse et inter homines non fuisse '). Cf. the ancient proverb still in vogue : ' Familiarity breeds con- tempt' (Chrys. in ./oan. xxxiv. : y, ya.p (rvyy.liiix lixxTxfpovy.Tou; Toiiiv I'luiHiv ; IJernard. Florcs : ' Vulgare proverbium est, quod nimia familiaritas parit contemptum ') ; and the saying of the witty Frenchman that ' no man is a hero to his valet de chambre.'
3. In the course of His disi)ute with the people of Nazareth, .Jesus quoted another i)roverb, 'Phi/sician, heal thi/.trlf (Lk 4-3). The Talmud has : ' JNIedice, Sana claudicationem tuam ' (cf. Eurip. fragm. : dWcov iarpb^ avrbs ^X/cecri jipvoiv (ed. Witzschel, iv. p. 302) ; Cic. Ep. iv. 5 : ' Malos medicos qui in alienis morbis proHtentur .se tenere medicinal scientiam, ipsi se curare non possunt ' (see Wetstein)).
4. There is no saying of Jesus more astonishing
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PROVERBS
than His answer to the disciple who sought permis- sion to go and bury his father ere casting in his lot with Him : 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead' (Mt 821- 22 = Lk 959- «o). It seems as though He were speaking here after the manner of the Kabbis, who forbade that even the burial of tlie dead should be allowed to interrupt the study of the Law (Wet- stein on Mt 8-'), and required that a disciple should put his teaclier's claims before those of his father ; ' for his father indeed brought him into this world ; but his teacher, who has taught him wisdom, has introduced him into the world to come" (Taylor, Say. of Path. iv. 17, n. 21 ; Schiirer, HJP II. i. p. 317). Is it credible that Jesus should have rivalled the Rabbis in heartless arrogance ? The difficulty disappears when it is understood that the disciple's request was merely a pretext for delay. He was quoting a flippant phrase which is current in the East to this day.
A missionary in Sjria once counselled a youth to complete his education by travelling in Europe. ' I must first bury my father,' was the answer. The old gentleman was neither dead nor dying ; he was in good health, and the youth meant merely that his home had the first claim upon him (Wendt, Teach, of Jesus, ii. 70, n. 1).
5. Jesus was quoting another proverb when, in answer to the man who volunteered to follow Him but craved leave first to bid his household farewell, He said : ' No one, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God' (Lk 982). The OT story of Elisha's call from the plough (1 K 19^^"2i) seems to have leapt into His mind and suggested His reply, which is an ada2:)tation of a common saying : ' A ploughman must bend to his work, or he will draw a crooked furrow' (Plin. HN xviii. § 49: ' Arator nisi in- curvus prsevaricatur ' ; of. Verg. Eel. iii. 42 : ' cur- vus arator'). 'Conveniet,' says Erasmus, 'in negocium quod absque magnis sudoribus peragi non potest.'