723
IV. 1. ‘QE οὖν ἔγνω "ὁ Κύριος, ὅτι ἤκουσαν of Φαρισαῖοι, ὅτι α vi. 23; xi
2, etc.,
᾿Ιησοῦς πλείονας ° μαθητὰς ° ποιεῖ καὶ βαπτίζει ἢ Ἰωάννης: 2. (°Kai- freqiiin τοιγε “Ingots "αὐτὸς οὐκ ἐβάπτιζεν, GAN ot μαθηταὶ adrou-) 3. bCp. Acts
“abike τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, καὶ ἀπῆλθε
4. ἔδει δὲ αὐτὸν διέρχεσθαι διὰ τῆς Σαμαρείας.ὶ οὖν εἰς πόλιν τῆς Σαµαρείας λεγομένην Συχὰρ, πλησίον τοῦ
13.
1 Σαμαριας Tisch. and W.H.
CHAPTER IV. Vv. 1-42. Fesus leaves Salim and the south for Galilee, and is received by the Samaritans on His way. —Vv. 1-4 account for His being in Samaria; 5-26 relate His conversation with a Samaritan woman; 27-38 His consequent conversation with His own disciples ; 39-42 the impression He made upon the Samaritans. The circumstances which brought our Lord into Samaria seem to be related as much for the sake of maintaining the continuity of the history and of exhibiting the motives which guided His movements as for the sake of introducing the incident at Sychar.—Ver. 1. The first verse gives the cause of His leaving Judaea, to wit, a threatened or possible collision with the Pharisees, who resented His baptis- ἴπσ.-- Ὡς οὖν ἔγνω . . . ἢ Ιωάννης. οὖν continues the narrative with logical sequence, connecting what follows with what goes before ; here it connects what is now related with the popularity of Jesus’ baptism, iii. 22, 26.—6 κύριος, so unusual in this Gospel that some editors read “Ingots, for which there is scant authority, But where the evangelist is not reporting contemporary speech but speaking for his own person κύριος is natural.—€yvw rightly rendered in the modern Greek translation by ἔμαθεν ; the knowledge that comes by information is ππεαηζ.-- ὅτι ἤκουσαν, that the Pharisees had heard, the aorist here, as frequently elsewhere, representing the English pluperfect. What they had heard is given in direct narration under an intro- ductory ὅτι, and hence not the pronoun but Ἰησοῦς appears as subject: “ Jesus is making and baptising more disciples than John”.—pa@nras ποιε (cf. padyrevoate Bamrifovres, Mt. xxviii. το), ‘‘ disciples” being here used in the wider sense and not involving permanent separation from their employments. The Pharisees had resented John’s baptising, much more that of Jesus, because more popular.—Ver. 2. Here John in- ‘serts a clause corrective of one impres-
ii. 36.
πάλιν eis τὴν Γαλιλαίαν. Constr. 40.
3 cp. i.
5. ερχεται c Acts xiv. 17; XVii. 27 only. dx Cor. i.
e Mk. i, 14. f Num. xxxiii. 37. Josh. xii. 9.
sion which this statement would make; καίτοιγε . .. αὐτοῦ. καίτοιγε is slightly stronger than ‘‘ although,” rather “although indeed”. Ἡοορενεεπ (De Particulis, p. 322) renders ‘‘ quanquam re vera”’ ; see also Paley, Greck Particles, pp- 67-8. ot is the old form of τῷ, ‘hereby, σι Scmicfact ων The clause is inserted to remind us, as Benge says, that ‘“‘baptizare actio ministralis (cf. Paul’s refusal to baptise). Johannes minister sua manu baptizavit, discipuli ejus, ut videtur, neminem; at Christus baptizat spiritu sancto.”’ So too Nonnus, who says that the king did not baptise with water. ‘‘ By leaving the baptism of water to the apostles, He rendered the rite independent of His personal presence, arid so provided for the main- tenance of it in His Church after His departure,’ Godet.—Ver. 3. On this coming to the ears of Jesus ἀφῆκε τὴν ᾿Ιουδαίαν, He forsook or abandoned Judaea. The verb is used of neglecting or dismissing from thought, hence of forgiving sin; but there is here no ethical sense in the word, and it may be translated ‘ left’. — kal ἀπῆλθε πάλιν, ‘“‘again’’ in reference to the visit to Galilee already narrated, i. 44, ii. 1. Jesus feared a collision with the Pharisees at this early stage, because it could only mar His work. He refuses to be hurried, and temains master of the situation throughout. He therefore retired to Galilee, where He thought He would be hidden. Cf. νετ. 44.—Ver. 4. ea... Σαμαρείας. The ἔδει is explained by the position of Samaria interposed between Judaea and Galilee. Only the very sensitive Jews went round by Peraea, The Galileans. were accustomed to go through Samaria on their way to the feasts at Jerusalem (Josephus, Antiq., xx. 6, 1). Samaria took its name from the city Samaria of Shomron, built by Omri as the capital of the kingdom of Israel (t Kings xvi. 24). After being destroyed by Hyrcanus, the city was rebuilt by Herod and called Sebaste in honour