27. Καὶ ” ἐπὶ τούτω ἦλθον ot μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐθαύμασαν 1}
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26. Λέγει αὐτῇ 6 ᾿Ιησοῦς, '“᾿Εγώ εἶμι, ὁ λαλῶν
Cp. ΡΗΠ. 1.3; i. 17,
“ Δεῦτε, ἴδετε ἄνθρωπον, ὃς ESU.
have said, Each time that the man pro- longs converse with the woman [that is, his own wife] he causes evil to himself, and desists from words of Thorah and in the end:inherits Gehinnom” (Taylor, Pirke Aboth, p. 29; see also Schoettgen in loc.). But although the disciples wondered οὐδεὶς μέντοι εἶπε, “no one, however, said’’ τί ζητεῖς, “' what are you seeking?”’ nor even the more general question τί λαλεῖς pet’ αὐτῆς, '' why are you talking with her?” Their silence was due to reverence. They had already learned that He had reasons for His actions which might not lie on the surface.—Ver. 28. ἀφῆκεν οὖν . . . ἡ γννη. ‘The woman accordingly,” that is, because of the interruption, “left her pitcher,” forgetting the object of her coming, in the greater discovery she had made ; and also unconsciously showing that she meant to return.—kat ἀπῆλθεν . . . 6 Χριστός; and went to the city and says to the men, easily accessible because lounging in groups at the hottest hour of the day, ‘“* Come, see a man who told me all I ever did”. The woman’s absorption in the thought of the prophet’s endowment causes her to forget the shame of the declaration which had con- vinced her. She does not positively affirm that He is the Christ, but says µήτι οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστός: This is what grammarians call the ‘‘ tentative” use of µήτι. The A.V. “13 not this the Christ ?” is not so correct as R.V.‘* Can this be the Christ?” The Syriac has “Is not this perhaps the Christ?” The Vulgate has ‘‘ Numquid ipse est Christus ?”? In some passages of the N.T. (Mt. vii. 16, Acts x. 47) pate is used in questions which expect a more decided and exclusive negative than the simple py, “certainly not,” “not at all’. But here and in Mt. xii. 23 mere doubt expresses itself, doubt with rather a leaning to an affirmative answer (6/. Hoogeveen, Doctrina Partic., under µήτι; and Pape’s Lexicon, where it is rendered “' ob etwa’’). The Greek com- mentators unite in lauding the skill with which the woman excites the curiosity of the men and leads without seeming to
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