EXPOSITION. extreme unlikelihood of such an event CHAPTER IV. having been fabricated with consummate Vena. 1----42.-7. The ministry and reee- art to establish any specific theological con- lation of fAe Inrd to those b"!fond the strict clusion, the natural appropriateness of the compa88 of the theocracy. This passage de- transaction, all confer a high value and his- scribes an incident of consummate interest, toricity upon this paragraph. Thoma., after and records a specimen of our Lord's inter- the manner of Strauss, finds the origin of course with individuals, and the reaction every detail in the story of Eliezer at the of that instruction upon the disciples. The well; but there are no limits to what alle- event is a solitary chink through which the gorists may dream, if the reins are thrown light of historical fact falls upon an other- on the neck of imagination. The story of wise darkened and unknown period of the Philip's ministry in Samaria and the suc- Saviour's life. When we skirt a forest we cesses of the gospel in the early days of see at intervals, where by some accident of Christianity are also supposed to have aided growth the light falls upon a narrow space, the composition of the story. In our a miniature world of life and loveliness of opinion, Acts viii. is better explained from every kind. suggesting what might happen John iv. than the reverse process. Baur's if every square yard of the forest could supposition, that the author sought to con- receive a similar illumination. Every day trast the cautious hesito.tion of the Jewish of that wondrous life of Christ may have doctor with the susceptible emotione.l dis• been eqnally full of meaning to some souls. position of the Samaritan .womo.n as the " 'l'hese things are written, that we may representative of the Gentile world, is un- believe that Jesus is the Son of God; and reasonable. 'l'he woman is represented as 11 that believing we may have life." believer in Divine revelation and worship, The rda.tion of the Jews to the Samari- in the early tro.ditions of the Jews them. tans gives a spooial character and both selves, and even in their Messio.nio hopes, typical and symb.ilical meaning to the inoi- which, in this instance, were more spiritual ,Jcnt. The lifelike reality of the scene, the than those of the Jewa. cu. 1v. 1-51.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING '1'0 ST. ,JOHN. 17)
Thora ore nnmerone debates oe to the nnder Antiochus Epiphnnee, by dedic11ting origin of the Somoritan notion, ond opinions their temple to Zena (J osephue, 'Ant.,' xii. wover 11s to whether they were the descend- 5, 5), 11nc\ again by siding with the Syrians ants of those remnonts of the kingdom of ngaiust the Maccabeee. Their t.emple waa Israel who were lert in the distriot once destroyed by John Hyrcanus, B.O. 130, 11ml. ocoupied by the tribes of Ephraim and its ruins only were visible in the time or Manasseh, after the final deportation under Christ. The city of Se baste was built by Bhalmoneser (or Sargon, as the Assyrian Herod, on the aite of the c,ty of Samaria, inscriptions make probable), together with and F7avia Neapolis, now called Nah°{,yus, was the boo.then settlers who had been mixed erected on the site or close neighbourhoocl, up with them, or were solely and purely of the ancient Shechem. There wern of Assyrian origin, as they appear to main- mutual recriminations between Jews and! tain (Ezra iv. 2). The narrative of 2 Sam11ritans, which led to strained relations Kings xxv. 12 implies that all the in- 11nd fierce condemnation, and yet, strange to habitants were carried away to cities of the say, the r11bbis did not treat the land 1\8 Mades, bnt it is tolerably clear and emi- "unclean" (Edersheim, 'Life of Jesus th& nently probable (2 Chron. xxxiv. 9) that Messiah,' bk. iii. c. 7), 11nd consequently \here were some of the people left behind; the disciplea were not precluded from pur- so that the extent to which Israelitish blood chasing articles of food from the Samaritan and ideas prevailed in the mongrel race is village. They were the "foolish people," very difficult to determine. We know that "abhorred" of devout Jews (Ecclus. L 25, heathen notions of Jehovah, and the worship 26); and Rabbi Chuda treated them as of graven images, were curiously blended (2 heathens, yet Simon ben Gama.lie! regarded Kings xvii. 28-41 ; 2 Chron. xxiiv. 6, 7). themes Israelites, and the 'Mishnah' shows But this is only what might be anticipated that in m11ny of their customs they re- if their moral a.nd religious degeneration sembled the Jews. It is doubtful whether corresponded with the charges brought they denied the resurrection, and it is age.inst them by Hosea and Amos. In the certllin that their princip11l tenets 11nd prac- time of Ezm and Nehemiah, efforts on their tices were derived from the old revel11tion. part to aha.re in the hononre and indepen- The opposition was felt so strongly by some dence of JudRh were sternly int.erdicted, Jews in the northern province of Galilee and the int.erdict avenged by angry re- that they travelled to Jerusalem through oriminations which delayed the progress Perai11 in order to avoid it. of reconstruction. The antagonism com- Our Lord's treatment of Samaritans in menoed then was deepened into a deadly this narrative seems at first sight inconsis- rivalry by the erection of a temple to Je- tent with Matt. x. 5, where the apostles are hovah on Mount Gerizim (a.o. 409), and by advised to avoid cities of the Samaritans on Manasseh, brother of the high priest of their first experimental journey. Still, there Judah, being driven from Jerusalem by his is a difference between Christ's "passing refusal to renounoe Sanballat's daughter, through" Samaria, on his way to Galilee, and by his becoming high priest of the here- and his limiting the early proclamation of tical temple. This temple on Gerizim, in the kingdom to " the lost sheep of the olose proximity with the site of Shechem, house of Israel." The disciples were not the abode of the first patriarchs, gave dig- then to be entrusted with a commission nity and solidity to some of their traditions which, not until after Pentecost, they wonld and claims; and the modifications they had fulfil with so much joy (Acts viii.). The introduoed into the text of the Pentateuch success of Philip, Peter, and John may hava in their oelebrated version of it helped to been due to the first sowing of the heavenly aggravate the schism between the two seed by the Lord himself. peoples. The distriot of country was held That Christ should have chosen o. woman during the quorrels of the Ptolemies and of doubtful reputation from o semi-alien and Seleuoidm alternately by both. Samaritan accursed race to h11Ye reoeiTeu some of his hatred of the Jews led them to p11?0hue great.t teaohing (aH,eit there wu no less peace during the ornel oppre!!ion of Judah an el\r than Joh11's nt hand ttJ record the 160 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [cu. 1v. 1--M.