The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 308

himself whlob he withholds from tlle sen• teach or converse with a womn.n at all; but euous G1tlilmo.ns o.nd the CEITping scribee. tl,oy held their peace, with the Mnvic,tion Throughout she is susceptible, inquiring, thnt wl,at he did must be gracious, holy, anxions for her own soke to know. The and wise. One of the miracles of the Lord'1 idea ehe entertnined about Meseio.h would ministry was to break down the wretched put no obsto.cle in the wny of our Lorrl's rabbinical prejudice Rg,tinat the spirit11nl admission, whereo.s the opposite ideo., the co.po.cities of woman, and the Oriental folly passionate longing for o. political revolution, which supposed that she contaminated their led him to silence others, and even among sanctity. He lirted woman to her true his disciples to reserve the snblime fo.ct RB position by the side of man. Women were their so.creel secret (cf. Matt. viii. 4; xvi. 20; his most faithful disciples. They ministered xvii. 9; Mark viii. 30). The troth corn• unto him of their substance. They shared municated to this womo.n was of supreme his miraculous healing, feeding, and tench ing. importo.nce and of univers1tl interest. Our Thry anointed his feet, they wept over his Lord udmitted his Messiahship, but of the agony, they followed him to the cross, they deeper truths of his incarnation, of the were early at the sepulchre. They greeted nature.of the birth from above, of the Divine him as the risen Lord. Thev received the life and love, of the means of redemption, baptism of the Spirit. In Christ there is o.nd the principles of judgment, he says neither male nor female. Both are one in nothing. Nicodemus learns of both "earthly him. and heavenly things;" the Samaritaness Vera. 28, 29.-The woman theu (i.e. in receives some practical principles. Yet the con~equence of the arrival of the disciples) two conversations are compl0-roentary to each leit hor water-pot (ar,iK<); left it to itself, other, and throw upon each other recipro• forgot the object of her visit to the well, cally floods of light, Moreover, there is so engrossed was she with the new teaching, the samo parabolic speech in hoth ; the so amazed with his revelations; or perhaps, same habit of mind. It is the s~me Teacher with womanly tact, left it that the disciples who uses "the wind" and "the water of might, if they would, make use of it for the well " to illustrate grent spiritual ideas. their Master. Most commentators suggest Vere. 27-38.-(3) Revelation and mis- that she left it, intending by the very act to understanding involved in the conduct of the come back again shortly fo:r water. But disciples. The next paragraph records the this is scarcely the i<lea conveyed by i'r.~"•· effects of this conversation upon the disciples, Archdeacon Wntkins truly says that this upon the woman herself, and upon her notice '' is a mark of the presence of him friends. who has :related the incidents." And ehe Ver. 27.-Hereupon his disciples came; went her way to the city-probably beyond they returned, i.e. those of them who had her home (see note, ver. 7), constituting her- gone to Sychar, bringing their provisions self at once the messenger and missionary of and their t.vT>..11µ.a. with them, and they the new Teacher and Prophet, who had de- marvelled I tho.t he was talking with a clared himseH to be the Messiah-and sa.ith to woman. Such a proceeding was contrary the meu whom she found in the market-place to the etiquette of a rabbi, who contended or highway, Come, see a men who told me all that "o. man should not 11-'llute a womnn things that ever I did. 1 This e:rnggeration in a publio place, not even his own wife" of the self-revelation was due to the deep (cf. Lightfoot, Edersheim, Wettstein). One conviction of he:r inind that tho Prophet had of the daily thanksgivings wus, " Blessed read her whole life-its wealn1ess and its art thou, 0 Lord ... who hast not made follies, and it mo.v have been its sins and me a womo.u" (Westcott). Yet (adds the crimes, not unkno;.n, alas! to others as well. eye-witness, one intimately acquainted with Chrysostom sayB, "She might have said, the innermost sentiments of the disciples) 'Come ancl see One that prophesieth;' but no one said, What seekest thou 1 Why to.lkest when the soul is aflame with holv fire it thou with her 1 They looked on with awe looks then to nothing earthly, neJ.ther t-0 and reverence as well as wonder. They glory nor to shRme, but belongs to one thing wondered whether he lacked aught which alone, the ilame which occupieth it." There they could not supply. They marvelled (or, is a touch of naivete, of loquacity, of im- if we take the R.T., they 1.ept marvelling) at petuous womanhood, about this, that thrills the unwanted scene, that One so great as with life. She was not afro.id, in the first their Rabbi and Master should conclesoend to gush of her new-found joy, to brave the 1 T.R. reads i6a.6µ.a.<Ta.11, with E, S, U, V, 1 N, B, C*, Revised Version, Tischendorf nnd the oursives; but Revised Version, (8th edit.), Westcott and Hort, with Italic Tischendorf (8th edit.), with ~. A, B, C, D, and Coptic-,read 11, instead of 31T11 of 1'.R., with G, oto., Italio, Vulgato, lEthiopio, read A, c•, D, and very numerous quotations and JOa.6µ.,,.(0_11, • versions, with Alford, Tregelles (mtugin). li2 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. JOHN. [err. 1v. 1-64,