39-42. Stay with the people of Sichar.
43-54. Continuation of the journey into Galilee, and healing of the ruler's son.
| 1. Ut ergo cognovit Iesus quia audierunt pharisaei quod Iesus plures discipulos facit, et baptizat, quam Ioannes, | 1. When Jesus therefore understood that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus maketh more disciples, and baptizeth more than John, |
1. When Jesus therefore understood, &c. Christ is spoken of as if on this occasion He gained knowledge of which He had been ignorant, because though, as God, He knew all things, every inmost thought of the Pharisees, yet, as man, like other men, He gathered knowledge from His fellow-men. See Mald.
That Jesus. Not that He Himself; because the report which the Pharisees had heard is given verbatim, “that” (ὅτι) merely introducing it.
| 2. (Quamquam Iesus non baptizaret sed discipuli eius,) | 2. (Though Jesus himself did not baptize, but his disciples,) |
2. Jesus Himself did not usually baptize; probably because, like St. Paul (1 Cor. i. 14-16), His mission was to preach and teach. It by no means follows from this verse that He never baptized anyone; and many writers are of opinion that He baptized some Himself.
| 3. Reliquit Iudaeam, et abiit iterum in Galilaeam; | 3. He left Judea, and went again into Galilee. |
3. Because His time to suffer had not yet come, and much of the work of His public mission still remained to be accomplished, He left Judea, the headquarters of the Pharisees, [pg 075] whose jealousy He knew would be aroused by the report mentioned in verse 1, and went again (see John [i. 43]) into Galilee.
| 4. Oportebat autem eum transire per Samariam. | 4. And he was of necessity to pass through Samaria. |
| 5. Venit ergo in civitatem Samariae, quae dicitur Sichar: iuxta praedium quod dedit Iacob Ioseph filio suo. | 5. He cometh therefore to a city of Samaria which is called Sichar; near the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. |