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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 4:31

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In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.

31. In the mean while ] Between the departure of the women and the arrival of her fellow-townsmen.

Master, eat ] Better, Rabbi, eat. Here and in Joh 9:2 and Joh 11:8 our translators have rather regrettably turned ‘Rabbi’ into ‘Master,’ (comp. Mat 26:25; Mat 26:49; Mar 9:5; Mar 11:21; Mar 14:45); while ‘Rabbi’ is retained Joh 1:38; Joh 1:49, Joh 3:2; Joh 3:26, Joh 6:25 (comp. Mat 23:7-8). Apparently their principle was that wherever a disciple addresses Christ, ‘Rabbi’ is to be translated ‘Master;’ in other cases ‘Rabbi’ is to be retained; thus obscuring the view which the disciples took of their own relation to Jesus. He was their Rabbi.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Prayed him – Asked him.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 31. Master, eat.] They knew that he was greatly spent both with hunger and fatigue.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

While the woman was fetching her citizens to come and see and hear Christ, his disciples, knowing that he must be weary and hungry with his journey, and having brought him some food out of the city, where they had been to fetch it, put him upon refreshing himself with the food they had brought.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

31-38. meantimethat is, whilethe woman was away.

Master, eatFatigueand thirst we saw He felt; here is revealed another of ourcommon infirmities to which the Lord was subjecthunger.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

In the mean while,…. Whilst the woman was gone into the city, and had acquainted the inhabitants, that such a wonderful person was at Jacob’s well, and invited them to come and see him:

his disciples prayed him, saying, master, eat; for they perceived a disinclination in him to food; and they knew that he was weary with his journey, and that it was the time of day, and high time, that he had had some food; and therefore out of great respect to him, and in concern for his health and welfare, they entreated him that he would take some food: so far was Christ from indulging his sensual appetite; and so little reason had the Scribes and Pharisees to traduce him as a wine bibber and glutton.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

In the meanwhile ( ). Supply or . See , “the next Sabbath” (Ac 13:42) and (Lu 8:1). means between.

Prayed him ( ). Imperfect active, “kept beseeching him.” For this late (Koine) use of , to beseech, instead of the usual sense to question see also verses John 4:40; John 4:47. Their concern for the comfort of Jesus overcame their surprise about the woman.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

1) “In the mean while his disciples prayed him,” (en to metaksu eroton auton hoi mathetai) “In the meantime the disciples appealed to him,” while they were alone, as the excited, eager men, hearers from Sychar, were rushing across the green field to the place of Jacob’s well, to learn of the water and bread of life eternal, which their former woman companion had found. His disciples were hungry by this time, and requested Him anxiously.

2) “Saying, Master, eat.” (legontes hrabbi phage) “Repeatedly saying, master, eat;” or Rabbi, respectful teacher, eat. This idea of the appeal is we have gone to Sychar and back, brought food for you; now, eat, don’t take what we have done for you lightly. But His hunger and fatigue had disappeared in His earnest witnessing to the lowly, fallen woman, Joh 4:34; while “Hungering and thirsting after righteousness,” to share it with the sin-stained woman, He had been filled, Mat 5:6.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

FIELDS WHITE UNTO HARVEST

Text 4:31-38

In the meanwhile the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat.

But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not.

The disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought him aught to eat?

Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to accomplish his work.

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest.

He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

For herein is the saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored: others have labored, and ye are entered into their labor.

Queries

What lesson does Jesus teach the disciples in Joh. 4:31-35?

Who are he that reapeth and he that soweth?

How may the disciples reap where they have not labored?

Paraphrase

In the meantime the disciples continued to beseech him, saying, Master, eat something! But He said to them, I have food to eat which you do not understand. The disciples therefore said among themselves, Has anyone brought Him something to eat? Jesus replied, My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to completely fulfill His work. Will you not say that it is yet four months and the harvest comes? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and contemplate the fields, that they are white already for harvest. He that reaps receives and gathers fruit unto life eternal, in order that the one sowing and the one reaping may rejoice together. In this way the saying is true, One sows and another reaps. I have sent you to reap a harvest which your labor did not produce. Others have labored and you have entered in to reap the result of their labor.

Summary

Jesus teaches the disciples two lessons: (a) Doing the will of God is spiritual food more satisfying and sustaining than physical food; (b) It is not important whether a disciple be a reaper or a sower only that he be a laborer in the Lords field. Both sower and reaper rejoice when the harvest is gathered.

Comment

Jesus sits in silent mediation watching the woman reach the city, and then watching the crowds begin to come. The disciples have set the meal in order. They are hungry and, knowing He must be also, they hesitantly interrupt His meditation, advising Him to eat.

The Masters reply (Joh. 4:32) is beyond their perception. Jesus is so engrossed in the great opportunities and apparent victories in Samaria He has only the appetite for a food which the disciples do not comprehend. He is anxious for the crowds to arrive so that He may begin imparting living water to them also. His whole being is so immersed in His mission of saying souls He can think of nothing else.

The disciples either speak loudly enough (Joh. 4:33) for Jesus to hear, or He reads their thoughts. Theirs is a natural reaction of Jesus statement (Joh. 4:32), Perhaps they think the woman had left Him something to eat. But Jesus very deliberately explains to them what His food was.

In Joh. 4:34 Jesus indicated how completely saturated He was in the will of the Father (cf. Joh. 2:17). We have a saying today illustrative of this. We say, That person eats and sleeps his occupation. Doing the will of God was the very essence of Jesus being. He was sustained by it. The Word and will of God was the bread upon which He fed (cf. Mat. 4:4). Barclay points out two blessings in doing the will of God (a) peace, and (b) power. These blessings become obvious when one beholds the perfect peace and victorious power which Christ enjoyed. It is also obvious that He enjoyed these blessings because of His complete submission to, and harmony with, the will of the Father, We shall gain or lose these two blessings in proportion to our unreserved trust in His will (cf. Mat. 26:39; Mar. 14:36; Luk. 22:42; Joh. 5:30; Joh. 6:38; Joh. 8:29; Heb. 10:7-9). The accomplishment of Gods work means the fulfillment or completion of the Sons mission upon earth. Jesus, in His atoning death and justifying resurrection, completes and fulfills Gods mission for Him (cf. Joh. 17:4; Joh. 19:28).

Joh. 4:35 has been the subject of much discussion among Biblical scholars. Was this a proverbial saying quoted by Jesus, or was it actually yet four months until the harvest? Nearly all commentators agree that no such proverb has been found to exist. The best interpretation has Jesus implying a question to which He expects the disciples to answer, Yes. Jesus says to the disciples, You will probably say that in four months it will be time to harvest, wont you? But I am telling you to open your eyes to the spiritual fields which are ripe already for harvest.

Another question of interpreters concerning this verse is Where does the word already belong, to Joh. 4:35 or 36? As R. C. H. Lenski points out, The contrast is between the attitudes of Christ and the disciples. You will say yet four months . . . but I say already . . . Thus, the word already rightfully belongs in Joh. 4:35.

The spiritual impact of this verse (Joh. 4:35) is apparent when we remember Jesus constant reminder to the disciples of the overabundance of harvest and pathetic lack of laborers. Near the end of His second year of ministry Jesus was moved with compassion for the multitudes because they were distressed and scattered, as sheep not having a shepherd. There, as He traveled among the cities and villages of Galilee, He said to the disciples, The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth laborers into his harvest (cf. Mat. 9:35-38). This is certainly one prayer the church needs to pray today, but one which is appallingly absent.

Jesus has been deep in thought concerning the opportunities soon to be available for harvesting souls. His next instruction (Joh. 4:36) to the disciples is to combat jealously among them as co-laborers in the Lords fields. They are about to reap a harvest here in Samaria where they had not sown. Others had even sown before Jesus, i.e., the prophets and John the Baptist. In this verse, the emphasis is upon the mutual sharing of the reward by both sower and reaper.

The one reaping receives a reward. What is this reward? The rewards of the spiritual laborer are the souls harvested. Pauls crown and glory were to consist of his converts at the Lords coming (cf. Php. 2:14-16; 1Th. 2:19-20). But even Paul reaped at times where others had sown. And, vice-versa, he sowed where others later reaped. In the spiritual realm, both sower and reaper rejoice together at the harvest, for both shared in it. This was John the Baptists understanding also when he spoke of rejoicing that the Bridegroom had come (cf. Joh. 3:29-30). This was the principle Paul announced in his letter to Corinth, Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (1Co. 3:6-9).

The saying of Joh. 4:37 is interpreted in a number of ways. Joh. 4:36-38 must all be taken into account in interpreting this saying. The burden of the Lords teaching is to instruct the reaper not to exalt himself as the one solely responsible for the harvest of souls. There have been sowers doing their work in advance of the reaper. They are equally responsible for the harvest, and they shall be equally rewarded. So in the spiritual sphere it is true: one sows and another reaps where he has not sown, but both rejoice together at the harvest.

What does Jesus mean by the past tense (Joh. 4:38), I sent you to reap . . .? There are two possible answers: (a) Jesus was using prophetic past tenses, i.e., the disciples would soon reap this Samaritan harvest where they had not sown, but Jesus speaks now of their reaping as already past; or (b) He speaks only of their previous reaping when they made and baptized more disciples than John (Joh. 4:1-2). They had not sown this earlier harvest of Joh. 4:1-2 either, but others, such as the Baptist, had sown, and they reaped.

The first interpretation seems to fit this context better. Jesus had just exhorted His disciples (Joh. 4:35) to get a vision of the field which was even at that moment ripe unto harvests. Is not this a form of commissioning, a sending forth? Certainly, the disciples had not labored in these fields, for they had gone away to buy food. But now, as the multitudes approach, and, in the two days to follow, the disciples would act as reapers. Jesus and the woman were the sowers, and the disciples would enter into their labor, There would be others following these first disciples to reap these same fields (Act. 8:5-7; Act. 8:14 ff). The disciples reaped, but they also sowed seed which those who followed them would reap.

It is true in our day also. The Sunday school teacher sows, and the minister reaps, or the minister sows and the revival evangelist reaps but both should continually rejoice together in view of the harvest. In the last day, when the. accounts are rendered, it will not be a question of how many talents one possessedbut what he accomplished with the talents he did possess, There will be no asking by Christ whether we were sowers or reapers only whether we labored or not!

Quiz

What was the food which Jesus had to eat?

Name two blessings derived from doing the will of God.

What contrast does Jesus make by His question concerning the harvest (Joh. 4:35)?

Matthew __________ also speaks of harvest and laborers.

What is the emphasis of Joh. 4:36?

How should the past tense I sent (Joh. 4:38) be interpreted?

How is this passage of Scripture (Joh. 4:31-38) applicable to Christians today?

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(31) Master.The Hebrew word Rabbi has been preserved in the earlier passages (Joh. 1:38; Joh. 1:49; Joh. 3:2; Joh. 3:26), and will meet us again in Joh. 6:25. It is less ambiguous than the English word, and should be restored here and in Joh. 9:2; Joh. 11:28.

They had left Him weary by the side of the well (Joh. 4:6), and had gone to the town. They now return with the food they had obtained, and ask Him to partake of it.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

31. Master, eat In this verse and in 33 there appears a reverential distance between the disciples and their Lord; arising, perhaps, from a sense of the present elevation of Jesus’s spirit.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Meanwhile the disciples begged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have meat to eat that you do not know about.” The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has any man brought him anything to eat?” ’

The disciples meanwhile begged Jesus to eat. They could not understand His reluctance. But His mind was on other things. He was waiting in expectancy for needy men to come to Him. So He replied, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about’ (compare Deu 8:3; Mat 4:4; Luk 4:4; Joh 5:36; Joh 6:38). The disciples looked at one other. ‘Has someone brought Him food?’ they asked each other. Like the woman’s had been, their minds were very caught up in material things. Their spiritual minds had not yet been awakened. Once again we have the sense of someone who was there and remembers it clearly.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The harvest in the kingdom of God:

v. 31. In the mean while His disciples prayed Him, saying, Master, eat.

v. 32. But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

v. 33. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought Him aught to eat?

v. 34. Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.

v. 35. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

v. 36. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

v. 37. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

v. 38. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors.

In the meantime, between the woman’s leaving the well and the men’s coming from the city, a little incident took place at the well which gave Jesus an opportunity to impart to His disciples some very necessary instruction. The disciples having brought food, they begged their Master to eat, and thus to renew His strength after the exertions of the morning. As true man, Jesus not only became tired and exhausted at times, but He ordinarily was obliged to partake of food to sustain His life. But here He had apparently forgotten all about His fatigue. He tells the disciples that He has food to eat of which they know nothing. The Lord made use of every possible chance to raise the minds of the apostles to heavenly things through the medium of earthly matters. But the disciples, with the usual carnal understanding which they exhibited, thought only of earthly food and of the possibility of someone’s having brought Him something to eat in their absence. In this sense they discussed the matter among themselves. Jesus, therefore, explains to them wherein His food consists. That is food and drink, complete sustenance to Him, if He does the will of His Father that sent Him, and completes His work. Jesus is sustained by the feeling which He has concerning the world’s need of salvation. It was the Father’s, the entire Godhead’s will from eternity that this salvation should be gained for fallen mankind, and Jesus wanted to carry out the work imposed upon Him by that counsel of the God-head. Jesus tries to make His meaning clear to His disciples by an illustration taken from facts before their eyes. Jesus had gone to Judea in April for the festival of the Passover. About nine months He had spent in the southern province. It was now about December, four months before the beginning of harvest. The disciples should pay much closer attention to the spiritual harvest. Lifting up their eyes, they could see the men of the city coming to seek Jesus. Here was a field white for harvest. The Samaritans were ready for the message of the Gospel unto their salvation, the harvest of their souls could soon be gathered in. They were the firstlings out of the great mass of the heathen. That they turned to Jesus was a sign that the great harvest among the heathen of the world was at hand. And this fact was of great importance to the disciples, who were supposed to be reapers in this great harvest of souls for the kingdom of God. He that gathers the harvest, by doing so gets his reward; and in the spiritual kingdom the reaper, the messenger of salvation, gathers fruit unto life eternal. In the great harvest festival, therefore, which will be held in heaven, both the sower and the reaper will rejoice together. See 1Co 3:6-8. In the case of the Samaritans, the disciples, as reapers, almost trod on the heels of the great Sower, Jesus. In general, it is a great truth that finds its application in the kingdom of Christ: One man has the joy of sowing, another that of reaping. Jesus Himself had done the work of a sower in Judea, and the disciples had had the joy of baptizing many that were convinced by the Word of the Master. It is a truth which always holds true in the preaching of the Gospel. One pastor sows the seed of the Word, the older generation of people work to bring the Gospel to others, and, as a rule, they see but little of the results. But in later years, after the preliminary work has achieved its object, the successors reap the results in wonderful measure.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Joh 4:31-34. In the mean while his disciples prayed him, While these things were doing, the disciples set the meat which they had bought, before their Master; but he regarded it not, though he then stood much in need of refreshment. He was wholly intent on the duties of his mission, preferring them to his necessary food. Hence, when his disciples entreated him to eat, he told them, that he had meat to eat which they knew nothing of; meaning the satisfaction that he was about to receive from the conversion of the Samaritans; for meat is often used in the Jewish writings to signify that which satisfies the desires of the soul, as well as the wants of the body. Hence also our Lord says, Joh 4:34. “My meat, my true satisfaction, and best refreshment, is to do the will of him that sent me,and to finish his work as fast as possible, in the conversion of souls, and in the propagation of his kingdom; and I with pleasure can assure you, that it is now going on successfully.” See the next note.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Joh 4:31-34 . ] in the meantime (Xen. Symp . i. 14; Lucian, V. H . i. 22, D. D . x. 1), after the woman had gone, and before the Samaritans came.

Joh 4:32 . Jesus, making the sensuous the clothing of the supersensuous (the pastus animi ), speaks from a feeling of inner quickening and satisfaction, which He had just experienced from the change He had wrought in the Samaritan woman, a feeling which He was to experience still more strongly throughout His divinely appointed work onwards until its completion. This inner satisfaction now prompts Him to refuse bodily sustenance. Observe the emphatic antithesis of and .

As to , and , Joh 4:34 , see on Col 2:16 .

Joh 4:33 . In the question , . . ., prompted by a misunderstanding of His words, the emphasis is upon , “surely no one has brought Him,” etc.

Joh 4:34 . ] i.e . without a figure, “ what gives me satisfaction and enjoyment is this : I have to do what God desires of me, and to accomplish that work of redemption which He emphatically placed first) has committed to me” (Joh 17:4 ). Observe (1) that is not the same as , which would express objectively the actual subject-matter of .; it rather indicates the nature of the viewed as to its end , and points to the aim and purpose which Jesus pursues, a very frequent use of it in John. (2) The present denotes continuous action, the Aor . the act of completion , the future goal of the . Comp. Joh 17:4 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.

Ver. 31. Master, eat ] Animantis cuiusque vita in fuga est, and must be repaired by nutrition, in a natural course. Only we must eat to live, and not live to eat only, as belly gods.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

31, 32. ] The bodily thirst (and hunger probably, from the time of day) which our Lord had felt before, had been and was forgotten in the carrying on of His divine work in the soul of this Samaritan woman. Although and are emphatic, the words are not spoken in blame , for none was deserved: but in fulness and earnestness of spirit; in a feeling analogous to that which comes upon us when called from high and holy employment to the supply of the body or business of this world.

, generally distinguished, as ‘eating,’ from , ‘food’ (see ref. 1 Cor.), is here equivalent to it.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Joh 4:31 . But meanwhile , between the woman’s leaving the well and the men’s return to it, the disciples, having brought the purchased food, and observing that notwithstanding His previous fatigue Jesus does not share with them, say . But in His conversation with the woman His fatigue and hunger had disappeared, and He replies (Joh 4:32 ) . John does not distinguish between and , eating and the thing eaten, cf. Joh 4:34 ; Paul uses both words in their proper sense, 1Co 8:4 ; 1Co 6:13 . Weiss and others, strangely enough, maintain that has here its proper meaning “an eating”. The pronouns are emphatic: I am refreshed by nourishment hidden from you . The proof of which they at once gave by asking one another ; “Surely no one can have brought Him anything to eat?” Winer, p. 642, adds “especially here in Samaria”. Perhaps evidence that Jesus had such an appearance as would not forbid any one offering Him food. But we must keep in view the easier manners of Oriental life.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 4:31-38

31Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 35Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest. 36Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. 37For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”

Joh 4:32 This is another allusion to the dualism of heaven vs. earth, the spiritual vs. the physical. Jesus was on an evangelistic, revelatory mission. People were/are priority!

Joh 4:34 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work” John 17 is a clear expression of Jesus’ understanding of what the Father wanted him to do (cf. Mar 10:45; Luk 19:10; Joh 6:29).

The contrast between Jesus sent from above, from the very presence of God, the Father, as His mission to reveal the Father and do the work of the Father. This is the vertical dualism so characteristic of John (above versus below, spirit versus flesh).

There are two different terms used of Jesus being sent.

1. pemp (Joh 4:34; Joh 5:23-24; Joh 5:30; Joh 5:37; Joh 6:38-40; Joh 6:44; Joh 7:16; Joh 7:18; Joh 7:28; Joh 7:33; Joh 8:16; Joh 8:18; Joh 8:26; Joh 8:29; Joh 9:4; Joh 12:44-45; Joh 12:49; Joh 14:24; Joh 15:21; Joh 16:5)

2. apostell (Joh 3:17; Joh 3:24; Joh 5:36; Joh 5:38; Joh 6:29; Joh 6:57; Joh 7:29; Joh 8:42; Joh 10:36; Joh 11:42; Joh 17:3; Joh 17:18; Joh 17:21; Joh 17:23; Joh 17:25; Joh 20:21)

These are synonymous as Joh 20:21 shows. It also shows that believers are also sent into a lost world as representatives of the Father for the purpose of redemption (cf. 2Co 5:13-21).

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE WILL (THELMA) OF GOD

Joh 4:35 “‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'” This is a metaphorical phrase showing that the opportunity for spiritual response was now! People were saved by faith in Him during Jesus’ life, not only after the resurrection.

Joh 4:36-38 “One sows, another reaps” These verses are referring to the ministry of the prophets or possibly John the Baptist. This is used in 1Co 3:6-8 for the relationship between Paul’s ministry and Apollos’ ministry.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

prayed = were asking. Greek. erotao. App-134.

Master. Greek. Rabbi. App-98.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

31, 32.] The bodily thirst (and hunger probably, from the time of day) which our Lord had felt before, had been and was forgotten in the carrying on of His divine work in the soul of this Samaritan woman. Although and are emphatic, the words are not spoken in blame, for none was deserved: but in fulness and earnestness of spirit;-in a feeling analogous to that which comes upon us when called from high and holy employment to the supply of the body or business of this world.

, generally distinguished, as eating, from , food (see ref. 1 Cor.),-is here equivalent to it.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Joh 4:31. , meanwhile) Between the departure of the woman and the arrival of the Samaritans.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Joh 4:31

In the mean while the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat.-While she was going and the people were coming from the city, the disciples prepared the food and asked him to eat. [While the woman was spreading the news, the disciples were preparing and pressing upon the Master to eat the food they had secured.]

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Master: Gen 24:33, Act 16:30-34

Reciprocal: Ezr 10:6 – he did eat Mar 3:20 – so that Mar 11:12 – he was Act 10:13 – Rise

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

The disciples had gone to the city to buy food, hence it was natural for them to expect Jesus to eat. Apparently he did not show much interest in the food, after they had made the trip to the city for it, hence their insisting that He should eat.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

WE have, for one thing, in these verses, an instructive pattern of zeal for the good of others. We read, that our Lord Jesus Christ declares, “My meat is to do the will of him which sent me, and to finish his work.” To do good was not merely duty and pleasure to Him. He counted it as His food, meat and drink. Job, one of the holiest Old Testament saints, could say, that he esteemed God’s word “more than his necessary food.” (Job 23:12.) The Great Head of the New Testament Church went even further. He could say the same of God’s work.

Do we do any work for God? Do we try, however feebly, to set forward His cause on earth,-to check that which is evil, to promote that which is good? If we do, let us never be ashamed of doing it with all our heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. Whatever our hand finds to do for the souls of others, let us do it with our might. (Ecc 9:10.) The world may mock and sneer, and call us enthusiasts. The world can admire zeal in any service but that of God, and can praise enthusiasm on any subject but that of religion. Let us work on unmoved. Whatever men may say and think, we are walking in the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us, beside this, take comfort in the thought that Jesus Christ never changes. He that sat by the well of Samaria, and found it “meat and drink” to do good to an ignorant soul, is always in one mind. High in heaven at God’s right hand, He still delights to save sinners, and still approves zeal and labor in the cause of God. The work of the missionary and the evangelist may be despised and ridiculed in many quarters. But while man is mocking, Christ is well pleased! Thanks be to God, Jesus is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.

We have, for another thing, in these verses, strong encouragement held out to those who labor to do good to souls. We read, that our Lord described the world as a “field white for the harvest;” and then said to His disciples, “He that reapeth, receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal.”

Work for the souls of men, is undoubtedly attended by great discouragements. The heart of natural man is very hard and unbelieving. The blindness of most men to their own lost condition and peril of ruin, is something past description. “The carnal mind is enmity against God.” (Rom 8:7.) No one can have any just idea of the desperate hardness of men and women, until he has tried to do good. No one can have any conception of the small number of those who repent and believe, until he has personally endeavored to “save some.” (1Co 9:22.) To suppose that everybody will become a true Christian, who is told about Christ, and entreated to believe, is mere childish ignorance. “Few there be that find the narrow way”! The laborer for Christ will find the vast majority of those among whom he labors, unbelieving and impenitent, in spite of all that he can do. “The many” will not turn to Christ. These are discouraging facts. But they are facts, and facts that ought to be known.

The true antidote against despondency in God’s work, is an abiding recollection of such promises as that before us. There are “wages” laid up for faithful reapers. They shall receive a reward at the last day, far exceeding anything they have done for Christ,-a reward proportioned not to their success, but to the quantity of their work. They are gathering “fruit,” which shall endure when this world has passed away,-fruit, in some souls saved, if many will not believe, and fruit in evidences of their own faithfulness, to be brought out before assembled worlds. Do our hands ever hang down, and our knees wax faint? Do we feel disposed to say, “my labor is in vain and my words without profit”? Let us lean back at such seasons on this glorious promise. There are “wages” yet to be paid. There is “fruit” yet to be exhibited. “We are a sweet savor of Christ, both in them that are saved and in them that perish.” (2Co 2:15.) Let us work on. “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” (Psa 126:6.) One single soul saved, shall outlive and outweigh all the kingdoms of the world.

We have, lastly, in these verses, a most teaching instance of the variety of ways by which men are led to believe Christ. We read that “many of the Samaritans believed on Christ for the saying of the woman.” But this is not all. We read again, “Many more believed because of Christ’s own word.” In short, some were converted through the means of the woman’s testimony, and some were converted by hearing Christ Himself.

The words of Paul should never be forgotten, “There are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” (1Co 12:6.) The way in which the Spirit leads all God’s people is always one and the same. But the paths by which they are severally brought into that road are often widely different. There are some in whom the work of conversion is sudden and instantaneous. There are others in whom it goes on slowly, quietly, and by imperceptible degrees. Some have their hearts gently opened, like Lydia. Others are aroused by violent alarm, like the jailor at Philippi. All are finally brought to repentance toward God, faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and holiness of conversation. But all do not begin with the same experience. The weapon which carries conviction to one believer’s soul, is not the one which first pierces another. The arrows of the Holy Ghost are all drawn from the same quiver. But He uses sometimes one and sometimes another, according to His own sovereign will.

Are we converted ourselves? This is the one point to which our attention ought to be directed. Our experience may not tally with that of other believers. But that is not the question. Do we feel sin, hate it, and flee from it? Do we love Christ, and rest solely on Him for salvation? Are we bringing forth fruits of the Spirit in righteousness and true holiness? If these things are so we may thank God, and take courage.

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Notes-

v31.-[In the mean while.] This expression means “during the time when the Samaritans were coming out of the city to the well,” between the time when the woman went her way, and the time when her fellow-countrymen, aroused by her testimony, appeared at the well. It is highly probable that they were already in sight.

[Prayed.] The Greek word so rendered is remarkable. It is frequently used to convey the idea of “asking, or making inquiry.” It is a curious fact that it is not used in describing any person’s address to God in prayer, except in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Joh 14:16; Joh 16:26; Joh 17:9, Joh 17:15, Joh 17:20.) There is one remarkable instance where it seems to be used in describing a believer’s prayer. (1Jn 5:16.) But this instance stands so entirely alone that it is probable the meaning is not “pray,” but “make curious inquiry.”

[Master, eat.] The difference between our Lord and His disciples appears here in a striking manner. Their weak minds were preoccupied with the idea of food and bodily sustenance. His heart was filled with the great object of His ministry, “doing good to souls.” It is a striking illustration of a difference that may frequently be seen between a believer of great grace and a believer of little grace. The latter, with the best possible intentions, will often attach an importance to bodily and temporal things, with which the strong believer will feel no sympathy.

v32.-[I have meat, &c.] The meaning of our Lord’s words in this verse must evidently be figurative. He had soul-nourishment and soul-sustenance of which His disciples were ignorant. He found such refreshment in doing good to ignorant souls that for the time present He did not feel bodily hunger.

There is no necessity for supposing that our Lord referred to any miraculous supply of His bodily wants in this place. His words appear to me only to indicate that He found such delight and comfort in doing good to souls, that it was as good as meat and drink to Him. Many of His holiest servants in every age, I believe, could testify much the same. The joy and happiness of spiritual success has for the time lifted them above all bodily wants, and supplied the place of material meat and drink. I see no reason why this may not have been the case with our Lord. He had a body in all respects constituted like our own.

The idea of some writers that these words show that our Lord’s “thirst” was only simulated and pretended, seems to me utterly unworthy of notice.

The application of the words which every believer ought to endeavour to make to himself, is familiar to every well-instructed Christian. He has supplies of spiritual nourishment and support, which are hidden and unknown to the world. These supplies he ought to use at all times, and specially in times of sorrow and trial.

v33.-[Therefore said…one to another, &c.] These words seem to have been spoken privately, or whispered one to another, by the disciples. Their inability to put any but a carnal sense on their Master’s words, has been already remarked. In slowness to see a spiritual sense in His language they do not appear at all unlike Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman. “What wonder is it,” says Augustine, “if the woman could not understand our Lord, speaking about living water, when the disciples could not understand Him speaking about meat?”

The original Greek of the expression “hath any man brought him ought to eat,” is remarkable. There is a negative left out in our translation. It seems to show that the question of the woman, at verse 29, would have been better rendered, “Is this the Christ? Can this be the Christ?”

v34.-[Jesus saith, &c.] The leading idea of this verse is, “that doing God’s will, and finishing God’s work, was so soul-refreshing and pleasant to our Lord that He found it equivalent to meat and drink.”

The Greek expression rendered “to do,” and “to finish,” would have been more literally rendered, “that I should do,” and, “that I should finish.” But there can be little doubt, as Winer remarks, that the language is intended to have an infinitive sense. Precisely the same construction is employed in another remarkable place, Joh 17:4. It seems matter of regret that our translators did not render that verse as they have rendered the verse before us. It should have been, “this is life eternal to know thee, &c.”

The “will of God,” which it was Christ’s meat to “do,” must mean God’s will, that salvation by faith in a Saviour should be proclaimed, and a door of mercy set wide open to the chief of sinners. “It is my meat,” says our Lord, “to do that will, and to proclaim to every one with whom I speak that whosoever believeth on the Son shall not perish.” The view that it simply means, “my meat is to obey God’s commandments and do what He has told me to do,” appears to me to fall short of the full meaning of the expression. The leading idea seems to me to be specially God’s will about proclaiming salvation by Christ. Compare Joh 6:39-40.

The “work of God,” which it was Christ’s meat to “finish,” must mean that work of complete fulfilment of a Saviour’s office which Christ came on earth to perform, and that obedience to God’s law which He came to render. “It is my meat,” says our Lord, “to be daily doing that great work which I came into the world to do for man’s soul, to be daily preaching peace, and daily fulfilling all righteousness.” Compare Joh 17:4.

The utter unlikeness between Christ and all ministers of the Gospel who perform their duties in a mere prefunctory way, and care more for the world, and its pleasures or gains, than for saving souls, is strikingly brought out in this and the preceding verse. How many professing teachers of religion know nothing whatever of the spirit and habits of mind which our Lord here displays! It can never be said of hunting, shooting, ball-going, card-playing, farming clergymen, that it is their meat and drink to do God’s will and finish His work! With what face will they meet Christ in the day of judgment?

Cyril says, on this verse, “We learn from hence how great is the love of God towards men. He calls the conversion of lost people His meat.”

v35.-[Say not ye, &c.] This saying is interpreted in two different ways.

Some think, as Origen, Rupertus, Brentius, Beza, Jansenius, Cyril, Lightfoot, Lampe, Suicer, and many others, that our Lord really meant that there were four literal months to harvest, at the time when He spoke; and that as the harvest began about May, He spoke in February. The sense would then be, “Ye say at this time of the year that it will be harvest in four months. But I tell you there is a spiritual harvest already before you, if you will only lift up your eyes and see it.”

Others think, as De Dieu, Maldonatus, Calovius, Whitby, Schottgen, Pearce, Tittman, Stier, Alford, Barnes, and Tholuck, that our Lord only meant that it was a proverbial saying among the Jews,-“four months between seed time and harvest,” and that He did not mean the words to be literally taken. The sense would then be, “Ye have a common saying that it is four months from seed time to harvest. But I tell you that in spiritual works the harvest ripens far more quickly. Behold those Samaritans coming out already to hear the word, the very day that seed has been sown among them. The fields are already white for harvest.”

Either of the above views make good sense and good divinity. Yet on the whole I prefer the second view, viz.: that our Lord quoted a proverb. To suppose that He really meant that there were literally four months to pass away before harvest, appears to me to involve serious chronological difficulties. It necessitates the assumption that at least three quarters of a year had passed away since the passover, when our Lord purified the temple. (Joh 2:15, Joh 2:23.) No doubt this possibly may have been the case. But it does not appear to me probable.-In addition we must remember that our Lord, on another occasion, referred to a proverbial saying about the weather, beginning much as He does here, “Ye say.” Mat 16:3. Moreover, in this very passage He quotes a proverb about “one sowing and another reaping,” within two verses. The expression therefore, “say not ye,” seems to me to point to a proverbial saying much more than to a fact. The antithesis to it is the “I say,” which immediately follows.

Calvin says, “By this expression, do not ye say? Christ intended indirectly to point out how much more attentive the minds of men are to earthly than to heavenly things, for they burn with so intense a desire of harvest that they carefully reckon up months and days, while it is astonishing how drowsy and indolent they are in gathering the heavenly wheat.”

Cornelius Lapide conjectures that the disciples had been talking to one another about the prospects of harvest, as they came to the well, and that our Lord knowing the conversation, referred to it by the words, “do not ye say?”

[Lift up….eyes….look….fields….white….harvest.] There can be little doubt that this saying must be interpreted figuratively. The sense is, “There is a harvest of souls before you ready to be gathered in.” The same figure is used elsewhere. (Mat 9:37. Luk 10:2.)

Some think, as Chrysostom, that when our Lord said, “Behold….lift up your eyes…look,” He spoke with especial reference to the crowd of Samaritans whom He saw coming from the city to the well. If this be so, it is hard to suppose that He first began conversation with the woman at six o’clock in the evening.

Others think, that our Lord spoke these words with reference to the whole world, and specially the Jewish nation, at the time of His ministry. They were so ready and prepared for the preaching of the Gospel, that they were like a field white for harvest. The expression, “lift up your eyes,” is used elsewhere in Scripture, when mental attention is being called to something remarkable. See Isa 49:18; Isa 60:4; Gen 13:14-15.

I am disposed to think that both views are correct. Our Lord wished His disciples to notice that both at Samaria and elsewhere the minds of men were everywhere ready to receive the message of the Gospel in an unusual degree. Let them mark how willing the multitude was everywhere to listen to the truth. Let them know that everywhere, as in the apparently hopeless field of Samaria, they would find a harvest of souls ready to be reaped, if only they would be reapers.

Chrysostom, on this verse, remarks, “Christ leads His disciples, as His custom is, from low things to high. Fields and harvests here express the great number of souls which are ready to receive the word. The eyes are both spiritual and bodily ones, for they saw a great multitude of Samaritans now approaching. This expectant crowd He calls, very suitably, white fields. For as the corn, when it grows white, is ready for harvest, so were those ready for salvation. But why does He not say all this in direct language? Because by making use of the objects around them He gave great vividness and power to His words, and also caused

His discourse to be more pleasant and sink deeper into their memories.”

v36.-[He that reapeth, &c.] This verse seems to me to show that our Lord is speaking generally of the field of this world, and of the whole work which His apostles would have to do in it, not only in Samaria, but to the ends of the earth. The verse is a general promise for the encouragement of all labourers of Christ. The full meaning of it can hardly be brought out without a paraphrase. “The reaper of the spiritual harvest has a far more honourable and satisfactory office than the reaper of the natural harvest. He receives wages and gathers fruit not for this life only, but for the life to come. The wages that he receives are eternal wages, a crown of glory that fadeth not away. (1Pe 5:4.) The fruit that he gathers is eternal fruit, souls plucked from destruction and saved for evermore.” See Dan 12:3; Joh 15:16, and 1Co 9:17.

Burkitt, and several other writers, call attention to the fact that the harvestman’s wages are much more than the wages of any other labourer, and hence draw the conclusion that no Christian will receive so glorious a reward as the man who labours to win souls to Christ.

[That both he…soweth…reapeth…rejoice together.] These words appear to me to refer to the common joy that there will be in heaven among all who have laboured for Christ, when the whole harvest of saved souls is finally gathered in. The Old Testament prophets and John the Baptist, who sowed, will all rejoice together with the apostles, who reaped.-The results of the spiritual harvest are not like those of the natural harvest, temporal, but eternal, so that a day will come when all who have laboured for it in any way, either by sowing or reaping, will sit down and rejoice together to all eternity. Here in this world the sower sometimes does not live to see the fruit of his labour, and the reaper who gathers in the harvest rejoices alone. But work done in the spiritual harvest is eternal work, and consequently both sowers and reapers are sure at last to “rejoice together,” and to see the fruit of their toil.

Let it be noted, that in heaven there will at last be no jealousy and envy among Christ’s labourers. Some will have been sowers and some will have been reapers. But all will have done that part of the work allotted to them, and all will finally “rejoice together.” Envious feelings will be absorbed in common joy.

Let it be noted, that in doing work for Christ, and labouring for souls, there are sowers as well as reapers. The work of the reaper makes far more show than the work of the sower. Yet it is perfectly clear that if there was no sowing there would be no reaping. It is of great importance to remember this. The Church is often disposed to give an excessive honour to Christ’s reapers, and to overlook the labours of Christ’s sowers.

v37.-[Herein….that saying true, &c. &c.] Our Lord here quotes a proverbial saying, which appears to me to confirm the view I have already maintained, that the expression of the 35th verse, “Say not ye there are yet four months,” &c., refers to a proverb.

The phrase “herein” means literally, “in this,” and seems to me to refer to the verse which immediately follows. “That common saying, one soweth and another reapeth, is made good in this way,-is fulfilled by this circumstance,-is verified in the following manner, viz., I sent you to reap,” &c.

The meaning of the proverb is plain. “It is a common saying among men that it often falls to one to sow the field and to another to reap it. The sower and the reaper are not always the same person.”

The frequent use of proverbial sayings in the New Testament deserves notice. It shows the value of proverbs, and the importance of teaching them to children and young people. A pointed proverb is often remembered when a long moral lesson is forgotten.

v38.-[I sent you to reap, &c.] Our Lord here states the manner in which the proverbial saying of the preceding verse is true. He tells the apostles that they were sent to reap a spiritual harvest on which they had bestowed no labour. Other men had laboured, viz., the prophets of the Old Testament and John the Baptist. They had broken up the ground. They had sown the seed. The result of their labour was that the minds of men in the apostles’ times were prepared to expect the Messiah, and the apostles had only to go forth and proclaim the glad tidings that Messiah was come.

Pearce maintains the strange notion that our Lord, in this verse, only means, “I sent you away into the city to buy meat. While you were absent I sowed spiritual seed in the heart of a Samaritan woman. She is now gone to call others. These and many more will be the harvest which you will reap, without having bestowed any labour on it.” This interpretation seems to me quite untenable.

The past tense in this verse, “I have sent,” is used, as a grammarian would say, proleptically. It means, “I do send you.” Such a use of the past tense is common in Scripture, and especially when God speaks of a thing about to be done. With God there is no uncertainty. When He undertakes a thing, it may be regarded as done and finished, because in His counsels it is certain to be finished. Our Lord’s meaning is, “I send you throughout Samaria, Galilee, and Juda, to reap the fruit of the labours of the prophets and John the Baptist. They have sowed, and you have now only to reap.”

Some think, as Stier and Alford, that when our Lord said, “other men have laboured,” He referred rather to Himself than to the prophets. I am unable to see this. It appears to me a forced and unnatural interpretation. I hold decidedly with Chrysostom, Cyril, Theophylact, Calvin, Zwingle, Melancthon, Brentius, Lampe, and Poole, that it applies principally to the law and prophets.-“If the prophets were not the sowers,” saith Augustine, “whence had that saying come to the woman, I know that Messias cometh?”-Origen says, “Did not Moses and Elias, the sowers, rejoice with the reapers, Peter, James, and John, when they saw the glory of the Son of God at the transfiguration?”

Theophylact sees in this verse a strong argument against the heretical view of the Marcionites, Manichees, and others, that the New Testament is contrary to the Old. Here the prophets and apostles are spoken of together as labourers under one common Master, in one common field.

The idea propounded by Bucer, that our Lord alludes here to the heathen philosophers as well as the prophets, seems to me unwarrantable and unsafe.

[Considering what follows, could it be that in the immediate situation, our Lord was referring to the Samaritan woman as “the sower”, and that He and the disciples would become “reapers” during the following two-day period? She had “sown” when she returned to the city, but, as the Samaritans themselves testify, they were not “reaped” until the days that followed: “Many more believed because of his own word; And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard [him] ourselves.” See 1Co 3:6-9.]

v39.-[Many….Samaritans….believed.] About the exact nature of the belief mentioned here and in the 41st verse, we have no materials for forming an opinion. Whether it was only an intellectual belief that Christ was the Messiah, or whether it was that true faith of the heart which justifies a sinner before God, we are left to conjecture. The more probable opinion appears to be that it was true faith, though very weak and unintelligent, like that of the apostles themselves. It is a strong confirmation of this view, that when Philip, after the day of Pentecost, went down to Samaria and preached Christ, his preaching was received with joy, and many were baptized, both men and women. (Act 8:5-12.) The Gospel was received without prejudice, and embraced at once as an acknowledged truth.

[For….saying….woman… testified, &c.] These words show the importance of merely human testimony to Christ’s Gospel. The word of one weak woman was made the instrumental means of belief to many souls. There was nothing remarkable in the woman’s word. It contained no elaborate reasoning, and no striking eloquence. It was only a hearty, earnest testimony of a believing heart. Yet God was pleased to use it to the conversion of souls. We must never despise the use of means. If the woman had not spoken, the Samaritans would not have been converted.-Above all, we must never despise means because of their apparent weakness, feebleness, and inaptness to do good. God can make the weakest instruments powerful to pull down the strongholds of sin and Satan, just as He made David’s sling and stone prevail over Goliath.

Theophylact points out that the Samaritan woman’s past wicked life was well known to her fellow-citizens, and that their attention must have been aroused by her publicly proclaiming that she had found One who knew her former life, although a stranger. They rightly concluded that He must be no common person.

Melancthon remarks that the belief which resulted from the testimony of a woman in this case, is a clear proof that it is not absolutely necessary to have regular ministerial orders, in order to do good to souls, and that episcopal orders are not absolutely needful in order to give effect to the word when spoken.

v40.-[So when…Samaritans…come…besought…tarry, &c.] The desire of the Samaritans for instruction is shown in this verse, and the willingness of Christ to assist inquirers is strikingly exhibited. He waits to be entreated. If we have Him not abiding with us, it is because we do not ask Him. The two disciples journeying to Emmaus would have missed a great privilege if they had not said, “Abide with us.” (Luk 24:29.)

Ferus on this verse remarks the wide difference between the Samaritans and the Gergesenes. The Gergesenes prayed our Lord to “depart” from them, the Samaritans to “tarry ” with them. (Mat 8:34.)

[He abode…two days.] We can only suppose that these two days were spent in teaching and preaching the Gospel. One would like to know all that was thought and said in those two days. But it is an instance of the occasional “silences” of Scripture, which every attentive Bible-reader must have noticed. The first thirty years of our Lord’s life at Nazareth,-the way in which Paul spent his time in Arabia,-and his employment during his two years’ imprisonment in Csarea, are similar silences. (Gal 1:17; Act 24:27.)

It is an interesting fact which has been observed by some writers, that at this very day, Nablous and its neighbourhood, occupying the site of Samaria and Sychar, are in a more flourishing and prosperous condition than almost any place in Palestine. While Capernaum, and Chorazin, and Bethsaida, which rejected Christ, have almost entirely passed away, Samaria, which believed and received Him, flourishes still.

v41.-[Many more believed….own word.] This verse shows the sovereignty of God in saving souls. One is called in one way and another in another. Some Samaritans believed when they heard the woman testify. Others did not believe till they heard Christ Himself.-We must be careful that we do not bind down the Holy Ghost to one mode of operation. The experience of saved souls often differs widely. If people are brought to repentance and faith in Christ, we must not be stumbled because they are not all brought in the same way.

Olshausen remarks on this verse, “Here is a rare instance in which the ministry of the Lord produced an awakening on a large scale. Ordinarily we find that a few individuals only were aroused by Him, and that these, like grains of seed, scattered here and there, became the germs of a new and higher order of things among the people at large.”

v42.-[Now we believe….not….thy saying.] The Greek words so rendered would be translated more literally, “Not any longer because of thy saying do we believe.”

Calvin thinks that the Greek word here rendered “saying,” means literally, “talk or talkativeness,” and that “the Samaritans appear to boast that they have now a stronger foundation than a woman’s tongue.” In the only other three places where it is used, it is translated “speech.” (Mat 26:73; Mar 14:70; Joh 8:43.)

[This indeed….Christ….Saviour….world.] The Greek words so rendered would be translated more literally, “This is the Saviour of the world, the Christ.”

The singular fulness of the confession made by these Samaritans deserves special notice. A more full declaration of our Lord’s office as “Saviour of the world” is nowhere to be found in the Gospels. Whether the Samaritans clearly understood what they meant when they spoke of our Lord as “the Saviour,” may be reasonably doubted. But that they saw with peculiar clearness a truth which the Jews were specially backward in seeing, that He had come to be a Redeemer for all mankind, and not for the “Jews” only, seems evident from the expression “the world.” That such a testimony should have been borne to Christ, by a mixed race, of semi-heathen origin, like the Samaritans, and not by the Jews, is a remarkable instance of the grace of God.

The inference drawn by Calvin from this verse, that “within two days the sense of the Gospel was more plainly taught by Christ at Samaria than he had hitherto taught it at Jerusalem,” seems both unwarrantable and needless. Ought we not rather to fix our eyes on the difference between the Jews and Samaritans? Christ’s teaching was the same, but the hearts of His hearers were widely different. The Jews were hardened. The Samaritans believed.

Chemnitius, on this verse, thinks that an emphasis is meant to he laid on the Greek word rendered “indeed.” Literally it is “truly.” He thinks it was used of our Lord in contradistinction to the false Christs and Messiahs who had appeared before Him, as well as to the typical Messiahs and Saviours, such as the Judges.

In leaving the passage we may well wonder that so many “Samaritans” should at once have believed on our Lord, when so few “Jews” ever believed. Our wonder may well be increased, when we consider that our Lord worked no miracle on this occasion, and that the word was the only instrument used to open the Samaritans’ hearts.-We see, for one thing, the entire sovereignty of the grace of God. The last are often first and the first last. The most ignorant and unenlightened believe and are saved, while the most learned and enlightened continue unbelieving and are lost.-We see, for another thing, that it is not miracles and privileges, but grace, which converts souls. The Jews saw scores of mighty miracles worked by our Lord, and heard Him preach for weeks and months, and yet with a few rare exceptions remained impenitent and hardened. The Samaritans saw no miracles worked at all, and only had our Lord among them for two days, and yet many of them believed. If ever there was clear proof that the grace of the Holy Spirit is the chief thing needed in order to procure the conversion of souls, we have it in the verses we are now leaving.

The allegorical and typical meanings which some writers assign to the Samaritan woman and her history, as related in this chapter, are hardly worth recounting. Some regard the woman as a type of the Jewish synagogue, slavishly bound to the five books of the law, and drawn finally by Christ to drink the living water of the Gospel.-Some regard the woman as a type of the Gentile nations, for five thousand years committing fornication with heathen idols, and at length purged by Christ, and casting away their empty water-pots in obedience to Christianity.-Some go even further, and regard the woman as a prophetical type of things yet to come. They consider her as a type of the Greek Church, which is yet to be brought into the true faith of Christ! These views appear to me at best only fanciful speculations, and more likely to do harm than good, by drawing men away from the plain practical lessons which the passage contains.

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Joh 4:31. In the mean while the disciples prayed him, saying, Rabbi, eat. Remembering His exhaustion with the journey (Joh 4:6), they begged Him thus to take advantage of this interval of rest.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, The fit and seasonable motion which our Saviour’s disciples make to him; Master, eat.

Learn from thence, That though a person’s chief care should be for his own soul, and for improving all opportunities for doing good to the souls of others; yet the bodies of men must not be neglected, but supported by meat and drink; especially theirs, whose health and strength may be of greater use and service to God and his church. The body is the servant of the soul, the instrument whereby it worketh: and therefore to neglect the body is to disable and unfit the soul for service, to hinder the functions and operations of it. The sixth commandment, which forbids us to kill, requires us to use all means for the preservation of life, both in ourselves and others.

Observe next, Our Saviour’s answer to the disciples motion; Master, eat, say they. I have meat to eat that ye know not of, says he; for my meat is to do the will of him that sent me. Not that our Saviour did not want meat at this time, for he was both hungry and thirsty, as appears by his asking water of the woman to drink, and by his sending his disciples into the city to buy meat; but our Lord was more intent upon doing his Father’s work, than upon satisfying his own hunger. Christ hungered more after an opportunity of doing good to the souls of men, than he did after meat and drink to satisfy his hunger.

Lord! let us, thy ministers, learn of thee to prefer the spiritual welfare of our people, before any temporal advantages whatsoever.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Joh 4:31-34. In the mean while Before the people came; his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat They set the meat, which they had brought, before him, and requested him to partake of it, knowing how much he needed refreshment. But he said, I have meat to eat that ye know not of Meat which yields me much more refreshment than any food which you can have brought me. He refers to the conversation which he had just had with the woman, and to the expected conversion of the Samaritans. When he sat down upon the well, he was weary, and needed sustenance; but this opportunity of saving souls made him forget his weariness and hunger. Therefore said the disciples Not understanding his words in that spiritual sense in which he had spoken them; one to another With some surprise, considering where he was; Hath any man brought him aught to eat? Has any one been with him while we have been absent, and supplied him with provisions? Jesus Who knew the loss they were at to understand his meaning; saith unto them With a view to explain it; My meat My most refreshing and delightful food, and that which satisfies the strongest appetite of my soul; is to do the will of him that sent me, &c. He made his work his meat and drink; namely, the work he had done, his instructing the woman, and the work he had to do among the Samaritans; the prospect he now had of doing good to many; this was to him the greatest pleasure and satisfaction imaginable. Observe here, reader, 1st, The salvation of sinners is the will of God, and the instruction of them in order thereunto, is his work, 1Ti 2:4. 2d, Christ was sent into the world for this purpose, to bring sinners to God, to bring them to know him, and to be happy in him. 3d, He made this work his business and delight. When his body needed food, his mind was so taken up with this, that he forgot both hunger and thirst, both meat and drink. 4th, He was not only ready, upon all occasions, to enter upon his work, but he was concerned and earnest to go through it, and finish it in all its parts. He resolved never to quit it, or lay it down till he could say, It is finished. Many have zeal to carry them out at first, and induce them to undertake the Lords work; but not zeal to carry them on to the last, and cause them to persevere till they have accomplished it. But our Master has herein left us an example, that we may learn to do the will of God as he did with diligence and close application, as those that make it their business with delight and pleasure in it, as persons in their element with constancy and perseverance, not only inclining them to begin, but aiming at finishing their work.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Vv. 31, 32. In the mean while, the disciples prayed him, saying: Master, eat. 32. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat which ye know not.

Joh 4:31 (after the interruption of Joh 4:28-29), is connected with Joh 4:27. The words, (in the mean while), denote the time which elapsed between the departure of the woman and the arrival of the Samaritans. (to ask) takes here, as often in the New Testament, and as does in the Old Testament, the sense of pray, without, however, losing altogether its strict sense of interrogate: ask whether he will eat.

Since the beginning of His ministry, Jesus had perhaps had no joy such as this which He had just experienced. This joy had revived Him, even physically. You say to me: eat! But I am satisfied; I have had, in your absence, a feast of which you have no suspicion. (I), has the emphasis; this word places His person in strong contrast to theirs (, you): You have your repast; I have mine. , strictly the act of eating, but including the food, which is its condition. The abstract word better suits the spiritual sense of this saying, than the concrete , (food).

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

Jesus showed little interest in eating even though He was probably hungry (Joh 4:6). He used the disciples’ urging to teach them something about His priorities. Something was more satisfying to Him than food. They showed interest in physical need primarily, but He had more concern for spiritual need.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 11

THE SECOND SIGN IN GALILEE.

In the mean while the disciples prayed Him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not. The disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought Him aught to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to accomplish His work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For herein is the saying true, One soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not laboured: others have laboured, and ye are entered into their labour. And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on Him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all things that ever I did. So when the Samaritans came unto Him, they besought Him to abide with them: and He abode there two days. And many more believed because of His word; and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world. And after the two days He went forth from thence into Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. So when He came into Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast. He came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Juda into Galilee, he went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe. The nobleman saith unto Him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, saying, that his son lived. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said therefore unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Juda into Galilee- Joh 4:31-54.

The disciples, when they went forward to buy provisions in Sychar, left Jesus sitting on the well wearied and faint. On their return they find Him, to their surprise, elate and full of renewed energy. Such transformations one has often had the pleasure of seeing. Success is a better stimulant than wine. Our Lord had found one who believed Him and valued His message; and this brought fresh life to His frame. The disciples go on eating, and are too busy with their meal to lift their eyes; but as they eat they talk over the prospects of the harvest in the rich fields through which they have just walked. Meanwhile our Lord sees the men of Sychar coming out of the town in obedience to the womans request, and calls His disciples attention to a harvest more worthy of their attention than the one they were discussing: Were you not saying that we must wait four months till harvest comes again [12] and cheapens the bread for which you have paid so dear in Sychar? But lift up your eyes and mark the eager crowd of Samaritans, and say if you may not expect to reap much this very day. Are not the fields white already to harvest? Here in Samaria, which you only wished quickly to pass through, where you were looking for no additions to the Kingdom, and where you might suppose sowing and long waiting were needed, you see the ripened grain. Others have laboured, the Baptist and this woman and I, and ye have entered into their labours.

All labourers in the Kingdom of God need a similar reminder. We can never certainly say in what state of preparedness the human heart is; we do not know what providences of God have ploughed it, nor what thoughts are sown in it, nor what strivings are being even now made by the springing life that seeks the light. We generally give men credit, not perhaps for less thought than they have, for that is scarcely possible, but for less capacity of thought. The disciples were good men, but they went into Sychar judging the Samaritans good enough to trade with, but never dreaming of telling them the Messiah was outside their town. They must have been ashamed to find how much more capable an apostle the woman was than they. I think they would not wonder another time that their Lord should condescend to talk with a woman. The simple, unthinking, untroubled directness of a woman will often have a matter finished while a man is meditating some ponderous and ingenious contrivance for bringing it to pass. Let us not fall into the mistake of the disciples, and judge men good enough to buy and sell with, but quite alien to the matters of the Kingdom.

There is a day in spring When under all the earth the secret germs Begin to stir and glow before they bud. The wealth and festal pomps of midsummer Lie in the heart of that inglorious hour Which no man names with blessing, though its work Is blessd by all the world. Such days there are In the slow story of the growth of souls.

Such days may be passing in those around us, though all unknown to us. We can never tell how many months there are till harvest. We never know who or what has been labouring before we appear on the scene.

The womans testimony was enough to excite curiosity. The men on her word came out to judge for themselves. What they saw and heard completed their conviction; And they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world. This growth of faith is one of the subjects John delights to exhibit. He is fond of showing how a weak and ill-founded faith may grow into a faith that is well rooted and strong.

This Samaritan episode is significant as an integral part of the Gospel, not only because it shows how readily unsophisticated minds perceive the inalienable majesty of Christ, but also because it forms so striking a foil to the reception our Lord had met with in Jerusalem, and was shortly to meet with in Galilee. In Jerusalem He did many miracles; but the people were too political and too prejudiced to own Him as a spiritual Lord. In Galilee He was known, and might have expected to be understood; but there the people longed only for physical blessings and the excitement of miracles. Here in Samaria, on the contrary, He did no miracles, and had no forerunner to herald His approach. He was found a weary wayfarer, sitting by the roadside, begging for refreshment. Yet, through this appearance of weakness, and dependence, and lowliness, there shone His native kindness, and truth, and kingliness, to such a degree, that the Samaritans, although naturally suspicious of Him as a Jew, believed in Him, delighted in Him, and proclaimed Him Saviour of the world.

After two days of happy intercourse with the Samaritans Jesus continues His journey to Galilee. The proverbial expression which our Lord used regarding His relation to Galilee-that a prophet has no honour in his own country-is one we have frequent opportunity of verifying. The man that has grown up among us, whom we have seen struggling up through the ignorance, and weakness, and folly of boyhood, whom we have had to help and to protect, can scarcely receive the same respect as one who presents himself a mature man, with already developed faculties, no longer a learner, but prepared to teach. Montaigne complained that in his own country he had to purchase publishers, whereas elsewhere publishers were anxious to purchase him. The farther off I am read from my own home, he says, the better I am esteemed. The men of Anathoth sought Jeremiahs life when he began to prophesy among them.

It is not the truth of the proverb that presents any difficulty, but its application to the present case. For the fact that a prophet has no honour in his own country would seem to be a reason for His declining to go to Galilee, whereas it is here introduced as His reason for going there. The explanation is found in the beginning of the chapter, where we are told that it was in search of retirement He was now leaving the popularity and publicity of Juda, and repairing to His own country.

But, as frequently on other occasions, He now found that He could not be hid. His countrymen, who had thought so little of Him previously, had heard of His Judean fame, and echoed the recognition and applause of the south. They had not discovered the greatness of this Galilean, although He had lived among them for thirty years; but no sooner do they hear that He has created a sensation in Jerusalem than they begin to be proud of Him. Every one has seen the same thing a hundred times. A lad who has been despised as almost half-witted in his native place goes up to London and makes a name for himself as poet, artist, or inventor, and when he returns to his village everybody claims him as cousin. Such a change of sentiment was not likely to escape the observation of Jesus nor to deceive Him. It is with an accent of disappointment, not unmingled with reproach, that He utters His first recorded words in Galilee: Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe.

This sets us in the point of view from which we can clearly see the significance of the one incident which John selects from all that happened during our Lords stay in Galilee at this time. John wishes to illustrate the difference between the Galilean and the Samaritan faith, and the possibility of the one growing into the other; and he does so by introducing the brief narrative of the courtier from Capernaum. Accounts, more or less accurate, of the miracles of Jesus in Jerusalem had found their way even into the household of Herod Antipas. For no sooner was He known to have arrived in Galilee than one of the royal household sought Him out to obtain a boon which no royal favour could grant. The supposition is not without plausibility that this nobleman was Chuza, Herods chamberlain, and that this miracle, which had so powerful an effect on the family in which it was wrought, was the origin of that devotion to our Lord which was afterwards shown by Chuzas wife.

The nobleman, whoever he was, came to Jesus with an urgent request. He had come twenty miles to appeal to Jesus, and he had been unable to trust his petition to a messenger. But instead of meeting this distracted father with words of sympathy and encouragement, Jesus merely utters a general and chilling observation. Why is this? Why does He seem to lament that this father should so urgently plead for his son? Why does He seem only to submit to the inevitable, if He grants the request at all? Might it not even seem as if He wrought the miracle of healing rather for His own sake than for the boys or for the fathers sake, since He says, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe-that is, will not believe in Me?

But these words did not express any reluctance on the part of Jesus to heal the noblemans son. Possibly they were intended, in the first instance, to rebuke the desire of the father that Jesus should go with him to Capernaum and pronounce over the boy words of healing. The father thought the presence of Christ was necessary. He had not attained to the faith of the centurion, who believed that an expression of will was enough. Jesus, therefore, demands a stronger faith; and in His presence that stronger faith which can trust His word is developed.

The words, however, were especially a warning that His physical gifts were not the greatest He had to bestow, and that a faith which required to be buttressed by the sight of miracles was not the best kind of faith. Our Lord was always in danger of being looked upon as a mere thaumaturge, who could dispense cures merely as a physician could within his own limits order a certain treatment. He was in danger of being considered a dispenser of blessings to persons who had no faith in Him as the Saviour of the world. It is therefore with the accent of one who submits to the inevitable that He says, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe.

But especially did our Lord wish to point out that the faith He approves and delights in is a faith which does not require miracles as its foundation. This higher faith He had found among the Samaritans. Many of them believed, as John is careful to note, because of His conversation. There was that in Himself and in His talk which was its own best evidence. Some men who introduce themselves to us, to win our countenance to some enterprise, carry integrity in their whole bearing; and we should feel it to be an impertinence to ask them for credentials. If they offer to prove their identity and trustworthiness we waive such proof aside, and assure them that they need no certificate. This had been our Lords experience in Samaria. There no news of His miracles had come from Jerusalem. He came among the Samaritans from nobody knew where. He came without introduction and without certificate, yet they had discernment to see that they had never met His like before. Every word He spoke seemed to identify Him as the Saviour of the world. They forgot to ask for miracles. They felt in themselves His supernatural power, lifting them into Gods presence, and filling them with light.

The Galilean faith was of another kind. It was based on His miracles; a kind of faith He deplored, although He did not quite repudiate it. To be accepted not on His own account, not because of the truth He spoke, not because His greatness was perceived and His friendship valued, but because of the wonders He performed-this could not be a pleasant experience. We do not greatly value the visits of a person who cannot get on without our advice or assistance; we value the friendship of him who seeks our company for the pleasure he finds in it. And although we must all be ceaselessly and infinitely dependent on the good offices of Christ, our faith should be something more than a counting upon His ability and willingness to discharge these good offices. A faith which is merely selfish, which recognises that Christ can save from disaster in this life or in the life to come, and which cleaves to Him solely on that account, is scarcely the faith that Christ approves. There is a faith which responds to the glory of Christs personality, which rests on what He is, which builds itself on the truth He utters, and recognises that all spiritual life centres in Him; it is this faith He approves. They who find in Him the link they have sought with the spiritual world, the pledge they have needed to certify them of an eternal righteousness, they to whom the supernatural is revealed more patently in Himself than in His miracles, are those whom the Lord delights in.

But the lower kind of faith may be a step to the higher. The agony of the father can make nothing of general principles, but can only reiterate the one petition, Come down ere my child die. And Jesus, with His perfect knowledge of human nature, sees that it is vain trying to teach a man in this absorbed condition of mind, and that probably the very best way to clarify his faith and lead him to higher and worthier thoughts is to grant his request-a hint not to be overlooked or despised by those who seek to do good, and who are, possibly, sometimes a little prone to obtrude their teaching at most inopportune seasons-at seasons when it is impossible for the mind to admit anything but the one absorbing topic. Circumstances are, in general, much better educators of men than any verbal teaching; and that verbal teaching can only do harm which interposes between the moving events that are occurring and the person who is passing through them. The success of our Lords method was proved by the result; which was, that the slender faith of this nobleman became a genuine faith in Christ as the Lord, a faith which his whole household shared.

From the very greatness of Christ, and our consequent inability to bring Him into comparison with other men, we are apt to miss some of the significant features of His conduct. In the circumstances before us, for example, most teachers at an early stage in their career would have been in some excitement, and would probably have shown no reluctance to accede to the noblemans request, and go down to his house, and so make a favourable impression on Herods court. It was an opportunity of getting a footing in high places which a man of the world could not have overlooked. But Jesus was well aware that if the foundations of His kingdom were to be solidly laid, there must be excluded all influence of a worldly kind, all the overpowering constraint which fashion and great names exercise over the mind. His work, He saw, would be most enduringly, if most slowly, done in a more private manner. His own personal influence on individuals must first of all be the chief agency. He speaks, therefore, to this nobleman without any regard to his rank and influence; indeed, rather curtly dismisses him with the words, Go, thy son lives. The total absence of display is remarkable. He did not go to Capernaum, to stand by the sickbed, and be acknowledged as the healer. He made no bargain with the nobleman that if his son recovered he would let the cause be known. He simply did the thing, and said nothing at all about it.

Though it was only one in the afternoon when the nobleman was dismissed he did not go back to Capernaum that night-why, we do not know. A thousand things may have detained him. He may have had business for Herod in Cana or on the road as well as for himself; the beast he rode may have gone lame where he could not procure another; at any rate, it is quite uncalled for to ascribe his delay to the confidence he had in Christs word, an instance of the truth, He that believeth shall not make haste. The more certainly he believed Christs word the more anxious would he be to see his son. His servants knew how anxious he would be to hear, for they went to meet him; and were no doubt astonished to find that the sudden recovery of the boy was due to Him whom their master had visited. The cure had travelled much faster than he who had received the assurance of it.

The process by which they verified the miracle and connected the cure with the word of Jesus was simple, but perfectly satisfactory. They compared notes regarding the time, and found that the utterance of Jesus was simultaneous with the recovery of the boy. The servants who saw the boy recover did not ascribe his recovery to any miraculous agency; they would no doubt suppose that it was one of those unaccountable cases which occasionally occur, and which most of us have witnessed. Nature has secrets which the most skilful of her interpreters cannot disclose; and even so marvellous a thing as an instantaneous cure of a hopeless case may be due to some hidden law of nature. But no sooner did their master assure them that the hour in which the boy began to amend was the very hour in which Jesus said he would get better, than they all saw to what agency the cure was due.

Here lies the special significance of this miracle; it brings into prominence this distinctive peculiarity of a miracle, that it consists of a marvel which is coincident with an express announcement of it, and is therefore referable to a personal agent.[13] It is the two things taken together that prove that there is a superhuman agency. The marvel alone, a sudden return of sight to the blind, or of vigour to the paralysed, does not prove that there is anything supernatural in the case; but if this marvel follows upon the word of one who commands it, and does so in all cases in which such a command is given, it becomes obvious that this is not the working of a hidden law of nature, nor a mere coincidence, but the intervention of a supernatural agency. That which convinced the noblemans household that a miracle had been wrought was not the recovery of the boy, but his recovery in connection with the word of Jesus. What they felt they had to account for was not merely the marvellous recovery, but his recovery at that particular time. Even though it could be shown, then,-as it can never be,-that every cure reported in the Gospels might possibly be the result of some natural law, even though it could be shown that men born blind might receive their sight without a miracle, and that persons who had consulted the best physician suddenly recovered strength-this, we are to remember, is by no means the whole of what we have to account for. We have to account not only for sudden, and certainly most extraordinary cures, but also for these cures following uniformly, and in every case the word of One who said the cure would follow. It is this coincidence which puts it beyond a doubt that the cures can be referred only to the will of Christ.

Another striking feature of this miracle is that the Agent was at a distance from the subject of it. This is, of course, quite beyond our comprehension. We cannot understand how the will of Jesus, without employing any known physical means of communication between Himself and the boy, without even appearing before him so as to seem to inspire him by look or word, should instantaneously effect his cure. The only possible link of such a kind between the boy and Jesus was that he may have been aware that his father had gone to seek help for him, from a renowned physician, and may have had his hopes greatly excited. This supposition is, however, gratuitous. The boy may quite as likely have been delirious, or too young to know anything; and even though this slender link did exist, no sensible person will build much on that. And certainly it is encouraging to find that even while on earth our Lord did not require to be in contact with the person healed. His word was as effective as His presence. And if it is credible that while on earth He could heal at the distance of twenty miles, it is difficult to disbelieve that He can from heaven exercise the same omnipotent will.

Note.-It is not apparent why John appends the remark, This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Juda into Galilee. He may, perhaps, have only intended to call attention more distinctly to the place where the miracle was wrought. This idea is supported by the fact that John shows, on parallel lines, the manifestation of Christ in Juda and in Galilee. It is just possible that he may have wished to warn readers of the Synoptical Gospels, that Jesus had not yet begun the Galilean ministry with which these Gospels open.

[12] The words (Joh 4:35) have quite the ring of a proverb-a proverb peculiar to seed-time and for the encouragement of the sower. If uttered on this occasion in seed-time, this gives December as the date.

[13] This is lucidly taught in Mozleys Bampton Lectures.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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