John 1:47

“ And Nathanael said unto him: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip says to him: Come and see. ”

According to Meyer, Nathanael's answer alludes to the reputation which the town of Nazareth had had for immorality; according to Lucke and de Wette, to the smallness of the place. But there is nothing in history to prove that Nazareth was a place of worse fame, or less esteemed than any other village of Galilee. Nathanael's answer does not at all require such suppositions. Is it not more simple to connect this reply closely with the words of Philip? Nathanael, not recollecting any prophetic passage which asscribes to Nazareth so important a part, is astonished; the more so, since Cana is only at the remove of a league from Nazareth, and it is difficult for him to imagine this retired village, near his own, raised all at once to so high a destiny. We are well aware of the paltry jealousies which frequently exist between village and village. The expression, anything good, signifies, therefore, in this case: “anything so eminent as the Messiah!” We notice here, for the first time, a peculiarity of the Johannean narrative: the author seems to take pleasure in mentioning certain objections raised against the Messianic dignity of Jesus, to which he makes no reply because every reader instructed in the Gospel history could dispose of them on the spot (comp. John 7:27; John 7:35; John 7:42, etc.). At the time when John wrote, every Christian knew that Jesus was not actually from Nazareth. The answer of Philip: “ Come and see,” is at once the most simple and the most profound apologetic. To every upright heart Jesus proves Himself by showing Himself. This rests on the truth expressed in John 1:9. (Comp. John 3:21.)