John 4:3

He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. HE LEFT JUDEA - that opposition to Him might not be too soon organized, which at that early stage would have marred His work. AND DEPARTED AGAIN INTO GALILEE - by which time John had been cast into prison. Here, then, our Evangelist takes up the thread of the three first Gospels: ; ; . The period during which our Lord continued in Judea, from the time of His first Passover, appears to have been at least eight months-it being, as we shall see from , now "four months to harvest," which, as usually reckoned, would be late in the month of December; but as this makes the harvest, it w...

1-3 Jesus applied himself more to preaching, which was the more excellent, 1 Corinthians 1:17, than to baptism. He would put honour upon his disciples, by employing them to baptize. He teaches us that the benefit of sacraments depends not on the hand that administers them....

HE LEFT JUDEA - The envy and malice of the Pharisees he might have known were growing so rapidly as to endanger his life. As his time to die had not yet come, he retired to Galilee, a country farther from Jerusalem, and much less under their control than Judea. See Mark 2:22; Luke 3:1. Though he feared not death and did not shrink from suffering, yet he did not needlessly throw himself into danger or provoke opposition. He could do as much good in Galilee, probably, as in Judea, and he therefore withdrew himself from immediate danger....

EXPOSITION JOHN 4:1 7. _The ministry and revelation of the Lord to those beyond the strict compass of the theocracy. _This passage describes an incident of consummate interest, and records a specimen of our Lord's intercourse with individuals, and the reaction of that instruction upon the disciples. The event is a solitary chink through which the light of historical fact falls upon an otherwise darkened and unknown period of the Saviour's life. When we skirt a forest we see at intervals, where by some accident of growth the light falls upon a narrow space, a miniature world of life and loveliness of every kind, suggesting what might happen if every square yard of the forest could receive a similar illumination. Every day of that wondrous life of Christ may have been equally full of meaning to some souls. "These things are written, that

HE LEFT JUDAEA,.... Where he had been for some time: at the feast of the passover he went up to Jerusalem, and after a short stay there, he came into the country part of Judea, where he tarried longer; and in both about the space of eight months; for it was now but four months to harvest, which began at the passover; see John 2:13. And now upon thee Pharisees being made acquainted with his success in these parts, he leaves them; not through fear of them, but because he would not irritate and provoke them, and stir up their malice and envy against him, which might put them upon measures to seek to take away his life; whereas his time was not yet come, and he had other work to do elsewhere: AND DEPARTED AGAIN INTO GALILEE; where he had spent the greatest part of his time, in private life; from whence he came to Jordan unto John to be baptized by him; and after that went thither ag

I have often read this chapter in your hearing, and you have often read it yourselves; but the Word of God is not like the grapes of an earthly vine, which when once trodden are exhausted. You may come to Holy Scripture again and again; it is like an ever-flowing fountain, the more you draw from it, the more you may draw. John 4:1. _When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), he left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee._ Observe here that our Lord at first shunned conflict with the Pharisees. When he knew that they were jealous of him, he went away from Judaea to a more remote district, «into Galilee.» May he help us always to take that which may be the wiser course in every emergency! He was not guilty of cowardice; that, he could not be, for he was

JOHN 4:3 pa,lin {A} The omission of pa,lin from A B* G L P Y 28 249 579 700 1194 1424 syrh _al,_ if not accidental, may have been occasioned by a desire to clarify the evangelist’s meaning — for (_a_) Jesus does not actually arrive in Galilee until two days later (ver. John 4:43), after an interlude in Samaria; and (_b_) an overly punctilious reader could take pa,lin to mean that Jesus returned _a second time_ to Galilee after having left Judea. Pa,lin is strongly attested by î...

CHAPTER 4 _ 1. He Must Needs Pass Through Samaria. (John 4:1 .)_ 2. At Sychar's Well; Jesus and the Samaritan Woman. (John 4:6 .) 3. The Woman's Witness and the Believing Samaritans. (John 4:27 .) 4. His Return to Galilee. (John 4:43 .) 5. The Second Miracle, the Healing of the Nobleman's Son. (John 4:46 .) In the Gospel of Matthew the Lord told His disciples not to go into the way of the Gentiles and not to enter into any city of the Samaritans. (Matthew 10:5

IV. 1- 42. CHRIST IN SAMARIA. John 4:1. Christ and the Samaritan Woman. The Lord (for the title _cf. John 6:23_, John 11:2; John 20:20; John 21:7, with certain parts of Lk., _e.g._ Luke 18:6 *), having learned that the Pharisees are aware of the success of His baptism, administered by His disciples, retires to Galilee, to avoid opposition which might lead to a premature crisis. This obliged Him to pass through Samaria, unless He chose the longer route through Peræ a, often adopted by strict J

HE MUST NEEDS GO THROUGH SAMARIA. Samaria was between Judea and Galilee, and hence the route led through it. It seems probable from John 4:35, that it was in the latter part of the fall that he departed from Judea. See comment on verse 35. The scene at Jacob's well presents. most graphic, and yet most unartificial picture of nature and human life, as it still remains, though in decay, at the foot of Gerizim and Ebal, the most beautiful section of Palestine. There is still the well of Jacob, recognized as such by Samaritans, Jews, Mohammedans and Christians alike; there is the sanctuary on the top of Gerizim, where the Passover is annually celebrated by the remnant of the Samaritan sect, according to the prescription of Moses; there are the waving grain-fields, ripening for the harvest in the well-watered, fertile valley.--_ Schaff._...