Ver. 1. Baptized more disciples] Baptizing was used by the Jews before John or Christ took it up, from which custom, though brought in without commandment, our Saviour authorizeth a seal of entering into his rest; using the Jews’ weakness as an allurement thither.
Ver. 2. Jesus himself baptized not] A sweet comfort, that Christ is said not to baptize those whom the disciples baptized. The sacraments administered by ministers are no less effectual than if we had received the same from Christ’s own hands.
Ver. 3. He left Judea] God must be trusted, not tempted.
Ver. 4. He must needs go] Happy for them that they lay in our Saviour’s way, to be looked upon; his feet drop fatness. Luther had rather be with Christ in hell than in heaven without him, Malim praesente Christo esse in inferno, quam absente eo in coelo. Luther in Gen. 30.
Ver. 5. Jacob gave to his son Joseph] Having first won it with “his sword and his bow,” Genesis 48:22; that is, with his prayer and supplication (saith the Chaldee paraphrast); which, as Saul’s sword and Jonathan’s bow, never return empty, 2 Samuel 1:22.
Ver. 6. Jesus therefore, being wearied] And in that he himself had suffered, he was the more able and apt to help this poor Samaritess. So the apostle bids us pity those in adversity, as being ourselves in the body, i.e. in the body of flesh and frailty, subject to like misery. He that hath had the toothache, will pity those that have it. Non ignara mali, &c. Do not ignore evil. We are orphans all (said Queen Elizabeth, in her speech to the children of Christ’s Hospital), let me enjoy your prayers, and ye shall be sure of mine assistance. μετριοπαθειν’ Proportionate ad miseriam condolere, Hebrews 5:2 13:3.
Ver. 7. A woman of Samaria] A poor cupbearer, such as Festus calls Canalicolas, quod circa canalem fori consisterent, lazy people because they were much about the conduits of the forum. (Becman. de Originib.)
Ver. 8. To buy meat] For our Saviour lived not upon alms; but although he became poor to make us rich, 2 Corinthians 8:9, yet had he a bag, and that so big as that it required a bearer, John 12:6, his friends and followers supplying him with money for his necessary uses and for relief of the poor.
Ver. 9. Askest drink of me?] The Samaritans knew that they were slighted by the Jews, and took it ill, Gens haec (saith Giraldus Cambrensis, of the Irish) sicut et natio quaevis barbara, quanquam honorem neseiant, honorari tamen supra medam affectant. No man would be slighted, how mean soever. For the Jews have no dealings, &c.] Josephus writeth, that at Samaria was a sanctuary opened by Sanballat for all renegade Jews, &c. The Jews therefore hated the presence, the fire, the fashion, the books of a Samaritan. Neither was there any hatred lost on the Samaritan’s part; for if he had but touched a Jew, he would have thrown himself into the next water, clothes and all; both of them equally sick of a noli me tangere. Do not touch me. (Epiphanius.)
Ver. 10. The gift of God] That is, Christ hi mself, called by St Paul the benefit, ευεργεσια, 1 Timothy 6:2. Let him not be to us as Jether’s sword to him, which he drew not, used not; but as Goliath’s sword to David, none to that. None but Christ, none but Christ, said that martyr.
Ver. 11. Sir, thou hast no bucket] See how witty we are naturally, with our armed dilemmas, to reject grace offered, and with both hands as it were, to thrust away from us eternal life, απωθεισθε, Acts 13:46.
Ver. 12. Our father Jacob] Josephus tells us that these Samaritans, while the Jews prospered, would needs be their dear cousins; but when they were in adversity (as under Antiochus) they would utterly disown and disavow them. They wrote to Antiochus, because he tormented the Jews, to excuse themselves as none such; and they styled Antiochus, the mighty God. Oh, baseness!
Ver. 13. Shall thirst again] So shall all they, quibus avaritiae aut ambitionis salsugo bibulam animare possidet. He that seeks to satisfy his lusts goes about an endless business. Give, give, is the horse’s leech language. The worldling hath enough to sink him, not to satisfy him.
Ver. 14. Shall never thirst] His lips water not after homely provision, that hath lately tasted of delicate sustenance. “ Clitorio quicunque sitim de fonte levarit, Vina fugit, gaudetque meris abstemius undis.” (Ovid, Metam. xv.)
Ver. 15. Sir, give me this water] We would all have immortality, but here on earth. Some think she jeers our Saviour here; who therefore in the next words arouseth her conscience.
Ver. 16. Go, call thy husband] It was a great favour in Christ to receive that sinful woman that washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair, and not to kick her out of his presence, as the Pharisees expected. How much greater is this, to fetch in an idolatrous harlotry that fled from him, to entertain her that had rejected him? &c. Well might St Paul say, that the “grace of our Lord is exceeding abundant,” or doth abound to flowing over, as the sea easily o verfloweth mole hills, υπερεπλεονασε, 1 Timothy 1:14.
Ver. 17. I have no husband] Lucretius ait, quasdam mulieres effugere unius viri torum, ut omnium fiant torus. (Sphinx Philos.) “ Iesuitae etiam sunt Connubisanctifugae, clammeretricitegae.”
Ver. 18. He whom thou now hast, &c.] Here he comes home to her conscience; so must all that will do good on it, striving not so much to please as to profit. Bees are killed with honey but quickened with vinegar. The eagle, though she love her young ones dearly, yet she pricketh and beateth them out of the nest: so must preachers drive men out of the nest of pleasure. John Speiser, preacher at Augsburg in Germany, did his work so well at first, that the common strumpets left the brothel houses (then tolerated) and betook themselves to a better course, A.D. 1523. Yet afterwards he revolted to the Papists and miserably perished. (Sculler. Annal. 118.)
Ver. 19. Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet] To the “hidden man of the heart,” 1 Peter 3:4, the plain song ever makes the best music. The Corinthian idiot, convinced of all, and having the secrets of his heart ripped up by the two-edged sword, “falls down upon his face worshipping God,” and reporteth that “God is in the ministers of a truth,” 1 Corinthians 14:24,25.
Ver. 20. Our fathers, &c.] No sooner doth she acknowledge him a prophet, but she seeks to be satisfied in a case of conscience. Proh stuporem nostrum! Woe to our dulness!
Ver. 21. Ye shall neither in this mountain, &c.] Herod’s temple at Jerusalem was so set on fire by Titus’s soldiers, that it could not be quenched by the industry of man. And at the same time Apollo’s temple at Delphi was utterly overthrown by earthquakes and thunderbolts, and neither of them could ever since be repaired. The concurrence of which two miracles (saith mine author) evidently showeth that the time was then come when God would put an end both to Jewish ceremonies and heathenish idolatry, that the kingdom of his Son might be the better established. (Godw. Antiq. Heb.)
Ver. 22. We know what we worship] Christ also, as man, worshippeth, being less than himself as God. Christ is worshipped by angels as God, being greater than himself as man. Ye worship ye know not what] And yet these Samaritans thought themselves the only right worshippers. As Turks hold themselves the only Moslems, that is, true believers; as Hermotimus, the Stoic in Lucian, thought his sect the best of all other, as being ignorant of any other himself.
Ver. 23. The Father seeketh such] Oh, how should this fire up our hearts to spiritual worship! that God seeks for such, with, “Let me see thy face, hear thy voice,” Song of Solomon 2:14. He soliciteth suitors.
Ver. 24. God is a Spirit] Omnes nominis Iehovae literae sunt spirituales ut denotetur Deum esse spiritum. (Alsted.) Though, to speak properly, God is not a spirit. For, first, spirit signifies breath, which indeed is a body, but because it is the finest body, the most subtle and most invisible, therefore immaterial substances, which we are not able to conceive, are represented unto us under this name. Secondly, God is above all notion, all name. Afri dicunt Deum ignotum Anon, i.e. Heus tu, quis es? One being asked what God is, answered, Si scirem, Deus essem, That which Augustine saith concerning time (the measure of all our motions) may much more be said concerning God, in whose hands are all our times and motions; Si nemo ex me quaerat, scio: si quaerenti explicare velim, nescio. When I am not asked, methinks I know somewhat of him; but let me go about to say what he is, and I find I know nothing at all. Confess. xi. 14. I n spirit and truth] As opposed to formality and hypocrisy. Plut. lib. de Isid. et Osiride.
Ver. 25. I know that Messias, &c.] As who should say, we are not altogether so ignorant as you would make us, John 4:23. A dead woman must have four men to carry her out, as the proverb is: we are apt to think our penny good silver.
Ver. 26. I that speak unto thee, &c.] No sooner do we think of Christ with any the least true desire after him, but he is presently with us. He invited himself to Zaccheus’s table, &c. Tantum velis, et Deus tibi praeoccurret, said a Father.
Ver. 27. That he talked with the woman] Solum cum sola. (Beza.) He might do that we must beware of, lest concupiscence kindle. Abraham may see Sodom burning, Lot may not. Yet no man said] All ill thoughts and sinister surmises, of superiors especially, are to be presently suppressed and strangled in the birth.
Ver. 28. Left her waterpot] She had now greater things in hand, better things to look after. As Alexander, hearing of the riches of the Indies, divided his kingdom among his captains.
Ver. 29. Come, see a man, &c.] Weak means may, by God’s blessing, work great matters. He can make the words of Naaman’s servant greater in operation than the words of great Elisha, and by a poor captive girl bring him to the prophet.
Ver. 30. Then they went out] More to see the news than else; as Moses’ curiosity led him nearer the bush, wherehence he was called. It is good to come to the ordinances, though but for novelty; absence is without hope. What a deal lost Thomas by being out of the way but once.
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.
Ver. 32. I have meat to eat, &c.] Abraham’s servant would not eat till he had despatched, his errand, Genesis 24:33. When we are to woo for Christ, we should forget our own interests and occasions. Quaerite primum, &c. Seek first the kingdom of God.
Ver. 33. Hath any man brought, &c.] “Are not these yet carnal, and talk as men?” 1 Corinthians 3:3. How dull and thick brained are the best till God rend the veil, and enlighten both organ and object!
Ver. 34. My meat is to do the will] Job, Job 23:12, preferred it before his necessary food, that should keep him alive. So did Christ, when disappointed of a breakfast at the barren fig tree, and coming hungry into the city, he went not into an eating house, but into the temple, where he taught the people most part of that day, Matthew 21:17,23.
Ver. 35. Say not ye, There are yet four months] As who should say, ye so long for the time, that ye count how many months, weeks, days it is to harvest; should ye not be much nmre solicitous of such a heavenly harvest? These Samaritans do but hang for mowing, &c.
Ver. 36. That he that soweth, &c.] That is, that both the prophets that sowed and the apostles that reaped, &c., for the people were prepared by the writings of the prophets to be wrought upon by the apostles. The Samaritans also had the Bible, agreeing, for the most part, with that we have from the Jews. The copy of this Samaritan Bible was first brought from Damascus into Christendom by one Petrus de Valle, A. D. 1626.
Ver. 37. That saying true, &c.] Camerdrius recites the Senary at large. Αλλοι μεν σπειρους’, αλλοι δ αυ αμησονται.
Ver. 38. Other men have laboured] Laboured even to lassitude, as the word κεκοπιακασι signifies (κοπιαω, κοπτω). The ministry is not then an easy trade, an idle man’s occupation. Luther was wont to say, Sudor aeconomicus est magnus, Politicus maior, Ecclesiasticus maximus, The householder hath somewhat to do, the magistrate more, but the minister most of all.
Ver. 39. For the saying of the woman] An unlikely means to effect so great a matter. But what is that to the Almighty? So Junius professeth, that the very first thing that turned him from atheism was conference with a countryman of his, not far from Florence. The next was, the majesty of the Scriptures, which he observed in John 1:1-15. So for our forefathers in times of Popery, Mr Fox observeth, that by the reading of Chaucer’s books some were brought to the knowledge of the truth. And in that rarity of books and want of teachers, this one thing I greatly marvel at (saith he), to note in the registers, and consider how the word of God did multiply so exceedingly as it did among them. For I find that one neighbour resorting to and conferring with another, again, with a few words of their first or second talk, did win and turn their minds to that wherein they desire to persuade them touching the truth of God’s word and sacraments.
Ver. 40. Were come unto him] We no sooner believe, but we would fain see, and be brought a spe ad speciem, from hope to sight.
Ver. 41. Because of his own word] This is it alone that is the foundation of faith, and converts the soul, Psalms 19:7. That of good wives winning their husbands, 1 Peter 3:1, is meant by way of preparation only in general. And that of winning a soul by private admonition, James 5:20, is meant of persuading them to some good duty, or to receive some truth, or to forsake some one evil or error.
Ver. 42. Not because of thy saying] Properly, because of thy prittle prattle, Δια την σην λαλιαν, propter loquacitatem tuam. So perhaps it seemed to some of them at first, who believed indeed when they heard him. Plato gives a good rule, Co nsider not so much τις as τι, who saith, as what is said. Prejudicate opinion bars up the understanding; muddy water in a vessel causeth the best liquor to run over. Intus existens prohibet alienum.
Ver. 43. After two days he departed] Though never so much made of, we must away when there is something elsewhere to be done for God.
Ver. 44. Jesus himself testified] Had testified, when he was cast out at Nazareth; therefore he came no more there. A minister that can do no good once in the place where he lives, is bound to leave, though the fault be not in him, but the people, saith an interpreter here; otherwise (if for self-respects he there abide) it is to be feared that he will lose his gifts, and either fall into errors and heresies, or prove but a dull and dry doctor. Metuendum est ne donum quod acceperis, omittas vel degeneres in errores, vel haereses, vel si retineas puritatem doctrinae, evadas tamen frigidus et aridus doctor. (Rolloc in loc.)
Ver. 45. The Galileans received him] Though those of Nazareth would not, others did. He that is sent and gifted by God shall have one where or other to exercise his gifts, as the English exiles at Geneva, Zurich, &c.; as Zanchius, when he could not rest at Argentina, was received at Clavenna. Having seen all the things he did, &c.] Christ’s miracles were as the sermon bell, that called them together. These the men of Nazareth also had seen, but with prejudice, and therefore to no profit.
Ver. 46. A certain nobleman] One that belonged to the king, Βασιλικος, a royalist; for so the common people flatteringly styled Herod the tetrarch. Few noblemen came to Christ; this, not till he was driven to him by his son’s sickness. “Not many noble are called,” 1 Corinthians 1:26; if any, they are as black swans, and thinly scattered in the firmament of a state, even like stars of the first magnitude.
Ver. 47. Besought him that he would, &c.] Even Darius, king of Persia, can give order for prayers to be made at Jerusalem for the “king’s life and his sons,” Ezra 6:10, when he had seen various of his children die before him, as Ctesias relateth.
Ver. 48. Except ye see signs, &c.] Our Saviour first chides him, and upon his well bearing of that, accommodates him. He saw the courtiers’ unbelief more dangerous to his soul than the disease could be to his son’s body.
Ver. 49. Sir, come down] He fumes not at reproof (as many great ones would have done, Tange montes, et fumigabunt), but “suffers the word of exhortation,” Hebrews 13:22, being subdued thereunto by affliction.
Ver. 50. Thy son liveth] Is in very good health; for non est vivere, sed valere, vita It is not to live but to live in good health, (Martial). So God is better to us ofttimes than our prayers, than our hopes.
Ver. 51. Thy son liveth] So the son was restored by his father’s faith. It is a benefit to be born of good parents. Personal goodness is profitable to posterity.
Ver. 52. Then inquired he, &c.] By a sweet providence, that God might be the more glorified and the man’s faith confirmed. “All things cooperate,” &c., Romans 8:28. So at the same time wherein the states of Germany (after long debate) concluded for the truth of the gospel, Luther came leaping out of his closet where he had been praying (though many miles distant) with vicimus, vicimus we conquer, we conquer, in his mouth. So Musselborough field was won by the English the selfsame day and hour wherein those Balaam’s blocks (idolatrous images) were burnt at London by order of Parliament.
Ver. 53. And he himself believed] With a justifying faith, introduced at first by a common faith.
Ver. 54. This is again the second miracle] God keeps count of what he doth for us, and will call us to a reckoning. Should not we keep a register? write up the noble acts of the Lord? make a catalogue of them, such a one as was that Judges 10:11,12. “Did not I deliver you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Zidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites did oppress you, and ye cried unto me, and I delivered you out of their hand.” According to this form, and many the like in sacred Scripture, we should polish and garnish, embroider and embellish, the magnalia Dei, great works of God; for else we undervalue them, which he will not bear with.