If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so Num. xxi. 8. must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

SECT. III. JOHN'S LAST TESTIMONY TO JESUS.*

After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Ænon near to Salim,

* Jesus retired from Jerusalem, but lingered still in Judea, spending the summer months which succeeded the passover in some district of the country near to where John was baptizing. His early Judean ministry probably lasted for seven or eight months, though Greswell and others would make it very much less. Enon, a "place of waters," was somewhere in the northern portion of the valley of the Jordan, but its exact site is unknown. From the remark that John was not yet imprisoned, we gather the fact that the Evangelist John, who alone narrates the Judean ministry, wrote to supplement the other accounts. The five early followers had accompanied Jesus from Galilee, and probably remained with him during his Judean ministry, the rite of baptism being to some of them, who were disciples of the Baptist, no new ceremony, and the relation to Jesus yet continuing only the same as it was before to John, and very unlike what it afterwards became. Perhaps during this period Jesus may have attended the feasts of pentecost and tabernacles at Jerusalem. The order of the Section is determined by comparing John iii. 24 with Matt. iv. 12 and Mark i. 14.

because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison. Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

SECT IV. IMPRISONMENT OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.* (MATT. xiv. MARK VI. LUKE iii.)

But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by John for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married (for John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife), and for all the evils which he had

*Nearly all harmonists insert the imprisonment of John immediately after the delivery of his last decisive testimony to the divine mission and Messiahship of Jesus. About the end of the year 27 A.D. he was incarcerated in the castle of Macherus, a gloomy fortress on the confines of Arabia, at the instigation of Herodias, and probably, too, of the Pharisees, whose jealousy and rage were now aroused.

done, added yet this above all, that he sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison. Herodias also, for the same reason, had a quarrel against John, and would have killed him; but she could not: and when Herod would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet, and he feared John also, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and he observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.

SECT. V.

JESUS DEPARTS TO GALILEE.*

(MATT. iv. MARK i. LUKE iv.)

Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, and when he knew how the Pharisees had heard that he made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), he left Judea and returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria.

SECT. VI. CONVERSATION WITH THE WOMAN OF

SAMARIA.
(JOHN iv.)

SYCHAR, 13th Dec., 27 A.D.

Then cometh Jesus to a city of Samaria,† which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his Josh.xxiv. 32

The number of the disciples of Jesus increased so much that his fame began to eclipse that of John. But neither John's baptism nor that of Jesus, through his disciples, had led the inhabitants of Judea to repentance. The ecclesiastical authorities had held almost wholly aloof; and now the attempt to convince the Jews, his brethren according to the flesh, having failed, he departed for Galilee. Herod indeed reigned there, but the power of the Pharisees would no longer have effect. The order is fixed by comparing John iii. 24 with Matt. iv. 12 and Mark i. 14. † Christ's nearest and most direct route for Galilee lay through Samaria. He would walk along the plain of Mukhna to the entrance of the narrow valley lying between Mount Ebal and Gerizim; and upon a spur of the latter height stood Jacob's well, the town of Sychar lying about a mile and a half up the valley. This well, 9 feet in diameter and 75 feet in depth, cut out of the solid rock, is perhaps the only well defined locality in Palestine that can now be connected with the presence of the Redeemer. Yet even it is much destroyed and defiled. It was probably at noon, the sixth hour by Jewish computation, that Jesus arrived at Jacob's well. Sychar is the ancient Shechem, now called Nablous. It was called Sychar, the heathen city," as a term of reproach and contempt. It was the chief city of the Samaritans, inhabited by Gentiles and reprobate Jews, and situated forty miles north of Jerusalem.

son Joseph.

Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore Gen. xxxiii. 18 being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it

was about the sixth hour.

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.* Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain;† and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place

* Many causes concurred to occasion the inveterate hatred of the Jews towards the Samaritans, a people of mixed origin and mutilated faith, the worship of Jehovah being mingled with many idolatrous rites. Consult 2 Kings xvii. 22-41 and Neh. iv. 1-14.

Sanballat, by the permission of Alexander the Great, had built a temple upon Mount Gerizim for his son-in-law Manasseh, who, on account of his marriage, had been expelled from the priesthood and from Jerusalem. This temple was destroyed by Hyrcanus, a high priest and prince of the Jews; yet the Samaritans had perhaps to some extent rebuilt it, and still resorted thither. Their ideas regarding the character and reign of the Messiah were derived from the Pentateuch alone.

where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for Isa. ii. 3. salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. 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.* And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all

In Palestine four months intervene between seed time and harvest time. Harvest begins about the middle of April; so the date of this incident must have been about the middle of December. Though there were yet four months till the beginning of the earthly harvest, already, says Jesus, the spiritual harvest is ripe.