Upper Egypt. There, he tells us, "the captain of the robbers (he means the wild Arabs) made them a present of a bag of flour, which he understood they wanted; and, when he would not accept a pecuniary return, they sent him half the rice they had, which proved a new and acceptable food to him. Such an intercourse appears amiable, while the contrary conduct is what this Jewish writer thinks may well occasion shame. At least this is, I think, the most natural interpretation of this clause. OBSERVATION XXVII. Curious Criticism on John iv. 6. THE learned have been greatly divided in their opinions, concerning the true meaning of the particle Tws in John iv. 6, which is rendered thus in our version, JESUS, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat THUS on the well: and it was about the sixth hour,-which every body knows with the Jews meant noon. But an attention to the usages of the East, and of antiquity, might, I think, ascertain its meaning with a good deal of exactness. Our version of the word (thus) gives no determinate idea. We know, on the contrary d P. 322. If any should doubt the truth of this fact, they may be abundantly satisfied by the collections of the learned Wolfius, of Hamburg, upon this verse. 260 Concerning their Manner of Travelling. what is meant by the translation of a celebrated writer, who renders the word by the English term immediately, but that translation, I think, by no means the happiest he has given us. It conveys the idea of extreme weariness: but nothing in the after part of the narration leads to such an interpretation; nor can I conceive, for what imaginable purpose the circumstance of his immediate throwing himself down near the well, before the woman came up, and which, consequently, it is to be supposed she knew nothing of, is mentioned by the Evangelist. Not to say that the passage cited in proof of this interpretation, (Acts xx. 11,) which, instead of so he departed, he thought signified the immediateness of his departure, by no means gives satisfaction. It is not so expressed in his own translation of that passage, nor does it appear so to signify. The simple meaning, I apprehend, of the particle is, that JESUS, being wearied with his journey, sat down by the well, like a person so wearied, as to design to take some repose and refreshment there: to which St. John adds, it was about the sixth hour. If this be just, the translation should have been something like this: "JESUS therefore being wearied with his See Doddridge's Exp. Candour, however, here obliges me to observe, that great liveliness of thought and recollection, joined with great diligence, could not be imagined to be sufficient to preserve from such inaccuracies as these, more especially in a person honoured indeed, but oppressed, with a vast variety of cares. journey, sat down accordingly, (or like such an one,) by the well. It was about the sixth hour." The particle certainly expresses conformity to an account to be given after, so John xxi. 1, JESUS shewed himself again to his disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and ON THIS WISE he himself, referring to the account about to be given. And sometimes it signifies conformity to an account that had been before given : so, John xi, 47, 48, What do we? for this man doth many miracles. If we let him THUS alone, (after this manner doing many miracles,) all men will believe on him. So ch. viii. 59, Then took they up stones to cast at him: but JESUS hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by-passed by, by hiding himself after this manner. After this latter manner it is to be understood, I think, here-JESUS being wearied with his journey sat down like a weary person by the side of the well, and in that attitude the woman found him, preparing to take some repose and repast. The disciples, it is said, ver. 8, were gone away into the city to buy meat; but it does not at all follow from thence that they all went, nor is it so probable that they did, leaving him alone; but that, on the contrary, some of them stayed with him, making such preparations as indicated a design in them to eat bread there. I have elsewhere shown, from the reports of those that have visited these countries, that it is usual for them to stop to take their repast in their journeying near water, and under the shade of trees, rocks, or something that may afford them shelter from the injuries of the air. Our LORD with his disciples seem to have had the same intention, and applied to this woman for water, of which, in those circumstances, she must have been sensible they stood in great need; and had our LORD offered to purchase it, it does not appear that she would have been surprised, for water was frequently proposed to be purchased in those hot countries anciently; and it appears, from ver. 8, there was nothing extraordinary in the dealing of the Jews with the Samaritans, as to buying and selling what astonished her was our LORD's asking for water as a favour. It was indeed no more than had often been asked by, and granted to, strangers: what one, in particular, had done aforetime, who dwelt in the land of Canaan, and asked the favour of a Syrian damsel to give him and his attendants drink, Gen. xxiv. 14 and 18, where there was no expression of surprise at it on either side. Nothing more than what has been done to strangers by the women of those countries in later times. But there were no such friendly dealings, in common, between the Jews and the Samaritans. h Numb. xx. 19: So Haynes tells us, that arriving at Nazareth, the latter end of December, about five in the evening, p. 133, k Their dealing with each other, as to buying and selling, unless where peculiar bigotry and ill-nature prevailed, will show that the Jews might, in a peaceful state of things, without being much incommoded, pass through Samaria in their way to or from the Temple, in which country, though not a very broad one, they must have had continual occasion to take their repasts, and to lodge also, in their passing through it, especially if they did not travel with greater expedition, in that part of their journey, than Joseph and Mary are supposed to have done, in the first part of their return from Jerusalem to Galilee.-Luke ii 44.' Wolfius has remarked, very justly, and I 134, upon entering "the town, we saw two women filling their pitchers with water, at the fountain I have already described, and about twelve others waiting for the same purpose; whom we desired to pour some into a trough which stood hard by, that our horses might drink. We had scarce made the request, before they instantly complied, and filled the trough, and the others waited with the greatest patience." Upon returning them thanks, "one of them with very great modesty replied, We consider kindness and hospitality to strangers, as an essential part of our duty." P. 144. They went, the Evangelist tells us, a day's journey, before they sought the child JESUS, who they supposed was in the company with some of their relations or acquaintance : now M. Maundrell assures us, that according to tradition, it was at Beer that they sought him, and that a church was built there, in memory of this circumstance, by the devout Empress Helena, p. 64; Beer, according to Maundrell, was only 3 hours from Jerusalem, p. 66, or about ten miles a day's journey then, in those circumstances, was only ten miles, but Samaria, though a narrow country, was much broader than that. |