45. Philip not only obeys the call to become a disciple himself, but brings another disciple with him to Jesus. Nathanael (= _Deus dedit_) was a native of Cana in Galilee (John xxi. 2), and is most probably identical with Bartholomew (= son of Tolmai) the Apostle, “For Nathanael and Philip are coupled in John i. 45, as Bartholomew and Philip are here (Matt. x. 3); Nathanael is named in the very _midst_ of Apostles, John xxi. 2. ‘There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas, who is called Didymus, and Nathanael who was of Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee.’ Would anyone but an Apostle be so named? Finally, Matthew, Luke, and Mark do not allude to Nathanael, nor does John to Bartholomew” (M’Carthy on Matt. x. 3). *The son of Joseph.* Doubtless, he means a son conceived and born in the ordinary way. So it was generally thought, and so thought Philip, ignorant of the miraculous conception of Christ, and of His birth at Bethlehem. It is absurd to charge our Evangelist, as De Wette has done, with ignorance of Christ’s miraculous birth of a virgin, because he records the ignorance of Philip. *Nazareth*, for ever famous as the scene of the incarnation, was a little town in Lower Galilee, in the tribal territory of Zabulon. It was the dwelling‐place of our Lord during His private life. Nazareth, indeed all Galilee, was held in contempt (see John vii. 52), and hence Nathanael’s doubt, (verse 46), though he was himself a Galilean (John xxi. 2). 47. Vidit Iesus Nathanaël 47. Jesus saw Nathanael coming venientem ad se, et dicit de to him, and he saith of him: eo; Ecce vere Israelita, in Behold an Israelite indeed, in quo dolus non est. whom there is no guile. 48. Dicit ei Nathanaël: Unde 48. Nathanael saith to him: me nosti? Respondit Iesus, et Whence knowest thou me? Jesus dixit ei: Priusquam te answered, and said to him: Philippus vocaret, cum esses Before that Philip called sub ficu, vidi te. thee, when thou wast under the fig‐tree, I saw thee. 49. Respondit ei Nathanaël, et 49. Nathanael answered him, ait: Rabbi, tu es Filius Dei, and said: Rabbi, thou art the tu es rex Israel. Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. 47‐49. When Nathanael had approached near enough to be able to hear what was said, but before he had spoken anything from which our Lord might have been thought to guess at his character, our Lord said: *Behold an Israelite ** indeed, in whom there is no guile*; that is to say, one who, not merely by descent, but by the simplicity and honesty of his character, is a true son of Jacob. See Gen. xxv. 27; Rom. ix. 6. Jacob’s name was changed into Israel, after he wrestled with the angel, Gen. xxxii. 28.