*That Jesus.* Not that He Himself; because the report which the Pharisees had heard is given verbatim, “that” (ὅτι) merely introducing it. 2. (Quamquam Iesus non 2. (Though Jesus _himself_ did baptizaret sed discipuli not baptize, but his eius,) disciples,) 2. Jesus Himself did not usually baptize; probably because, like St. Paul (1 Cor. i. 14‐16), His mission was to preach and teach. It by no means follows from this verse that He never baptized anyone; and many writers are of opinion that He baptized some Himself. 3. Reliquit Iudaeam, et abiit 3. He left Judea, and went iterum in Galilaeam; again into Galilee. 3. Because His time to suffer had not yet come, and much of the work of His public mission still remained to be accomplished, He left Judea, the headquarters of the Pharisees, whose jealousy He knew would be aroused by the report mentioned in verse 1, and went again (see John i. 43) into Galilee. 4. Oportebat autem eum 4. And he was of necessity to transire per Samariam. pass through Samaria. 5. Venit ergo in civitatem 5. He cometh therefore to a Samariae, quae dicitur Sichar: city of Samaria which is iuxta praedium quod dedit called Sichar; near the land Iacob Ioseph filio suo. which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 4, 5. Not choosing to cross to the east of the Jordan, and go up through Peraea, as some of the stricter Jews did, who wished to avoid all possible contact with the Samaritans, He was obliged to pass through Samaria. Of the three provinces of Palestine west of the Jordan, Samaria was in the centre, with Judea to the south, and Galilee to the north. “St. John is thus careful to note that this was no mission to the Samaritans which the Lord undertook. On the contrary, the law which He imposed on His disciples: ‘And into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not’ (Matt. x. 5), this, during the days of His flesh, He imposed also on Himself. He was not sent ‘but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Matt. xv. 24; Acts xiii. 46); and if any grace reached Samaritan or heathen, it was, so to speak, but by accident, a crumb falling from the children’s table.”(38) Samaria had been the portion of the tribe of Ephraim and of half the tribe of Manasses. The province derived its name from its chief city, Samaria, which, in turn, got its name from Mount Somer (or Semer), on which it was built (3 Kings xvi. 24). See A Lap. The city called Sichar(39) (the modern Nabulus) by St. John is the ancient Sichem, where Abram built an altar to the Lord (Gen. xii. 7), under the turpentine tree behind which Jacob buried the idols of his household (Gen. xxxv. 4), and where the bones of the twelve patriarchs were laid to rest (Acts vii. 16). *Near the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph.* See Gen. xxxviii. 18, 19; Josue xxiv. 32.