And Nathanael said unto him
Taking notice of, and laying hold on what Philip said, that he
was of Nazareth, which at once stumbled, and prejudiced him
against Jesus being the Messiah; knowing very well that Bethlehem
was to be the place of his birth:
can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
The whole country of Galilee was had in contempt with the Jews;
but Nazareth was so mean a place, that it seems it was even
despised by its neighbours, by the Galilaeans themselves; for
Nathanael was a Galilean, that said these words. It was so
miserable a place that he could hardly think that any sort of
good thing, even any worldly good thing, could come from thence;
and it was so wicked, as appears from their murderous designs
upon our Lord, that he thought no good man could arise from
hence; and still less, any prophet, any person of great note; and
still least of all, that that good thing, or person, the Messiah,
should spring from it: so that his objection, and prejudice,
proceeded not only upon the oracle in ( Micah 5:2 ) , which
points out Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah; but upon
the wickedness, and meanness, and obscurity of Nazareth.
Philip saith unto him, come and see;
who though he might not be master of this point, and knew not how
to solve this difficulty, and remove this prejudice from
Nathanael's mind, yet persuades him to go with him to Jesus; who,
he doubted not, would give him full satisfaction in this, and all
other points; and then it would most clearly appear to him, as it
had done to him, that he was the true Messiah. The phrase,
(yzx at) , "come, see", is
often used in the book of Zohar F17: so it is, and likewise,
(harw ab) , "come and
see", in the Talmudic writings F18.