THE KING’S BUSINESS
449
the discourse of Jesus when it is in tended that attention should be fixed upon the one of wnom this pronoun is used (see for example John 16:8, 13, 14). By the use o f this pronoun here, the woman seeks to fix the at tention on the Messiah as contrasted with and standing apart from and far above all other teachers. The woman had a true conception of the Messiah. She had. no doubt that when He came, He would solve all puzzles and' perplexities and reveal clearly all the things that man needed to know. The Greek word translated “ all things” is intensive in its form and stronger than the word ordinarily translated “ all things” , The word so translated is found only forty-four times in the entire New Testament while the common word is found hun dreds of times in various forms; in some MSS. the word commonly trans lated “ all things” is found here but it is an incorrect. reading. The; Greek word translated “ tell” in the A, V. is properly translated “ declare” as in the R. V. or “ announce.” It sets forth the idea of an authoritative message and a later day our Lord Himself says of the Holy Spirit who is to come, es sentially what the woman here says of the Messiah, and in speaking o f His declaring things that are to come, He uses precisely the same Greek word (John 16:13, R. V .). . The woman’s conception o f the Messiah’s office as a teacher was that His teaching would not be partial as the teaching of the prophets had been but that it would be absolute and com plete. It is the same thought o f the Messiah as we are given o f the Son of God in Hebrews 1 :1, 2. V. 26. Jesus saith unto (rather, to) her, I that speak unto thee am he (rather, / am he, the one talking to thee).” This was the plainest declaration
That the Messiah was coming she had no doubt; she said, “ I know that Messiah cometh.” She evidently thought that His coming was very near for she said, “When He is come, He will declare unto us , all things.” Evidently, she expected He would come during her lifetime. Her conception of the Messiah was loftier than that entertained by most people of her time, even Jews. Their expectation was of a conqueror and not of a conqueror of an altogether lofty kind. Her hope of Messiah was of a revealer of the truth, “ He will declare unto us all things” (cf. John 18:36, 37). How she came by thi«. lofty conception of the Messiah we are not told. The words, “He that is called Christ” may be a part o f the woman’s speech or they may be a comment ot John writing for Greek readers, Christ being simply the Greek equiva lent of the Hebrew Messiah, both meaning the “ anointed One.” i f they were part of the woman’s speech, they implied that the Greek title “ Christ” was popularly current at that time. This would also be indicated by verse 29. Greek was commonly spok en in that land at that time. When Paul at a later date spoke in the He brew language in Jerusalem to those who had assailed him, his hearers were apparently surprised (as well as pleased),. which would indicate that at that date at least Greek was the language in common use (Acts 22:2). The exact form of Greek words used here and translated “He that is called Christ” is used elsewhere in John’s Gospel as part of a title (ch. 11:16; 20:24; 21:2), and a similar form is also found as a name or title in Luke’s Gospel (Luke 22:1). The first “ he” in this-verse is very emphatic. It is not the usual pro noun for. “ he” , though one frequently used by John, especially in, reporting
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