THE KING’S BUSINESS
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that our Lord had made to any one up to this time that He was the Mes siah. He withheld this plainly explicit declaration from His own nation till He made it in response to adjuration of the High Priest the night before His death (Matt. 26:63, 64; Mark 14:61, 62). He even forbade His dis ciples declaring it to others when they themselves had come to see “ that He was the Christ” . (Matt. 16:16-20). There was no danger of stirring up insurrection and thus 'hindering His work and bringing it to a premature end by declaring plainly to ttiis ignor-j ant Samaritan woman the truth which He withheld from His own people. It was safe also to declare it to her be cause her conception of the Messiah was not as an overthrower of Roman power but as a Teacher of the Truth. The order of words in the Greek Testament is much more expressive and impressive than that given in either the Authorized •or the Revised Version. When the woman had said, “ I know that Messiah cometh: he that is called Christ: When he is come, He will declare unto us all things,” Jesus immediately said, without any prelim inaries, “ I am He.” Then He added to make it emphatic, “ The one talking to thee.” The word which we have translated “ talking” is very frequently translated “ speak” or “ speaking” as it is here rendered in both the Authorized and Revised Version, but it is the word that suggests the thought com monly expressed in English by “ talk ing” , free and familiar conversation.
It is. the same word rendered “ talk” in the next verse, though the R. V. is consistent with itself in translating it “ speak” in that verse also. The A. V. is to be preferred to the R. V., for His disciples would not have been sur prised at His merely speaking to the woman. They were surprised that He was conversing with her, not merely speaking to her but talking with her. There are those who emphasize the fact that there is no “ he” in the Greek, that what Jesus said literally translated would be “ I am” using the name of Jehovah given to Moses (Ex. 3:13, 14) but there is no warrant for this; the omission o f the pronoun is vtiy common in the Greek language and there can be no doubt from the con nection that all that Jesus meant to imply here was that He was the Mes siah. The great truth that He was the Messiah He reveals to this ignorant and sirtful woman just as He had al ready revealed to her the great truth about God and the true method oi worshiping Him. Many preachers and teachers o f the Gospel today think they must withhold the greater truths from the ignorant and sinful; they would do well to learn from the example of our Lord Himself. Ig norant as she was and sinful as she was, she was longing for the Messiah and He comes to her and reveals Him self clearly to her and immediately she became an effective missionary, lead ing a whole city to Christ. (Vs. 28-42).
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n tljr last hag, tifai great hag of tifo foaat, 3loa«0 stnnh anh retch, aaging, 3 f ang man tlfirat let Ifimnunc nntomeanhbrink.—3o^n 7-37 J
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