John 4:33

Verse 33. Hath any man brought him aught to eat?] Has he got food in any preternatural way? They could not help remembering the miraculous interventions of Divine providence in feeding Elijah by the ravens, at the brook Cherith, 1Kg 17:4-6, and by the ministry of an angel, 1Kg 19:5-8, and our Lord's preternatural repast in the wilderness, after his victory over Satan, Mt 4:11.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(33) Hath any man brought him ought to eat?—The question expects the negative answer, “Surely no one hath brought Him anything to eat?” The only person with Him is this Samaritan woman. Surely she has not! They understand His words in the ordinary sense. He proceeds to explain their real meaning.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. Hath any man brought him] The emphasis is on ‘brought.’ ‘Surely no one hath brought Him any thing to eat.’ Another instance of dulness as to spiritual meaning. In Joh_2:20 it was the Jews; in Joh_3:4 Nicodemus; in Joh_4:11 the Samaritan woman; and now the disciples. Comp. Joh_11:12, Joh_14:5. These candid reports of what tells against the disciples add to the trust which we place in the narratives of the Evangelists.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore said the disciples one to another,.... Privately, among themselves, though in his hearing; at least he knew what they said by answer;

hath any man; or anyone, any angel from heaven, or any of the inhabitants of the city, or any man or woman, or this woman they had found him talking with:

brought him ought to eat? for they thought of nothing else but bodily food; just as when he cautioned them against the leaven of the Sadducees and Pharisees, they imagined he said it, because they had taken no bread; whereas he meant the doctrine of these persons: so dull of understanding spiritual things were the disciples themselves, that it is not so much to be wondered at that the Samaritan woman, whilst in her carnal state, when Christ spoke of living water, should understand him of material water, or spring water.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?

Ver. 33. Hath any man brought, &c.] "Are not these yet carnal, and talk as men?" 1Co 3:3. How dull and thick brained are the best till God rend the veil, and enlighten both organ and object!

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hath any man brought him ... - This is one of the many instances in which the disciples were slow to understand the Saviour.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

His disciples, being yet carnal, did not understand him, but thought that he had spoken of bodily nourishment. See the like instances, Mat 16:7; 11:13. They were wondering how he came by meat, and who should bring it him: so hard are we to conceive of spiritual things, till God openeth our eyes.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Therefore the disciples (almost as obtuse as was Nicodemus, or the Samaritaness, or as the Jews generally were, in penetrating the hidden meaning of the Lord"s words) unintentionally illustrate the parabolic method, the tissue of symbolic and metaphoric phrase which Jesus adopted throughout his ministry; they did not venture to question him further, but said one to another, Hath any one brought him aught to eat? Did that Samaritan woman or any other? They could not, or did not, rise to the spiritual or unseen, nor for the moment did they get beyond the pressing needs of the flesh. Still, in the form of their question they leave room for doubt, whether he had not been able to satisfy the craving of the flesh, to make stones into bread, or water into wine. Surely not? (The mhtiv suggests a negative answer.)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. Hath any man brought him aught to eat? They cannot think of spiritual food, heavenly manna, bread of life. Yet, long before, the prophet had spoken of this food and had said, “Ye that have no money, come, buy bread, and eat.”

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

33. πρὸς ἀλλ. Comp. Joh 4:27, Joh 16:17. They refrain from pressing Him with their difficulty.

ἤνεγκεν. Emphatic: ‘Surely no one hath brought Him anything to eat.’ This would be specially unlikely among Samaritans. Another instance of dulness as to spiritual meaning. In Joh 2:20 it was the Jews; in Joh 3:4 Nicodemus; in Joh 4:11 the Samaritan woman; and now the disciples. ‘What wonder that the woman did not understand the water? The disciples do not understand the food!’ (Augustine). Comp. Joh 11:12, Joh 14:5. These candid reports of what tells against the disciples add to the trust which we place in the narratives of the Evangelists.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33.] It is very characteristic of the first part of this Gospel to bring forward instances of unreceptivity of spiritual meaning: compare ver. 11; ch. 2:20; 3:4; 6:42, 52. The disciples probably have the woman in their thoughts.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33. The conversation pursues the course usual in Jn.’s narrative. Jesus utters a profound saying (v. 32). It is misunderstood and its spiritual meaning is not discerned (v. 33). Then He enlarges the saying and explains it to some extent.1

Here the puzzled disciples say to each other (πρὸς ἀλλήλους; cf. 16:17), “Did some one perhaps bring Him something to eat?”

μή τις ἤνεγκεν αὐτῷ φαγεῖν; For constr., see on 4:7; and cf. v. 29 for the form of the sentence.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Said [ελεγον] . Imperfect tense : began to say, or were saying. The question was discussed among them.

One to another. Fearing to ask Jesus.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 33, 34. “The disciples therefore said one to another: Has any one brought him anything to eat? 34.Jesus says unto them: My meat is to do the will of my Father and to accomplish his work.”

Μήτις introduces a negative question: “No one indeed has brought Him...?” Jesus explains the profound meaning of His answer. Here He uses βρῶμα, in connection with the gross interpretation of the disciples. We need not see in the conjunction ἵνα, as Weiss would have us, a mere periphrasis for the infinitive. That which sustains Him is His proposing to Himself continually to do...to accomplish ...The present ποιῶ —this is the reading of the T. R.—refers to the permanent accomplishment of the divine will at each moment, and the conjunctive aorist τελειώσω (to accomplish, to finish), refers to the end of the labor, to the perfect consummation of the task which will, of course, depend on the obedience of every moment (Joh 17:4). The reading (ποιήσω), of the Vatican MS., Origen, and the Greco-Latin authorities spoils this beautiful relation; it is rejected by Tischendorf and Meyer. This ποιήσω arose from an assimilation to τελειώσω.

The relation between the two substantives θέλημα (will), and ἔργον (work), corresponds with that of the two verbs. In order that the work of God may be accomplished at the last moment, His will must have been executed at every moment. Hereby Jesus makes His disciples see that, in their absence He has been laboring in the Father’s work, and that it is this labor which has revived Him. This is the idea which He is about to develop, by means of an image which is furnished Him by the present situation.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.