Why did Nathaniel ask, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth" (John 1:46)?

"Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him, We have found Him, of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus from Nazareth, the Son of Joseph" (verse 46). Nathanael was not at all prepared for this. Most surely did his heart look for Him of Whom Moses and the prophets wrote; but that the Christ was Jesus from Nazareth, the Son of Joseph, he had yet to learn. He believed in the glory of Messiah's Person, as far as the Old Testament had revealed it beforehand: it had never occurred to him how Messiah could be "from Nazareth," not to speak of "the Son of Joseph." For that village was despicable in the eyes even of a despised Galilean, who doubtless felt the more its miserably low moral repute because of his own practical godliness. Had Philip said "from Bethlehem, the Son of David," no such shock could have been given to the expecting Jew. But in truth, the Lord is here viewed as wholly above all earthly associations, and therefore He could come down to the lowest. For He was the Son of God Who came to Nazareth, and only so could be said to be "from Nazareth" any more than "the son of Joseph."

However this may be, Nathanael does not withhold his expression of hesitation. "And Nathanael said to him, Can there be any good thing out of Nazareth? Philip saith to him, Come and see" (verse 46). But there was another also to see. For Jesus, Who saw Nathanael coming to Him, gave him to hear words of grace about himself which might well surprise him in His greeting, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile" (verse 47). If the Spirit of prophecy wrought according to Ps. 32, soon was he to know the Spirit of adoption and the liberty wherewith the Son makes free.

In the ardour and generosity of a new-found heavenly joy, the earliest disciples are for telling out the news and bringing others to share the presence of Jesus with them. In this way Nathanael is brought into the scene. "Philip findeth Nathanael and saith to him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Philip had already shared the joy with Andrew, and Peter, and others, and he now delights to communicate it to Nathanael.

But the work had been already begun, the journey had already been entered upon, in the person of Nathanael. Philip's word rather found his soul in a quickened condition than produced any such thing. His answer — "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" — is not the language of popular prejudice, though such words may have been, I doubt not, common on the lips of scorners; but it is the language of a soul just emerging from a spot where deep searchings had led to some humbling and disturbed experiences in the heart and conscience.

Just as Andrew had found his brother, so Philip finds Nathanael, with the ardent desire to share with him the preciousness of knowing the Messiah, the One promised by Moses and the prophets. He does not hide the fact that Christ had come from Nazareth, a place commonly despised. For no doubt Nathanael's objection voiced the common prejudice of the Jews, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip was wiser than to argue the point, but is ready with the kind and practical invitation, “Come and see.”

Hence when Philip found Nathanael and told him they had found the One they awaited, even Jesus of Nazareth, Nathaniel said unto him, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see." (John 1:46).

But Nazareth! A place not so much as named in the Old Testament; and again in Galilee; and yet again, a village so usually unproductive of good that it had quite an ill-savour among those who knew it; for Nazareth to be the home of Israel's Saviour, seemed to tax Nathanael's mind almost to refusal. Happy he to have a friend like Philip whose wise rejoinder led him to come and see. Was he disappointed? Does God ever disappoint the man or the woman who is content to receive and learn Christ in the unexpected place?

Satan has carnal motives enough to persuade souls to do away with God. His great work is to supply us with motives powerful enough to lead us to do without God, and to shut Him out of our hearts. Here we find the way he begins. He stirs up Herod against Jesus. Then Joseph takes the young child and departs into Egypt. After that he returns into the land of Israel and dwells in Nazareth, for it was written, "He shall be called a Nazarene." This is in fact where Jesus begins in the midst of the world. And who is it who dwells there in Nazareth? It is Jehovah, the Saviour; it is "Emmanuel." And what is that city? It is so bad a place, that to be found there is enough to make men say, Ah! I will have none of it. Nathanael said to Philip, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?"

"And he went out from thence; and he comes into his own country: and his disciples follow him." Nazareth was His country, His fatherland (patris), and is so called elsewhere in the Gospels (Matt. 13:54, 57; Luke 4:23-24; John 4:44). And Nazareth was a despised town or village in the despised province of Galilee. Remote from Jerusalem and Judah, it was in the most northerly part of those tribal districts of Israel which in the days of idolatrous Jeroboam revolted from the rule of David's royal line. In the prophecies of Isaiah it is described as Galilee of the nations — the land of darkness and the shadow of death (Isa. 9:1-2; Matt. 4:14-16).

There in the purpose of God Jesus was brought by Joseph. "Directed by God in a dream Joseph carries Him into Galilee whose inhabitants were objects of sovereign contempt to the Jews, as not being in habitual connection with Jerusalem and Judah — the land of Judea — the land of David, of the kings acknowledged by God, and of the temple, and where even the dialect of the language common to both betrayed (Matt. 26:73) their practical separation from that part of the nation which by the favour of God had returned from Babylon. Even in Galilee Joseph established himself in a place, the very name of which was a reproach to one who dwelt there, and a blot on his reputation." While people of Judea looked down upon Galilee, the people of Galilee looked down upon Nazareth. The "guileless" Nathanael, who was himself a Galilean, said of Jesus in mild contempt, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?"

But when they returned they found another usurper filling the throne, and Joseph, with the holy Child Jesus, turned aside to dwell at Nazareth. At the very beginning of His pathway He had been the rejected One; now He becomes the despised One. Even the upright Nathanael shared the popular prejudice — if it was only prejudice — that Nazareth of Galilee could produce no good thing. It was the most despised town of the most despised province of a despised land.

The method of citation is worthy of note here. Note that it is not one particular prophet, but "the prophets". And by that we are to gather, not that any one inspired writer said these words, but it is the spirit of the prophets who do speak of Him. When we read in one prophet, "They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek"; in another, "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief "; and again, what they should give Him for meat, and in His thirst for drink, and how He should be taunted up to the last — we can understand this application of the prophets. It was the well-understood language expressive of contempt in that day: He should, in other words, be called a Nazarene. Nazareth was the most scorned of places. Not only did the men of Judea proper look down upon Nazareth, but the Galileans themselves despised it, though it was part of their own district. Later on we read of a guileless Israelite who, when he heard of Jesus being there, exclaimed, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Thus, if one spot in Palestine, more than another, would accord with the rejection that was the portion of Christ, it was Nazareth. A striking picture, surely, of One who, while He was the true King, was yet refused by His own people! Gentiles might have done Him reverence; but His own nation was indifferent. How little fruit was there to answer to the culture that God had bestowed upon them! But here was the blessed One who pursues His path of obedience unto death, who would not show His glory by protecting Himself. His people went down into Egypt: He goes down there also. He has to be called out of Egypt: that was His portion. He would not screen Himself from the sorrows of His people: He would share them all. When He does come forth, Israel is still unprepared for Him. His parents turn to Nazareth once more, Joseph having been again divinely instructed in a dream. This is the last mention that we have of him in Matthew. Luke gives us later circumstances; but Joseph wholly disappears before our Lord entered upon His ministry.

When He is called out of Egypt, He cannot go to Jerusalem, nor to Bethlehem either. He was to be despised and rejected: the prophets had said so: their words must be accomplished. Archelaus reigned in Judea: a usurper was still there. Joseph, at the warning of God, turns aside to Nazareth, and Jesus dwelt with them; that the word of the prophets might be fulfilled in our Lord's proving to the full what it was to be the most despised of men. He knew it pre-eminently on the cross; but it was His all through. And this is the way that God speaks of the Messiah to Israel. He shows what their hardness of heart and unbelief would entail — even if it were to the Messiah Himself. What a picture of man, and especially of Israel, when such must be His portion! He comes and calls, but no answer greets Him. The unbelief of man hinders the blessing of God. It was the sin of Israel that thus complicated the early history of the King. But future chapters will show that God would turn the very unbelief of Israel into the means of blessing for the despised Gentiles, and that if the Jews rejected the counsel of God, to their own perdition, the Gentiles would hear and receive all blessing in the blessed One.

In chapter 4 the Lord goes to Nazareth, a place so despised that it could be asked, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" John 1:46. What poverty of thought! There in Nazareth "where He had been brought up" the Lord Jesus went into the synagogue and preached. Perhaps that is one of the hardest places in which to preach — where we have been brought up! To our neighbours, to those with whom we work day by day, to those who know us intimately. It was in such circumstances, where He was known, that "all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth," (Luke 4:22). What an answer to the challenge, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" "Gracious words" sprang from the lips of Christ in Nazareth; in that lowly despised place He brought to men words which revealed to those who would hear the compassion of the heart of God, and the glory of His grace. What infinite glory has accrued to the blessed God as a consequence of those communications which have reached men in the Person of Christ.

Nathanael's reply, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?" betokened incredulity as to Philip's announcement. Wisely, how wisely, did Philip meet him. Argument would never have convinced him. But Philip, knowing what intercourse with Christ had done for himself, quietly answered, "Come and see" (46). That godly soul went with Philip, and heard, what doubtless he had never expected, of the character of reception in store for him. "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." It was one of the true Israel who was approaching the Lord, and the Lord knew it. Surprised at this declaration from One Nathanael had never before seen, he asked, as many another might have done, "Whence knowest Thou me?" That question elicited an answer, which set at rest all doubt in his mind for ever: "Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." Nathanael was won. Alone under the tree with God, Jesus of Nazareth had seen him. The conclusion was quickly drawn, and expressed too: "Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel." Andrew's testimony, that he was the Christ, Nathanael confirmed, as he exclaimed, "Thou art the King of Israel." And, what John the Baptist had declared, Nathanael endorsed. He was the Son of God. What must have been Philip's joy, as he saw the effect on his friend wrought by these few words of Christ! What mattered it now to Nathanael where the Lord had dwelt! All prejudice was dispelled in a moment. Nathanael stood in the presence of the Son of God, who was also the King of Israel. What had gone on under the fig tree the Lord knew, and Nathanael became thus aware of it. An eye had seen him, the eye of Christ. Conviction was wrought in his soul, that the One to whom Philip had brought him was really a Divine Person. And now the Lord speaks again: "Because I said to thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And He says to him, Verily, verily, I say to you" (addressing now, not Nathanael only, but Philip also, and, it may be, the others), "Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (1:50-51).