---

I. THE ACCUSATIONS.

1. "Thou art a Samaritan," and not only worthy of the contempt of a Jew, but one whose declaration on a matter of faith was unworthy of regard, inasmuch as He was a heretic. The charge has reference —

(1) To the fact that He followed not the rigid traditions of the elders, which constituted in the minds of the people, the very essence of their religion.

(2) Because He had held intercourse with the Samaritans, had preached to them, and had been received by them.

(3) Because in one of His recorded parables, as doubtless in others not recorded, He had commended one of this nation for his charity, and had held him up as an example to His Jewish hearers.

(4) Because, as the Samaritans had mingled their own Gentile traditions with the law of Moses, so our Blessed Lord, in expounding the law, had drawn out its spiritual meaning, which was as alien to the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees as the traditions of the Samaritans.

(5) There may have been also a special reference to the circumstance, that Nazareth, where He had been brought up, was nigh to the country of the Samaritans. By this first term of reproach they declared that He had no interest in the promises made by God to Israel.

2. "Thou hast a devil." They denied that He had any fellowship with the God of Israel. He had a devil —

(1) Because, as they said, He did His miracles by the power of Beelzebub, the chief of the devils.

(2) Because, as the devil attempted to make himself equal with God, so did Christ declare Himself to be equal to and one with the Father.

(3) The seeming folly of His words and pretensions was another reason for attributing His actions to the inspiration of the Evil Spirit. He hath a devil, and is mad, why hear ye Him?

II. THE DEFENCE.

1. To the first accusation He made no reply.

(1) It was personal, and did not concern His life and doctrine, and so He passes it by. One mark of His sinlessness is the absence of all anger at personal slights. It is the mark of a mind enfeebled by sin not to be able to bear personal affronts, as it is the mark of a diseased body to shrink from touch.

(2) Since He came to break down the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile, He would not, by replying to this charge, sanction the contempt of the Jews for the Samaritans, a people called to salvation equally with themselves.

(3) He passes over this charge, it may be also, in tenderness to the Samaritans, amongst whom were many who believed on Him. When Christ would abate the pride of those who flocked around Him, which was the cause of so much of their blindness of heart, He at times used roughness; now, when He had to suffer rebuke, He answers with the greatest mildness, leaving us a lesson to be strict and uncompromising in everything that really concerns God, whilst we are indifferent to all things that merely regard ourselves.

2. "I have not a devil," He says. None of us are free from having a devil, for all sin in some measure comes from him; so that here again we have a declaration of the perfect sinlessness of the Son of Man. He, and He only, never had a devil. Again, His words reach beyond this; I cannot, He says, do these things by the power and assistance of Satan, for I at the same time honour My Father, who is the enemy of Satan(1) By the holiness of My life; for which of you convinceth Me of sin?

(2) By condemning the works of the devil — murder, and lying, and all those other sins which are his special works.

(3) By not attempting to do what Satan is always striving to do in seeking to usurp to himself the glory which belongs to the Father. Our Blessed Lord's argument to those who blasphemed Him is this: No one who has a devil honours God or can honour Him, but on the other hand he dishonours Him; but I honour my Father — God: therefore I have not a devil.

(W. Denton, M. A.)

---

---

KJV: Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?

WEB: Then the Jews answered him, "Don't we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?"