Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
ην δε ο φιλιππος απο βηθσαιδα εκ της πολεως ανδρεου και πετρου
12 Church Fathers comment on this verse
But He calls Philip as one known to Him more than the others. Since Philip had been born and raised in Galilee, he surely knew Christ more than the others did.
Thus, having gained some disciples, Christ goes to catch others, and draws Philip and Nathanael to Himself. The Evangelist also names Philip’s village in order to show how “God chose the weak things of the world” (1 Cor 1:27).
By what, then, was Philip persuaded so quickly? It seems, first, that the Lord’s voice caused a certain wound of love in his soul.
For the Lord’s speech was not spoken in an ordinary way. It immediately kindled the hearts of the worthy with love for Him. Thus Cleopas and his companion say, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road?” (Lk 24:32).
On the next day Jesus wished to go into Galilee, and He finds Philip and says to him, Follow Me. Now he was from the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip finds Nathanael (cf. Jn 1:43-44).
Philip had already been called by the Lord. He says to him: We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets wrote, Jesus, the son of Joseph (Jn 1:45).
He was called the son of the man to whom His Mother was betrothed. For all Christians know well from the Gospel that He was conceived and born without violation of Her virginity.
This is what Philip said to Nathanael. He also added the place of His origin: from Nazareth. And Nathanael said to him, From Nazareth something good can come (cf. Jn 1:45-46).
How should this be understood, brethren? Not as some pronounce it. For it is usually pronounced: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Especially since Philip's words follow: Come and see (Jn 1:46).
These words of Philip can follow either statement. Either you pronounce the phrase as an affirmation: From Nazareth something good can come, and the other answers, Come and see.
Or you pronounce it as doubting and asking: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? and the other answers, Come and see. Whether it is pronounced one way or the other, the following words will not contradict it.
We, however, must examine how these words are more correctly understood.
What kind of man this Nathanael was we learn from what follows. Listen to what kind of man he was. The Lord Himself bears witness about him.
As the great Lord was revealed through the testimony of John the Baptist, so blessed Nathanael was revealed through the testimony of the Truth.
Yet even if the Lord had not been witnessed to by John, He Himself would have borne witness to Himself, because the Truth is sufficient as His own witness.
But because men could not find the truth, they sought it with the help of a lamp. Therefore John was sent, so that through him the Lord might be revealed.
The Evangelist also says from what city he came, namely Bethsaida, a small and obscure city, so that you may know that God chose the weak things of this world.
On the next day, intending to depart for Galilee, Jesus Christ meets Philip. Philip was already prepared for faith in Jesus Christ through the Baptist, whose disciple he probably was.
He may also have been prepared through Andrew and Peter, his fellow villagers. Thus a single word from Jesus Christ was enough for him to follow Him.
The Evangelist supplements the brief account of Philip's calling with an equally brief indication of his place of origin. This, however, applies in the same way to the first disciples.
Verse 44: "Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter."
Philip was from the city of Bethsaida. Two cities are known by the name Bethsaida: Bethsaida of Galilee and the so-called Bethsaida-Julias. This Bethsaida was named Julias by the tetrarch Philip in honor of the daughter of Augustus, Josephus, Antiquities 16.2.
The first was located on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum, only somewhat farther south. The second was also near Capernaum, but to the north, on the border of Galilee and Iturea, and at some distance from the sea, although the very name means house of fish, Beth-saida.
The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish was performed by the Lord near this second Bethsaida, Mk 6:31-53, and especially verse 45. Philip's homeland was the first Bethsaida. Now, on the site of Bethsaida, small heaps of stones overgrown with shrubs may be seen. John states this clearly in another place: "They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee" (Jn 12:21).
The Evangelist's remark that Andrew and Peter came from the same city gives the right to suppose that, as Philip's fellow countrymen, they had already managed to tell him about Jesus Christ. Therefore the Lord, seeing him prepared, said to him directly: "Follow Me."
Perhaps the Evangelist mentioned Andrew and Peter's origin from the same city as Philip in order to show how little the Lord paid attention to outward advantages. He gathered His disciples not from the renowned learned men of Jerusalem, but from the poor inhabitants of a scarcely known small city such as Bethsaida. See the Homilies of Eusebius, Bishop of Samaria, I, p. 58, 1855.
But here a question arises. Is Bethsaida rightly called the native city of Andrew and Peter, when from Mark's Gospel we know that both lived in Capernaum, Mk 1:29? This apparent contradiction is easily resolved.
Since Bethsaida lay near Capernaum, about an hour and a half away, Peter, lively and active by nature, acquired a house in the wealthy and commercial city of Capernaum and settled there with his whole family. See The Life of Jesus Christ and the Lives of the Twelve and Seventy Apostles, Tikhomirov translation, part II, p. 2.
This is why Mark says that Peter and Andrew lived in Capernaum. One more remark. Since the name Philip is Greek, exegetes usually think that he was by origin half-Jew and half-Hellenist. In their opinion this is confirmed by the fact that the Greeks who wished to see the Lord addressed their request not to any other Apostle, but precisely to Philip, Jn 12:20-21.
But it can hardly be admitted that the one who was to be one of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb, Rev 21:14, was not a Jew according to the flesh. Philip's Greek name, like that of Andrew, Peter's brother, indicates only that Galilee at that time was highly Hellenized.
As for the fact that the Greeks who wished to see the Lord addressed their request to Philip, this may be explained simply by their personal acquaintance with Philip, or even by mere chance.
On the next day Jesus was preparing to go, or had already gone, into Galilee. His disciples were with Him: Andrew, John, Peter, and perhaps James.
Jesus meets Philip, an acquaintance of Andrew and Peter, who lived in the same city with them, Bethsaida. He says to him, Follow Me. Philip immediately followed Him.
The calling of Philip and Nathanael.
Whether Philip had been at the Jordan with John, and whether he had heard his testimony concerning Jesus Christ, is unknown. One may suppose that he had been there and had heard John's testimony.
Like all the Jews, he expected the Messiah in the splendor of earthly greatness. Yet he followed Jesus without objection, though He was a poor Man and outwardly in no way resembled the conqueror imagined by the Jews of that time.
In their blindness, they dreamed that this conqueror would subject all nations of the earth to Israel. Philip's friend Nathanael strengthens us in this supposition.
Nathanael had not heard John's testimony concerning Jesus. Therefore he did not immediately believe that Jesus of Nazareth could be the Messiah.
However it may have been, Philip followed Jesus. After conversing with Him, he became finally convinced of Him. Meeting Nathanael, he told him with rapture that Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth, is the One of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote.
Calling Jesus the son of Joseph from Nazareth, Philip of course did not know that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem and was not Joseph's son. In speaking this way, he repeated the commonly accepted opinion of that time concerning Jesus' origin.
Nathanael belonged to the kind of people who try first to be convinced of the truth of what they are asked to believe. Knowing that the inhabitants of Nazareth did not enjoy a good reputation, he doubted the truth of Philip's words.
He said, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip did not begin to argue with him, but left him to be convinced for himself that Jesus of Nazareth is truly the promised Messiah.
Come and see, Philip said to him.
The third day after His return from the wilderness was apparently spent by Jesus Christ in conversation with His new disciples. On the fourth day He wished to set out on the return journey to Galilee.
On the way He met another young fisherman, Philip from Bethsaida. Philip bore a Greek name. Perhaps it was given to him after the tetrarch Philip, since the custom of naming children after reigning sovereigns has always been widespread among the people.
If so, he was about thirty years old at that time. It is also possible that his Greek name indicated his close relations with some Greek-speaking population that lived mixed with the Galileans along the shores of the lake of Gennesaret.
This easily explains why the Greeks who, in the last week of Christ's life, wished to see Him, turned precisely to him and not to some other Apostle.
At the single authoritative word, Follow Me, Philip followed Christ and became His permanent disciple.
On the next day means after the preliminary calling to apostleship of Andrew and Peter (Jn 1:40-41), and perhaps also of John and James. The Evangelist himself, out of modesty, is silent about this, but it may be supposed with some grounds.
He wished to go into Galilee means that, having formed the intention, He was preparing to go into Galilee.
This is not the journey into Galilee described by the first three Evangelists as taking place at the beginning of the Lord's public ministry, after the baptism and temptation (Mt 4:12; Mk 1:14; Lk 4:14).
The journey into Galilee mentioned by the first three Evangelists occurred after John the Baptist had been taken into custody. This one was earlier (cf. Jn 3:24; Jn 4:1-3).
The first Evangelists are silent about this, and only John speaks of it.
He finds Philip: not yet on the way to Galilee, but only when He had formed the intention to set out. It seems this happened there, on the banks of the Jordan.
Was Philip perhaps even a disciple of John the Baptist? At least he was from Bethsaida, from the same city as Andrew, who had been a disciple of the Baptist and now followed the Lord Jesus.
Peter was also from there, and his brother Andrew had likewise drawn him to Christ. Was it not through these two new disciples of His that the Lord found this new disciple too?
Follow Me: this was not yet the calling to apostolic ministry, which, according to the first three Evangelists, took place later (Mt 10:1 and note, and parallels).
Rather, it was the Lord's preliminary acquaintance with His future disciple, as with the others mentioned in this chapter. They all follow the Lord together into Galilee, where soon they were all at the wedding in Cana (Jn 2:2, 11).
Perhaps all these Galileans were disciples of the Baptist. Now, having become acquainted with the Lord, they followed Him to their homeland, Galilee, where He had now intended to go.
From verse 40 the Evangelist tells of Christ's calling Peter, James, Philip, and Nathanael into the number of His disciples.
The Evangelist John dwells in greater detail on the circumstances of the calling of the Apostles Peter and Nathanael. In Nathanael's calling, attention is drawn to Nathanael's words: Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
Attention is also drawn to the Lord's words to Nathanael: Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
From childhood Jesus Christ lived in Nazareth. By the place of His permanent residence He was called Jesus of Nazareth. Only His close relatives knew that He had been born in Bethlehem.
Nathanael, as a pious man, knew Holy Scripture well. According to Micah's prophecy, he awaited the appearance of the Messiah from Bethlehem, the ancestral city of King David.
Therefore Nathanael expressed perplexity when he learned from Philip that the Messiah was not from Bethlehem, but from Nazareth, a small and little-known town in Galilee.
This was all the more so because the inhabitants of Galilee did not have a good reputation among strict Jews. They were blamed for friendship with pagans and for departures in life from the ceremonial law of Moses.
Strong in direct faith in Christ as the Messiah, Philip does not enter into dispute with Nathanael. He proposes that he come and see, so that he may resolve his doubt personally.
Clearly, a deep mystery in Nathanael's life was connected with the fig tree. As soon as Christ said that He had seen Nathanael under the fig tree, Nathanael immediately abandoned all his doubts.
He cried out with rapture: Rabbi, You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.
Holy Scripture nowhere explains Nathanael's mystery. There is an opinion that Nathanael, intensely awaiting the appearance of the Messiah, secretly prayed daily under the fig tree because of a vow he had made to God.
In his prayer his thought was constantly turned toward the Messiah and Savior promised by God. When Jesus revealed his mystery, which no one except God could know, not the slightest doubt remained for Nathanael.
Before him stood the Messiah Himself, for whose appearance in the world he had so fervently implored God.
On the next day He wished to go forth into Galilee, and He found Philip and said to him, Follow Me. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
Bethsaida, the homeland of Peter and Andrew, was on the western shore of the Galilean lake (Jn 12:21). There was another Bethsaida, from which the wilderness began (Lk 9:10).
This one lay on the eastern shore of the Galilean lake and was named Julias in honor of Augustus's daughter Julia.
By noting Philip's place of residence, the Evangelist certainly wishes to indicate that Philip had been somewhat prepared to become a hearer of Jesus through close acquaintance with Andrew and Peter, his fellow citizens.
The Knower of hearts saw that Philip's soul, prepared by conversation with his fellow citizens, was ready to follow Him. Therefore He offers Philip neither instruction nor exhortation, but only says, Follow Me. And Philip went.
What Philip then heard from Jesus justified his expectations.
We mentioned above that the Lord was staying somewhere near the Jordan on the way from Bethabara to Galilee. Bethabara lay beyond the Jordan, that is, in the part of Palestine called Perea.
In all likelihood, however, the road from Bethabara to Galilee did not run on the Transjordan side, but on the right side of the river through Samaria.
When the Gospel says that the Lord was pleased to go forth into Galilee, one must understand that the Lord wished to return within the borders of the region called Galilee.
This part of Palestine, together with Perea, was then governed by the tetrarch Herod Antipas, son of Herod I and Malthace, the mother of Archelaus.
After the death of Herod I, Emperor Augustus divided his possessions among his three sons according to his will. Archelaus, with the title of ethnarch, received Judea, Samaria, and Idumea.
Philip received Trachonitis, Iturea, Batanea, and Auranitis. Galilee and Perea were allotted to Herod Antipas. Philip and Herod bore the title of tetrarchs.
The cruelty of Archelaus caused his exile to Gaul in the tenth year of his reign. For this reason Judea was governed by a Roman procurator.
This border ran along the valley of Jezreel, about half a degree, or about fifty versts, north of Bethabara.
The Lord does not meet Philip by chance, but finds him. The Lord Himself chooses the disciples (Jn 15:16). The Father gave them to the Son (Jn 17:6).
We do not know where the Lord finds Philip. It may even have been already within the borders of Galilee, where the Lord was going with Andrew, Simon, John, and perhaps James.
Nor do we know Philip's origin. Yet one cannot fail to notice that his name is certainly Greek. It is remarkable that the Greeks who wished to see the Lord addressed their request precisely to him (Jn 12:20-21).
Perhaps Philip was by blood half-Jew and half-Greek. We shall see below, however, that some persons, such as Nathanael, are called by their surnames rather than their names.
Concerning Bethsaida, the homeland of Philip and of Peter and Andrew, it must be noted that there were two Bethsaidas. One was Galilean, of which this passage speaks.
The other was Bethsaida Julias, on the border of Galilee and Perea, more precisely Gaulanitis, north of the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias.
This latter Bethsaida, Bethsaida Julia, became a city only under the tetrarch Philip, as Flavius Josephus indicates. This latter Bethsaida was named Julias by the tetrarch Philip in honor of Augustus's daughter.
Apparently it did not lie right on the shore, although the name Bethsaida means house of fish. The Lord's miracle of multiplying the loaves and fish was performed near this second Bethsaida Julias.
This is clear from comparing Mk 6:31-53, especially verse 45, with Lk 9:10. See also Jn 6:17 and Mt 14:14-34.
For after this miracle the Lord's disciples get into a boat to cross the sea and return home to Capernaum (Jn 6 and others).
Galilean Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, from which Philip also came, was on the western shore of the lake near Capernaum.
Undoubtedly this house of fish was the older of the two settlements of the same name. It was called Bethsaida because its whole population was engaged in fishing.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 12 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS