Behold, An Israelite in whom there is no Jacob
When Jesus saw Nathanael, he said something that baffled me until I took a Greek reading class in college. We were going through this chapter and we read this section. When Jesus tells him that there is no deceit in him (47) he is literally saying that there is no "Jacob" in him. We know from the OT that Jacob was a deceiver, he was a trickster that did everything for his own gain. Then he had an encounter with God and was changed...his name was changed to Israel. Nathanael was surprised by this; "How does this guy know anything about me?" he might have thought. He then asks him what he is thinking..."How do you know me?" Then Jesus says something that is striking...and we can miss it if we go over it too quickly and just take it at face value. "Before Phillip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you," (48). Now the fig tree was a symbol of home and was a place for prayer and meditation and study. Could it be that while Nathanael was under this fig tree, communing with his God, he had an experience of some sort? An experience with God that was outstanding and extraordinary? This would certainly explain Nathanael's response in the next verse. Jesus was there with him when he sought out God under that fig tree. That fig tree may represent Nathanael's relationship with God. We all have a place where we have "felt" God more so than in other places. Jesus tells him, "I saw you there; I was with you; I experienced that with you." Whatever the instance, Nathanael recognized the instance Jesus is talking about and proclaims, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Oh what a response! He attributes divinity to Jesus from his knowing of the fig tree. He calls him the "King of Israel" (which is interesting to note...here at the beginning of his ministry, Jesus is called the King of Israel...and at the end, at the cross, he is given this title once again...but not in the same sincerity). Jesus then responds with a challenge. "You believe because I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these," (50).
Thanks to Joey Dodson and Leon Morris' Commentary on John for the insight into this passage, where many of these ideas came.
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