John 4:47 - Exposition

This man, when he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, went unto him. This statement implies that Jesus had been in Capernaum before, and left there the impression of his power to heal and save. The rumour of transactions of this kind wrought at Capernaum had been carried from Capernaum to Nazareth (see Luke 4:1-44 .), and now the return of Jesus from Judaea was soon known in the cities along the shore of the lake. And he besought him ( obs. ἠρώτα , indicating to some extent a kind of conscious right to seek the favour) that ( ἵνα , in John, often gives the purport of a prayer or a command) he would come down (from the highlands of Galilee to the borders of the lake, sunk as it is in a deep depression) to Capernaum, and heal his son: for he was on the point of death (vulgate, incipiebat mori ; compare and contrast John 12:33 ).