John 4:46

“So Jesus came again unto Cana of Galilee, etc.] Where he had been once before; (see <430201>John 2:1,2). The Syriac version here, as there, calls it “Kotne” of Galilee; and the Persic version, “Catneh” of Galilee: where he made the water wine; (see <430209>John 2:9,11); there was a certain nobleman; the Vulgate Latin renders it, “a petty king”; the Arabic version, and Nonnus, call him, “a royal man”; and the Syriac version renders it, “a king’s servant”; with which agrees the Ethiopic, calling him “a minister, a steward, the king’s domestic”. The Persic version makes it to be his name, reading it, “there was a great man, whose name was Abdolmelic”, which signifies a king’s servant: from the…”

“nobleman--courtier, king's servant, or one connected with a royal household; such as Chuza (Luk 8:3), or Manaen (Act 13:1). heard that Jesus was come out of Judea--"where he had doubtless seen or heard what things Jesus had done at Jerusalem" (Joh 4:45), [BENGEL]. come down--for Capernaum was down on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.”

“A certain nobleman - One who was of the royal family, connected by birth with Herod Antipas; or one of the officers of the court, whether by birth allied to him or not. It seems that his ordinary residence was at Capernaum. Capernaum was about a day’s journey from Cana, where Jesus then was. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Cana: "It is worthy of remark," says Dr. E. D. Clarke, who visited Cana a few years ago, "that, walking among the ruins of a church, we saw large massy pots, answering the description given of the ancient vessels of the country; not preserved, but lying about, disregarded by the present inhabitants, as antiquities with whose original use they were unacquainted. From their appearance, and the number of them, it was quite evident that a practice of keeping water in large pots, each holding from eighteen to twenty-seven gallons, was once common in the country." (Compare the account of the water pots, Joh 2:6.) Joh 2:1-11, Joh 21:2; Jos 19:28 nobleman: or, courtier, or, ruler whose: Psa 50:15,…”