John 4:1-3 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

When the Lord knew Without receiving information from any one; how the Pharisees Whose interest in the sanhedrim was very great; had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John To shun the effects of their envy and malice, which were hereby excited; he left Judea After having continued there, it seems, about eight months; and departed again into Galilee His former place of abode, where the influence and power of the council were not so great, and where his presence was necessary, as the ministry of his forerunner in that country was now brought to a period. It seems the testimony which the Baptist had given to Christ, together with the miracles which he himself had wrought at Jerusalem during the passover, had greatly impressed the minds of the people; so that vast numbers, during his abode in those parts, were continually flocking around him, and many attached themselves to him as his followers; a circumstance which gave great umbrage to the Pharisees. For these men claimed it as the privilege of their sect to direct the consciences of the people, and were therefore enraged to find such numbers of them acknowledging, as the Messiah, one whose birth and fortune so little suited the notions which they had taught concerning the great deliverer of the nation. The evangelist informs us, that Jesus himself baptized not Perhaps because it was not proper to baptize in his own name, and because it was of more importance to preach than to baptize, 1 Corinthians 1:17. Besides, it might have given those who were baptized by him occasion to value themselves above others, as happened in the church of Corinth, where the brethren valued themselves upon the character of the persons who had baptized them. Indeed the baptism properly Christ's was that of the Holy Ghost, with which Spirit John had foretold he should baptize his followers. See Macknight.