Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
Ver. 44. Now Philip was of Bethsaida] So was Andrew and Peter, who would not be wanting to preach to this town, and pray for it. But all in vain; whence that, "Woe unto thee, Bethsaida,"Matthew 11:21. Christ would not suffer so much as the blind man he had cured to go thither, Mark 9:27 .
Thou art the Son of God] For else thou couldst never have known me so thoroughly at so great a distance. The Samaritess,John 4:29,30; John 4:39,42, believed on the same ground ("Come see a man that told me all that ever I did"), but not so soon; Diserimen est a Deo, non natura. God and not nature made the difference. That message that God had accepted a ransom, had a present effect upon that distressed man,Job 33:24, in reviving his spirit. Not so upon David, though it were delivered to him by the mouth of Nathan, 2 Samuel 12:13; cf. Psalms 51:8. God is a free agent, and gives grace and peace at his own pleasure.