Nathanael

VIEW:32 DATA:01-04-2020

the gift of God
(same as Nethaneel)
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


NATHANAEL.—1. 1Es_1:8 = 2Ch_35:9 Nethanel. 2. 1Es_9:22 = Ezr_10:22 Nethanel. 3. An ancestor of Judith (Jdt_8:1). 4. Nathanael of Cana in Galilee (Joh_21:2) appears twice in the Fourth Gospel. (1) When told by Philip, ‘We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph,’ Nathanael hesitated. ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’ he asked. Philip thereupon conducted him to meet Jesus, and, when he looked on that wondrous face, his doubt vanished, and he hailed Him as the Messiah, ‘the Son of God, the King of Israel.’ See Joh_1:43-51. (2) Nathanael was one of the seven to whom the risen Lord manifested Himself at the Lake of Galilee (Joh_21:2). His name occurs only in Jn. but the following are reasons for believing that he was identical with Bartholomew, who is never mentioned by St. John, and by the other Evangelists only in their catalogues of the Apostles (Mat_10:3 = Mar_3:18 = Luk_6:14). (a) Bartholomew is not a name, but a patronymic—Bar Talmai, ‘the son of Talmai.’ (b) Nathanael appears in St. John’s narrative as a friend of Philip, and Bartholomew is coupled with Philip in the lists of the Apostles. (c) Since the others of the seven at the Lake whose names are indicated by St. John were Apostles, it is probable that Nathanael also was an Apostle. His title would thus be Nathanael har Talmai.
David Smith.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

("God given".) Hebrew Nethaneel. Of Cana in Galilee (Joh_1:47; Joh_21:2). Three or four days after the temptation, Jesus when intending to "go forth into Galilee findeth Philip and saith, Follow Me." Philip, like Andrew finding his own brother Simon (Joh_1:41), and the woman of Samaria (Joh_4:28-29) inviting her fellow townsmen, having been found himself by Jesus, "findeth" his friend Nathanael, and saith, "we have found (he should have said, we have been found by: Isa_65:1; Php_3:12 ff, Son_1:4) Him of whom the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph" (he should have said the Son of God). (For the rest, see BARTHOLOMEW.) Tradition makes Nathanael to have been the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana, to which he belonged.
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Nathan'ael. (gift of God). A disciple of Jesus Christ, concerning whom, under that name at least, we learn from Scripture little more than his birthplace, Cana of Galilee, Joh_21:2, and his simple, truthful character. Joh_1:47. The name does not occur in the first three Gospels, but it is commonly believed that Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same person.
The evidence for that belief is as follows: St. John, who twice mentions Nathanael, never introduces the name of Bartholomew at all. St. Matthew, Mat_10:3, St. Mark, Mar_3:18, and St. Luke, Luk_8:14, all speak of Bartholomew, but never of Nathanael. If was Philip who first brought Nathanael to Jesus, just as Andrew had brought his brother, Simon.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

a disciple of our Lord. He appears to have been a pious Jew who waited for the Messiah: and upon Jesus saying to him, “Before Philip called thee, I saw thee under the fig tree,” Nathanael, convinced, by some circumstance not explained, of his omniscience, exclaimed, “Master, thou art the Son of God, and the King of Israel.” Many have thought that Nathanael was the same as Bartholomew. The evangelists, who mention Bartholomew, say nothing of Nathanael; and St. John, who mentions Nathanael, takes no notice of Bartholomew. We read at the end of St. John's Gospel, that our Saviour, after his resurrection, manifested himself to Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, and the sons of Zebedee, as they were fishing in the lake of Gennesareth. We know no other circumstances of the life of this holy man.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.

Only John’s Gospel mentions Nathanael, though he is probably the same person whom Matthew, Mark and Luke call Bartholemew. (For the identification of the two names see BARTHOLEMEW.) He lived in Galilee and was introduced to Jesus by Philip (Joh_1:43-45; Joh_21:2).
Nathanael was an honest person, free of deceit (Joh_1:47). At first he had difficulty believing that the Messiah should come from the small Galilean town of Nazareth, but he was quickly convinced when he learnt first-hand of Jesus’ supernatural knowledge (Joh_1:48-49). Jesus assured Nathanael that the Messiah was more than just a person with superhuman knowledge. He was the divinely given mediator, God’s unique ‘ladder’ that connected earth and heaven. Jesus’ mission was to bring God to the world and to make it possible for the world to come to God (Joh_1:50-51).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.

Nathan?ael (given of God), a person of Cana in Galilee, who, when informed by Philip that the Messiah had appeared in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, asked, 'Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?' But he nevertheless accepted Philip's laconic invitation, 'Come and see!' When Jesus saw him coming he said, 'Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.' Astonished to hear this from a man to whom he supposed himself altogether unknown, he asked, 'Whence knowest thou me?' And the answer, 'Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee,' wrought such conviction on his mind that he at once exclaimed, 'Rabbi, thou art the son of God; thou art the king of Israel!' (Joh_1:45-51). It is clear, from the effect, that Nathanael knew by this that Jesus was supernaturally acquainted with his disposition and character, as the answer had reference to the private acts of devotion, or to the meditations which filled his mind, when under the fig-tree in his garden. It is questioned whether Jesus had actually seen Nathanael or not with his bodily eyes. It matters not to the result; but the form of the words employed seems to suggest that he had actually noticed him when under the fig-tree, and had then cast a look through his inward being. It is believed that Nathanael is the same as the apostle Bartholomew. All the disciples of John the Baptist named in St. John 1 became apostles; and St. John does not name Bartholomew, nor the other evangelists Nathanael in the lists of the apostles (Mat_10:3; Mar_3:18; Luk_6:14): besides, the name of Bartholomew always follows that of Philip; and it would appear that Bartholomew (son of Tholmai) is no more than a surname [BARTHOLOMEW].




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.

Nathanael
(Ναθαναήλ, but Ναθανάηλος in 1Es_9:22; for the Heb. נְתִנְאֵל, given of God, i.q. θεόδορος; comp. Nathan), the name of three men in the Apocrypha and one in the N.T. SEE NETHANEEL.
1. A brother of Samaras the Levite, in the time of Josias (1Es_1:8); evidently the NETHANEEL SEE NETHANEEL (q.v.) of the Heb. text (2Ch_25:9).
2. One of the "sons of Phaisus" who renounced their Gentile wives after the captivity. (1Es_9:32); evidently the NETHANEEL (s.v.) of the Heb. text (Esdr. 10:22).
3. Son of Samael and father of Eliab among the ancestry of Judith (Jdt_8:1), and therefore a Simeonite (Jdt_9:2). SEE JUDITH.
4. One of the earliest disciples of our Lord, concerning whom, under that name at least, we learn from Scripture little more than his birthplace, Cana of Galilee (Joh_21:2), and his simple, truthful character (Joh_1:47). We have no particulars of his life. Indeed the name does not occ'ur in the first three Gospels. We learn, however, from the evangelist John that Jesus on the third or fourth day after his return from the scene of his temptation to that of his baptism, having been proclaimed by the Baptist as the Lamb of God, was minded to go into Galilee. He first then called Philip to follow him, but Philip could not set forth on his journey without communicating to Nathanael the wonderful intelligence which he had received from his master the Baptist, namely, that the Messiah so long foretold by Moses and the prophets had at last appeared. Nathanael, who seems to have heard the announcement at first with some distrust, as doubting whether anything good could come out of so small and inconsiderable a place as Nazareth — a place nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament — yet readily accepted Philip's invitation to go and satisfy himself by his own personal observation (Joh_1:46). What follows is a testimony to the humility, simplicity, and sincerity of his own character from One who could read his heart, such as is recorded of hardly any other person in the Bible. Nathanael, on his approach to Jesus, is saluted by him as "an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile" — a true child of Abraham, and not simply according to the flesh. So little, however, did he expect any such distinctive praise, that he could not refrain from asking how it was that he had become known to Jesus. The answer, "before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee," appears to have satisfied him that the speaker was more than man — that he must have read his secret thoughts, and heard his unuttered prayer at a time when he was studiously screening himself from public observation, as was the custom with pious Jews (Tholuck, Comment. on John, ad loc.). The conclusion was inevitable. Nathanael at once confessed, "Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel" (Joh_1:49). B.C. 25. The name of Nathanael occurs but once again in the Gospel narrative, and then simply as one of the small company of disciples to whom Jesus showed himself at the Sea of Tiberias after his resurrection. B.C. 29. On that occasion we may fairly suppose that he joined his brethren in their night's venture on the lake — that, having been a sharer of their fruitless toil, he was a witness with them of the miraculous draught of fishes the next morning — and that he afterwards partook of the meal, to which, without daring to ask, the disciples felt assured in their hearts that he who had called them was the Lord (Joh_21:12). Once therefore at the beginning of our Savior's ministry, and once after his resurrection, does the name of Nathanael occur in the sacred record.
This scanty notice of one who was intimately associated with the very chiefest apostles, and was himself the object of our Lord's most emphatic commendation, has not unnaturally provoked the inquiry whether he may not be identified with another of the well-known disciples of Jesus. It is indeed very commonly believed that Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same person. The evidence for that belief is as follows: John, who twice mentions Nathanael, never introduces the name of Bartholomew at all. Mat_10:3; Mar_3:18; and Luk_6:14, all speak of Bartholomew, but never of Nathanael. It may be, however, that Nathanael was the proper name, and Bartholomew (son of Tholmai) the surname of the same disciple, just as Simon was called Bar-Jona, and Joses, Barnabas. It was Philip who first brought Nathanael to Jesus, just as Andrew had brought his brother Simon, and Bartholomew is named by each of the first three evangelists immediately after Philip; while by Luke he is coupled with Philip precisely in the same way as Simon with his brother Andrew, and James with his brother John. It should be observed, too, that as all the other disciples mentioned in the first chapter of John became apostles of Christ, it is difficult to suppose that one who had been so singularly commended by Jesus, and who in his turn had so promptly and so fully confessed him to be the Son of God, should be excluded from the number. Again, that Nathanael was one of the original twelve, is inferred with much probability from his not being proposed as one of the candidates to fill the place of Judas. Still we must be careful to distinguish conjecture, however well founded, from proof. To the argument based upon the fact that in John's enumeration of the disciples to whom our Lord showed himself at the Sea of Tiberias Nathanael stands before the sons of Zebedee, it is replied that this was to be expected, as the writer was himself a son of Zebedee; and, further, that Nathanael is placed after Thomas in this list, while Bartholomew comes before Thomas in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But as in the Acts Luke reverses the order of the two names, putting Thomas first and Bartholomew second, we cannot attach much weight to this argument. St. Augustine not only denies the claim of Nathanael to be one of the Twelve, but assigns as a reason for his opinion that whereas Nathanael was most likely a learned man in the law of Moses, it was, as Paul tells us (1Co_1:26), the wisdom of Christ to make choice of rude and unlettered men to confound the wise (in Johan. Ev. chapter 1, § 17). St. Gregory adopts the same view (on Joh_1:33, chapter 16, B). In a dissertation on Joh_1:46, to be found in Thes. Theo. philolog. 2:370, the author, J. Kindler, maintains (Nath. vere Israelites [Viteb. 1680]) that Bartholomew and Nathanael are different persons.
There is a tradition that Nathanael was the bridegroom at the marriage of Cana (Calmet), and Epiphanius (Adv. Haer. 1, § 223) implies his belief that of the two disciples whom Jesus overtook on the road to Emnmaus Nathanael was one. The following additional monographs are extant: Lange, Nath. cosfessio (Lips. 1755); Pignatelli, De Apostolatu Nath. Barth. (Par. 1560); Robert, Nathanael Barth. (Duaci, 1519); Hartmann, Examen Joh_1:47 (Abose, 1753). SEE BARTHOLOMEW.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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