Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
1. When, therefore, the Lord knew. The Evangelist, intending now to give an account of the conversation which Christ had with a Samaritan woman, begins with explaining the cause of his journey. Knowing that the Pharisees were ill-disposed towards him, he did not wish to expose himself to their anger before the proper time. This was his motive for setting out from Judea.
We read of Christ's coming into Judea (Joh 3:22), after he had kept the feast at Jerusalem; and now he left Judea four months before harvest, as is said here (Joh 4:35); so that it is computed that he staid in Judea about six months, to build upon the foundation John had laid there. We have no particular account of his sermons and miracles there, only in general, Joh 4:1.
Commenting on John 4:1-3
Verse 1. The Lord knew. When Jesus knew. How he knew this we are not informed; whether by that power of omniscience by which he knew all things, or whether some person had informed him of it. How the Pharisees had heard. The Pharisees, here, seem to denote either the members of the Sanhedrim or those who were in authority.