Nathanael

45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.

47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

48 Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.

49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.

50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these.

51 And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

John 1:45-51

Philip then occupies his place well as someone to whom God has called so he does as expected. He goes out and finds Nathanael sitting all by himself. Now Nathanael is apparently quite a learned man and also functions as a sort of a judge over the people. It is this man he is told of then that Nathanael is quite anxious to meet. He hears all about the man first. Apparently, he's of Nazareth and those from that town have quite the reputation for being up to no good. He isn't too excited to go upon hearing his hometown at this point because for all he knows it could be anybody and some things he just doesn't want to get involved with.

Notice though, he suspends judgement for a moment until he can see the man and find out. Jesus sees him coming as that other son from afar off or the one back at home in the house of the Father. Before Nathanael even had a chance to speak, Jesus knows and judges him first. First there comes the announcement of an Israelite without any guile. Now at this point Nathanael is quite confused because there's a stranger shouting out kind words in the street. So he says in effect, 'Lord, how do you know me.' Jesus says in response that he had been seen under the fig tree. Notice Nathanael's connection to the fig tree as one who tends the tree and receives in return. From this, Nathanael concludes that yes the Lord indeed does know him well and so judges rightly. Right away he notices the rabbi, the Son of God, and the king of Israel standing before him. This sounds very much like a Levite's role does it not. Now that the Levite has been found and so returned to the Father, the rest of the house will soon follow after.