Charles Ellicott Commentary John 1:48

"Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." — John 1:48 (ASV)

The natural explanation of the verse seems to be that Nathanael was at his own house when Philip called him to hear the good news of the Messiah. The words translated “under the fig-tree” include the going there and being there. It was the fig-tree of his own garden (1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4; Zechariah 3:10), where, not at the corners of the streets nor to be seen by men, he was in the honesty of his heart praying to God.

Unseen as he thought by any eye, he was seen by Him to whose coming every true Israelite looked. The answer to his sincere thought and prayer was then, as always, close at hand. However, it was at hand in the human form—in which people find it so hard to recognize the Divine—and in ordinary events, in which they find it hard to realize God.

A travelling Rabbi! He is the Messiah! From Nazareth the All Good comes! This meeting, then, was not the first. There was an actual Messianic Presence in Nathanael’s inmost thought.

He is now startled and asks, Whence knowest Thou me? We have never seen each other before. But in the deepest sense, the Messiah was there: when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee.