The Samaritan Woman at the Well by Annibale Carracci, date unknown
(Matthew 4:12, Mark 1:14a and John 4:1-43)
Now after that John was put in prison when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed and came into Galilee; preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.
When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples), he left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.
Remember, not long after Jesus had cleansed the Temple in Jerusalem at Passover, he “did not commit himself to” the people there because he knew men’s hearts. In other words, even though there were those in Jerusalem who had believed on him because of some miracles he performed in the city, there were possible threats to his person because of the ruckus he had caused. What we see from this point on is Jesus constantly on the move. He left Jerusalem and went into the wilderness of Judea where for a brief time his disciples were baptizing people much in the manner of John. “After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea and there he tarried with them, and baptized.” John 3:22.
John had also moved somewhere in the same general area continuing his own ministry, but Herod imprisoned John and Jesus knew the Pharisees had heard his group was baptizing more that John. It may be that the Pharisees had gotten this information from John. They knew where Jesus was and perhaps they were seeing him as a growing threat. Jesus was also aware that John had been arrested. In a sense, things were heating up and he moved again, this time deciding to put more distance between himself and those in Jerusalem by going to Galilee.
And he must needs go through Samaria.
Then came he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar [meaning Drunkard or Falsehood], near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour [12:00 noon].
It says he needed to go through Samaria. Curious, because not only didn’t he have to go through Samaria, normally as a Jew he wouldn’t. Jews and Samaritans had a long history of dislike and distrust and they did not associate with each other. Even though it was the shorter route from Jerusalem to Galilee through Samaria, the Jew would usually travel to the east into Perea and then turn north. Look on the map and find the green line and arrow pointing at Jericho. This was the usual route up and down between Judea and Galilee.
But Jesus did not go this way. From wherever he was in the wilderness, he headed straight into Samaria and stopped at Sychar to rest. It is difficult to know where they had been Baptizing, but he may have come 10 or 15 miles in a morning if he set out early. He arrived at Jacob’s Well about noon. It says he was wearied, so that would indicate he had been walking a good distance that day already. People used to traveling place to place by foot are not going to be “wearied” after an hour or two of walking; he may have been on the road five or six hours.
Jacob’s Well (aka bir Ya’qub or Ya’kub) is venerated by four religious groups: Jewish, Samaritan, Christian and Muslim. It is currently found in Nablus, a Palestinian city in the West Bank of Israel at Jacob’s Well Eastern Orthodox Monastery (some have laid claim to other nearby wells in the region as being the real one). It has suffered damage over the years, especially as a result of being venerated and open to tourists.
Outside of John’s Gospel, the well isn’t specifically named in the Bible, but no one doubts its authenticity or existence in history. The area where it sits is not in dispute either. This is the parcel of land Jacob bought from Hamor after he had met safely with his brother Esau.
So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.
And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.
And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money. And he erected there an altar, and called it El Elohe Israel [Mighty is the God of Israel].Genesis 33:16-20
Now we come to an interesting question. Why was Jesus there? John 4 Verse 4 says, “And he must needs go through Samaria”. (“Now he had to go through Samaria” in the NIV.)
Why?
We have already stated a Jew would take the long way north along the border of Perea rather than set foot in Samaria. After the imprisonment of John, perhaps Jesus felt some threat of arrest and went into Samaria both because it was the shorter route and because the Pharisees might hesitate to pursue him there, but I don’t believe that was the reason.
Jesus had a date with a woman, not that she knew it or the Disciples knew it, but Jesus knew it.
There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me to drink.” (For his disciples were gone away to the city to buy meat.)
Then said the woman of Samaria to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?” For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that say to you, ‘Give me to drink’; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.”
The woman said to him,” Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep, from whence then have you that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?”
Jesus answered and said to her, “Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.”
There is an act of intolerance here, which may not be obvious. It is not altogether in the question, “How can you a Jew ask me a Samaritan for a drink”, even though we are informed that “Jews do not associate with Samaritans”.
No, it is in the statement, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get living water?”
This woman must have been eyeing this strange man carefully. First she probably hadn’t expected or wanted to meet anybody when she came to the well. She didn’t come at the usual hour, which would have been early in the day before it got too hot and when one would normally get the supply of water for their daily need. She came at the sixth hour, around noon since hours were counted from sunrise.
She certainly didn’t expect to find a Jewish man nor did she expect him to speak to her. Generally Jews would not enter Samaria and even if a Jew did he would avoid as much contact with the people there as possible. Speaking to a lone woman would be suspect and might even be dangerous.
Yet this Jewish man not only has the audacity to speak to this woman, he asks her for a drink when he has no vessel to get the water or to drink from. It may seem a simple request and a simple act of kindness to hand a thirsty person your vessel, but it would not have been for this woman. It would have been intolerable to consider it. If a Jew touched her vessel it would have been considered unclean and she would have to destroy it. (Probably if a Samaritan touched anything belonging to a Jew it would have suffered the same fate.)
This Jew had to know that and certainly if the roles had been reversed would have viewed it the same way. She must have been surprised he would not only ask her for a drink, but also then offer one to her.
What did she think? If he could give her a drink, why was he asking her for one? And where would he get it, did he know of another well nearby. Perhaps he thought he could draw it somehow from Jacob’s Well?
His term “living water” wouldn’t have seemed unusual to her.
Wells had two water supply sources. (Collecting rainwater would have been done with a cistern.) Well water would come from an underground spring or an underground stream. A stream fed Jacob’s Well. Wells of this nature, because the stream is moving, were referred to as “living water”. Therefore the woman did not see anything unusual in the use of this term. She asks him to give her this water not just because she won’t get physically thirsty again, but so she doesn’t have to trudge to the well and carry the water home again. She does not understand he is talking about something beyond physical water until later in the conversation.
It is an interesting and instructive dialogue.
Jesus said to her, ”Go, call your husband, and come hither.”
The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”
Jesus said to her, “You have well said,’ I have no husband’ for you have had five husband, and he whom you now have is not your husband, in that said you truly.”
The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”
Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour comes when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship you know not what; we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah comes, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things.”
Jesus said to her, “I that speak to you am he.”
She asks for this “living water” and he tells her to go get her husband, somewhat of a non sequitur. Perhaps she wasn’t surprised by this given women’s second-class status of those times. But she has no husband, at least not a legal one.
“I have no husband.” She doesn’t qualify it. If it were any other stranger they might assume she is a widow or perhaps her husband has abandoned her. Perhaps she had never married.
Keep in mind Jesus never met her before. She is a stranger in a country that is anathema to Jews. Can you imagine the shock this woman must have felt when he answered she was living with a man who she wasn’t married to and had had five husbands. No wonder she perceived him to be a prophet.
According to Josephus and 2 Kings 17 Samaritans are descendants of the Israelites who mixed with people deported to their country by Assyria. This fits with the Assyrian pattern of conquest. The Samaritans also claim to be descendants of Israelites who remained in the Northern Kingdom, that is Israel, during the Babylonian Captivity. Their exact history is still disputed, but modern DNA testing in 2004 does support they are descended from Israelites with Assyrians and other nationalities as well.
There was a split between the Jews and Samaritans, possibly at the time the Second Temple was constructed after 538 BC. At any rate, the Samaritan and Jewish religions are very similar, but do have some differences. They both believe in one God and in the Law of Moses as a covenant made by God with the Israelites. They call their version of the Torah the Memar Markah and it does differ in places from the Jewish Torah. They do not accept the other Old Testament books. They keep the Sabbath, circumcise and practice the main Jewish holidays, such as Passover, Pentecost, Yom Kippur, etc. (But not Hannukkah nor Purim.)
The Samaritans believe in a Messiah, called Taheb. This restorer would come and rule his kingdom from Mount Gerizim and eventually reunite Judah and Israel, plus restore the true religion of Moses. Mount Gerizim was the site where Abraham offered up Isaac in sacrifice. If you refer back to the previous map you will see Sychar, Jacob’s Well and Mount Gerizim not far from each other, perhaps a couple miles.
This is why the woman says our fathers worshipped in this mountain and you say Jerusalem is where men should worship.
Jesus then tells her a time is coming when people will worship in spirit and truth rather in some particular place and this is the manner people should worship God. He also said, “You worship you know not what; we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.”
She responses, perhaps defensively, that she knows a Messiah is to come and he will explain all things.
Notice Jesus whole approach to this woman. He asked her for something. When she declined, he did not get angry or upset with her, but offered her something instead and in such a way it raised her curiosity.
Instead of addressing her question about his offer directly he asked her to do something, which caused her to revel and face her own sin. But never in this conversation did he accuse her or berate her about what she had done. He doesn’t engage in attacking her religious belief or get into any argument, but gives her new information that raised her curiosity even more and led her to continue talking. After she admits to a belief in a Messiah, she says this Christ will tell us all things.
Jesus says, “I am he,” and it probably hit her at that moment that he had indeed told her things he could not have known about her. Jesus had found this woman, had drawn her to him and at last reveled who he was and she believed.
And upon this came his disciples and marveled that he talked with the woman, yet no man said, “What seek you?” or “Why talk you with her?”
The woman then left her water pot and went her way…In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him, saying, “Master, eat.”
But he said to them, “I have meat to eat that you know not of.”
Therefore said the disciples one to another, “Has any man brought him ought to eat?”
Jesus said to them, “My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months and then come harvest? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest. And he that reaps receives wages and gathers fruit to life eternal that both he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, ‘One sows and another reaps. I sent you to reap that whereon you bestowed no labor, other men labored, and you are entered into their labors.”
The Disciples arrived at the tail end of Jesus’ conversation with this woman. They didn’t interrupt or question, but were obviously amazed to see this. Jews did not associate with Samaritans.
Now we were told when Jesus first arrived at the well, he was alone because the Disciples had gone into town to buy food. We may wonder if Jews and Samaritans would deal with each other. Where would they buy food? It may be that even in Sychar there were merchants who would deal with anyone. It is also quite possible they went to a Jewish town to purchase their food. If you look at the map, you can see Sychar is not far over the border from Judea.
Just after they arrive at the Well, the woman hastens off. She had come to fetch water, but she leaves her water jar behind. She isn’t concerned with physical water now; she has found the Living Water and can’t wait to tell others.
The disciples never ask what this was all about. They had gone to fetch food and now their only concern is eating. They have probably sat down and opened some of the provision and began to have their lunch. They urge Jesus to join them and eat.
He gives them another one of those strange answers of his, “I have meat to eat that you know not of.”
What do you see, fellows? Do you look for the harvest elsewhere in familiar fields not yet ready? Or do you see the harvest is ready before you? Do you see this woman, who you looked through with distain, had been sow with seeds of hope ready for the reaping? Someone sowed in these people this hope, but it wasn’t you, but here is the opportunity to reap what has been sowed and you should rejoice in it. Open your eyes and see what is before you, not what is far away. Now is the time to gather fruit to salvation.
The woman then left her water pot and went her way…into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?”
Then they went out of the city and came to him.
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, “He told me all that ever I did.”
So when the Samaritans were come to him, they besought him that he would tarry with them and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his own word and said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your saying for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.”
The woman had come to belief and hurried to tell those in town of this. She urged them to come to Christ, to see what she had seen. And they went out to the well to Jesus. Here we have the first recorded act of witnessing by a new Christian. These people knew this woman and they knew her past. They sensed something had changed about her, in her demeanor, in her enthusiasm perhaps. As a result many came to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and they asked him to remain. Remember, these are Samaritans and Jesus and his Disciples are Jews, in a sense they are enemies.
He stayed two days talking with these people and they accepted him as the Christ. Note what they said: “Now we believe, not because of your saying for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” The woman did not save these Samaritans. She simply brought them the message.
The woman became the sower and Jesus reaped the harvest. He is again setting an example to his Disciples (then and now) to make haste and sow the word. Do not concern yourself with the reaping. The Holy Spirit will take care of that. You just remember what is presaged in John 4 and said in Romans 10:11-15.
For the scripture says, Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich to all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be sent?
The Will of God sent Jesus through Samaria and he preached to this woman of whom he was. The Holy Spirit sent the lady to her neighbors and towns folk, where she confessed the Christ and preached to them. Because they heard they came to Christ and believed in him as the Savior.
To God there was no difference between Jew and Greek, or in this case, Jew and Samaritan. God was God of them all and any that called on Jesus were saved.
Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.
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