The Woman at the Well

[Red_Letters88]

JOHN 4 The Samaritan Woman​

A Christian friend showed me just how deep this story of Jesus and the samaritan woman went. Some of the ideas might be stretching it a little too far- but maybe not.When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, 2(Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) 3He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4And he must needs go through Samaria. 5Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. Sixth Hour- same hour at crucifiction. John 19:14-15 It was the day of Preperation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. Here is your king, Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”….7There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. 8(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) Will you give me a drink? Physical- Yes, Jesus was of course a human, with human needs. Spiritual- What was he asking her? What other time were we told that Jesus thirst? John 19:28- Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” So we see on the cross his thirst was physical AND spiritual- He knew that all had been done, perhaps now he says this because he wishes ALL to know him and embrace Him as Lord.9Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. She starts the conversation calling him just a “Jew.” It was uncommon for men to talk to women in public, and JUST AS uncommon for Jews to speak with Samaritans. 10Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living waterWe see the true intention of Jesus in this conversation- It is to tell the woman that to accept the Messiah, is to accept salvation.11The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Time goes on- she now calls Jesus- SIRThe woman, just as the disciples did, respond without thinking about what Jesus said with spiritual ears. Also we can look at this sentence from the woman to see that she might be meaning- Who are you that can give me this “living water?”13Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14But whosoever drinketh 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. 15The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. In a way, the woman is now eager and willing to accept this "living water" yet she is still not completely listening with her spiritual ears. 16Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: 18For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. 19The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Time goes on- She calls Jesus a PROPHETShe continues to listen without spiritual ears- almost trying to change the subject of conversation. 21Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. 25The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. 27And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?The woman leaves her water jar- Perhaps this means she left her old life behind to go share what she has seen and heard from this man who claims to be the messiah.The woman will later on accept Jesus as CHRIST the MESSIAH and be the first evangelist of Jesus word in the NTI know its not the deepest study you could ask for, but I found it interesting, maybe some of you will too.

 

[Christina]

Good study Red its these kind of things that teach us how to dig deeper that there is a deeper meaning to all of Gods Word and even more to those spoken by Christ himself. there is some deep studies I have read on the 6th/9th/11th hrs of the crusifiction and this put me in mind of how wonderful the Word is it never stops teaching us.

 

[Letsgofishing]

Might as well add my own interpretation of this gospel When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" 8(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a]) 10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." ( John 4: 7-10) "For Jews do not associate with samaritans" This has to have been the understatement of the century. The samaritans were a small tribe which branched off of the Jewish religon. They rejected all but the first 5 books of the scriptures and added there own traditions to the religon. A high treason in the opinons of the Jews. Therefore a hatred came between these two, Jews were hostile to Samaritans and samaritans were hostile to Jews.Here are some examples of the Jewish Belief about the samaritans just to give you a picture of the atmosphere between them - When traveling, the jews would never travel through samaria for fear they could be contaminated through samarian customs. They always traveled around the country adding approximantley three days to there trip. - If a Jew converted into a samaritan the Jews birth records were destroyed and his Jewish birth was publically denied.-The samaritans were insulted constantly in the Jewish synagogues. - A samaritan could nould not be a witness or a defendent in the jewish court of law ( there was no prosecution, that job was for the high priest.)- A samaritan could not convert back to a jew- The jews believed that a samaritan could not be accepted in the afterlife. So therefore Jesus talking to a samaritan was incredible. He looked past his cultures belief about the samaritans, and accepted the samaritan. And the samaritan did the same. And after the samaritan believed, she ran back to her town and told them she had found the Jewish savior. Jesus stayed for 2 days, which was completley against everything the Jews believed, and converted the whole town. All of this just because Jesus looked past peoples belief about the samaritans.

 

[Red_Letters88]

Good point Letsgofishing, I knew about that, but not in this detail. Interesting add-on to this study.

 

[RaddSpencer]

Its interesting how Jesus included women in His ministry. God must really enjoy smashing the status quo from time to time. For instance when the women went to Jesus's tomb:"Notwithstanding this common stance, the Gospel accounts insist in their proclamation that the women were the star witnesses to the empty tomb. But why should these writers highlight female testimony unless the women really were the first to discover this fact? To do so would be to weaken their case considerably in the eyes of most listeners. Given this situation in first century Palestine, we can only conclude that the Gospel authors were clearly convinced that the women had discovered the empty tomb. They were more interested in reporting the truth than they were in avoiding criticism. This argument is very widely recognized and few scholars have challenged it, which testifies to its strength."http://www.4truth.net/site/c.hiKXLbPNLrF/b...mb_of_Jesus.htmIf the resurrection account of Jesus was a fraud, the writers would NOT HAVE used women as the primary witnesses. The twelve disciples (or other men who followed Jesus) would have been the first witnesses.