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![not exempt. In the wilderness He was hungry. On the Cross He was thirsty. Here
at the well He was weary. Into what circumstances, then, did He voluntarily
come, and that in obedience and love to His Father, and in love to His own sheep!
He, by whom the worlds were made, was sitting a weary man by Jacob’s well,
and there at first alone. One word from the throne, and the whole angelic host
would have flown to minister to Him. But that word was not spoken. For God’s
purpose of grace to souls in Samaria was to be worked out at Sychar" (C. E.
Stuart).
"Jesus therefore being wearied." This brings out the reality of Christ’s
humanity. He was just as really and truly Man as He was God. In stressing His
absolute Deity, we are in danger of overlooking the reality of His humanity. The
Lord Jesus was perfect Man: He ate and drank, labored and slept, prayed and
wept. And what a precious thought is there here for Christian workers: the
Savior knew what it was to be "weary"—not weary of well doing, but weary in
well doing. But it is blessed to see how the Holy Spirit has guarded the glory of
Christ’s person here. Side by side with this word upon His humanity, we are
shown His Divine omniscience—revealed in His perfect knowledge of the history
of the woman with whom He dealt at the well. This principle meets us at every
turn in the Gospels. At His birth we behold His humiliation—lying in a
manger—but we discover His Divine glory, too, for the angels were sent to
announce the One born as "Christ the Lord." See Him asleep in the boat,
exhausted from the toil of a heavy day’s work: but mark the sequel, as He rises
and stills the storm. Behold Him by the grave of Lazarus, groaning in spirit and
weeping: and then bow before Him in worship as He, by a word from His mouth,
brings the dead to life. So it is here: "wearied with his journey," and yet
displaying His Deity by reading the secrets of this woman’s heart.
"Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well" (John 4:6).
This illustrates another important principle, the application of which is often a
great aid to the understanding of a passage, namely, noticing the place where a
particular incident occurred. There is a profound significance to everything in
Scripture, even the seemingly unimportant details. The character of the place
frequently supplies the key to the meaning of what is recorded as occurring
there. For instance: the children of Israel were in Egypt when the Lord delivered
them. Egypt, then, symbolizes the place where we were when God apprehended
us, namely, the world in which we groaned under the merciless taskmasters that
dominated us. John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, for it symbolized the
spiritual barrenness and desolation of Israel at that time. When the Lord Jesus
enunciated the laws of His kingdom, He went up into a mountain—a place of
elevation, symbolic of His throne of authority from which He delivered His
manifesto. When He gave the parables He "sat by the sea side" (cf. Isaiah 17:12,
13; Ezekiel 26:3; Daniel 7:2; Revelation 17:5, for the "sea" in its symbolic
significance). The first four parables of Matthew 13 pertain to the public
profession of Christianity, hence these were given in the hearing of the "great
multitudes;" but the next two concerned only the Lord’s own people, so we read
"Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples
came unto him" (Matthew 13:36). When the Lord portrayed the poor sinner as
the one to whom He came to minister (under the figure of the good "Samaritan")
He represented him as a certain man who "went down from Jerusalem
[foundation of peace] to Jericho [the city of the curse]." So, again, in Luke 15 the
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![had been there all the time! Ah, was it not so with thee, dear Christian reader? It
was not thine own mental acumen which discovered that One of whom the
"well" here speaks. It was God who opened thine eyes to see Him as the One who
alone could meet thy desperate and deep need. What do we read in Proverbs
20:12—"The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of
them." And again in John 5:20 we are told, "And we know that the Son of God is
come, and hath given us an understanding, that (in order that) we may know
Him that is true."
3. In this same chapter the "well" is mentioned again in another connection:
"And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both
of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by
themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe
lambs which thou hast set by themselves? And he said, For these seven ewe
lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I
have digged this well. Wherefore he called that place the well of the oath;
because there they sware both of them" (Gen. 21:27-31). Here we find the "well"
was the place of the "covenant" (verse 27), which was ratified by an "oath"
(verse 31). And what do we read in Hebrews 7:20-22?—"And inasmuch as not
without an oath he was made priest: (For those priests were made without an
oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will
not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec:) By so much
was Jesus made a surety of a better testament [covenant]."
4. In Genesis 24:10-12 we read, "And the servant took ten camels of the camels of
his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he
arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. And he made his camels
to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even
the time that women go out to draw water. And he said, O Lord God of my
master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day." Not only is each
typical picture perfect, but the order in which they are found evidences Divine
design. In the first scriptures we have glanced at, that which is connected with
the "well" suggested the meeting between the Savior and the sinner. And in the
last passage, the covenant and the oath speak of that which tells of the sure
ground upon which our eternal preservation rests. And from that point, every
reference to the "well" has that connected with it which is appropriate of
believers only. In the last quoted passage, the "well" is the place of prayer: so,
the believer asks the Father in the name of Christ, of whom the "well" speaks.
5. In Genesis 29:1-3 we read, "Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into
the land of the people of the east. And he looked, and beheld a well in the field,
and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they
watered the flocks." This is very beautiful. How striking is the contrast between
this typical scene and the first that we looked at in Genesis 16. There, where it is
a sinner and Christ which is in view, the "well" is located in the wilderness—
figure of the barrenness and desolation of the sinner. But here, where the sheep
are in view, the "well" is found in the field—suggesting the "green pastures"
into which the good Shepherd leads His own. Notice there were "three flocks of
sheep that were lying by this "well," their position denoting rest, that rest which
Christ gives His own. Here in the field were the three flocks lying "by it"—the
well. It is only in Christ that we find rest.
6. In Exodus 2:15-17 we are told, "Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he
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![capital was the city of the same name, occupying an impressive butte some six
miles northwest of the area where the events of this chapter happened.[1]
ENDNOTE:
[1] Peloubet, Peloubet's Bible Dictionary (Chicago: The John C. Winston
Company, 1925), p. 582.
ELLICOTT, "(3) Again.—This word is almost certainly part of the original text,
though it is not found in some MSS. Its omission is due to a difficulty of
interpretation. What is the previous return into Galilee? The only one mentioned
in this Gospel is that of John 1:43. We have had another note of time in John
3:24, from which we learn that this Judæan period of the ministry preceded the
imprisonment of John, and therefore the commencement of the Galilean ministry
recorded in Matthew 4:12 (see Note there) and Mark 1:14. This second return,
then, is the starting-point of the history of our Lord’s work in Galilee as told by
the earlier Gospels.
4 Now he had to go through Samaria.
BARNES,"And he must needs go through Samaria - Samaria was between
Judea and Galilee. The direct and usual way was to pass through Samaria.
Sometimes, however, the Jews took a circuitous route on the east side of the Jordan.
See the notes at Mat_2:22.
CLARKE,"And he must needs go through Samaria - Or, It was necessary
for him to pass through Samaria: for this plain reason, and no other, because it was
the only proper road. Samaria lay northward of Judea, and between the great sea,
Galilee, and Jordan; and there was therefore no going from Galilee to Jerusalem but
through this province. See the note on Luk_17:11. From Jerusalem to Galilee through
Samaria, according to Josephus, was three days’ journey. See his own life.
GILL, "And he must needs go through Samaria. Not the city, but the country
of Samaria; for the way to Galilee from Judea, lay through the midst of Samaria; nor
was there any other way, without going a great way about; see Luk_9:51; and which
is also confirmed by Josephus (c): and this accounts for his going through Samaria,
consistently with his forbidding his apostles going in the way of the Gentiles, or into
any of the cities of the Samaritans; since here was a necessity for it, or otherwise he
himself would not have gone, where he forbid his disciples; though the prohibition
may be understood, not of barely going into a Samaritan city; for it was lawful for
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![this part of Samaria. He not only knew of the well, but was aware that it was a
deep one. He seems aware of the overhanging steeps of Gerizim. He knew that it
was an area where ripened corn might be expected. Those who have lived in
Palestine say that they feel as they read these accounts that they are breathing
the air of Palestine once again. Indeed such factors are continually true of this
Gospel, underlining that the Gospel was written by an eyewitness, or someone
who obtained his information from eyewitnesses and faithfully recorded what he
was told.
LIGHTFOOT, "4. And he must needs go through Samaria.
[He must needs go through Samaria.] Josephus tells us, It was the custom for the
Galileans, in their journeying to Jerusalem to their feasts, to go through
Samaria.
Our countryman Biddulph describes the way which he himself travelled from
Galilee to Jerusalem, anno Domini 1601: out of whom, for the reader's sake, I
will borrow a few passages. He tells us, that on March 24 they rode near the sea
of Galilee, and gives the computation of that sea to be in length about eight
leagues and in breadth five. Now a league is three miles. After they had gone
about seven miles, having the sea of Galilee on their left hands, they went up a
hill, not very steep, but very pleasant; which (he saith) is said to be the hill
mentioned John 6:3. [Although here indeed either I am mistaken or his guides
deceived him; because that mountain was on the other side of the sea.]
However he tells us, that from the top of this hill they discerned Saphetta, the
Jews' university. All the way they went was infinitely pleasant, the hills and dales
all very fruitful: and that about two o'clock in the afternoon they came to a
certain village called by the Arabians 'Inel Tyger,' i.e. 'The merchant's eye.'
When they had taken some food and sleep, their mind leaped within them to go
up mount Tabor, which was not far off. [I fear his guides deceived him here also
concerning this mount.]
On the twenty-fifth of March they spent the whole day in traversing the pleasant
fields of Bashan near the hill of Bashan. In the way they saw some rubbish of the
tower of Gehazi, 2 Kings 5:24; and came to a town commonly called 'Jenine,' of
old 'Engannim,' Joshua 15:34 [more truly, Good man, Joshua 19:21], distant
from Tabor two-and-twenty miles; a place of gardens and waters, and places of
pleasure. There they stayed all the next day, upon the occasion of a Turkish feast
called 'Byram.' March 27, riding by Engannim they were twice in danger; once
by thieves, dwelling hard by; another time by the Arabs, in a wood about twelve
miles thence. That night they came to Sychar, a city of Samaria, mentioned John
4; distant from Engannim seven-and-twenty miles. They stayed there the next
day. It is now called Napolis: Jacob's well is near it, the waters of it sweet as
milk.
March 29, they went from Sychar towards Jerusalem; the nearer to which place
they came, the more barren and unpleasant they found the soil. At length,
coming to a large grove or wilderness full of trees and hills [perhaps this was
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![mount Ephraim], from the top of the hill they saw the sea on the right hand, and
little vessels upon it passing to Joppa. About three or four in the afternoon they
came to a ruinous town called 'Beere,' of old (as was reported to them) 'Beer-
sheba,' a great city [but more probably 'Beeroth,' mentioned Joshua 18:25]. It is
said, that was the place where Christ's parents first missed him in their journey,
Luke 2:44. They would have lodged there that night, being weary and hungry,
and having spent their provision, but they could have nothing fit for themselves
or their horses; and being from Jerusalem but ten miles, they went on; and after
having travelled five or six miles, had a view of the city. Thus our countryman, a
clergyman, tells us in his book.
This interposition of Samaria between Galilee and Judea must be remembered,
when we read the borders and portions of the tribes set out, Ezekiel 48; where
Manasseh and Ephraim (the country of Samaria) are bounded and set out as
formerly, but must not be reckoned under the notion of Samaria, as they had
been.
Necessity itself found, or made a way betwixt Judea and Galilee through
Samaria; because, indeed, there was no other way they could go, unless a long
way about, through the country beyond Jordan. Nor was there any reason why
they should make any difficulty of going through Samaria, unless the hostility of
the country. For,
"The country of the Cuthites is clean." So that without scruple they might gather
of the fruits and products of it. "The gatherings of their waters are clean." So
that a Jew might drink, or wash himself in them. "Their dwellings are clean." So
that he might enter thereinto, eat or lodge there. "Their roads are clean." So that
the dust of them did not defile a Jew's feet.
The method of the story in this place, by comparing it with other evangelists,
may be thus put together: Herod had imprisoned John Baptist, under pretence
of his growing too popular, and that the multitude of his followers increasing,
tended to innovate. Our Saviour understanding this, and withal that the
Sanhedrim had heard something of the increase of his disciples too, withdrew
from Judea into Galilee, that he might be more remote from that kind of
thunderbolt that St. John had been struck with.
5 So he came to a town in Samaria called
Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given
to his son Joseph.
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![GILL, "Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,....
Now called Neapolis (d); the same with "Sichem", or "Shechem", as appears from its
situation,
near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; see Gen_
33:18; and is either the same, only its termination is changed from "em" into "ar", as
Achan into Achar, 1Ch_2:7. Or it is a new name that was given it, and by which it
went in the time of Christ; and might be so called, either from ,סוכר "Socher", which
signifies a grave; because here, Joseph and the rest of the patriarchs were buried,
Jos_24:32. Or rather, it was a name of reproach, and so called, from ,שכר "drunken";
since the Ephraimites, the posterity of Joseph, which dwelt in these parts, were
infamous for the sin of drunkenness; see Isa_28:1. Hence "Sychar Sichem", is
"drunken Sichem"; mention is made in the Talmud (e), of a place called ,סיכרא
"Sichra". The "parcel of ground", or of a "field", as in Gen_33:19, is in the Persic
version, called "a vineyard"; and so Nonnus renders it, "a field planted with vines";
and which may serve to confirm the above conjecture, concerning "Sychar" being a
nickname.
HENRY, "2. His baiting place happened to be at a city of Samaria. Now observe,
(1.) The place described. It was called Sychar; probably the same with Sichem, or
Shechem, a place which we read much of in the Old Testament. Thus are the names
of places commonly corrupted by tract of time. Shechem yielded the first proselyte
that ever came into the church of Israel (Gen_34:24), and now it is the first place
where the gospel is preached out of the commonwealth of Israel; so Dr. Lightfoot
observes; as also that the valley of Achor, which was given for a door of hope, hope to
the poor Gentiles, ran along by this city, Hos_2:15. Abimelech was made king here; it
was Jeroboam's royal seat; but the evangelist, when he would give us the antiquities
of the place, takes notice of Jacob's interest there, which was more its honour than its
crowned heads. [1.] Here lay Jacob's ground, the parcel of ground which Jacob gave
to his son Joseph, whose bones were buried in it, Gen_48:22; Jos_24:32. Probably
this is mentioned to intimate that Christ, when he reposed himself hard by here, took
occasion from the ground which Jacob gave Joseph to meditate on the good report
which the elders by faith obtained. Jerome chose to live in the land of Canaan, that
the sight of the places might affect him the more with scripture stories. [2.] Here was
Jacob's well which he digged, or at least used, for himself and his family. We find no
mention of this well in the Old Testament; but the tradition was that it was Jacob's
well.
JAMIESON, "cometh ... to — that is, as far as: for He remained at some
distance from it.
Sychar — the “Shechem” of the Old Testament, about thirty-four miles from
Jerusalem, afterwards called “Neapolis,” and now “Nablous.”
CALVIN, "5.Which is called Sichar Jerome, in his epitaph on Paula, thinks that
this is an incorrect reading, and that it ought to have been written Sichem; and,
indeed, the latter appears to have been the ancient and true name; but it is
probable that, in the time of the Evangelist, the word Sichar was already in
common use. As to the place, it is generally agreed that it was a city situated close
to Mount Gerizzim, the inhabitants of which were treacherously slain by Simeon
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![and Levi, (Genesis 34:25,) and which Abimelech, a native of the place,
afterwards razed to its thundations, (Jude 9:45.) But the convenience of its
situation was such that, a third time, a city was built there, which, in the age of
Jerome, they called Neapolis By adding so many circumstances, the Apostle
removes all doubt; for we are clearly informed by Moses where that field was
which Jacob assigned to the children of Joseph, (Genesis 48:22.) It is universally
acknowledged, also, that Mount Gerizzim was near to Shechem. We shall
afterwards state that a temple was built there; and there can be no doubt that
Jacob dwelt a long time in that place with his family.
And Jesus, fatigued by the journey. He did not pretend weariness, but was
actually fatigued; for, in order that he might be better prepared for the exercise
of sympathy and compassion towards us, he took upon him our weaknesses, as
the Apostle shows that
we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our
infirmities, (Hebrews 4:15.)
With this agrees the circumstance of the time; for it is not wonderful that, being
thirsty andfatigued, he rested at the well about noon; for as the day, from sunrise
to sunset, had twelve hours, the sixth hour wasNoon When the Evangelist says
that he sat thus, he means that it was the attitude of a man who was fatigued
COFFMAN, "Sychar ... was near Shechem and the piece of ground Jacob had
purchased from the sons of Hamor for a hundred pieces of money. It was also the
scene of the bloody episode revolving around Jacob's daughter Dinah; it was the
place where Jacob dug that famous well and belonged to the sons of Joseph, to
which son Jacob had bequeathed the property. When the children of Israel
brought with them out of Egypt the bones of Joseph, here is where they buried
them. Thus, although the scene of the events here recorded was not at that time a
part of Israel, it had, nevertheless, figured prominently in their history. (See
Genesis 33:18-20 and Joshua 24:32.) Significantly, Jacob had once constructed
an altar there to [~'El] [~'Elohey] [~Yisra'el], "God, the God of Israel" (Genesis
33:20).
ELLICOTT, "(5) The “Samaria” of this chapter is the province into which the
older kingdom had degenerated, and which took its name from the capital city.
This was the Shomĕron built by Omri, on a hill purchased from Shemer (1 Kings
16:23-24). The city was given by Augustus to Herod the Great, who rebuilt it,
and called it after the Emperor, Sebaste, a name which survives in the modern
village Sebustiêh.
Sychar involves questions of greater uncertainty. The reading may be regarded
as beyond doubt, the attempts to substitute “Sychem,” or “Sichem” being
obviously made to avoid the topographical difficulty. The older geographers,
followed by many modern commentators, suppose the word to be an intentional
variation of the word Sychem, by which the Jews expressed their contempt for
the city of the Samaritans, the sound being very nearly that of the Hebrew words
for “lie” and “drunken.” Others suppose the change of termination is a natural
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![version adds by way of explanation, and "it was then noon"; and all the Oriental
versions omit ωσει, "about"; rendering it, "it was the sixth hour": and now Christ had
been travelling all the morning, and it was a time of day to take some refreshment,
which as yet he had not, the disciples being gone to buy food; and a time of day also,
when the sun if out, and has any strength, beats with its greatest vehemence; and all
which considered, it is no wonder that he should be weary, faint, and thirsty.
HENRY, "(2.) The posture of our Lord Jesus at this place: Being wearied with his
journey, he sat thus on the well. We have here our Lord Jesus,
[1.] Labouring under the common fatigue of travellers. He was wearied with his
journey. Though it was yet but the sixth hour, and he had performed but half his
day's journey, yet he was weary; or, because it was the sixth hour, the time of the heat
of the day, therefore he was weary. Here we see, First, That he was a true man, and
subject to the common infirmities of the human nature. Toil came in with sin (Gen_
3:19), and therefore Christ, having made himself a curse for us, submitted to it.
Secondly, That he was a poor man, else he might have travelled on horseback or in a
chariot. To this instance of meanness and mortification he humbled himself for us,
that he went all his journeys on foot. When servants were on horses, princes walked
as servants on the earth, Ecc_10:7. When we are carried easily, let us think on the
weariness of our Master. Thirdly, It should seem that he was but a tender man, and
not of a robust constitution; it should seem, his disciples were not tired, for they went
into the town without any difficulty, when their Master sat down, and could not go a
step further. Bodies of the finest mould are most sensible of fatigue, and can worst
bear it.
[2.] We have him here betaking himself to the common relief of travellers; Being
wearied, he sat thus on the well. First, He sat on the well, an uneasy place, cold and
hard; he had no couch, no easy chair to repose himself in, but took to that which was
next hand, to teach us not to be nice and curious in the conveniences of this life, but
content with mean things. Secondly, He sat thus, in an uneasy posture; sat
carelessly - incuriose et neglectim; or he sat so as people that are wearied with
travelling are accustomed to sit.
JAMIESON, "wearied ... sat thus — that is, “as you might fancy a weary man
would”; an instance of the graphic style of St. John [Webster and Wilkinson]. In fact,
this is perhaps the most human of all the scenes of our Lord’s earthly history. We
seem to be beside Him, overhearing all that is here recorded, nor could any painting
of the scene on canvas, however perfect, do other than lower the conception which
this exquisite narrative conveys to the devout and intelligent reader. But with all that
is human, how much also of the divine have we here, both blended in one glorious
manifestation of the majesty, grace, pity, patience with which “the Lord” imparts
light and life to this unlikeliest of strangers, standing midway between Jews and
heathens.
the sixth hour — noonday, reckoning from six a.m. From Son_1:7 we know, as
from other sources, that the very flocks “rested at noon.” But Jesus, whose maxim
was, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day” (Joh_9:4), seems to
have denied Himself that repose, at least on this occasion, probably that He might
reach this well when He knew the woman would be there. Once there, however, He
accepts ... the grateful ease of a seat on the patriarchal stone. But what music is that
which I hear from His lips, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest” (Mat_11:28).
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![dark, was sufficient for all the transactions mentioned in this history.
COFFMAN, "And Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with
his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
Jacob's well ... As Ryle noted, this reference contains all that is certainly known
about this well, as to its origin; because the Bible nowhere mentions Jacob's
digging a well, although it is recorded that Abraham and Isaac dug wells. Still,
this reference is enough. The well is still there and is, in all probability, one of the
few authentic places that can be identified as the place where Jesus sat.
J. W. McGarvey, after visiting the well, wrote:
Jacob's well is still there, about one hundred feet from Mount Gerizim, which
rises high above it to the west. The well is a perfect cylinder, seven and a half feet
in diameter, walled with stones of good size, smoothly dressed, and nicely fitted
together, an excellent piece of masonry. Its depth was stated by the earliest
modern who visited it (Maundrel) at 105 feet with fifteen feet of water. In 1839, it
was found to be seventy-five feet deep with ten or twelve feet of water. All
visitors of more recent date have found it dry and gradually filling up from the
habit of throwing stones into it to hear the reverberation when they strike the
bottom.[2]
Jesus, being wearied with his journey ... The perfect humanity of Jesus is very
evident in John. He alone recorded the saying from the cross, "I thirst!" and it
appears that the apostle was particularly impressed with the bone-tired
weariness of Jesus as he sat wearily by the well when the apostles departed to
buy provisions. It would appear that the Lord's unusual weariness might have
resulted from the fervor and enthusiasm with which the preaching and baptizing
had been accomplished in the preceding days. It was the kind of letdown that
every great campaigner feels when the effort is over; and the long march up
from Judaea had intensified his weariness.
Sat thus by the well ... Such a detail only an eyewitness would have included.
It was about the sixth hour ... The ancient Jews reckoned time from sundown to
sunrise, roughly twelve hours of darkness; and from sunrise to sunset, roughly
twelve hours of daylight. The Romans and other ancients reckoned time from
midnight to noon, and from noon until midnight. In this light, the "sixth hour"
would have been about noon, six hours after sunrise, by the Jewish method of
reckoning; or, by the Roman method, it would have been six hours after noon, or
about six o'clock in the evening.
For those interested in full discussions of the arguments on this question of the
time of day, reference is made to the works of Westcott who favored
understanding this as Roman time (6 P.M.),[3] and to the works of Ryle who
favored Jewish time (noon).[4] One thing for sure, it was one or the other; and
perhaps the best way to determine which it was is by the events related in the
context. There is no necessity at all for supposing that John invariably used
either method of reckoning time, probably using Jewish time in one episode and
Roman time in another, as for example, when Roman courts were involved.
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![To this writer, it seems that the extensive results that flowed out of this episode,
such as the coming of the whole city out to meet Jesus, and their inviting him and
his disciples to stay with them, indicate that the event happened at noon. Of
weight in this preference is the fact of the woman's having come to the well alone,
rather than with a group of women who, like herself, needed water. It is written
of Abraham's servant that "He made his camels kneel down without the city by a
well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw
water" (Genesis 24:11). Now, if the woman had gone to the well at the usual time,
there is the probability of the presence of others and the absence of the privacy
evident in this narrative. Also, the social status of the woman suggests that she
might have preferred to go at a time when she would not have encountered the
neighbors.
[2] J. W. McGarvey, The Fourfold Gospel (Cincinnati, Ohio: The Standard
Publishing Company, 1914), p. 56.
[3] B. F. Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), p. 282.
[4] J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Zondervan Publishing House), John, Vol. I, p. 198.
ELLICOTT, "(6) Jacob’s well is one of the few spots about the position of which
all travellers are agreed. Jesus, passing from south to west would pass up the
valley of Mochna until the road turns sharp to the west, to enter the valley of
Sichem between Ebal and Gerizim. Here is Jacob’s field, and in the field is
Jacob’s well. It is dug in the rock, and is about 9 feet in diameter. The older
travellers described it as more than 100 feet deep, and with several feet of water.
Modern travellers have generally found it dry. Wilson describes it, in 1843, as
only 75 feet deep.
Sat thus on the well.—Better, was sitting thus at the well. The words are one of
the instances of exact knowledge which meet us in this Gospel. The tense is the
descriptive imperfect. He was thus sitting when the woman came. He thus recalls
the picture as it was impressed and remained fixed in the writer’s mind. He saw
Him, wearied by the noontide journey, sitting thus by the well, while they went
on to the city to procure food. The reality of this fatigue, as one of the instances
witnessing to the reality of His human nature, is important.
About the sixth hour—i.e., as elsewhere in St. John, following the ordinary mode
of counting, about 12 o’clock. (Comp. Note on John 1:39.) It is contended, on the
other hand, that this was not the usual time for women to resort to the wells to
draw water, but the narrative perhaps implies an unusual hour, as it speaks of
only one woman there.
PETT, "‘Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. It
was about the sixth hour.’
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![CLARKE,"There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water - That this
was the employment of the females, we see in different parts of the Sacred Writings.
See Gen_24:11, etc.; Exo_2:16, and the note at the end of that chapter. The Jews say
that those who wished to get wives went to the wells where young women were
accustomed to come and draw water; and it is supposed that women of ill fame
frequented such places also. See several proofs in Schoettgen.
GILL, "There cometh a woman of Samaria,.... Or "out of Samaria"; not out of
the city of Samaria, but out of the country of Samaria; out of Sychar, a city of
Samaria: her coming was not by chance, but by the providence of God, and agreeably
to his purpose, who orders all things according to the counsel of his will; and it is an
amazing instance of grace, that a woman, a Samaritan woman, a lewd and infamous
one, should be a chosen vessel of salvation, should be the object of divine favour, and
be effectually called by the grace of God; when so many wise, learned, and religious
men in Judea, were passed by; and not only so, but she was the happy means of
conveying the knowledge of the Saviour to many of her neighbours: she came,
indeed,
to draw water; for her present temporal use and service; she little thought of
meeting at Jacob's well, with Christ the fountain of gardens, and well of living water;
she came for natural water, having no notion of water in a spiritual sense: or of
carrying back with her the water of life, even a well of it, springing up to everlasting
life:
Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink; that is, water to drink, out of the pot or
pitcher, she brought with her, for he was athirst; which is another proof of the truth
of his human nature, and of his taking it, with the sinless infirmities of it: though
indeed this request was made, to introduce a discourse with the woman, he having a
more violent thirst, and a stronger desire, after the welfare of her immortal soul.
HENRY, "II. His discourse with a Samaritan woman, which is here recorded at
large, while Christ's dispute with the doctors, and his discourse with Moses and Elias
on the mount, are buried in silence. This discourse is reducible to four heads: -
1. They discourse concerning the water, Joh_4:7-15.
(1.) Notice is taken of the circumstances that gave occasion to this discourse.
[1.] There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water. This intimates her poverty,
she had no servant to be a drawer of water; and her industry, she would do it
herself. See here, First, How God owns and approves of honest humble diligence in
our places. Christ was made known to the shepherds when they were keeping their
flock. Secondly, How the divine Providence brings about glorious purposes by events
which seem to us fortuitous and accidental. This woman's meeting with Christ at the
well may remind us of the stories of Rebekah, Rachel, and Jethro's daughter, who all
met with husbands, good husbands, no worse than Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, when
they came to the wells for water. Thirdly, How the preventing grace of God
sometimes brings people unexpectedly under the means of conversion and salvation.
He is found of them that sought him not.
JAMIESON, "
CALVIN, "7.A woman came from Samaria. When he asks water from the
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![cause he that eats bread of the Samaritans, does deserve stripes according to the law,
but according to the constitutions of the wise men; but these, Christ and his disciples
had no regard to.
HENRY, "[2.] His disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat. Hence
learn a lesson, First, Of justice and honesty. The meat Christ ate, he bought and paid
for, as Paul, 2Th_3:8. Secondly, Of daily dependence upon Providence: Take no
thought for the morrow. Christ did not go into the city to eat, but sent his disciples to
fetch his meat thither; not because he scrupled eating in a Samaritan city, but, 1.
Because he had a good work to do at that well, which might be done while they were
catering. It is wisdom to fill up our vacant minutes with that which is good, that the
fragments of time may not be lost. Peter, while his dinner was getting ready, fell into
a trance, Act_10:10. 2. Because it was more private and retired, more cheap and
homely, to have his dinner brought him hither, than to go into the town for it.
Perhaps his purse was low, and he would teach us good husbandry, to spend
according to what we have and not go beyond it. At least, he would teach us not to
affect great things. Christ could eat his dinner as well upon a draw well as in the best
inn in the town. Let us comport with our circumstances. Now this gave Christ an
opportunity of discoursing with this woman about spiritual concerns, and he
improved it; he often preached to multitudes that crowded after him for instruction,
yet here he condescends to teach a single person, a woman, a poor woman, a
stranger, a Samaritan, to teach his ministers to do likewise, as those that know what
a glorious achievement it is to help to save, though but one soul, from death.
COFFMAN, "Hovey remarked that the disciples, for some reason, did not
appear to have been as tired and weary as Jesus; but this is not strange. To the
leader of such a campaign as they had just terminated, there is always the
greater intensity, enthusiasm, and emotion exhibited by all great leaders; and, as
noted earlier, this excessive fatigue on the part of the Master is exactly what was
natural. Some insist that this weariness of Jesus suggests 6 P.M. instead of noon
for the time of this interview; but it may be accounted for differently.
LIGHTFOOT, "8. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
[To buy meat.] If the disciples were gone into the city to buy food, how agrees
this with verse 9, the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans? and with that
rule of the Jews, "Let no Israelite eat one mouthful of any thing that is a
Samaritan's; for if he eat but a little mouthful, he is as if he ate swine's flesh." A
mouthful, that is, of nothing over which a blessing must be pronounced.
"Ezra, Zorobabel, and Joshua gathered together the whole congregation into the
Temple of the Lord; and with three hundred priests, three hundred books of the
law, and three hundred children, anathematized, shammatized, excommunicated
the Samaritans, in the name of Jehovah, by a writing indented upon tables, and
an anathema both of the upper and the lower house: 'Let no Israelite eat one
morsel of any thing that is a Samaritan's; let no Samaritan become a proselyte to
Israel; nor let them have a part in the resurrection of the dead.' And they sent
this curse to all Israel that were in Babylon, who also themselves added their
anathema to this," &c.
But Hierosol. Avodah Zara tells us, "R. Jacob Bar Acha, in the name of R.
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![Lazar, saith, That the victuals of the Cuthites are allowed, if nothing of their
wine or vinegar be mingled amongst them." Nay, further, we meet with this
passage in Bab. Kiddushin; "The unleavened bread of the Cuthites is allowed,
and by that a man may rightly enough keep the Passover." If the unleavened
bread for the Passover may be had of the Samaritans, much more common
bread. And grant that the Samaritans were to the Jews as heathens, yet was it
lawful for the Jew to partake of the edibles of the Gentiles, if there was no
suspicion that they had been any way polluted, nor been offered to idols; as may
be largely made out from Maimonides in his treatise about forbidden meats.
Which suspicion was altogether needless as to the Samaritans; because they and
the Jews in a manner agreed upon the same things as clean or unclean, and they
were very near as free from idolatry.
9 The 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])
BARNES,"No dealings with the Samaritans - For an account of the
Samaritans, and of the differences between them and the Jews, see the notes at Mat_
10:5.
CLARKE,"That thou, being a Jew - Probably the inhabitants of Judea
distinguished themselves from those of Samaria by some peculiar mode of dress; and
by this the Samaritan woman might have known Christ: but it is likely that our Lord
spoke the Galilean dialect, by which we find, from Mar_14:70, a Jew of that district
might easily be known.
The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans - Perhaps better, Jews have
no communion with Samaritans. These words appear to be added by the evangelist
himself, in explanation of the woman’s question. The original word, συγχρωνται, has
been variously translated and understood. It comes from συν, together, and χραοµαι,
I use, or borrow: hence it has been understood to mean, the Jews will be under no
kind of obligation to the Samaritans - will borrow nothing from them - will not drink
out of the same cup or well with them - will not sit down to meals with them, nor eat
out of the same vessel - will have no religious connection, no commercial dealings
with them. The word communion, I think, fully expresses the sense of the original;
and, being as extensive in its meaning as our word dealings, is capable of as general
an interpretation. The deadly hatred that subsisted between these two nations is
known to all. The Jews cursed them, and believed them to be accursed. Their most
merciful wish to the Samaritans was, that they might have no part in the
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![observes, that the Jews refused to receive the least favour or kindness at the hand of
a Samaritan; and therefore the woman might justly wonder, that Christ should ask so
small a favour of her, as a little water. The reason of this distance and aversion, was
religion; and so the Ethiopic version, rather paraphrasing than translating, renders
the words, "the Jews do not agree in religion, nor do they communicate with the
Samaritans, nor mix together": and this was of long standing, and had been
occasioned and increased by various incidents; for when the ten tribes revolted in
Jeroboam's time, the calves were set up in Dan and Bethel, in order to draw off the
people from worship at Jerusalem, which gave great umbrage to the tribes of Judah
and Benjamin; and when the ten tribes were carried away captive by the king of
Assyria, he planted the cities of Samaria with colonies in their room, consisting of
Heathenish and idolatrous persons, brought from Babylon, and other places; to
whom he sent a priest, to instruct them in the manner of the God of the land; but
with these instructions, they still retained their idols, and their idolatrous practices;
see 2Ki_17:24, which must render them odious to the Jews: and these were the
principal adversaries of the Jews, after their return from captivity; and discouraged
them, and weakened their hands, in the building of the second temple: but what
latest, and most of all had fixed this aversion and enmity, was this; Manasseh,
brother to Jaddua the high priest, having married Sanballat's daughter, governor of
Samaria, was for it removed from the priesthood; who applying to his father-in-law,
he proposed building for him a temple on Mount Gerizim, and making him an high
priest; for which he obtained leave of Alexander the Great, and accordingly built one,
and made his son-in-law high priest; which drew a great many profligate Jews over
to him, who mixing with the Samaritans, set up a worship, religion, and priesthood,
in distinction from the Jews; and this was ever after a matter of contention and
quarrel between these people, and the reason why they would have no dealings with
them.
HENRY, "(2.) Let us observe the particulars of this discourse.
[1.] Jesus begins with a modest request for a draught of water: Give me to drink.
He that for our sakes became poor here becomes a beggar, that those who are in
want, and cannot dig, may not be ashamed to beg. Christ asked for it, not only
because he needed it, and needed her help to come at it, but because he would draw
on further discourse with her, and teach us to be willing to be beholden to the
meanest when there is occasion. Christ is still begging in his poor members, and a
cup of cold water, like this here, given to them in his name, shall not lose its reward.
[2.] The woman, though she does not deny his request, yet quarrels with him
because he did not carry on the humour of his own nation (Joh_4:9): How is it?
Observe, First, What a mortal feud there was between the Jews and the Samaritans:
The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. The Samaritans were the
adversaries of Judah (Ezr_4:1), were upon all occasions mischievous to them. The
Jews were extremely malicious against the Samaritans, “looked upon them as having
no part in the resurrection, excommunicated and cursed them by the sacred name of
God, by the glorious writing of the tables, and by the curse of the upper and lower
house of judgment, with this law, That no Israelite eat of any thing that is a
Samaritan's, for it is as if he should eat swine's flesh.” So Dr. Lightfoot, out of Rabbi
Tanchum. Note, Quarrels about religion are usually the most implacable of all
quarrels. Men were made to have dealing one with another; but if men, because one
worships at one temple and another at another, will deny the offices of humanity,
and charity, and common civility, will be morose and unnatural, scornful and
censorious, and this under colour of zeal for religion, they plainly show that however
their religion may be true they are not truly religious; but, pretending to stickle for
religion, subvert the design of it. Secondly, How ready the woman was to upbraid
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![cause unnecessary offence, not because He saw them as basic.
No Jerusalem Rabbi would even have spoken with a woman, but the Galilean
Rabbis were not so closed minded so that there would be no reason for Jesus to
differ from them. It appears that the writer is fully aware of the distinctions that
applied in Judaism.
LIGHTFOOT, "9. Then 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.
[For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.] I. That translation, the
Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, which the French and English
follow, seems to stretch the sense of the word beyond what it will well bear: for,
1. Granting the Samaritans were mere heathens, (which some of the Rabbins
have affirmed,) yet did not this forbid the Jews having any kind of dealings with
them; for they did not refuse merchandising with any of the Gentile nations
whatever. See Nehemiah 13:16, &c. 2. But if the Samaritans were true proselytes,
as R. Akibah asserts, or 'as the Israelites in all things,' as Rabban Simeon Ben
Gamaliel saith of them; then much more might the Jews have dealing with them.
II. "It is lawful to eat the unleavened bread of the Samaritans, nor is there any
suspicion as to their leavened bread neither. This is to be understood, if the
Samaritan should knead it in the house of an Israelite." Now if the Samaritan
may knead dough in an Israelite's house, it is evident the Israelite might use the
Samaritan.
"An Israelite may circumcise a Cuthite; but a Cuthite may not circumcise an
Israelite, because he is circumcised into the name of mount Gerizim. R. Josah
saith, Let him circumcise him, and let him pass into the name of mount Gerizim
till he departs this life." If therefore it was lawful for the Israelite to circumcise
the Cuthite or Samaritan, and the Samaritan the Israelite, then the Jews had
dealings with, or did use, the Samaritans...
"For three days before the feasts of the idolaters, it is forbidden [the Jews] either
to give to or receive from them, to ask, or lend, or borrow of them": but for any
other parts of the year it was not forbidden them. But as to the Samaritans, it
was not permitted the Jews to borrow or receive any thing from them at any time
gratis. Whereas it was lawful for the Jews to converse with the Samaritans, buy
of them, use their labour, answer to their benedictions, 'Amen,' as we find in
Beracoth, lodge in their towns, Luke 9:52, I would fain know in what sense, after
all this, can it be said, For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, but in
this only, that they would not be obliged to them for any kindness? which may a
little serve to illustrate that of Luke 10:33, &c.; and it does very well agree with
the matter in hand.
For the words which we are handling seem to be what the woman speaks, and
not what the evangelist: and they spokescoptically, or with sarcasm; "Dost thou,
who art a Jew, ask water of me, who am a Samaritan?" for you Jews despise all
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![and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink; and Christ is also spoken of
in the Old Testament, as the gift of God, Isa_9:6 and he had lately spoken of himself
as such, Joh_3:16 and he is, by way of eminency, "the gift of God"; which is
comprehensive of all others, is exceeding large, and very suitable to the wants and
cases of men; and is irrevocable, unchangeable, and unspeakable: for he is God's gift,
as he is his own and only begotten Son; and he is given for a covenant to the people,
with all the promises and blessings of it; and as an head, both of eminence and
influence; and to be a Saviour of them, and a sacrifice for their sins; and as the bread
of life, for them to feed and live upon; of which gift, men are naturally ignorant, as
this woman was: they know not the dignity of his person; nor the nature and
usefulness of his offices; nor the way of peace, righteousness, and salvation by him;
nor do they see any amiableness, or loveliness in him; and whatever notional
knowledge some natural men may have of him, they know him not spiritually and
experimentally, or as the gift of God to them:
thou wouldst have asked of him; a favour and benefit; for such who truly know
Christ, the worth and value of him, and their need of him, will apply to him for grace,
as they have encouragement to do; since all grace is treasured up in him, and he gives
it freely, and upbraideth not; and souls are invited to ask it of him, and take it freely;
nor is it to be had anywhere else: but knowledge of Christ, is absolutely necessary, to
asking anything of him; for till he is known, he will not be applied to; but when he is
made known to any, in his fulness and suitableness, they will have recourse to him,
and ask grace and mercy of him; and which is freely had: the Vulgate Latin very
wrongly adds, "perhaps"; reading it, "perhaps thou wouldst have asked"; whereas our
Lord's meaning is, that she would certainly have asked:
and he would have given thee living water; pardoning and justifying grace,
every branch of sanctifying grace, and all the supplies of it; so called, because his
grace quickens sinners dead in sin, and dead in law, and in, their own apprehensions;
and causes them to live in themselves, and before God; and because it refreshes and
comforts, revives and cheers, and is like rivers of water in a dry land; and because it
maintains and supports spiritual life in their souls; and it ever abides, and continues,
and springs up unto everlasting life: for the allusion is to spring water, that bubbles
up in a fountain, and is ever running; for such water the Jews call "living water"; see
Gen_26:19; where in the Hebrew text it is "living water"; which we, and also the
Chaldee paraphrase, render "springing water". So living waters with them, are said to
be always flowing, and never cease (t).
HENRY, "[3.] Christ takes this occasion to instruct her in divine things: If thou
knewest the gift of God, thou wouldst have asked, Joh_4:10. Observe,
First, He waives her objection of the feud between the Jews and Samaritans, and
takes no notice of it. Some differences are best healed by being slighted, and by
avoiding all occasions of entering into dispute about them. Christ will convert this
woman, not by showing her that the Samaritan worship was schismatical (though
really it was so), but by showing her her own ignorance and immoralities, and her
need of a Saviour.
Secondly, He fills her with an apprehension that she had now an opportunity (a
fairer opportunity than she was aware of) of gaining that which would be of
unspeakable advantage to her. She had not the helps that the Jews had to discern the
signs of the times, and therefore Christ tells her expressly that she had now a season
of grace; this was the day of her visitation.
a. He hints to her what she should know, but was ignorant of: If thou knewest the
gift of God, that is, as the next words explain it, who it is that saith, Give me to drink.
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![though it is strange there was not one; since, according to common usage, and even
of the Jews (u),
"a public well had, ,קול "a bucket", or pitcher; but a private well had no bucket:''
and the well is deep; that which is now called Jacob's well, is by some said to be
forty cubits deep, and by others thirty five yards:
from whence then hast thou that living water? this she said in a sneering,
scoffing manner: she reasoned with him, either that he must have it out of this well;
but that could not be, since he had no vessel to draw with, and the well was so deep,
that he could not come at the water without one; or he must have it from some
neighbouring spring; upon which she scoffs at him in the following manner.
HENRY, "[4.] The woman objects against and cavils at the gracious intimation
which Christ gave her (Joh_4:11, Joh_4:12): Thou hast nothing to draw with; and
besides, Art thou greater than our father Jacob? What he spoke figuratively, she
took literally; Nicodemus did so too. See what confused notions they have of spiritual
things who are wholly taken up with the things that are sensible. Some respect she
pays to this person, in calling him Sir, or Lord; but little respect to what he said,
which she does but banter.
First, She does not think him capable of furnishing her with any water, no, not this
in the well that is just at hand: Thou has nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.
This she said, not knowing the power of Christ, for he who causeth the vapours to
ascend from the ends of the earth needs nothing to draw. But there are those who
will trust Christ no further than they can see him, and will not believe his promise,
unless the means of the performance of it be visible; as if he were tied to our
methods, and could not draw water without our buckets. She asks scornfully,
“Whence hast thou this living water? I see not whence thou canst have it.” Note, The
springs of that living water which Christ has for those that come to him are secret
and undiscovered. The fountain of life is hid with Christ. Christ has enough for us,
though we see not whence he has it.
Secondly, She does not think it possible that he should furnish her with any better
water than this which she could come at, but he could not: Art thou greater than our
father Jacob, who gave us the well?
a. We will suppose the tradition true, that Jacob himself, and his children, and
cattle, did drink of this well. And we may observe from it, (a.) The power and
providence of God, in the continuance of the fountains of water from generation to
generation, by the constant circulation of the rivers, like the blood in the body (Ecc_
1:7), to which circulation perhaps the flux and reflux of the sea, like the pulses of the
heart, contribute. (b.) The plainness of the patriarch Jacob; his drink was water, and
he and his children drank of the same well with his cattle.
b. Yet, allowing that to be true, she was out in several things; as, (a.) In calling
Jacob father. What authority had the Samaritans to reckon themselves of the seed of
Jacob? They were descended from that mixed multitude which the king of Assyria
had placed in the cities of Samaria; what have they to do then with Jacob? Because
they were the invaders of Israel's rights, and the unjust possessors of Israel's lands,
were they therefore the inheritors of Israel's blood and honour? How absurd were
those pretensions! (b.) She is out in claiming this well as Jacob's gift, whereas he did
no more give it than Moses gave the manna, Joh_6:32. But thus we are apt to call the
messengers of God's gifts the donors of them, and to look so much at the hands they
pass through as to forget the hand they come from. Jacob gave it to his sons, not to
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![with them, as being descended from Joseph; but when misfortunes befell the Jews,
they disowned all connection with them [Josephus, Antiquities, 9.14, 3].
CALVIN, "12.Art thou greater than our father Jacob? She proceeds to charge
him with arrogance in exalting himself above the holy patriarch Jacob. “Jacob, ”
she says, “was satisfied with this well for his own use and that of his whole
family: and hast thou a more excellent water?” How faulty this comparison is,
appears plainly enough from this consideration, that she compares the servant to
the master, and a dead man to the living God; and yet how many in the present
day fall into this very error? The more cautious ought we to be not to extol the
persons of men so as to obscure the glory of God. We ought, indeed, to
acknowledge with reverence the gifts of God, wherever they appear. It is,
therefore, proper that we should honor men who are eminent in piety, or endued
with other uncommon gifts; but it ought to be in such a manner that God may
always remain eminent above all — that Christ, with his Gospel, may shine
illustriously, for to him all the splendor of the world must yield.
It ought also to be observed that the Samaritans falsely boasted of being
descended from the holy Fathers. In like manner do the Papists, though they are
a bastard seed, arrogantly boast of the Fathers, and despise the true children of
God. Although the Samaritans had been descended from Jacob according to the
flesh, yet, as they were altogether degenerated and estranged from true
godliness, this boasting would have been ridiculous. But now that they are
Cutheans by descent, (2 Kings 17:24,) or at least collected out of the profane
Gentiles, they still do not fail to make false pretensions to the name of the holy
Patriarch. But this is of no avail to them; and such must be the case with all who
wickedly exult in the light of men, so as to deprive themselves of the light of God,
and who have nothing in common with the holy Fathers, whose name they have
abused.
COKE, "John 4:12. Art thou greater than our Father Jacob,— "Are you a
person of greater power, or more in favour with God, than our common father
Jacob, that you can procure water for yourself by supernatural means?—He was
obliged to dig this well for the supply of himself and his family; can you create
water?"—The mention of Jacob as a progenitor was highly proper in an address
to a Jew; who might be supposed to reverence that patriarch in the highest
manner, as well as the Samaritans, and could never be suspected guilty of the
least disrespect to so venerable a na
COFFMAN, "Art thou greater than ... Jacob ...? Indeed a greater than Jacob
was there, and a greater than Moses, and a greater than Jonah, and a greater
than Solomon; and the very fact of this woman's employment of such a question
is of deep interest. Some have understood her words as a scornful denial that
Christ had any power to give the living water he had mentioned; but it appears
that something far different from scorn was intended by this reply.
ELLICOTT, "(12) Art thou greater . . .?—Again, the pronoun is the emphatic
word, “Thou surely art not greater.” “The well used to satisfy the wants of the
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![whosoever drinketh of this water; meaning in that well called Jacob's well, or
any other common water:
shall thirst again; as this woman had often done, and would again, as she herself
knew, Joh_4:15, and as Jesus did, who very likely afterwards drank of it, Joh_19:28.
For though water allays heat, quenches thirst, and refreshes and revives the spirits
for a while, yet in process of time, natural heat increases, and thirst returns, and
there is a necessity of drinking water again.
HENRY, "[5.] Christ answers this cavil, and makes it out that the living water he
had to give was far better than that of Jacob's well, Joh_4:13, Joh_4:14. Though she
spoke perversely, Christ did not cast her off, but instructed and encouraged her. He
shows her,
First, That the water of Jacob's well yielded but a transient satisfaction and supply:
“Whoso drinketh of this water shall thirst again. It is no better than other water; it
will quench the present thirst, but the thirst will return, and in a few hours a man will
have as much need, and as much desire, of water as ever he had.” This intimates, 1.
The infirmities of our bodies in this present state; they are still necessitous, and ever
craving. Life is a fire, a lamp, which will soon go out, without continual supplies of
fuel and oil. The natural heat preys upon itself. 2. The imperfections of all our
comforts in this world; they are not lasting, nor our satisfaction in them remaining.
Whatever waters of comfort we drink of, we shall thirst again. Yesterday's meat and
drink will not do today's work.
Secondly, That the living waters he would give should yield a lasting satisfaction
and bliss, Joh_4:14. Christ's gifts appear most valuable when they come to be
compared with the things of this world; for there will appear no comparison between
them. Whoever partakes of the Spirit of grace, and the comforts of the everlasting
gospel,
a. He shall never thirst, he shall never want that which will abundantly satisfy his
soul's desires; they are longing, but not languishing. A desiring thirst he has,
nothing more than God, still more and more of God; but not a despairing thirst.
b. Therefore he shall never thirst, because this water that Christ gives shall be in
him a well of water. He can never be reduced to extremity that has in himself a
fountain of supply and satisfaction. (a.) Ever ready, for it shall be in him. The
principle of grace planted in him is the spring of his comfort; see Joh_7:38. A good
man is satisfied from himself, for Christ dwells in his heart. The anointing abides in
him; he needs not sneak to the world for comfort; the work and the witness of the
Spirit in the heart furnish him with a firm foundation of hope and an overflowing
fountain of joy. (b.) Never failing, for it shall be in him a well of water. He that has at
hand only a bucket of water needs not thirst as long as this lasts, but it will soon be
exhausted; but believers have in them a well of water, overflowing, ever flowing. The
principles and affections which Christ's holy religion forms in the souls of those that
are brought under the power of it are this well of water. [a.] It is springing up, ever
in motion, which bespeaks the actings of grace strong and vigorous. If good truths
stagnate in our souls, like standing water, they do not answer the end of our
receiving them. If there be a good treasure in the heart, we must thence bring forth
good things. [b.] It is springing up unto everlasting life; which intimates, First, The
aims of gracious actings. A sanctified soul has its eye upon heaven, means this,
designs this, does all for this, will take up with nothing short of this. Spiritual life
springs up towards its own perfection in eternal life. Secondly, The constancy of
those actings; it will continue springing up till it come to perfection. Thirdly, The
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![crown of them, eternal life at last. The living water rises from heaven, and therefore
rises towards heaven; see Ecc_1:7. And now is not this water better than that of
Jacob's well?
JAMIESON, "thirst again ... never thirst, etc. — The contrast here is
fundamental and all comprehensive. “This water” plainly means “this natural water
and all satisfactions of a like earthly and perishable nature.” Coming to us from
without, and reaching only the superficial parts of our nature, they are soon spent,
and need to be anew supplied as much as if we had never experienced them before,
while the deeper wants of our being are not reached by them at all; whereas the
“water” that Christ gives - spiritual life - is struck out of the very depths of our being,
making the soul not a cistern, for holding water poured into it from without, but a
fountain (the word had been better so rendered, to distinguish it from the word
rendered “well” in Joh_4:11), springing, gushing, bubbling up and flowing forth
within us, ever fresh, ever living. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of
Christ is the secret of this life with all its enduring energies and satisfactions, as is
expressly said (Joh_7:37-39). “Never thirsting,” then, means simply that such souls
have the supplies at home.
into everlasting life — carrying the thoughts up from the eternal freshness and
vitality of these waters to the great ocean in which they have their confluence.
“Thither may I arrive!” [Bengel].
CALVIN, "13. Every one that drinketh of this water. Though Christ perceives
that he is doing little good, and even that his instruction is treated with mockery,
he proceeds to explain more clearly what he had said. He distinguishes between
the use of the two kinds of water; that the one serves the body, and only for a
time, while the power of the other gives perpetual vigor to the soul. For, as the
body is liable to decay, so the aids by which it is supported must be frail and
transitory. That which quickens the soul cannot but be eternal. Again, the words
of Christ are not at variance with the fact, that believers, to the very end of life,
burn with desire of more abundant grace. For he does not say that, from the very
first day, we drink so as to be fully satisfied, but only means that the Holy Spirit
is a continually flowing fountain; and that, therefore, there is no danger that
they who have been renewed by spiritual grace shall be dried up. And, therefore,
although we thirst throughout our whole life, yet it is certain that we have not
received the Holy Spirit for a single day, or for any short period, but as a
perennial fountain, which will never fail us. Thus believers thirst, and keenly
thirst, throughout their whole life; and yet they have abundance of quickening
moisture; for however small may have been the measure of grace which they
have received, it gives them perpetual vigor, so that they are never entirely dry.
When, therefore, he says that they shall be satisfied, he contrasts not with Desire
but only with Drought
Shall be a fountain of water springing up into eternal life. These words express
still more clearly the preceding statement; for they denote a continual watering,
which maintains in them a heavenly eternity during this mortal and perishing
life. The grace of Christ, therefore, does not flow to us for a short time, but
overflows into a blessed immortality; for it does not cease to flow until the
incorruptible life which it commences be brought to perfection.,
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![passing crowd, it is only now and again that we gaze upon a countenance which
is significant of peace. How rarely the face suggests the joy and the serenity of a
healthy satisfaction. We are confronted by an abounding unrest. The majority of
people seem to be afflicted with the pain of unsatisfied want. The very faces are
suggestive of a disquieting thirst. We have a varied vocabulary in which we
describe this prevailing condition:—“restless,” “discontented,” “dissatisfied,”
“not right with himself.”
Water is an essential of animal and vegetable life. With a constantly recurring
appetite we seek it. To have no thirst is a symptom of disease or death. But the
soul also, not having life in itself, needs to be sustained from without; and when
in a healthy state it seeks by a natural appetite that which will sustain it. And as
most of our mental acts are spoken of in terms of the body, as we speak of seeing
truth and grasping it, as if the mind had hands and eyes, so David naturally
exclaims, “My soul thirsts for the living God.” In the living soul there is a
craving for that which maintains and revives its life, which is analogous to the
thirst of the body for water. The dead alone feel no thirst for God. The soul that
is alive sees for a moment the glory and liberty and joy of the life to which God
calls us; it feels the attraction of a life of love, purity, and righteousness, but it
seems continually to sink from this and to tend to become dull and feeble, and to
have no joy in goodness. Just as the healthy body delights in work, but wearies
and cannot go on exerting itself for many hours together, but must repair its
strength, so the soul soon wearies and sinks back from what is difficult, and
needs to be revived by its appropriate refreshment.1 [Note: M. Dods.]
I think there is something implanted in man’s heart, fallen creature as he is,
which defies him to be content with anything but God alone. It is a trace of
original majesty, which leaves a mark of what he was before the fall. He is
always panting for something fresh; and that is no sooner attained than it palls
upon his taste. And this strong necessity of loving something makes a man form
idols for himself, which he invests with fancied perfections, and when all these
fade away in his grasp, and he finds their unsubstantiality, he must become
either a misanthrope or a Christian. When a man has learned to know the
infinite love of God in Christ to him, then he discovers something which will not
elude his hold, and an affection which will not grow cold; for the comparison of
God’s long-suffering and repeated pardon, with his own heartless ingratitude,
convinces him that it is an unchangeable love.1 [Note: Life and Letters of F. W.
Robertson, 57.]
O God, where do they tend—these struggling aims?
What would I have? What is this “sleep” which seems
To bound all? Can there be a waking point
Of crowning life? The soul would never rule;
It would be first in all things, it would have
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![Its utmost pleasure filled, but, that complete,
Commanding, for commanding, sickens it.
The last point I can trace is—rest beneath
Some better essence than itself, in weakness;
This is “myself,” not what I think should be:
And what is that I hunger for but God?2 [Note: Browning, Pauline.]
II
The Wells of the World
All things that are of earth are unsatisfactory. Our spirit craves for something
more than time and sense can yield it. Nothing which comes of earth, even if it
should yield a transient satisfaction, can long maintain its excellence. Pointing to
the water in Jacob’s well, our Lord said, “Every one that drinketh of this water
shall thirst again”; and therein He took up His parable against all earthly things,
whether they be fame, or riches, or fleshly pleasure, or aught else beneath the
sun. He that drinks at these shallow wells shall not quench his thirst, or if for a
time he imagines that he has so done, he will be undeceived, and in a little season
the old craving will return. “That which is born of the flesh” is flesh even at its
best, and “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass.
The grass withereth, and the flower falleth.” The religion of the flesh shares in
the common fate, if it has a man’s own self for its author, his own energy as its
impulse, and his own opinions for its creed. It may for a little while flourish like
the flower of the field, but “the wind passeth over it and it is gone.” Waters from
his own cistern may stay a man’s desires for a space, but ere long he must thirst
again.
Too often we try to allay a spiritual thirst by a carnal draught. When Newman in
his early life was burdened with the sense of his own shortcomings in the
presence of his Lord, and his letters home lacked their usual buoyancy, his
mother wrote to him:—“Your father and I fear very much from the tone of your
letters that you are depressed. We fear you debar yourself a proper quantity of
wine.” That is a type of suggestion which is often made to people who are
troubled with spiritual unrest. They are recommended to material ministries by
which their feverish unrest is only intensified and inflamed. But they “thirst
again.” Others make an attempt to realize satisfaction and peace by immersing
themselves in stimulants like novel-reading and theatre-going, and in the
manifold pleasures of society. They intensify the social stimulant. Yet they “thirst
again.” Others plunge more deeply into business. The songster is languishing!
How then? Re-gild his cage. The soul is languishing! How then? Re-gild her cage.
Seek for more gold, more gold, and surround the soul with material treasure.
And yet the soul refuses to be appeased, and “thirsts again.” Or, again, we give
opiates to our disquieted and feverish souls. How many people find an opiate in
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![making a promise to amend. They find contentment in their intentions. But the
satisfaction is only transient. They speedily awake out of their unnatural rest,
and they are thirsty still. Others give themselves the opiate of self-disparagement.
Many a man thinks he is becoming better because he severely condemns himself.
They esteem it a sign of virtue to denounce themselves as fools. They discover a
sort of spiritual comfort from their own self-severity. All these are pitiable
evasions. At the best they are only transient ministries, which, when their
immediate influence passes away, leave us in deepened disquietude and
intensified unrest.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett, Thirsting for the Springs, 140.]
No man is so poor, so low, so narrow in capacity, so limited in heart and head,
but he needs a whole God to make him restful. Nothing else will. To seek for
satisfaction elsewhere is like sailors who in their desperation, when the water-
tanks are empty, slake their thirst with the treacherous blue that washes cruelly
along the battered sides of their ship. A moment’s alleviation is followed by the
recurrence, in tenfold intensity, of the pangs of thirst, and by madness, and
death. Do not drink the salt water that flashes and rolls by your side when you
can have recourse to the fountain of life that is with God.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]
There is a Persian legend of the well of Chidher, the fountain of eternal youth,
which men are ever seeking and never find.
Thee have thousands sought in vain
Over land and barren main,
Chidher’s well,—of which men say,
That thou makest young again;
Fountain of eternal youth,
Washing free from every stain.
To thy waves the aged moons
Aye betake them, when they wane;
And the suns their golden light,
While they bathe in thee, retain.
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![And of that, a fountain sealed
Unto them, in death complain.
If its springs to thee are known,
Weary wanderer, tell me plain.
From beneath the throne of God
It must well, a lucid vein;
To its sources lead me, Lord,
That I do not thirst again,
And my lips not any more
Shall the earth’s dark waters stain.1 [Note: R. C. Trench, Chidher’s Well.]
III
The Eternal Spring
1. What, then, is this “living water”—this thirst-quenching, soul-satisfying gift
promised by Christ? The answer may be put in various ways, which really all
come to one. It is Himself, the unspeakable Gift, His own greatest gift; or it is the
Spirit “which they that believe on him should receive,” and whereby He comes
and dwells in men’s hearts; or it is the resulting life, kindred with the life
bestowed, a consequence of the indwelling Christ and the present Spirit. And so
the promise is that they who believe on Him and rest upon His love shall receive
into their spirits a new life-principle which shall rise in their hearts like a
fountain, “springing up unto everlasting life.”
2. As regards this wonderful water, there are four points to be specially noted.
(1) It is a gift of God.—“The water that I shall give him,” says Christ. There is no
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![suggestion as to digging deep with much learning into the bowels of mysterious
truth to find the water for ourselves; this priceless draught is freely handed out
to us by our Redeemer, without our bringing either bucket or line. There is no
hint in the text that we are to purchase the life-giving water; it is presented to us
without money and without price. There is no allusion to a certain measure of
fitness to qualify us for the draught, it is purely a gift to be received by us here
and now. Our Lord told the woman that had she known the gift of God she
would have asked and He would have given. Sinner as she was, she had only to
ask and have. There is no other way of obtaining eternal life but as the free gift
of sovereign grace.
The divine gift of eternal life is not in us by nature. It cannot be produced in us
by culture, or infused into us by ceremonies, or propagated in us by natural
descent; it must come as a boon of infinite charity from heaven, unpurchased,
undeserved. Wisdom cannot impart it, power cannot fashion it, money cannot
buy it, merit cannot procure it, grace alone can give it. If men desire wages they
may earn them beneath the mastership of sin, for “the wages of sin is death.” On
the side of God all is of grace, for “the gift of God is eternal life.” Whoever, then,
is to be saved must be saved by the boundless charity of God—in other words, by
the free gift of the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.1 [Note: C. H.
Spurgeon.]
(2) It is a fountain within.—“It shall be in him,” it is something that we may
carry about with us in our hearts, inseparable from our being, free from all
possibility of being filched away by violence, rent from us by sorrows, or even
parted from us by death. What a man has outside of him he only seems to have.
Our real possessions are those which have passed into the substance of our souls.
All else we shall leave behind. The only good is inward good; and this water of
life slakes our thirst because it flows into the deepest place of our being, and
abides there for ever.
I stood a little while ago in the fine old ruin of Middleham Castle. I passed
beyond the outer shell, and beyond the inner defences into the keep, and there in
the innermost sanctum of the venerable pile was the old well. The castle was
independent of outside supplies. If it were besieged it had resources of water at
its own heart. The changing seasons made no difference to the gracious supply.
That is the purpose of our Master in placing the “well” within us. He wants to
make us independent of external circumstances. Whatever be the season that
reigns without, He wants fulness and vitality to reign within. So the Master’s gift
is the gift of a well, “springing up,” leaping up, “unto eternal life.” We are
renewed “by his Spirit in the inner man.”2 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]
(3) It is a springing fountain.—“The water that I shall give him shall become in
him a springing fountain”; it shall not lie there stagnant, but shall leap like a
living thing, up into the sunshine, and flash there, turned into diamonds when
the bright rays smile upon it. Here is the promise of activity. There seems small
blessing, in this overworked world, in a promise of more active exertion; but
what an immense part of our nature lies dormant and torpid if we are not
Christians! How much of the work that is done is dreary, wearisome, collar-
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![work, against the grain. Do not the wheels of life often go slowly? Are we not
often weary of the inexpressible monotony and fatigue? And do we not go to our
work sometimes, though with a fierce feeling of “need-to-do-it,” yet also with
inward repugnance? And are there not great parts of our nature that have never
wakened into activity at all, and are ill at ease, because there is no field of action
provided for them? The mind is like millstones; if we do not put the wheat into
them to grind, they will grind each other’s faces. So some of us are fretting
ourselves to pieces, or are sick of a vague disease, and are morbid and miserable
because the highest and noblest parts of our nature have never been brought into
exercise. Surely this promise of Christ’s should come as a true gospel to such,
offering, as it does, if we will trust ourselves to Him, a springing fountain of
activity in our hearts that shall fill our whole being with joyous energy, and
make it a delight to live and to work. It will bring to us new powers, new
motives; it will set all the wheels of life going at double speed. We shall be
quickened by the presence of that mighty power, even as a dim taper is
brightened and flames up when plunged into a jar of oxygen. And life will be
delight-some in its hardest toil, when it is toil for the sake of, and by the
indwelling strength of, that great Lord and Master of our work.
The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit rises superior to all disadvantages, like a
spring which cannot be kept under, do what we may. Our engineers and builders
know how hard it is to bind up the earth-floods from overflowing, and the
spiritual floods are yet more unconquerable. It is wonderful how springs will
bubble up in places where we least expect them. The great desert of Sahara will
no doubt be made a very easy county to traverse, and, perhaps, may even become
a fertile plain, from the fact that there is water everywhere at no very great
depth below the surface, and where it is reached an oasis is formed. The
government of Algeria has sent engineers into parts of the Sahara bordering on
the French possession, and these men have bored the rock by Artesian wells, and
greatly astonished the natives; for in the wilderness have waters leaped out and
streams in the desert. At the magic touch of the living water, palm trees have
sprung up and an undergrowth of vegetation, so that the solitary places have
been made to sing together. When the Lord gives our souls to drink from the
fountains of the great deep of His own eternal love, and to have a vital principle
of grace within us, our wilderness rejoices and blossoms as the rose, and the
Sahara around us cannot wither our verdure; our soul is as an oasis, though all
around is barrenness.1 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.]
In the mid garden doth a fountain stand;
From font to font its waters fall alway,
Freshening the leaves by their continual play:—
Such often have I seen in southern land,
While every leaf, as though by light winds fanned,
Has quivered underneath the dazzling spray,
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![Keeping its greenness all the sultry day,
While others pine aloof, a parchèd band.
And in the mystic garden of the soul
A fountain, nourished from the upper springs,
Sends ever its clear waters up on high,
Which while a dewy freshness round it flings,
All plants which there acknowledge its control
Show fair and green, else drooping, pale, and dry.2 [Note: Trench, Poems, 144.]
(4) It is an eternal fountain.—The water of a fountain rises by its own impulse,
but however its silver column may climb it always falls back into its marble
basin. But this fountain rises higher, and at each successive jet higher, tending
towards, and finally touching, its goal, which is at the same time its source. The
water seeks its own level, and the fountain climbs until it reaches Him from
whom it comes, and the eternal life in which He lives. The Christian character is
identical in both worlds, and however the forms and details of pursuit may vary,
the essential principle remains one. So that the life of a Christian man on earth
and his life in heaven are but one stream, as it were, which may, indeed, like
some of those American rivers, run for a time through a deep, dark cañon, or in
an underground passage, but comes out at the farther end into broader, brighter
plains and summer lands; where it flows with a quieter current and with the
sunshine reflected on its untroubled surface, into the calm ocean. He has one gift
and one life for earth and heaven—Christ and His Spirit, and the life that is
consequent upon both.
“It shall be in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.” The grace
continues with us, and overflows into a blessed immortality. The Spirit that
redeems will also perfect. Whatever may be our estate when it finds us, our
ultimate attainments will be the likeness of the Lord. The living water rises from
Heaven, and rises towards Heaven. We shall at length be presented blameless
before the Throne of God.
“Never thirst.” That does not mean that in the Christian life desire is ended.
“The ill of all ills is the death of desire.” In the redeemed life desire is intense and
wakeful. There is desiring, but no despairing. There is longing, but no
languishing. There is fervour, but no fever. There is aspiration and contentment.
There is striving and rest. We still thirst for the fulness of grace not yet received,
but there is no pain in the thirst. In the Christian life the very thirst for greater
fulness is itself a delight. If I may quote Calvin, “Believers know desire, but they
do not know drought.”1 [Note: J. H. Jowett.]
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![My spirit longeth for Thee,
Within my troubled breast,
Altho’ I be unworthy
Of so divine a Guest.
Of so divine a Guest,
Unworthy tho’ I be,
Yet has my heart no rest,
Unless it come from Thee.
Unless it come from Thee,
In vain I look around;
In all that I can see,
No rest is to be found.
No rest is to be found,
But in Thy blessed love;
O! let my wish be crown’d,
And send it from above!2 [Note: J. Byrom.]
14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will
never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will
become in them a spring of water welling up to
eternal life.”
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![15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this
water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to
keep coming here to draw water.”
BARNES,"The woman said ... - It may seem strange that the woman did not
yet understand him, but it shows how slow sinners are to understand the doctrines of
religion.
CLARKE,"Give me this water - She did not as yet comprehend our Lord’s
meaning; but her curiosity was much excited, and this was the design of our Lord,
that he might have her mind properly prepared to receive the great truths which he
was about to announce.
GILL, "The woman saith unto him, Sir,.... See Gill on Joh_4:11;
give me this water, that I thirst not. The Syriac and Persic versions add, "again":
neither come hither; the Ethiopic version adds here, "again";
to draw. This she said also, in the same sneering and scoffing way, as her talking of
not thirsting and coming thither to draw water, shows; and it is as if she had said,
pray give me some of this fine water you talk of, that I may never thirst again; and so
have no occasion to be at all this fatigue and trouble, to come daily to this well for
water: though some think, that she now spoke seriously, having some little
knowledge of what our Lord meant by living water, but with a mixture of much
ignorance, and that she heartily desired it; but the reason she gives, shows the
contrary.
HENRY, "[6.] The woman (whether in jest or earnest is hard to say) begs of him
to give her some of this water (Joh_4:15): Give me this water, that I thirst not. First,
Some think that she speaks tauntingly, and ridicules what Christ had said as mere
stuff; and, in derision of it, not desires, but challenges him to give her some of this
water: “A rare invention; it will save me a great deal of pains if I never come hither to
draw.” But, Secondly, Others think that it was a well-meant but weak and ignorant
desire. She apprehended that he meant something very good and useful, and
therefore saith Amen, at a venture. Whatever it be, let me have it; who will show me
any good? Ease, or saving of labour, is a valuable good to poor labouring people.
Note, 1. Even those that are weak and ignorant may yet have some faint and
fluctuating desires towards Christ and his gifts, and some good wishes of grace and
glory. 2. Carnal hearts, in their best wishes, look no higher than carnal ends. “Give it
to me,” saith she, “not that I may have everlasting life” (which Christ proposed), “but
that I come not hither to draw.”
2. The next subject of discourse with this woman in concerning her husband, Joh_
4:16-18. It was not to let fall the discourse of the water of life that Christ started this,
as many who will bring in any impertinence in conversation that they may drop a
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![16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and
come back.”
BARNES,"Go call thy husband - We may admire the manner which our
Saviour took to lead her to perceive that he was the Christ. His instructions she did
not understand. He therefore proceeded to show her that he was acquainted with her
life and with her sins. His object, here, was to lead her to consider her own state and
sinfulness - a delicate and yet pungent way of making her see that she was a sinner.
By showing her, also, that he knew her life, though a stranger to her, he convinced
her that he was qualified to teach her the way to heaven, and thus prepared her to
admit that he was the Messiah, Joh_4:29.
CLARKE,"Call thy husband - Our Lord appears to have spoken these words
for two purposes:
1. To make the woman consider her own state.
2. To show her that he knew her heart, and the secret actions of her life; and was
therefore well qualified to teach her heavenly truths.
GILL, "Jesus saith unto her,.... Observing that she continued an ignorant scoffer
at him, and his words, determined to take another method with her; and convince
her, that he was not a common and ordinary person she was conversing with, as she
took him to be; and also what a sinner she was, and what a vicious course of life she
had lived; so that she might see that she stood in need of him, as the gift of God, and
Saviour of men; and of the grace he had been speaking of, under the notion of living
water: saying to her,
go, call thy husband, and come hither; go directly from hence to the city of
Sychar, and call thy husband, and come back hither along with him again: this Christ
said, not to have him come to teach and instruct him, and as if he would more readily
and easily understand him, and that he might be with her, a partaker of the same
grace; but to bring on some further conversation, by which she would understand
that he knew her state and condition, and what a course of life she now lived, and so
bring her under a conviction of her sin and danger, and need of him and his grace.
HENRY, "Observe, (1.) How discreetly and decently Christ introduces this
discourse (Joh_4:16): Go, call thy husband, and come hither. Now, [1.] The order
Christ gave her had a very good colour: “Call thy husband, that he may teach thee,
and help thee to understand these things, which thou art so ignorant of” The wives
that will learn must ask their husbands (1Co_14:35), who must dwell with them as
men of knowledge, 1Pe_3:7. “Call thy husband, that he may learn with thee; that
then you may be heirs together of the grace of life. Call thy husband, that he may be
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![witness to what passes between us.” Christ would thus teach us to provide things
honest in the sight of all men, and to study that which is of good report. [2.] As it had
a good colour, so it had a good design; for hence he would take occasion to call her
sin to remembrance. There is need of art and prudence in giving reproofs; to fetch a
compass, as the woman of Tekoa, 2Sa_14:20.
(2.) How industriously the woman seeks to evade the conviction, and yet insensibly
convicts herself, and, ere she is aware, owns her fault; she said, I have no husband.
Her saying this intimated no more than that she did not care to have her husband
spoken of, nor that matter mentioned any more. She would not have her husband
come thither, lest, in further discourse, the truth of the matter should come out, to
her shame; and therefore, “Pray go on to talk of something else, I have no husband;”
she would be thought a maid or a widow, whereas, though she had no husband, she
was neither. The carnal mind is very ingenious to shift off convictions, and to keep
them from fastening, careful to cover the sin.
(3.) How closely our Lord Jesus brings home the conviction to her conscience. It is
probable that he said more than is here recorded, for she thought that he told her all
that ever she did (Joh_4:29), but that which is here recorded is concerning her
husbands. Here is, [1.] A surprising narrative of her past conversation: Thou has
had five husbands. Doubtless, it was not her affliction (the burying of so many
husbands), but her sin, that Christ intended to upbraid her with; either she had
eloped (as the law speaks), had run away from her husbands, and married others, or
by her undutiful, unclean, disloyal conduct, had provoked them to divorce her, or by
indirect means had, contrary to law, divorced them. Those who make light of such
scandalous practices as these, as no more than nine days' wonder, and as if the guilt
were over as soon as the talk is over, should remember that Christ keeps account of
all. [2.] A severe reproof of her present state of life: He whom thou now hast is not
thy husband. Either she was never married to him at all, or he had some other wife,
or, which is most probable, her former husband or husbands were living: so that, in
short, she lived in adultery. Yet observe how mildly Christ tells her of it; he doth not
call her strumpet, but tells her, He with whom thou livest is not thy husband: and
then leaves it to her own conscience to say the rest. Note, Reproofs are ordinarily
most profitable when they are least provoking. [3.] Yet in this he puts a better
construction than it would well bear upon what she said by way of shuffle and
evasion: Thou has well said I have no husband; and again, In that saidst thou truly.
What she intended as a denial of the fact (that she had none with whom she lived as a
husband) he favourably interpreted, or at least turned upon her, as a confession of
the fault. Note, Those who would win souls should make the best of them, whereby
they may hope to work upon their good-nature; for, if they make the worst of them,
they certainly exasperate their ill-nature.
JAMIESON, "call thy husband — now proceeding to arouse her slumbering
conscience by laying bare the guilty life she was leading, and by the minute details
which that life furnished, not only bringing her sin vividly up before her, but
preparing her to receive in His true character that wonderful Stranger to whom her
whole life, in its minutest particulars, evidently lay open.
SBC, "We little know what our own prayers involve. Should we pray them if we did?
Here, too, the veil is drawn in mercy before the future. You ask for the waters of joy,
and you have them; but the first drops of the waters of joy are the tears of penitence.
The woman wished to drink of Christ’s well, but she must first drink of her own sin.
"Go, call thy husband, and come hither."
I. Notice, that it was just after He had awakened bright expectations of the future,
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![person.
2. Because it is not likely that our Lord would not, in some part of his discourse,
have reproved her for her fornication, especially if guilty of it under such gross
circumstances.
3. Nor is it likely that a woman of so bad a life should have had so much influence
with the people of her city that they should, on her testimony, Joh_4:39-42,
believe Jesus to be the Messiah.
4. Nor is it at all likely that when a discovery of her guilt was made to her, by one
whom she acknowledged to be a prophet, Joh_4:19, the first thing which came
into her thoughts should be the important question in religion, about the place
appointed by God for his worship, so warmly contested between the Jews and
Samaritans.
5. Nor is it at all probable that a person of such a bad life, without any mentioned
sign of repentance, should have been the first (perhaps the only private person)
to whom Jesus is recorded as declaring himself to be the Christ, as he does to
her, Joh_4:26.
GILL, "For thou hast had five husbands,.... Which she either had had lawfully,
and had buried one after another; and which was no crime, and might be: the
Sadducees propose a case to Christ, in which a woman is said to have had seven
husbands successively, in a lawful manner, Mat_22:25. Or rather, she had had so
many, and had been divorced from everyone of them, for adultery; for no other cause
it should seem did the Samaritans divorce; seeing that they only received the law of
Moses, and rejected, at least, many of the traditions of the elders; and since they are
particularly said (y).
"not to be expert in the law of marriages and divorces:''
and the rather this may seem to be the case, as Dr. Lightfoot observes; since these
husbands are mentioned, as well as he with whom she lived in an adulterous manner;
and which suggests, that she had not lived honestly with them:
and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband; that is, not thy lawful
husband, as the Persic version reads, and Nonnus paraphrases; being not married to
him at all, though they cohabited as man and wife, when there was no such relation
between them:
in that saidst thou truly; or that which is truth: thus Christ the omniscient God,
who knew her full well, and the whole of her past infamous conversation, and her
present lewd and wicked way of living, exposes all unto her.
HENRY, "(3.) How closely our Lord Jesus brings home the conviction to her
conscience. It is probable that he said more than is here recorded, for she thought
that he told her all that ever she did (Joh_4:29), but that which is here recorded is
concerning her husbands. Here is, [1.] A surprising narrative of her past
conversation: Thou has had five husbands. Doubtless, it was not her affliction (the
burying of so many husbands), but her sin, that Christ intended to upbraid her with;
either she had eloped (as the law speaks), had run away from her husbands, and
married others, or by her undutiful, unclean, disloyal conduct, had provoked them to
divorce her, or by indirect means had, contrary to law, divorced them. Those who
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![make light of such scandalous practices as these, as no more than nine days' wonder,
and as if the guilt were over as soon as the talk is over, should remember that Christ
keeps account of all. [2.] A severe reproof of her present state of life: He whom thou
now hast is not thy husband. Either she was never married to him at all, or he had
some other wife, or, which is most probable, her former husband or husbands were
living: so that, in short, she lived in adultery. Yet observe how mildly Christ tells her
of it; he doth not call her strumpet, but tells her, He with whom thou livest is not thy
husband: and then leaves it to her own conscience to say the rest. Note, Reproofs are
ordinarily most profitable when they are least provoking. [3.] Yet in this he puts a
better construction than it would well bear upon what she said by way of shuffle and
evasion: Thou has well said I have no husband; and again, In that saidst thou truly.
What she intended as a denial of the fact (that she had none with whom she lived as a
husband) he favourably interpreted, or at least turned upon her, as a confession of
the fault. Note, Those who would win souls should make the best of them, whereby
they may hope to work upon their good-nature; for, if they make the worst of them,
they certainly exasperate their ill-nature.
COKE, "John 4:18. He whom thou now hast, is not thy husband:— This can
imply no less than that she wasnot married to the man she now lived with; for
Christ seems to have allowed the other five to have been husbands, though her
separation fromsome of the former, and her marriage with the rest, had
probably been unlawful.
COFFMAN, "This was an astounding revelation to the woman that the stranger
at the well knew all about her sinful and unhappy life; and yet this had not
prevented his earnest conversation with her, nor his asking a drink at her hands.
The marvel is that she did not fall upon her knees. Note that this woman had had
five husbands, meaning five persons to whom she had been married, and that she
was living with a sixth man without benefit of a marriage ceremony. Some
deductions made from this passage fail to take these facts into consideration. It is
easy to allege sin where it does not exist; and the sin uncovered here was
primarily an immoral relationship with a sixth man, and not necessarily the fact
of her having been so often married. The Lord left out of our sight the reasons
for the break-up or termination of those marriages, some of which could have
been due to the death of the husband, rather than to the wanton adultery of this
woman whose heart hungered after eternal things. Let them who would charge
her in such a manner sustain their charges if they can, it is the preference here to
leave the matter of the multiple marriages covered. The present sin of this
daughter of Samaria was fully exposed by the Lord's statement.
ELLICOTT, "(18) In that saidst thou truly.—The stroke goes deeper. It lays
bare the secrets of all those years over which she thought the veil of the past had
for ever been drawn. The bright days of joy and dark days of sin; the heart’s
promises made and broken; the sad days of death, which five times over had
robbed her of a husband; or, worse than death, the sin which had severed the
sacred bonds; the shame of the present shameless life—all these are at least
hidden from a stranger. But His words pierce to the inmost thoughts, and prove
Him to know all the acts of her life (John 4:29). “Thou hast well said, A husband
I have not. The holy name may not be given to the paramour thou now hast; with
the loss of purity is linked the loss of truthfulness; the very truth thou utterest is
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![meant to convey to Me an untruth, but to One who knows all, the words are
really true;—“in that saidst thou truly.”
LIGHTFOOT, "[Thou hast had five husbands, &c.] Christ stops her fleering
mouth with the dung of her own unchaste conversation, charging her with that
infamous sort of life she had hitherto lived: q.d. "Thou, for thy impudent
adulteries, hast suffered divorce from five husbands already; and he whom thou
now hast is not thy husband, but an adulterer."
The Cuthites do not understand the law about betrothings and divorcings. They
had their customs of affiancing and divorcing; and perhaps by how much the
less accurate they were about their divorces, (I mean with respect to the Jewish
rules,) the nearer they might come to the first institution of Moses, who allowed
no divorces but in the case of adultery. That this woman was dismissed from her
husbands for these infamous faults of hers, seems evident, partly, from the
extraordinary number of husbands, partly, that our Saviour mentions her
husbands, as well as him that then lived adulterously with her: as if he would
intimate, that she lived dishonestly under her husbands, as well as with this man.
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you
are a prophet.
BARNES,"A prophet - One sent from God, and who understood her life. The
word here does not denote one who foretells future events, but one who knew her
heart and life, and who must therefore have come from God. She did not yet suppose
him to be the Messiah, Joh_4:25. Believing him now to be a man sent from God, she
proposed to him a question respecting the proper place of worship. This point had
been long a matter of dispute between the Samaritans and the Jews. She submitted it
to him because she thought he could settle the question, and perhaps because she
wished to divert the conversation from the unpleasant topic respecting her husbands.
The conversation about her manner of life was a very unpleasant topic to her - as it is
always unpleasant to sinners to talk about their lives and the necessity of religion -
and she was glad to turn the conversation to something else. Nothing is more
common than for sinners to change the conversation when it begins to bear too hard
upon their consciences; and no way of doing it is more common than to direct it to
sonic speculative inquiry having some sort of connection with religion, as if to show
that they are willing to talk about religion, and do not wish to appear to be opposed
to it. Sinners do not love direct religious conversation, but many are too well-bred to
refuse altogether to talk about it; yet they choose to converse about some speculative
matter, or something pertaining to the mere “externals” of religion, rather than the
salvation of their own souls. So sinners often now change the conversation to some
inquiry about a preacher, or about some doctrine, or about building or repairing a
place of worship, or about a Sunday school, in order to seeM to talk about religion,
and yet to evade close and faithful appeals to their own consciences.
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![CLARKE,"I perceive that thou art a prophet - And therefore thought him
well qualified to decide the grand question in dispute between the Jews and the
Samaritans: but she did not perceive him to be the Messiah.
GILL, "The woman saith unto him, Sir,.... With another countenance, and a
different air and gesture, with another accent and tone of speech, dropping her scoffs
and jeers:
I perceive that thou art a prophet; such an one as Samuel was, who could tell
Saul what was in his heart, and that his father's asses were found, and where they
were, 1Sa_9:19; and as Elisha, whose heart went with his servant Gehazi, when
Naaman turned to him to meet him, and give him presents; and who could tell, ere
the king's messenger came to him, that the son of a murderer had sent to take away
his head, 2Ki_5:26. And such a prophet, that had such a spirit of discerning, this
woman took Christ to be; and who indeed is greater than a prophet, and is the
omniscient God; who knows all men's hearts, thoughts, words and actions, and needs
not that any should testify of them to him; for he knows what is in them, and done by
them; and can tell them all that ever they did, as he did this woman, Joh_4:29. Now
in order either to shift off the discourse from this subject, which touched her to the
quick; or else being truly sensible of her sin, and willing to reform, and for the future
to worship God in the place and manner he had directed, she addressed Christ in the
following words.
HENRY, "3. The next subject of discourse with this woman is concerning the
place of worship, Joh_4:19-24. Observe,
(1.) A case of conscience proposed to Christ by the woman, concerning the place of
worship, Joh_4:19, Joh_4:20.
[1.] The inducement she had to put this case: Sir, I perceive that thou art a
prophet. She does not deny the truth of what he had charged her with, but by her
silence owns the justice of the reproof; nor is she put into a passion by it, as many are
when they are touched in a sore place, does not impute his censure to the general
disgust the Jews had to the Samaritans, but (which is a rare thing) can bear to be told
of a fault. But this is not all; she goes further: First, She speaks respectfully to him,
calls him Sir. Thus should we honour those that deal faithfully with us. This was the
effect of Christ's meekness in reproving her; he gave her no ill language, and then she
gave him none. Secondly, She acknowledges him to be a prophet, one that had a
correspondence with Heaven. Note, The power of the word of Christ in searching the
heart, and convincing the conscience of secret sins, is a great proof of its divine
authority, 1Co_14:24, 1Co_14:25. Thirdly, She desires some further instruction from
him. Many that are not angry at their reprovers, nor fly in their faces, yet are afraid
of them and keep out of their way; but this woman was willing to have some more
discourse with him that told her of her faults.
[2.] The case itself that she propounded concerning the place of religious worship
in public. Some think that she started this to shift off further discourse concerning
her sin. Controversies in religion often prove great prejudices to serious godliness;
but, it should seem, she proposed it with a good design; she knew she must worship
God, and desired to do it aright; and therefore, meeting with a prophet, begs his
direction. Note, It is our wisdom to improve all opportunities of getting knowledge in
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![This story is told elsewhere (e), with a little variation, and more plainly as to the
place, thus;
"it happened to R. Jonathan, that he went to Neapolis, of the Cuthites, or
Samaritans, (i.e. to Sichem, for Sichem is now called Naplous,) and he was riding
upon an ass, and an herdsman with him; a certain, Samaritan joined himself to them:
when they came to Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan said to R. Jonathan, how came it
to pass that we are come to this holy mountain? R. Jonathan replied, whence comes
it to be holy? the Samaritan answered him, because it was not hurt by the waters of
the flood.''
Much the same story is told of R. Ishmael bar R. Jose (f). It is to be observed in this
account, that the Samaritans call this mountain the holy mountain, they imagined
there was something sacred in it; and the blessed mountain, or the mountain of
blessing; no doubt, because the blessings were pronounced upon it; though a very
poor reason is given by them in the above passages. And they not only urged the
above instances of the worship or the patriarchs at, or about this place, which this
woman refers to; but even falsified a passage in the Pentateuch, as is generally
thought, in favour of this mount; for in Deu_27:4, instead of Mount Ebal, in the
Samaritan Pentateuch Mount Gerizim is inserted. So stood the ease on one side of
the question; on the other hand, the Jews pleaded for the temple at Jerusalem.
And ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship;
that is, in the temple, there; who urged, and very rightly, that God had chosen that
place to put his name, and fix his worship there; and had ordered them to come
thither, and bring their offerings and sacrifices, and to keep their passover and other
feasts; see Deu_12:5. This was built by Solomon, according to the command and
direction of God, some hundreds of years before Mount Gerizim was made use of for
religious worship; and they had not only these things to plead, but also the worship
which was here given to God in this place before the temple was built upon it, which
they failed not to do. So the Targumist on 2Ch_3:1 enlarges on this head;
"and Solomon began to build the sanctuary of the Lord in Jerusalem, on Mount
Moriah, in the place where Abraham worshipped and prayed in the name of the
Lord: פולחנא ארע אתר ,הוא "this place is the land of worship"; for there all generations
worshipped before the Lord; and there Abraham offered up his son Isaac, for a burnt
offering, and the word of the Lord delivered him, and a ram was appointed in his
stead; there Jacob prayed when he fled from Esau his brother; there the angel of the
Lord appeared to David, when he disposed the sacrifice in the place he bought of
Ornan, in the floor of Ornan the Jebusite.''
And since, now there were so many things to be said on each side of the question, this
woman desires, that seeing Christ was a prophet, he would be pleased to give her his
sense of the matter, and inform her which was the right place of worship.
HENRY, "[2.] The case itself that she propounded concerning the place of
religious worship in public. Some think that she started this to shift off further
discourse concerning her sin. Controversies in religion often prove great prejudices
to serious godliness; but, it should seem, she proposed it with a good design; she
knew she must worship God, and desired to do it aright; and therefore, meeting with
a prophet, begs his direction. Note, It is our wisdom to improve all opportunities of
getting knowledge in the things of God. When we are in company with those that are
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![than of self. There is the mountain overhanging them, the theme of many a
discussion between Samaritan and Jew; she will ask the prophet to decide that
question.
LIGHTFOOT, "[Worshipped in this mountain.] The story of that Temple on
Gerizim, out of Josephus and others, is very well known. It was built in
emulation and envy to that at Jerusalem, as of old were Dan and Bethel. Hence
that irreconcilable hatred between the two nations, and the apostasy of divers
Jews. The Samaritans attributed a certain holiness to the mountain, even after
the Temple had been destroyed; but for what reason, they themselves could not
well tell. However, for the defence of it, the Samaritan text hath notoriously
falsified the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 27:4: for whereas the Hebrew hath
it, "Ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal";
the Samaritan text and version hath it in mount Gerizim; as I have elsewhere
observed.
"R. Jochanan going to Jerusalem to pray, he passed by that mountain [Gerizim].
A certain Samaritan seeing him, asked him, 'Whither goest thou?' 'I am,' saith
he, 'going to Jerusalem to pray.' To whom the Samaritan, 'Were it not better for
thee to pray in this holy mountain, than in that cursed house?' 'Whence comes
this mountain to be so holy?' saith he: 'Because (saith the other) it was not
overflown by the waters of the deluge.'" A doughty reason indeed!
"R. Ismael, the son of R. Joseph, going to Jerusalem to pray, passed by that
mountain. A certain Samaritan meeting him, asks, 'Where art thou going?' 'I am
going,' saith he, 'to Jerusalem, to pray.' Saith the other, 'Were it not better for
thee to pray in this blessed mountain, than in that cursed place?' Saith the R., 'I
will tell you what you are like; you are like a dog greedy after carrion: so you
when you know that idols are hid under this mountain, as it is said, And Jacob
hid them, you are acted with a greedy desire after them.' They said amongst
themselves, 'Seeing he knows there are idols hidden in this mountain, he will
come in the night and steal them away.' And they consulted together to have
killed him, but he, getting up in the night, stole away."
Somewhat akin to this Temple on Gerizim was that built by Onias in Egypt, the
story of which you have in Josephus, and the description of it. Of this Temple
also the Gemarists discourse, from whom we will borrow a few things.
"Simeon the just dying, said, 'Onias my son shall minister in my stead.' For this,
his brother Shimei, being older than he by two years and a half, grew very
envious. He saith to his brother, 'Come hither, and I will teach thee the rule and
way of ministering.' So he puts him on a leathern garment and girds him, and
then setting him by the altar, cries out to his brethren the priests, 'See here what
this man hath vowed, and does accordingly perform to his wife, viz., that
whenever he ministered in the high priesthood, he would put on her stomacher
[pectorale], and be girt about with her girdle.'" The Gloss upon the place saith
the leathern garment, but Aruch, from Avodah Zarah, saith the stomacher of the
heart. What the word in this place should mean is plain enough from the story
itself. Shimei, that he might render his brother both ridiculous and odious to the
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![rest of the priests, persuades him to perform his services with his wife's
stomacher, instead of the breastplate of the high priest, and her girdle, instead of
that curious one they were wont to be girt with, &c.
The story goes on: "His brethren the priests, upon this, contrive his death; but
he, escaping their hands, fled into Alexandria of Egypt; and there building an
altar, offered idolatrous sacrifices upon it. These are the words of Meir: but R.
Judah tells him the thing was not so: for Onias did not own his brother Shimei to
be two years and a half older than himself; but envying him, told him, 'Come,
and I will teach thee the rule and method of thy ministry.'" And so, as R. Judah
relates the matter, the tables are turned, the whole scene altered; so that Onias
persuades his brother Shimei to put on his wife's stomacher, and gird himself
with her girdle; and for that reason the priests do plot the death of Shimei. "But
when he had declared the whole matter as it was indeed, then they designed to
kill Onias. He therefore flying into Alexandria in Egypt, builds there an altar,
and offered sacrifices upon it to the name of the Lord, according as it is said, In
that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt."
And now it is at the reader's choice to determine which of these two Temples,
that in Egypt, or this upon Gerizim, is built upon the best foundation; the one, by
a fugitive priest, under pretence of a divine prophecy; the other, by a fugitive
priest too, under pretence that that mount was the mount upon which the
blessings had been pronounced. Let the Jews speak for themselves, whether they
believed that Onias, with pure regard to that prophecy, did build his Temple in
Egypt; and let every wise man laugh at those that do thus persuade themselves.
However, this is certain, they had universally much more favourable thoughts of
that in Egypt than of this upon mount Gerizim. Hence that passage in the place
before quoted: "If any one say, 'I devote a whole burnt offering,' let him offer it
in the Temple at Jerusalem; for if he offer it in the Temple of Onias, he doth not
perform his vow. But if any one say, 'I devote a whole burnt offering for the
Temple of Onias, though he ought to offer it in the Temple at Jerusalem, yet if he
offer it in the Temple of Onias, he acquits himself.' R. Simeon saith, It is no
burnt offering. Moreover, if any one shall say, 'I vow myself to be a Nazarite,' let
him shave himself in the Temple at Jerusalem; for if he be shaven in the Temple
of Onias, he doth not perform his vow. But if he should say, 'I vow myself a
Nazarite, so that I may be shaven in the Temple of Onias,' and he do shave
himself there, he is a Nazarite."
[And ye say, that in Jerusalem, &c.] What! did not the Samaritans themselves
confess that Jerusalem was the place appointed by God himself for his worship?
No doubt they could not be ignorant of the Temple which Solomon had built; nor
did they believe but that from the times of David and Solomon God had fixed his
name and residence at Jerusalem. And as to their preferring their Temple on
Gerizim before that in Jerusalem notwithstanding all this, it is probable their
boldness and emulation might take its rise from hence, viz., they saw the second
Temple falling so short of its ancient and primitive glory; they observed that the
divine presence over the ark, the ark itself, the cherubims, the Urim and
Thummim, the spirit of prophecy, &c., were no more in that place.
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![Our Father, who art in heaven, etc. See Joh_4:23.
GILL, "Jesus saith unto her, woman, believe me,.... In what I am now going
to say, since you own me to be a prophet:
the hour cometh; the time is at hand; it is very near; it is just coming:
when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem,
worship the Father; that is, God, whom the Jews, and so the Samaritans, knew
under the character of the Father of all men, as the Creator and preserver of them;
for not God as the Father of Christ, or of the saints by adopting grace, is here
intended, which this ignorant woman at least had no knowledge of: and the reason of
our Lord's speaking after this manner, signifying, that she need not trouble herself
about the place of worship, was, partly, because in a little time Jerusalem, and the
temple in it, would be destroyed, and not one stone left upon another; and that
Samaria, and this mountain of Gerizim, with whatsoever edifice might be upon it,
would be laid desolate, so that neither of them would continue long to be places of
religious worship; and partly, because all distinction of places in religion would
entirely cease; and one place would be as lawful, and as proper to worship in, as
another; and men should lift up holy hands, and pray, and offer up spiritual sacrifices
in every place, even from the rising of the sun, to the going down of the same, Mal_
1:11.
HENRY, "[1.] He puts a slight upon the question, as she had proposed it,
concerning the place of worship (Joh_4:21): “Woman, believe me as a prophet, and
mark what I say. Thou art expecting the hour to come when either by some divine
revelation, or some signal providence, this matter shall be decided in favour either of
Jerusalem or of Mount Gerizim; but I tell thee the hour is at hand when it shall be no
more a question; that which thou has been taught to lay so much weight on shall be
set aside as a thing indifferent.” Note, It should cool us in our contests to think that
those things which now fill us, and which we make such a noise about, shall shortly
vanish, and be no more: the very things we are striving about are passing away: The
hour comes when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship
the Father. First, The object of worship is supposed to continue still the same - God,
as a Father; under this notion the very heathen worshipped God, the Jews did so, and
probably the Samaritans. Secondly, But a period shall be put to all niceness and all
differences about the place of worship. The approaching dissolution of the Jewish
economy, and the erecting of the evangelical state, shall set this matter at large, and
lay all in common, so that it shall be a thing perfectly indifferent whether in either of
these places or any other men worship God, for they shall not be tied to any place;
neither here nor there, but both, and any where, and every where. Note, The
worship of God is not now, under the gospel, appropriated to any place, as it was
under the law, but it is God's will that men pray every where. 1Ti_2:8; Mal_1:11. Our
reason teaches us to consult decency and convenience in the places of our worship:
but our religion gives no preference to one place above another, in respect to holiness
and acceptableness to God. Those who prefer any worship merely for the sake of the
house or building in which it is performed (though it were as magnificent and as
solemnly consecrated as ever Solomon's temple was) forget that the hour is come
when there shall be no difference put in God's account: no, not between Jerusalem,
which had been so famous for sanctity, and the mountain of Samaria, which had
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![been so infamous for impiety.
[2.] He lays a stress upon other things, in the matter of religious worship. When
he made so light of the place of worship he did not intend to lessen our concern
about the thing itself, of which therefore he takes occasion to discourse more fully.
JAMIESON, "Woman, etc. — Here are three weighty pieces of information: (1)
The point raised will very soon cease to be of any moment, for a total change of
dispensation is about to come over the Church. (2) The Samaritans are wrong, not
only as to the place, but the whole grounds and nature of their worship, while in all
these respects the truth lies with the Jews. (3) As God is a Spirit, so He both invites
and demands a spiritual worship, and already all is in preparation for a spiritual
economy, more in harmony with the true nature of acceptable service than the
ceremonial worship by consecrated persons, place, and times, which God for a time
has seen meet to keep up till fullness of the time should come.
neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem — that is, exclusively (Mal_
1:11; 1Ti_2:8).
worship the Father — She had talked simply of “worship”; our Lord brings up
before her the great OBJECT of all acceptable worship - “THE FATHER.”
CALVIN, "21.Woman, believe me. In the first part of this reply, he briefly sets
aside the ceremonial worship which had been appointed under the Law; for
when he says that the hour is at hand when there shall be no peculiar and fixed
place for worship, he means that what Moses delivered was only for a time, and
that the time was now approaching when the partition-wall (Ephesians 2:14)
should be thrown down. In this manner he extends the worship of God far
beyond its former narrow limits, that the Samaritans might become partakers of
it.
The hour cometh. He uses the present tense instead of the future; but the
meaning is, that the repeal of the Law is already at hand, so far as relates to the
Temple, and Priesthood, and other outward ceremonies. By calling God Father,
he seems indirectly to contrast Him with the Fathers whom the woman had
mentioned, and to convey this instruction, that God will be a common Father to
all, so that he will be generally worshipped without distinction of places or
nations.
COKE, "John 4:21. Woman, believe me, &c.— To understand the force of our
Lord's reply, it will be necessary to recur to the origin of this dispute between the
two nations. We shall first premise that Christ waves the decision of the question
put to him by the woman, and with good reason; for he was about to destroy all
local worship, by introducing a religion suited to all climates, and to be observed
in all nations of the world. To talk then of the preference of this or that
mountain, or to decide the point in favour of either, would have been inconsistent
with his doctrine. This premised, we observe, that at the time of the migration of
the Hebrews from Egypt, the whole world was sunk into idolatry; they alone
were blessed with the knowledge of the true God; yet even they were perpetually
relapsing into the absurdities of idol worship. Hence that load of peculiar
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![of the Gentiles and Samaritans might be saved, for in every nation he that fears God
and works righteousness is accepted of him; but, [1.] The author of eternal salvation
comes of the Jews, appears among them (Rom_9:5), and is sent first to bless them.
[2.] The means of eternal salvation are afforded to them. The word of salvation
(Act_13:26) was of the Jews. It was delivered to them, and other nations derived it
through them. This was a sure guide to them in their devotions, and they followed it,
and therefore knew what they worshipped. To them were committed the oracles of
God (Rom_3:2), and the service of God, (Rom_9:4). The Jews therefore being thus
privileged and advanced, it was presumption for the Samaritans to vie with them.
CALVIN, "He now explains more largely what he had briefly glanced at about
the abolition of the Law; but he divides the substance of his discourse into two
parts. In the former, he charges with superstition and error the form of
worshipping God which had been used by the Samaritans, but testifies that the
true and lawful form was observed by the Jews. And he assigns the cause of the
difference, that from the word of God the Jews obtained certainty as to his
worship, while the Samaritans received nothing certain from the mouth of God.
In the second part, he declares that the ceremonies hitherto observed by the Jews
would soon be at an end.
22.You worship what you know not, we worship what we know. This is a
sentence worthy of being remembered, and teaches us that we ought not to
attempt any thing in religion rashly or at random; because, unless there be
knowledge, it is not God that we worship, but a phantom or idol. All good
intentions, as they are called, are struck by this sentence, as by a thunderbolt; for
we learn from it, that men can do nothing but err, when they are guided by their
own opinion without the word or command of God. For Christ, defending the
person and cause of his nation, shows that the Jews are widely different from the
Samaritans. And why?
Because salvation is from the Jews. By these words he means that they have the
superiority in this respect, that God had made with them a covenant of eternal
salvation. Some restrict it to Christ, who was descended from the Jews; and,
indeed, since
all the promises of God were confirmed and ratified in him,
(2 Corinthians 1:20,)
there is no salvation but in him. But as there can be no doubt that Christ gives
the preference to the Jews on this ground, that they do not worship some
unknown deity, but God alone, who revealed himself to them, and by whom they
were adopted as his people; by the word salvation we ought to understand that
saving manifestation which had been made to them concerning the heavenly
doctrine.
But why does he say that it was from the Jews, when it was rather deposited with
them, that they alone might enjoy it? He alludes, in my opinion, to what had been
predicted by the Prophets, that the Law would go forth from Zion, (Isaiah 2:3;
Micah 4:2,) for they were separated for a time from the rest of the nations on the
express condition, that the pure knowledge of God should flow out from them to
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![truth"; with Christ the way, the truth, and the life; who is the true God, and eternal
life; and who is equally to be worshipped as the Father and Spirit, as he is by the
angels in heaven, and by the saints on earth; who pray unto him, trust in him, and
are also baptized in his name, as in the name of the other two persons: and the rather
this may be thought to be the sense, since Christ is speaking, not of the manner, but
of the object of worship, in the preceding verse:
for the Father seeketh such to worship him; it being agreeable to him to be
worshipped in the manner, as above related; and his desire is, that the Son and Spirit
should be honoured equally as himself; and such worshippers he has found, having
made them such, both among the Jews and Gentiles; and such only are acceptable to
him; see Phi_3:3.
HENRY, "Secondly, He describes the evangelical worship which alone God would
accept and be well pleased with. Having shown that the place is indifferent, he comes
to show what is necessary and essential - that we worship God in spirit and in truth,
Joh_4:23, Joh_4:24. The stress is not to be laid upon the place where we worship
God, but upon the state of mind in which we worship him. Note, The most effectual
way to take up differences in the minor matters of religion is to be more zealous in
the greater. Those who daily make it the matter of their care to worship in the spirit,
one would think, should not make it the matter of their strife whether he should be
worshipped here or there. Christ had justly preferred the Jewish worship before the
Samaritan, yet here he intimates the imperfection of that. The worship was
ceremonial, Heb_9:1, Heb_9:10. The worshippers were generally carnal, and
strangers to the inward part of divine worship. Note, It is possible that we may be
better than our neighbours, and yet not so good as we should be. It concerns us to be
right, not only in the object of our worship, but in the manner of it; and it is this
which Christ here instructs us in. Observe,
a. The great and glorious revolution which should introduce this change: The hour
cometh, and now is - the fixed stated time, concerning which it was of old
determined when it should come, and how long it should last. The time of its
appearance if fixed to an hour, so punctual and exact are the divine counsels; the
time of its continuance is limited to an hour, so close and pressing is the opportunity
of divine grace, 2Co_6:2. This hour cometh, it is coming in its full strength, lustre,
and perfection, it now is in the embryo and infancy. The perfect day is coming, and
now it dawns.
b. The blessed change itself. In gospel times the true worshippers shall worship
the Father in spirit and in truth. As creatures, we worship the Father of all: as
Christians, we worship the Father of our Lord Jesus. Now the change shall be, (a.) In
the nature of the worship. Christians shall worship God, not in the ceremonial
observances of the Mosaic institution, but in spiritual ordinances, consisting less in
bodily exercise, and animated and invigorated more with divine power and energy.
The way of worship which Christ has instituted is rational and intellectual, and
refined from those external rites and ceremonies with which the Old Testament
worship was both clouded and clogged. This is called true worship, in opposition to
that which was typical. The legal services were figures of the true, Heb_9:3, Heb_
9:24. Those that revolted from Christianity to Judaism are said to begin in the spirit,
and end in the flesh, Gal_3:3. Such was the difference between Old Testament and
New Testament institutions. (b.) In the temper and disposition of the worshippers;
and so the true worshippers are good Christians, distinguished from hypocrites; all
should, and they will, worship God in spirit and in truth. It is spoken of (Joh_4:23)
as their character, and (Joh_4:24) as their duty. Note, It is required of all that
worship God that they worship him in spirit and in truth. We must worship God, [a.]
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![In spirit, Phi_3:3. We must depend upon God's Spirit for strength and assistance,
laying our souls under his influences and operations; we must devote our own spirits
to, and employ them in, the service of God (Rom_1:9), must worship him with
fixedness of thought and a flame of affection, with all that is within us. Spirit is
sometimes put for the new nature, in opposition to the flesh, which is the corrupt
nature; and so to worship God with our spirits is to worship him with our graces,
Heb_12:28. [b.] In truth, that is, in sincerity. God requires not only the inward part
in our worship, but truth in the inward part, Psa_51:6. We must mind the power
more than the form, must aim at God's glory, and not to be seen of men; draw near
with a true heart, Heb_10:22.
Thirdly, He intimates the reasons why God must be thus worshipped.
a. Because in gospel times they, and they only, are accounted the true worshippers.
The gospel erects a spiritual way of worship, so that the professors of the gospel are
not true in their profession, do not live up to gospel light and laws, if they do not
worship God in spirit and in truth.
b. Because the Father seeketh such worshippers of him. This intimates, (a.) That
such worshippers are very rare, and seldom met with, Jer_30:21. The gate of
spiritual worshipping is strait. (b.) That such worship is necessary, and what the God
of heaven insists upon. When God comes to enquire for worshippers, the question
will not be, “Who worshipped at Jerusalem?” but, “Who worshipped in spirit?” That
will be the touchstone. (c.) That God is greatly well pleased with and graciously
accepts such worship and such worshippers. I have desired it, Psa_132:13, Psa_
132:14; Son_2:14. (d.) That there has been, and will be to the end, a remnant of such
worshippers; his seeking such worshippers implies his making them such. God is in
all ages gathering in to himself a generation of spiritual worshippers.
c. Because God is a spirit. Christ came to declare God to us (Joh_1:18), and this he
has declared concerning him; he declared it to this poor Samaritan woman, for the
meanest are concerned to know God; and with this design, to rectify her mistakes
concerning religious worship, to which nothing would contribute more than the right
knowledge of God. Note, (a.) God is a spirit, for he is an infinite and eternal mind, an
intelligent being, incorporeal, immaterial, invisible, and incorruptible. It is easier to
say what God is not than what he is; a spirit has not flesh and bones, but who knows
the way of a spirit? If God were not a spirit, he could not be perfect, nor infinite, nor
eternal, nor independent, nor the Father of spirits. (b.) The spirituality of the divine
nature is a very good reason for the spirituality of divine worship. If we do not
worship God, who is a spirit, in the spirit, we neither give him the glory due to his
name, and so do not perform the act of worship, nor can we hope to obtain his
favour and acceptance, and so we miss of the end of worship, Mat_15:8, Mat_15:9.
CALVIN, "23.But the hour cometh. Now follows the latter clause, about
repealing the worship, or ceremonies, (81) prescribed by the Law. When he says
that the hour cometh, or will come, he shows that the order laid down by Moses
will not be perpetual. When he says that the hour is now come, he puts an end to
the ceremonies, and declares that the time of reformation, of which the Apostle
speaks, (Hebrews 9:10,) has thus been fulfilled. Yet he approves of the Temple,
the Priesthood, and all the ceremonies connected with them, so far as relates to
the past time. Again, to show that God does not choose to be worshipped either
in Jerusalem or in mount Gerizzim, he takes a higher principle, that the true
worship of Him consists in the spirit; for hence it follows that in all places He
may be properly worshipped.
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![prayer, praise, attendance on the word and ordinances:
must worship him in spirit and in truth; in the true and spiritual manner
before described, which is suitable to his nature, and agreeably to his will.
HENRY, " The blessed change itself. In gospel times the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth. As creatures, we worship the Father of all:
as Christians, we worship the Father of our Lord Jesus. Now the change shall be, (a.)
In the nature of the worship. Christians shall worship God, not in the ceremonial
observances of the Mosaic institution, but in spiritual ordinances, consisting less in
bodily exercise, and animated and invigorated more with divine power and energy.
The way of worship which Christ has instituted is rational and intellectual, and
refined from those external rites and ceremonies with which the Old Testament
worship was both clouded and clogged. This is called true worship, in opposition to
that which was typical. The legal services were figures of the true, Heb_9:3, Heb_
9:24. Those that revolted from Christianity to Judaism are said to begin in the spirit,
and end in the flesh, Gal_3:3. Such was the difference between Old Testament and
New Testament institutions. (b.) In the temper and disposition of the worshippers;
and so the true worshippers are good Christians, distinguished from hypocrites; all
should, and they will, worship God in spirit and in truth. It is spoken of (Joh_4:23)
as their character, and (Joh_4:24) as their duty. Note, It is required of all that
worship God that they worship him in spirit and in truth. We must worship God, [a.]
In spirit, Phi_3:3. We must depend upon God's Spirit for strength and assistance,
laying our souls under his influences and operations; we must devote our own spirits
to, and employ them in, the service of God (Rom_1:9), must worship him with
fixedness of thought and a flame of affection, with all that is within us. Spirit is
sometimes put for the new nature, in opposition to the flesh, which is the corrupt
nature; and so to worship God with our spirits is to worship him with our graces,
Heb_12:28. [b.] In truth, that is, in sincerity. God requires not only the inward part
in our worship, but truth in the inward part, Psa_51:6. We must mind the power
more than the form, must aim at God's glory, and not to be seen of men; draw near
with a true heart, Heb_10:22.
Thirdly, He intimates the reasons why God must be thus worshipped.
a. Because in gospel times they, and they only, are accounted the true worshippers.
The gospel erects a spiritual way of worship, so that the professors of the gospel are
not true in their profession, do not live up to gospel light and laws, if they do not
worship God in spirit and in truth.
b. Because the Father seeketh such worshippers of him. This intimates, (a.) That
such worshippers are very rare, and seldom met with, Jer_30:21. The gate of
spiritual worshipping is strait. (b.) That such worship is necessary, and what the God
of heaven insists upon. When God comes to enquire for worshippers, the question
will not be, “Who worshipped at Jerusalem?” but, “Who worshipped in spirit?” That
will be the touchstone. (c.) That God is greatly well pleased with and graciously
accepts such worship and such worshippers. I have desired it, Psa_132:13, Psa_
132:14; Son_2:14. (d.) That there has been, and will be to the end, a remnant of such
worshippers; his seeking such worshippers implies his making them such. God is in
all ages gathering in to himself a generation of spiritual worshippers.
c. Because God is a spirit. Christ came to declare God to us (Joh_1:18), and this he
has declared concerning him; he declared it to this poor Samaritan woman, for the
meanest are concerned to know God; and with this design, to rectify her mistakes
concerning religious worship, to which nothing would contribute more than the right
knowledge of God. Note, (a.) God is a spirit, for he is an infinite and eternal mind, an
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![understanding and will.1 [Note: Guyse.]
Observe yon concave blue,
That seems to close around our human view,
And ends by sun and star
Our keenest survey of those heavens afar.
And yet we know full well,
False is the specious tale our senses tell;
That is no azure sky,
Or solid vault, that meets our lifted eye.
What curtains round our gaze,
The background of the sun or starry maze,
Is but blue-tinted light
That veils from us the aërial infinite.
And so, when we define
Great heaven’s immensity by verbal sign,
We act as though our bent
Were here again to feign a firmament.
Words in array we place,
And deem therewith we see God face to face.
Poor fools, and blind; not seeing
Our words but mask and hide His unsearched Being.1 [Note: John Owen.]
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![2. The great truth that God is a Spirit, purely held, would be the best corrective
of false doctrines in religion, the richest spring of peace, the most constant
inspiration of duty. Examine a narrow creed, and it will not be difficult to point
out where it forgets that God is a Spirit. A heart not at rest is a heart that does
not know the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. A dishonoured
conscience, a violated sentiment, a rebellious will, are only other names for a
broken fellowship with the Father of our spirits. A soul cleansed from
unspiritual thoughts of God, and in daily communion with Him, however far it
might be from the fulness of objective Truth, would have in it no springs of
error, of trouble, or of sin.
(1) The first error that arises from an unspiritual conception of God is a
tendency to localize God. The woman’s question was, in fact, “Where?” Christ’s
reply was, “Nowhere in particular—everywhere.” This question lies at the root
of all superstition. It is observable among the heathen, who confine the agency of
a god to a certain district; among the uneducated poor of our own country, in
their notions of a cemetery; and among the more refined, in the clinging
mysterious idea which they attach to a church, an altar, and the elements of the
sacrament. Let us define what we mean by sanctity of place. It is a thing merely
subjective, not objective; it is relative to us. It belongs to that law of association
by which a train of ideas returns more easily by suggestion in some one place
than in another. Worship in a festive room or over a shop, would suggest notions
uncongenial with devotion. Hence the use of setting apart or consecrating places
for worship. There is no other sanctity of place. We hear an objection to this. It is
said to be dangerous to say this: it will unsettle people’s minds; a little of this
illusion is wholesome, especially for the poor. Christ did not so reason. Consider
how unsettling this was to the woman. The little religion she had clung to
Gerizim. The shock of being told that it was not holy might have unsettled all her
religion. Did Christ hesitate one moment? He was concerned only with truth.
And we are concerned only with truth. Some people are afraid of truth. As if
God’s truth could be dangerous! The straight road is ever the nearest. People
must bear, and shall, what an earnest mind dares to say. Is God there or not? If
not, at our peril we say He is.1 [Note: F. W. Robertson.]
(2) A second error is the idea that forms are immutable. “Our fathers
worshipped in this mountain,” therefore so must we. How much of the mischief
of the separation of sects, with all the bitterness and mistrust that have come
with it, has arisen from the fact that the form of worship has been mistaken for
the worship itself.
It was about one o’clock in the morning. I was the only white man then on the
island, and all the natives had been fast asleep for hours! Yet I literally pitched
my hat into the air, and danced like a schoolboy round and round that printing-
press; till I began to think, Am I losing my reason? Would it not be liker a
missionary to be upon my knees, adoring God for this first portion of His blessed
Word ever printed in this new language? Friend, bear with me, and believe me,
that was as true worship as ever was David’s dancing before the Ark of his God!
2 [Note: John G. Paton, i. 202.]
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![(3) A third error is to mistake the object of worship. There is a feeling of
devoutness inherent in the human mind. We hear the solemn tones of a child
when repeating his prayer or hymn. Before what is greater, wiser, better than
himself man bows instinctively. But the question is, what will he worship? The
heathen bent before Power. To him the Universe was alive with Deity; he saw
God in the whirlwind, in the lightning, and the thunder. But the forces of Nature
are not God. The philosopher bows before Wisdom. Science tells him of
electricity, gravitation, force. He looks down on warm devoutness; for he sees
only contrivance and mind in Nature. He admires all calmly, without
enthusiasm. He calls it Rational Religion. This also is ignorance. The spiritual
man bows before Goodness, “The true worshippers worship the Father,” “We
know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews,” that is, God is intelligible in
Christ as Love, Goodness, Purity.
God is a Spirit in nature; but He is a Father in character. This was part of
Christ’s revelation of God to the woman of Samaria. “The hour cometh, and now
is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father.” Jesus was the herald of
the Golden Age, and of the common worship of the universal Father. On that
very day the Golden Age was dawning, for He, rising above the limits of a
national religion, was seeking one outside its fold. True, as He declared to this
woman, salvation was of the Jews. Unto the Jews God had revealed Himself by
prophet and priest, and by means of ritual. Unto them had been granted special
revelation; yet, notwithstanding all their privileges, the Jewish people had not yet
learned the full glory of the Divine character. To them, God was Jehovah, the
High and Mighty One inhabiting eternity; He was infinite, all-powerful, the God
of Israel; but the coming of Jesus unveiled Deity, and revealed Him as the one
Father of all humanity. Before His coming, men had dreaded Deity; but He,
leading the children of men into the presence of the Infinite, said, “When ye
pray, say, Our Father.” Thus He revealed the character of God to be that of
infinite love.1 [Note: G. E. Walters, The Deserted Christ, 78.]
(4) A fourth error is a mistake about the nature of reverence. This Samaritan
woman had what is often called reverence—veneration for antiquity, zeal for her
Church, lingering recollections of the old mountain, respect for a prophet. But
what was her life? He with whom she then lived was not her husband. In other
words, reverence, veneration, awe, are feelings which belong to the imagination
and are neither good nor bad: they may go along with religion, but also they may
not. A man may kneel to sublime things, yet never have bent his heart to
goodness and purity. A man may be reverential and yet impure. Next examine a
man who is called irreverent. Constitutionally so framed that he does not happen
to thrill at painted windows, Gothic architecture, and solemn music, is he,
therefore, without veneration? Take him out into God’s grand universe, or put
before him Christ’s character: is there no adoration, no deep intense love? Tell
him of a self-denying action: is there no moisture in his eye? Tempt him to
meanness: is there no indignant scorn? The man has bowed his soul before
Justice, Mercy, Truth, and therefore stands erect before everything else that this
world calls sublime.
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![The enjoyment of noble architecture and music is not worship, and may be
mistaken for it. The hush which falls on us, walking the aisles of a church of
eight hundred years; the thrill of nerves and heart as the glorious praise begins,
whose echoes fail amid fretted vaults and clustered shafts; all that feeling, solemn
as it is, has no necessary connection with worshipping God in spirit and in truth.
And we may delude ourselves with the belief that we are offering spiritual
worship when it is all a mere matter of natural emotion, which the most godless
man could share.1 [Note: A. K. H. Boyd, Sunday Afternoons in a University City,
87.]
(5) A fifth error is the failure to distinguish between interest in theology and
interest in religion. Here was a woman living in sin, and yet deeply interested in a
religious controversy. She found, doubtless, a kind of safeguard to rest on in the
perception of this keen interest. Her religion was almost nothing, her theology
most orthodox. Theological controversy sharpens our disputative faculties and
wakens our speculative ones. Religion is love to God and man. We do not always
distinguish between theology and religion. We make skill in controversy a test of
spirituality. It is but a poor test. The way the woman questioned Christ is a
specimen of a common feeling. The moment Christ appeared she examined His
views. She did not ask whether the Man before her was pure and spotless, or
whether His life was spent in doing good; but was He sound upon the vital
question of the Temple?
An elderly minister was asked to take the catechizing of the congregation in a
parish in the pastoral uplands of the South of Scotland. He was warned against
the danger of putting questions to a certain shepherd, who had made himself
master of more divinity than some of his clerical contemporaries could boast,
and who enjoyed nothing better than, out of the question put to him, to engage in
an argument with the minister on some of the deepest problems of theology. The
day of the ordeal at last came, the old doctor ascended the pulpit, and after the
preliminary service put on his spectacles and unfolded the roll of the
congregation. To the utter amazement of everybody, he began with the
theological shepherd, John Scott. Up started the man, a tall, gaunt, sunburnt
figure, with his maud over his shoulder, his broad blue bonnet on the board in
front of him, and such a look of grim determination on his face as showed how
sure he felt of the issue of the logical encounter to which he believed he had been
challenged from the pulpit. The minister, who had clearly made up his mind as
to the line of examination to be followed with this pugnacious theologian, looked
at him calmly for a few moments, and then in a gentle voice asked, “Who made
you, John?” The shepherd, prepared for questions on some of the most difficult
points of our faith, was taken aback by being asked what every child in the
parish could answer. He replied in a loud and astonished tone, “Wha made me?”
“It was the Lord God that made you, John,” quietly interposed the minister.
“Who redeemed you, John?” Anger now mingled with indignation as the man
shouted, “Wha redeemed me?” The old divine, still in the same mild way,
reminded him “It was the Lord Jesus that redeemed you, John,” and then asked
further, “Who sanctified you, John?” Scott, now thoroughly aroused, roared out,
“Wha sanctified ME?” The clergyman paused, looked at him calmly, and said,
“It was the Holy Ghost that sanctified you, John Scott, if, indeed, ye be
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![sanctified. Sit ye doon, my man, and learn your questions better the next time
you come to the catechizing.” The shepherd was never able to hold his head up in
the parish thereafter.1 [Note: Sir Archibald Geikie, Scottish Reminiscences, 72.]
3. Now see how great this truth is. That God is a Spirit comes nearer to the
business and the bosoms of men, to our real interests, to our belief in progress, to
our feeling of God’s Fatherhood, to our sense of man’s brotherhood, than any
other truth. Is there a Church laying down dogmatic terms of salvation? This
rebukes it: God is a Spirit, and the spirits that desire Him He makes His own. Is
there a merely conventional worship, a merely authoritative religion, a merely
ceremonial, ecclesiastical way of approaching God? This disowns it: only those
who are in personal communion with Him know Him at all, and they may know
Him to their full content. Is there an upright man, a devout heart, misunderstood
or forsaken by the world? This sustains him: God is a Spirit, and brings all
things to light. Is there a conscience that would hide itself from the light? This
disables it: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy
presence?” “The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.”
Is there a troubled mind, a spirit that cannot find peace? What will quiet it?
Nothing but some sense of the Infinite as very near to us; it may be from a glance
at the unfathomable depths of Nature, with awe and shame at the contrast
between our fretful selfishness and the silent realities of God in which we feel we
have a part. To gaze upon the face of Nature is sometimes to be brought under
the power of a calm and cleansing spirit then present to us; and what is religion
but a quickening of the soul under the sense that a Spirit of Purity and Love is
acting and looking upon us? And if ever the solemnity and beauty which man’s
workmanship can produce does in its highest examples, in a cathedral, or in the
Angel of the Resurrection from the great sculptor’s hand, contribute something
to religious emotion, how much more may the sense of the Infinite come upon us
from the spiritual aspects of the Temple not made with hands; still more if with
understanding hearts we could gaze into the majestic face of Christ; still more if,
led by Christ up to the Throne, into the real Presence, we could bring ourselves
to look intently, with a full trust, into the fatherly face of God!1 [Note: J. H.
Thom, A Spiritual Faith, 12.]
He who worships the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, must, in all the
qualities of his soul, in all the relations of his life, be a better man than the
atheist, than the man who denies the existence of God. The man who worships a
stone is a better man than he who worships nothing. The man who falls down
before carven wood, or worships the beasts of the field, is a grander nature than
he who never bows his head in prayer, and never lifts up his heart in aspiration
and religious desire. The tendency of worship is to elevate our nature. He who
worships sincerely, however ignorantly, is the better for his worship; he is
enlarged in his nature, his outlook upon things is widened, he is led away from
self-trust, and is taught to depend upon a power, not lower, but higher, and in
his estimation better, than his own.2 [Note: J. Parker.]
II
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![The smiles and tones that make our homes
Are shrines by Him possessed;
He tents within the lonely heart
And shepherds every thought;
We find Him not by seeking far,—
We lose Him not, unsought.
Our art may build its Holy Place,
Our feet on Sinai stand,
But Holiest of Holies knows
No tread, no touch of hand;
The listening soul makes Sinai still
Wherever we may be,
And in the vow, “Thy will be done!”
Lies all Gethsemane.1 [Note: William C. Gannett.]
2. We cannot read these words and not feel that the very genius and essence of
the Christian religion is an exceeding simplicity. Had Christ reckoned externals
of great importance, He certainly would have said so here. Those externals may
be convenient, and they are helpful; and therefore the Church may justly, and
with great propriety and benefit, ordain them. But if Christ’s words are to be
taken in their plainest signification, God does not now require or command
them. They are not a part of the new legislation; rather, they are decidedly and
studiously omitted. For in this matter, it is clear that a contrast is drawn between
the Samaritan and the Jewish ritual—which were both of them highly addressed
to the senses—and that which Christ was introducing. He declares such things to
be passed away. And nothing is laid down as the will of God respecting public
worship, but this only—it must be spiritual and true.
In our approaches to God, the frame of mind is everything. Like worships like.
God is mystery, worship is faith; God is wisdom, worship is thought; God is love,
worship is affection; God is truth, worship is sincerity; God is holiness, worship
is purity; God is omnipresence, worship is everywhere; God is eternity, worship
is always. Words are good, because words react on the mind, and clear and fix it;
but words are not worship. Forms are good, because forms are stays and helps to
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![our infirmities; but forms are not worship. Holy places, holy things, holy persons
are good, because in such a defiled world as this, what is sacred must be isolated;
but no places, no things, no persons are worship. Sacraments are good, because
the sacraments are the very incorporations and the essences of our salvation; but
sacraments are not worship. “God is a Spirit and they that worship him must
worship in spirit and truth.”1 [Note: James Vaughan.]
I sit within my room, and joy to find
That Thou who always lov’st art with me here,
That I am never left by Thee behind,
But by Thyself Thou keep’st me ever near;
The fire burns brighter when with Thee I look,
And seems a kinder servant sent to me;
With gladder heart I read Thy holy book,
Because Thou art the eyes by which I see;
This aged chair, that table, watch, and door
Around in ready service ever wait;
Nor can I ask of Thee a menial more
To fill the measure of my large estate,
For Thou Thyself, with all a Father’s care,
Where’er I turn, art ever with me there.2 [Note: Jones Very.]
i. Worship in Spirit
1. God is Spirit, and what He reveals to man must be made through the medium
of Spirit. If He were possessed of a material form, the way of recognition would
be through the senses, but Spirit can only be spiritually discerned. God cannot be
seen in the Bible, He cannot be seen in Nature, except through the exercise of the
spiritual vision. Our worship, therefore, must consist in the effort of the human
spirit to identify itself with the Divine, not in a mystic, self-destroying unity, but
in the direction of its aspirations and its will. We seek to bring our souls into a
state of conformity with God’s all-perfect will.
The true worship is not the prostration of the body in kneeling, nor even the
prostration of the soul in distant adoration, but the yielding of our living powers
willingly and gladly to the Divine influence within us. There is an expression of
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![the great Stoic emperor, Marcus Aurelius, who perhaps came nearer than any
other non-Christian of the West to the Christian life and spirit: “I reverence the
God who is within.” That God has been fully made known to us in Jesus Christ,
and we can give a grander significance to this expression. Our God is within us.
Let us allow our thoughts to be enlightened and our energies quickened by the
spirit of holiness—the unseen, constraining power of righteousness—and we are
practising the true worship.1 [Note: Dean Fremantle, The Gospel of the Secular
Life, 209.]
2. Before the Incarnation, man dared approach God only through priest and
altar, and in an earthly temple. Jesus came to erect one altar—His Cross,—and
to offer one sacrifice—Himself. He was born that He might die; and over all His
pathway there fell the shadow of the Cross. The Cross was interwoven into all
His life. Galilee would have made Him King; the whole region of the North went
after Him. He said, “I go to Jerusalem.” He deliberately journeyed thither,
everything in His journey pointing to His doom. The broken bread in the supper
represented His broken body; the red wine His spilt blood. They nailed Him to
His Cross, and there He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for
our iniquities. “It is finished,” He cried; “Father, into thy hands I commend my
spirit.” Then the veil of the Temple was rent asunder. The Holy of Holies was
open to mortal gaze. There was no longer any need for earthly priest or altar.
The world had become a temple, the human heart the shrine of the Holy Ghost.
Christ came to bring man’s spirit into immediate contact with God’s Spirit; to
sweep away everything intermediate. In lonely union, face to face, man’s spirit
and God’s Spirit must come together. It is a grand thought! Let us aspire to this,
to greatness, goodness! So will our spirits mingle with the Spirit of the
Everlasting.2 [Note: F. W. Robertson.]
3. The law of acceptable Christian worship is briefly this: it must be the worship
of “the heart,” that is, of the will. Not of the voice merely; not of the hands
merely; not of the bended knees merely; not of the decorously and
comprehensively expressed prayer merely; not of the sweet incense merely; not
of the lamb slain and burnt on the altar merely; not of the gorgeously-arrayed
High Priest, nor yet of the simply-robed Scotch minister merely; not of feelings
touched by old memories of our own departed days, and of those who used to
worship with us long ago, but who will worship with us on earth no more; not of
any or all of these things merely—but of the will.
If our worship is of “the heart,” it follows that to be real we must have a real
religious experience. Experience is the very soul or religion. Properly speaking,
we do not begin to be religious until God and the soul have somehow come face
to face. It is true that as children we are taught religious truth, but we have not
experienced it, we are taught it; and there is a sense in which, if we receive that
truth as little children, humbly, trustfully, teachably, we are truly religious and
belong to the Kingdom of God. To very few is God more real than He is to the
little child. But when that has been said, it needs to be repeated that there can be
no real religion without a real religious experience. Religion is not in word alone;
it is not in the hearing of the Word, it is not in the explanation of certain truths,
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![but it is profoundly and most practically in spirit, in experience. God is not real
to us until we have made our own discovery of Him in our life.
This Pearl of Eternity is the Church or Temple of God within thee, the
consecrated Place of Divine Worship, where alone thou canst worship God in
Spirit and in Truth. In Spirit, because thy spirit is that alone in thee which can
unite and cleave unto God, and receive the workings of His Divine Spirit upon
thee. In Truth, because this Adoration in the Spirit is that Truth and Reality of
which all outward Forms and Rites, though instituted by God, are only the
Figure for a Time, but this Worship is Eternal. Accustom thyself to the Holy
Service of this inward Temple. In the midst of it is the Fountain of Living Water,
of which thou mayest drink and live for ever. There the Mysteries of thy
Redemption are celebrated, or rather opened in Life and Power. There the
Supper of the Lamb is kept; the Bread that came down from Heaven, that giveth
life unto the world, is thy true nourishment: all is done, and known in real
Experience, in a living sensibility of the Work of God on the Soul. There the
Birth, the Life, the Sufferings, the Death, the Resurrection and Ascension of
Christ, are not merely remembered, but inwardly found and enjoyed as the real
states of thy soul, which has followed Christ in the Regeneration.1 [Note:
William Law.]
ii. Worship in Truth
Our worship must be “in truth”; truth as regards God Himself, and truth as
regards our own state.
1. We need to have a true conception of God, as far as we know Him, as He is
revealed to us through Christ. The Samaritans had not a true knowledge; the
Jews knew more, they knew Him through the Prophets, though their knowledge
was incomplete. They knew that Messiah should come. To worship the true God
and not idols, that was the elementary teaching, the preliminary idea. But to us it
is given beyond this to conceive aright of the living and unseen God. The Father
is revealed to us in and through the Son—on whom human eyes have dwelt. And
prayer becomes a different thing when it is a child’s cry to a Father’s heart, a
child clinging to Him in His paternal character; and it is through this sense of
filial relationship that we approach that inner embrace of the Father’s heart.
The Son sympathizes with us in our hardness and pain. He has tasted all our
trial, only without the sin, and our prayer through Him reaches the Father’s
Heart through the sympathetic agency of the Son, the Spirit helping our
infirmities and giving force to our prayer.
Recent researches into the origins of the Old Testament have proved that the
factor in the extraordinary development of moral and religious truth, which is so
discernible in the history of Israel and in their gradual ascent to the loftiest
heights of spiritual knowledge, from the low levels of life which they had once
occupied with their Semitic neighbours, was the impression upon the people as a
whole through the wonderful deeds of their history and the experience of their
greatest minds, of the character of God.1 [Note: George Adam Smith, The Life of
Henry Drummond, 244.]
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![Our worship must conform to our best intellectual conceptions about God and
His will. Our Lord Himself once drew a powerful contrast between the influence
of a higher and a lower estimate of God’s character on the actions of men. He
told His disciples that the time would come when “Whosoever killeth you will
think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you,” said
He, “because they have not known the Father.” That is, although they believed in
God, they yet ignored the special revelation made by Jesus Christ of the
Fatherhood of God. Ignorance of this revelation has been the origin of some of
the most terrible crimes against humanity that have ever disgraced the world.
Hundreds of men and women have been roasted to death by order of Inquisitors,
who, veiling their cruelty under the term auto-da-fé, witnessed that they did it in
the name of what they believed to be God. On the throne of the universe they saw
nothing but an angry and despotic Tyrant, who so hated heterodoxy, that He had
prepared for all heretics a pandemonium of everlasting fire, and hence, quite
honestly, they sought to deter men by torture from such an awful fate.1 [Note: G.
F. Terry, The Old Theology in the New Age, 52.]
2. We must also have truth in ourselves. Holy character is a kind of worship. All
true life is worship: “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”; “Lo, I come to
do thy will, O God.” Before a material God a material knee would have to bow.
Before a spiritual God, nothing but the prostration of the spirit can be
acceptable.
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
Love is a kind of prayer—the truest lifting up of the soul. God is a real God. The
worshipper is to be a real character. The Christian must be a true man—
transparent, who can bear to be looked through and through. There must be no
pretence; no gilded tinsel—true gold all through.
Let us take care that all our relations to God, and all our communications with
Him, are honest relations, “in truth.” If our body is on its knees, let us be sure
that our heart is also on its knees. If we close our eyes, let us see that we close our
fancies. If we say words, let us beware that they are the exact representatives of
our thoughts. If we ask anything, let it be the thing we want. If we promise, let us
be sure that we mean it. If we confess with our lips, let us stop, if our mind is not
confessing with its inward convictions. If we praise, let us hush our soul, if it is
not in tune. Let worship be worship,—a beggar knocking at the door; a sinner
prostrate for mercy; a servant looking to his Master’s eye; a child speaking to his
Father; a pardoned man resting; a saved man thanking; a saint rejoicing.2
[Note: James Vaughan.]
Thy house hath gracious freedom, like the air
Of open fields; its silence hath a speech
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![Of royal welcome to the friends who reach
Its threshold, and its upper chambers bear,
Above their doors, such spells that, entering there,
And laying off the dusty garments, each
Soul whispers to herself: “Twere like a breach
Of reverence in a temple could I dare
Here speak untruth, here wrong my inmost thought.
Here I grow strong and pure; here I may yield,
Without shamefacedness, the little brought
From out my poorer life, and stand revealed,
And glad, and trusting, in the sweet and rare
And tender presence which hath filled this air.”1 [Note: Helen H. Jackson.]
25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah”
(called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he
will explain everything to us.”
BARNES,"I know that Messias cometh - As the Samaritans acknowledged the
five books of Moses, so they expected, also, the coming of the Messiah.
Which is called Christ - These are probably the words of the evangelist, as it is
not likely that the woman would explain the name on such an occasion.
Will tell us all things - Jesus had decided the question proposed to him Joh_
4:20 in favor of the Jews. The woman does not seem to have been satisfied with this
answer, and said that the Messiah would tell them all about this question. Probably
she was expecting that he would soon appear.
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![Samaritans might conclude from his general character as a prophet, like unto Moses,
to whom men were to hearken, Deu_18:15, and from a common prevailing notion
among the Jews, that the times of the Messiah would be times of great knowledge,
founded on several prophecies, as Isa_2:3, and which they sometimes express in the
following manner (n):
"in the days of the Messiah, even the little children in the world shall find out the
hidden things of wisdom, and know in it the ends and computations (of times), and
at that time he shall be made manifest unto all.''
And again (o),
"says R. Judah, the holy blessed God will reveal the deep mysteries of the law in the
times of the King Messiah; for "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the
Lord", &c. and it is written, "they shall not teach every man his brother", &c.''
And elsewhere (p),
"the whole world shall be filled with the words of the Messiah, and with the words of
the law, and with the words of the commandments; and these things shall extend to
the isles afar off; to many people, the uncircumcised in heart, and the uncircumcised
in flesh; and they shall deal in the secrets of the law.--And there shall be no business
in the world, but to know the Lord only; wherefore the Israelites shall be exceeding
wise, and know secret things, and comprehend the knowledge of their Creator, as
much as is possible for a man to do, as it is said, "the earth shall be filled with the
knowledge of the Lord", &c.''
Accordingly, the Messiah is come, who lay in the bosom of the Father, and has made
known all things to his disciples, he hath heard of him; he has declared him to them,
his love, grace, and mercy. God has spoken all he has to say that appertains to his
own worship, and the salvation of the children of men by his Son Jesus Christ.
HENRY, "4. The last subject of discourse with this woman is concerning the
Messiah, Joh_4:25, Joh_4:26. Observe here,
(1.) The faith of the woman, by which she expected the Messiah: I know that
Messias cometh - and he will tell us all things. She had nothing to object against
what Christ had said; his discourse was, for aught she knew, what might become the
Messiah then expected; but from him she would receive it, and in the mean time she
thinks it best to suspend her belief. Thus many have no heart to the price in their
hand (Pro_17:16), because they think they have a better in their eye, and deceive
themselves with a promise that they will learn that hereafter which they neglect now.
Observe here,
[1.] Whom she expects: I know that Messias cometh. The Jews and Samaritans,
though so much at variance, agreed in the expectation of the messiah and his
kingdom. The Samaritans received the writings of Moses, and were no strangers to
the prophets, nor to the hopes of the Jewish nation; those who knew least knew this,
that Messias was to come; so general and uncontested was the expectation of him,
and at this time more raised than ever (for the sceptre was departed from Judah,
Daniel's weeks were near expiring), so that she concludes not only, He will come, but
erchetai - “He comes, he is just at hand:” Messias, who is called Christ. The
evangelist, though he retains the Hebrew word Messias (which the woman used) in
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![honour to the holy language, and to the Jewish church, that used it familiarly, yet,
writing for the use of the Gentiles, he takes care to render it by a Greek word of the
same signification, who is called Christ - Anointed, giving an example to the apostle's
rule, that whatever is spoken in an unknown or less vulgar tongue should be
interpreted, 1Co_14:27, 1Co_14:28.
[2.] What she expects from him: “He will tell us all things relating to the service of
God which it is needful for us to know, will tell us that which will supply our defects,
rectify our mistakes, and put an end to all our disputes. He will tell us the mind of
God fully and clearly, and keep back nothing.” Now this implies an
acknowledgement, First, Of the deficiency and imperfection of the discovery they
now had of the divine will, and the rule they had of the divine worship; it could not
make the comers thereunto perfect, and therefore they expected some great advance
and improvement in matters of religion, a time of reformation. Secondly, Of the
sufficiency of the Messiah to make this change: “He will tell us all things which we
want to know, and about which we wrangle in the dark. He will introduce peace, by
leading us into all truth, and dispelling the mists of error.” It seems, this was the
comfort of good people in those dark times that light would arise; if they found
themselves at a loss, and run aground, it was a satisfaction to them to say, When
Messias comes, he will tell us all things; as it may be to us now with reference to his
second coming: now we see through a glass, but then face to face.
JAMIESON, "I know Messias cometh ... when He is come, etc. — If we
take our Lord’s immediate disclosure of Himself, in answer to this, as the proper key
to its meaning to His ear, we can hardly doubt that the woman was already all but
prepared for even this startling announcement, which indeed she seems (from Joh_
4:29) to have already begun to suspect by His revealing her to herself. Thus quickly,
under so matchless a Teacher, was she brought up from her sunken condition to a
frame of mind and heart capable of the noblest revelations.
tell us all things — an expectation founded probably on Deu_18:15.
SBC, "Christ our Prophet. Christ came in one portion of His threefold office to be a
teacher and a speaker forth to us of the will of God. As, on the one hand, those are
deeply in error who limit His office to this portion of it, and omit to dwell on His
High-priesthood and His Kingship, so on the other hand it would be an error equally
fatal to the entering into and realizing His redemption to forget those other essentials
of His office, this His great work of teaching. Consider Him as our Prophet—our
teacher sent from God; enquiring into His practice and the peculiar characteristics of
that He is teaching.
I. His teaching was earnest and continuous. The power of His anointing ever abode
upon Him, ever wrought in Him, and spoke forth from Him. "He taught them there,"
is the constant record of the Evangelists. The Lord wrought at His appointed work
while it was day with Him, and He filled the day with His work. It was no accident of
His course, but its very purpose and substance.
II. It was a powerful teaching. They were astonished at His doctrine, but He taught
them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. No man could withstand the
power and wisdom with which He spake.
III. It was a spiritual teaching: a teaching not bound down to the exposition of the
law or prophets as they stood, but designed to fill them out, to clothe their dead and
bare forms with life and sinews, and to establish them where they never were planted
before—in the hearts and lives of men.
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![BURKITT, "Observe here, 1. What a general expectation there was in the minds
of all persons (at the time of our Saviour's appearing) of one whom the Jews call
the Messiah. I know that Messiah cometh. This woman, though a Samaritan, yet
knew that the Messiah should come, and that he was now expected.
Observe, 2. What the work and office of the Messias was apprehended and
believed to be, namely, to reveal the whole mind and will of God to a lost world:
When the Messiah is come, he will tell us all things.
Learn hence, That the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised and true Messiah, being
called and appointed by God to be the great Prophet of his church, hath fully
and perfectly revealed all things needful to be known for our salvation, All things
that I have heard of the Father, I have made known unto you. John 15:15
Observe lastly, How freely and fully Christ reveals himself to this poor woman;
he tells her plainly, that he was the Messias. When the Jews asked him, If thou be
the Christ, tell us plainly, John 10:24 Christ did not in plain terms tell them who
he was; nay, when John Baptist sent two of his disciples to ask him, whether he
were, He that should come; he gave them no direct answer: yet behold he makes
himself plainly known to this poor woman; he discerning her humility and great
simplicity, that she was willing to be instructed by him, and did not come to him
as the Jews and Pharisees did, captiously, with a design to entangle and ensnare
him.
Hence learn, That the Lord Jesus Christ delights to reveal himself, and make
known his mind and will to such as with an humble mind, and an honest
simplicity of heart, do desire to know him, and understand their duty to him.
PETT, "‘The woman says to him, “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called
the Christ. When he is come he will tell us all things”.’
Such words led the woman to speculate about the possible coming of the
Messiah, the Christ. It is possible that she used the term ‘Messiah’ to represent
the hope because she knew that Jesus was a Jew, but she would herself know the
deliverer as ‘the Taheb’. This was the one the Samaritans longed for who would
one day come as the revealer of truth (v. 25). On the other hand the conversation
would have been in Aramaic, so that she may well have used Taheb with the
explanatory translation ‘Messiah’ being the author’s. Thus her words may have
been ‘the Taheb, who is called (by you) the Messiah’. That is certainly what she
meant.
‘He will tell us all things.’ An admission that she was aware that much was
lacking in their knowledge of God and His ways. The Jews were aware of the
same and awaited Messianic figures who would bring them the full truth.
LLIGHTFOOT, "[I know that Messias cometh.] If the Samaritans rejected all
the books of the Old Testament excepting the five Books of Moses, it may be a
question whence this woman should know the name of Messias; for that is not to
be found throughout the whole Pentateuch. From whence also may further arise
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![a twofold inquiry more; one, whether the Samaritans were of the same opinion
with the Sadducees? the other, whether those Sadducees that lived amongst the
Jews rejected all the books of the Old Testament, excepting those of Moses only?
Perhaps they might so reject them as to forbid their being read in their
synagogues, in the same manner as the Jews rejected the Hagiographa from
being read in the synagogues: but the question is, whether they did not use them,
read them, and believe them, as the Jews did those holy writings?
"They snatch all the sacred books out of the fire [though on the sabbath day],
whether they read or whether they read them not." The Gloss is, "Whether they
read them, that is, the Prophets; which they are wont to read in their synagogues
on the sabbath day; or whether they read them not, that is, the Hagiographa." It
is likely that the Sadducees and Samaritans (I mean those Samaritans that lived
about our Saviour's time and before) might disown the Prophets and the holy
writings much after the same manner, and no more. For is it at all probable that
they were either ignorant of the histories of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, the Kings,
and the writings of the prophets, or that they accounted them tales and of no
value? There were some amongst the Samaritans, as Eulogius in Photius tells us,
who had an opinion, that "Joshua the son of Nun was that prophet of whom
Moses spake, that God would raise up to them out of their brethren like to him."
Do we think then that the history and Book of Joshua were unknown or
disowned by them? However, I cannot omit, without some remarks, some few
passages we meet with in Sanhedrim, fol. 90. 2:
"The Sadducees asked Rabban Gamaliel, Whence he could prove it, that God
would raise the dead? 'From the Law (saith he), and from the Prophets, and
from the holy writings.' And accordingly he allegeth his proofs out of each book,
which, I hope, may not be very tedious to the reader to take notice of in this
place: I prove it out of the Law, where it is written, And the Lord said to Moses,
Deuteronomy 31:16, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers and rise again.
They say, Probably it is meant This people will rise up and go a whoring. I prove
it out of the Prophets, according as it is written, Thy dead men shall live,
together with my dead body shall they arise: awake and sing, ye that dwell in the
dust, Isaiah 26:19. But, perhaps (say they), this may be meant of those dead
which Ezekiel raised. I prove it out of the Hagiographa, according as it is
written, The roof of thy mouth is like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth
down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak, Canticles 7:9.
But perhaps (say they), it is meant, they move their lips in the world." I add, say
they, though it is not, I confess, in the Gemarist's text, because reason and sense
make it evident that this ought to be added, and the Gloss confirms it.
Now it would have been a most absurd thing for Gamaliel to have offered any
proofs of the resurrection, either out of the Prophets, or the Hagiographa against
the Sadducees, if those books had been either not known or of no authority
amongst them...
But further, the Book of Ezekiel is quoted by a Samaritan in this story: "Rabban
Jonathan went to Neapolis (i.e. Sychar) of the Samaritans. A certain Samaritan
was in his company. When they came to Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan saith
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![unto him, 'How comes it to pass that we are gotten to this holy mountain?' R.
Jonathan saith, 'How comes this mountain to be holy?' The Samaritan answered,
Because it was never plagued with the waters of the deluge. Saith R. Jonathan,
'How prove you this?' The Samaritan answered, 'Is it not written, Son of man,
say unto her, Thou art the land not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of
indignation, Ezekiel 22:24.' 'If it were so (saith R. Jonathan), then should the
Lord have commanded Noah to have gone up into this mountain, and not have
built himself an ark.'" We also meet with a Sadducee quoting the prophet Amos:
"A certain Sadducee said to a certain Rabbi, 'He that created the hills did not
make a spirit or the wind: and he that created the wind did not make the hills:
for it is written, Behold, he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind,
Amos 5:13.' The Rabbi answered, 'Thou fool, go on but to the end of the verse,
and thou wilt find the Lord of hosts is his name.'"
That passage also is remarkable: "They do not snatch the books and volumes of
the heretics from the flames; but they may be burnt where they are." The Gloss
is, "The books of heretics, i.e. idolaters [or those that use any strange worship],
who wrote out the Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings, for their own use
in the Assyrian character and holy language." If by heretics the Sadducees are to
be understood, as the latter Gloss would have it, then comparing it with the
former, they had the Law, Prophets, and the Holy Writings writ in the Assyrian
character in the holy language.
If by heretics the Christians are understood, as in the former Gloss (for as to the
Gentiles, there is no room to understand it of them in this place), then we see
what copies of the Old Testament the Hebrew Christians anciently had in use.
It may be objected, That if the Sadducees admitted the books of the Prophets
and the Holy Writings with this exception only, that they had them not read in
their synagogues, how came they to deny the resurrection from the dead, when it
is so plainly asserted in those books?
To this may be answered, That this argument might have something in it, if it
had not been one fundamental of the Sadducees' faith, that no article in religion
ought to be admitted that cannot be made out plainly from the five books of
Moses. Compare this with that of the Pharisees; "However any person may
acknowledge the resurrection from the dead, yet if he does not own that there is
some indication of it in the law, he denies a fundamental." So that whereas
Moses seemed not, clearly and in terminis, to express himself as to the
resurrection, the Sadducees would not admit it as an article of their faith, though
something like it may have occurred in the Prophets, so long as those expressions
in the Prophets may be turned to some other sense, either historical or
allegorical. But if they had apprehended any thing plain and express in the
books of Moses, the Prophets also asserting and illustrating the same thing, I
cannot see why we should not believe they were received by them.
Something of this kind is the passage now in hand, where we find the Samaritan
woman using the word Messias; which though it is not to be met with in the
books of Moses, yet Moses having clearly spoken of his coming, whom the
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![Woman, who made it fit and decent and moral for a prophet to talk with thee?
Who threw a zone of mercy and protection around thy little child? Who lifted
thee up and changed thee from man's chattel and property to man's friend and
equal and inspirer? Who obliterated the brand of the slave from thy face and put
on thy brow the halo of chivalry and tenderness and romance? Who so changed
thy lot, that instead of marvelling today that a prophet should talk with a
woman, what men marvel at is that there ever was a time when men should have
marvelled that Christ talked with a woman? Come then, woman; break thine
alabaster box, filled with the ointment precious and very costly. Come, break the
box and pour thine ointment of love and gratitude upon his head and feet. Come,
wash his feet with the tears of thy love and wipe them with thy hair for a
towel.[5]
ENDNOTE:
[5] Clarence Edward McCartney, Great Interviews of Jesus (New York:
Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1944), p. 38.
BURKITT, "Observe here, 1. How the providence of God so ordered and
disposed of things, that the disciples did not return to Christ, till he had finished
his discourse with this poor woman. An humbled sinner may meet with such
satisfaction and sweet refreshment in Christ's company, that the presence even
of disciples themselves (the best and holiest of saints) may be looked upon as
injurious to it, and an interruption of it. This poor woman had so sweet a time
with Christ, that an end being put to the conference by the coming of the
disciples, might be matter of grief and resentment to her: yet the providence of
God so ordered, that the disciples did not come to break off the conference till
Christ had made himself known as the Messias to this poor woman.
Observe, 2. The carriage and behaviour of the disciples, upon their return to
Christ: finding him preaching a sermon to a single woman, they marvelled, but
yet were silent.
Learn, 1. That the humility and condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ, in
treating poor penitent and humble sinners, is a matter of wonder and
admiration, even to disciples themselves.
O, blessed Saviour! there was more kindness and condescension, more love and
compassion, more meekness and humility in thyself alone, than in all thy
disciples and followers put together.
Yet observe, 2. Though they marvelled, they were silent, No man said, Why
talkest thou with her?
Thence note, That such reverence is due to Christ in all his dispensations and
actions, that when we can see no reason for what he doth, it is not for us to
inquire, much less for us to quarrel, but we must awfully admire what we cannot
comprehend.
Observe, 3. The behaviour of this woman after the conference was over, she
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![was: "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8). Our
Christian experience will often begin with a humiliating wave of self-disgust. It
usually happens that the last thing a man sees is himself. And it often happens
that the first thing Christ does for a man is to compel him to do what he has
spent his life refusing to do--look at himself.
(ii) The Samaritan woman was staggered by Christ's ability to see into her
inmost being. She was amazed at his intimate knowledge of the human heart,
and of her heart in particular. The Psalmist was awed by that same thought.
"Thou discernest my thoughts from afar.... Even before a word is on my tongue,
lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether" (Psalms 139:1-4). It is told that once a
small girl heard a sermon by C. H. Spurgeon, and whispered to her mother at
the end of it: "Mother, how does he know what goes on in our house?" There are
no wrappings and disguises which are proof against the gaze of Christ. It is his
power to see into the depths of the human heart. It is not that he sees only the
evil there; he sees also the sleeping hero in the soul of every man. He is like the
surgeon who sees the diseased thing, but who also sees the health which will
follow when the evil thing is taken away.
(iii) The first instinct of the Samaritan woman was to share her discovery.
Having found this amazing person, she was compelled to share her find with
others. The Christian life is based on the twin pillars of discovery and
communication. No discovery is complete until the desire to share it fills our
hearts; and we cannot communicate Christ to others until we have discovered
him for ourselves. First to find, then to tell, are the two great steps of the
Christian life.
(iv) This very desire to tell others of her discovery killed in this woman the
feeling of shame. She was no doubt an outcast; she was no doubt a byword; the
very fact that she was drawing water from this distant well shows how she
avoided her neighbours and how they avoided her. But now she ran to tell them
of her discovery. A person may have some trouble which he is embarrassed to
mention and which he tries to keep secret, but once he is cured he is often so
filled with wonder and gratitude that he tells everyone about it. A man may hide
his sin; but once he discovers Jesus Christ as Saviour, his first instinct is to say to
men: "Look at what I was and look at what I am; this is what Christ has done
for me."
LIGHTFOOT, "[They marvelled that he talked with the woman.] They marvel
he should talk with a woman, much more with a Samaritan woman. "R. Jose the
Galilean being upon a journey [I am much mistaken if it should not be writ]
found Berurea in the way: to whom he said, What way must we go to Lydda?
She answered, 'O thou foolish Galilean, have not the wise men taught Do not
multiply discourse with a woman? Thou oughtest only to have said Which way to
Lydda?'"
Upon what occasion this woman should be called Berurea is not our business at
present to inquire: but that the reader may know something of her, she was the
wife of R. Meir, a learned woman, and a teacher herself: "His wife Berurea was
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![this the Christ? Observe,
(1.) How solicitous she was to have her friends and neighbours acquainted with
Christ. When she had found that treasure, she called together her friends and
neighbours (as Luk_15:9), not only to rejoice with her, but to share with her,
knowing there was enough to enrich herself and all that would partake with her.
Note, They that have been themselves with Jesus, and have found comfort in him,
should do all they can to bring others to him. Has he done us the honour to make
himself known to us? Let us do him the honour to make him known to others; nor
can we do ourselves a greater honour. This woman becomes an apostle. Quae
scortum fuerat egressa, regreditur magistra evangelica - She who went forth a
specimen of impurity returns a teacher of evangelical truth, saith Aretius. Christ
had told her to call her husband, which she thought was warrant enough to call
every body. She went into the city, the city where she dwelt, among her kinsfolks and
acquaintance. Though every man is my neighbour that I have opportunity of doing
good to, yet I have most opportunity, and therefore lie under the greatest
obligations, to do good to those that live near me. Where the tree falls, there let it be
made useful.
(2.) How fair and ingenuous she was in the notice she gave them concerning this
stranger she had met with. [1.] She tells them plainly what induced her to admire
him: He has told me all things that ever I did. No more is recorded than what he told
her of her husbands; but it is not improbable that he had told her of more of her
faults. Or, his telling her that which she knew he could not by any ordinary means
come to the knowledge of convinced her that he could have told her all that she ever
did. If he has a divine knowledge, it must be omniscience. He told her that which
none knew but God and her own conscience. Two things affected her: - First, the
extent of his knowledge. We ourselves cannot tell all things that ever we did (many
things pass unheeded, and more pass away and are forgotten); but Jesus Christ
knows all the thoughts, words, and actions, of all the children of men; see Heb_4:13.
He hath said, I know thy works. Secondly, The power of his word. This made a great
impression upon her, that he told her her secret sins with such an unaccountable
power and energy that, being told of one, she is convinced of all, and judged of all.
She does not say, “Come, see a man that has told me strange things concerning
religious worship, and the laws of it, that has decided the controversy between this
mountain and Jerusalem, a man that calls himself the Messias;” but, “Come see a
man that has told me of my sins.” She fastens upon that part of Christ's discourse
which one would think she would have been most shy of repeating; but experimental
proofs of the power of Christ's word and Spirit are of all others the most cogent and
convincing; and that knowledge of Christ into which we are led by the conviction of
sin and humiliation is most likely to be sound and saving. [2.] She invites them to
come and see him of whom she had conceived so high an opinion. Not barely, “Come
and look upon him” (she does not invite them to him as a show), but, “Come and
converse with him; come and hear his wisdom, as I have done, and you will be of my
mind.” She would not undertake to manage the arguments which had convinced her,
in such a manner as to convince others; all that see the evidence of truth themselves
are not able to make others see it; but, “Come, and talk with him, and you will find
such a power in his word as far exceeds all other evidence.” Note, Those who can do
little else towards the conviction and conversion of others may and should bring
them to those means of grace which they themselves have found effectual. Jesus was
now at the town's end. “Now come see him.” When opportunities of getting the
knowledge of God are brought to our doors we are inexcusable if we neglect them;
shall we not go over the threshold to see him whose day prophets and kings desired
to see? [3.] She resolves to appeal to themselves, and their own sentiments upon the
trial. Is not this the Christ? She does not peremptorily say, “He is the Messiah,” how
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![clear soever she was in her own mind, and yet she very prudently mentions the
Messiah, of whom otherwise they would not have thought, and then refers it to
themselves; she will not impose her faith upon them, but only propose it to them. By
such fair but forcible appeals as these men's judgments and consciences are
sometimes taken hold of ere they are aware.
JAMIESON, "is not this the Christ — The form of the question (in the Greek)
is a distant, modest way of only half insinuating what it seemed hardly fitting for her
to affirm; nor does she refer to what He said of Himself, but solely to His disclosure
to her of the particulars of her own life.
CALVIN, "29.See a man. As she here speaks doubtfully, she might appear not to
have been greatly moved by the authority of Christ. I reply, as she was not
qualified to discourse about such high mysteries, she endeavors, according to her
feeble capacity, to bring her fellow-citizens to permit themselves to be taught by
Christ. It was a very powerful stimulant which she employed to excite them,
when she knew, by a sign which was not obscure or doubtful, that he was a
prophet; for, since they could not form a judgment from his doctrine, this lower
preparation was useful and well adapted to them. Having, therefore, learned that
Christ had revealed to the woman things which were hidden, they infer from it
that he is a Prophet of God. This having been ascertained, they begin to attend to
his doctrine. But the woman goes farther; for she bids them inquire if he be not
the Messiah, being satisfied if she could only persuade them to seek, of their own
accord, what she had already found in Christ; for she knew that they would find
more than she promised.
Who told me all things that ever I did. Why does she tell a lie, by saying that
Christ told her all things ? I have already shown that Christ did not reprove her
for a single instance of fornication, but that he placed before her, in a few words,
many sins of her whole life. For the Evangelist has not minutely recorded every
sentence, but states generally that Christ, in order to repress the woman’s
talkativeness, brought forward her former and present life. Yet we see that the
woman, kindled by a holy zeal, does not spare herself, or her reputation, to
magnify the name of Christ: for she does not scruple to relate the disgraceful
passages of her life.
LIGHTFOOT, "[Which told me all things that ever I did, &c.] This passage doth
something agree with the Jewish notion about their Messiah's smelling:
"It is written, And he shall make him of quick scent or smell in the fear of the
Lord, Isaiah 11:3. Rabba saith, He shall be of quick scent, and shall judge, as it is
written, He shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, &c. Ben Coziba reigned two
years and a half, and said to the Rabbins, 'I am the Messiah.' They say unto him,
'It is said of the Messiah, that he shall be of quick scent and shall judge: let us see
if you can smell and judge': which when he could not do, they killed him."
The Samaritan woman perceived that Jesus had smelt out all her clandestine
wickednesses, which she had perpetrated out of the view of men; for which very
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![The movement of the multitude toward Jesus across the plain that separated
between the well and the city deeply touched the Saviour's heart. The prevailing
color of all clothing in those days was white, dyes being so expensive that only the
rich used them; and the Lord's reference to the "white" harvest fields a little
later had reference to that field of people dressed in the white garments of the
poor moving toward the Lord under the glare of the sun at noon.
31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi,
eat something.”
CLARKE,"Master, eat - They knew that he was greatly spent both with hunger
and fatigue.
GILL, "In the mean while,.... Whilst the woman was gone into the city, and had
acquainted the inhabitants, that such a wonderful person was at Jacob's well, and
invited them to come and see him:
his disciples prayed him, saying, master, eat; for they perceived a
disinclination in him to food; and they knew that he was weary with his journey, and
that it was the time of day, and high time, that he had had some food; and therefore
out of great respect to him, and in concern for his health and welfare, they entreated
him that he would take some food: so far was Christ from indulging his sensual
appetite; and so little reason had the Scribes and Pharisees to traduce him as a wine
bibber and glutton.
HENRY, "III. Christ's discourse with his disciples while the woman was absent,
Joh_4:31-38. See how industrious our Lord Jesus was to redeem time, to husband
every minute of it, and to fill up the vacancies of it. When the disciples were gone into
the town, his discourse with the woman was edifying, and suited to her case; when
she was gone into the town, his discourse with them was no less edifying, and suited
to their case; it were well if we could thus gather up the fragments of time, that none
of it may be lost. Two things are observable in this discourse: -
1. How Christ expresses the delight which he himself had in his work. His work
was to seek and save that which was lost, to go about doing good. Now with this
work we here find him wholly taken up. For,
(1.) He neglected his meat and drink for his work. When he sat down upon the well,
he was weary, and needed refreshment; but this opportunity of saving souls made
him forget his weariness and hunger. And he minded his food so little that, [1.] His
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![him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was
at that hour in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and
his whole house. This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of
Judæa into Galilee”- Joh_4:31-54.
The disciples, when they went forward to buy provisions in Sychar, left Jesus sitting
on the well wearied and faint. On their return they find Him, to their surprise, elate
and full of renewed energy. Such transformations one has often had the pleasure of
seeing. Success is a better stimulant than wine. Our Lord had found one who believed
Him and valued His message; and this brought fresh life to His frame. The disciples
go on eating, and are too busy with their meal to lift their eyes; but as they eat they
talk over the prospects of the harvest in the rich fields through which they have just
walked. Meanwhile our Lord sees the men of Sychar coming out of the town in
obedience to the woman’s request, and calls His disciples’ attention to a harvest more
worthy of their attention than the one they were discussing: “Were you not saying
that we must wait four months till harvest comes again [12] and cheapens the bread
for which you have paid so dear in Sychar? But lift up your eyes and mark the eager
crowd of Samaritans, and say if you may not expect to reap much this very day. Are
not the fields white already to harvest? Here in Samaria, which you only wished
quickly to pass through, where you were looking for no additions to the Kingdom,
and where you might suppose sowing and long waiting were needed, you see the
ripened grain. Others have laboured, the Baptist and this woman and I, and ye have
entered into their labours.”
All labourers in the Kingdom of God need a similar reminder. We can never certainly
say in what state of preparedness the human heart is; we do not know what
providences of God have ploughed it, nor what thoughts are sown in it, nor what
strivings are being even now made by the springing life that seeks the light. We
generally give men credit, not perhaps for less thought than they have, for that is
scarcely possible, but for less capacity of thought. The disciples were good men, but
they went into Sychar judging the Samaritans good enough to trade with, but never
dreaming of telling them the Messiah was outside their town. They must have been
ashamed to find how much more capable an apostle the woman was than they. I
think they would not wonder another time that their Lord should condescend to talk
with a woman. The simple, unthinking, untroubled directness of a woman will often
have a matter finished while a man is meditating some ponderous and ingenious
contrivance for bringing it to pass. Let us not fall into the mistake of the disciples,
and judge men good enough to buy and sell with, but quite alien to the matters of the
Kingdom.
“There is a day in spring When under all the earth the secret germs Begin to stir and
glow before they bud. The wealth and festal pomps of midsummer Lie in the heart of
that inglorious hour Which no man names with blessing, though its work Is bless’d
by all the world. Such days there are In the slow story of the growth of souls.”
Such days may be passing in those around us, though all unknown to us. We can
never tell how many months there are till harvest. We never know who or what has
been labouring before we appear on the scene.
The woman’s testimony was enough to excite curiosity. The men on her word came
out to judge for themselves. What they saw and heard completed their conviction;
“And they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we
have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.” This
growth of faith is one of the subjects John delights to exhibit. He is fond of showing
how a weak and ill-founded faith may grow into a faith that is well rooted and strong.
This Samaritan episode is significant as an integral part of the Gospel, not only
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![The process by which they verified the miracle and connected the cure with the word
of Jesus was simple, but perfectly satisfactory. They compared notes regarding the
time, and found that the utterance of Jesus was simultaneous with the recovery of
the boy. The servants who saw the boy recover did not ascribe his recovery to any
miraculous agency; they would no doubt suppose that it was one of those
unaccountable cases which occasionally occur, and which most of us have witnessed.
Nature has secrets which the most skilful of her interpreters cannot disclose; and
even so marvellous a thing as an instantaneous cure of a hopeless case may be due to
some hidden law of nature. But no sooner did their master assure them that the hour
in which the boy began to amend was the very hour in which Jesus said he would get
better, than they all saw to what agency the cure was due.
Here lies the special significance of this miracle; it brings into prominence this
distinctive peculiarity of a miracle, that it consists of a marvel which is coincident
with an express announcement of it, and is therefore referable to a personal
agent.[13] It is the two things taken together that prove that there is a superhuman
agency. The marvel alone, a sudden return of sight to the blind, or of vigour to the
paralysed, does not prove that there is anything supernatural in the case; but if this
marvel follows upon the word of one who commands it, and does so in all cases in
which such a command is given, it becomes obvious that this is not the working of a
hidden law of nature, nor a mere coincidence, but the intervention of a supernatural
agency. That which convinced the nobleman’s household that a miracle had been
wrought was not the recovery of the boy, but his recovery in connection with the
word of Jesus. What they felt they had to account for was not merely the marvellous
recovery, but his recovery at that particular time. Even though it could be shown,
then,-as it can never be,-that every cure reported in the Gospels might possibly be the
result of some natural law, even though it could be shown that men born blind might
receive their sight without a miracle, and that persons who had consulted the best
physician suddenly recovered strength-this, we are to remember, is by no means the
whole of what we have to account for. We have to account not only for sudden, and
certainly most extraordinary cures, but also for these cures following uniformly, and
in every case the word of One who said the cure would follow. It is this coincidence
which puts it beyond a doubt that the cures can be referred only to the will of Christ.
Another striking feature of this miracle is that the Agent was at a distance from the
subject of it. This is, of course, quite beyond our comprehension. We cannot
understand how the will of Jesus, without employing any known physical means of
communication between Himself and the boy, without even appearing before him so
as to seem to inspire him by look or word, should instantaneously effect his cure. The
only possible link of such a kind between the boy and Jesus was that he may have
been aware that his father had gone to seek help for him, from a renowned physician,
and may have had his hopes greatly excited. This supposition is, however, gratuitous.
The boy may quite as likely have been delirious, or too young to know anything; and
even though this slender link did exist, no sensible person will build much on that.
And certainly it is encouraging to find that even while on earth our Lord did not
require to be in contact with the person healed. “His word was as effective as His
presence.” And if it is credible that while on earth He could heal at the distance of
twenty miles, it is difficult to disbelieve that He can from heaven exercise the same
omnipotent will.
Note.-It is not apparent why John appends the remark, “This is again the second sign
that Jesus did, having come out of Judæa into Galilee.” He may, perhaps, have only
intended to call attention more distinctly to the place where the miracle was wrought.
This idea is supported by the fact that John shows, on parallel lines, the
manifestation of Christ in Judæa and in Galilee. It is just possible that he may have
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![wished to warn readers of the Synoptical Gospels, that Jesus had not yet begun the
Galilean ministry with which these Gospels open.
[12] The words (Joh_4:35) have quite the ring of a proverb-a proverb peculiar to
seed-time and for the encouragement of the sower. If uttered on this occasion in
seed-time, this gives December as the date.
[13] This is lucidly taught in Mozley’s Bampton Lectures.
32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that
you know nothing about.”
CLARKE,"I have meat to eat that ye know not of - Our blessed Lord seizes
every opportunity to raise the minds of his apostles to heavenly things, through the
medium of earthly matters. Nor does he force these things into such service. Properly
understood, earthly substances are the types, representatives, and shadows of
heavenly things.
GILL, "But he said unto them,.... That is, "Jesus", as the Persic, or the Lord
Jesus, as the Ethiopic versions express it:
I have meat to eat that ye know not of: meaning the conversion of the
Samaritan woman, and of other Samaritans, who were flocking in great numbers to
him, which he knew, though his disciples did not; and the harvest of souls he had a
prospect of, see Joh_4:35, was as meat unto him, delightful and refreshing; and his
mind and thoughts were so taken up with these things, that he had no inclination to
any corporeal food.
JAMIESON, "meat ye know not of — What spirituality of mind! “I have been
eating all the while, and such food as ye dream not of.” What can that be? they ask
each other; have any supplies been brought Him in our absence? He knows what they
are saying though He hears it not.
CALVIN, "32.I have food to eat which you know not. It is wonderful that, when
he is fatigued and hungry, he refuses to eat; for if it be said that he does this for
the purpose of instructing us, by his example, to endure hunger, why then did he
not do so always? But he had another object than to say that we ought simply to
refuse food; for we must attend to this circumstance, that his anxiety about the
present business urges him so strongly, and absorbs his whole mind, so that it
gives him no uneasiness to despise food. And yet he does not say that he is so
eager to obey the commands of his Father, that he neither eats nor drinks. He
only points out what he must do first, and what must be done afterwards; and
thus he shows, by his example, that the kingdom of God ought to be preferred to
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![again by men or devils: and that the doing and finishing of this were his meat, or as
delightful and refreshing to him as meat is to the body, appears from his ready and
cheerful engaging in it in eternity; from his early and industrious entrance on it in
time; from his constancy in it, when he had begun, insomuch that nothing could
deter him from it; nor did he sink and fail under it, nor left it till he had finished it.
HENRY, "(2.) He made his work his meat and drink. The work he had to do among
the Samaritans, the prospect he now had of doing good to many, this was meat and
drink to him; it was the greatest pleasure and satisfaction imaginable. Never did a
hungry man, or an epicure, expect a plentiful feast with so much desire, nor feed
upon its dainties with so much delight, as our Lord Jesus expected and improved an
opportunity of doing good to souls. Concerning this he saith, [1.] That it was such
meat as the disciples knew not of. They did not imagine that he had any design or
prospect of planting his gospel among the Samaritans; this was a piece of usefulness
they never thought of. Note, Christ by his gospel and Spirit does more good to the
souls of men than his own disciples know of or expect. This may be said of good
Christians too, who live by faith, that they have meat to eat which others know not of,
joy with which a stranger does not intermeddle. Now this word made them ask, Has
any man brought him aught to eat? so apt were even his own disciples to understand
him after a corporal and carnal manner when he used similitudes.
JAMIESON, "My meat is, etc. — “A Servant here to fulfil a prescribed work, to
do and to finish, that is ‘meat’ to Me; and of this, while you were away, I have had My
fill.” And of what does He speak thus? Of the condescension, pity, patience, wisdom
He had been laying out upon one soul - a very humble woman, and in some respects
repulsive too! But He had gained her, and through her was going to gain more, and
lay perhaps the foundations of a great work in the country of Samaria; and this filled
His whole soul and raised Him above the sense of natural hunger (Mat_4:4).
CALVIN, "34.My food is to do the will of him who sent me. He means not only
that he esteems it very highly, but that there is nothing in which he takes greater
delight, or in which he is more cheerfully or more eagerly employed; as David, in
order to magnify the Law of God, says not only that he values it highly, but that
it is sweeter than honey, (Psalms 19:10.) If, therefore, we would follow Christ, it
is proper not only that we devote ourselves diligently to the service of God, but
that we be so cheerful in complying with its injunctions that the labor shall not
be at all oppressive or disagreeable.
That I may finish his work. By adding these words, Christ fully explains what is
that will of the Father to which he is devoted; namely, to fulfill the commission
which had been given to him. Thus every man ought to consider his own calling,
that he may not consider as done to God what he has rashly undertaken at his
own suggestion. What was the office of Christ is well known. It was to advance
the kingdom of God, to restore to life lost souls, to spread the light of the Gospel,
and, in short, to bring salvation to the world. The excellence of these things
caused him, when fatigued and hungry, to forget meat and drink. Yet we derive
from this no ordinary consolation, when we learn that Christ was so anxious
about the salvation of men, that it gave him the highest delight to procure it; for
we cannot doubt that he is now actuated by similar feelings towards us.
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!["give a good part of thy seed to thy field in Tisri, and do not refrain from sowing even
in Cisleu.''
As for the barley, that was sown in the months of Shebet and Adar, and usually in the
latter (y); the former of which answers to January and February, and the latter to
February and March. And we read (z) of their sowing seventy days before the
passover, which was within six weeks of the beginning of barley harvest.
Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields: pointing to
the lands which lay near the city of Sychar:
for they are white already to harvest; alluding to the corn fields, which, when
ripe, and near harvest, look white: hence we read (a) of הלבן ,שדה "the white field":
which the Jews say is a field sown with wheat or barley, and so called to distinguish it
from a field planted with trees; though it may be rather, that it is so called from its
white look when ripe. So the three Targums paraphrase Gen_49:12,
"his hills (his valleys, or fields, as Onkelos) ,יחוורן "are white" with corn, and flocks of
sheep.''
Christ here speaks not literally; for the fields could not be white at such a distance
from harvest; but spiritually, of a harvest of souls; and has regard to the large
number of Samaritans that were just now coming out of the city, and were within
sight, and covered the adjacent fields: and these he calls upon his disciples to lift up
their eyes and behold; and suggests to them, that it was not a time for eating and
drinking, but for working, since here was such a number of souls to be gathered in:
and thus as from corporeal food he proceeded to treat of spiritual food; so from a
literal harvest he goes on to speak of a spiritual one, and encourages his disciples to
labour in it, by the following arguments.
HENRY, "See here how Christ, having expressed his delight in his work, excites
his disciples to diligence in their work; they were workers with him, and therefore
should be workers like him, and make their work their meat, as he did. The work they
had to do was to preach the gospel, and to set up the kingdom of the Messiah. Now
this work he here compares to harvest work, the gathering in of the fruits of the
earth; and this similitude he prosecutes throughout the discourse, Joh_4:35-38.
Note, gospel time is harvest time, and gospel work harvest work. The harvest is
before appointed and expected; so was the gospel. Harvest time is busy time; all
hands must be then at work: every one must work for himself, that he may reap of
the graces and comforts of the gospel: ministers must work for God, to gather in
souls to him. Harvest time is opportunity, a short and limited time, which will not
last always; and harvest work is work that must be done then or not at all; so the time
of the enjoyment of the gospel is a particular season, which must be improved for its
proper purposes; for, once past, it cannot be recalled. The disciples were to gather in
a harvest of souls for Christ. Now he here suggests three things to them to quicken
them to diligence: -
(1.) That it was necessary work, and the occasion for it very urgent and pressing
(Joh_4:35): You say, It is four months to harvest; but I say, The fields are already
white. Here is,
[1.] A saying of Christ's disciples concerning the corn-harvest; there are yet four
months, and then comes harvest, which may be taken either generally - “You say, for
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![the encouragement of the sower at seed-time, that it will be but four months to the
harvest.” With us it is but about four months between the barley-sowing and the
barley-harvest, probably it was so with them as to other grain; or, “Particularly, now
at this time you reckon it will be four months to next harvest, according to the
ordinary course of providence.” The Jews' harvest began at the Passover, about
Easter, much earlier in the year than ours, by which it appears that this journey of
Christ from Judea to Galilee was in the winter, about the end of November, for he
travelled all weathers to do good. God has not only promised us a harvest every year,
but has appointed the weeks of harvest; so that we know when to expect it, and take
our measures accordingly.
[2.] A saying of Christ's concerning the gospel harvest; his heart was as much
upon the fruits of his gospel as the hearts of others were upon the fruits of the earth;
and to this he would lead the thoughts of his disciples: Look, the fields are already
white unto the harvest. First, Here in this place, where they now were, there was
harvest work for him to do. They would have him to eat, Joh_4:31. “Eat!” saith he, “I
have other work to do, that is more needful; look what crowds of Samaritans are
coming out of the town over the fields that are ready to receive the gospel;” probably
there were many now in view. People's forwardness to hear the word is a great
excitement to ministers' diligence and liveliness in preaching it. Secondly, In other
places, all the country over, there was harvest work enough for them all to do.
“Consider the regions, think of the state of the country, and you will find there are
multitudes as ready to receive the gospel as a field of corn that is fully ripe is ready to
be reaped.” The fields were now made white to the harvest, 1. By the decree of God
revealed in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Now was the time when the
gathering of the people should be to Christ (Gen_49:10), when great accessions
should be made to the church and the bounds of it should be enlarged, and therefore
it was time for them to be busy. It is a great encouragement to us to engage in any
work for God, if we understand by the signs of the times that this is the proper season
for that work, for then it will prosper. 2. By the disposition of men. John Baptist had
made ready a people prepared for the Lord, Luk_1:17. Since he began to preach the
kingdom of God every man pressed into it, Luk_16:16. This, therefore, was a time for
the preachers of the gospel to apply themselves to their work with the utmost vigour,
to thrust in their sickle, when the harvest was ripe, Rev_14:15. It was necessary to
work now, pity that such a season should be let slip. If the corn that is ripe be not
reaped, it will shed and be lost, and the fowls will pick it up. If souls that are under
convictions, and have some good inclinations, be not helped now, their hopeful
beginnings will come to nothing, and they will be a prey to pretenders. It was also
easy to work now; when the people's hearts are prepared the work will be done
suddenly, 2Ch_29:36. It cannot but quicken ministers to take pains in preaching the
word when they observe that people take pleasure in hearing it.
JAMIESON, "yet four months, and then harvest — that is, “In current
speech, ye say thus at this season; but lift up your eyes and look upon those fields in
the light of another husbandry, for lo! in that sense, they are even now white to
harvest, ready for the sickle.” The simple beauty of this language is only surpassed by
the glow of holy emotion in the Redeemer’s own soul which it expresses. It refers to
the ripeness of these Sycharites for accession to Him, and the joy of this great Lord of
the reapers over the anticipated ingathering. Oh, could we but so, “lift up our eyes
and look” upon many fields abroad and at home, which to dull sense appear
unpromising, as He beheld those of Samaria, what movements, as yet scarce in
embryo, and accessions to Christ, as yet seemingly far distant, might we not discern
as quite near at hand, and thus, amidst difficulties and discouragements too much
for nature to sustain, be cheered - as our Lord Himself was in circumstances far
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![more overwhelming - with “songs in the night!”
CALVIN, "35.Do you not say? He follows out the preceding statement; for,
having said that nothing was more dear to him than to finish the work of the
Father, he now shows how ripe it is for execution; and he does so by a
comparison with the harvest. When the corn is ripe, the harvest cannot bear
delay, for otherwise the grain would fall to the ground and be lost; and, in like
manner, the spiritual corn being now ripe, he declares that there must be no
delay, because delay is injurious. We see for what purpose the comparison is
employed; it is to explain the reason why he hastens to perform his work. (83) By
this expression,Do you not say? he intended indirectly to point out how much
more attentive the minds of men are to earthly than to heavenly things; for they
burn with so intense a desire of harvest that they carefully reckon up months
and days, but it is astonishing how drowsy and indolent they are in gathering the
heavenly wheat. And daily experience proves that this wickedness not only is
natural to us, but can scarcely be torn from our hearts; for while all provide for
the earthly life to a distant period, how indolent are we in thinking about
heavenly things? Thus Christ says on another occasion, Hypocrites, you discern
by the face of the sky what sort of day to-morrow will be, but you do not
acknowledge the time of my visitation, (Matthew 16:3.)
COFFMAN, "Yet four months ... Westcott noted that the "harvest began about
the middle of April and lasted until the end of May."[6] This would make the
date of this episode to lie somewhere between the middle of December and the
last of January; another piece of evidence favoring noon as the time of day in this
narrative. In either December or January, it would have been dark shortly after
six o'clock.
They are white already unto the harvest ... See under John 4:30, above. The
white-clad multitude passing over the green fields between the village and the
well had indeed turned them white; and our Lord was looking upon the
immediate harvest of souls as contrasted with the grain harvest yet four months
in the future. By directing the eyes of the apostles to what was taking place, he
restrained their further insistence that he should eat. Dr. Tristram, as quoted by
Westcott, "found the wheat and barley near Jerusalem, sown just after
Christmas, four inches high on February 2Oth."[7]
The comparison of converted souls to a harvest made a profound impression
upon John who made five references to it in as many verses (Revelation
14:14-19). "Send forth thy sickle and reap; for the hour to reap is come; for the
harvest of the earth is ripe," etc.
[6] B. F. Westcott, op. cit., p. 75.
[7] Ibid.
COKE, "John 4:35. Say not ye, There are yet four months, &c.— Whitby,
Grotius, and many others, understand this as if our Lord had said, "It is a
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![flower. He was nearly seventy-five and would never see their beauty--but
someone would. No work for Christ and no great undertaking ever fail. If we do
not see the result of our labours, others will. There is no room for despair in the
Christian life.
LIGHTFOOT, "[There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest.] The
beginning of the harvest [that is, the barley-harvest] was about the middle of the
month Nisan. Consult Leviticus 23:10, &c., Deuteronomy 16:9.
"Half Tisri, all Marchesvan, and half Chisleu, is the seed time. Half Chisleu,
whole Tebeth, and half Shebat, is the winter. Half Shebat, whole Adar, and half
Nisan, is the winter solstice. Half Nisan, all Iyar, and half Sivan is the harvest.
Half Sivan, all Tammuz, and half Ab, is the summer. Half Ab, all Elul, and half
Tisri, is the great heat."
They sowed the wheat and spelt in the month Tisri, and Marchesvan, and so
onward. Targum upon Ecclesiastes 11:2; "Give a good portion of thy seed to thy
field in the month Tisri, and withhold thou not from sowing also in Chisleu."
They sowed barley in the months Shebat and Adar.
The lateward seed, or that which is hid and lieth long in the earth; "The wheat
and the spelt which do not soon ripen, are sown in Marchesvan; the early seed,
the barley, which soon ripens, is sown in Shebat and Adar."
"They sow seventy days before the Passover."
The barley, therefore, the hope of a harvest to come after four months, was not
yet committed to the ground; and yet our Saviour saith, "Behold the fields are
already white unto the harvest." Which thing being a little observed, will help to
illustrate the words and design of our Lord. "Lift up your eyes (saith he) and
look upon the fields," &c. pointing without doubt towards that numerous crowd
of people, that at that time flocked towards him out of the city; q.d. "Behold,
what a harvest of souls is here, where there had been no sowing beforehand."
Now let us but reckon the four months backward from the beginning of the
barley-harvest, or the middle of the month Nisan, and we shall go back to the
middle of the month Chisleu; which will fall in with the beginning of our
December, or thereabout: whence it will be easy to conjecture what feast that
was of which mention is made, chapter 5:1.
36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage
and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the
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![And gathereth fruit unto life eternal: by fruit are meant sinners converted and
turned from the error of their ways which are the fruit of a Gospel ministry, of the
efficacy and power of divine grace accompanying it; see Joh_15:16; and these are
gathered, by the preaching of the Gospel, out from among the rest of mankind, unto
Christ, the Shiloh, or peace maker, and into his churches, and remain, abide, and
persevere to the end; that grace, which is implanted in their souls, being a well of
living water, springing up to everlasting life; so that they are at last gathered into
Christ's garner, into heaven, where they shall live with him for ever:
that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice together. The
sowers are the prophets of the Old Testament, who sowed that seed in the
prophecies, which sprung up in Gospel times, and laid the foundation therein of the
great success of the apostles of Christ in preaching the word; for they so clearly
described the Messiah, and pointed out Christ, his offices, and his work, in so distinct
a manner, that when he was come he was readily known, and cheerfully embraced;
they greatly facilitated the work of the apostles, who had nothing to do but to preach
Christ, as come in the flesh: and hence they reaped and gathered a vast harvest of
souls every where. John the Baptist also was one that sowed; he prepared the way of
the Lord, and made straight his paths: and our Lord himself was a sower, that went
forth to sow, and who sowed good seed in the field; all which succeeded well, and
were ripening apace for a general harvest, which began on the day of Pentecost, after
our Lord's ascension to heaven. This was in Judea; and in the Gentile world there
was a sowing in providence, which contributed to make the work of the disciples
more easy there, and to bring on, in time, a large harvest. The books of the Old
Testament were translated into the Greek language; and the Jews were scattered in
the several parts of the world; and the Greek tongue, in which the New Testament
was to be written, was every where generally spoken; and these providences were
ripening apace to bring on a great work there. And now, as before observed, the
apostles were the reapers; they were remarkably successful in the gathering in of
souls, even more than the prophets, than John the Baptist, or Christ himself; never
was such a harvest of souls, either in Judea, or in the Gentile world, before or since;
of which the conversion of these Samaritans was a pledge or earnest. Now when the
whole harvest is gathered in, at the end of the world, all these will rejoice together,
the "patriarchs" and prophets, the forerunner of Christ, and Christ himself, and all
his apostles and ministers; the different parts they have had in this work all
concurring and agreeing together, and issuing in the glory of God, and the good of
souls.
HENRY, "(2.) That it was profitable and advantageous work, which they
themselves would be gainers by (Joh_4:36): “He that reapeth receiveth wages, and
so shall you.” Christ has undertaken to pay those well whom he employs in his work;
for he will never do as Jehoiakim did, who used his neighbour's service without
wages (Jer_22:13), or those who by fraud kept back the hire of those particularly
who reaped their corn-fields, Jam_5:4. Christ's reapers, though they cry to him day
and night, shall never have cause to cry against him, nor to say they served a hard
Master. He that reapeth, not only shall but does receive wages. There is a present
reward in the service of Christ, and his work is its own wages. [1.] Christ's reapers
have fruit: He gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that is, he shall both save himself and
those that hear him, 1Ti_4:16. If the faithful reaper save his own soul, that is fruit
abounding to his account, it is fruit gathered to life eternal; and if, over and above
this, he be instrumental to save the souls of others too, there is fruit gathered. Souls
gathered to Christ are fruit, good fruit, the fruit that Christ seeks for (Rom_1:13); it is
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![gathered for Christ (Son_8:11, Son_8:12); it is gathered to life eternal. This is the
comfort of faithful ministers, that their work has a tendency to the eternal salvation
of precious souls. [2.] They have joy: That he that sows and they that reap may
rejoice together. The minister who is the happy instrument of beginning a good work
is he that sows, as John Baptist; he that is employed to carry it on and perfect it is he
that reaps: and both shall rejoice together. Note, First, Though God is to have all the
glory of the success of the gospel, yet faithful ministers may themselves take the
comfort of it. The reapers share in the joy of harvest, though the profits belong to the
master, 1Th_2:19. Secondly, Those ministers who are variously gifted and employed
should be so far from envying one another that they should rather mutually rejoice in
each other's success and usefulness. Though all Christ's ministers are not alike
serviceable, nor alike successful, yet, if they have obtained mercy of the Lord to be
faithful, they shall all enter together into the joy of their Lord at last.
JAMIESON, "he that reapeth, etc. — As our Lord could not mean that the
reaper only, and not the sower, received “wages,” in the sense of personal reward for
his work, the “wages” here can be no other than the joy of having such a harvest to
gather in - the joy of “gathering fruit unto life eternal.”
rejoice together — The blessed issue of the whole ingathering is the interest
alike of the sower as of the reaper; it is no more the fruit of the last operation than of
the first; and just as there can be no reaping without previous sowing, so have those
servants of Christ, to whom is assigned the pleasant task of merely reaping the
spiritual harvest, no work to do, and no joy to taste, that has not been prepared to
their hand by the toilsome and often thankless work of their predecessors in the field.
The joy, therefore, of the great harvest festivity will be the common joy of all who
have taken any part in the work from the first operation to the last. (See Deu_16:11,
Deu_16:14; Psa_126:6; Isa_9:3). What encouragement is here for those “fishers of
men” who “have toiled all the night” of their official life, and, to human appearance,
“have taken nothing!”
CALVIN, "36.And he who reapeth receiveth reward. How diligently we ought to
devote ourselves to the work of God, he proves by another argument; namely,
because a large and most excellent reward is reserved for our labor; for he
promises that there will be fruit, and fruit not corruptible or fading. What he
adds about fruit may be explained in two ways; either it is an announcement of
the reward, and on that supposition he would say the same thing twice in
different words; or, he applauds the labors of those who enrich the kingdom of
God, as we shall afterwards find him repeating,
I have chosen you, that you may go and bear fruit, and that your fruit may
remain, (John 15:16.)
And certainly both considerations ought greatly to encourage the ministers of the
word, that they may never sink under the toil, when they hear that a crown of
glory is prepared for them in heaven, and know that the fruit of their harvest
will not only be precious in the sight of God, but will also be eternal. It is for this
purpose that Scripture everywhere mentions reward, and not for the purpose of
leading us to judge from it as to the merits of works; for which of us, if we come
to a reckoning, will not be found more worthy of being punished for slothfulness
than of beingrewarded for diligence? To the best laborers nothing else will be
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![sowing more widely than to the Law and the Prophets; and there are some who
interpret these words as applying equally to the Jews and to the Gentiles. I
acknowledge, indeed, that some grains of piety were always scattered throughout
the whole world, and there can be no doubt that — if we may be allowed the
expression — God sowed, by the hand of philosophers and profane writers, the
excellent sentiments which are to be found in their writings. But, as that seed was
degenerated from the very root, and as the corn which could spring from it,
though not good or natural, was choked by a huge mass of errors, it is
unreasonable to suppose that such destructive corruption is compared tosowing
Besides, what is here said about uniting in joy cannot at all apply to philosophers
or any persons of that class.
Still, the difficulty is not yet solved, for Christ makes special reference to the
Samaritans. I reply, though everything among them was infected by corruptions,
there still was some hidden seed of piety. For whence does it arise that, as soon as
they hear a word about Christ, they are so eager to seek him, but because they
had learned, from the Law and the Prophets, that the Redeemer would come?
Judea was indeed the Lord’s peculiar field, which he had cultivated by the
Prophets, but, as some small portion of seed had been carried into Samaria, it is
not without reason that Christ says that there also it reached maturity. If it be
objected that the Apostles were chosen to publish the Gospel throughout the
whole world, the reply is easy, that Christ spoke in a manner suited to the time,
with this exception, that, on account of the expectation of the fruit which already
was nearly ripe, he commends in the Samaritans the seed of prophetic doctrine,
though mixed and blended with many weeds or corruptions.
COKE, "John 4:36-38. And he that reapeth, &c.— As the disciples laboured
together with our Lord in this spiritual harvest,—to encourage them, he put
them in mind of the reward. The passage should be read as follows: "He that
reapeth and gathereth the fruit [of souls] unto life eternal; he that conducts
others into heaven (alluding to the gathering of reaped corn into barns) such a
person—receiveth wages; that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may
rejoice together; namely, in the reward bestowed on them, the pleasure of which
will be increased by their joint participation of it." Our Lord then proceeds to
apply another proverb, John 4:37. The words, whereon ye bestowed no labour,
John 4:38 mean, "no labour of sowing;" Other men laboured, namely, in sowing
the feeds of piety and holiness among the Jews, and therebyexposed themselves
to great persecutions, (he meant the prophets of old;—) "and ye are entered into
their labours,—into the field on which their labour had been carefully
employed;" εις του κοπον αυτων .—Comp. 2 Corinthians 10:15. "Ye are
employed to reap that, which they with great difficulty sowed; for ye are
gathering into the kingdom of heaven those, who, by the writings of the prophets
and the grace of God, having been imbued with a sense of piety and virtue, are
prepared for entering into it." This application of the proverb, one soweth and
another reapeth, does not imply any discontent in the persons who sow without
reaping, as it seems to do in common use; for the sower and the reaper are
represented as rejoicing together in the rewards of this spiritual husbandry.
COFFMAN, "These words were spoken by the Lord during the interval before
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![reaps’ is true.
BARNES,"I sent you, etc. — The I is emphatic - I, the Lord of the whole
harvest: “sent you,” points to their past appointment to the apostleship, though it
has reference only to their future discharge of it, for they had nothing to do with the
present ingathering of the Sycharites.
ye bestowed no labour — meaning that much of their future success would
arise from the preparation already made for them. (See on Joh_4:42).
others laboured — Referring to the Old Testament laborers, the Baptist, and by
implication Himself, though He studiously keeps this in the background, that the line
of distinction between Himself and all His servants might not be lost sight of.
“Christ represents Himself as the Husbandman [rather the Lord of the laborers],
who has the direction both of the sowing and of the harvest, who commissions all the
agents - those of the Old Testament as well as of the New - and therefore does not
stand on a level with either the sowers or the reapers” [Olshausen].
CLARKE,"Herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another
reapeth - Or, One is the sower, and another is the reaper. In what respects you, of
this business, this proverb is true - One is the sower, etc., for I have sent you to reap,
to preach my Gospel, and gain converts, where ye have not labored - have not sown
the first seeds of eternal life. Others have labored - the patriarchs and prophets, and
ye are entered into the fruits of their labors. They announced the Messiah who was to
come, and the expectation of the people was excited, and they longed for his
appearance; but they were gathered to their fathers before they could see the fruit of
their labor. You are come to tell the people that the kingdom of God is among them,
and that God has visited his people.
The proverb which our Lord mentions above was taken from what ordinarily
happens in the course of the Divine providence, where one takes a great deal of pains
to procure that of which another reaps the benefit. See instances of this proverb,
Lev_26:16 : Ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. Mic_6:15 :
Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but not anoint
thee with the oil. See also Hos_7:9. The Greeks had the same proverb: Αλλοι µεν
σπερουσι, αλλοι δ’αν αµησονται. So had the Latins: Aliis leporem excitasti. You have
beat the bush, and another has found the hare. See the famous verses of Virgil
beginning with, Sic vos non vobis, in which the fowls, the sheep, the bees, and the
oxen, are elegantly brought in as illustrations of the propriety of the proverb.
Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves.
Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves.
Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes.
Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves.
So you, ye birds, of wondrous skill possest,
Not for yourselves construct the curious nest.
So you, ye sheep, who roam the verdant field,
Not for yourselves your snowy fleeces yield,
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![So you, ye bees, who every flower explore,
Not for yourselves amass the honied store.
So you, ye patient kine, inured to toil,
Not for yourselves subdue the stubborn soil!
Bishop Pearce gives this text a remarkable turn. The verse he translates thus: I sent
you away, that ye might reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; i.e. I did not send
you to the city (Joh_4:8) for this purpose only, that ye might buy meat; but I sent
you away chiefly with this intent, that there might be a harvest for you to reap upon
your return; though you sowed no seed, and bestowed no labor for that purpose.
While you were gone, I sowed spiritual seed in the heart of a Samaritan woman; and
she is gone, and is about to return with many of her city, whom she has brought to
believe, (Joh_4:39-42.) These, and the many more which will believe upon hearing
my doctrine, (Joh_4:41), will all be a harvest arising out of the seed which I sowed in
your absence, and on which, therefore, ye bestowed no labor. He farther adds, that
the Greek θεριζειν, stands for του θεριζειν, and such expressions are often used to
signify, not the end and design, but the event only. Pearce’s Comment.
GILL, "And herein is that saying true,.... This verifies that proverbial
expression so much in use, and which may be applied to different persons and cases:
one soweth, and another reapeth; the prophets sowed, and the apostles reaped.
HENRY, "(3.) That it was easy work, and work that was half done to their hands
by those that were gone before them: One soweth, and another reapeth, Joh_4:37,
Joh_4:38. This sometimes denotes a grievous judgment upon him that sows, Mic_
6:15; Deu_28:30, Thou shalt sow, and another shall reap; as Deu_6:11, Houses full
of all good things, which thou filledst not. So here. Moses, and the prophets, and
John Baptist, had paved the way to the gospel, had sown the good seed which the
New Testament ministers did in effect but gather the fruit of. I send you to reap that
whereon you bestowed, in comparison, no labour. Isa_40:3-5. [1.] This intimates
two things concerning the Old Testament ministry: - First, That it was very much
short of the New Testament ministry. Moses and the prophets sowed, but they could
not be said to reap, so little did they see of the fruit of their labours. Their writings
have done much more good since they left us than ever their preaching did. Secondly,
That it was very serviceable to the New Testament ministry, and made way for it. The
writings of the prophets, which were read in the synagogues every sabbath day,
raised people's expectations of the Messiah, and so prepared them to bid him
welcome. Had it not been for the seed sown by the prophets, this Samaritan woman
could not have said, We know that Messias cometh. The writings of the Old
Testament are in some respects more useful to us than they could be to those to
whom they were first written, because better understood by the accomplishment of
them. See 1Pe_1:12; Heb_4:2; Rom_16:25, Rom_16:26. [2.] This also intimates two
things concerning the ministry of the apostles of Christ. First, That it was a fruitful
ministry: they were reapers that gathered in a great harvest of souls to Jesus Christ,
and did more in seven years towards the setting up of the kingdom of God among
men than the prophets of the Old Testament had done in twice so many ages.
Secondly, That it was much facilitated, especially among the Jews, to whom they
were first sent, by the writings of the prophets. The prophets sowed in tears, crying
out, We have laboured in vain; the apostles reaped in joy, saying, Thanks be to God,
who always causeth us to triumph. Note, From the labours of ministers that are
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![GILL, "I sent you to reap,.... To preach the Gospel, and gather in souls by your
ministry; referring to the mission of them in Mat_10:6;
that whereon ye bestowed no labour; being sent to the Jews, who had the
writings of the prophets, and were versed in them; and had learned from them that
the Messiah was to come, and were now in general expectation of him; so that they
had nothing more to do, than to declare to those persons who were cultivated by the
prophets, and were like to ground tilled and manured, that the Messiah was come,
and the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
Other men laboured; the prophets, and John the Baptist:
and ye are entered into their labours; to finish the work they had begun, and
which was almost done to their hands.
HENRY, "This also intimates two things concerning the ministry of the apostles
of Christ. First, That it was a fruitful ministry: they were reapers that gathered in a
great harvest of souls to Jesus Christ, and did more in seven years towards the
setting up of the kingdom of God among men than the prophets of the Old Testament
had done in twice so many ages. Secondly, That it was much facilitated, especially
among the Jews, to whom they were first sent, by the writings of the prophets. The
prophets sowed in tears, crying out, We have laboured in vain; the apostles reaped
in joy, saying, Thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph. Note, From the
labours of ministers that are dead and gone much good fruit may be reaped by the
people that survive them and the ministers that succeed them. John Baptist, and
those that assisted him, had laboured, and the disciples of Christ entered into their
labours, built upon their foundation, and reaped the fruit of what they sowed. See
what reason we have to bless God for those that are gone before us, for their
preaching and their writing, for what they did and suffered in their day, for we are
entered into their labours; their studies and services have made our work the easier.
And when the ancient and modern labourers, those that came into the vineyard at
the third hour and those that came in at the eleventh, meet in the day of account,
they will be so far from envying one another the honour of their respective services
that both they that sowed and they that reaped shall rejoice together; and the great
Lord of thee harvest shall have the glory of all.
JAMIESON, "I sent you, etc. — The I is emphatic - I, the Lord of the whole
harvest: “sent you,” points to their past appointment to the apostleship, though it
has reference only to their future discharge of it, for they had nothing to do with the
present ingathering of the Sycharites.
ye bestowed no labour — meaning that much of their future success would
arise from the preparation already made for them. (See on Joh_4:42).
others laboured — Referring to the Old Testament laborers, the Baptist, and by
implication Himself, though He studiously keeps this in the background, that the line
of distinction between Himself and all His servants might not be lost sight of.
“Christ represents Himself as the Husbandman [rather the Lord of the laborers],
who has the direction both of the sowing and of the harvest, who commissions all the
agents - those of the Old Testament as well as of the New - and therefore does not
stand on a level with either the sowers or the reapers” [Olshausen].
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![city of Samaria;
believed on him; that he was the true Messiah he had told the woman he was; and
she put it to them whether he was or not: before they saw him, or had any
conversation with him themselves, they believed in him; see Joh_20:29;
for the saying of the woman which testified, he told me all that ever I did:
the account she gave was so plain, and honest, and disinterested, that they could not
but give credit to it; and since the person was an utter stranger to her, and yet had
laid before her the whole series of her past life and conversation, they concluded he
could be no other than the Messiah, who should tell all things; and being of quick
understanding or smell, was able to disclose the secrets of men.
HENRY, "IV. The good effect which this visit Christ made to the Samaritans (en
passant) had upon them, and the fruit which was now presently gathered among
them, Joh_4:39-42. See what impressions were made on them,
1. By the woman's testimony concerning Christ; though a single testimony, and of
one of no good report, and the testimony no more than this, He told me all that ever
I did, yet it had a good influence upon many. One would have thought that his telling
the woman of her secret sins would have made them afraid of coming to him, lest he
should tell them also of their faults; but they will venture that rather than not be
acquainted with one who they had reason to think was a prophet. And two things
they were brought to: -
(1.) To credit Christ's word (Joh_4:39): Many of the Samaritans of that city
believed on him for the saying of the woman. So far they believed on him that they
took him for a prophet, and were desirous to know the mind of God from him; this is
favourably interpreted as believing on him. Now observe, [1.] Who they were that
believed: Many of the Samaritans, who were not of the house of Israel. Their faith
was not only an aggravation of the unbelief of the Jews, from whom better might
have been expected, but an earnest of the faith of the Gentiles, who would welcome
that which the Jews rejected. [2.] Upon what inducement they believed: For the
saying of the woman. See here, First, How God is sometimes pleased to use very
weak and unlikely instruments for the beginning and carrying on of a good work. A
little maid directed a great prince to Elisha, 2Ki_5:2. Secondly, How great a matter a
little fire kindles. Our Saviour, by instructing one poor woman, spread instruction to
a whole town. Let not ministers be either careless in their preaching, or discouraged
in it, because their hearers are few and mean; for, by doing good to them, good may
be conveyed to more, and those that are more considerable. If they teach every man
his neighbour, and every man his brother, a great number may learn at second hand.
Philip preached the gospel to a single gentleman in his chariot upon the road, and he
not only received it himself, but carried it into his country, and propagated it there.
Thirdly, See how good it is to speak experimentally of Christ and the things of God.
This woman could say little of Christ, but what she did say she spoke feelingly: He
told me all that ever I did. Those are most likely to do good that can tell what God
has done for their souls, Psa_66:16.
JAMIESON, "many ... believed, etc. — The truth of Joh_4:35 begins to
appear. These Samaritans were the foundation of the Church afterwards built up
there. No miracle appears to have been wrought there (but unparalleled supernatural
knowledge displayed): “we have heard Him ourselves” (Joh_4:42) sufficed to raise
their faith to a point never attained by the Jews, and hardly as yet by the disciples -
that He was “the Savior of the world” [Alford]. “This incident is further remarkable
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![as a rare instance of the Lord’s ministry producing an awakening on a large scale”
[Olshausen].
CALVIN, "39.And many Samaritans out of that city believed. The Evangelist
here relates what was the success of the woman’s announcement to her citizens,
from which it is evident that the expectation and desire of the promised Messiah
had no small vigor among them. Now, the word believe is here used inaccurately,
and means that they were induced by the woman’s statement to acknowledge
Christ to be a Prophet. It is, in some respects, a commencement offaith, when
minds are prepared to receive the doctrine. Such an entrance to faith receives
here the honorable appellation offaith, in order to inform us how highly God
esteems reverence for his word, when he confers so great honor on the docility of
those who have not yet been taught. Now, their faith manifests itself in this
respect, that they are seized with a desire to profit, and, for that reason, desire
that Christ should remain with them
COKE, "John 4:39-40. And many of the Samaritans—believed— Many of the
Samaritans had been so struck with the account which the woman gave of Jesus,
that they believed him to be the Messiah on her testimony. Accordingly, being
come to him, they begged him to take up his residence in their city. Jesus, in
compassion to their wants and desires, complied so far as to stay with them two
days; which was a proper mediumbetween his entirely neglecting them, and the
giving them so much of his time and company as would have broken in upon the
design of his journey into Galilee. During the time of his stay, the discourses
which our Lord delivered were attended with great power, as appeared by their
success: for they brought many of the Sycharites to believe on him as the
Messiah.
COFFMAN, "THE HARVEST IN SAMARIA
The secret of all soul-winning is that of making oneself of "no reputation," even
as did our Lord (Philippians 2:7 KJV); and one can only marvel at this woman's
willingness to make the exposition of her shameful life the principal evidence
that would lead a city to the Lord. It must not be thought for a moment that her
mere statement, "He told me all the things that I ever did," would have been
enough to turn out a whole city to see Jesus. Not at all. Such a statement would
have had to be followed up with a statement of "what things" he had told; and it
may be assumed that, regardless of the woman's standing in the eyes of her
neighbors, or regardless of what any of them knew about her, there were areas of
the Saviour's revelation that laid bare the dark secrets of her soul; yet she
unflinchingly cried out the message to all who would hear it. At the very least,
the witness was such as publicized and blazed abroad the sordid details of her
life to the total community. No one can look upon this as a small thing that she
did.
The turnout of this city to accept Jesus Christ was a stark contrast with the
snobbish rejection of the Lord by the hierarchy in Jerusalem. Here, quite early
in the Saviour's ministry, was wholesale evidence that the Gentiles would turn to
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![40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they
urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two
days.
CLARKE,"He abode there two days - We are not told that he wrought any
miracles among them; this does not appear to have been necessary: they were a
simple-hearted, teachable people, and they credited him on the evidence of his own
eternal truth. Why are not miracles wrought now? Miracles were only for the
establishment of the doctrines of Christianity, where they were first preached; we
profess to believe these doctrines; therefore, to us, miracles would be useless. Where
the doctrine is credited, no miracle is necessary: the Samaritans believed, and no
miracle was wrought among them; for the simple reason, it was not necessary.
GILL, "So when the Samaritans were come unto him,.... The Ethiopic
version reads, all the Samaritans; they came to him at Jacob's well, upon the
woman's solicitations, and the account she gave of this extraordinary person: and
after they had conversed with him, and heard him themselves, they were taken with
his divine discourses, and being thoroughly persuaded that he was the Messiah,
they besought him that he would tarry with them; they were not like the
Gergesenes, who besought him to depart out of their coasts as soon he was in them:
but these men were delighted with his company; and notwithstanding his being a
Jew, desired a conversation with him, and entreated that he would go along with
them to their city, and stay with them:
and he abode there two days; he went with them to Sychar. He would not deny
their request, lest they should be discouraged; and yet would not make any long stay
with them, that he might give no umbrage to the Jews; though it is very likely from
this short stay in Samaria, they afterwards reproached him as a Samaritan, Joh_
8:48. Our Lord's direction to his disciples not to enter into any of the cities of the
Samaritans, was not a rule to himself, or binding upon him, and was only a rule to
them "pro tempore".
HENRY, "(2.) They were brought to court his stay among them (Joh_4:40):
When they were come to him they besought him that he would tarry with them.
Upon the woman's report, they believed him to be a prophet, and came to him; and,
when they saw him, the meanness of his appearance and the manifest poverty of his
outward condition did not lessen their esteem of him and expectations from him, but
still they respected him as a prophet. Note, There is hope of those who are got over
the vulgar prejudices that men have against true worth in a low estate. Blessed are
they that are not offended in Christ at the first sight. So far were they from being
offended in him that they begged he would tarry with them; [1.] That they might
testify their respect to him, and treat him with the honour and kindness due to his
character. God's prophets and ministers are welcome guests to all those who
sincerely embrace the gospel; as to Lydia, Act_16:15. [2.] That they might receive
instruction from him. Those that are taught of God are truly desirous to learn more,
and to be better acquainted with Christ. Many would have flocked to one that would
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![That their number grew (Joh_4:41): Many more believed: many that would not be
persuaded to go out of the town to him were yet wrought upon, when he came among
them, to believe in him. Note, It is comfortable to see the number of believers; and
sometimes the zeal and forwardness of some may be a means to provoke many, and
to stir them up to a holy emulation, Rom_11:14. 2. That their faith grew. Those who
had been wrought upon by the report of the woman now saw cause to say, Now we
believe, not because of thy saying, Joh_4:42. Here are three things in which their
faith grew: - (1.) In the matter of it, or that which they did believe. Upon the
testimony of the woman, they believed him to be a prophet, or some extraordinary
messenger from heaven; but now that they have conversed with him they believe that
he is the Christ, the Anointed One, the very same that was promised to the fathers
and expected by them, and that, being the Christ, he is the Saviour of the world; for
the work to which he was anointed was to save his people from their sins. They
believed him to be the Saviour not only of the Jews, but of the world, which they
hoped would take them in, though Samaritans, for it was promised that he should be
Salvation to the ends of the earth, Isa_49:6. (2.) In the certainty of it; their faith now
grew up to a full assurance: We know that this is indeed the Christ; alēthōs - truly;
not a pretended Christ, but a real one; not a typical Saviour, as many under the Old
Testament, but truly one. Such an assurance as this of divine truths is what we
should labour after; not only, We think it probable, and are willing to suppose that
Jesus may be the Christ, but, We know that he is indeed the Christ. (3.) In the
ground of it, which was a kind of spiritual sensation and experience: Now we believe,
not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves. They had before
believed for her saying, and it was well, it was a good step; but now they find further
and much firmer footing for their faith: “Now we believe because we have heard him
ourselves, and have heard such excellent and divine truths, accompanied with such
commanding power and evidence, that we are abundantly satisfied and assured that
this is the Christ.” This is like what the queen of Sheba said of Solomon (1Ki_10:6,
1Ki_10:7): The one half was not told me. The Samaritans, who believed for the
woman's saying, now gained further light; for to him that hath shall be given; he that
is faithful in a little shall be trusted with more. In this instance we may see how faith
comes by hearing. [1.] Faith comes to the birth by hearing the report of men. These
Samaritans, for the sake of the woman's saying, believed so far as to come and see, to
come and make trial. Thus the instructions of parents and preachers, and the
testimony of the church and our experienced neighbours, recommend the doctrine of
Christ to our acquaintance, and incline us to entertain it as highly probable. But, [2.]
Faith comes to its growth, strength, and maturity, by hearing the testimony of Christ
himself; and this goes further, and recommends his doctrine to our acceptance, and
obliges us to believe it as undoubtedly certain. We were induced to look into the
scriptures by the saying of those who told us that in them they had found eternal life;
but when we ourselves have found it in them too, have experienced the enlightening,
convincing, regenerating, sanctifying, comforting, power of the word, now we
believe, not for their saying, but because we have searched them ourselves: and our
faith stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, 1Co_2:5; 1Jo_5:9,
1Jo_5:10.
CALVIN, "41.And many more believed. From what followed it is evident that
Christ’s compliance with their wish was highly proper; for we see how much
fruit was reaped from the two days which he granted to their request. By this
example we are taught that we ought never to refrain from working, when we
have it in our power to advance the kingdom of God; and if we are afraid that
our readiness in complying may be liable to unfavorable reports, or may often
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![experience: Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him
ourselves. They had before believed for her saying, and it was well, it was a good
step; but now they find further and much firmer footing for their faith: “Now we
believe because we have heard him ourselves, and have heard such excellent and
divine truths, accompanied with such commanding power and evidence, that we are
abundantly satisfied and assured that this is the Christ.” This is like what the queen
of Sheba said of Solomon (1Ki_10:6, 1Ki_10:7): The one half was not told me. The
Samaritans, who believed for the woman's saying, now gained further light; for to
him that hath shall be given; he that is faithful in a little shall be trusted with more.
In this instance we may see how faith comes by hearing. [1.] Faith comes to the birth
by hearing the report of men. These Samaritans, for the sake of the woman's saying,
believed so far as to come and see, to come and make trial. Thus the instructions of
parents and preachers, and the testimony of the church and our experienced
neighbours, recommend the doctrine of Christ to our acquaintance, and incline us to
entertain it as highly probable. But, [2.] Faith comes to its growth, strength, and
maturity, by hearing the testimony of Christ himself; and this goes further, and
recommends his doctrine to our acceptance, and obliges us to believe it as
undoubtedly certain. We were induced to look into the scriptures by the saying of
those who told us that in them they had found eternal life; but when we ourselves
have found it in them too, have experienced the enlightening, convincing,
regenerating, sanctifying, comforting, power of the word, now we believe, not for
their saying, but because we have searched them ourselves: and our faith stands not
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, 1Co_2:5; 1Jo_5:9, 1Jo_5:10.
CALVIN, "42.On account of thy speech. Though I have followed Erasmus in
rendering this word by oratio, (speech,)because loquela, which the ancient
interpreter uses, is a barbarous term; yet I wish to warn my readers that the
Greek word λαλία has the same meaning with the Latin word loquentia, that is,
talk, ortalkativeness; and the Samaritans appear to boast that they have now a
stronger foundation than a woman’s tongue, which is, for the most part, light
and trivial.
We believe. This expresses more fully the nature of their faith, that it has been
drawn from the word of God itself, so that they can boast of having the Son of
God as their Teacher; as, indeed, it is on his authority alone that we can safely
rely. True, indeed, he is not now visibly present, so as to speak to us mouth to
mouth; but, by whomsoever we happen to hear him, our faith cannot rest on any
other than on himself. And from no other source proceeds that knowledge which
is likewise mentioned; for the speech which comes from the mouth of a mortal
man may indeed fill and satisfy the ears, but will never confirm the soul in calm
confidence of salvation, so that he who has heard may be entitled to boast that he
knows In faith, therefore, the first thing necessary is, to know that it is Christ
who speaks by his ministers; and the next is, to give him the honor which is due;
that is, not to doubt that he is true and faithful, so that, relying on so undoubted
a guarantee, we may rely safely on his doctrine.
Again, when they affirm that Jesus isthe Christ andthe Savior of the world, they
undoubtedly have learned this from hearing him. Hence we infer that, withintwo
days, the sum of the Gospel was more plainly taught by Christ than he had
hitherto taught it in Jerusalem. And Christ testified that the salvation, which he
had brought, was common to the whole world, that they might understand more
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![HENRY, "I. Christ's coming into Galilee, Joh_4:43. Though he was as welcome
among the Samaritans as he could be any where, and had better success, yet after
two days he left them, not so much because they were Samaritans, and he would not
confirm those in their prejudices against him who said, He is a Samaritan (Joh_
8:48), but because he must preach to other cities, Luk_4:43. He went into Galilee,
for there he spent much of his time.
JAMIESON, "Joh_4:43-54. Second Galilean miracle - Healing of the courtier’s
son.
after two days — literally, the two days of His stay at Sychar.
COFFMAN, "JESUS ENTERED GALILEE AGAIN
After two days ... These were the two days just spent in Sychar.
A prophet hath no honor in his own country ... The injection of this proverb in
such a manner as to make it a reason for Jesus' going into Galilee (which was his
own country) presents a problem that has been solved in various ways. Alford
thought that Jesus intended to bring about a decline in his popularity, that being
exactly why he had stopped baptizing and headed north. If that indeed was the
Master's purpose, in order to avoid a premature crisis with the Pharisees, then
the proverb fits. And yet the very next verse states that the Galileans received
him, having seen the miracles done in Jerusalem when they went up to the feast.
Meyer explained that Jesus' mention of the proverb might have been intended to
suggest somewhat indirectly the reason of his going to Galilee. Thus:
If a prophet, as Jesus himself testified, is without honor in his own country, he
must earn it in another. And this Jesus had done in Jerusalem. He now brought
with him the honor of a prophet from a distance. Hence too, he had found
acceptance with the Galileans because they had seen his miracles in Jerusalem
(John 2:23).[8]
This interpreter prefers the view of Alford because the degree of acceptance in
Galilee was not sufficient to thwart the Lord's purpose of achieving a decrease in
his popularity. True, the next verse mentions the Galileans' reception of him, but
it left much to be desired. Jesus said (John 4:48), "Except ye see signs and
wonders, ye will in no wise believe."
ENDNOTE:
[8] Alvah Hovey, Commentary on John (Philadelphia: The American Baptist
Publication Society, 1885), p. 125.
PETT, "Verses 43-45
‘And after two days he went out from there to Galilee, for Jesus himself testified
that a prophet has no honour in his own country. So when he came into Galilee
the Galileans received him having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at
the feast. For they also went to the feast.’
After His successful ministry Jesus departed for Galilee, for ‘Jesus himself
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Uploaded byGLENN PEASE
John 4 commentary
This commentary discusses Jesus' growing influence and the concerns of the Pharisees regarding his success in making and baptizing more disciples than John the Baptist. Fearing conflict and persecution, Jesus left Judea for Galilee, where he could continue his ministry with less opposition. The text highlights the nature of discipleship and baptism, emphasizing that true baptism should follow the making of disciples, and underscores the challenges faced by Jesus from religious authorities.
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John 4 commentary
- 1. JOHN 4 COMMENTARY EDITEDBY GLENN PEASE Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman 1 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— BARNES,"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 Sanhedrin or those who were in authority. They claimed the authority to regulate the rites and ceremonies of religion, and hence they supposed they had a right to inquire into the conduct of both John and our Lord. They had on a former occasion sent to inquire of John to know by what authority he had introduced such a rite into the religion of the Jewish people. See the notes at Joh_1:25. More disciples than John - Though many of the Pharisees came to his baptism Matt. 3, yet those who were in authority were displeased with the success of John, Joh_1:25. The reasons of this were, probably, the severity and justness of his reproofs Mat_3:7, and the fact that by drawing many after him he weakened their authority and influence. As they were displeased with John, so they were with Jesus, who was doing the same thing on a larger scale - not only making disciples, but baptizing also without their authority, and drawing away the people after him. CLARKE,"Jesus made and baptized, etc. - These seem to be quoted as the very words which were brought to the Pharisees; and, from our Lord’s conduct after this information, we may take it for granted that they were so irritated that they were determined to seek an occasion to take away his life; in consequence of which, leaving Judea, he withdrew into Galilee. GILL, "When therefore our Lord knew,.... Or Jesus, as some copies, as the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read; who is Lord of all, Lord of lords, the one and only Lord of saints: and who knew all things as God; every man, and what is in man; who would believe in him, and who not, and who would betray him; he knew his adversaries, what they thought, said, or did; what was told them, and how it operated in them; and what were the secret motions of their hearts, and 1
- 2. their most privatecounsels and designs; for this is not merely to be understood of his knowledge as man, which he might have by private intelligence from others; though what is here said, might be true also in this sense: how the Pharisees; the inveterate and implacable enemies of Christ, and particularly those that dwelt at Jerusalem, and were of the great sanhedrim, or council of the nation: had heard; either by their spies, which they constantly kept about Christ; or by John s disciples, who, through envy, might apply to the sanhedrim, to put a stop to, or check upon the baptism and ministry of Christ; or by common fame: that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John; see Joh_3:26. The method Christ took was, he first made men disciples, and then baptized them; and the same he directed his apostles to, saying, "go and teach", or "disciple all nations, baptizing them", &c. And this should be a rule of conduct to us, to baptize only such, who appear to have been made the disciples of Christ: now a disciple of Christ, is one that has learned of Christ, and has learned Christ; the way of life, righteousness, and salvation by him; who is a believer in him; who has seen a beauty, glory, fulness, and suitableness in him, as a Saviour; and is come to him, and has ventured on him, and trusted in him; and who has been taught to deny himself, sinful self, and righteous self; to part with his sins, and to renounce his own righteousness, and all dependence on it, for justification before God; and who has been made willing to leave and forsake all worldly things and advantages, and to bear all reproach, indignities, and persecutions, for Christ's sake: and such who are Christ's disciples in this sense, are the only proper persons to be baptized; these are they, that ought to put on this badge, and wear Christ's livery: nor can baptism be of any use to any others; for such only are baptized into him, and into his death, and partake of the saving benefits of it; for whatsoever is not of faith, is sin; and without it also, it is impossible to please God. HENRY 1-3, "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. I. That he made disciples; he prevailed with many to embrace his doctrine, and to follow him as a teacher come from God. His ministry was successful, notwithstanding the opposition it met with (Psa_110:2, Psa_110:3); mathētas poiei - it signifies the same with mathēteuō - to disciples. Compare Gen_12:5. The souls which they had gotten, which they had made (so the word is), which they had made proselytes. Note, It is Christ's prerogative to make disciples, first to bring them to his foot, and then to form and fashion them to his will. Fit, non nascitur, Christianus - The Christian is made such, not born such. Tertullian. II. That he baptized those whom he made disciples, admitted them by washing them with water; not himself, but by the ministry of his disciples, Joh_4:2. 1. Because he would put a difference between his baptism and that of John, who baptized all himself; for he baptized as a servant, Christ as a master. 2. He would apply himself more to preaching work, which was the more excellent, 1Co_1:17. 3. He would put honour upon his disciples, by empowering and employing them to do it; and so train them up to further services. 4. If he had baptized some himself, they would have been apt to value themselves upon that, and despise others, which he 2
- 3. would prevent, asPaul, 1Co_1:13, 1Co_1:14. 5. He would reserve himself for the honour of baptizing with the Holy Ghost, Act_1:5. 6. He would teach us that the efficacy of the sacraments depends not on any virtue in the hand that administers them, as also that what is done by his ministers, according to his direction, he owns as done by himself. III. That he made and baptized more disciples than John; not only more than John did at this time, but more than he had done at any time. Christ's converse was more winning than John's. His miracles were convincing, and the cures he wrought gratis very inviting. IV. That the Pharisees were informed of this; they heard what multitudes he baptized, for they had, from his first appearing, a jealous eye upon him, and wanted not spies to give them notice concerning him. Observe, 1. When the Pharisees thought they had got rid of John (for he was by this time imprisoned), and were pleasing themselves with that, Jesus appears, who was a greater vexation to them than ever John had been. The witnesses will rise again. 2. That which grieved them was that Christ made so many disciples. The success of the gospel exasperates its enemies, and it is a good sign that it is getting ground when the powers of darkness are enraged against it. V. That our Lord Jesus knew very well what informations were given in against him to the Pharisees. It is probable the informers were willing to have their names concealed, and the Pharisees loth to have their designs known; but none can dig so keep as to hide their counsels from the Lord (Isa_29:15), and Christ is here called the Lord. He knew what was told the Pharisees, and how much, it is likely, it exceeded the truth; for it is not likely that Jesus had yet baptized more than John; but so the thing was represented, to make him appear the more formidable; see 2Ki_6:12. VI. That hereupon our Lord Jesus left Judea and departed again to go to Galilee. 1. He left Judea, because he was likely to be persecuted there even to the death; such was the rage of the Pharisees against him, and such their impious policy to devour the man-child in his infancy. To escape their designs, Christ quitted the country, and went where what he did would be less provoking than just under their eye. For, (1.) His hour was not yet come (Joh_7:30), the time fixed in the counsels of God, and the Old Testament prophecies, for Messiah's being cut off. He had not finished his testimony, and therefore would not surrender or expose himself. (2.) The disciples he had gathered in Judea were not able to bear hardships, and therefore he would not expose them. (3.) Hereby he gave an example to his own rule: When they persecute you in one city, flee to another. We are not called to suffer, while we may avoid it without sin; and therefore, though we may not, for our own preservation, change our religion, yet we may change our place. Christ secured himself, not by a miracle, but in a way common to men, for the direction and encouragement of his suffering people. 2. He departed into Galilee, because he had work to do there, and many friends and fewer enemies. He went to Galilee now, (1.) Because John's ministry had now made way for him there; for Galilee, which was under Herod's jurisdiction, was the last scene of John's baptism. (2.) Because John's imprisonment had now made room for him there. That light being now put under a bushel, the minds of people would not be divided between him and Christ. Thus both the liberties and restraints of good ministers are for the furtherance of the gospel, Phi_1:12. But to what purpose does he go into Galilee for safety? Herod, the persecutor of John, will never be the protector of Jesus. Chemnitius here notes, Pii in hâc vitâ quos fugiant habent; ad quos vero fugiant ut in tuto sint non habent, nisi ad te, Deus, qui solus regugium nostrum es - The pious have those, in this life, to whom they can fly; but they have none to fly to, who can afford them refuge, except thee, O God. 3
- 4. COKE, "John 4:1-3.When therefore the Lord knew, &c.— The Baptist's imprisonment happened while our Lord was in Judea (see Mark 6:17., &c.) where he continued till the fame of his doctrine, disciples, and miracles, reaching Jerusalem, gave umbrage to the Pharisees. These men, claiming it as the privilege of their sect to direct the consciences of the people, were enraged to find numbers of them acknowledging as the Messiah one whose birth and fortune so little suited the notions which they had taught concerning the great deliverer of the nation; wherefore, to shun the effects of their malice, Jesus, who knew all that passed, retired with his disciples into Galilee. His presence it seems was necessary there, as the ministry of his forerunner in that country was now brought to a period. The evangelist observes, John 4:2 that Jesus himself baptized not, which perhaps he omitted to do, because he did not choose to baptize in his own name, and because it was of more importance to preach than to baptize. (1 Corinthians 1:17.) Besides, it might have given those who were baptized by him, occasion to value themselves above others; as happened in the church of Corinth, where the brethren valued themselves upon the character of the person who had baptized them. Perhaps too this might be partly to avoid importunate inquiries whether he was the Messiah, and partly to prevent those prejudices which might have arisen against the more perfect form of baptism afterwards instituted, if any had received this less perfect baptism from Christ himself. Indeed the baptism properly his, was that of the Holy Ghost. CALVIN, "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. The Evangelist thus informs us that Christ did not come into Samaria with the intention of dwelling there, but because he had to pass through it on his way from Judea to Galilee; for until, by his resurrection, he should open up the way for the gospel, it was necessary that he should be employed in gathering the sheep of Israel to which he had been sent. That he now favored the Samaritans with his instruction was an extraordinary and almost accidental occurrence, if we may be allowed the expression. But why does he seek the retirement and lurking-places of Galilee, as if he were unwilling to be known, which was highly to be desired? I reply, he knew well the proper way to act, and made such use of the opportunities of usefulness that he did not allow a moment to be lost. He wished, therefore, to pursue his course with regularity, and in such a manner as he judged to be proper. Hence too we hear that our minds ought to be regulated in such a manner that, on the one hand, we may not be deterred by any fear from going forward in duty; and that, on the other hand, we may not too rashly throw ourselves into dangers. All who are earnestly desirous to pursue their calling will be careful to maintain this moderation, for which they will steadily follow the Lord even through the midst of deaths; they will not rush into them heedlessly, but will walk in their ways. Let us, therefore, remember that we must not advance farther than our calling demands. 4
- 5. That the Phariseeshad heard. The Pharisees alone are mentioned by the Evangelist as having been hostile to Christ; not that the other scribes were friendly, but because this sect was at that time in the ascendant, and because they were filled with rage under the pretense of godly zeal. It may be asked, Did they envy Christ that he had more disciples, because their stronger attachment to John led them to promote his honor and reputation? The meaning of the words is different; for though they were formerly dissatisfied at finding that John collected disciples, their minds were still more exasperated, when they saw that a still greater number of disciples came to Christ. From the time that John avowed himself to be nothing more than the herald of the Son of God, they began to flock to Christ in greater crowds, and already he had almost completed his ministry. Thus he gradually resigned to Christ the office of teaching and baptizing. COFFMAN, "This chapter relates the journey of the Lord and his disciples through Samaria (John 4:1-5), recounts the interview with the woman at the well (John 4:6-26), gives the conversation with the disciples upon their return (John 4:27-38), sums up the results of Christ's teaching in Samaria (John 4:38-42), narrates the continuation to Galilee, and records the performance of the second of the seven great signs (John 4:46-54). When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John. (John 4:1) The disciples of John the Baptist were already jealous of Jesus' success; and the Lord knew that the mighty acclaim hailing his efforts, if uninterrupted, would shortly bring upon him a premature confrontation with the Pharisees; and, in order to avoid it, he promptly switched the scene of his labors. The inference here is that if relatively friendly persons such as John's disciples were actively jealous of Jesus, the far more antagonistic Pharisees would be likely to take drastic action. Not long after these events, the Pharisees accomplished the destruction of John the Baptist; and, although their hand is hidden in the sacred account of his martyrdom, it is very likely that those wily hypocrites of the priestly hierarchy had maneuvered John into making the comment on Herod's unlawful marriage which resulted in his execution. The Lord, in time, planned to die for the salvation of all men; but, at that particular time, his hour had not yet come. PINK 1-6, "We begin with the usual Analysis of the passage that is to be before us. In it we see:— 1. The Lord’s knowledge of the Pharisees’ jealousy, verse 1. 2. The disciples of the Lord baptizing, verse 2. 3. The Lord leaving Judea and departing into Galilee, verse 3. 4. The constraint of Divine grace, verse 4. 5. The Journey to Sychar, verse 5. 6. The Savior’s weariness, verse 6. 7. The Savior resting, verse 6. Like the first three chapters of John, this fourth also furnishes us with another aspect of the deplorable spiritual grate that Israel was in at the time the Lord was here upon earth. It is remarkable how complete is the picture supplied us. 5
- 6. Each separate scenegives some distinctive feature. Thus far we have seen, First, a blinded Priesthood (John 1:19, 26); Second, a joyless Nation (John 2:3); Third, a desecrated Temple (John 2:14); Fourth, a spiritually-dead Sanhedrin (John 3:7); Fifth, the person of Christ despised (John 3:26) and His testimony rejected (John 3:32). Now we are shown the heartless indifference of Israel toward their semi-heathen neighbors. Israel had been highly privileged of God, and not the least of their blessings was a written revelation from Him. But though favored with much light themselves, they were selfishly indifferent toward those who were in darkness. Right within the bounds of their own land (for Samaria was a part of it), dwelt those who were semi-heathen, yet had the Jews no love for their souls and no concern for their spiritual welfare. Listen to the tragic plaint of one of their number: "The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4:9). The heartless indifference of the favored people of God toward the Samaritans is intimated further in the surprise shown by the disciples when they returned and found the Savior talking with this Samaritan woman (Luke 4:27). It was, no doubt, in order to rebuke them that the Savior said, "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto you. Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest" (John 4:35). Thus, this heartless neglect of the Samaritans gives us another glimpse of Israel’s state at that time. But not only does John 4 give us another picture of the miserable condition the Jews were in, but, once more, it contains a prophetic foreshadowing of the future. In the closing verses of the previous chapter we are shown the person of Christ despised (John 3:26) and His testimony rejected (John 3:32). This but anticipated the final rejection of Christ by the Nation as a whole. Now in marvelous consonance with this, the very next thing we see is Christ turning to the Gentiles! The order here, as everywhere, is perfect. As we all know, this is exactly what happened in God’s dispensational dealings with the earth. No sooner did the old dispensation end, end with Israel’s rejection of Christ, than God in mercy turned to the Gentiles (Rom. 11, etc.). This is intimated in our lesson, first, by the statement made in verse 3: the Lord Jesus "left Judea, and departed again into Galilee"—cf. Matthew 4:15—"Galilee of the Gentiles!" Second, in the fact that here the Lord Jesus is seen occupied not with the Jews but with the Samaritans. And third, by what we read of in verse 40—"and He abode there two days." How exceedingly striking is this! "He abode there two days." Remember that word in 2 Peter 3:8, which declares "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." Two "days," then or 2,000 years is the length of time that Christ was to be away from the Jews in Judea. How perfect and accurate is this picture! At the close of the seventh chapter we called attention to the importance of noticing the relation of one passage to another. This is a principle which has been sadly neglected by Bible students. Not only should we be diligent to examine each verse in the light of its context, but also each passage as a whole should be studied in its relation to the complete passage which precedes and follows it. By attending to this it will often be found that the Holy Spirit has placed in juxtaposition two incidents—miracles, parables, conversations, as the case may be—in order to point a contrast, or series of contrasts between them. Such we saw was plainly the case with what we have in the first and second halves of John 6
- 7. 2, where asevenfold contrast is to be noted. Another striking example is before us here. There is a manifest antithesis between what we have in the first half of John 3 and the first half of John 4. As we study John 3 and 4 together, we discover a series of striking contrasts. Let us look at them. First, in John 3 we have "a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus:" in John 4 it is an unnamed woman that is before us. Second, the former was a man of rank, a "Master of Israel:" the latter was a woman of the lower ranks, for she came "to draw water." Third, the one was a favored Jew: the other was a despised Samaritan. Fourth, Nicodemus was a man of high reputation, a member of the Sanhedrin: the one with whom Christ dealt in John 4 was a woman of dissolute habits. Fifth, Nicodemus sought out Christ: here Christ seeks out the woman. Sixth, Nicodemus came to Christ "by night:" Christ speaks to the woman at mid-day. Seventh, to the self-righteous Pharisee Christ said, "Ye must be born again:" to this sinner of the Gentiles He tells of "the gift of God." How much we miss by failing to compare and contrast what the Holy Spirit has placed side by side in this wondrous revelation from God! May the Lord stir up all of us to more diligent study of His Word. "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 Judea, and departed again into Galilee" (John 4:1-3). Even at that early date in Christ’s public ministry the Pharisees had begun to manifest their opposition against Him. But this is not difficult to understand, for the teaching of the Lord Jesus openly condemned their hypocritical practices. Morever, their jealousy was aroused at this new movement, of which He was regarded as the head. The Baptist was the son of a priest that ministered in the Temple, and this would entitle him to some consideration. But here was a man that was regarded as being no more than the son of a carpenter, and who was He to form a following! And, too, He was of Nazareth, now working in Judea! And "out of Nazareth," they taught, "could arise no prophet" (John 7:52). A spirit of rivalry was at work, and the report was being circulated that "Jesus was making and baptizing more diciples than John." Every one knew what crowds had flocked to the preaching and baptizing of that Elijah-like prophet, crying in the wilderness. Was it to be suffered then, that this One of poor parentage should eclipse the Baptist in fame? Surely not: that could not be allowed at any cost. "When therefore the Lord knew... he left Judea." What a word is this! There is no hint of any one having informed Him. That was not necessary. The One who had humbled Himself to the infinite stoop of taking upon Him the form of a servant, was none other than "the Lord." This One whom the Pharisees contemptuously regarded as the Nazarene-carpenter, was none other than the Christ of God, in whom "dwelt all the fulness of the God-head bodily." "The Lord knew," at once displays His omniscience. Nothing could be, and nothing can be, hidden from Him. "The Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John" (John 1:1). It is important to observe the order of the two verbs here for they tell us who, alone, are eligible for baptism. When two verbs are linked together thus, the first denotes the action, and the second how the action was performed. For example; suppose I said, "He poured oil on him and anointed him." You could not say, "He anointed him and poured oil on him," unless the anointing and the pouring were two different acts. Therefore, the fact that 7
- 8. "baptizing" here comesafter, and not before, the verb "made," proves that they were disciples first, and were "baptized" subsequently. It is one of many passages in the New Testament which, uniformly, teaches that only one who is already a believer in Christ is qualified for baptism. "Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples" (John 1:2). This is but a parenthetical statement, nevertheless, it is of considerable importance. It has been well said by the late Bishop Ryle, "This verse intimates that baptism is neither the first nor the chief thing about Christianity. We frequently read of Christ preaching and praying, once of His administering the Lord’s Supper, but ‘baptize’ He did not—as though to show us that baptism has nothing to do with salvation." "He left Judea, and departed again into Galilee" (John 1:3). This is exceedingly solemn. To cherish the spirit of jealousy and rivalry is to drive away the Lord. When the Savior sent forth the twelve on their mission to the cities of Israel, He bade them "And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them" (Luke 9:5). And again, when sending forth the seventy, He said to them, "But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you" (Luke 10:10, 11) But before He did this, He first set them an example. If "no man" would receive His testimony in Judea (John 3:3), then He would leave for other parts. He would not stay to cast pearls before swine. No doubt the preaching of the Lord Jesus in Judea, and especially the circumstance of baptizing many of the people (through the instrumentality of His disciples) had greatly angered the Jewish rulers, and probably they had already taken steps to prevent the progress of this One whose teaching so evidently conflicted with theirs, and whose growing influence over the minds of the people threatened to weaken their authority. Our Lord knew this, and because His hour was not yet come, and much was to be done by Him before He finished the work the Father had given Him to do, instead of waiting until He should be driven out of Judea, He left that district of His own accord, and retired into Galilee, which, being remote from Jerusalem, and under the governorship of Herod, was more or less outside of their jurisdiction and less subject to the power of the Sanhedrin. "In going from Judea into Galilee, our Lord’s most direct route lay through Samaria, which was a district of Palestine, bounded on the south by Judea, and on the north by Galilee, on the west by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the east by the river Jordan. It was possible to go from Judea into Galilee by crossing the Jordan, and passing through Perea; but this was a very circuitous route, though some of the stricter Jews seemed to have been in the habit of taking it, to avoid intercourse with the Samaritans. The direct route lay through Samaria" (Dr. J. Brown). Samaria was a province allotted to Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh in the days of Joshua (see Joshua 16 and 17, and particularly Joshua 17:7). After the revolt of the ten tribes, the inhabitants of this district had generally ceased to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem, and following first the wicked idolatry introduced by Jeroboam the son of Nebat (see 1 Kings 12:25-33, and note "Shechem" in verse 25), they fell an easy prey to the Gentile corruptions 8
- 9. introduced by hissuccessors. After the great body of the ten tribes had been carried away captives, and their district left almost without inhabitant, the king of Assyria planted in their province a colony of various nations (2 Kings 17:24) who, mingling with the few original inhabitants of the land, formed unto themselves a strange medley of a religion, by combining the principles and rights of Judaism with those of oriental idolaters. As the inspired historian tells us, they "feared the Lord, and made unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places, which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations who carried them away from thence... So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day" (2 Kings 17:32, 33, 41). Thus, the original dwellers in Samaria were, to a great extent, heathenized. At the time of the return of the remnant of Israel from the Babylonian captivity, the Samaritans offered to enter into an alliance with the Jews (Ezra 4:1, 2), and on being refused (Ezra 4:3) they became the bitter enemies of the Jews and their most active opposers in the rebuilding of their Temple and capital (see Nehemiah 4 and 6). According to Josephus (see his "Antiquities" XI:7, 2; XIII:9), at a later date Manasseh, the son of Jaddua the high priest, contrary to the law, married the daughter of Sanballat, the chief of the Samaritans, and when the Jews insisted that he should either repudiate his wife, or renounce his sacred office, he fled to his father-in-law, who gave him an honorable reception, and by the permission of Alexander the Great built a temple to Jehovah on Mount Gerizim, in which Manasseh and his posterity officiated as high priests, in rivalry to the Divinely instituted ritual at Jerusalem—see also 1 Maccabees 3:10. The Samaritans received as Divine the five books of Moses, and probably, also, some at least of the prophetic oracles; but they did not acknowledge the authenticity of the historical books written by the Jews, who they regarded as their worst enemies. The natural consequence of all these circumstances was, that the Jews and Samaritans regarded each other with much more rancorous dislike than either of them did the idolatrous nations by which they were surrounded. Hence when his enemies said unto Christ, "Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan?" (John 8:48), we can understand better the venom behind the insult. Hence, too, it makes us bow our hearts in wonderment to find the Lord Jesus representing Himself as "a certain Samaritan" (Luke 10:33) as we learn of the depths of ignominy into which He had descended and how He became the despised and hated One in order to secure our salvation. "And he must needs go through Samaria" (John 4:4). The needs-be was a moral and not a geographical one. There were two routes from Judea to Galilee. The more direct was through Samaria. The other, though more circuitous, led through Perea and Decapolis to the southern shores of Gennesaret. The former was the regular route. But the reason why the Lord "must" go through Samaria, was because of a Divine needs-be. From all eternity it had been ordained that He should go through Samaria. Some of God’s elect were there, and these must be sought and found—cf. the Lord’s own words in John 10:16, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring." We shall never appreciate the Gospel until we go back to the basic truth of predestination, which puts God first, which makes the choice His before it is ours, and which, in due time, brings His grace to bear upon us with invincible power. 9
- 10. Election is ofpersons—predestination is of things. All the great movements of the universe are regulated by God’s will,—But if the great movements, then the small movements for the great depend upon the small. It was predestinated that our Savior should go through Samaria, because there was a chosen sinner there. And she was a chosen sinner, for if not she never would have chosen God, or known Jesus Christ. The whole machinery of grace was therefore set in motion in the direction of one poor lost sinner, that she might be restored to her Savior and to her God. That is what we wish to see in our own experience—to look back of ante-mundane ages, and date our eternal life from the covenant. To say: Father ‘twas Thy love that knew us Earth’s foundation long before That same love to Jesus drew us By its sweet constraining power, And will keep us Safely now and ever more (Dr. G. S. Bishop). It is not difficult to understand why the Lord must needs go through Samaria. There were those in Samaria whom the Father had given Him from all eternity, and these He "must" save. And, dear reader, if you are one of God’s elect there is a needs be put on the Lord Jesus Christ to save you. If you are yet in your sins, you will not always be. For years you may have been fleeing from Christ; but when His time comes He will overtake you. However you may kick against the pricks and contend against Him; however deeply you may sin, as the woman in our passage, He will most surely overtake and conquer you. Yea, even now He is on the way! "Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, 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" (John 4:5, 6). How truly human was the Lord Jesus! He would in all points be like unto His brethren, so He did not exempt Himself from fatigue. How fully then can He sympathize with the laborer today who is worn out with toil! To the Savior, a long walk brought weariness, and weariness needed rest, and to rest He "sat thus" on the well. He was, apparently, more worn than the disciples, for they continued on into the village to buy food. But He was under a greater mental strain than they. He had a weariness they knew nothing about. "Of the Son of man being in heaven, whilst upon earth, we have learnt in the previous chapter (John 3:13). Now, though Divine, and therefore in heaven, He was truly a man upon earth. This mystery of His person none of us can fathom (Matthew 11:27). Nor are we asked to. We have to believe it. ‘Perfect God, and perfect Man: of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting’—such has been the language of confession of the western part of Christendom for many an age. Now there are some conditions incident to humanity. There are others, in addition, connected with fallen humanity, such as liability to sickness, to disease, and even to death. To these last, of course, the holy Son of God was not, though a man, subject; yet, as being a man He was able to die, and willingly gave up His life for His people. But to sickness and bodily decay, as the Holy One, in whom was no sin, He was not, and could not have been, subject. On the other hand, from conditions incident to humanity, as hunger, thirst and weariness, He was 10
- 11. not exempt. Inthe wilderness He was hungry. On the Cross He was thirsty. Here at the well He was weary. Into what circumstances, then, did He voluntarily come, and that in obedience and love to His Father, and in love to His own sheep! He, by whom the worlds were made, was sitting a weary man by Jacob’s well, and there at first alone. One word from the throne, and the whole angelic host would have flown to minister to Him. But that word was not spoken. For God’s purpose of grace to souls in Samaria was to be worked out at Sychar" (C. E. Stuart). "Jesus therefore being wearied." This brings out the reality of Christ’s humanity. He was just as really and truly Man as He was God. In stressing His absolute Deity, we are in danger of overlooking the reality of His humanity. The Lord Jesus was perfect Man: He ate and drank, labored and slept, prayed and wept. And what a precious thought is there here for Christian workers: the Savior knew what it was to be "weary"—not weary of well doing, but weary in well doing. But it is blessed to see how the Holy Spirit has guarded the glory of Christ’s person here. Side by side with this word upon His humanity, we are shown His Divine omniscience—revealed in His perfect knowledge of the history of the woman with whom He dealt at the well. This principle meets us at every turn in the Gospels. At His birth we behold His humiliation—lying in a manger—but we discover His Divine glory, too, for the angels were sent to announce the One born as "Christ the Lord." See Him asleep in the boat, exhausted from the toil of a heavy day’s work: but mark the sequel, as He rises and stills the storm. Behold Him by the grave of Lazarus, groaning in spirit and weeping: and then bow before Him in worship as He, by a word from His mouth, brings the dead to life. So it is here: "wearied with his journey," and yet displaying His Deity by reading the secrets of this woman’s heart. "Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well" (John 4:6). This illustrates another important principle, the application of which is often a great aid to the understanding of a passage, namely, noticing the place where a particular incident occurred. There is a profound significance to everything in Scripture, even the seemingly unimportant details. The character of the place frequently supplies the key to the meaning of what is recorded as occurring there. For instance: the children of Israel were in Egypt when the Lord delivered them. Egypt, then, symbolizes the place where we were when God apprehended us, namely, the world in which we groaned under the merciless taskmasters that dominated us. John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, for it symbolized the spiritual barrenness and desolation of Israel at that time. When the Lord Jesus enunciated the laws of His kingdom, He went up into a mountain—a place of elevation, symbolic of His throne of authority from which He delivered His manifesto. When He gave the parables He "sat by the sea side" (cf. Isaiah 17:12, 13; Ezekiel 26:3; Daniel 7:2; Revelation 17:5, for the "sea" in its symbolic significance). The first four parables of Matthew 13 pertain to the public profession of Christianity, hence these were given in the hearing of the "great multitudes;" but the next two concerned only the Lord’s own people, so we read "Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him" (Matthew 13:36). When the Lord portrayed the poor sinner as the one to whom He came to minister (under the figure of the good "Samaritan") He represented him as a certain man who "went down from Jerusalem [foundation of peace] to Jericho [the city of the curse]." So, again, in Luke 15 the 11
- 12. prodigal son isseen in "the far country" (away from the father), and there feeding on the husks which the swine did eat—another picture giving us the place where the sinner is morally. The above examples, selected almost at random, illustrate the importance of observing the place where each event happened, and the position occupied by the chief actors. This same principle receives striking exemplification in the passage before us. The meeting between the Savior and this Samaritan adulteress occurred at Sychar which means "purchased"—so was the "gift of God" that He proffered to her. And, as He revealed to her her soul’s deep need He sat "on the well." The "well" was a figure of Himself, and its water was the emblem of the salvation that is to be found in Him. One authority for these statements is Isaiah 12:3, "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells (Heb. ‘the well’) of salvation." What a remarkable statement is this! It is the key to the typical significance of many an Old Testament passage. The "well" of the Old Testament Scriptures foreshadowed Christ and what is to be found in Him. We shall now turn to some of the Old Testament passages where the "well" is mentioned, and discover how remarkably and blessedly they foreshadowed this One who gave the water of life to the woman of Samaria. 1. The first time the "well" is mentioned in Scripture, is in Genesis 16:6, 7, 13, 14. "But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face. And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness... And she called the name of the Lord which spake unto her, Thou God seest me... for she said, Have I also here looked after Him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called, The well of him that liveth and seeth me." Note the following points: First, the "well" (the "fountain of water" of verse 7 is termed the "well" in verse 14) was the place where the angel of the Lord found this poor outcast. So Christ is where God meets the sinner, for "no man cometh unto the Father" but by Him. Second, this well was located in the wilderness—fit symbol of this world. The "wilderness" well depicts the state of heart we were in when we first met Christ! Third, the "well" was the place where God was revealed. Hagar, therefore, termed it, "the well of him that liveth and seeth me." So, again, Christ is the Revealer of God—"He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." 2. In Genesis 21:14-19 we read, "And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrugs. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bow shot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is . . . and God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water." How inexpressibly blessed is this in its typical suggestiveness! Notice the following points: First, we have before us again an outcast, and one whose water was spent, for she had but "a bottle:" like the prodigal son, she "began to be in want." Second, she had cast away her child to die, and there she sat weeping. What a picture of the poor, desolate, despairing sinner! Third, God "opened her eyes," and what for? In order that she might see the "well" that 12
- 13. had been thereall the time! Ah, was it not so with thee, dear Christian reader? It was not thine own mental acumen which discovered that One of whom the "well" here speaks. It was God who opened thine eyes to see Him as the One who alone could meet thy desperate and deep need. What do we read in Proverbs 20:12—"The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both of them." And again in John 5:20 we are told, "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that (in order that) we may know Him that is true." 3. In this same chapter the "well" is mentioned again in another connection: "And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. Wherefore he called that place the well of the oath; because there they sware both of them" (Gen. 21:27-31). Here we find the "well" was the place of the "covenant" (verse 27), which was ratified by an "oath" (verse 31). And what do we read in Hebrews 7:20-22?—"And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest: (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec:) By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament [covenant]." 4. In Genesis 24:10-12 we read, "And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day." Not only is each typical picture perfect, but the order in which they are found evidences Divine design. In the first scriptures we have glanced at, that which is connected with the "well" suggested the meeting between the Savior and the sinner. And in the last passage, the covenant and the oath speak of that which tells of the sure ground upon which our eternal preservation rests. And from that point, every reference to the "well" has that connected with it which is appropriate of believers only. In the last quoted passage, the "well" is the place of prayer: so, the believer asks the Father in the name of Christ, of whom the "well" speaks. 5. In Genesis 29:1-3 we read, "Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east. And he looked, and beheld a well in the field, and, lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks." This is very beautiful. How striking is the contrast between this typical scene and the first that we looked at in Genesis 16. There, where it is a sinner and Christ which is in view, the "well" is located in the wilderness— figure of the barrenness and desolation of the sinner. But here, where the sheep are in view, the "well" is found in the field—suggesting the "green pastures" into which the good Shepherd leads His own. Notice there were "three flocks of sheep that were lying by this "well," their position denoting rest, that rest which Christ gives His own. Here in the field were the three flocks lying "by it"—the well. It is only in Christ that we find rest. 6. In Exodus 2:15-17 we are told, "Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he 13
- 14. sought to slayMoses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock." How marvelous is this type. First, Pharaoh the king of Egypt prefigures Satan as the god of this world, attacking and seeking to destroy the believer. From him Moses "fled." How often the great Enemy frightens us and gets us on the run. But how blessed to note the next statement here: fleeing from Pharaoh to Midian, where he now dwells, the first thing that we read of Moses is, "he sat down by a well." Thank God there is One to whom we can flee for refuge—the Lord Jesus Christ to whom the "well" pointed. To this well the daughters of Jethro also came, for water. But the shepherds came and drove them away. How many of the "under-shepherds" today are, by their infidelistic teaching, driving many away from Christ. Nevertheless, God still has a Moses here and there, who will "stand up and help" those who really desire the Water of Life. But be it noted, before we can "help" others we must first be resting on the well for ourselves, as Moses was. 7. "And from thence they went to Beer: that is the well whereof the Lord spake unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it" (Num. 21:16, 17). What a word is this! The well is personified. It is made the object of song. It evokes praise. No interpreter is needed here. Beloved reader, are you "singing" unto the "Well?" 8. "Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed by Enrogel; for they might not be seen to come into the city: and a wench went and told them; and they went and told king David. Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom: but they went both of them away quickly, and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, which had a well in his court: whither they went down. And the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground corn thereon; and the thing was not known" (2 Sam. 17:17-19). Here we find the "well" providing shelter and protection for God’s people. Notice there was a "covering" over its mouth, so that Jonathan and Ahimaaz were hidden in the well. So it is with the believer—"your life is hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). how striking is the last sentence quoted above, "And the thing was not known!" The world is in complete ignorance of the believer’s place and portion in Christ! 9. "And David longed, and said, O that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!" (2 Sam. 23:15). Nothing but water from the well of Bethlehem would satisfy David. 10. "Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well" (Prov. 5:15). What a blessed climax is this. The "well" is our own, and from its "running waters" we are invited to "drink." We sincerely pity any who may regard all of this as fanciful. Surely such need to betake themselves to Christ for "eyesalve," that their eyes may be enabled to behold "wondrous things" out of God’s Law. To us this study has been unspeakably blessed. And what meaning it all gives to John 4:6—"Jesus, therefore, being wearied with His journey sat thus on the well." But there is one other word here that we must not overlook, a word that gives added force to the typical character of the picture before us, for it speaks of the character of that Salvation which is found in Christ. "Now Jacob’s well was there" (John 4:6). There are three things in connection with this particular 14
- 15. "well" that weneed to consider. First, this well was purchased by Jacob, or more accurately speaking, the "field" in which the well was located was purchased by him. "And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-Aram; 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" (Gen. 33:18, 19). The word "Sychar" in John 4:6 signifies purchased. What a well- chosen and suited place for Christ to speak to that woman of the "gift of God!" But let it never be forgotten that this "gift" costs us nothing, because it cost Him everything. Second, the "parcel of ground" in which was this well, was afterwards taken by Joseph with "sword and bow; . . . And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow" (Gen. 48:21, 22)— that this is the same "parcel of ground" referred to in Genesis 33 is clear from John 4:5. The reference in Genesis 48 must be to a later date than what is in view in Genesis 33. The Amorites were seeking to rob Jacob of his well, and therefore an appeal to arms was necessary. This, we believe, fore shadowed the present interval, during which the Holy Spirit (while Satan is yet the "Prince of this world" and ever seeks to oppose and keep God’s Jacobs away from the "well") is bringing salvation to souls by means of the "sword" (Heb. 4:12). Third, this portion purchased by Jacob, and later secured by means of the "sword and bow," was given to Joseph (see Genesis 48:21, 22). This became a part of Joseph’s "birthright," for said Jacob "I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren." This ought to have been given to Reuben, Jacob’s "firstborn," but through his fall into grievous sin it was transferred to Joseph (see 1 Chronicles 5:1). How marvelously accurate the type! Christ the second Man takes the inheritance which the first man forfeited and lost through sin! Putting these three together, we have: the "well" purchased, the "well" possessed, the "well" enjoyed. BARCLAY, "BREAKING DOWN THE BARRIERS (John 4:1-9) 4:1-9 So when the Lord learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although it was not Jesus himself who was in the habit of baptizing but his disciples), he quilted Judaea and went away again to Galilee. Now he had to pass through Samaria. He came to a town of Samaria, called Sychar, which is near the piece of ground which Jacob gave to Joseph, his son, and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, tired from the journey, was sitting by the well just as he was. It was about midday. There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her: "Give me to drink." For his disciples had gone away into the town to buy provisions. So the Samaritan woman said to him: "How is it that you who are a Jew ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?" (For there is no familiarity between Jews and Samaritans.) First of all, let us set the scene of this incident. Palestine is only 120 miles long from north to south. But within that 120 miles there were in the time of Jesus three definite divisions of territory. In the extreme north lay Galilee; in the 15
- 16. extreme south layJudaea; and in between lay Samaria. Jesus did not wish at this stage in his ministry to be involved in a controversy about baptism; so he decided to quit Judaea for the time being and transfer his operations to Galilee. There was a centuries-old feud between the Jews and the Samaritans, the cause of which we will shortly see. But the quickest way from Judaea to Galilee lay through Samaria. Using that route, the journey could be done in three days. The alternative route was to cross the Jordan, go up the eastern side of the river to avoid Samaria, recross the Jordan north of Samaria and then enter Galilee. This was a route which took twice as long. So then Jesus had to pass through Samaria if he wished to take the shortest route to Galilee. On the way they came to the town of Sychar. Just short of Sychar the road to Samaria forks. The one branch goes north-east to Scythopolis; the other goes west to Nablus and then north to Engannim. At the fork of the road there stands to this day the well known as Jacob's well. This was an area which had many Jewish memories attached to it. There was a piece of ground there which had been bought by Jacob (Genesis 33:18-19). Jacob, on his deathbed, had bequeathed that ground to Joseph (Genesis 48:22). And, on Joseph's death in Egypt, his body had been taken back to Palestine and buried there (Joshua 24:32). So around this area there gathered many Jewish memories. The well itself was more than 100 feet deep. It is not a springing well of water; it is a wet into which the water percolates and gathers. But clearly it was a well so deep that no one could gain water from it unless he had something with which to draw the water. When Jesus and his little band came to the fork in the road Jesus sat down to rest, for he was tired with the journey. It was midday. The Jewish day runs from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and the sixth hour is twelve o'clock midday. So the heat was at its greatest, and Jesus was weary and thirsty from travelling. His disciples went on ahead to buy some food in the Samaritan town. Something must have been beginning to happen to them. Before they had met Jesus it is entirely unlikely that they would have even thought of buying food in any Samaritan town. Little by little, perhaps even unconsciously, the barriers were going down. As Jesus sat there, there came to the well a Samaritan woman. Why she should come to that well is something of a mystery, for it was more than half-a-mile from Sychar where she must have stayed and there was water there. May it be that she was so much of a moral outcast that the women even drove her away from the village well and she had to come here to draw water? Jesus asked her to give him a drink. She turned in astonishment. "I am a Samaritan," she said. "You are a Jew. How is it that you ask a drink from me?" And then John explains to the Greeks for whom he is writing that there was no kind of come and go at all between the Jews and the Samaritans. Now it is certain that all we have here is the briefest possible report of what must have been a long conversation. Clearly there was much more to this meeting than 16
- 17. is recorded here.If we may use an analogy, this is like the minutes of a committee meeting where we have only the salient points of the discussion recorded. I think that the Samaritan woman must have unburdened her soul to this stranger. How else could Jesus have known of her tangled domestic affairs? For one of the very few times in her life she had found one with kindness in his eyes instead of critical superiority; and she opened her heart. Few stories in the Gospel record show us so much about the character of Jesus. (i) It shows us the reality of his humanity. Jesus was weary with the journey, and he sat by the side of the well exhausted. It is very significant that John who stresses the sheer deity of Jesus Christ more than any other of the gospel writers also stresses his humanity to the full. John does not show us a figure freed from the tiredness and the struggle of our humanity. He shows us one for whom life was an effort as it is for us; he shows us one who also was tired and had to go on. (ii) It shows us the warmth of his sympathy. From an ordinary religious leader, from one of the orthodox church leaders of the day the Samaritan woman would have fled in embarrassment. She would have avoided such a one. If by any unlikely chance he had spoken to her she would have met him with an ashamed and even a hostile silence. But it seemed the most natural thing in the world to talk to Jesus. She had at last met someone who was not a critic but a friend, one who did not condemn but who understood. (iii) It shows us Jesus as the breaker down of barriers. The quarrel between the Jews and the Samaritans was an old, old story. Away back about 720 B.C. the Assyrians had invaded the northern kingdom of Samaria and had captured and subjugated it. They did what conquerors often did in those days--they transported practically the whole population to Media (2 Kings 17:6). Into the district the Assyrians brought other people--from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Ava, from Hamath and from Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17:24). Now it is not possible to transport a whole people. Some of the people of the northern kingdom were left. Almost inevitably they began to inter-marry with the incoming foreigners; and thereby they committed what to the Jew was an unforgivable crime. They lost their racial purity. In a strict Jewish household even to this day if a son or a daughter marries a Gentile, his or her funeral service is carried out. Such a person is dead in the eyes of orthodox Judaism. So then the great majority of the inhabitants of Samaria were carried away to Media. They never came back but were assimilated into the country into which they were taken. They are the lost ten tribes. Those who remained in the country inter-married with the incoming strangers and lost their right to be called Jews at all. In course of time a like invasion and a like defeat happened to the southern kingdom, whose capital was Jerusalem. Its inhabitants also were carried off to Babylon; but they did not lose their identity; they remained stubbornly and unalterably Jewish. In time there came the days of Ezra and Nehemiah and the exiles returned to Jerusalem by the grace of the Persian king. Their immediate task was to repair and rebuild the shattered Temple. The Samaritans came and offered their help in this sacred task. They were contemptuously told that their 17
- 18. help was notwanted. They had lost their Jewish heritage and they had no right to share in the rebuilding of the house of God. Smarting under this repulse, they turned bitterly against the Jews of Jerusalem. It was about 450 B.C. when that quarrel took place, and it was as bitter as ever in the days of Jesus. It had further been embittered when the renegade Jew, Manasseh, married a daughter of the Samaritan Sanballat (Nehemiah 13:28) and proceeded to found a rival temple on Mount Gerizim which was in the centre of the Samaritan territory. Still later in the Maccabean days, in 129 B.C., John Hyrcanus, the Jewish general and leader, led an attack against Samaria and sacked and destroyed the temple on Mount Gerizim. Between Jews and Samaritans there was an embittered hatred. The Jews contemptuously called them Chuthites or Cuthaeans after one of the peoples whom the Assyrians had settled there. The Jewish Rabbis said: "Let no man eat of the bread of the Cuthaeans, for he who eats their bread is as he who eats swine's flesh." Ecclesiasticus depicts God as saying: "With two nations is my soul vexed, and the third is no nation; they that sit upon the mountain of Samaria, and the Philistines, and that foolish people that dwell in Sichem" (Ecc 50:25-26). Sichem or Shechem was one of the most famous of Samaritan cities. The hatred was returned with interest. It is told that Rabbi Jochanan was passing through Samaria on his way to Jerusalem to pray. He passed by Mount Gerizim. A Samaritan saw him, and asked him: "Where are you going?" "I am going to Jerusalem," he said, "to pray." The Samaritan answered: "Would it not be better for you to pray in this holy mountain (Mount Gerizim) than in that accursed house?" Pilgrims from Galilee to Jerusalem had to pass through Samaria, if, as we have seen, they travelled by the quickest way; and the Samaritans delighted to hinder them. The Jewish-Samaritan quarrel was more than 400 years old. But it smouldered as resentfully and as bitterly as ever. It was small wonder that the Samaritan woman was astonished that Jesus, a Jew, should speak to her, a Samaritan. (iv) But there was still another way in which Jesus was taking down the barriers. The Samaritan was a woman. The strict Rabbis forbade a Rabbi to greet a woman in public. A Rabbi might not even speak to his own wife or daughter or sister in public. There were even Pharisees who were called "the bruised and bleeding Pharisees" because they shut their eyes when they saw a woman on the street and so walked into walls and houses! For a Rabbi to be seen speaking to a woman in public was the end of his reputation--and yet Jesus spoke to this woman. Not only was she a woman; she was also a woman of notorious character. No decent man, let alone a Rabbi, would have been seen in her company, or even exchanging a word with her--and yet Jesus spoke to her. To a Jew this was an amazing story. Here was the Son of God, tired and weary and thirsty. Here was the holiest of men, listening with understanding to a sorry story. Here was Jesus breaking through the barriers of nationality and orthodox Jewish custom. Here is the beginning of the universality of the gospel; here is God so loving the world, not in theory, but in action. BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, "When therefore the Lord knew 18
- 19. The first visitto Samaria I. THE STORY ITSELF. 1. The memorable halt (Joh_4:1-6). 2. The surprising request (Joh_4:7-9). 3. The opened vista (Joh_4:10). 4. The proud reminiscence (Joh_4:11-12). 5. The perennial fountain (Joh_4:13-14). 6. The weary request (Joh_4:15). 7. The merciful wound (Joh_4:16-18). 8. The everlasting debate (Joh_4:19-20). 9. The majestic annunciation (Joh_4:21-24). 10. The sublime claim (Joh_4:25-26). 11. The marvellous wonder (Joh_4:17). 12. The startling surmise (Joh_4:28-30). 13. The bidden manna (Joh_4:31-35). 14. The cheery parable (Joh_4:35-38). 15. The glorious harvest (Joh_4:39-42). II. LESSONS OF THE STORY: 1. The duty of seizing opportunities. 2. A model for religious conversation. 3. The true method of quenching the soul’s thirst (Joh_4:13-14). 4. The spirituality of Christian worship (Joh_4:21-24). 5. A test of Messiahship (Joh_4:29). 6. The sense of vocation the true food (verse 31-34). 7. Harvesting the Church’s privilege and duty (Joh_4:35). 8. The community of Christian fruition (Joh_4:36). 9. The present the harvest of the past (Joh_4:37-38). 10. The power of a single conversion (Joh_4:39). 11. Spiritual privileges to be cherished (Joh_4:40). 12. The superiority of personal experience (Joh_4:41-42). 13. A pastor’s personal invitation. (G. D. Boardman, D. D.) Christ at Jacob’s well This history teaches us that I. No soul is so LOST BUT THE LORD CAN FIND IT. Frivolity was natural to this woman. She had lived without restraint and morality. Woman has one safeguard 19
- 20. against sin—innate delicacy.This lost, all is lost; and this was so with the Samaritan. How many would have turned away from her as hopeless, But Christ turns to her because she is a soul whom the Father has given Him to save. II. NO OCCASION IS SO TRIFLING BUT THE LORD CAN USE IT. The woman comes to draw water, a common act, by a common way. Who would have thought that the way would have led to everlasting life? The least trifle may become in God’s hand a means of salvation: a word spoken at random, a familiar scene, an unforeseen hindrance, the monotony of life, the influence of a friend. God’s seeking grace encompasses us like the air we breathe. III. NO STRENGTH IS SO FEEBLE BUT THE LORD CAN INCREASE IT. Few could have been morally weaker than this woman. She lacked the power to understand Christ and to know herself. Christ had to awaken everything in her. So are we impotent; but the Spirit of Christ helps our infirmities. Christ asks in order that He may give. He requires humility, but only to exalt, the surrender of the old life in order to confer life eternal. IV. NO BEGINNING IS SO SMALL BUT THE LORD CAN LEAD IT TO A BLESSED END. What a small beginning here I And yet before long a disciple and evangelist is found. Don’t despise little beginnings and struggling souls. (Carl Keogh, D. D.) Jesus at the well I. A SYMPATHETIC COMPANION. 1. Sharing human infirmity (Joh_4:6; Isa_53:3; Mat_4:2; Mar_14:34; Joh_ 11:35; Joh 19:28). 2. Accepting human supplies (Joh_4:7; Mat_21:17; Mar_2:16; Luk_7:36; Luk 19:5; Luk 24:41). 3. Surpassing human expectations (Joh_4:9; Mat_8:27; Mat 9:8; Mat 22:22; Mar_5:20; Joh_3:9). II. A HELPFUL COMPANION. 1. Dispelling ignorance (Joh_4:10; Mar_2:10; Luk_19:42; Joh_10:38; Joh 13:7; Joh 15:15). 2. Arousing desire (Joh_4:14; Mat_5:6; Mat 11:28; Joh_3:12; Joh 14:12; Joh 16:24). 3. Begetting prayer (Joh_4:15; Mat_9:27; Mat 15:22; Mat 20:30; Mk Luk_18:41). III. A DIVINE COMPANION. 1. Knowing all things (Joh_4:17; Joh_1:48; Joh 2:25; Joh 16:30; Joh 21:17; Col_ 2:3). 2. Illustrating true worship (Joh_4:23; Exo_20:3; 2Ki_17:35; Psa_96:9; Jer_ 25:6; Mat_4:10). 3. Avowing the Messiahship (Joh_4:26; Psa_2:6; Mat_16:16; Joh_11:27; Act_ 3:18; Act 17:7. (S. S. Times.) Jesus at the well 20
- 21. How immense thedistance between “Give Me to drink” and “I am He.” I. AN OBJECT-LESSON IN THE ART OF RELIGIOUS CONVERSATION. 1. No duty more difficult than that of opening out a conversation on the things of the soul. This an art, because we must learn it by practice through mistakes and discouragement. Jesus left few discourses, because His teaching was mostly conversational, suggested by passing things. Beginning here with human thirst and eliciting questions, He gradually and naturally led up and on to the highest truths. 2. Notice the skill with which Jesus avoids a plain answer to a plain question, and so replies that He becomes the questioner and arouses deepening curiosity and interest. 3. The use He made of the woman’s moral intuitions and the truths she already knew. This was the favourite method of His dialectics. 4. Here do we need our lesson from Christ. (1) How perfectly He entered into human need! (2) He had infinite patience with the narrow and dull and earthbound. (3) With all this went an equal faith in that hidden but immortal power to which He appealed. II. THE TRUTHS OF THIS DISCOURSE. 1. Living water. (1) The comparison of spiritual blessings to water familiar in Scripture. (2) The characteristic of this water is that it is a gift. Men do not have to fetch, buy, nor earn salvation, but receive it. (3) This water of life is not Christ, for He gives it, but the whole truth and grace which make for salvation. 2. True worship. (1) The vital inward power brings one into the true attitude of worship. The heart first, form afterwards. (2) True worship must be an inward secret thing. Ritual, music, etc., only aid the silent movements of the soul towards God. (3) True worship must be true to God’s requirements and our own moral wants, not merely honest and sincere, although misguided, but in accordance with the reality of things. (4) The Father seeks such worship. 3. Jesus the Messiah. Salvation was of the Jews, but Christ was the fulfilment of hopes as old as the race. (Sermons by the Monday Club.) The woman of Samaria 1. The person here introduced was a member of a race specially hateful to the Jews; but Jesus was above the prejudice of His nation. 2. The Samaritan was a woman. “Never speak to a woman in the street, even if she be thy wife”; “Burn the words of the law rather than teach them to a woman,” 21
- 22. were current maximsin Jewish society. But Christ, in the unsullied purity of His manhood, brushed aside as cobwebs all social regulations which tended to perpetuate feminine servitude. 3. This woman lived in habitual sin. But Christ came to save sinners. Notice Jesus Christ I. ENLIGHTENING THE WOMAN. He leads her from natural to spiritual subjects. 1. Observe His sweet courtesy. He opens the conversation, not with a sneer or opprobrious epithet, after the manner of a Jew, but with a request; and notwithstanding her ungracious rebuff, not one word of rebuke escapes Him. A most gentlemanly stranger. True religion teaches us to be courteous. This urbanity impressed her, and He became successively in her eyes Jew, Sir, Prophet, Christ. The truth must be spoken in love, and love will impress quite as much as truth. 2. Notice that the woman’s lack of culture did not hinder Christ making the grandest disclosures. A radical mistake is made when the attempt is made to simplify the gospel beyond what Christ has done. The sublime will always awaken the corresponding consciousness. This is one reason why the words of Christ have more power and permanence than the systems of men. 3. The Lord made a discovery to this woman which He never made to any one else—His Messiahship. Why? Because that would not have been safe in Judaea or Galilee? Rather because of the different dispositions of those He addressed. II. RECLAIMING THE WOMAN. The object of His enlightening her was to save her. 1. Christ always aimed at doing good. (1) In ancient times men did good spasmodically; relief was the result of natural impulse. But in Christianity impulse has been dignified into a principle. (2) Plato and Aristotle teach you to love men for your own sakes; Christ for their sakes and His. The essence of the gospel is not self-interest, but self- sacrifice. 2. He sought to do the highest good by reclaiming the worst characters. There are three stages in history relative to this subject. (1) A state of well-nigh complete insensibility. The Iliad delineated heroes and cowards, strong men and weak, but not good and bad. (2) The next stage is marked by the awakening of conscience and of the idea of right and wrong. Virtue is applauded, vice censured. But the idea of justice taught men to sympathize with the man sinned against, not the sinner. (3) The last stage is that of full-orbed mercy in Christ, teaching us to compassionate both the injurer and the injured. Christ changed the attitude of the world in respect to its notorious sinners. 3. To accomplish these ends He threw into His philanthropic movements unprecedented zeal (Joh_4:34). (1) He had infinite faith in human nature. He saw its hidden potentialities. A lady, examining one of Turner’s pictures, remarked: “But, Mr. T., I do not see these things in nature.” “Madam,” replied the artist, with pardonable naiveté, “don’t you wish you did?” Christ saw what none of His contemporaries saw. The age was pessimistic; Christ was the only optimist of His time. 22
- 23. (2) According tothe strength of His hope was the fervour of His zeal. III. INSPIRING THE WOMAN, inparting to her His own enthusiasm. 1. She at once set about converting her neighbours. She did not lecture them; she only related her experience. We can also “say” if we cannot preach. Despise not the day of small things. Her “saying” led to the evangelization of a whole city. 2. The success attending the woman’s simple efforts filled the Saviour with holy joy. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.) Christ and the woman of Samaria I. THE MINGLED TACT AND CONDESCENSION OF CHRIST IN DEALING WITH A CARELESS SINNER. He does not begin with reproof, but with a request for water, a subject uppermost in her thoughts. This at once threw a bridge across the gulf between them. So Christian workers must go to the sinful, and bear down upon them in the spirit of friendly aggression, studying the best avenues to their hearts, and avoiding any show of superiority. II. CHRIST’S READINESS TO GIVE MERCIES TO CARELESS SINNERS. If she had asked, He would have given. “Ask and receive.” III. THE PRICELESS EXCELLENCE OF CHRIST’S GIFTS WHEN COMPARED WITH THE THINGS OF THIS WORLD (Joh_4:13-14). Thousands of men have every temporal good, and are yet weary and dissatisfied. Jesus alone can give solid happiness. His waters may have their ebbing seasons, but they are never completely dried. IV. THE ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF CONVICTION TO CONVERSION. The woman was comparatively unmoved until our Lord exposed her breach of the seventh commandment. From that moment she is an Inquirer after truth. Till a sinner sees himself as God sees him he will continue careless and trifling. Conscience must be pricked by the preaching of the law. V. THE USELESSNESS OF ANY RELIGION WHICH ONLY CONSISTS OF FORMALITY. True and acceptable worship depends on the state of the worshipper’s heart (1Sa_16:7). VI. CHRIST’S GRACIOUS WILLINGNESS TO REVEAL HIMSELF TO THE CHIEF OF SINNERS. Nowhere in the gospels do we find such an explicit avowal as in Joh_ 4:26. Whatever a man’s past life may have been there is hope and a remedy for him in Christ. He will undertake to cure the apparently incurable. (Bp. Ryle.) The lost one met and saved I. THE JOURNEY. 1. The occasion (Joh_4:1; cf. Isa_51:13). 2. The route. There were four routes (Mat_19:2; Act_23:23). The Jews usually chose that by the Jordan valley, to avoid Samaria. 3. The reason (Luk_9:10). 4. The rest. Notice Christ’s humanity. II. THE MEETING. 23
- 24. 1. The woman (1)A Samaritan; (2) with some knowledge of God (Joh_4:20); (3) expecting the Messiah (Joh_4:25). 2. The time. Midday. Not the usual hour for drawing water; but a time for such an one to do so unobserved. 3. The request. Compliance with it would have done honour to an archangel. Christ placed Him- self in the position of one desiring a benefit. 4. The reply (Joh_4:9). This man is not like other Jews. III. THE CONVERSION. 1. The first flash of light (Joh_4:10; cf. Eph_5:14). Water is sold in Egypt as the “gift of God.” 2. Its reception (Joh_4:11-12). The woman is perplexed, and seems to struggle between the literal and the spiritual. She changes her mode of address—“Sir.” Our Lord takes no notice of her query, but addresses her state of mind. 3. The leading on (verses 13, 14). The woman’s desire is intensified. The light becomes obscured. How true a picture of an awakening soul I 4. The revelation (verse 16). The request is granted in Christ’s way, not in her’s. He flashes light on her soul and her past (verses 18, 29). 5. Her anxious inquiry (verses 19, 20). How is salvation to be obtained? Not by forms, places, etc. 6. The gift received (verses 25, 26). IV. THE EFFECT (verse 28). She hastens away a saved sinner to save others Joh_ 1:41-45). See a mark of her change, as showing its reality in the fuluess of her confession (Joh_1:29; cf. Joh_1:17; Luk_19:8; Luk 23:41; Rom_10:10). (J. Gill.) Jesus at the well of Sychar The Fourth Gospel may be called the Gospels of the Conversations, for, more than any other, it reports particular interviews of our Lord with individuals. These conversations, too, are real conversations, for Jesus was not like some famous men, who discourse in monologue. Even His addresses to the multitude were often interrupted by the inquiries or remarks of others, and, in smaller companies, He guided the conversation, while apparently taking the lesser part. The “golden silences” of Jesus are very marked, and George Borrow, in that fascinating book, “The Bible in Spain,” relates that the taciturn people of the little Republic of Andorra noticed these silences, and said of them, “Jesus played the Andorran.” While He spoke with authority, yet He dispelled all feeling of restraint, and even seemed to awaken in others unwonted freedom. Not unfrequently He gave the thought, and let them do the talking. Christ never appears to have saved anything for a large audience, nor feared that any utterance of truth, breathed into the receptive heart of however humble a hearer, could fail of its effect. And these conversations all have a personal turn. They attach great principles to common life, and they lead people through their own needs to the grandest spiritual truths. Jesus evidently has confidence in the living power of truth, and therefore does not press it, but leaves His hearers to follow out the idea and make the application for themselves. If, then, we 24
- 25. would understand theeffect of our Lord’s conversation with the woman of Samaria, we must read it in the message she bore to her people: “Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did. Can this be the Christ?” This perfect knowledge of the Christ is our greatest safeguard. It is needful, to defend us from plunging farther into sin, that we have the confidence of a loving Saviour. When we are on the verge of temptation, the thought that He knows and grieves over our past sins may win us back. When will we learn the noonday lesson taught at the well of Sychar, that it is the Christ who reveals us to ourselves! It is not for you to find out your sin, but for Him to reveal it to you. With the Psalmist, you ask God to search you, “that you may be led in the way everlasting.” You are to become acquainted with your own heart by having Him read it to you; and all you can tell Him will be of that which He has told you before. Repentance now loses its bitterness, because it is the revelation of the Christ. “Once,” says Luther, “I thought no word so bitter as repentance; now there is none more sweet, and those passages in the Bible that used to terrify me now smile and sport about me.” In the same spirit, Augustine says, in his “Confessions,” “I will now call to mind my past foulness and the carnal corruptions of my soul; not because I love them, but that I may love Thee, O my God. For love of Thy love I do it; reviewing my most wicked ways in the very bitterness of my remembrance, that Thou mayest grow sweet unto me.” The power of such a revelation of the Christ is manifest in the fact, that the largest harvest of souls our Lord ever gathered while on earth was reaped in the two days He spent at Sychar. A soul brought face to face with Him, beholding His glory by being self-revealed, is a fit instrument to convey to others the advent of the Christ. (James G. Vose.) The model Teacher I. His ZEAL. 1. He went to a most unwelcome neighbourhood. His hereditary prejudices were arrayed against it, yet, when the world of Palestine was open to Him, our Lord mast needs go through it. 2. He became a teacher. What condescension of His; what an ennobling of the office. 3. He was satisfied with a class of one scholar. He talked just as long, kindly, and eloquently as He did to thousands. The great doctrines were in many cases given quietly to individuals. Regeneration to Nicodemus; resurrection to Martha; spirituality of worship to this woman. 4. He occupied Himself with a disagreeable pupil. Never was there more unpromising scholar. 5. He laboured with her when He was wearied almost to exhaustion. II. His TACT. 1. How ingenious He was in catching an illustration to interest her mind. He took her water-pot for His text, as He did afterwards fish, loaves, etc. Try to link the unknown on to the known. 2. How quick He was in turning the illustration so as to impress her conscience. He knew He had done nothing until He made her feel that she was a sinner. So McCheyne, standing before a forge fire, said gently to the workmen, “Who can dwell with everlasting burnings”; and Payson to his coach companion on nearing their destination, “Are you prepared for the end of the journey which is so much 25
- 26. longer than this?” III.His SPIRITUALITY. He made the interview religious. Like all other sinners, the woman wanted to talk about something else. 1. Jesus avoided all discussion of sectarian questions. She (1) Proposed sectarian questions; (2) Suggested ritualistic points; (3) Ventured on speculative inquiries. 2. Jesus pressed home the one lesson He wanted her to learn first of all. He told her of (1) The exact state of her case, and drew her to an admission of it; (2) The demands of Divine law; (3) The Redeemer’s help. 3. Jesus completed His work by disclosing Himself. (C. S.Robinson, D. D.) The pedagogy or rudimentary teaching of Jesus The Church has a twofold mission. 1. To collect the masses, to bear patiently with them and educate them. 2. To go after individuals, person- ally to lay hold of their inner life in order to bring them into a state of salvation. Particular communions have leaned some to one side and some to the other. Romanism has cultivated the social element; lesser communities have laid greater stress on individual faith. Both objects ought always to be united. Let us learn from the pedagogic example of the Lord. Here He reaches the community through the individual; but the individual must first be educated to the faith and knowledge of the truth. There are three steps. I. The first is reached BY AWAKENING IN THE WOMAN A SENSE OF A DEEPER WANT, the desire for something better than this well can offer. 1. She had regarded life as a matter of sensual enjoyment. The accusations of conscience had not troubled her, and she was happy in her way. 2. Jesus makes her discontented. It was not cruel, only inevitably painful, as is a surgical operation. To destroy quiet is the first step to the cure. Suspended between heaven and earth our souls are drawn to God, but bound to the World, and in the latter we seek happiness. This is the delusion of sin. A life of worldliness assumes a variety of forms, from the most degraded to the most refined, but the principle is the same. And that all is vanity is the first lesson we must learn and teach, to excite the desire for “living water.” II. “GO, CALL THY HUSBAND,” is the second stage. The first is of doubtful result. It may lead right or left; to pride and contempt of other men who have no aspiration. Christ’s words, therefore, lead us from the struggle without to that within, to sin as the occasion of the mischief. This sin we must willingly know and renounce. This the woman was led to by the look of love which read her history in her heart. This teaches us to enter lovingly into personal life. A tender solicitude unlocks the heart and encourages confession. The word which exposes sin is the law in the hand of love. 26
- 27. III. Conviction ofsin awakens the desire for forgiveness in prayer. The inquiry respecting Gerizim and Jerusalem was no evasion, but led to the third step, where our Lord refers her to THE HISTORICAL REVELATION FOR SALVATION. “Salvation is of the Jews.” God must be worshipped in Spirit, yet the revelation of Himself was in Israel, and its end the Messias. It is not enough to tread the path of inward self-knowledge; we must walk also in the way of faith. Not only do we move to meet God, He is come to meet us. The truth of salvation is historical, and the historical gospel is a moral certainty. So the woman proved. The saved individual now seeks to save society. “She left her water-pot,” etc. Conclusion: 1. We should go forth and lead souls to Christ as Christ led this woman. 2. No doubt we shall be weary sometimes, but, if the Master was weary, we need not be ashamed, And the wells which men have dug will then be doubly refreshing; for what- ever the Creator has given to man to enjoy is also given for the refreshment of the soul. 3. But the soul lives not by these alone, and when the highest matters press we must be prepared to renounce them, for they do not quench the soul’s deepest thirst. (C. E. Luthardt, D. D.) Characteristics of Christ displayed in this conversation I. Our Lord’s MERCY is remarkable. That such an one as He should deal so graciously with such a sinner is a striking fact. II. His WISDOM. How wise was every step of His way in dealing with this sinful soul! III. His PATIENCE. How He bore with the woman’s ignorance, and what trouble He took to lead her to knowledge. IV. His POWER. What a complete victory He won at last! How almighty must that grace be which could soften and convert such a carnal and wicked heart! (Bp. Ryle.) Subsidiary points I. HUMAN FOLLY AND DIVINE WISDOM in contrast. II. OUR LORD’S REAL HUMANITY in His subjection to weariness and thirst. III. OUR LORD’S REAL DIVINITY in the mastery of all the secrets of the human heart. IV. OUR LORD’S WILLINGNESS TO IMPART THE DEEPEST TRUTHS TO THE HUMBLEST understanding, thus assuring us that, although God has hid these things from the wise and prudent, He has revealed them unto babes. (H. J. Van Dyke, D. D.) When … the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John The journey to Samaria I. THE DEPARTURE. The reason for it was the jealousy of the Pharisees at Christ’s success. 27
- 28. 1. Jesus sawthat a storm was coming, and withdrew. To abandon the profession or defence of the gospel from dread of suffering is quite a different thing from the persecuted Christian in one city fleeing to another to there hold forth the Word of life. 2. It is that persecutors are not always the open enemies, but are sometimes the professed friends, of religion, and that the name of God has often been associated with relentless cruelty. 3. The Pharisees did not hear Christ, but received reports doubtless exaggerated, for they heard that He personally baptized. 4. The great work of the ministry is not to baptize, but to preach. They are Christ’s fellow-workers in discriminating the truth, but not fellow-workers with the Spirit in communicating grace. II. THE ARRIVAL. 1. Although the district was alien, there were souls to be saved. (1) To the eye of man Jesus appeared to be fleeing from persecution. (2) To the eye of God the visit was part of a mysterious plan by which the glory of the Divine government was to be revealed. (3) To the eye of faith it offers an illustration of the manner in which the purpose of God is fulfilled. 2. Christ’s presence and work at Sychar, with its illustrious antecedents, offer encouragements to prayer for those who are to come after us. (1) Parents should be stimulated to pray for children’s children, (2) Believers to plead for the future of the Church. (A. Beith, D. D.) Christ driven away I. FALSE TEACHERS ARE ENEMIES TO THE TRUE. They will join with corrupt magistrates and favour their villainies (Isa_9:15), as the Pharisees did Herod against John. Christ, therefore, will rather trust Herod in Galilee than the Pharisees in Judaea (cf. Act_25:11). II. IT IS NO UNCHARITABLENESS, BUT WISDOM, TO SUSPECT WICKED MEN; as Christ did the PHARISEES. III. WHEN ONE TEACHER IS GONE GOD CAN RAISE UP ANOTHER. The Pharisees thought themselves well when John was out of the way, but Christ gives them more displeasure (Mar_1:14). They thought themselves sure when Christ was crucified, but Christ raised up twelve more to do greater things than Himself. Ministers are mortal, but the Church is immortal (Psa_2:1). IV. PROMISES ARE TO BE SEALED TO THOSE ONLY WHO REPENT AND BELIEVE. 1. Disciples were made 2. Then were baptized. V. GOD TURNS THE MALICE OF MEN TO THE GOOD OF HIS CHURCH The Pharisees drove Christ to Galilee, but on the way a whole city was brought to Him. An ill wind that blows nobody good. (Jeremiah Dyke.) 28
- 29. The retreat ofJesus The first turning point in His official life. I. MOTIVES. The Pharisees began to watch Him with hostile eyes; the Baptist is imprisoned. II. CHARACTER. Free consciousness. He retreats 1. In free discretion, without fear. 2. In holy discretion, “the Lord knew.” III. RICH RESULTS. Beneficent sojourn in Samaria. IV. SIGNIFICANCY. 1. He ceases to baptize. 2. He tarries in Samaria on His return. The rite of baptism I. AS PRACTISED BY JOHN (Joh_1:25-28; Joh 1:33; Joh 3:23; cf. Mt Mar_1:4-8; Luk_3:8; Luk 3:20). 1. Its nature—water baptism. Its mode uncertain. The word signifies either the application of an object to water or water to an object. Hence to immerse (2Ki_ 5:14) or to wash (Mar_7:4; Luk_11:38). Against immersion in the present case stand (1) The multitudes; (2) The impromptu and public manner; (3) Its practice in all seasons. In favour of pouring is the contraposition of “with water” and “with the Spirit” (Joh_ 1:33), by which the two baptisms are distinguished. The believer is not immersed in the Holy Ghost, but the Holy Ghost descends on the believer. 2. Its import—purification of the outer life; reformation rather than regeneration. 3. Its design—preparation for Messiah. 4. Its obligation—faith. The recipient was bound to believe in and go over to the Messiah when He appeared. II. AS CELEBRATED BY CHRIST (through His disciples) (Joh_3:22-26). 1. Its resemblance to John’s. (1) Performed in the same way. (2) Possessed the same significance. (3) Looked towards the same end. 2. Its difference from John’s. Administered (1) By Christ’s express authority. (2) To such as professed their faith in a “come” Messiah. (3) With a view of admitting to Christian discipleship. 29
- 30. (4) As anacknowledgment of obligation to learn and obey. III. AS ADMINISTERED BY THE APOSTLES (Mat_28:19; Mk Act_2:38; Act 2:41; Act 7:13; Act 7:36; Act 9:18, etc.). 1. How tar it agreed with the preceding. (1) In form it was a baptism with water. (2) In authority it rested on the commandment of Christ. (3) In significance it symbolized purification and sealed faith in the Messiah. (4) In effect it introduced to the Messianic Church. (5) In design it bound to acceptance of the teaching and obedience to the rule of Christ. 2. How far it went beyond the preceding. It - (1) Rested on the authority of the risen as well as of the incarnate Christ. (2) Symbolized inward renewal by the reception of the Holy Ghost. (3) Was administered on a profession of faith, not simply in the Messiah, but in the Trinity. (4) Was not restricted to the Jewish people. (5) Was not provisional, but permanent. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.) Why Christ did not personally baptize Lightfoot mentions because 1. He was not sent so much to baptize as to preach. 2. It might have been taken as a thing somewhat improper for Christ to baptize in His own name. 3. The baptizing that was most proper for Christ to use was not with water, but with the Holy Ghost. 4. He would prevent all quarrels and disputes among men about their baptism, which might have risen if some had been baptized by Christ and others only by His disciples. To these reasons we may add another of considerable importance. Our Lord would show us that the effect and benefit of baptism do not depend on the person who administers it. We cannot doubt that Judas Iscariot baptized some. The intention of the minister does not affect the validity of the sacrament. One thing seems abundantly clear, and that is, that baptism is not an ordinance of primary, but of subordinate, importance in Christianity. The high-flown and extravagant language used by some divines about the sacrament of baptism and its effects is quite irreconcilable with the text before us, as well as with the general teaching of Scripture (see Act_10:48; 1Co_1:17). The three baptisms There are three degrees in the institution: John’s baptism, which was a general consecration to the Messianic kingdom by repentance; the baptism of Jesus, an attachment to His person as a disciple; baptism as reconstituted by Jesus after His resurrection as a consecration to the possession of salvation thenceforth acquired by Him for the whole world. We do not find that the subjects of the first baptism (the 30
- 31. apostles, e.g.) wereafterwards subjected to the second or third. It was they, on the contrary, who were charged with administering the two last (verse 2; Act_2:1-47.). (F. Godet, D. D.) He left Judaea From Jerusalem to Nazareth, by way of the hill towns of Shiloh, Sychar, Nain, and Endor, the distance, as a bird would fly, is about sixty-four miles, being nearly the same as that from Oxford to London. By the camel paths, and there are no other, it is eighty miles. A good rider, having little baggage and less curiosity, may get over the ground in two Icing days; to do so, however, he must make up his mind to spend twelve hours each day in the saddle, on stony hill-sides, with very little water, and still less shade, under the blazing light of a Syrian sun. An easy journey, with time to rest and read, to see the wells, rums, and cities on the route, may be made in four days; though better still in five. The Lord and His disciples went through the land on foot, resting by the wells, under the shade of fig-trees, in the caves of rocks. The first part of this journey, a ride of thirty-six miles from the Damascus gate, to be done in about twelve hours, brings you to one of the most lovely and attractive spots in Palestine—the site of Joseph’s tomb and Jacob’s well. (W. H.Dixon.) The original word, αφίηµι, is a remarkable one; καταλεᆳπο might have been expected (Mat_4:15; Heb_11:27); and there is no exact parallel in the New Testament to this usage (yet comp. Joh_16:28). The general idea that it conveys is that of leaving anything to itself, to its own wishes, ways, fate; of withdrawing whatever controlling power was exercised before. Christ had claimed Jerusalem as the seat of His royal power, and Judaea as His kingdom. That claim He now in one sense gave up. (Canon Westcott.) He must needs go through Samaria Christ and the Samaritans The ministry of Christ may be divided into two sections, the Galilean and the Judaean. Taking Capernaum as a centre and describing a circle of ten miles, and taking the Temple as a centre and describing another circle of equal radius—between these two points the life of Christ oscillated. Separating the two provinces was a strip of country inhabited by a mongrel semi-alien race—the Samaritans, between whom and the Jews there was a long.standing feud. How will Christ treat it? Will He pass round it? Will He widen the chasm? Or will He loin the two in one? Let us see. I. WHEN CHRIST SPEAKS OF THE SAMARITANS IT IS IN WORDS OF FAVOUR AND COMMENDATION. 1. In the Samaritan “Stranger” of Luk_17:11-20, He finds the truest worship of Jehovah offered, not on Moriah, nor yet on Gerizim, but by the wayside. 2. In the parable of the Good Samaritan a comparison is drawn between the Samaritan and the Jew, to the eternal honour of the one, and the eternal shame of the other. The former is placed beside the very elite of Judaism, the priest and Levite, and the Master uses their selfish inhumanity as a foil to throw out more clearly and brightly the noble generosity of this “stranger.” 31
- 32. 3. Christ isHimself called a Samaritan (Joh_8:48), doubtless because of His strong Samaritan leanings, and He does not protest. II. CHRIST SEEKS TO REMOVE THE PREJUDICES OF HIS DISCIPLES BY PERSONAL CONTACT WITH THE DESPISED RACE. 1. The exception (Mat_10:5) is due to their narrow views and prejudices. 2. Christ takes them with Him into Samaria (chap. 4.) and sends them to “have dealings” with the Samaritans; and tarries with them there two days (verse 40), and thus the old prejudices are removed by friendly hospitalities. III. CHRIST OFFERED TO THE SAMARITANS THE PRIVILEGES OF HIS KINGDOM. 1. He deigns to ask a favour of the Samaritan woman and speaks one of the sublimest discourses of His ministry. 2. She and her fellow-citizens proclaim Christ the Messiah. 3. As a result of this the chasm is filled up (Act_1:8; Act 8:5-8). Henceforth the Samaritan is no more the “stranger,” but “a fellow-citizen with the saints, and of the household of God.” (H. Burton, M. A.) Utilizing disagreeable necessities 1. The first signs of hostility to Christ (Joh_4:1). 2. The prudence of the Master. Just as it was necessary for Him to die for a world’s salvation, so now it is required that He should live in order that the true cause and nature of His death may be manifest. There is therefore nothing unworthy about this escape. 3. We must seek the explanation of this movement, not in the eternal decrees. Samaria would prove a neutral zone to keep His enemies at a distance, and while passing through it would not probably be followed. And besides, it admitted of His utilizing what might have been an anxious period and a waste of time. I. HE IGNORED A FALSE DISTINCTION. Ceremonial cleanness and goodness were confounded by the Jews; a confusion rectified by the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Church and society are still full of such distinctions. 1. It is for us, not wantonly, but on sufficient occasion to expose and set at nought the error. 2. To get at true distinctions one must first expose false ones. But we must be sure that it is false and that the true does not preponderate, and that we have something better to substitute. 3. Wisdom and courage arc, therefore, necessary. 4. No safer guide can be found than a strong desire to do good and glorify God. II. HE CONVERTED AN INCONVENIENCE TO A SPIRITUAL USE. He is a fugitive, but He does not hurry through the country, nor forget its spiritual destitution in His own sorrows. 1. Annoyance or ill temper at the disturbance of settled plans ought not to make us weary in well doing. Many are idle in the Church because they cannot get the particular thing they like best. But the greatest discoveries and reforms have been 32
- 33. effected by thedetermination to do what we can. 2. Illtreatment on the part of professors is no excuse for idleness or cynicism. 3. Nor ought we to be engrossed with our own troubles. Doing good is the way to recovery. 4. Let us try to improve the unpleasant and unfortunate people and leave the world better than we find it. III. A SPECIAL BLESSING ATTENDED HIS IRREGULAR EXTEMPORIZED MISSION. Each incident links itself easily on to another. It almost seems a beautiful creature of circumstances. Inconveniences are often Providential. A fault in the strata may point to richer seams. (A. F. Muir, M. A.) The needs be I. BY THE DETERMINATE COUNSEL AND FOREKNOWLEDGE OF GOD. 1. A wandering star was to be reclaimed from its devious orbit. 2. The locality was most unpromising. 3. What the Church would have missed had this chapter been lacking. II. THE PEERLESS VALUE OF A SINGLE SOUL IN THE SIGHT OF CHRIST. The narrative is the parable of the Lost Sheep in impressive reality. III. THE YEARNING PERSONAL LOVE OF THE SAVIOUR. IV. LET NONE DEEM THEMSELVES BEYOND THE PALE OF CHRIST’S SYMPATHY AND SUCCOUR. (J. Macduff, D. D.) The occasion of the journey He must needs go through Samaria, not only because that province lay in His way, but because He was hungry, and in poor half-heathen Samaria lay the savoury meat which His soul loved. In the same manner He must needs pass through our nature and our world, as He goes from the glory of the eternity past to the glory of the eternity to come. It was not any physical necessity; for the Maker of all worlds might bane found another path from glory to glory without visiting this shooting star. But He must needs pass through the abode of fallen humanity on His way to the throne of the kingdom, because He longed to save the lost with a longing like hunger, and here only could be found the food that would satisfy His soul. His own sovereign love laid the necessity upon Himself. The sun, His creature, is under an inherent necessity of giving out light; so Christ, the light of the world, must needs give out the light of life, and therefore He casts Himself in the way of a dark world, as the hungry seeks food and the thirsty makes his way towards water-springs. (W. Arnot, D. D.) In the path of Christ Happy for them that they lay in our Saviour’s way to be looked upon: His paths drop fatness. Luther had rather be in hell with Christ than in heaven without Him. (J. Trapp.) 33
- 34. Providence shown inconversions Now, there are divers things in those providences Which are versant about this work, and exceedingly sweet and taking; as, viz., The wonderful strangeness and unaccountableness of this work of Providence in casting us into the way, and ordering the occasions, yea, the minutest circumstances about this work. Thus you find in Act_8:26-30. The eunuch, at that very instant when he was reading the prophet Isaiah, had an interpreter, one among a thousand, that joins his chariot just as his mind was, by a fit occasion, prepared to receive the first light of the knowledge of Christ. So, for the conversion of the Samaritans, it is observed Joh_4:4) Christ must needs go that way, because it lay just in the road betwixt Judea and Galilee, and at the sixth hour, i.e., high noon, He rests Himself upon Jacob’s well, still seeming to have no other design but His own refreshment, by sitting and drinking there; but, oh! what a train of blessed providences follow this, which seemed but an accidental thing! First, the woman of Samaria, and then many more in that city, are brought to believe in Christ, as you find in Joh_4:29; Joh 4:41. (J. Flavel.) Unquenchable enthusiasm When I was going to Europe in 1867, my friend Mr. Stuart, of Philadelphia, said, “Be sure to be at the General Assembly in Edinburgh, in June. I was there last year,” said he, “and it did me a world of good.” He said that a returned missionary (Dr. Duff) from India was invited to speak to the General Assembly on the wants of India. This veteran missionary, after a brief address, told the pastors who were present to go home and stir up their churches to send young men to India to preach the gospel. He spoke with such earnestness, that after awhile he fainted, and they carried him from the Hall. When he recovered he asked where he was, and they told him the circumstances under which he had been brought there. “Yes,” he said, “I was making a plea for India, and I did not quite finish my speech, did I?” After being told that he did not, he said, “Well, take me back and let me finish it.” But they said, “No, you will die in the attempt.” “Well,” said he, “I shall die if I do not,” and the old man asked again that they would allow him to finish his plea, When he was taken back, the whole congregation stood as one man, and as they brought him on the platform, with a trembling voice he said: “Fathers and mothers of Scotland, is it true that you will not let your sons go to India? I spent twenty-five years of my life there. I lost my health, and I have come back with sickness and shattered health. If it is true that we have no strong grandsons to go to India, I will pack up what I have and be off to- morrow, and I will let those heathen know that if I cannot live for them I will die for them.” (D. L. Moody.) Commendable enthusiasm Exception being taken, as I have said, to his energy and vehemence, Rowland Hill told how he had once seen a vast bank of earth, below which some men were at work, suddenly rend asunder; and leaving its bed, precipitate itself forward to bury them alive before they could utter a cry, or move a foot to escape. And who then, he asked, found fault with me, because, in my anxiety to save them, my cries for help were loud enough to call the neighbourhood t6 the rescue, and be heard a long mile away. Left there, they perished, miserably perished—needing what God, not man, always is, “a very present help in trouble.” (Dr. Guthrie.) 34
- 35. Our attitude towardsSamaria There is much in the disposition of the Samaritans that reminds us of the feelings of thousands of our own population to-day. Not only are they alienated from our faith, but they suspect us of a haughty and exclusive, or at least patronising attitude towards them. There is no fiercer resentment than the pharisaic spirit excites. Note the example of Christ. I. CHRIST DOES NOT AVOID SAMARIA. He will not shun those who entertain prejudices unpleasant to encounter. And we shall never restore the slums to piety if we skirt them with dainty feet. II. CHRIST DOES NOT HURRY THROUGH SAMARIA, BUT SEEKS CONVERSE WITH ITS INHABITANTS. None mere hurried visits to the headquarters of prejudice, rushing as through a cloud of suffocating smoke we must encounter, but amidst which we will not stay, will suffice. There must be true intercourse. III. CHRIST IS FORBEARING IN HIS ATTITUDE. His first overture is met with a half-playful, half-bitter reminder of what He never sanctioned, the division of sentiment between Jew and Samaritan. What do we oftener meet? It is irritating to be taunted with the conduct of those whose spirit we do not share, though we may nominally share their religious name. But we ruin our influence by recrimination or bitter rejoinder. Like Christ, we must gently ignore the taunt. IV. CHRIST, WITH SACRED TACT, INTRODUCES HIS GOSPEL. Had He commenced controversially, the woman’s heart would have been hardened; had He commenced with His final announcement (Joh_4:26), she would have been sceptical; had He commenced with such words as He used to learned Nicodemus, she would have been hopelessly bewildered. But He takes “water” for His text to this water-carrier, and in a picture lesson unfolds the truth. Ours are blind eyes if they see not texts in the commonest things, where-from we may preach the gospel of the kingdom. In that gospel Jew and Samaritan alike find hope and peace. (W. Hawkins.) He cometh to a city of Samaria called Sychar The locality This name is only found in St. Joh_4:5, but it is universally considered to be the same as Sichem or Shechem, which is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament history. Dr. Robinson (Bib. Res. 3.118) says, “In consequence of the barred of the Jews, and in allusion to the idolatry of the Samaritans, the town Sichem probably received among the Jewish common people the by-name of Sychar, which we find in the Gospel of St. John; while Stephen, in addressing the more courtly Sanhedrim, employs the ancient name (Act_7:16). Sychar might be derived from a Hebrew root, meaning either falsehood or drunkard.” Josephus describes Sheehem as between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal. The present Nabulus is a corruption of Neapolis; and Neapolis succeeded the more ancient Shechem. The city received its new name from Vespasian. The situation of the town is one of surpassing beauty. It lies in a sheltered valley, protected by Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north. The feet of these mountains, where they rise from the town, are not more than 500 yards apart. The bottom of the valley is about 1,800 feet above the level of the sea, and the top of Gerizim 800 feet higher still. The site of the present city, which is believed to have been also that of the Hebrew city, occurs exactly on the water- summit; and streams 35
- 36. issuing from thenumerous springs there, flow down the opposite slopes of the valley, spreading verdure and fertility in every direction. Travellers vie with each other in the language which they employ to describe the scene that bursts here so suddenly upon them on arriving in spring or early summer at this paradise of the Holy Land. “Here,” says Dr. Robinson (3:96) “ a scene of luxuriant and almost unparalleled verdure burst upon our view. The whole valley was filled with gardens of vegetables, and orchards of all kinds of fruit, watered by several fountains, which burst forth in various parts, and flow westward in refreshing streams. It came upon us suddenly like a scene of fairy enchantment. We saw nothing to compare with it in all Palestine. Here, beneath the shade of an immense mulberry-tree, by the side of a purling rill, we pitched our tent for the remainder of the day and night We rose early, awakened by the songs of nightingales and other birds, of which the gardens around us were full.” (F. I. Dunwell, B. A.) Its history Few places in Palestine, after Jerusalem, have had so much of Bible history connected with them. Here God first appeared to Abraham Gen_12:6). Here Jacob dwelt when he first returned from Padanaram, and here the disgraceful history of Dinah, and the consequent murder of the Shechemites took place (Gen_34:2, etc.). Here Joseph’s brethren fed their flocks when Jacob sent him to them, little thinking he would not see him again for many years (Gen_37:12). Here, when Israel took possession of the land of Canaan, was one of the cities of refuge (Jos_20:7-8). Here Joshua gathered all the tribes, when he addressed them for the last time (Jos_24:1). Here the bones of Joseph were buried, and all the patriarchs were interred (Jos_ 24:32; Act_7:16). Here the principal events in the history of Abimeleeh took Jdg_9:1, etc.). Here Rehoboam met the tribes of Israel after Solomon’s death, and gave the answer which rent his kingdom in two 1Ki_12:1). Here Jeroboam first dwelt, when he was made king of Israel (1Ki_12:25). And finally, close by Sheehem was the city of Samaria itself, and the two hills of Ebal and Gerizim, where the solemn blessings and cursings were recited, after Israel entered Canaan (Jos_8:33). A more interesting neighbourhood it is difficult to imagine. Whichever way the eye of a wearied traveller looked, he would see something to remind him of Israel’s history. (Bp. Ryle.) The parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. In two different ways this had come into the hands of Jacob. First, he had purchased it from the “children of Humor,” and then, when the Amorite invaded it, and took violent, unrighteous possession, he had, with his “sword and his bow,” recovered it. The land thus belonged to Jacob by right of purchase and by right of conquest: it became the property of his son by gift, by inheritance, and by grateful acceptance on his part. Our spiritual Jacob has both purchased our inheritance and taken it out of the hand of the Amorite; so likewise He bestows it freely on His dear children and they gratefully receive it, and rejoice in it as their portion. Eternal life is at once the gift of God and the fruit of faith. It becomes ours according to His eternal purpose, and also by the faith which accepts it—such faith as that of Joseph. Joseph was in Egypt, apparently independent of Canaan. The time when he or his seed could claim the inheritance was far distant—four hundred years of dreadful bondage were included in the intervening period—but Joseph believed. “God will surely visit you,” said he to his descendants, when he was dying, “ and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.” A similar faith had dictated the words of Jacob. “Beheld I die, but God shall be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.” A faith having the same origin, 36
- 37. exercised against thesame discouragements, and producing the same blessed fruits of patience, endurance, and hope, must be ours. (A. Beith, D. D.) Now Jacob’s well was there Jesus found at the well Some years since there lived in the west of England a well-known character called “Foolish Dick.” Not being considered quite sharp, one day he was going for a pitcher of water, when a good old man hailed him with “So, Dick, you are going to the well.” “Yes,” he replied. “Well, Dick, the woman of Samaria found Jesus at the well.” “Did she?” was the answer. “Yes,” said the good old Christian. Dick passed on, full of thought; the remark riveted on his mind by the Holy Spirit, quickening him into new life. He thought, “Why should I not find Jesus at the well? Oh, that I could find Him! Will He come to me?” He prayed, and found Christ at the well; left his water-pot to tell his neighbours what be had found, and from that time proved the reality of his conversion by his holy and active life, proclaiming Christ to others. Suffering begets sympathy Jesus Himself being weary was the more able and apt to help this poor Samaritress. He that hath had the toothache will pity those that have it. “We are orphans all,” said Queen Elizabeth in her speech to the children at Christ’s Hospital, “let me enjoy your prayers, and ye shall be sure of my assistance.” (J. Trapp.) No sympathy without suffering Johnson, whose robust frame was not in the least affected by cold, scolded me as if my shivering had been a paltry effeminacy, saying, “Why do you shiver?” Sir William Scott told me that when he complained of a headache, in the post-chaise, Johnson treated him in the same manner. “At your age, sir, I had no headache.” (Boswell.) Jesus sitting on the well Many things remind us of our Lord: a well, a weary peasant resting at noon. How truly human was Jesus! 1. How worn was His humanity. He was more weary than His disciples. (1) He had a greater mental strain than they. (2) He had a weariness they knew not of. 2. His self-denials even then were remarkable. (1) He would in all points be made like unto His brethren. (2) He would not exempt Himself from fatigue. (3) He would not work a miracle for His own refreshment. (4) He would not refuse to bear heat, thirst, exhaustion. 3. He has thus made Himself able to sympathize with (1) The traveller who rests by the road-side. 37
- 38. (2) The labourerworn out with toil. (3) The sufferer who feels pain. (4) The poor man who must rest on a cold stone, and look for refreshment to the public fountain. (5) The weary mind. I. LET YOUR CONSCIENCE DRAW A SPIRITUAL PICTURE OF YOUR WEARIED SAVIOUR. He is wearied with our 1. Sins (Isa_43:24). 2. Formal worship (Isa_1:14). 3. Errings through unbelief (Psa_95:10). 4. Resistance of His Spirit (Isa_63:10). 5. Cavillings and rebellions (Mal_2:17). Perhaps we have specially wearied the Lord, as we read in Amo_2:13, where singular provocations are mentioned. That is a grave question asked by the prophet Isaiah (vii. 13). II. LET YOUR CONSCIENCE DRAW A SPIRITUAL PICTURE OF YOUR WAITING SAVIOUR. He waits 1. For comers to the well: He seizes on all occasions to bless, such as affliction, the hearing of the Word, the recurrence of a birthday, or even the simplest event of life. Men have other errands; they come to the well only to draw water, but the Lord meets them with His greater errand. 2. For the most sinful: she that had five husbands. 3. To enlighten, convince, convert. 4. To accept and to commission. 5. To begin by one convert the ingathering of a great harvest. How long He has waited for some of you! At how many points has He been on the outlook for you? Is He not waiting for you at this very hour? Will you not yield to His patient love? III. LET YOUR PENITENCE DRAW ANOTHER PICTURE. Alter the position of the character. 1. Be yourself weary of your sinful way. 2. Sit down on the well of your Lord’s gracious ordinances. 3. Wait and watch till your Saviour conies. 4. Ask Him to give you to drink, and, in so doing, give Him to drink, for this is His best refreshment. 5. Drink yourselves of the living water and then run to tell others. Conclusion: Will you not do this at once? May His Holy Spirit so direct you! (C. H. Spurgeon,) The weary pilgrim 1. If now, with all the comforts of tent and equipage, the modern traveller finds locomotion oppressive and exhausting, what must it have been to Christ with no 38
- 39. aid but thestaff and rough sandal? 2. It is in such incidental occurrences that our Lord’s humanity and condescension are most touchingly exemplified. 3. He worked miracles for others, never for Himself. 4. My Saviour is my brother. He took not on Him the nature of angels. (1) Because angelic nature is a Spiritual essence and incapable of corporeal suffering. (2) Because He could not then have participated in feeling with those He came to redeem. 5. But my Saviour is my Lord or He could never have relieved my want. I. Let the WEARY WITH LIFE’S JOURNEY, with pain, travail, and loneliness consider Him, lest they be weary and faint in their souls. II. Let the WEARY WITH SIN who have come up through hot valleys of temptation, and are now sitting by poisoned wells, the pitcher broken at the cistern, the zest of life gone, without shelter, hear Him say, “Come unto Me and I will give you rest,” III. Let those WEARY WITH THE BURDEN AND HEAT OF THE DAY IN THE MIDST OF THEIR LIFE’S CALLING, in manhood’s sixth hour, one half of existence over, hasten to Him, lest the valley of death, like the valley of Shechem, be close at hand while the fountain of life is neglected. Conclusion. You are Spiritually between the Ebal of courses and the Gerizim of blessings—Which are you to choose? (J. R. Macduff, D. D.) Christ in His human weakness and Divine exaltation I. WEARY AND YET THE REST OF A WEARY SOUL. II. THIRSTY AND YET A FOUNTAIN. III. HUNGRY AND YET ENJOYING HEAVENLY FOOD. IV. LEFT ALONE AND YET IN SPIRIT SURROUNDED WITH APPROACHING NATIONS. (Lange.) Weariness and work 1. This world is a place of weariness through sin; but love is a weariness that heaven approves, that of the Shepherd seeking the lost sheep. 2. There is a great mystery in this weariness: for the weary man was God; but He was weary that we might have rest. I. CHRIST’S WEARINESS AS IT REFLECTS OUR OWN. 1. Christ was weary in His work, not of it. 2. We need not be surprised, therefore, if we are weary. 3. When so, wait upon Him to renew thy strength. II. WEARINESS CAN BE PUT TO PURPOSE. 1. Under the most unlikely circumstances God can bring us work and refreshment at the same time. Christ had to all appearance turned His back on His work; but He had not, and when He seemed most unfit He did it most 39
- 40. effectively. So Paulwas taken from work to prison, but then he was instrumental in the jailers conversion. 2. The willing heart will often create its own opportunities. Christ was weary but watchful. A willing heart can find its work at any time and place. We think we could do more were we better placed. But Christ says, “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much.” 3. An earnest mind will avail itself of small opportunities, and through little things become really great. Christ was contented with a congregation of one. He did not preach sensational sermons, but sermons which created a sensation. He spake as earnestly to one as to a thousand. III. CHRIST ASKS US THROUGH HIS WEARY REPRESENTATIVES TO MINISTER TO HIS WEARINESS. The poor, sick, widows, orphans, overworked pastors, etc., in Christ’s name cry, “Give me to drink.” (W. Poole Balfern.) The realness of the scene By a singular fate this authentic and expressive memorial of the earliest dawn of Jewish history became the memorial no less authentic and expressive of its sacred close. Of all the special localities of our Lord’s life in Palestine, this is almost the only one absolutely undisputed. By the edge of the well, in the touching language of the ancient hymn, “Quoereus me, sedisti lassus.” Here He halted, as travellers still halt, in the noon or evening of the day. Up that valley His disciples “went away into the city.” Down the same gorge came the woman to draw water, according to the unchanged custom of the East; which still, in the lively concourse of veiled figures round the wayside wells, reproduce the image of Rebekah, and Rachel, and Zipporah. Above them, as they talked, rose “this mountain” of Gerizim, crowned by the Temple, of which vestiges still remain, where the Samaritan sect “said men ought to worship,” and to which still, after so many centuries, their descendants turn as to the only sacred spot in the universe: the strongest example of local worship in the world, where the sacredness of local worship was declared to be at an end. And round about them spread far and wide the noble plain of waving corn. It was still winter or early spring, “four months yet to the harvest;” and the bright golden ears had not yet “whitened” their unbroken expanse of verdure. He gazed upon them; and we almost seem to see how the glorious vision of the Gentile world, with each successive turn in the conversation, unfolded itself more and more distinctly before Him, as He sate absorbed in the opening prospect, silent amidst His silent and astonished disciples. (Dean Stanley.) Jacob’s welt an emblem of the sanctuary Note that I. NO GOOD DEEDS ARE EVER DONE IN VAIN, AND THAT THEY HAVE POWER TO BLESS MANY AGES TO COME. 1. None can measure his power for good. Influence may be mightier after death than in life. When Jacob dug that well, he little thought of the multitudes for whose refreshment he was providing, or of this sacred incident. Do you think the discoverer of printing foresaw the penny newspaper, or Columbus New York, and Boston, and Chicago? God watches over good efforts, and influences to bless 40
- 41. them. 2. But ifJacob knew not all his well would do, he knew it would bless. How like a well is a gospel sanctuary! Look at the desert all around—how refreshing this spot in contrast. Here the weary find rest, the thirsty water. 3. Churches, like wells (1) are made by man’s effort, but filled with God’s gift; (2) Are not stagnant pools but living springs? II. JESUS STILL REFRESHES HIMSELF AT WELLS BUILT BY HIS PEOPLE. 1. What was it that refreshed Him here? “My meat,” etc. 2. And Jesus still comes into our sanctuaries, and asks for small gifts of love as the return for His own greater love. He is yearning to find satisfaction in souls— waiting to see the full fruits of His servants efforts to save men. 3. How grateful was Jesus for this seat. He commanded John to record this gratitude. None of us will ever regret anything done to please Jesus. 4. You say, if I had seen Him, I would have invited Him to my home. Have you opened you heart to the heavenly Guest? III. THIS WELL IS CHRIST’S APPOINTED PLACE TO MEET UNSATISFIED SOULS. 1. He was there before the woman, waiting for her, and thoughtfully sent away the disciples that no restraint might check her conversation. Has He not promised to meet His people in His house? Have you not often said, “It was as though the preacher knew all my circumstances.” 2. That woman, often like ourselves, little expected to find her Saviour. 3. She left her water-pot, and how often have you left your burdens. IV. THIS WELL IS THE PLACE FOR QUIET FREE CONVERSATION WITH THE SAVIOUR, where Christ wants to enlighten, refresh, and pardon. (R. H.Lovell.) Why religious ordinances are sometimes unprofitable The ordinances of religion are compared to wells of water; but then they are like Jacob’s well. The water lies far below the surface, and to the man of the world, the mere professor of religion, who has the name but not the faith of a Christian, we may say, as the woman said to our Lord, “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.” Faith is, as it were, the rope, and our souls the vessels, which we let down into this well to fill them with living water. But that they do no good to some forms no reason why we should despise or neglect ordinances. It is no fault in the bread that, thrust between a dead man’s teeth, it does not nourish him. Water will revive a withering, but not a withered, plant; wine will revive a dying, but not a dead, man; the breath of your mouth, or the breeze of heaven, will rekindle the smouldering coal, but not the cold, grey ashes of the hearth. And it is only spiritual life that can derive benefit from such ordinances as are intended to revive the faint and give strength to the weary. (D. Guthrie, D. D.) The ordinances necessary 41
- 42. Christ is thewell of the water of life. It is by faith the soul reaches out after this living water, Faith is the soul’s muscular action, by which the water is drawn up and brought into use. But faith needs as an implement those means which Christ has appointed. These means are the pitcher in which the water is conveyed. Faith is not a Christ; neither are sacraments a Christ; but faith (under all circumstances) and sacraments where they may be had, are necessary to the appropriation and enjoyment of Christ. (Dean Goulburn.) Influence after death It is related of a broker in one of the Italian cities that his strict economy brought on him the reputation of miserliness. He lived plainly and poorly, and at his death a hundred thousand men in the city were ready to curse him until his will was opened, in which he declared that early his heart was touched with the sufferings of the poor in the city for the lack of water. Springs there were none, and the public wells were bad; and he had spent his life in accumulating a fortune that should be devoted to bringing, by an aqueduct, from the neighbouring mountains, streams that should pour abundantly into the baths and dwellings of the poor of the city; and he not only denied himself of many of the comforts of life, but toiled by day and by night, yea, and bore obloquy, that he might bless his fellow-citizens. He is dead; but those streams pour their health yet into the city. (H. W. Beecher.) Value of a well in the East When we remember that in the land where most of the Scriptures were written there was, for the greater part of the year, but burning and scorching heat; that there was no winter, as we understand the term; that water was as precious as gold; and that the digging of a well was the work of kings and princes; that shadow was a luxury, to attain which hours of sore and weary travelling were accounted well spent—we can understand the beauty and force of such figures as Jesus uses in speaking to the woman of Samaria. Digging a well rendered a man the benefactor of his race. “Canst thou do more than dig a well?” was the meaning of the woman’s question to Jesus. (H. W. Beecher.) Topography of Jacob’s well and neighbourhood As the well is near magnificent springs gushing from the roots of Gerizim, and flowing to the East, the Patriarch’s task in sinking so deep a well and building a wall round it, can only be explained by the jealousy which the Canaanites, like all Eastern peoples, regarded their own springs. To have trusted to these would have been to invite trouble. It was, therefore, much better for Jacob to have a well of his own, so as to be independent. This well lies a little off the road, on the right hand. There is nothing visible now above ground. A little chapel, about twenty feet long, once built over the well, has long ago fallen; its stones lying about in heaps. The ground slopes up to the fragments of the broken-down wall. The church dates from the fifth century, but, except these stones, the only traces of it are some remains of tessellated pavements and carvings, which are hidden beneath the rubbish. Over the well is a large stone, with a round hole in the middle, large enough for the skin buckets of the peasantry to pass down. This stone is probably as old as the twelfth century. The mouth Isa_7:5 feet across, and its depth, which some centuries ago was 105 feet, is still about 75 feet, though for ages every visitor has thrown down stones to hear the 42
- 43. echo when theystrike the bottom. It is cut through a thick bed of soil, and then through soft rock; the water filtering through the sides to the depth occasionally of 12 feet, though it is dry sometimes for years together. It is thus rather a “beer” or rain pit than a spring well; hence, the contrast between “this water” and “living water.” Our Lord must have sat with His face towards the S.W., since He speaks of Gerizim as “this mountain.” Around Him were the same sights as are before the visitor of to- day—the rich valley running up westward towards Shechem, with a rippling streamlet in its centre; the groves that border the town hiding the houses from view; the heights of Gerizim, towering in rounded masses one over another to a great height, close before Him on the south. Mount Ebal, steep but terraced almost to the top into gardens of prickly pear, lay behind them; the little hamlet of Balata, where Abraham’s altar once stood under the sacred tree; the mud huts of Sychar; a little village now called Askar, not half as far off as Shechem, and the dome of Joseph’s tomb being at its foot. To the east, beyond the great plain, was Salim, near to AEnon, where the Baptism preached, and the wooded Hill of Phinehas, with the tomb of the once fiery high priest. (C. Geikie, D. D.) The interior of the well Some men were set to work to clear out the mouth of the well, which was being rapidly covered up. A chamber had been excavated to the depth of ten feet, and in the floor of the chamber was the mouth of the well, like the mouth of a bottle, and just wide enough to admit a man’s body. We lowered a candle down the well and found the air perfectly good, and after the usual amount of noise and talking among the workmen and idlers, I was lashed with a good rope round the waist, and a loop for my feet, and lowered through the mouth of the well by some trusty Arabs, directed by my friend, Mr. Falcher, the Protestant missionary. The sensation was novel and disagreeable. The numerous knots in the rope continued to tighten and to creak, and after having passed through the narrow mouth I found myself suspended in a cylindrical chamber, in shape and proportion not unlike that of the barrel of a gun. The twisting of the rope caused me to revolve as I was being lowered, which produced giddiness, and there was the additional unpleasantness of vibrating from side to side, and touching the sides of the well. I suddenly heard the people from the top shouting to tell me that I had reached the bottom, so when I began to move I found myself lying on my back at the bottom of the well: looking up at the mouth the opening seemed like a star. It was fortunate that I had been securely lashed to the rope, as I had fainted during the operation of lowering. The well is seventy.five feet deep, seven feet six inches diameter, and is lined throughout with rough masonry, as it is dug in alluvial soil. The bottom of the well was perfectly dry at this time of the year (the month of May), and covered with loose stones. There was a little pitcher lying at the bottom unbroken, and this was an evidence of there being water in the well at some seasons, as the pitcher would have been broken had it fallen upon the stones. It is probable that the well was very much deeper in ancient times, for in ten years it had decreased ten feet in depth. Every one visiting the well throw stones down for the satisfaction of hearing them strike the bottom, and in this way, as well as from the debres of the ruined church built over the well during the fourth century, it has become filled up to probably more than a half of its original death. (Lieut. S. Anderson, R. E.) Jacob’s well a type Now Jacob’s well was there. The Samaritans were infinitely corrupt in their doctrine 43
- 44. and worship, yetthey had the fountain of the Mosaic doctrine among them. They had received the Pentateuch, and worshipped God according to Jacob’s rites, and the letter of Moses’ law. But the letter without the spirit is dead. The stagnant well of water, becoming muddy by agitation, and corrupt by lying undisturbed, is inferior for use and gratification, and is not like the running water of the living spring, which continually freshens itself, and runs itself clear, and is always replenishing itself in purity and copiousness, for use and enjoyment. A greater than Abraham, or Jacob, or Moses, must give them this spring. Jacob’s children, after the flesh, drank of that well, but his spiritual children, and they only, should drink of this water. (L. R. Bosanquet.) Christ and the woman of Samaria I. THE SAVIOUR AS A JEWISH TRAVELLER. Observe three things. 1. The simplicity and humbleness of His life. He comes to this earth as a poor man. Learn from this: (1) That poverty is perfectly compatible with extensive religious usefulness. (2) That religion in particular cases imposes much labour on its disciples. (3) Those who wish to study the Scriptures, must study and labour hard too. 2. The superiority of moral to bodily pleasures. Our Saviour was thirsty, but we do not read that He immediately quenched His thirst. 3. In our Saviour a beautiful instance of amiableness and general benevolence. II. THE VIEW GIVEN OF OUR SAVIOUR AS A DIVINE TEACHER. “Sir, I perceive Thou art a prophet!” What did He teach? 1. He instructed the woman in divine worship. 2. Let us look on the same subject in another form, and consider the Saviour as giving the doctrine of worship. 3. And worship of God should be in accordance with His nature and character. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must do so in spirit and in truth. Our Saviour had in view the overthrow of three great errors: one is atheism. The next error is idolatry. The other error at that time in reference to God and His worship was pantheism. 4. The other lesson our Lord Jesus Christ taught this woman was, He told her all that ever she had done. III. THE THIRD LIGHT IN WHICH JESUS MANIFESTED HIMSELF, WAS AS THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD. Here He spiritualizes the scene, and represents Himself as possessing that which was essential to the happiness of men—living water. (Caleb Morris.) The appropriateness of the place for the purpose Not inappropriate, surely, was it that He should occupy a spot beneath the shadow of Gerizim, “the mountain of blessing;” He Himself about to become so, in a nobler sense, to an outcast, “the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” (J. R.Macduff, D. D.) 44
- 45. Sat thus onthe well—The adverb may designate the attitude of a man who is there, awaiting what God will say; or it reproduces the notion of fatigue; thoroughly worn out with fatigue, as He was; or perhaps it signifies, without any preparation, taking things as He found them. (F. Godet, D. D.) The sixth hour.—I think that the “sixth hour,” in the text before us, means twelve o’clock, for the following reasons. 1. It seems exceedingly improbable that St. John would reckon time in a manner different to the other three gospel-writers. 2. It is by no means clear that the Romans did reckon time in our way, and not in the Jewish way. When the Roman poet, Horace, describes himself as lying late in bed in a morning, he says, “I lie till the fourth hour.” He must surely mean ten o’clock, and not four in the afternoon. 3. It is entirely a gratuitous assumption to say that no woman ever came to draw water except in the evening. There must surely be exceptions to every rule. The fact of the woman coming alone, seems of itself to indicate that she came at an unusual hour, and not in the evening. 4. Last, but not least, it seems far more probable that our Lord would hold a conversation alone with such a person as the Samaritan woman at twelve o’clock in the day, than at six o’clock in the evening. The conversation was not a very short one. Then the woman goes away to the city, and tells the men what has happened, and they all come out to the well to see Jesus. Yet by this time, in all reasonable probability, it would be quite dark, and the night would have begun. And yet, after all this, our Lord says to the disciples, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields” (Joh_4:35). There is a special seemliness in the fact that our Lord held His conversation with such a person as this Samaritan woman at noon, day. When He talked to Nicodemus, in the preceding chapter, we are told that it was at night. But when He talked to a woman of impure life, we are carefully told that it was twelve o’clock in the day. I see in this fact a beautiful carefulness to avoid even the appearance of evil, which I shall entirely miss if the sixth hour meant six o’clock in the evening. I see even more than this. I see a lesson to all ministers and teachers of the gospel, about the right mode of carrying on the work of trying to do good to souls like that of the Samaritan woman. Like their Master, they must be careful about times and hours, especially if they work alone. If a man will try to do good to a person like the Samaritan woman, alone and without witnesses, let him take heed that be walks in his Master’s footsteps, both as to the time of his proceedings as well as to the message he delivers. (Bp. Ryle.) The self-abnegation of Christ In the case of Nicodemus, He was ready to give him the time set for rest; here He does the same when tired and thirsty at noon. (C. E. Luthardt, D. D.) There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water Connection between the conversations with the woman of Samaria and 45
- 46. with Nicodemus I. THEREIS A STRIKING CONTRAST AND COMPLEMENT BETWEEN THE TWO. The woman, the Samaritan, the sinner, is placed over against the Rabbi, the ruler of the Jews, the Pharisee. The nature of worship takes the place of the necessity of the new birth; yet so that either truth leads up to the other. The new birth is the condition of entrance into the kingdom; true worship flows from Christ’s gift. II. THERE IS A REMARKABLE SIMILARITY OF METHOD in Christ’s teaching in the two cases. Immediate circumstances, the wind and the water, furnished present parables, through which deeper thoughts were suggested, fitted to call out the powers and feelings of a sympathetic listener. III. THE MODE IN WHICH OUR LORD DEALT WITH THE WOMAN finds a parallel in the synoptic gospels (Luk_7:37, etc.; comp. Mat_26:6, etc.). The other scattered notices of the Lord’s intercourse with women form a fruitful subject for study (Joh_11:1-57; Joh 20:14, etc:; Mat_9:20 and parallels, Mat_15:22, etc., and parallels, Mat_27:55 and parallels, Mat_28:9, etc.; Luk_8:2, etc., Mat_10:38, etc., Mat_11:27, etc., Mat_13:11, etc.). (Bp. Westcott.) Christ and the woman I. A MEMORABLE INTERVIEW DESCRIBED (Joh_4:7-8). 1. Memorable to Jesus. (1) For the place where it occurred: Jacob’s well, a scene of loveliness and fertility, marred only by the city of liars or drunkards; a spot consecrated by sacred memories. (2) For the time when it happened—at noon in Midsummer—an unusual season and hour; at the close of a long journey in obedience to His Father’s will; at a moment of weariness and loneliness and perhaps sadness at having to leave Judaea; waiting for the next opportunity. 2. Memorable to the woman. Because of (1) The person she met. (2) The truths to which she listened. (3) The discoveries she made. (4) The treasures she found. 3. Memorable to the Evangelist. On account of (1) The insight it afforded into Christ’s character. (2) The light it cast upon the work. (3) The prospect it opened of the ultimate triumph of the kingdom of God. II. A PROFITABLE CONVERSATION OPENED. 1. A simple request preferred (Joh_4:7); natural (Jdg_4:19); moderate 1Ki_ 17:20); courteous (Psa_45:2; Luk_5:22); condescending (Mat_11:27); honouring the woman; gracious. 2. An astonishing answer returned (verse9). Persons of narrow intelligence generally surprised to find others capable of throwing off prejudice. 46
- 47. 3. An importanttruth announced (verse10). What keeps men from becoming Christians is ignorance (Eph_4:18) (1) Of God’s gift (Joh_7:39; Act_2:38); (2) Of Him through whom that gift is offered (Joh_8:19; 1Co_2:8); (3) Of the terms upon which it can be secured: by asking (Mat_7:7; Jas_4:3) freely (Isa_55:1); (4) Of the certain success of every application, Christ denying none who Joh_ 6:37; Rev_21:6); and (5) Of the value of the gift (Joh_7:38-39; Rom_8:2; 2Co_3:6; Gal_6:18). (T. Whitelaw, D. D.) The drawer of water I. WHAT BRINGS HER THERE? The distance was a mile and a half, and much nearer were two copious fountains as old as the Canaanites, besides springs in and around the city. The hour, too, was peculiar. It is only the wayfarer or caravan that pause at noon for refreshment. Moreover, it was not the public well of the city, because there was no accommodation for drawing water. The answer is a superstitious virtue supposed to attach to the well. In Europe we have many monasteries and shrines reared around sacred fountains, to which pilgrims resort. The objection to this, grounded on the profligacy of the woman, is answered by the fact that abject superstition is often allied with licentiousness; as in the case of many Mohammedans, Roman Catholics, and Hindoos. II. THE GUIDING HAND WHICH BROUGHT HER AT THAT TIME. Nothing, in an earthly sense, was more purely accidental. Who can doubt that all unknown and unforeseen by her it was one of those ordinary every-day providences of God which we are compelled to believe if we would unriddle the mystery of the world. The same” needs be” which brought the Redeemer there brought also her. The same truth is often illustrated in our individual histories. Events apparently trivial and unimportant form the mighty levers of life shifting our whole future. (J. R. Macduff; D. D.) The woman of Samaria Though this woman was a sinner, her coming forth to draw water herself was commendable. It is the devil that meets with us when we are idle. The angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds while they were keeping watch over their flocks by night. Matthew was called at the receipt of custom. Peter, and Andrew, his brother, were fishing; James the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, were mending their nets, when called by the Saviour. Elisha was ploughing when Elijah cast his mantle upon him, and said, “Follow me.” Saul was seeking his father’s asses when he met with Samuel, who anointed him king over Israel. How favourable the season! “His disciples were gone away into the city, to buy meat.” How unsuitable would company have been in a case like this. There is business that can only be tranacted between God and the soul. How often does religion take its rise from solitude. It teaches us what He is in Himself; “The gift of God”; by way of emphasis and distinction. It teaches us what He has to bestow; “living water.” It teaches us how we are to obtain this blessedness of Him. We must ask: nothing less is required, nothing more. It teaches us the reason why men do not apply to Him. It is because they do not know 47
- 48. Him. It isin religion as it is in nature, the understanding sways the will and the affections. “Wisdom is the principal thing”; therefore we are to “get wisdom, and with all our getting to get understanding.” And hence we see the difference between this woman and blind Bartimeus, on a similar occasion. Bartimeus was sitting by the wayside begging, when Jesus was passing by—but he knew that it was Jesus; and therefore he cried, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.” “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (W. Jay.) Give Me to drink The thirsting Saviour I. A TESTIMONY TO THE TRUE HUMANITY OF OUR LORD. In His spiritual thirst for the woman’s salvation we must not lose sight of His natural thirst. Christ was thoroughly human. Grasping this we see 1. His ability to suffer death. 2. The power of His example. 3. His kinship with us. 4. His sympathy for us. II. AN IMPLICATION OF HIS DEITY. 1. Had He been a man claiming Divine powers would He have asked for water? A pretender would have attempted a miracle. 2. His Godlike reserve. Christ is never prodigal of miracles because conscious of the fulness of His Divine power. He uses natural means whenever they can serve His purposes. III. AN INSTANCE OF THE FREENESS AND GREATNESS OF HIS LOVE TO SINNERS. 1. The woman embodied all that could excite the aversion of a Jew. (1) Her Samaritan birth rendered her an object of sectarian hatred, (2) Her sex forbade a rabbi to be familiar with her. (3) Her loose life would have brought down the contempt of a Pharisee. 2. But Christ had no national animosity, sectarian bigotry, professional dignity, or self-righteous loathing. 3. He sees a lost soul in whom longings for better things have not been wholly stifled and sets Himself to save her. IV. A LESSON OF WISDOM, TACT, AND ZEAL IN SAVING SOULS. 1. Christ suits His method to individual characters and circumstances—touching with equal ease the two extremes of society. 2. He seizes trifling opportunities. 3. He sets a signal example of turning secular things to sacred uses. 4. The lesson He here teaches can only be learned by practice. 5. The encouragement to learn this lesson is that our wise and Divinely-directed 48
- 49. efforts in smallmatters may yield rich results. V. AN EMBLEM OF HIS THIRST TO SAVE SINNERS. 1. This was deeper than His spiritual craving. 2. He thirsts now for you. 3. This thirst can only be quenched by your surrender. (A. Warrack, M. A.) Christ’s request In this notice I. A GRACIOUS ACT OF SPIRITUAL AGGRESSION ON A SINNER. He did not wait for the woman to speak to Him, but was the first to begin conversation. II. AN ACT OF MARVELLOUS CONDESCENSION. He by whom all things were made, the Creator of fountains, brooks, and rivers, is not ashamed to ask a draught of water from the hand of one of His sinful creatures. III. AN ACT FULL OF WISDOM AND PRUDENCE. He does not at once force religion on the attention of the woman, and rebuke her for her sins. He begins with a subject apparently indifferent, and yet one of which the woman’s mind was doubtless full. He asks bet for water. IV. AN ACT FULL OF THE NICEST TACT, and exhibiting perfect knowledge of the human mind. He asks a favour, and puts Himself under an obligation. No line of proceeding, it is well known to all wise people, would be more likely to conciliate the woman’s feelings towards Him and to make her willing to hear His teaching. Simple as the request was, it contains principles which deserve the closest attention of all who desire to do good to ignorant and thoughtless sinners. (Bp. Ryle.) Christ abolishing prejudices I. OF THE ANCIENTS AGAINST THE FEMALE SEX. II. OF STATUTE AGAINST THE FALLEN. III. OF NATIONALITY AGAINST AN ALIEN RACE. IV. OF RELIGION AGAINST SEPARATISM AND HERESY. (Lange.) The conference Each one of us must come to have a personal dealing with Christ. 1. It may be at one of the crisis-hours of existence. 2. It may be at a dying hour. 3. It must be at the day of Judgment. I. CHRIST OFTEN COMES AND SPEAKS UNEXPECTEDLY. When the woman left her home she never dreamed of this interview. Christ often comes 1. In sudden sicknesses. 2. Sudden reverses. 49
- 50. 3. Sudden sanctuaryvisitations. II. CHRIST OFTEN COMES AND SPEAKS TO THE SINNER WHEN ALONE. Had the woman come with other females at the customary evening hour this conversation would have been impossible. So in another case (chap. 8:9, 10). III. CHRIST OFTEN SPEAKS IN THE MIDST OF THE ORDINARY DUTIES OF LIFE. So with the apostles. Christ thus puts His seal on life’s daily drudgery. (J. R.Macduff, D. D.) Chance in the Divine economy Here, then, we have an instance of what appeared to be chance, and what was chance as much as any human affairs can be so, being made subservient to a great and beneficial end. It was with no design of meeting the woman that Christ passed through Samaria, nor did He sit down by the well because He knew she would repair thither, but because He was weary; neither did the disciples go into the city that Christ might be left alone for this interview, but to buy meat; nor did the woman go to the well to meet a teacher and to receive instruction, but to draw water. The coincidences were all of them unconnected with each other. And this is what in common language we properly enough call chance. But in all such cases, though on the part of man the circumstances and results are undesigned and accidental, on the part of God they are foreknown and fore-ordained. (J. Fawcett, M. A.) The real significance of the woman’s coming to Christ As at the memorable scene of patriarchal days the ark of the testimony was placed between the adjacent hills, so now did the true Ark stand between her and the Ebal of curses directing and conducting her up to the mountain of blessing, and saying, “Woman, thy sins are forgiven thee.” Shechem, her ordinary dwelling-place, was one of the old cities of refuge. She may possibly have seen with her own eyes the manslayer hastening with fleet foot along the plain of Mokhna up the narrow valley she had just traversed to be safe within the appointed walls from the avenger of blood. That Old Testament institution and type had, in the Adorable Person standing by her side, a nobler meaning and fulfilment. Though all unconscious at the moment of her peril and danger, He was to her the great antitypical Refuge from the avenging sword of that law which she had so flagrantly outraged in heart and life. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.) The Jewish treatment of women It is worth noting that this freedom of speech between man and woman was condemned by the rabbins. One rabbinic precept is: “Prolong not speech with a woman”; a later edition reads: “One’s own wife is meant—how much less the wife of another”; and a third statement goes so far as to intimate perilous consequences in the next world for those who disregard this injunction. The Talmud declares it scandalous for a man to talk to a woman on the street; and women were prohibited from keeping schools because that would imply consultation with the fathers of their scholars. (S. S. Times.) 50
- 51. The revolution Christeffected in the treatment of women If proof were needed of a strange abnormal disturbance in the history of the human race, it would be found in the treatment woman has received at the hands of society. Throughout the animal world the female sex is treated with consideration. Among birds and beasts the female is never systematically maltreated. This occurs only among men. The Saviour, however, in the unsullied purity of His manhood, brushed aside as cobwebs all social regulations which tended to degrade or oppress women. But He could not do it without exciting the wonderment even of those who knew Him best. Notwithstanding her life of illicit indulgence, the Saviour enters into earnest holy conversation with her. We have an account also of So, rates once holding a parley with the “strange woman.” What is the purpose of his conversation? Does he endeavour to reclaim her? Nay; he only teaches her how to ply her infamous trade with greater success, furnishing her, out of his deep knowledge of human nature, with new foibles wherewith to entrap the unwary. In extenuation of his offence it has been alleged that he was only making an experiment with his much-vaunted “method.” Maybe; but it conclusively proves that he had no adequate conception of the gross turpitude of moral evil, and that he was animated by no strong desire to win back to virtue those who had fallen from feminine integrity. What infinite distance separates the conversation of Socrates with the courtesan from the conversation of Christ with the Samaritan woman! (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.) Christ’s gentleness with the fallen A hawthorn, near Glastonbury Church, one of the oldest churches within these realms, was reported to bud and blossom in midwinter; whereas the bushes and trees round about looked bare and naked, this particular one appeared clad in beauty. What was the cause of its flowering in mid-winter? Tradition answered that Joseph of Arimathaea, the supposed first missionary of Christianity to Britain, and the accredited founder of the Glastonbury Church, touched it one day in passing with the fringe of his garment, whereupon extraordinary virtue flowed into the bush, and it forthwith blossomed. What is not true naturally may be true spiritually. Let men of prickly characters, the cantankerous thorns of humanity, be gently brushed by the hand of love, and forthwith they will flower in all the beauty of holiness. (J. Cynddylan Jones, D. D.) Soul-winning tact A colporteur entered an Austrian shop. He relates: “A little girl asked me what I wanted. ‘I have Bibles to sell.’ The little girl brought word that her parents had plenty of books, and would rather sell than buy. This led me to a little more boldness in my attack. I walked in a little nearer, and talking to some one supposed to be in the room, I explained what my books were. ‘My husband is a Roman Catholic,’ was the reply; ‘he would object to read the Bible.’ ‘But I am very fond of my Bible; may I just read a short portion to you?’ Within a second room the husband himself was at work. He overheard our conversation and the passages read, and, peeping round the corner, said he would buy a copy. By-and-by a second man issued forth from the inner room. He would also take a copy. A regular talk began, and the people said, ‘Stay and have some dinner with us.’ I did, and we parted capital friends.” (Bible Society Report.) 51
- 52. Tact and kindnesswill win souls At Mr. Moody’s mid-day meeting, a minister rose and said he endorsed all which had gone before, and then related the following incident. “I was holding a mission in a colliery district, and in the course of the morning when I was inviting people to the evening meeting, I knocked at a door and found a woman at the washing-tub. I said to her, ‘I called to tell you I.am holding mission services at such and such a chapel, will you and your family join us?’ ‘Chapel,’ she said; ‘I am up to my eyes in washing. I have three black men coming in, and there’s that wringing machine, I gave fifty shillings for it, and it’s broken the first round.’ She was in a towering passion, and I thought I would not say any more to her, so I took a look at the machine and found it was not broken, but had only slipped out of its gear, so I unscrewed it altogether, and set it right, and then said, ‘Now you have been hindered so I’ll just take a turn at the wringing.’ So I went to work, turn, turn, turn. At last she looked up and said: ‘Where did you say the chapel was?’ I told her. She said: ‘I’ll tell my husband to-night, and we’ll come.’ That woman got blessed, and her husband and all her family, and she turned out the best worker in the village, and there was a blessed work of God in that place. She went from house to house, saying, ‘Come and hear the minister, it’s he as mended the machine!’“ 2 although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. BARNES,"Though Jesus himself baptized not - The reason why Jesus did not baptize was probably because, if He had baptized, it might have made unhappy divisions among his followers: those might have considered themselves most worthy or honored who had been baptized by Him. Compare 1Co_1:17. CLARKE,"Jesus himself baptized not - See Joh_3:22. GILL, "Though Jesus himself baptized not,.... And therefore as Nonnus observes, it was a false report that was made to the Pharisees; at least in part, so far as concerns the act of baptizing: though it may be this is observed, not so much to show the falsehood of that report, as to correct what is said of Christ's baptizing; lest it should be understood, as if he baptized in his own person; whereas he did not, that not so, well comporting with his greatness and majesty: wherefore "the king did not baptize in water", as Nonnus expresses it, but left that for his disciples and servants to do; he had other and greater work to perform, as to preach the Gospel, and work miracles, heal diseases, cast out devils, &c. And besides, had another sort of baptism, of a more excellent nature to administer, namely, the baptism of the Spirit; and since water baptism is administered in his name, as well as in the name of the Father and of the Spirit, it does not seem that it would have been administered with that 52
- 53. propriety by himself,in his own name; add to which, as is also observed by others, it might have occasioned contentions and disputes among the baptized, had some, been baptized by Christ, and others by his disciples; the one valuing themselves on that account, above the others. The Persic version indeed suggests, as if both Christ and his disciples baptized, rendering the words thus, "Jesus was not alone who baptized, but the disciples also baptized": whereas the truth of the matter is, that Christ did not baptize in water at all: but his disciples; they baptized in his name, and by his orders, such who were first made disciples by him. HENRY, "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. I. That he made disciples; he prevailed with many to embrace his doctrine, and to follow him as a teacher come from God. His ministry was successful, notwithstanding the opposition it met with (Psa_110:2, Psa_110:3); mathētas poiei - it signifies the same with mathēteuō - to disciples. Compare Gen_12:5. The souls which they had gotten, which they had made (so the word is), which they had made proselytes. Note, It is Christ's prerogative to make disciples, first to bring them to his foot, and then to form and fashion them to his will. Fit, non nascitur, Christianus - The Christian is made such, not born such. Tertullian. JAMIESON, "Jesus baptized not — John being a servant baptized with his own hand; Christ as the Master, “baptizing with the Holy Ghost,” administered the outward symbol only through His disciples. CALVIN, "2.Though Jesus himself baptized not. He gives the designation of Christ ’s Baptism to that which he conferred by the hands of other, in order to inform us that Baptism ought not to be estimated by the person of the minister, but that its power depends entirely on its Author, in whose name, and by whose authority, it is conferred. Hence we derive a remarkable consolation, when we know that our baptism has no less efficacy to wash and renew us, than if it had been given by the hand of the Son of God. Nor can it be doubted that, so long as he lived in the world, he abstained from the outward administration of the sign, for the express purpose of testifying to all ages, that Baptism loses nothing of its value when it is administered by a mortal man. In short, not only does Christ baptize inwardly by his Spirit, but the very symbol which we receive from a mortal man ought to be viewed by us in the same light as if Christ himself displayed his hand from heaven, and stretched it out to us. Now if the Baptism administered by a man is Christ’s Baptism, it will not cease to be Christ’s Baptism whoever be the minister. And this is sufficient for refuting the Anabaptists, who maintain that, when the minister is a wicked man, the baptism is also vitiated, and, by means of this absurdity, disturb the Church; as Augustine has very properly employed the same argument against the Donatists. 53
- 54. COFFMAN, "(Although Jesushimself baptized not, but his disciples). See under John 3:22-26. An important deduction from the fact of Jesus' many baptisms, none of which were administered by himself personally, yet being referred to as his baptisms and his accomplishment, is this: All who are baptized in obedience to God's specific command, and by the hand of the Lord's disciples in harmony with his will, are truly baptized by Jesus! In the light of this undeniable fact, what becomes of the human allegation that would make of Christian baptism "a work of human righteousness"? It is no such thing, but an act of the Lord himself. ELLICCOTT, "(2) Though Jesus himself baptized not.—This is a correction, not of the writer’s statement, but of the report carried to the Pharisees. The form of the report is quite natural. John did personally baptise, and when multitudes thronged him, it is probable that his disciples assisted. Greater numbers still (John 3:26) were thronging to the baptism administered ministerially by the disciples of Jesus. (Comp. Acts 10:48; Acts 19:5; 1 Corinthians 1:15-17.) They had been drawn to Him by His teaching and miracles in Jerusalem and the country round about, and they spoke of receiving His baptism. But the writer cannot let the report appear in his Gospel without correction. There was a reason which they did not know for the fact that Jesus did not baptise with water, for it was He “which baptiseth with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33). and this power His disciples had not yet received (John 7:39)` 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. BARNES,"He left Judea - The envy and malice of the Pharisees he might have known were growing so rapidly as to endanger his life. As his time to die had not yet come, he retired to Galilee, a country farther from Jerusalem, and much less under their control than Judea. See Mar_2:22; Luk_3:1. Though he feared not death and did not shrink from suffering, yet he did not needlessly throw himself into danger or provoke opposition. He could do as much good in Galilee, probably, as in Judea, and he therefore withdrew himself from immediate danger. GILL, "He left Judaea,.... Where he had been for some time: at the feast of the passover he went up to Jerusalem, and after a short stay there, he came into the country part of Judea, where he tarried longer; and in both about the space of eight months; for it was now but four months to harvest, which began at the passover; see Joh_2:13. And now upon thee Pharisees being made acquainted with his success in these parts, he leaves them; not through fear of them, but because he would not irritate and provoke them, and stir up their malice and envy against him, which 54
- 55. might put themupon measures to seek to take away his life; whereas his time was not yet come, and he had other work to do elsewhere: and departed again into Galilee; where he had spent the greatest part of his time, in private life; from whence he came to Jordan unto John to be baptized by him; and after that went thither again, where he wrought his first miracle: and now having been in Judea some time, he removes to Galilee again; and of this journey of his thither, after the imprisonment of John, an account is given, in Mat_4:12. The Persic version leaves out the word "again", and so do the Alexandrian copy, and many copies; but is by others retained, and very justly. HENRY, "VI. That hereupon our Lord Jesus left Judea and departed again to go to Galilee. 1. He left Judea, because he was likely to be persecuted there even to the death; such was the rage of the Pharisees against him, and such their impious policy to devour the man-child in his infancy. To escape their designs, Christ quitted the country, and went where what he did would be less provoking than just under their eye. For, (1.) His hour was not yet come (Joh_7:30), the time fixed in the counsels of God, and the Old Testament prophecies, for Messiah's being cut off. He had not finished his testimony, and therefore would not surrender or expose himself. (2.) The disciples he had gathered in Judea were not able to bear hardships, and therefore he would not expose them. (3.) Hereby he gave an example to his own rule: When they persecute you in one city, flee to another. We are not called to suffer, while we may avoid it without sin; and therefore, though we may not, for our own preservation, change our religion, yet we may change our place. Christ secured himself, not by a miracle, but in a way common to men, for the direction and encouragement of his suffering people. 2. He departed into Galilee, because he had work to do there, and many friends and fewer enemies. He went to Galilee now, (1.) Because John's ministry had now made way for him there; for Galilee, which was under Herod's jurisdiction, was the last scene of John's baptism. (2.) Because John's imprisonment had now made room for him there. That light being now put under a bushel, the minds of people would not be divided between him and Christ. Thus both the liberties and restraints of good ministers are for the furtherance of the gospel, Phi_1:12. But to what purpose does he go into Galilee for safety? Herod, the persecutor of John, will never be the protector of Jesus. Chemnitius here notes, Pii in hâc vitâ quos fugiant habent; ad quos vero fugiant ut in tuto sint non habent, nisi ad te, Deus, qui solus regugium nostrum es - The pious have those, in this life, to whom they can fly; but they have none to fly to, who can afford them refuge, except thee, O God. JAMIESON, "left Judea — to avoid persecution, which at that early stage would have marred His work. departed into Galilee — by which time John had been cast into prison (Mar_ 1:14). COFFMAN, "Samaria lay between Jerusalem and Galilee, the most direct route, therefore, going through Samaria. The boundaries of Samaria varied in history; but in the time of Christ it was a small province about twenty miles wide, north to south, and about thirty miles long, east to west. The eastern boundary was the Jordan River, and the southern line lay about seven miles south of Shechem. The 55
- 56. capital was thecity of the same name, occupying an impressive butte some six miles northwest of the area where the events of this chapter happened.[1] ENDNOTE: [1] Peloubet, Peloubet's Bible Dictionary (Chicago: The John C. Winston Company, 1925), p. 582. ELLICOTT, "(3) Again.—This word is almost certainly part of the original text, though it is not found in some MSS. Its omission is due to a difficulty of interpretation. What is the previous return into Galilee? The only one mentioned in this Gospel is that of John 1:43. We have had another note of time in John 3:24, from which we learn that this Judæan period of the ministry preceded the imprisonment of John, and therefore the commencement of the Galilean ministry recorded in Matthew 4:12 (see Note there) and Mark 1:14. This second return, then, is the starting-point of the history of our Lord’s work in Galilee as told by the earlier Gospels. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. BARNES,"And he must needs go through Samaria - Samaria was between Judea and Galilee. The direct and usual way was to pass through Samaria. Sometimes, however, the Jews took a circuitous route on the east side of the Jordan. See the notes at Mat_2:22. CLARKE,"And he must needs go through Samaria - Or, It was necessary for him to pass through Samaria: for this plain reason, and no other, because it was the only proper road. Samaria lay northward of Judea, and between the great sea, Galilee, and Jordan; and there was therefore no going from Galilee to Jerusalem but through this province. See the note on Luk_17:11. From Jerusalem to Galilee through Samaria, according to Josephus, was three days’ journey. See his own life. GILL, "And he must needs go through Samaria. Not the city, but the country of Samaria; for the way to Galilee from Judea, lay through the midst of Samaria; nor was there any other way, without going a great way about; see Luk_9:51; and which is also confirmed by Josephus (c): and this accounts for his going through Samaria, consistently with his forbidding his apostles going in the way of the Gentiles, or into any of the cities of the Samaritans; since here was a necessity for it, or otherwise he himself would not have gone, where he forbid his disciples; though the prohibition may be understood, not of barely going into a Samaritan city; for it was lawful for 56
- 57. them, notwithstanding that,to go into one of them, as appears from Joh_4:8; but of going to preach there, Mat_10:5. And besides this necessity, there was another thing that lay upon him, and obliged him to take this tour, and that is, the calling and conversion of a certain woman, and other Samaritans, whom the Father had given to him, and he was to redeem by his blood; and the time of whose effectual calling was now come; and therefore he must needs go this way, and at this particular time. The Arabic and Persic versions represent it, as a purpose and determination in his mind to go this way. HENRY, " We have here an account of the good Christ did in Samaria, when he passed through that country in his way to Galilee. The Samaritans, both in blood and religion, were mongrel Jews, the posterity of those colonies which the king of Assyria planted there after the captivity of the ten tribes, with whom the poor of the land that were left behind, and many other Jews afterwards, incorporated themselves. They worshipped the God of Israel only, to whom they erected a temple on mount Gerizim, in competition with that at Jerusalem. There was great enmity between them and the Jews; the Samaritans would not admit Christ, when they saw he was going to Jerusalem (Luk_9:53); the Jews thought they could not give him a worse name than to say, He is a Samaritan. When the Jews were in prosperity, the Samaritans claimed kindred to them (Ezr_4:2), but, when the Jews were in distress, they were Medes and Persians; see Joseph. Antiq. 11.340-341; 12.257. Now observe, I. Christ's coming into Samaria. He charged his disciples not to enter into any city of the Samaritans (Mat_10:5), that is, not to preach the gospel, or work miracles; nor did he here preach publicly, or work any miracle, his eye being to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. What kindness he here did them was accidental; it was only a crumb of the children's bread that casually fell from the master's table. 1. His road from Judea to Galilee lay through the country of Samaria (Joh_4:4): He must needs go through Samaria. There was no other way, unless he would have fetched a compass on the other side Jordan, a great way about. The wicked and profane are at present so intermixed with God's Israel that, unless we will go out of the world, we cannot avoid going through the company of such, 1Co_5:10. We have therefore need of the armour or righteousness on the right hand and on the left, that we may neither give provocation to them nor contract pollution by them. We should not go into places of temptation but when we needs must; and then we should not reside in them, but hasten through them. Some think that Christ must needs go through Samaria because of the good work he had to do there; a poor woman to be converted, a lost sheep to be sought and saved. This was work his heart was upon, the therefore he must needs go this way. It was happy for Samaria that it lay in Christ's way, which gave him an opportunity of calling on them. When I passed by thee, I said unto thee, Live, Eze_16:6. JAMIESON, "must needs go through Samaria — for a geographical reason, no doubt, as it lay straight in his way, but certainly not without a higher design. CALVIN, "44.For Jesus himself testified. The apparent contradiction which strikes us here at first sight, has given rise to various interpretations. There is an excess of subtlety in the explanation given by Augustine, that Christ was without honor among his own countrymen, because he had done more good among the Samaritans in two days only than he had done, in a long time, among the 57
- 58. Galileans; and because,without miracles, he gained more disciples in Samaria than a great number of miracles had gained him in Galilee. Nor am I satisfied with the view of Chrysostom, who understands Christ’s country to be Capernaum, because he dwelt there more frequently than in any other place. I rather agree with Cyril, who says that he left the city of Nazareth, and departed into a different part of Galilee; for the other three Evangelists mention Nazareth, when they relate this testimony of Christ. The meaning might indeed be that, while the time of full manifestation was not yet come, he chose to remain concealed in his native country, as in a more obscure retreat. Some, too, explain it to mean, that he remained two days in Samaria, because there was no reason why he should hasten to go to a place where contempt awaited him. Others think that he went straight to Nazareth, and immediately left it; but, as John relates nothing of this sort, I do not venture to yield to that conjecture. A more correct view of it is, that when he saw himself despised in his native city Nazareth, he rather withdrew to another place. And, therefore, it immediately follows (verse 46) that he came into the town of Cana. What is next added — that the Galileans received him — was a token of reverence, not of contempt. A Prophet hath no honour in his own country. I have no doubt that this saying was common, and had passed into a proverb; (88) and we know that proverbs are intended to be a graceful expression of what commonly and most frequently ( ἐπὶ τὸ πολὶ) happens. In such cases, therefore, it is not necessary that we should rigidly demand uniform accuracy, as if what is stated in a proverb were always true. It is certain that prophets are usually more admired elsewhere than in their own country. Sometimes, too, it may happen, and in reality does happen, that a prophet is not less honored by his countrymen than by strangers; but the proverb states what is common and ordinary, that prophets receive honor more readily in any other place than among their own countrymen. Now this proverb, and the meaning of it, may have a twofold origin; for it is a universal fault, that those whom we have heard crying in the cradle, and whom we have seen acting foolishly in their boyhood, are despised by us throughout their whole life, as if they had made no progress, since they were boys. To this is added another evil — envy, which prevails more among acquaintances. But I think it probable that the proverb arose from this circumstance, that Prophets were so ill-treated by their own nation; for good and holy men, when they perceived that there was in Judea so great ingratitude towards God, so great contempt of his word, so great obstinacy, might justly utter this complaint, that nowhere are the Prophets of God less honored than in their own country. If the former meaning be preferred, the name Prophet must be understood generally to denote any teacher, as Paul calls Epimenides a prophet of the Cretians, (Titus 1:12.) ELLICOTT, "(4) He must needs go through Samaria—i.e., following the shortest and most usual road, and the one we find Him taking from Galilee to Jerusalem (Luke 9:52; see Note there). Josephus spoke of this as the customary way of the Galileans going up during the feasts at Jerusalem (Ant. xx. 6, § 1). The Pharisees, indeed, took the longer road through Peræa, to avoid contact with the country and people of Samaria, but it is within the purpose of His life and 58
- 59. work (“needs go,”i.e., was necessary that He should go) to teach in Samaria, as in Judæa, the principles of true religion and worship, which would cut away the foundations of all local jealousies and feuds, and establish for all nations the spiritual service of the universal Father (John 4:21-24). COKE, "John 4:4-5. And he must needs go through Samaria.— In his way to Galilee, Jesus was obliged to pass through Samaria, where one evening, being wearied with his journey, he sat down by Jacob's well, not far from the city of Sychar, which the evangelist tells us was near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his Son Joseph. Now if, as Mr. Maundrell conjectures, the plain beginning at Jacob's well was part of that parcel, Sychar might justly be said to be nigh to it, though it was as far distant as the present Naplosa, which is about a mile from it; but if Sychar in our Lord's time, as is probable, extended further towards the well than Naplosa does at present, the propriety of the evangelist's expression will appear yet more fully. It seems evident, however, from this history, that Sychar was at some distance from the well: for the disciples are said to have gone away into the city to buy meat, John 4:8 while the woman talked with Jesus at the well; and John 4:30 we are told that the Samaritans, on hearing what the woman said concerning Jesus, went out of the city, and came to see him, John 4:40. Besides, that the town was at some distance from the well, seems highly probable from the earnestness wherewith the woman begged Jesus to give her such water as would prevent her from being athirst, and from coming thither to draw. It seems, her coming from the town to the well was a great labour, from which she wished to be free. The name of this place was originally Sichem, but was changed into Sychar by the Jews, as a name of reproach; for Sychar signifies, in the Syriac language, a drunkard and a liar. BURKITT, "Here observe, 1. How wonderfully the wisdom of God overrules the malice of men for his own glory, and the good of others. The malice of the Pharisees in Judea drives Christ into Galilee, and in his passage through Samaria, the first fruits of the Gentiles are called, and particularly the woman of Samaria. Observe, 2. How in every step of Christ's way he was doing good to the souls of men. In his passage through Samaria into Galilee, a poor woman is brought to know him to be the true Messias. Observe, 3. Our holy Lord, in his journeying from place to place, did travel usually on foot; and the weakness of his body, upon travelling, shews him to truly and really man, and in all things like unto us, sin only excepted. Our blessed Lord did not only take upon him our nature, but the infirmities of our nature also. PETT, "‘And he had to pass through Samaria.’ The road through Samaria lies between Judea and Galilee, and although some Jews would take the long way round through Transjordan because they saw Samaria as an unclean land, and they wanted to avoid the danger of becoming 59
- 60. ‘unclean’ as aresult of the failure of many in Samaria to follow rigid rules of ritual cleanliness, Jesus clearly did not see this as applying to Him. ‘He had to pass’ . ‘Edei’ - ‘it was necessary’. Was this the divine necessity? (Compare John 3:7; John 3:14; John 3:30; John 4:24; John 9:4; John 10:16; John 12:34; John 20:9). Or was it just the geographical necessity? While there was a recognised longer route to take it would have smacked of racial and religious prejudice. The truth is probably that we are again to take the double meaning. The Gospel is full of these nuances. On His journey He passed through the land of the Samaritans. The Samaritans were a people despised by the Jews, and yet not looked on as Gentiles. It is doubtful if they were descended from the intermixture of the Israelites left in the land when Samaria was sacked in 722 BC, and the people brought in from other lands to replace those who had been deported, with whom they intermarried. They may, however, have been descended from YHWH worshippers who had remained in the land and had come together to form a community in order to preserve their own form of worship. Or they may have resulted from a group who arrived later seeking a home for themselves where they could follow their own religious beliefs. Certainly some of the people left in the land by the Assyrians had at least continued to look to the Temple at Jerusalem (Jeremiah 41:5), but after Judah’s exile, when the Temple was being restored, the Samaritans had offered their help, and had been refused any part in it. They were looked on as being religiously unacceptable. And there is no doubt that their religion was not orthodox Judaism. The hellenisation of that part of the world by Alexander the Great had resulted in the disappearance of most people in the region into the mass of hellenists. The Samaritans stood out among them, being centred around Shechem and following a distorted form of Yahwism. Certainly it seems that the later ‘Samaritans’ were connected with the area around Shechem (Sirach 50:26; 2 Maccabees 5:22 on; John 6:2), and one of Josephus’ sources describes them as ‘Shechemites’. After a long period of desolation Shechem had been rebuilt in the late 4th century BC, and at that stage they had built their own Temple, with a genuine Aaronic priesthood, on Mount Gerizim, which was later destroyed by John Hyrcanus (about 128 BC). They accepted the Law, but had their own version of it in the Samaritan Pentateuch, which named Mount Gerizim as the place of sacrifice. They believed in the one God, and the coming of a deliverer, ‘the Taheb (restorer)’, identified by them with ‘the prophet’ in Deuteronomy 18:15. They were therefore not looked on as pagans, but as second rate worshippers of the one God, and for that reason tolerated, but only in order to be dismissed as heretics. Thus their connections with the earlier ‘Samaritans’ may have been tenuous. They may have been a group who had kept themselves relatively clean from the introduction of the various gods of the nations, and maintained their own relatively pure system of worship, or they may have been a group that arrived later and settled there. They were, however, despised by men like the Judaisers, and indeed by most Jews. 60
- 61. Nothing therefore wouldhave seemed less likely to most Jews than the spiritual transformation of a loose woman who, on top of that, was a despised Samaritan. Yet here at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry He demonstrates that there are no barriers of race or past morals to prevent anyone from coming to God, once the heart is set in the right direction, and that God is ready to accept them. Verses 4-42 The Samaritan Woman (John 4:4-42). In this story of the Samaritan woman in John 4:4-42 Jesus depicts Himself as the Gift of God Who can give men living water (John 4:10), and can thus give men a spring of water within which will well up to eternal life (John 4:14). This is in line with the promise that in God is the ‘fountain of life’ in Psalms 36:9, and the indication that God is the spring of living waters in Jeremiah 2:13. Thus Jesus is here portraying Himself as fulfilling what God would be to His people. His words also tie in with the many references in the Old Testament to God as being like a water source Who satisfies men’s thirst (e.g. Psalms 23:2; Psalms 46:4; Isaiah 44:3-4; Isaiah 55:1; Isaiah 48:21 etc.), and this includes the going forth of ‘His word’ like the effects of rain and snow producing life (Isaiah 55:10-11); the reference in Isaiah to a coming king who will be like rivers of water in a dry place (Isaiah 32:1-2); and the reference to the mirage becoming a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water at the time when the lame and blind are healed (Isaiah 35:5-7). These prophecies had in mind the days of restoration, the says of the Messiah. So Jesus claim may here be seen as both Messianic, and a claim to be the Son of God. In context it illustrates well what we have seen in chapter 3 that the Spirit works where He wills (John 3:8), and the picture of life-giving water is again used, this time referring to a spring bubbling up within to give eternal life. The heavenly rain is falling and men may now drink of it abundantly. Here is full proof that Jesus sees the Spirit as now at work. Once again we also have the contrast of the old with the new, the old water of Jacob’s well is replaced by the new living water which is the gift of God through Jesus, the old worship in Jerusalem and on Mount Gerizim is replaced by the new worship in Spirit and truth. The story then leads up to an admission by Jesus that He is the Messiah (John 4:26), whilst the Samaritans themselves declare that He is ‘the Saviour of the world’, a title almost certainly having Messianic significance. Jesus’ Messiahship shines out throughout the whole account. Note the vividness with which the writer recounts the story. Much of it is put in the present tense in order to carry the reader along with it, and its incidental detail cries out that it is an eyewitness report. We get the decided impression that whoever was responsible for the recounting of this story was there. This is backed up by the fact that examination of the account reveals that it was written by someone who was very familiar with Samaria, just as elsewhere familiarity with Judea and Perea has been obvious. He knew of the road that led through 61
- 62. this part ofSamaria. He not only knew of the well, but was aware that it was a deep one. He seems aware of the overhanging steeps of Gerizim. He knew that it was an area where ripened corn might be expected. Those who have lived in Palestine say that they feel as they read these accounts that they are breathing the air of Palestine once again. Indeed such factors are continually true of this Gospel, underlining that the Gospel was written by an eyewitness, or someone who obtained his information from eyewitnesses and faithfully recorded what he was told. LIGHTFOOT, "4. And he must needs go through Samaria. [He must needs go through Samaria.] Josephus tells us, It was the custom for the Galileans, in their journeying to Jerusalem to their feasts, to go through Samaria. Our countryman Biddulph describes the way which he himself travelled from Galilee to Jerusalem, anno Domini 1601: out of whom, for the reader's sake, I will borrow a few passages. He tells us, that on March 24 they rode near the sea of Galilee, and gives the computation of that sea to be in length about eight leagues and in breadth five. Now a league is three miles. After they had gone about seven miles, having the sea of Galilee on their left hands, they went up a hill, not very steep, but very pleasant; which (he saith) is said to be the hill mentioned John 6:3. [Although here indeed either I am mistaken or his guides deceived him; because that mountain was on the other side of the sea.] However he tells us, that from the top of this hill they discerned Saphetta, the Jews' university. All the way they went was infinitely pleasant, the hills and dales all very fruitful: and that about two o'clock in the afternoon they came to a certain village called by the Arabians 'Inel Tyger,' i.e. 'The merchant's eye.' When they had taken some food and sleep, their mind leaped within them to go up mount Tabor, which was not far off. [I fear his guides deceived him here also concerning this mount.] On the twenty-fifth of March they spent the whole day in traversing the pleasant fields of Bashan near the hill of Bashan. In the way they saw some rubbish of the tower of Gehazi, 2 Kings 5:24; and came to a town commonly called 'Jenine,' of old 'Engannim,' Joshua 15:34 [more truly, Good man, Joshua 19:21], distant from Tabor two-and-twenty miles; a place of gardens and waters, and places of pleasure. There they stayed all the next day, upon the occasion of a Turkish feast called 'Byram.' March 27, riding by Engannim they were twice in danger; once by thieves, dwelling hard by; another time by the Arabs, in a wood about twelve miles thence. That night they came to Sychar, a city of Samaria, mentioned John 4; distant from Engannim seven-and-twenty miles. They stayed there the next day. It is now called Napolis: Jacob's well is near it, the waters of it sweet as milk. March 29, they went from Sychar towards Jerusalem; the nearer to which place they came, the more barren and unpleasant they found the soil. At length, coming to a large grove or wilderness full of trees and hills [perhaps this was 62
- 63. mount Ephraim], fromthe top of the hill they saw the sea on the right hand, and little vessels upon it passing to Joppa. About three or four in the afternoon they came to a ruinous town called 'Beere,' of old (as was reported to them) 'Beer- sheba,' a great city [but more probably 'Beeroth,' mentioned Joshua 18:25]. It is said, that was the place where Christ's parents first missed him in their journey, Luke 2:44. They would have lodged there that night, being weary and hungry, and having spent their provision, but they could have nothing fit for themselves or their horses; and being from Jerusalem but ten miles, they went on; and after having travelled five or six miles, had a view of the city. Thus our countryman, a clergyman, tells us in his book. This interposition of Samaria between Galilee and Judea must be remembered, when we read the borders and portions of the tribes set out, Ezekiel 48; where Manasseh and Ephraim (the country of Samaria) are bounded and set out as formerly, but must not be reckoned under the notion of Samaria, as they had been. Necessity itself found, or made a way betwixt Judea and Galilee through Samaria; because, indeed, there was no other way they could go, unless a long way about, through the country beyond Jordan. Nor was there any reason why they should make any difficulty of going through Samaria, unless the hostility of the country. For, "The country of the Cuthites is clean." So that without scruple they might gather of the fruits and products of it. "The gatherings of their waters are clean." So that a Jew might drink, or wash himself in them. "Their dwellings are clean." So that he might enter thereinto, eat or lodge there. "Their roads are clean." So that the dust of them did not defile a Jew's feet. The method of the story in this place, by comparing it with other evangelists, may be thus put together: Herod had imprisoned John Baptist, under pretence of his growing too popular, and that the multitude of his followers increasing, tended to innovate. Our Saviour understanding this, and withal that the Sanhedrim had heard something of the increase of his disciples too, withdrew from Judea into Galilee, that he might be more remote from that kind of thunderbolt that St. John had been struck with. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 63
- 64. BARNES,"Sychar - Thiscity stood about eight miles southeast of the city called Samaria, between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. It was one of the oldest cities of Palestine, and was formerly known by the name of “Shechem,” or Sichem, Gen_ 33:18; Gen_12:6. The city was in the tribe of Ephraim, Jos_21:21. It was at this place that Joshua assembled the people before his death, and here they renewed their covenant with the Lord, Josh. 24. After the death of Gideon it became a place of idolatrous worship, the people worshipping Baal-berith, Jdg_9:46. It was destroyed by Abimelech, who beat down the city and sowed it with salt, Jdg_9:45. It was afterward rebuilt, and became the residence of Jeroboam, the King of Israel, 1Ki_ 12:25. It was called by the Romans “Flavia Neapolis,” and this has been corrupted by the Arabs into “Nablus,” its present name. It is still a considerable place, and its site is remarkably pleasant and productive. The parcel of ground - The piece of ground; or the land, etc. That Jacob gave ... - Jacob bought one piece of ground near to Shalem, a city of Shechem, of the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for an hundred pieces of silver, Gen_33:19. In this place the bones of Joseph were buried when they were brought up from Egypt, Jos_24:32. He also gave to Joseph an additional piece of ground which he took from the hand of the Amorite by his own valor, “with his sword and his bow,” as a portion above that which was given to his brethren, Gen_48:22. Possibly these pieces of ground lay near together, and were a part of the homestead of Jacob. The well was near to this. There is now, E. Smith mentioned to me in conversation, a place near this well called Shalem. CLARKE,"A city - called Sychar - This city was anciently called Shechem. It seems to have been situated at the foot of Mount Gerizim, in the province of Samaria, on which the temple of the Samaritans was built. After the ruin of Samaria by Salmanezer, Sychar, or Shechem, became the capital of the Samaritans; and it continued so, according to Josephus, Ant. l. xi. c. 8, in the time of Alexander the Great. It was about ten miles from Shiloh, forty from Jerusalem, and fifty-two from Jericho. It probably got the name of Sychar, which signifies drunken, from the drunkenness of its inhabitants. With this crime the Prophet Isaiah (Isa_28:1, Isa_ 28:3, Isa_28:7, Isa_28:8) solemnly charges the Ephraimites, within whose limits the city stood. This place is remarkable in the Scriptures: 1. As being that where Abram first stopped on his coming from Haran to Canaan. 2. Where God first appeared to that patriarch, and promised to give the land to his seed. 3. The place where Abram first built an altar to the Lord, and called upon his name, Gen_12:7. The present name of this city is Neapolis, or Naplouse. See Calmet. That Jacob gave to his son Joseph - Jacob had bought this field from the children of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred pieces of silver, or lambs, Gen_33:19; and in it he built an altar, which he dedicated to El Elohey Yishrael, the strong God, the covenant God of Israel, Gen_33:20. This, Jacob left as a private or overplus inheritance to Joseph and his children. See Gen_48:21, Gen_48:22, and Jos_24:32. 64
- 65. GILL, "Then comethhe to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar,.... Now called Neapolis (d); the same with "Sichem", or "Shechem", as appears from its situation, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; see Gen_ 33:18; and is either the same, only its termination is changed from "em" into "ar", as Achan into Achar, 1Ch_2:7. Or it is a new name that was given it, and by which it went in the time of Christ; and might be so called, either from ,סוכר "Socher", which signifies a grave; because here, Joseph and the rest of the patriarchs were buried, Jos_24:32. Or rather, it was a name of reproach, and so called, from ,שכר "drunken"; since the Ephraimites, the posterity of Joseph, which dwelt in these parts, were infamous for the sin of drunkenness; see Isa_28:1. Hence "Sychar Sichem", is "drunken Sichem"; mention is made in the Talmud (e), of a place called ,סיכרא "Sichra". The "parcel of ground", or of a "field", as in Gen_33:19, is in the Persic version, called "a vineyard"; and so Nonnus renders it, "a field planted with vines"; and which may serve to confirm the above conjecture, concerning "Sychar" being a nickname. HENRY, "2. His baiting place happened to be at a city of Samaria. Now observe, (1.) The place described. It was called Sychar; probably the same with Sichem, or Shechem, a place which we read much of in the Old Testament. Thus are the names of places commonly corrupted by tract of time. Shechem yielded the first proselyte that ever came into the church of Israel (Gen_34:24), and now it is the first place where the gospel is preached out of the commonwealth of Israel; so Dr. Lightfoot observes; as also that the valley of Achor, which was given for a door of hope, hope to the poor Gentiles, ran along by this city, Hos_2:15. Abimelech was made king here; it was Jeroboam's royal seat; but the evangelist, when he would give us the antiquities of the place, takes notice of Jacob's interest there, which was more its honour than its crowned heads. [1.] Here lay Jacob's ground, the parcel of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph, whose bones were buried in it, Gen_48:22; Jos_24:32. Probably this is mentioned to intimate that Christ, when he reposed himself hard by here, took occasion from the ground which Jacob gave Joseph to meditate on the good report which the elders by faith obtained. Jerome chose to live in the land of Canaan, that the sight of the places might affect him the more with scripture stories. [2.] Here was Jacob's well which he digged, or at least used, for himself and his family. We find no mention of this well in the Old Testament; but the tradition was that it was Jacob's well. JAMIESON, "cometh ... to — that is, as far as: for He remained at some distance from it. Sychar — the “Shechem” of the Old Testament, about thirty-four miles from Jerusalem, afterwards called “Neapolis,” and now “Nablous.” CALVIN, "5.Which is called Sichar Jerome, in his epitaph on Paula, thinks that this is an incorrect reading, and that it ought to have been written Sichem; and, indeed, the latter appears to have been the ancient and true name; but it is probable that, in the time of the Evangelist, the word Sichar was already in common use. As to the place, it is generally agreed that it was a city situated close to Mount Gerizzim, the inhabitants of which were treacherously slain by Simeon 65
- 66. and Levi, (Genesis34:25,) and which Abimelech, a native of the place, afterwards razed to its thundations, (Jude 9:45.) But the convenience of its situation was such that, a third time, a city was built there, which, in the age of Jerome, they called Neapolis By adding so many circumstances, the Apostle removes all doubt; for we are clearly informed by Moses where that field was which Jacob assigned to the children of Joseph, (Genesis 48:22.) It is universally acknowledged, also, that Mount Gerizzim was near to Shechem. We shall afterwards state that a temple was built there; and there can be no doubt that Jacob dwelt a long time in that place with his family. And Jesus, fatigued by the journey. He did not pretend weariness, but was actually fatigued; for, in order that he might be better prepared for the exercise of sympathy and compassion towards us, he took upon him our weaknesses, as the Apostle shows that we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, (Hebrews 4:15.) With this agrees the circumstance of the time; for it is not wonderful that, being thirsty andfatigued, he rested at the well about noon; for as the day, from sunrise to sunset, had twelve hours, the sixth hour wasNoon When the Evangelist says that he sat thus, he means that it was the attitude of a man who was fatigued COFFMAN, "Sychar ... was near Shechem and the piece of ground Jacob had purchased from the sons of Hamor for a hundred pieces of money. It was also the scene of the bloody episode revolving around Jacob's daughter Dinah; it was the place where Jacob dug that famous well and belonged to the sons of Joseph, to which son Jacob had bequeathed the property. When the children of Israel brought with them out of Egypt the bones of Joseph, here is where they buried them. Thus, although the scene of the events here recorded was not at that time a part of Israel, it had, nevertheless, figured prominently in their history. (See Genesis 33:18-20 and Joshua 24:32.) Significantly, Jacob had once constructed an altar there to [~'El] [~'Elohey] [~Yisra'el], "God, the God of Israel" (Genesis 33:20). ELLICOTT, "(5) The “Samaria” of this chapter is the province into which the older kingdom had degenerated, and which took its name from the capital city. This was the Shomĕron built by Omri, on a hill purchased from Shemer (1 Kings 16:23-24). The city was given by Augustus to Herod the Great, who rebuilt it, and called it after the Emperor, Sebaste, a name which survives in the modern village Sebustiêh. Sychar involves questions of greater uncertainty. The reading may be regarded as beyond doubt, the attempts to substitute “Sychem,” or “Sichem” being obviously made to avoid the topographical difficulty. The older geographers, followed by many modern commentators, suppose the word to be an intentional variation of the word Sychem, by which the Jews expressed their contempt for the city of the Samaritans, the sound being very nearly that of the Hebrew words for “lie” and “drunken.” Others suppose the change of termination is a natural 66
- 67. dialectic variation. (Comp.Ben, the Hebrew for son, as in Benjamin, Genesis 35:18, which in the later language became Bar, as in Simon Bar-Jona, Matthew 16:17.) These explanations assume that Sychar is the same place as Shechem; but it is very improbable that St. John would have spoken of a city so well known as Shechem with the prefix “which is called,” or would have thought it necessary to define it as “near to the parcel of ground. . . .” The only other places with the same prefix are Ephraim (John 11:54), the Pavement (John 19:13), and Golgotha (John 19:17), but in the latter instances, as in the mention of Thomas called Didymus (John 11:16; John 20:24), the words do not imply a soubriquet (comp. Farrar, Life of Christ, i. 206, note, and Grove in Smith’s Dictionary of Bible, “Sychar”), but are a citation of the names in Hebrew and Greek, for the benefit of Greek readers. To assert that Sychar is meant to convey a double meaning is to imply that this would be understood by readers for whom it is necessary to translate Gabbatha and Golgotha, Thomas and Cephas (John 1:42), for whom Messias has been rendered in Greek in John 1:41, and is to be again in this very discourse (John 4:25). Shechem, moreover, was then known by the Greek name Neapolis, which has become the present Naplûs (see Ewald in loc., and comp. Jos. Wars, iv.), and this name would have been as natural in this Gospel as, e.g., Tiberias, which is found in it only (John 6:1; John 6:23; John 21:1). Nor can it be said that Shechem was near to Jacob’s well, for admitting that the old city extended considerably “farther eastward than at present,” it must still have been more than a mile distant. As early as the fourth century, Sychar was distinguished from Shechem by Eusebius, Jerome, and the Bordeaux Pilgrim, and the name also occurs in the Talmud. (See quotations in Wieseler’s Synopsis, p. 231 of the Eng. Trans.) It is still found in the modern village Askar, about half a mile north from Jacob’s well. A plan and description of the neighbourhood, by Dr. Rosen, Prussian Consul at Jerusalem, appeared in the Journal of the German Oriental Society (xiv. 634), and the results of this are now accessible to the English reader in the translation of Caspari’s Introduction (p. 124). (Comp. Dr. Thomson’s The Land and the Book, John 31) The identification is accepted by Ewald, Godet, and Luthardt, among modern writers. Mr. Grove (Art. “Sychar,” as above), inclines to it, but, as he says, “there is an etymological difficulty . . . ‘Askar begins with the letter ‘Ain, which Sychar does not appear to have contained; a letter too stubborn and enduring to be easily either dropped or assumed in a name.” One is tempted to think it possible that this ‘Ain is the first letter of the word for Spring or Fountain, the plural of which occurs in Ænon, in John 3:23, and that ‘A-Sychar (well of Sychar) = ‘Askar. The parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.—The reference is to the blessing of Joseph in Genesis 48:22, which is translated by Kalisch, “And I give to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I take out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.” The patriarch is confident that he will, in his posterity, drive out the Amorite and possess the land promised him by God (John 4:4; John 4:21). In that land there is a portion where Abraham had raised his first altar, and received the first promise that his seed should possess that land (Genesis 12:6-7). That portion had been his own first halting-place on his return from Padan-aram; and he, too, had erected an altar there, in a parcel 67
- 68. of a fieldwhere his tent rested, which he bought for a hundred pieces of money, and made it sacred to El, the God of Israel (Genesis 33:18-20). It comes to his mind now, when in the last days of his life he looks on to the future and back to the past, and he gives it to his own and Rachel’s son. The Hebrew word here used for portion is “Shechem” (Shekhem), and this, as the proper names in the following chapter, has, and is meant to have, a double meaning. The Greek of the LXX. could not preserve this play upon the words, and rendered it by the proper name Sikima, understanding that the portion referred to was that at Shechem. This the children of Israel understood too, for they gave this region to Ephraim (Joshua 16), and the parcel of ground became the resting-place for the bones of Joseph (Joshua 24:32-33). 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. BARNES,"Jacob’s well - This is not mentioned in the Old Testament. It was called “Jacob’s well,” probably, either because it was handed down by tradition that he dug it, or because it was near to the land which he gave to Joseph. There is still a well a few miles to the east of Nablus, which is said by the people there to be the same. Eli Smith, missionary to Syria, stated to me that he had visited this well. It is about 100 feet deep. It is cut through solid rock of limestone. It is now dry, probably from having been partly filled with rubbish, or perhaps because the water has been diverted by earthquakes. The well is covered with a large stone, which has a hole in the center large enough to admit a man. It is at the foot of Mount Gerizim, and has a plain on the east. Sat thus - Jesus was weary, and, being thus weary, sat down on the well. The word translated “on” here may denote also by - he sat down “by” the well, or near it. The sixth hour - About twelve o’clock noon. This was the common time of the Jewish meal, and this was the reason why his disciples were gone away to buy food. CLARKE,"Jacob’s well was there - Of this well Mr. Maundrell gives the following account. “About one-third of an hour from Naplosa, the ancient Sychar and Sychem, stood Jacob’s well. If it be inquired, whether this be the very place, seeing it may be suspected to stand too remote from Sychar for the women to come and draw water, we may answer - that, in all probability, the city extended farther in former times than it does now, as may be conjectured from some pieces of a very thick wall, the remains perhaps of the ancient Sychem, still to be seen not far from hence. Over it stood formerly a large church, erected by the Empress Irene; but of this the voracity of time, assisted by the hands of the Turks, has left nothing but a few foundations remaining. The well is covered at present with an old stone vault, into which you are let down by a very strait hole; and then, removing a broad flat stone, 68
- 69. you discover thewell itself. It is dug in a firm rock, is about three yards in diameter, and thirty-five in depth, five of which we found full of water. This confutes a story frequently told to travelers, ‘That it is dry all the year round, except on the anniversary of that day on which our blessed Savior sat upon it; but then bubbles up with abundance of water.’ At this well the narrow valley of Sychem ends, opening itself into a wide field, which probably is part of the ground given by Jacob to his son Joseph. It is watered by a fresh stream, running between it and Sychem, which makes it exceedingly verdant and fruitful.” See Maundrell’s Travels, 5th edit. p. 62. Cutting pools, or making wells for public use, renders a man famous among the Hindoos. So this well had the name of Jacob, because he had digged it, and it was for public use. Sat thus - Chrysostom inquires what the particle thus, οᆓτως, means here? and answers, that it simply signifies, he sat not upon a throne, seat, or cushion; but (as the circumstances of the case required) upon the ground. This is a sense which is given to the word in the ancient Greek writers. See Raphelius, Wetstein, and Pearce. It is probably a mere expletive, and is often so used by Josephus. See several examples in Rosenmuller. The sixth hour - About twelve o’clock: see the notes on Joh_1:31. The time is noted here: 1. To account for Christ’s fatigue - he had already traveled several hours. 2. To account for his thirst-the sun had at this time waxed hot. 3. To account for the disciples going to buy food, Joh_4:8, because this was the ordinary time of dinner among the Jews. See the note referred to above. Dr. Macknight thinks the sixth hour to be the Roman six o’clock in the afternoon. See note on Joh_1:29 (note). GILL, "Now Jacob's well was there,.... So called, either because it was dug by him; or because he and his family made use of it, when in those parts, as in Joh_4:12, though no mention is made of it elsewhere, unless any reference is had to it in the blessing of Joseph, to whom this place belonged, Gen_49:22, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, or in Deu_33:28, as Grotius suggests: in the Talmud (f) there is mention made, of עין ,סוכר "the fountain of Sochar"; and may not improperly be rendered, "the well of Sychar": but whether the same with this, is not certain; that appears to be a great way from Jerusalem, as this also was, even forty miles: Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey; having travelled on foot, from Judea thither; and he having a body like to ours, subject to weariness, and which proves the truth and reality of it, was greatly fatigued; having very probably travelled all that morning, if not a day, or days before: sat thus on the well; or by it; by the side of it, upon the brink of it, as Nonnus paraphrases it, upon the bare ground. The Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions, leave out "thus"; and the Ethiopic version reads it, "there"; but it is rightly retained, and is emphatical; and signifies, that he sat like a weary person, glad to set himself down any where; and not caring how, or where, he sat to rest his weary limbs: and it was about the sixth hour; about twelve o'clock at noon. The Ethiopic 69
- 70. version adds byway of explanation, and "it was then noon"; and all the Oriental versions omit ωσει, "about"; rendering it, "it was the sixth hour": and now Christ had been travelling all the morning, and it was a time of day to take some refreshment, which as yet he had not, the disciples being gone to buy food; and a time of day also, when the sun if out, and has any strength, beats with its greatest vehemence; and all which considered, it is no wonder that he should be weary, faint, and thirsty. HENRY, "(2.) The posture of our Lord Jesus at this place: Being wearied with his journey, he sat thus on the well. We have here our Lord Jesus, [1.] Labouring under the common fatigue of travellers. He was wearied with his journey. Though it was yet but the sixth hour, and he had performed but half his day's journey, yet he was weary; or, because it was the sixth hour, the time of the heat of the day, therefore he was weary. Here we see, First, That he was a true man, and subject to the common infirmities of the human nature. Toil came in with sin (Gen_ 3:19), and therefore Christ, having made himself a curse for us, submitted to it. Secondly, That he was a poor man, else he might have travelled on horseback or in a chariot. To this instance of meanness and mortification he humbled himself for us, that he went all his journeys on foot. When servants were on horses, princes walked as servants on the earth, Ecc_10:7. When we are carried easily, let us think on the weariness of our Master. Thirdly, It should seem that he was but a tender man, and not of a robust constitution; it should seem, his disciples were not tired, for they went into the town without any difficulty, when their Master sat down, and could not go a step further. Bodies of the finest mould are most sensible of fatigue, and can worst bear it. [2.] We have him here betaking himself to the common relief of travellers; Being wearied, he sat thus on the well. First, He sat on the well, an uneasy place, cold and hard; he had no couch, no easy chair to repose himself in, but took to that which was next hand, to teach us not to be nice and curious in the conveniences of this life, but content with mean things. Secondly, He sat thus, in an uneasy posture; sat carelessly - incuriose et neglectim; or he sat so as people that are wearied with travelling are accustomed to sit. JAMIESON, "wearied ... sat thus — that is, “as you might fancy a weary man would”; an instance of the graphic style of St. John [Webster and Wilkinson]. In fact, this is perhaps the most human of all the scenes of our Lord’s earthly history. We seem to be beside Him, overhearing all that is here recorded, nor could any painting of the scene on canvas, however perfect, do other than lower the conception which this exquisite narrative conveys to the devout and intelligent reader. But with all that is human, how much also of the divine have we here, both blended in one glorious manifestation of the majesty, grace, pity, patience with which “the Lord” imparts light and life to this unlikeliest of strangers, standing midway between Jews and heathens. the sixth hour — noonday, reckoning from six a.m. From Son_1:7 we know, as from other sources, that the very flocks “rested at noon.” But Jesus, whose maxim was, “I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day” (Joh_9:4), seems to have denied Himself that repose, at least on this occasion, probably that He might reach this well when He knew the woman would be there. Once there, however, He accepts ... the grateful ease of a seat on the patriarchal stone. But what music is that which I hear from His lips, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat_11:28). 70
- 71. COKE, "John 4:6.Now Jacob's well was there.— Mr. Maundrell, in his Travels, gives the following account of Jacob's well: "About one-third of an hour from Naplosa (the ancient Sychar, as it is termed in the New Testament) stood Jacob's well, famous not only on account of its author, but much more for the memorable conference which our blessed Lord had there with the woman of Samaria. If it should be inquired whether this be the very place it is pretended to be, seeing it may be suspected to stand too remote from Sychar for the woman to come and draw water, we may answer, that in all probability the city extended farther in former times than it does now, as may be conjectured from some pieces of a very thick wall, the remains perhaps of the ancient Sichem, still to be seen not far from hence. Over it stood formerly a large church, erected by that great and devout patroness, of the Holy Land, the Empress Irene; but of this the voracity of time, assisted by the hands of the Turks, has left nothing but a few foundations remaining. The well is covered at present with an old stone vault, into which you are let down by a very straight hole; and then removing a broad flat stone, you discover the well itself. It is dug in a firm rock, is about three yards in diameter, and thirty-five in depth, five of which we found full of water. This confutes a story commonlytold to travellers, who do not take the pains to examine the well; namely, 'that it is dry all the year round, except on the anniversary of that day in which our blessed Saviour sat upon it, but then bubbles up with abundance of water.' At this well the narrow valley of Sichem ends, opening itself into a wide field, which probably is part of the piece of ground given by Jacob to his son Joseph. It is watered by a fresh stream running between it and Sichem, which makes it so exceeding verdant and fruitful, that it may well be looked upon as a standing token of the kindness of that good patriarch to the best of sons." See Genesis 48:22. Jesus therefore—sat thus on the well— Sat down immediately by the well. Doddridge. Whitby says "Sat down thus, means, weary as he was." And it was about the sixth hour, says the evangelist, that is, about six in the evening, and not, as commentators have generally thought, in the middle of the day, or at highnoon; for in those countries the women never draw water in the middle of the day, but always about sun-setting, as is evident from Genesis 24:11. Wherefore, as the woman came to draw water while Jesus was sitting by the well, it cannot be the Jewish but the Roman sixth hour, of which the sacred historian speaks. See on Ch. John 1:39. By this time, as the verse informs us, Jesus was fatigued with his journey; and therefore, before he proceeded, he sent his disciples to the nearest town for refreshment, as there was no place upon the road where he could meet with any accommodation. It may be objected, that the circumstances of the history oblige us to suppose, that this journey through Samaria was made so late in the year, that the transactions could not happen at six in the evening. But it may be proved, that when Jesus preached in the synagogue of Nazareth, after leaving Samaria, it was about the beginning of September; whence it will appear, that he travelled through Samaria in August: if so, all the particulars here related may have happened in the time allotted to them on this supposition: for when Jesus sat down by the well, it was about the sixth hour, perhaps near half an hour before it; and from that time till it was 71
- 72. dark, was sufficientfor all the transactions mentioned in this history. COFFMAN, "And Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. Jacob's well ... As Ryle noted, this reference contains all that is certainly known about this well, as to its origin; because the Bible nowhere mentions Jacob's digging a well, although it is recorded that Abraham and Isaac dug wells. Still, this reference is enough. The well is still there and is, in all probability, one of the few authentic places that can be identified as the place where Jesus sat. J. W. McGarvey, after visiting the well, wrote: Jacob's well is still there, about one hundred feet from Mount Gerizim, which rises high above it to the west. The well is a perfect cylinder, seven and a half feet in diameter, walled with stones of good size, smoothly dressed, and nicely fitted together, an excellent piece of masonry. Its depth was stated by the earliest modern who visited it (Maundrel) at 105 feet with fifteen feet of water. In 1839, it was found to be seventy-five feet deep with ten or twelve feet of water. All visitors of more recent date have found it dry and gradually filling up from the habit of throwing stones into it to hear the reverberation when they strike the bottom.[2] Jesus, being wearied with his journey ... The perfect humanity of Jesus is very evident in John. He alone recorded the saying from the cross, "I thirst!" and it appears that the apostle was particularly impressed with the bone-tired weariness of Jesus as he sat wearily by the well when the apostles departed to buy provisions. It would appear that the Lord's unusual weariness might have resulted from the fervor and enthusiasm with which the preaching and baptizing had been accomplished in the preceding days. It was the kind of letdown that every great campaigner feels when the effort is over; and the long march up from Judaea had intensified his weariness. Sat thus by the well ... Such a detail only an eyewitness would have included. It was about the sixth hour ... The ancient Jews reckoned time from sundown to sunrise, roughly twelve hours of darkness; and from sunrise to sunset, roughly twelve hours of daylight. The Romans and other ancients reckoned time from midnight to noon, and from noon until midnight. In this light, the "sixth hour" would have been about noon, six hours after sunrise, by the Jewish method of reckoning; or, by the Roman method, it would have been six hours after noon, or about six o'clock in the evening. For those interested in full discussions of the arguments on this question of the time of day, reference is made to the works of Westcott who favored understanding this as Roman time (6 P.M.),[3] and to the works of Ryle who favored Jewish time (noon).[4] One thing for sure, it was one or the other; and perhaps the best way to determine which it was is by the events related in the context. There is no necessity at all for supposing that John invariably used either method of reckoning time, probably using Jewish time in one episode and Roman time in another, as for example, when Roman courts were involved. 72
- 73. To this writer,it seems that the extensive results that flowed out of this episode, such as the coming of the whole city out to meet Jesus, and their inviting him and his disciples to stay with them, indicate that the event happened at noon. Of weight in this preference is the fact of the woman's having come to the well alone, rather than with a group of women who, like herself, needed water. It is written of Abraham's servant that "He made his camels kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water" (Genesis 24:11). Now, if the woman had gone to the well at the usual time, there is the probability of the presence of others and the absence of the privacy evident in this narrative. Also, the social status of the woman suggests that she might have preferred to go at a time when she would not have encountered the neighbors. [2] J. W. McGarvey, The Fourfold Gospel (Cincinnati, Ohio: The Standard Publishing Company, 1914), p. 56. [3] B. F. Westcott, The Gospel according to St. John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), p. 282. [4] J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House), John, Vol. I, p. 198. ELLICOTT, "(6) Jacob’s well is one of the few spots about the position of which all travellers are agreed. Jesus, passing from south to west would pass up the valley of Mochna until the road turns sharp to the west, to enter the valley of Sichem between Ebal and Gerizim. Here is Jacob’s field, and in the field is Jacob’s well. It is dug in the rock, and is about 9 feet in diameter. The older travellers described it as more than 100 feet deep, and with several feet of water. Modern travellers have generally found it dry. Wilson describes it, in 1843, as only 75 feet deep. Sat thus on the well.—Better, was sitting thus at the well. The words are one of the instances of exact knowledge which meet us in this Gospel. The tense is the descriptive imperfect. He was thus sitting when the woman came. He thus recalls the picture as it was impressed and remained fixed in the writer’s mind. He saw Him, wearied by the noontide journey, sitting thus by the well, while they went on to the city to procure food. The reality of this fatigue, as one of the instances witnessing to the reality of His human nature, is important. About the sixth hour—i.e., as elsewhere in St. John, following the ordinary mode of counting, about 12 o’clock. (Comp. Note on John 1:39.) It is contended, on the other hand, that this was not the usual time for women to resort to the wells to draw water, but the narrative perhaps implies an unusual hour, as it speaks of only one woman there. PETT, "‘Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour.’ 73
- 74. The demands ofJesus’ ministry had caught up with Him, and on their journey through the heat of the sun Jesus grew weary. We are reminded here that He Who was the Word, the Creator of the world, was also truly human and suffered from the weakness of the body like the rest of us do. The true humanity of Jesus is stressed here. He was ‘very tired’. When they came across the welcome sight of Jacob’s Well (well = pege, a fount of running water, thus fed by a spring) He sat down to rest, while the disciples went into the nearby town for food. Whether all the disciples who were with Him went we are not told, and it may well be that one or two remained with Jesus. ‘Sat thus --’. ‘Thus’ could refer back to His weariness. He sank down exhausted. It could alternatively mean ‘just where He happened to be’. Unless He had specifically commanded all to the disciples to go (there may only have been three or four) it must seem probable that at least one remained behind with him, possibly John. But if so he does not appear in the story. The writer remembers it was about the sixth hour. If this was by Jewish reckoning it would be around twelve noon (reckoning from sunrise), if by Roman reckoning around six-o-clock in the evening (reckoning from noon). In John 20:19 the writer clearly uses Roman reckoning which was from midnight to noon and then noon to midnight, and not Jewish reckoning which was from sunset to sunrise and then from sunrise to sunset, and that is probably so here. It is in fact more likely that a woman would come at in the evening rather than during the heat of the day. MACLAREN, "THE WEARIED CHRIST Joh_4:6, Joh_4:32 Two pictures result from these two verses, each striking in itself, and gaining additional emphasis by the contrast. It was during a long hot day’s march that the tired band of pedestrians turned into the fertile valley. There, whilst the disciples went into the little hill-village to purchase, if they could, some food from the despised inhabitants, Jesus, apparently too exhausted to accompany them, ‘sat thus on the well.’ That little word thus seems to have a force difficult to reproduce in English. It is apparently intended to enhance the idea of utter weariness, either because the word ‘wearied’ is in thought to be supplied, ‘sat, being thus wearied, on the well’; or because it conveys the notion which might be expressed by our ‘just as He was’; as a tired man flings Himself down anywhere and anyhow, without any kind of preparation beforehand, and not much caring where it is that he rests. Thus, utterly worn out, Jesus Christ sits on the well, whilst the western sun lengthens out the shadows on the plain. The disciples come back, and what a change they find. Hunger gone, exhaustion ended, fresh vigour in their wearied Master. What had made the difference? The woman’s repentance and joy. And He unveils the secret of His reinvigoration when He says, ‘I have meat to eat that ye know not of’-the hidden manna. ‘My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.’ Now, I think if we take just three points of view, we shall gain the lessons of this remarkable contrast. Note, then, the wearied Christ; the devoted Christ; the reinvigorated Christ. 74
- 75. I. The weariedChrist. How precious it is to us that this Gospel, which has the loftiest things to say about the manifest divinity of our Lord, and the glory that dwelt in Him, is always careful to emphasise also the manifest limitations and weaknesses of the Manhood. John never forgets either term of his great sentence in which all the gospel is condensed, ‘the Word became flesh.’ Ever he shows us ‘the Word’; ever ‘the flesh.’ Thus it is he only who records the saying on the Cross, ‘I thirst.’ It is he who tells us how Jesus Christ, not merely for the sake of getting a convenient opening of a conversation, or to conciliate prejudices, but because He needed what He asked, said to the woman of Samaria, ‘Give Me to drink.’ So the weariness of the Master stands forth for us as pathetic proof that it was no shadowy investiture with an apparent Manhood to which He stooped, but a real participation in our limitations and weaknesses, so that work to Him was fatigue, even though in Him dwelt the manifest glory of that divine nature which ‘fainteth not, neither is weary.’ Not only does this pathetic incident teach us for our firmer faith, and more sympathetic and closer apprehension, the reality of the Manhood of Jesus Christ, but it supplies likewise some imperfect measure of His love, and reveals to us one condition of His power. Ah! if He had not Himself known weariness He never could have said, ‘Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ It was because Himself ‘took our infirmities,’ and amongst these the weakness of tired muscles and exhausted frame, that ‘He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increaseth strength.’ The Creator must have no share in the infirmities of the creature. It must be His unwearied power that calls them all by their names; and because He is great in might ‘not one’ of the creatures of His hand can ‘fail.’ But the Redeemer must participate in that from which He redeems; and the condition of His strength being ‘made perfect in our weakness’ is that our weakness shall have cast a shadow upon the glory of His strength. The measure of His love is seen in that, long before Calvary, He entered into the humiliation and sufferings and sorrows of humanity; a condition of His power is seen in that, forasmuch as the ‘children were partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same,’ not only that ‘through death He might deliver’ from death, but that in life He might redeem from the ills and sorrows of life. Nor does that exhausted Figure, reclining on Jacob’s Well, preach to us only what He was. It proclaims to us likewise what we should be. For if His work was carried on to the edge of His capacity, and if He shrank not from service because it involved toil, what about the professing followers of Jesus Christ, who think that they are exempted from any form of service because they can plead that it will weary them? What about those who say that they tread in His footsteps, and have never known what it was to yield up one comfort, one moment of leisure, one thrill of enjoyment, or to encounter one sacrifice, one act of self-denial, one aching of weariness for the sake of the Lord who bore all for them? The wearied Christ proclaims His manhood, proclaims His divinity and His love, and rebukes us who consent to ‘walk in the way of His commandments’ only on condition that it can be done without dust or heat; and who are ready to run the race that is set before us, only if we can come to the goal without perspiration or turning a hair. ‘Jesus, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well.’ II. Still further, notice here the devoted Christ. It is not often that He lets us have a glimpse into the innermost chambers of His heart, in so far as the impelling motives of His course are concerned. But here He lays them bare. ‘My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.’ Now, it is no mere piece of grammatical pedantry when I ask you to notice that the 75
- 76. language of theoriginal is so constructed as to give prominence to the idea that the aim of Christ’s life was the doing of the Father’s will; and that it is the aim rather than the actual performance and realisation of the aim which is pointed at by our Lord. The words would be literally rendered ‘My meat is that I may do the will of Him that sent Me and finish His work’-that is to say, the very nourishment and refreshment of Christ was found in making the accomplishment of the Father’s commandment His ever-impelling motive, His ever-pursued goal. The expression carries us into the inmost heart of Jesus, dealing, as it does, with the one all- pervading motive rather than with the resulting actions, fair and holy as these were. Brethren, the secret of our lives, if they are at all to be worthy and noble, must be the same-the recognition, not only as they say now, that we have a mission, but that there is a Sender; which is a wholly different view of our position, and that He who sends is the loving Father, who has spoken to us in that dear Son, who Himself made it His aim thus to obey, in order that it might be possible for us to re-echo His voice, and to repeat His aim. The recognition of the Sender, the absolute submission of our wills to His, must run through all the life. You may do your daily work, whatever it be, with this for its motto, ‘the will of the Lord be done’; and they who thus can look at their trade, or profession, and see the trivialities and monotonies of their daily occupations, in the transfiguring light of that great thought, will never need to complain that life is small, ignoble, wearisome, insignificant. As with pebbles in some clear brook with the sunshine on it, the water in which they are sunk glorifies and magnifies them. If you lift them out, they are but bits of dull stone; lying beneath the sunlit ripples they are jewels. Plunge the prose of your life, and all its trivialities, into that great stream, and it will magnify and glorify the smallest and the homeliest. Absolute submission to the divine will, and the ever-present thrilling consciousness of doing it, were the secret of Christ’s life, and ought to be the secret of ours. Note the distinction between doing the will and perfecting the work. That implies that Jesus Christ, like us, reached forward, in each successive act of obedience to the successive manifestations of the Father’s will, to something still undone. The work will never be perfected or finished except on condition of continual fulfilment, moment by moment, of the separate behests of that divine will. For the Lord, as for His servants, this was the manner of obedience, that He ‘pressed towards the mark,’ and by individual acts of conformity secured that at last the whole ‘work’ should have been so completely accomplished that He might be able to say upon the Cross, ‘It is finished.’ If we have any right to call ourselves His, we too have thus to live. III. Lastly, notice the reinvigorated Christ. I have already pointed out the lovely contrast between the two pictures, the beginning and the end of this incident; so I need not dwell upon that. The disciples wondered when they found that Christ desired and needed none of the homely sustenance that they had brought to Him. And when He answered their sympathy rather than their curiosity-for they did not ask Him any questions, but they said to Him, ‘Master, eat’-with ‘I have meat to eat that ye know not of,’ they, in their blind, blundering fashion, could only imagine that some one had brought Him something. So they gave occasion for the great words upon which we have been touching. Notice, however, that Christ here sets forth the lofty aim at conformity to the divine will and fulfilment of the divine Work as being the meat of the soul. It is the true food for us all. The spirit which feeds upon such food will grow and be nourished. And the soul which feeds upon its own will and fancies, and not upon the plain brown bread of obedience, which is wholesome, though it be often bitter, will feed upon ashes, which will grate upon the teeth and hurt the palate. Such a soul will be like those wretched infants that are discovered sometimes at ‘baby-farms,’ starved and stunted, 76
- 77. and not grownto half their right size. If you would have your spirits strong, robust, well nourished, live by obedience, and let the will of God be the food of your souls, and all will be well. Souls thus fed can do without a good deal that others need. Why, enthusiasm for anything lifts a man above physical necessities and lower desires, even in its poorest forms. A regiment of soldiers making a forced march, or an athlete trying to break the record, will tramp, tramp on, not needing food, or rest, or sleep, until they have achieved their purpose, poor and ignoble though it may be. In all regions of life, enthusiasm and lofty aims make the soul lord of the body and of the world. And in the Christian life we shall be thus lords, exactly in proportion to the depth and earnestness of our desires to do the will of God. They who thus are fed can afford ‘to scorn delights and live laborious days.’ They who thus are fed can afford to do with plain living, if there be high impulses as well as high thinking. And sure I am that nothing is more certain to stamp out the enthusiasm of obedience which ought to mark the Christian life than the luxurious fashion of living which is getting so common to-day amongst professing Christians. It is not in vain that we read the old story about the Jewish boys whose faces were radiant and whose flesh was firmer when they were fed on pulse and water than on all the wine and dainties of the Babylonish court. ‘Set a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite,’ and let us remember that the less we use, and the less we feel that we need, of outward goods, the nearer do we approach to the condition in which holy desires and lofty aims will visit our spirits. I commend to you, brethren, the story of our text, in its most literal application, as well as in the loftier spiritual lessons that may be drawn from it. To be near Christ, and to desire to live for Him, delivers us from dependence upon earthly things; and in those who thus do live the old word shall be fulfilled, ‘Better is a little that a righteous man hath, than the abundance of many wicked.’ 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” BARNES,"Of Samaria - Not of the “city” of Samaria, for this was at a distance of 8 miles, but a woman who was a Samaritan, and doubtless from the city of Sychar. Give me to drink - This was in the heat of the day, and when Jesus was weary with his journey. The request was also made that it might give him occasion to discourse with her on the subject of religion, and in this instance we have a specimen of the remarkably happy manner in which he could lead on a conversation so as to introduce the subject of religion. 77
- 78. CLARKE,"There cometh awoman of Samaria to draw water - That this was the employment of the females, we see in different parts of the Sacred Writings. See Gen_24:11, etc.; Exo_2:16, and the note at the end of that chapter. The Jews say that those who wished to get wives went to the wells where young women were accustomed to come and draw water; and it is supposed that women of ill fame frequented such places also. See several proofs in Schoettgen. GILL, "There cometh a woman of Samaria,.... Or "out of Samaria"; not out of the city of Samaria, but out of the country of Samaria; out of Sychar, a city of Samaria: her coming was not by chance, but by the providence of God, and agreeably to his purpose, who orders all things according to the counsel of his will; and it is an amazing instance of grace, that a woman, a Samaritan woman, a lewd and infamous one, should be a chosen vessel of salvation, should be the object of divine favour, and be effectually called by the grace of God; when so many wise, learned, and religious men in Judea, were passed by; and not only so, but she was the happy means of conveying the knowledge of the Saviour to many of her neighbours: she came, indeed, to draw water; for her present temporal use and service; she little thought of meeting at Jacob's well, with Christ the fountain of gardens, and well of living water; she came for natural water, having no notion of water in a spiritual sense: or of carrying back with her the water of life, even a well of it, springing up to everlasting life: Jesus saith unto her, give me to drink; that is, water to drink, out of the pot or pitcher, she brought with her, for he was athirst; which is another proof of the truth of his human nature, and of his taking it, with the sinless infirmities of it: though indeed this request was made, to introduce a discourse with the woman, he having a more violent thirst, and a stronger desire, after the welfare of her immortal soul. HENRY, "II. His discourse with a Samaritan woman, which is here recorded at large, while Christ's dispute with the doctors, and his discourse with Moses and Elias on the mount, are buried in silence. This discourse is reducible to four heads: - 1. They discourse concerning the water, Joh_4:7-15. (1.) Notice is taken of the circumstances that gave occasion to this discourse. [1.] There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water. This intimates her poverty, she had no servant to be a drawer of water; and her industry, she would do it herself. See here, First, How God owns and approves of honest humble diligence in our places. Christ was made known to the shepherds when they were keeping their flock. Secondly, How the divine Providence brings about glorious purposes by events which seem to us fortuitous and accidental. This woman's meeting with Christ at the well may remind us of the stories of Rebekah, Rachel, and Jethro's daughter, who all met with husbands, good husbands, no worse than Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, when they came to the wells for water. Thirdly, How the preventing grace of God sometimes brings people unexpectedly under the means of conversion and salvation. He is found of them that sought him not. JAMIESON, " CALVIN, "7.A woman came from Samaria. When he asks water from the 78
- 79. woman, he doesit not merely with the intention of obtaining an opportunity to teach her; for thirst prompted him to desire to drink. But this cannot hinder him from availing himself of the opportunity of instruction which he has obtained, for he prefers the salvation of the woman to his own wants. Thus, forgetting his own thirst, as if he were satisfied with obtaining leisure and opportunity for conversation, that he might instruct her in true godliness, he draws a comparison between the visible water and the spiritual, and waters with heavenly doctrine the mind of her who had refused him water to drink. " COFFMAN, "INTERVIEW WITH THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA A woman of Samaria ... The tragic story of the Samaritans and the contempt in which that unfortunate people were held by the Jews endow this incident with the deepest interest. Following the capture of the ten northern tribes by Shalmaneser (722 B:C.), the cities and villages of Samaria were totally depopulated and left to the wild beasts. Not wishing to let the land lie idle, the king of Assyria repopulated the area with people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avah, Hamath, and Sepharvaim. Of course, they brought their old idol worship with them; but they were introduced to the Jewish Scriptures in the following manner: the people were troubled by the marauding wild beasts, and the king of Assyria decided that the trouble might have been due to the new settlers having neglected the "god of the land." So he dispatched one of the captive priests of Israel to enlighten the people; and thus the Samaritans came into possession of the Pentateuch, the only part of the Hebrew Bible which they accepted. They set up a system of religion based partially upon the Pentateuch, but containing also a number of foreign elements. When the Jews rebuilt the temple, following the captivity of the southern tribes, the Samaritans desired to help, but were rebuffed. Animosity and hatred multiplied; and, at the time here spoken of, Jews had no dealings with Samaritans (although they traded with them); and, when the hierarchy referred to Jesus Christ as a "Samaritan," they had exhausted their vocabulary of invective. It is a matter of wonder and awe that the Dayspring from on High should have bestowed upon a woman of this unfortunate people the honor of the ensuing interview. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink ... In this account, one is confronted with a contrast of remarkable dimensions: Here is a contrast between God and man. Here is a contrast between man and woman. Here is a contrast between royalty and commonality. Here is a contrast between wisdom and ignorance. Here is a contrast between the unmarried and the oft-married. Here is a contrast between purity and immorality. 79
- 80. Here is acontrast between Jew and Gentile.SIZE> These multiple contrasts of race, sex, religion, moral status, marital status, social position, ability, wisdom, etc., must be accounted the most dramatic and significant of any that occurred in our Lord's ministry. Yet, Jesus and that woman had one thing in common; both wanted a drink of water. Unerringly, Jesus saw the common ground between them and did not hesitate to stand with her upon that common platform of their mutual need. How loving, tender and considerate was our Lord in his attitude toward this daughter of Samaria! Give me to drink ... By these words, Jesus placed himself in the position of one requesting a favor, and by such a gesture assumed a social equality with her which astonished her and led to the conversation that followed. Jesus here did for her only what he did for all of wretched and fallen humanity; for he came from heaven to become a man, to take upon him the form of a servant, and to die for the sins of the whole world. All this is fully known; but, in this specific instance of it, the humiliation of our Lord becomes epic in its depth and intensity. COKE, "John 4:7. There cometh a woman of Samaria, &c.— An inhabitant of the country, not the town of Samaria; for Sebaste, the ancient Samaria, according to Mr. Maundrell, is about two hours or six miles distant from Sychar, consequently about seven miles from the well; a distance by far too great for one, even in that country, to come and fetch water. Though Jesus did not choose to go to the town himself, he sent his disciples thither to buy meat; for it seems the Jews might buy what they would of the Samaritans, as they might likewise from heathens; but they were not to accept of any thing from them in the way of beneficence, (see on John 4:9.) that being a crime, in their opinion, equal to the eating of swine's flesh; so bitter was the animosity which subsisted between the Samaritans and the Jews! See Ch. John 8:48 and the note on Luke 10:33. BURKITT, "Observe here, 1. How all our motions and actions are under the direction and Government of God, and how divine providence doth sometimes dispose of small matters to become occassions of great good. This poor woman's coming to the well to draw water, became the means of her conversion. Observe, 2. Christ speaks to, and seeks after this poor woman, before she takes any notice of him; God is found of that seek him not, and makes himself manifest to them that enquire not after him. Jesus said unto her, Give me to drink. Observe, 3. The great poverty of our Lord's outward condition, he wanted a draught of water for his refreshment, and a meal's meat now at dinner-time, to refresh his wearied nature. Oh! what a contempt did Christ cast upon the world when he was here in it! He would not honour it so far as to keep any part of it in his own hand. Yet observe, 4. That though Christ had neither house nor land, nor money of his 80
- 81. own, yet helived not by begging, or upon mere alms. The disciples were now gone into the city to buy, not to beg meat: for there was a bag which required a bearer, John 12:6 And our Saviour's friends and followers supplied him with money for his necessary occasions: His disciples were gone to buy bread, Observe lastly, How bitter is the enmity which differences in religion, and diversities of opinions do occasion; they do not only alienate affections, but even violate the bonds of civil society and common conversation. The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans; would neither eat nor drink with them. PETT, "‘There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water.’ The fact that she was alone is probably significant. Normally women would make sure they were in company with others when visiting a well outside the town. There is already a hint in this that she was not of the best reputation. But as we will learn, probably unbeknown to others she was thirsty in soul despite her pleasure loving life. When she saw a Jew sitting there she would ignore him. It was not seemly for a woman to speak to a strange man, and she would know that the Jews generally despised the Samaritans with a hatred combining strong religious and racial prejudice. They avoided all contact except for business purposes, and looked on the Samaritans as ritually ‘unclean’. No good Jew would ever eat with them or use their drinking vessels. But as Jesus demonstrated in the parable of the good Samaritan, He had deep sympathies with them. Indeed it was possibly this experience that revealed to Him what His attitude towards the Samaritans should be, just as later His experience with the Syro-phoenician woman would cause Him to preach among the Gentiles. However, the woman was unaware of this, and knew nothing about Jesus. Thus she would have totally ignored this stranger at the well, simply pretending that He was not there, unless He had made an unexpected approach to her. But to her great surprise that is what He does. He does not ignore her. He turns and speaks to her. MACLAREN, "‘GIVE ME TO DRINK’ Joh_4:7, Joh_4:26 This Evangelist very significantly sets side by side our Lord’s conversations with Nicodemus and with the woman of Samaria. The persons are very different: the one a learned Rabbi of reputation, influence, and large theological knowledge of the then fashionable kind; the other an alien woman, poor-for she had to do this menial task of water-drawing in the heat of the day-and of questionable character. The diversity of persons necessitates great differences in the form of our Lord’s address to each; but the resemblances are as striking as the divergencies. In both we have His method of gradually unveiling the truth to a susceptible soul, beginning with symbol and a hint, gradually enlarging the hint and translating the symbol; and finally unveiling Himself as the Giver and the Gift. There is another resemblance; in both the characteristic gift is that of the Spirit of Life, and, perhaps, in both the symbol is the same. For we read in one of ‘water and the Spirit’; and in the other of the fountain within, springing into everlasting life. However that may be, the process 81
- 82. of teaching isall but identical in substance in both cases, though in form so various. The words of our Lord which I have taken for our text now are His first and last utterance in this conversation. What a gulf lies between! They are linked together by the intervening sayings, and constitute with these a great ladder, of which the foot is fast on earth, and the top fixed in heaven. On the one hand, He owns the lowest necessities; on the other, He makes the highest claims. Let us ponder on this remarkable juxtaposition, and try to gather the lessons that are plain in it. I. First, then, I think we see here the mystery of the dependent Christ. ‘Give Me to drink’: ‘I am He.’ Try to see the thing for a moment with the woman’s eyes. She comes down from her little village, up amongst the cliffs on the hillside, across the narrow, hot valley, beneath the sweltering sunshine reflected from the bounding mountains, and she finds, in the midst of the lush vegetation round the ancient well, a solitary, weary Jew, travel-worn, evidently exhausted-for His disciples had gone away to buy food, and He was too wearied to go with them-looking into the well, but having no dipper or vessel by which to get any of its cool treasure. We lose a great deal of the meaning of Christ’s request if we suppose that it was merely a way of getting into conversation with the woman, a ‘breaking of the ice.’ It was a great deal more than that. It was the utterance of a felt and painful necessity, which He Himself could not supply without a breach of what He conceived to be His filial dependence. He could have brought water out of the well. He did not need to depend upon the pitcher that the disciples had perhaps unthinkingly carried away with them when they went to buy bread. He did not need to ask the woman to give, but He chose to do so. We lose much if we do not see in this incident far more than the woman saw, but we lose still more if we do not see what she did see. And the words which the Master spoke to her are no mere way of introducing a conversation on religious themes; but He asked for a draught which He needed, and which He had no other way of getting. So, then, here stands, pathetically set forth before us, our Lord’s true participation in two of the distinguishing characteristics of our weak humanity-subjection to physical necessities and dependence on kindly help. We find Him weary, hungry, thirsty, sometimes slumbering. And all these instances are documents and proofs for us that He was a true man like ourselves, and that, like ourselves, He depended on ‘the woman that ministered to Him’ for the supply of His necessities, and so knew the limitations of our social and else helpless humanity. But then a wearied and thirsty man is nothing of much importance. But here is a Man who humbled Himself to be weary and to thirst. The keynote of this Gospel, the one thought which unlocks all its treasures, and to the elucidation of which, in all its aspects, the whole book is devoted, is, ‘The Word was made flesh.’ Only when you let in the light of the last utterance of our text, ‘I that speak unto thee am He,’ do we understand the pathos, the sublimity, the depth and blessedness of meaning which lie in the first one, ‘Give Me to drink.’ When we see that He bowed Himself, and willingly stretched out His hands for the fetters, we come to understand the significance of these traces of His manhood. The woman says, with wonder, ‘How is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me?’ and that was wonderful. But, as He hints to her, if she had known more clearly who this Person was, that seemed to be a Jew, a deeper wonder would have crept over her spirit. The wonder is that the Eternal Word should need the water of the well, and should ask it of a poor human creature. And why this humiliation? He could, as I have said, have wrought a miracle. He that fed five thousand, He that had turned water into wine at the rustic marriage-feast, would have had no difficulty in quenching His thirst if he had chosen to use His miraculous power therefore. But He here shows us that the true filial spirit will 82
- 83. rather die thancast off its dependence on the Father, and the same motive which led Him to reject the temptation in the wilderness, and to answer with sublime confidence, ‘Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God,’ forbids Him here to use other means of securing the draught that He so needed than the appeal to the sympathy of an alien, and the swift compassion of a woman’s heart. And then, let us remember that the motive of this willing acceptance of the limitations and weaknesses of humanity is, in the deepest analysis, simply His love to us; as the mediaeval hymn has it, ‘Seeking me, Thou satest weary.’ In that lonely Traveller, worn, exhausted, thirsty, craving for a draught of water from a stranger’s hand, is set forth ‘the glory of the Father, full of grace and truth.’ A strange manifestation of divine glory this! But if we understand that the glory of God is the lustrous light of His self-revealing love, perhaps we shall understand how, from that faint, craving voice, ‘Give Me to drink,’ that glory sounds forth more than in the thunders that rolled about the rocky peak of Sinai. Strange to think, brethren, that the voice from those lips dry with thirst, which was low and weak, was the voice that spoke to the sea, ‘Peace! be still,’ and there was a calm; that said to demons, ‘Come out of him!’ and they evacuated their fortress; that cast its command into the grave of Lazarus, and he came forth; and which one day all that are in the grave shall hear, and hearing shall obey. ‘Give Me to drink.’ ‘I that speak unto thee am He.’ II. Secondly, we may note here the self-revealing Christ. The process by which Jesus gradually unveils His full character to this woman, so unspiritual and unsusceptible as she appeared at first sight to be, is interesting and instructive. It would occupy too much of your time for me to do more than set it before you in the barest outline. Noting the singular divergence between the two sayings which I have taken as our text, it is interesting to notice how the one gradually merges into the other. First of all, Jesus Christ, as it were, opens a finger of His hand to let the woman have a glimpse of the gift lying there, that that may kindle desire, and hints at some occult depth in His person and nature all undreamed of by her yet, and which would be the occasion of greater wonder, and of a reversal of their parts, if she knew it. Then, in answer to her, half understanding that He meant more than met the ear, and yet opposing the plain physical difficulties that were in the way, in that He had ‘nothing to draw with, and the well is deep,’ and asking whether He were greater than our father Jacob, who also had given, and given not only a draught, but the well, our Lord enlarges her vision of the blessedness of the gift, though He says but little more of its nature, except in so far as that may be gathered from the fact that the water that He will give will be a permanent source of satisfaction, forbidding the pangs of unquenched desire ever again to be felt as pangs; and from the other fact that it will be an inward possession, leaping up with a fountain’s energy, and a life within itself, towards, and into everlasting life. Next, he strongly assails conscience and demands repentance, and reveals Himself as the reader of the secrets of the heart. Then He discloses the great truths of spiritual worship. And, finally, as a prince in disguise might do, He flings aside the mantle of which He had let a fold or two be blown back in the previous conversation, and stands confessed. ‘I that speak unto thee am He.’ That is to say, the kindling of desire, the proffer of the all-satisfying gift, the quickening of conscience, the revelation of a Father to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and the final full disclosure of His person and office as the Giver of the gift which shall slake all the thirsts of men-these are the stages of His self-revelation. Then note, not only the process, but the substance of the revelation of Himself. The woman had a far more spiritual and lofty conception of the office of Messiah than the 83
- 84. Jews had. Itis not the first time that heretics have reached a loftier ideal of some parts of the truth than the orthodox attain. To the Jew the Messiah was a conquering king, who would help them to ride on the necks of their enemies, and pay back their persecutions and oppressions. To this Samaritan woman-speaking, I suppose, the conceptions of her race-the Messiah was One who was to ‘tell us all things.’ Jesus Christ accepts the position, endorses her anticipations, and in effect presents Himself before her and before us as the Fountain of all certitude and knowledge in regard to spiritual matters. For all that we can know, or need to know, with regard to God and man and their mutual relations; for all that we can or need know in regard to manhood, its ideal, its obligations, its possibilities, its destinies; for all that we need to know of men in their relation to one another, we have to turn to Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who ‘will tell us all things.’ He is the Fountain of light; He is the Foundation of certitude; and they who seek, not hypotheses and possibilities and conjectures and dreams, but the solid substance of a reliable knowledge, must grasp Him, and esteem the words of His mouth and the deeds of His life more than their necessary food. He meets this woman’s conceptions as He had met those of Nicodemus. To him He had unveiled Himself as the Son of God, and the Son of Man who came down from heaven, and is in heaven, and ascends to heaven. To the woman He reveals Himself as the Messiah, who will tell us all truth, and to both as the Giver of the gift which shall communicate and sustain and refresh the better life. But I cannot help dwelling for a moment upon the remarkable, beautiful, and significant designation which our Lord employs here. ‘I that speak unto thee.’ The word in the original, translated by our version ‘speak,’ is even more sweet, because more familiar, and conveys the idea of unrestrained frank intercourse. Perhaps we might render ‘I who am talking with Thee!’ and that our Lord desired to emphasise to the woman’s heart the notion of His familiar intercourse with her, Messiah though He were, seems to me confirmed by the fact that He uses the same expression, with additional grace and tenderness about it, when He says, with such depth of meaning, to the blind man whom He had healed, ‘Thou hast both seen Him,’ with the eyes to which He gave sight and object of sight, ‘and it is He that talketh with thee.’ The familiar Christ who will come and speak to us face to face and heart to heart, ‘as a man speaketh with his friend,’ is the Christ who will tell us all things, and whom we may wholly trust. Note too how this revelation has for its condition the docile acceptance of the earlier and imperfect teachings. If the woman had not yielded herself to our Lord’s earlier words, and, though with very dim insight, yet with a heart that sought to be taught, followed Him as He stepped from round to round of the ascending ladder, she had never stood on the top and seen this great vision. If you see nothing more in Jesus Christ than a man like yourself, compassed with our infirmities, and yet sweet and gracious and good and pure, be true to what you know, and put it into practice, and be ready to accept all the light that dawns. They that begin down at the bottom with hearing ‘Give me to drink,’ may stand at the top, and hear Him speak to them His unveiled truth and His full glory. ‘To him that hath shall be given.’ ‘If any man wills to do His will he shall know of the teaching.’ III. Lastly, we have here the universal Christ. The woman wondered that, being a Jew, He spoke to her. As I have said, our Lord’s first utterance is simply the expression of a real physical necessity. But it is none the less what the woman felt it to be, a strange overleaping of barriers that towered very high. A Samaritan, a woman, a sinner, is the recipient of the first clear confession from Jesus Christ of His Messiahship and dignity. She was right in her instinct that something lay behind His sweeping aside of the barriers and coming so close to her 84
- 85. with His request.These two, the prejudices of race and the contempt for woman, two of the crying evils of the old world, were overpassed by our Lord as if He never saw them. They were too high for men’s puny limbs; they made no obstacle to the march of His divine compassion. And therein lies a symbol, if you like, but none the less a prophecy that will be fulfilled, of the universal adaptation and destination of the Gospel, and its independence of all distinctions of race and sex, condition, moral character. In Jesus Christ ‘there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, neither bond nor free’; ye ‘are all one in Christ.’ If He had been but a Jew, it was wonderful that He should talk to a Samaritan. But there is nothing in the character and life of Christ, as recorded in Scripture, more remarkable and more plain than the entire absence of any racial peculiarities, or of characteristics owing to His position in space or time. So unlike His nation was He that the very elite of His nation snarled at Him and said, ‘Thou art a Samaritan!’ So unlike them was He that one feels that a character so palpitatingly human to its core, and so impossible to explain from its surroundings, is inexplicable, but on the New Testament theory that He is not a Jew, or man only, but the Son of Man, the divine embodiment of the ideal of humanity, whose dwelling was on earth, but His origin and home in the bosom of God. Therefore Jesus Christ is the world’s Christ, your Christ, my Christ, every man’s Christ, the Tree of Life that stands in the midst of the garden, that all men may draw near to it and gather of its fruit. Brother, answer His proffer of the gift as this woman did: ‘Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not; neither go all the way to the world’s broken cisterns to draw’; and He will put into your hearts that indwelling fountain of life, so that you may say like this woman’s townspeople: ‘Now I have heard Him myself, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.’ PINK 7-10, "First, a brief Analysis of the passage which is to be before us:— 1. The Woman of Samaria, verse 7. 2. The Savior’s request, verse 7. 3. The Savior’s solitariness, verse 8. 4. The Woman’s surprise, verse 9. 5. The Woman’s prejudice, verse 9. 6. The Savior’s rebuke, verse 10. 7. The Savior’s appeal, verse 10. In the last chapter we pointed out the deep significance underlying the words of John 4:4—"He must needs go through Samaria." It was the constraint of sovereign grace. From all eternity it had been foreordained that the Savior should go through Samaria. The performing of God’s eternal decree required it. The Son, incarnate, had come there to do the Father’s will"—Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." And God’s will was that these hated Samaritans should hear the Gospel of His grace from the lips of His own dear Son. Hence, "He must needs go through Samaria." There were elect souls there, which had been given to Him by the Father, and these also He "must bring" (see John 10:16). "Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well" (John 4:6). Observe, particularly, that the Lord Jesus was beforehand with this woman. He was at the well first! "I am found of them that sought me not" (Isa. 65:1) is the language of the Messiah in the prophetic word centuries before He made His appearance among men, and this oracle has been frequently verified. His salvation is not only altogether unmerited by those to 85
- 86. whom it comes,but at first, it is always unsought (see Romans 3:11), and of every one who is numbered among His peculiar people it may be as truly said, as of the apostles, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you" (John 15:16). When we were pursuing our mad course of sin, when we were utterly indifferent to the claims and superlative excellency of the Savior, when we had no serious thought at all about our souls, He—to use the apostle’s peculiarly appropriate word—"apprehended" us (Phil. 3:12). He "laid hold of" us, aroused our attention, illumined our darkened understanding, that we might receive the truth and be saved by it. A beautiful illustration of this is before us here in John 4. Yes, the Lord was beforehand with this woman. He was found of one who sought Him not. It was so with the idolatrous Abraham (Josh. 24) in the land of Chaldea: the Lord of glory appeared to him while he was yet in Mesopotamia (Acts 7:2). It was so with the worm Jacob, as he fled to escape from his brother’s anger (Gen. 28:10, 13). It was so with Moses, as he went about his shepherd duties (Ex. 3:1, 2). In each instance the Lord was found by those who sought Him not. It was so with Zacchaeus, hidden away amid the boughs of the trees"Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down," was the peremptory command, for, saith the Lord, "to day, I must abide at thy house" (Luke 19:5). It was so with Saul of Tarsus, as he went on his way to persecute the followers of the Lamb. It was so with Lydia, "whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul" (Acts 16:14). And, let us add, to the praise of the glory of God’s grace, but to our own unutterable shame, it was so with the writer, when Christ "apprehended" him; apprehended him when he was altogether unconscious of his deep need, and had no desire whatever for a Savior. Ah, blessed be His name, "We love him, because he first loved us!" But let not the false conclusion be drawn that the sinner is, therefore, irresponsible. Not so. God has placed within man a moral faculty, which discerns between right and wrong. Men know that they are sinners, and if so they need a Savior. God now commands all men everywhere to "repent," and woe be to the one who disobeys. And again we read, "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 3:23), and if men refuse to "believe" their blood is on their own heads. Christ receives all who come to Him. The Gospel announces eternal life to "whosoever believeth." The door of mercy stands wide open. But, notwithstanding, it remains that men love darkness rather than light, and so strong is their love for the darkness and so deep-rooted is their antipathy against the light, that, as the Lord declared, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44). Here, again, is the Divine side, and it is this we are now pressing. "And it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water" (John 4:6, 7). This means it was the sixth hour after sunrise, and would be, therefore, midday. It was at the time the sun was at its greatest height and heat. Under the glare of the oriental sun, at the time when those exposed to its strong rays were most weary and thirsty, came this woman to draw water. The hour corresponded with her spiritual condition—weary and parched in her soul. "The sixth hour." What a significant line is this in the picture! Six invariably speaks of man in the flesh. "There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water" (verse 7). This was no accident. She chose this hour because she expected the well would be deserted. But, in fact, she went to the well that day, at that time, because God’s hour had 86
- 87. struck when shewas to meet the Savior. Ah, our least movements are directed and over-ruled by Divine providence. It was no accident that the Midianites were passing by when Joseph’s brethren had made up their minds to slay him (Gen. 37:28), nor was it merely a coincidence that these Midianites were journeying to Egypt. It was no accident that Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the river to bathe, nor that she "saw" the ark, which contained the infant Moses, "among the flags" (Ex. 2:5). It was no accident that at the very time Mordecai and the Jews were in imminent danger of being killed, that Ahasuerus could not sleep, and that he occupied himself with reading the court records, which told of how, aforetime, Mordecai had befriended the king; and which led to the deliverance of God’s people. No; there are no accidents in the world that is presided over by a living, reigning God! "There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water." To "draw water" was her object. She had no thought of anything else, save that she should not be seen. She stole forth at this hour of the midday sun because a woman of her character— shunned by other women—did not care to meet any one. The woman was unacquainted with the Savior. She had no expectation of meeting Him. She had no idea she would be converted that day—that was the last thing she would expect. Probably she said to herself, as she set forth, "No one will be at the well at this hour." Poor desolate soul. But there was One there! One who was waiting for her—"sitting thus on the well." He knew all about her. He knew her deep need, and He was there to minister to it. He was there to overcome her prejudices, there to subdue her rebellious will, there to invite Himself into her heart. "Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink" (John 4:7). Link together these two statements: "Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey... Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink." There was everything to make Him "weary." Here was the One who had been the center of Heaven’s glory, now dwelling in a world of sin and suffering. Here was the One in whom the Father delighted, now enduring the contradiction of sinners against Himself. He had, in matchless grace, come "unto his own," but with base indifference they "received him not." He was not wanted here. The ingratitude and rebellion He met with, the jealousy and opposition of the Pharisees, the spiritual dullness of His own disciples—yes, there was everything to make Him "weary." But, all praise to His peerless name, He never wearied in His ministry of grace. There was never any love of ease with Him: never the slightest selfishness: instead, nothing but one unbroken ministry of love. Fatigued in body He might be, sick at heart He must have been, but not too weary to seek out and save this sin-sick soul. "Jesus said unto her." How striking is the contrast between what we have here and what is found in the previous chapter! There we are shown Nicodemus coming to Christ "by night," under cover of the darkness, so that he might guard his reputation. Here we behold the Lord Jesus speaking to this harlot in the full light of day—it was midday. Verily, He "made himself of no reputation!" "Jesus said unto her, Give me to drink." The picture presented is unspeakably lovely. Christ seated on the well, and what do we find Him doing? Sitting alone with this poor outcast, to settle with her the great question of eternity. He shows her herself, and reveals Himself! This is exactly what He does with every soul that He calls to Himself. He takes us apart from the maddening world, exposes to us our desperate condition, and then makes known to us in whose Presence we 87
- 88. are, leading usto ask from Him that precious "gift" which He alone can impart. Thus did He deal here with this Samaritan adulteress. And how this incident makes manifest the wondrous grace and infinite patience of the Savior in His dealings with sinners! Tenderly and patiently He led this woman, step by step, touching her heart, searching her conscience, awakening her soul to a consciousness of her deep need. And how this incident also brings out the depravity of the sinner—his spiritual blindness and obstinacy; his lack of capacity to understand and respond to the Savior’s advance; yea, his slowness of heart to believe! "Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink." The first thing the Savior did (note that He took the initiative) was to ask this woman for a drink of cold water— considered the very cheapest gift which this world contains. How the Son of God humbled Himself! Among the Jews it was considered the depth of degradation even to hold converse with the Samaritans; to be beholden to them for a favor would not be tolerated at all. But here we find the Lord of glory asking for a drink of water from one of the worst in this city of Samaritans! Such was His condescension that the woman herself was made to marvel. "Give me to drink." Here was the starting point for the Divine work of grace which was to be wrought in her. Every word in this brief sentence is profoundly significant. Here was no "ye must be." The very first word the Savior uttered to this poor soul, was "give." It was to grace He would direct her thoughts. "Give me," He said. He immediately calls the attention of the sinner to Himself—"Give me." But what was meant by "Give me to drink?" To what did the Savior refer? Surely there can be no doubt that His mind was on something other than literal water, though, doubtless, the first and local significance of His words had reference to literal water. Just as the "weariness" of the previous verse has a deeper meaning than physical fatigue, so this "Give me to drink" signifies more than slaking His thirst. This world was a dry and thirsty land to the Savior, and the only refreshment He found here was in ministering His grace to poor needy sinners, and receiving from them their faith and gratitude in return. This is fully borne out in the sequel, for when the disciples returned and begged Him to eat, He said unto them, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of" (verse 32). When, then, the Savior said to this woman, "Give me to drink," it was refreshment of spirit He sought. "Give me to drink." But how could she, a poor, despised and blinded sinner, "give" to Him? Ah, she could not. She must first ask of Him. She had to receive herself before she could give. In her natural state she had nothing. Spiritually she was Poverty-stricken; a bankrupt. And this it was that the Savior would press upon her, in order that she might be led to ask of Him. When, then, the Savior said, "Give me to drink," He was making a demand of her with which, at this time, she was unable to comply. In other words, He was bringing her face to face with her helplessness. We are often told that God never commands us to do what we have no ability to perform, but He does, and that for two very good reasons: first, to awaken us to a sense of our impotency; second, that we might seek from Him the grace and strength we need to do that which is pleasing in His sight. What was the Law—that Law that was "holy, just and good"—given for? Its summarized requirements were, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart... and thy neighbor as thyself." But what man ever did this? What man could do it? Only one—the God-man. Why, then, was the Law given? On 88
- 89. purpose to revealman’s impotency. And why was that? To bring man to cast himself at the foot of God’s omnipotency: "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" (Luke 18:27). This is the first lesson in the school of God. This is what Christ would first teach this needy woman, verse 10 establishes that beyond a doubt—"Jesus 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." But it was the moral impossibility which Christ put before this woman that aroused her curiosity and interest. "For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat" (John 4:8). This was no mere coincidence, but graciously ordered by the providence of God. Christ desired this poor soul to be alone with Himself! This Gospel of John presents Christ in the very highest aspect in which we can contemplate Him, namely, as God manifest in the flesh, as the eternal Word, as Creator of all things, as the Revealer of the Father. And yet there is none of the four Gospels in which this glorious Person is so frequently seen alone with sinners as here in John. Surely there is Divine design in this. We see Him alone with Nicodemus; alone with this Samaritan woman; alone with the convicted adulteress in John 8; alone with the man whose eyes He had opened, and who was afterwards put out of the synagogue (John 9:35). Alone with God is where the sinner needs to get— with none between and none around him. This is one reason why the writer, during the course of four pastorates, never made use of an "inquiry room," or "penitent form." Another reason was, be cause he could find nothing resembling them in the Word of God. They are human inventions. No priest, no intermediary, is necessary. Bid the sinner retire by himself, and get alone with God and His Word. "For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat." The word "buy" here points a contrast. Occurring just where it does it brings into relief the "gift" of God to which the Savior referred, see verses 10 and 14. Another has suggested to the writer that the action of the disciples here furnishes a striking illustration of 3 John 7: "taking nothing of the Gentiles." These disciples of Christ did not beg, they bought. "Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4:9). The Savior’s request struck this woman with surprise. She knew the extreme dislike which Jews cherished towards Samaritans. It was accounted a sin for them to have any friendly intercourse with that people. The general tendency of this antipathy may be judged from the following extracts from the Jewish rabbins by Bishop Lightfoot:—It is prohibited to eat the bread, and to drink the wine of the Samaritan." "If any one receives a Samaritan into his house, and ministers to him, he will cause his children to be carried into captivity." "He who eats the bread of a Samaritan, is as if he ate swine’s flesh." Aware of this extreme antipathy, the Samaritan woman expresses her amazement that a person, whom, from His dress and dialect, she perceived to be a Jew, should deign to ask, much less receive a favor from a Samaritan—"How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?" Ah, "little did she think," to borrow the words of one of the Puritans, "of the glories of Him who sat there before her. He who sat on the well owned a Throne that was placed high above the head of the cherubim; in His arms, who then 89
- 90. rested Himself, wasthe sanctuary of peace, where weary souls could lay their heads and dispose their cares, and then turn them to joys, and to guild their thorns with glory; and from that holy tongue, which was parched with heat, should stream forth rivulets of heavenly doctrine, which were to water all the world, and turn deserts into a paradise" (Jeremy Taylor). "Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me?" In a previous chapter we have pointed out the sevenfold contrast which exists between the cases of Nicodemus and this Samaritan woman. Here we call attention to a striking analogy. The very first word uttered by Nicodemus in response to the Savior’s initial statements was "How?" (John 3:4); and the very first word of this woman in reply to Christ’s request was "How?" Both of them met the advances of the Savior with a sceptical "How:" there were many points of dissimilarity between them, but in this particular they concurred. In His dealings with Nicodemus Christ manifests Himself as the "truth;" here in John 4 we behold the "grace" that came by Jesus Christ. "Truth" to break down the religious prejudices of a proud Pharisee; "grace" to meet the deep need of this Samaritan adulteress. "We are full of ‘how’s.’ The truth of God, in all its majesty and authority, is put before us; we meet it with a how! The grace of God, in all its sweetness and tenderness, is unfolded to our view; we reply with a how? It may be a theological ‘how,’ or a rationalistic ‘how,’ it matters not, the poor heart will reason instead of believing the truth, and receiving the grace of God. The will is active, and hence, although the conscience may be ill at ease, and the heart be dissatisfied with itself, and all around, still the unbelieving ‘how’ breaks forth in one form or another. Nicodemus says, ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ The Samaritan says, ‘How canst thou ask drink of me?’" (C. H. M., from whom we have taken several helpful thoughts). Thus it is ever. When the Word of God declares to us the utter worthlessness of nature, the heart, instead of bowing to the holy record, sends up its unholy reasonings. When the same truth sets forth the boundless grace of God, and the free salvation which is in Christ Jesus, the heart, instead of receiving the grace, and rejoicing in the salvation, begins to reason as to how it can be. The fact is, the human heart is closed against God—against the truth of His Word, and against the grace of His heart. The Devil may speak and the heart will give its ready credence. Man may speak and the heart will greedily swallow what he says. Lies from Satan and nonsense from men all meet with a ready reception by the foolish sinner; but the moment God speaks, whether it be in the authoritative language of truth, or in the winsome accents of grace, all the return the heart will make is an unbelieving, rationalistic, infidelistic "How?" Anything and everything for the natural heart save the truth and grace of God. How deeply humbling all this is! Flow it ought to make us hide our faces with shame! How it should make us heed that solemn word in Ezekiel 16:62, 63, "And thou shalt know that I am the Lord: That thou mayest remember, and be confounded . . . Because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God." "Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?" How completely this manifested the blindness of the natural heart—"thou being a Jew." She failed to discern the excellency of the One talking to her. She knew not that it was the 90
- 91. Lord of glory.She saw in Him nothing but a "Jew." She was altogether ignorant of the fact that He who had humbled Himself to take upon Him the form of a servant, was none other than the Christ of God. And Christian readers, it was thus with each of us before the Holy Spirit quickened us. Until we were brought out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, we "saw in him no beauty that we should desire him." All that this poor woman could think of was the old prejudice—"thou a Jew... me a woman of Samaria." So it was with you and me. When the sinner first comes into the presence of God the latent enmity of the carnal mind is stirred up, and, until Divine grace has subdued us, all we could do was to prevaricate and raise objections. "Jesus 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 water" (John 4:10). Our Lord was not to be put off with her "how?" He had answered the "how" of Nicodemus, and He would now answer the "how" of this woman of Sychar. He replies to Nicodemus, eventually, by pointing to Himself as the great antitype of the brazen serpent, and by telling him of the love of God in sending His Son into the world. He replies to the woman, likewise, by telling her of "the gift of God?’ It is beautiful to observe the spirit in which the Savior answered this poor outcast. He did not enter into an argument with her about the prejudices of the Samaritans, nor did He seek to defend the Jews for their heartless treatment of them. Nor did He deal roughly with her and reproach her for her woeful ignorance and stupidity. No; He was seeking her salvation, and with infinite patience He bore with her slowness of heart to believe. "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink." There is where the root of the trouble lay. Man neither knows his need, nor the One who can minister to it. This woman was ignorant of "the gift of God." The language of grace was an unknown tongue. Like every other sinner in his natural state, this Samaritan thought she was the one who must do the giving. But salvation does not come to us in return for our giving. God is the Giver; all we have to do is receive. "If thou knewest the gift of God." What is this? It is salvation: it is eternal life: it is the "living water" spoken of by Christ at the end of the verse. "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink." But this woman did not know Who it was that spoke to her, nor of the marvelous condescension of this One who had asked her for a "drink." Had she done so, she, in turn, would have "asked of Him." He was ready to give, if she would but take the place of a receiver, and thus make Him the Giver; instead of her wanting to take the place of a giver and make Him the Receiver. "Thou wouldest have asked of him." It is blessedly true that the only thing between the sinner and eternal life is an "ask." But asking proceeds from knowing. "If thou knewest... thou wouldest have asked." But O how reluctant the sinner is to take this place. God has to do much for him and in him before he is ready to really "ask." The sinner has to be brought to a realization of his awful condition and terrible danger: he must see himself as lost, undone, and bound for the lake of fire. He has to be made to see his desperate need of a Savior. Again, God has to show him the utter vanity and worthlessness of everything of this world, so that he experiences an acute "thirst" for the Water of Life. He has to be driven to despair, until he is made to wonder whether God 91
- 92. can possibly savesuch a wretch as he. He has to be stript of the filthy rags of his own self-righteousness, and be made willing to come to God just as he is, as an empty-handed beggar ready to receive Divine charity. He has to really come into the presence of Christ and have personal dealings with Him. He has to make definite request for himself. This, in part, is what is involved, before the sinner will "ask." Before we ask, God has to deal with the conscience, enlighten the understanding, subdue the rebellious will, and open the heart, the door of which is fast closed against Himself. All of this is what Christ did with this woman of our lesson. We are not saved because of our seeking; we have to be sought. "And who it is that saith to thee:" notice, particularly, this "who it is," not "what it is"—it is not doctrine any more than doing. It is personal dealings with Christ that is needed; with Him who is the Source and Giver of "life." Attention has often been called to the striking contrast in the manner of our Lord’s speech with Nicodemus and His method of dealing with this poor Samaritan adulteress. The Lord did not deal with souls in any mechanical, stereotyped way, as it is to be feared many Christian-workers do today. No; He dealt with each according to the condition of heart they were in. Christ did not begin with the Gospel when dealing with Nicodemus. Instead, He said, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." There is no good news in a "ye must be." If a man must be born again, what is he going to do in order that he may be? What does all his past life amount to?—no matter how full of deeds of benevolence, acts of kindness, and religious performances. Just nothing: a new beginning has to be made. But not only is an entirely different order of life imperative, but man has to be "born from above." What, then, can the poor sinner do in the matter?’ Nothing, absolutely nothing. To tell a man he "must be born again" is simply a shut door in the face of all fleshly pretentions; and that is precisely what Christ intended with Nicodemus. But why shut the door before Nicodemus? It was because he belonged to the Pharisees. He was a member of that class, one of whom Christ portrayed as standing in the Temple and saying to God, "I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers," etc. (Luke 18:11). Nicodemus was not only a highly respectable and moral man, but he was deeply religious. And what he most needed was just what he heard, for the Lord Jesus never made any mistakes. Nicodemus prided himself upon his respectability and religious standing: evidence of this is seen in his coming to Jesus "by night"—he was conscious of how much he risked by this coming; he feared he was endangering his reputation among the people by visiting this Nazarene. Therefore his self- righteousness must be smashed up; his religious pride must be broken down. The force, then, of what our Lord said to this ruler of the Jews was, "Nicodemus, with all your education and reformation, morality and religion, you have not begun to live that life which is pleasing to God, for that you must be born again." And this was simply to prepare the way for the Gospel; to prepare a self- righteous man to receive it. How entirely different was our Lord’s speech with this woman at the well! To her He never so much as mentions the need for the new birth; instead, He tells her at once of the "gift of God." In the case of this woman there was no legalistic and religious pattern to be swept away. Her moral character and religious standing were already gone. But it was far otherwise with Nicodemus. It is very evident that he felt he had something to stand upon and glory in. What he 92
- 93. needed to knowwas that all of this in which he prided himself was worthless before God. Even though a master of Israel, he was utterly unfit to enter God’s kingdom, and nothing could show him this quicker than for the Lord to say unto him "Ye must be born again." Do what you will with nature, educate, cultivate, sublimate it as much as you please; raise it to the loftiest pinnacle of the temple of science and philosophy; summon to your aid all the ornaments and ordinances of the legal system, and all the appliances of man’s religion; make vows and resolutions of moral reform; weary yourself out with the monotonous round of religious duties; betake yourself to vigils, fastings, prayers, and alms, and the entire range of "dead works," and after all, yonder Samaritan adulteress is as near to the kingdom of God as you, seeing that you as well as she "must be born again." Neither you nor she has one jot or tittle to present to God, either in the way of title to the kingdom, or of capacity to enjoy it. It is, and must be, all of grace, from beginning to end. What, then, is the remedy? That to which Christ, at the close, pointed out to Nicodemus: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14, 15). But for whom was this brazen serpent intended? Why, for any bitten creature, just because he was bitten. The wound was the title. The title to what? To look at the serpent. And what then? He that looked, lived. Blessed Gospel, "look and live." True for Nicodemus: true for the woman of Sychar: true for every sinbitten son and daughter of Adam. There is no limit, no restriction. The Son of Man has been lifted up, that whosoever looks to Him, in simple faith, might have what Adam in innocency never possessed, and what the law of Moses never proposed, even "everlasting life." The Gospel meets men on a common platform. Nicodemus had moral character, social standing, religious reputation; the woman at the well had nothing. Nicodemus was at the top of the social ladder; she was at the bottom. You could hardly get anything higher than a "Master of Israel," and you could scarcely get anything lower than a Samaritan adulteress; yet so far as standing before God, fitness for His holy presence, title to heaven was concerned, they were both on one common level. But how few understand this! So far as standing before God was concerned there was "no difference" between this learned and religious Nicodemus and the wretched woman of Sychar. To Nicodemus Christ said, "Ye must be born again;" this brief statement completely swept away the foundation from under his feet. Nothing less than a new nature was required from him; and nothing more was needed for her. Uncleanness could not enter heaven, nor could Phariseeism. Each must be born again. True, there was a great difference morally and socially between Nicodemus and this woman—that goes without saying. No sensible person needs to be told that morality is better than vice, that sobriety is preferable to drunkenness, that it is better to be an honorable man than a thief. But none of these will save, or contribute anything toward the salvation of a sinner. None of these will secure admittance into the kingdom of God. Both Nicodemus and the Samaritan adulteress were dead; there was no more spiritual life in the one than in the other. "Jesus 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 water." There are some who regard the "living 93
- 94. water" here asthe Holy Spirit, and there is something to be said in favor of this view; but personally, while not dissenting from it, we think that more is included within the scope of our Lord’s words. We believe the "living water" has reference to salvation, salvation in its widest sense, with all that it embraces. The figure of "water" is most suggestive, and like all others which are found in Scripture calls for prayerful and prolonged meditation in order to discover its fulness and beauty. At least seven lines of thought appear to be suggested by "water"—living water—as a figure of the salvation which Christ gives. 1. Water is a gift from God. It is something which man, despite all his boasted wisdom, is quite unable to create. For water we are absolutely dependent upon God. It is equally so with His salvation, of which water is here a figure. 2. Water is something which is indispensable to man. It is not a luxury, but a vital necessity. It is that without which man cannot live. It is equally so with God’s salvation—apart from it men are eternally lost. 3. Water is that which meets a universal need; it is not merely a local requirement, but a general one. All are in need of water. It is so with God’s salvation. It is not merely some particular class of people, who are more wicked than their fellows, for all who are outside of Christ are lost. 4. Water is that which first descends from the heavens. It is not a product of the earth, but comes down from above. So is it with salvation: it is "of the Lord." 5. Water is a blessed boon: it cools the fevered brow, slakes the thirst, refreshes and satisfies. And so does the salvation which is to be found in Christ. 6. Water is something of which we never tire. Other things satiate us, but not so with water. It is equally true of God’s salvation to the heart of every one who has really received it. 7. Water is strangely and unevenly distributed by God. In some places there is an abundance; in others very little; in others none at all. It is so with God’s salvation. In some nations there are many who have been visited by the Dayspring from on high; in others there are few who have passed from death unto life; while in others there seem to be none at all. "He would have given thee living water." How blessed this is! The living water is without money and without price: it is a "gift." This gift can be obtained from Christ alone. This gift can be procured from Christ only by asking Him for it. How blessed the gift! How worldrous the Giver! How simple the terms! Here, then, was the Christ of God preaching to this poor fallen woman the Gospel of His grace. Here was the Messiah in Israel winning to Himself a despised Samaritan. This is hardly what we would have looked for. And how the unexpected meets us again and again in these Gospels! How vastly different were things from what We had imagined them! Here was the Son of God, incarnate, born into this world; and where would we expect to find His cradle? Why, surely in Jerusalem, the "city of the great king." Instead, He was born in Bethlehem, which was "little among the thousands in Judah." Yes, born in Bethlehem, and cradled in a manger—the very last place we had looked for Him! And for what purpose has He visited this earth? To offer Himself as a sacrifice for sins. To whom shall we go to learn more about this? Surely, to the priests and Levites. Ah, and what do we learn about them in this Gospel? Why, they were the very ones who knew not the One who stood in their midst (John 1:26). No, if we would learn about Him who had come to be the great sacrifice, we must turn away from the priests and Levites, and go yonder into the "wilderness"—the last place, again, we would think of—and listen to that strange character dad in raiment of camel’s hair, with a leathern girdle about his loins; and he would tell us about 94
- 95. the Lamb ofCod which taketh away the sin of the world. Once more: suppose it had been worship we had desired to learn about, whither had we betaken ourselves? Why, surely, to the Temple—that, of all places, must be where the Lord God is worshipped in the truest form. But again would our quest have been in vain, for the Father’s house was now but "a house of merchandise." Whom had we sought out if instruction in the things of God had been our desire? Why, surely, one of those best qualified to teach us would be Nicodemus, "a Master of Israel." But again would we have met with disappointment. Now if we would have gone to Nicodemus to learn of the things of God, who among us would have imagined these very truths being revealed by a weary Traveller by one of Samaria’s wells, to an audience of one! Who were the Samaritans to be privileged thus? Should we not expect to find this much— favored woman, and a people so highly honored, as being the descendants of some race of age-long seekers after God? Would we not conclude they must be the offspring of men who for long centuries had lived in one continued and supreme endeavor to purge their thoughts and ceremonies from every false and impure admixture? But read again 2 Kings 17 for the inspired account of the unlovely origin of the Samaritans. They were two-thirds heathen! Ah! after reading this chapter would we not have expected to find worship in Jerusalem and idolatry in Samaria! Instead of which, we find idolatry in Jerusalem, and (before we are through with John 4) the true worship in Samaria. And what does all this go to prove? It shows that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. It demonstrates how utterly incompetent we are for drawing conclusions and reasoning about spiritual things. It exemplifies what was said long ago through Isaiah: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the Lord" (Isa. 55:8). How foolish are man’s reasonings; how wise God’s "foolishness!" PETT, "‘Jesus says to her, “Give me a drink”. For his disciples had gone away into the town to buy food.’ The point of the second statement would appear to be that they had taken all their vessels with them with the purpose of filling them, leaving Jesus nothing to drink from. The statement may not, therefore, indicate that He was totally alone. Someone, such as John, may have stayed with Him although keeping out of the conversation. If we do see Him as alone it might suggest that the reason why all the disciples had gone off to find food in the nearby town as a body was because of the fear of an unpleasant welcome (there may only have been four or five of them). But it would have been normal for thirsty travellers to draw water immediately on reaching a well. It may be, therefore be that we are to see this as divinely pre-planned. It is also possible that Jesus’ thirst had previously been assuaged but had now returned, or, indeed, that it was mainly a conversation opener. The woman was so surprised when He spoke to her that she forgot her prejudice for the moment and, overcome with curiosity, made a reply. Who is this Jew who would lower his pride and his prejudices to ask for water at the hands of a Samaritan, and a woman at that? 95
- 96. 8 (His discipleshad gone into the town to buy food.) GILL, "For his disciples were gone away,.... This is related, not so much to give a reason why Christ asked the woman for water, because his disciples were not present, to minister to him; but rather to show, that Christ took the opportunity, in their absence, to converse with her; partly to avoid the scandal and offence they might take, at his conversation with her, being a Samaritan; as it appears to have been astonishing to them, when they found him talking with her, Joh_4:27. And partly, that he might not put the woman to shame and blushing before them all; he chooses to tell her of the sins of her former life, in a private way. The disciples were gone unto the city: to the city Sychar, which was hard by; and their business there, was to buy meat: for though it is said, in the following verse, that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans; yet this is not to be understood in the strictest sense; for they had dealings with them in some respects, as will be seen hereafter; particularly their food, eatables, and drinkables, were lawful to be bought of them, and used: it is said by R. Juda bar Pazi, in the name of R. Ame (g), "a roasted egg of the Cuthites (or Samaritans), lo, this is lawful: says R. Jacob bar Acha, in the name of R. Lazar, the boiled victuals of the Cuthites (Samaritans), lo, these are free; this he says concerning boiled food, because it is not their custom to put wine and vinegar into it,'' for these were forbidden: hence it is often said (h), that "the unleavened bread of the Cuthites (or Samaritans), is lawful, and that a man is allowed the use of it at the passover.'' And there was a time when their wine was lawful; for one of their canons runs thus (i); "he that buys wine of the Cuthites (Samaritans), says, the two logs that I shall separate, lo, they are first fruits, &c.'' It is indeed said in one place, R. Eliezer (k). "that, he that eats the bread of the Cuthites (or Samaritans), is as if he eat flesh; to when (who reported this) says (R. Akiba) be silent, I will not tell you what R. Eliezer thinks concerning it.'' Upon which the commentators serve (l), that this is not to be understood strictly; 96
- 97. cause he thateats bread of the Samaritans, does deserve stripes according to the law, but according to the constitutions of the wise men; but these, Christ and his disciples had no regard to. HENRY, "[2.] His disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat. Hence learn a lesson, First, Of justice and honesty. The meat Christ ate, he bought and paid for, as Paul, 2Th_3:8. Secondly, Of daily dependence upon Providence: Take no thought for the morrow. Christ did not go into the city to eat, but sent his disciples to fetch his meat thither; not because he scrupled eating in a Samaritan city, but, 1. Because he had a good work to do at that well, which might be done while they were catering. It is wisdom to fill up our vacant minutes with that which is good, that the fragments of time may not be lost. Peter, while his dinner was getting ready, fell into a trance, Act_10:10. 2. Because it was more private and retired, more cheap and homely, to have his dinner brought him hither, than to go into the town for it. Perhaps his purse was low, and he would teach us good husbandry, to spend according to what we have and not go beyond it. At least, he would teach us not to affect great things. Christ could eat his dinner as well upon a draw well as in the best inn in the town. Let us comport with our circumstances. Now this gave Christ an opportunity of discoursing with this woman about spiritual concerns, and he improved it; he often preached to multitudes that crowded after him for instruction, yet here he condescends to teach a single person, a woman, a poor woman, a stranger, a Samaritan, to teach his ministers to do likewise, as those that know what a glorious achievement it is to help to save, though but one soul, from death. COFFMAN, "Hovey remarked that the disciples, for some reason, did not appear to have been as tired and weary as Jesus; but this is not strange. To the leader of such a campaign as they had just terminated, there is always the greater intensity, enthusiasm, and emotion exhibited by all great leaders; and, as noted earlier, this excessive fatigue on the part of the Master is exactly what was natural. Some insist that this weariness of Jesus suggests 6 P.M. instead of noon for the time of this interview; but it may be accounted for differently. LIGHTFOOT, "8. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) [To buy meat.] If the disciples were gone into the city to buy food, how agrees this with verse 9, the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans? and with that rule of the Jews, "Let no Israelite eat one mouthful of any thing that is a Samaritan's; for if he eat but a little mouthful, he is as if he ate swine's flesh." A mouthful, that is, of nothing over which a blessing must be pronounced. "Ezra, Zorobabel, and Joshua gathered together the whole congregation into the Temple of the Lord; and with three hundred priests, three hundred books of the law, and three hundred children, anathematized, shammatized, excommunicated the Samaritans, in the name of Jehovah, by a writing indented upon tables, and an anathema both of the upper and the lower house: 'Let no Israelite eat one morsel of any thing that is a Samaritan's; let no Samaritan become a proselyte to Israel; nor let them have a part in the resurrection of the dead.' And they sent this curse to all Israel that were in Babylon, who also themselves added their anathema to this," &c. But Hierosol. Avodah Zara tells us, "R. Jacob Bar Acha, in the name of R. 97
- 98. Lazar, saith, Thatthe victuals of the Cuthites are allowed, if nothing of their wine or vinegar be mingled amongst them." Nay, further, we meet with this passage in Bab. Kiddushin; "The unleavened bread of the Cuthites is allowed, and by that a man may rightly enough keep the Passover." If the unleavened bread for the Passover may be had of the Samaritans, much more common bread. And grant that the Samaritans were to the Jews as heathens, yet was it lawful for the Jew to partake of the edibles of the Gentiles, if there was no suspicion that they had been any way polluted, nor been offered to idols; as may be largely made out from Maimonides in his treatise about forbidden meats. Which suspicion was altogether needless as to the Samaritans; because they and the Jews in a manner agreed upon the same things as clean or unclean, and they were very near as free from idolatry. 9 The 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]) BARNES,"No dealings with the Samaritans - For an account of the Samaritans, and of the differences between them and the Jews, see the notes at Mat_ 10:5. CLARKE,"That thou, being a Jew - Probably the inhabitants of Judea distinguished themselves from those of Samaria by some peculiar mode of dress; and by this the Samaritan woman might have known Christ: but it is likely that our Lord spoke the Galilean dialect, by which we find, from Mar_14:70, a Jew of that district might easily be known. The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans - Perhaps better, Jews have no communion with Samaritans. These words appear to be added by the evangelist himself, in explanation of the woman’s question. The original word, συγχρωνται, has been variously translated and understood. It comes from συν, together, and χραοµαι, I use, or borrow: hence it has been understood to mean, the Jews will be under no kind of obligation to the Samaritans - will borrow nothing from them - will not drink out of the same cup or well with them - will not sit down to meals with them, nor eat out of the same vessel - will have no religious connection, no commercial dealings with them. The word communion, I think, fully expresses the sense of the original; and, being as extensive in its meaning as our word dealings, is capable of as general an interpretation. The deadly hatred that subsisted between these two nations is known to all. The Jews cursed them, and believed them to be accursed. Their most merciful wish to the Samaritans was, that they might have no part in the 98
- 99. resurrection; or, inother words, that they might be annihilated. GILL, "Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him,.... In a scoffing, jeering way, how is it, that thou being a Jew; which she might know, by his language and his dress: askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? not that the waters of Samaria were unlawful for a Jew to drink of; for as "the land of the Cuthites (or Samaritans), was pure, or clean, so, ,מקותיה "their collections of water", and their habitations, and their ways were clean (m),'' and might be used; but because the Jews used no familiarity with the Samaritans, nor would they receive any courtesy or kindness from them, as follows: for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans: some take these to be the words of the evangelist, commenting upon, and explaining the words of the woman; but they seem rather to be her own words, giving a reason why she returned such an answer; and which must be understood, not in the strictest sense, as if they had no dealings at all with them: indeed in some things they had no dealings with them, and at some certain times; hence that discourse of the Samaritans with a Jewish Rabbi (n). "The Cuthites (or Samaritans) inquired of R. Abhu, your fathers, מסתפקין ,היו "used to deal with us" (or minister to us, or supply us with necessaries), wherefore do not ye deal with us? (or take a supply from us;) he replied unto them, your fathers did not corrupt their works, you have corrupted your works.'' They might not use their wine and vinegar, nor admit them to their tables; they say of a man (o), "because the Cuthites (or Samaritans) ate at his table, it was the reason why his children went into captivity--and further add, that whoever invites a Cuthite (or Samaritan) into his house, and ministers to him, is the cause of captivity to his children.'' And they forbid a man to enter into partnership with a Cuthite (or Samaritan (p)): and particularly, "three days before the feasts of idolaters (for such they reckoned the Samaritans, as well as others), it is forbidden to have any commerce with them, to borrow of them, or lend to them (q) &c.'' But then at other times, and in other respects, they had dealings with them; they might go into their cities and buy food of them, as the disciples did, Joh_4:8; they might send their wheat to a Samaritan miller, to be ground (r); and as it appears from the above citations, their houses and habitations were clean, and might be lodged in, with which compare Luk_9:52; the poor of the Samaritans were maintained with the poor of Israel (s); wherefore the sense is, as Dr. Lightfoot 99
- 100. observes, that theJews refused to receive the least favour or kindness at the hand of a Samaritan; and therefore the woman might justly wonder, that Christ should ask so small a favour of her, as a little water. The reason of this distance and aversion, was religion; and so the Ethiopic version, rather paraphrasing than translating, renders the words, "the Jews do not agree in religion, nor do they communicate with the Samaritans, nor mix together": and this was of long standing, and had been occasioned and increased by various incidents; for when the ten tribes revolted in Jeroboam's time, the calves were set up in Dan and Bethel, in order to draw off the people from worship at Jerusalem, which gave great umbrage to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; and when the ten tribes were carried away captive by the king of Assyria, he planted the cities of Samaria with colonies in their room, consisting of Heathenish and idolatrous persons, brought from Babylon, and other places; to whom he sent a priest, to instruct them in the manner of the God of the land; but with these instructions, they still retained their idols, and their idolatrous practices; see 2Ki_17:24, which must render them odious to the Jews: and these were the principal adversaries of the Jews, after their return from captivity; and discouraged them, and weakened their hands, in the building of the second temple: but what latest, and most of all had fixed this aversion and enmity, was this; Manasseh, brother to Jaddua the high priest, having married Sanballat's daughter, governor of Samaria, was for it removed from the priesthood; who applying to his father-in-law, he proposed building for him a temple on Mount Gerizim, and making him an high priest; for which he obtained leave of Alexander the Great, and accordingly built one, and made his son-in-law high priest; which drew a great many profligate Jews over to him, who mixing with the Samaritans, set up a worship, religion, and priesthood, in distinction from the Jews; and this was ever after a matter of contention and quarrel between these people, and the reason why they would have no dealings with them. HENRY, "(2.) Let us observe the particulars of this discourse. [1.] Jesus begins with a modest request for a draught of water: Give me to drink. He that for our sakes became poor here becomes a beggar, that those who are in want, and cannot dig, may not be ashamed to beg. Christ asked for it, not only because he needed it, and needed her help to come at it, but because he would draw on further discourse with her, and teach us to be willing to be beholden to the meanest when there is occasion. Christ is still begging in his poor members, and a cup of cold water, like this here, given to them in his name, shall not lose its reward. [2.] The woman, though she does not deny his request, yet quarrels with him because he did not carry on the humour of his own nation (Joh_4:9): How is it? Observe, First, What a mortal feud there was between the Jews and the Samaritans: The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. The Samaritans were the adversaries of Judah (Ezr_4:1), were upon all occasions mischievous to them. The Jews were extremely malicious against the Samaritans, “looked upon them as having no part in the resurrection, excommunicated and cursed them by the sacred name of God, by the glorious writing of the tables, and by the curse of the upper and lower house of judgment, with this law, That no Israelite eat of any thing that is a Samaritan's, for it is as if he should eat swine's flesh.” So Dr. Lightfoot, out of Rabbi Tanchum. Note, Quarrels about religion are usually the most implacable of all quarrels. Men were made to have dealing one with another; but if men, because one worships at one temple and another at another, will deny the offices of humanity, and charity, and common civility, will be morose and unnatural, scornful and censorious, and this under colour of zeal for religion, they plainly show that however their religion may be true they are not truly religious; but, pretending to stickle for religion, subvert the design of it. Secondly, How ready the woman was to upbraid 100
- 101. Christ with thehaughtiness and ill nature of the Jewish nation: How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me? By his dress or dialect, or both, she knew him to be a Jew, and thinks it strange that he runs not to the same excess of riot against the Samaritans with other Jews. Note, Moderate men of all sides are, like Joshua and his fellows (Zec_3:8), men wondered at. Two things this woman wonders at, 1. That he should ask this kindness; for it was the pride of the Jews that they would endure any hardship rather than be beholden to a Samaritan. It was part of Christ's humiliation that he was born of the Jewish nation, which was now not only in an ill state, subject to the Romans, but in an ill name among the nations. With what disdain did Pilate ask, Am I a Jew? Thus he made himself not only of no reputation, but of ill reputation; but herein he has set us an example of swimming against the stream of common corruptions. We must, like our master, put on goodness and kindness, though it should be ever so much the genius of our country, or the humour of our party, to be morose and ill-natured. This woman expected that Christ should be as other Jews were; but it is unjust to charge upon every individual person even the common faults of the community: no rule but has some exceptions. 2. She wonders that he should expect to receive this kindness from her that was a Samaritan: “You Jews could deny it to one of our nation, and why should we grant it to one of yours?” Thus quarrels are propagated endlessly by revenge and retaliation. JAMIESON, "How is it that thou — not altogether refusing, yet wondering at so unusual a request from a Jew, as His dress and dialect would at once discover Him to be, to a Samaritan. for, etc. — It is this national antipathy that gives point to the parable of the good Samaritan (Luk_10:30-37), and the thankfulness of the Samaritan leper (Luk_17:16, Luk_17:18). CALVIN, "9.How dost thou, who art a Jew? This is a reproach, by which she retorts upon him the contempt which was generally entertained by his nation. The Samaritans are known to have been the scum of a people gathered from among foreigners. Having corrupted the worship of God, and introduced many spurious and wicked ceremonies, they were justly regarded by the Jews with detestation. Yet it cannot be doubted that the Jews, for the most part, held out their zeal for the law as a cloak for their carnal hatred; for many were actuated more by ambition and envy, and by displeasure at seeing the country which had been allotted to them occupied by the Samaritans, than by grief and uneasiness because the worship of God had been corrupted. There was just ground for the separation, provided that their feelings had been pure and well regulated. For this reason Christ, when he first sends the Apostles to proclaim the Gospel, forbids them to turn aside to the Samaritans, (Matthew 10:5.) But this woman does what is natural to almost all of us; for, being desirous to be held in esteem, we take very ill to be despised. This disease of human nature is so general, that every person wishes that his vices should please others. If any man disapproves of us, or of any thing that we do or say, (73) we are immediately offended without any good reason. Let any man examine himself, and he will find this seed of pride in his mind, until it has been eradicated by the Spirit of God. This woman, therefore, knowing that the superstitions of her nation were condemned by the Jews, now offers an insult to them in the person of Christ. 101
- 102. For the Jewshold no intercourse with the Samaritans. These words I consider to have been uttered by the woman. Others suppose that the Evangelist added them for the sake of explanation, and, indeed, it is of little consequence which meaning you prefer. But I think it more natural to believe that the woman jeers at Christ in this manner: “What? Is it lawful for you to ask drink from me, when you hold us to be so profane?” If any prefer the other interpretation, I do not dispute the point. Besides, it is possible that the Jews carried their abhorrence of the Samaritans beyond proper bounds; for as we have said that they applied to an improper purpose a false pretense of zeal, so it was natural for them to go to excess, as almost always happens with those who give way to wicked passions. COFFMAN, "How is it? ... How? It was the Master's way of opening a door into her heart that he might give her eternal life. How? It was the Saviour's way of recruiting one of the most effective missionaries he ever had. How? It was Jesus' means of entry into that city as an honored guest for two days and nights. All of it began with this request for a drink of water. Who am a Samaritan woman ... For the origin of this people and the development of the hatred between them and the Jews, see under John 4:7, above. A Jew ... The first estimate of Jesus formed by this woman was stated in these words; but her knowledge and understanding of Jesus grew rapidly. Note the following: "A Jew" (John 4:7), "Sir" (John 4:11), "a prophet" (John 4:19), and "the Christ" (John 4:29). COKE, "John 4:9. For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.— Have no friendly intercourse, &c. This must be the meaning of ου συγχρωνται here; for it is evident from John 4:8 that the Jews had some dealings with them. It has been frequently observed, that many causes concurred to occasion this inveterate hatred of the Jews towards the Samaritans; such as their foreign extract,—and the early mixture of superstitionandidolatryintheirreligion, 2 Kings 17:24; 2 Kings 17:41.—the injurious manner in which they treated the Jews after their return from the captivity, Ezra 4:1-6. Nehemiah 6:1-14, and especially their building a temple on mount Gerizim, which they made the centre of their worship, in opposition to that at Jerusalem: and perhaps nothing contributed more to expose them to the contempt and abhorrence of the Jews, than the infamous offer which they made to Antiochus, of dedicating that temple to Jupiter, and admitting the rites of his idolatrous worship, at a time when the Jews were suffering the utmost extremities in defence of theirreligion. We may observe, it is not said, that the Samaritans had no dealings with the Jews, but that the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans; whence it is natural to conclude, that the enmity was greatest on the side of the Jews. As a proof of this, see a remarkable passage in Sirach 50:25-26. ELLICOTT, "(9) Woman of Samaria (twice).—Better, Samaritan woman. In both cases the Greek has the adjective. It is the religious and national position as a Samaritan which is prominent in this verse. 102
- 103. Being a Jew.—Thisshe would know from dress and language. It has been noted that the Hebrew for “Give me to drink,” “Teni lishekoth,” contains the letter Sin, or Shin, which was one of the distinctive points in the Ephraimite pronunciation. They did not say Shibboleth, but Sibboleth (Judges 12:5-6). They would not say “Teni lishekoth,” but “Teni lisekoth.” For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.—The original has not the articles, For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. This is a remark made by the writer to explain the point of the woman’s question. She wondered that a Jew, weary and thirsty though he might be, should speak to her. For the origin of the Samaritans, see 2 Kings 17:24-41, and Note on Luke 9:52. The later Jewish authors abound in terms of reproach for them—e.g., “He who eats the bread of a Samaritan is as he who eats swine’s flesh;” “No Samaritan shall be made a proselyte;” “They have no share in the resurrection of the dead” (Pirke, Rabbi Elieser, 38; comp. Farrar, Life of Christ, i. 209, note). Jesus Himself speaks of a Samaritan as an alien (Luke 17:16; Luke 17:18; comp. Luke 10:33), and is called a Samaritan and possessed of a devil (comp. John 8:48). But the strictest Jews allowed exceptions to the forbidden intercourse. If bread was interdicted, fruit and vegetables were not; if boiled eggs were forbidden, fresh ones were not. At no time probably did the Galileans follow the practice of the Judæans in this matter, and hence they go to the city to buy food, while the woman asks this question of a Jew whom she met on the road from Jerusalem. Later, it was only “because His face was as though He would go to Jerusalem “that the Samaritan village did not receive Him; and it is the Evangelist of the Jerusalem ministry, who would have called down fire from heaven then, who adds this note of explanation for his Greek readers now (Luke 9:52-53). PETT, "‘The Samaritan woman therefore says to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me who is a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.’ Amazed the woman asks the pertinent question. Why should such as He have dealings with her? Why would a Jew ask for a drink at the hands of a Samaritan woman? ‘For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans’, possibly better rendered ‘for Jews do not use with Samaritans’ (with ‘vessels’ understood). Jews had certain levels of dealings with Samaritans but would not drink from the same vessel, as they would look on it as probably ceremonially ‘unclean’. It could, however, signify ‘generally prefer not to have dealings with’. Either way Jesus is overcoming prejudice. That Jesus followed strict practices of avoiding uncleanness generally is apparent from the fact that He Himself is never attacked by the Pharisees for failing to follow the correct procedures. They seemed to recognise that He was punctilious in His observance of what were seen by them as the necessary requirements with regard to cleansing. But here, away from Judea, Jesus shows no regard for such practises. It is clear that He observed them in order not to 103
- 104. cause unnecessary offence,not because He saw them as basic. No Jerusalem Rabbi would even have spoken with a woman, but the Galilean Rabbis were not so closed minded so that there would be no reason for Jesus to differ from them. It appears that the writer is fully aware of the distinctions that applied in Judaism. LIGHTFOOT, "9. Then 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. [For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.] I. That translation, the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, which the French and English follow, seems to stretch the sense of the word beyond what it will well bear: for, 1. Granting the Samaritans were mere heathens, (which some of the Rabbins have affirmed,) yet did not this forbid the Jews having any kind of dealings with them; for they did not refuse merchandising with any of the Gentile nations whatever. See Nehemiah 13:16, &c. 2. But if the Samaritans were true proselytes, as R. Akibah asserts, or 'as the Israelites in all things,' as Rabban Simeon Ben Gamaliel saith of them; then much more might the Jews have dealing with them. II. "It is lawful to eat the unleavened bread of the Samaritans, nor is there any suspicion as to their leavened bread neither. This is to be understood, if the Samaritan should knead it in the house of an Israelite." Now if the Samaritan may knead dough in an Israelite's house, it is evident the Israelite might use the Samaritan. "An Israelite may circumcise a Cuthite; but a Cuthite may not circumcise an Israelite, because he is circumcised into the name of mount Gerizim. R. Josah saith, Let him circumcise him, and let him pass into the name of mount Gerizim till he departs this life." If therefore it was lawful for the Israelite to circumcise the Cuthite or Samaritan, and the Samaritan the Israelite, then the Jews had dealings with, or did use, the Samaritans... "For three days before the feasts of the idolaters, it is forbidden [the Jews] either to give to or receive from them, to ask, or lend, or borrow of them": but for any other parts of the year it was not forbidden them. But as to the Samaritans, it was not permitted the Jews to borrow or receive any thing from them at any time gratis. Whereas it was lawful for the Jews to converse with the Samaritans, buy of them, use their labour, answer to their benedictions, 'Amen,' as we find in Beracoth, lodge in their towns, Luke 9:52, I would fain know in what sense, after all this, can it be said, For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, but in this only, that they would not be obliged to them for any kindness? which may a little serve to illustrate that of Luke 10:33, &c.; and it does very well agree with the matter in hand. For the words which we are handling seem to be what the woman speaks, and not what the evangelist: and they spokescoptically, or with sarcasm; "Dost thou, who art a Jew, ask water of me, who am a Samaritan?" for you Jews despise all 104
- 105. courtesy of theSamaritans to receive the least kindness of them; and do you ask me for water? 10 Jesus 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.” BARNES,"The gift of God - The word “gift,” here denotes “favor.” It may refer to Jesus Himself, as the gift of God to the world, given to save men from death Joh_ 3:16; 2Co_9:15, or it may refer to the opportunity then afforded her of seeking salvation. If thou knewest how favorable an opportunity God now gives thee to gain a knowledge of himself, etc. And who it is ... - If thou knewest that the Messiah was speaking. Living water - The Jews used the expression “living water” to denote springs, fountains, or running streams, in opposition to dead and stagnant water. Jesus here means to denote by it his doctrine, or his grace and religion, in opposition to the impure and dead notions of the Jews and the Samaritans. See Joh_4:14. This was one of the many instances in which he took occasion from common topics of conversation to introduce religious discourse. None ever did it so happily as he did, but, by studying his example and manner, we may learn also to do it. One way to acquire the art is to have the mind full of the subject; to make religion our first and main thing; to carry it with us into all employments and into all society; to look upon everything in a religious light, and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak, Mat_12:34. CLARKE,"If thou knewest the gift of God - ∆ωρεαν signifies a free gift. A gift is any thing that is given, for which no equivalent has been or is to be returned: a free gift is that which has been given without asking or entreaty. Such a gift of kindness was Jesus Christ to the world, Joh_3:16; and through him comes the gift of the Spirit, which those who believe on his name were to receive. Christ was not an object of desire to the world - no man asked for him; and God, moved thereto by his own eternal mercy, freely gave him. Through this great gift comes the Holy Spirit, and all other gifts which are necessary to the salvation of a lost world. GILL, "Jesus answered and said unto her,.... In a very serious manner, in a different way from hers: if thou knewest the gift of God; meaning, not the Holy Spirit with his gifts and graces, as some think, but himself; for the following clause is explanatory of it; 105
- 106. and who itis that saith to thee, give me to drink; and Christ is also spoken of in the Old Testament, as the gift of God, Isa_9:6 and he had lately spoken of himself as such, Joh_3:16 and he is, by way of eminency, "the gift of God"; which is comprehensive of all others, is exceeding large, and very suitable to the wants and cases of men; and is irrevocable, unchangeable, and unspeakable: for he is God's gift, as he is his own and only begotten Son; and he is given for a covenant to the people, with all the promises and blessings of it; and as an head, both of eminence and influence; and to be a Saviour of them, and a sacrifice for their sins; and as the bread of life, for them to feed and live upon; of which gift, men are naturally ignorant, as this woman was: they know not the dignity of his person; nor the nature and usefulness of his offices; nor the way of peace, righteousness, and salvation by him; nor do they see any amiableness, or loveliness in him; and whatever notional knowledge some natural men may have of him, they know him not spiritually and experimentally, or as the gift of God to them: thou wouldst have asked of him; a favour and benefit; for such who truly know Christ, the worth and value of him, and their need of him, will apply to him for grace, as they have encouragement to do; since all grace is treasured up in him, and he gives it freely, and upbraideth not; and souls are invited to ask it of him, and take it freely; nor is it to be had anywhere else: but knowledge of Christ, is absolutely necessary, to asking anything of him; for till he is known, he will not be applied to; but when he is made known to any, in his fulness and suitableness, they will have recourse to him, and ask grace and mercy of him; and which is freely had: the Vulgate Latin very wrongly adds, "perhaps"; reading it, "perhaps thou wouldst have asked"; whereas our Lord's meaning is, that she would certainly have asked: and he would have given thee living water; pardoning and justifying grace, every branch of sanctifying grace, and all the supplies of it; so called, because his grace quickens sinners dead in sin, and dead in law, and in, their own apprehensions; and causes them to live in themselves, and before God; and because it refreshes and comforts, revives and cheers, and is like rivers of water in a dry land; and because it maintains and supports spiritual life in their souls; and it ever abides, and continues, and springs up unto everlasting life: for the allusion is to spring water, that bubbles up in a fountain, and is ever running; for such water the Jews call "living water"; see Gen_26:19; where in the Hebrew text it is "living water"; which we, and also the Chaldee paraphrase, render "springing water". So living waters with them, are said to be always flowing, and never cease (t). HENRY, "[3.] Christ takes this occasion to instruct her in divine things: If thou knewest the gift of God, thou wouldst have asked, Joh_4:10. Observe, First, He waives her objection of the feud between the Jews and Samaritans, and takes no notice of it. Some differences are best healed by being slighted, and by avoiding all occasions of entering into dispute about them. Christ will convert this woman, not by showing her that the Samaritan worship was schismatical (though really it was so), but by showing her her own ignorance and immoralities, and her need of a Saviour. Secondly, He fills her with an apprehension that she had now an opportunity (a fairer opportunity than she was aware of) of gaining that which would be of unspeakable advantage to her. She had not the helps that the Jews had to discern the signs of the times, and therefore Christ tells her expressly that she had now a season of grace; this was the day of her visitation. a. He hints to her what she should know, but was ignorant of: If thou knewest the gift of God, that is, as the next words explain it, who it is that saith, Give me to drink. 106
- 107. If thou knewestwho I am. She saw him to be a Jew, a poor weary traveller; but he would have her know something more concerning him that did yet appear. Note, (a.) Jesus Christ is the gift of God, the richest token of God's love to us, and the richest treasure of all good for us; a gift, not a debt which we could demand from God; not a loan, which he will demand from us again, but a gift, a free gift, Joh_3:16. (b.) It is an unspeakable privilege to have this gift of God proposed and offered to us; to have an opportunity of embracing it: “He who is the gift of God is now set before thee, and addresses himself to thee; it is he that saith, Give me to drink; this gift comes a begging to thee.” (c.) Though Christ is set before us, and sues to us in and by his gospel, yet there are multitudes that know him not. They know not who it is that speaks to them in the gospel, that saith, Give me to drink; they perceive not that it is the Lord that calls them. b. He hopes concerning her, what she would have done if she had known him; to be sure she would not have given him such a rude and uncivil answer; nay, she would have been so far from affronting him that she would have made her addresses to him: Thou wouldest have asked. Note, (a.) Those that would have any benefit by Christ must ask for it, must be earnest in prayer to God for it. (b.) Those that have a right knowledge of Christ will seek to him, and if we do not seek unto him it is a sign that we do not know him, Psa_9:10. (c.) Christ knows what they that want the means of knowledge would have done if they had had them, Mat_11:21. c. He assures her what he would have done for her if she had applied to him: “He would have given thee (and not have upbraided thee as thou doest me) living water.” By this living water is meant the Spirit, who is not like the water in the bottom of the well, for some of which he asked, but like living or running water, which was much more valuable. Note, (a.) The Spirit of grace is as living water; see Joh_7:38. Under this similitude the blessings of the Messiah had been promised in the Old Testament, Isa_12:3; Isa_35:7; Isa_44:3; Isa_55:1; Zec_14:8. The graces of the Spirit, and his comforts, satisfy the thirsting soul, that knows its own nature and necessity. (b.) Jesus Christ can and will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him; for he received that he might give. CALVIN, "10.Jesus answered. Christ now, availing himself of the opportunity, begins to preach about the grace and power of his Spirit, and that to a woman who did not at all deserve that he should speak a word to her. This is certainly an astonishing instance of his goodness. For what was there in this wretched woman, that, from being a prostitute, she suddenly became a disciple of the Son of God? Though in all of us he has displayed a similar instance of his compassion. All the women, indeed, are not prostitutes, nor are all the men stained by some heinous crime; but what excellence can any of us plead as a reason why he deigned to bestow on us the heavenly doctrine, and the honor of being admitted into his family? Nor was it by accident that the conversation with such a person occurred; for the Lord showed us, as in a model, that those to whom he imparts the doctrine of salvation are not selected on the ground of merit. And it appears at first sight a wonderful arrangement, that he passed by so many great men in Judea, and yet held familiar discourse with this woman. But it was necessary that, in his person, it should be explained how true is that saying of the Prophet, I was found by them that sought me not; I was made manifest to them that asked not after me. I said to those who sought me not, Behold, here I am, (Isaiah 65:1.) 107
- 108. If thou knewestthe gift of God. These two clauses, If thou knewest the gift of God, and, who it is that talketh with thee, I read separately, viewing the latter as an interpretation of the former. For it was a wonderful kindness of God to have Christ present, who brought with him eternal life. The meaning will be more plain if, instead of and, we put namely, or some other word of that kind, (75) thus: If thou knewest the gift of God, namely,who it is that talketh with thee By these words we are taught that then only do we know what Christ is, when we understand what the Father hath given to us in him, and what benefits he brings to us. Now that knowledge begins with a conviction of our poverty; for, before any one desires a remedy, he must be previously affected with the view of his distresses. Thus the Lord invites not those who have drunk enough, but the thirsty, not those who are satiated, but the hungry, to eat and drink. And why would Christ be sent with the fullness of the Spirit, if we were not empty? Again, as he has made great progress, who, feeling his deficiency, already acknowledges how much he needs the aid of another; so it would not be enough for him to groan under his distresses, if he had not also hope of aid ready and prepared. In this way we might do no more than waste ourselves with grief, or at least we might, like the Papists, run about in every direction, and oppress ourselves with useless and unprofitable weariness. But when Christ appears, we no longer wander in vain, seeking a remedy where none can be obtained, but we go straight to him. The only true and profitable knowledge of the grace of God is, when we know that it is exhibited to us in Christ, and that it is held out to us by his hand. In like manner does Christ remind us how efficacious is a knowledge of his blessings, since it excites us to seek them and kindles our hearts.If thou knewest, says he, thou wouldst have asked. The design of these words is not difficult to be perceived; for he intended to whet the desire of this woman, that she might not despise and reject the life which was offered to her. He would have given thee. By these words Christ testifies that, if our prayers be addressed to him, they will not be fruitless; and, indeed, without this confidence, the earnestness of prayer would be entirely cooled. But when Christ meets those who come to him, and is ready to satisfy their desires, there is no more room for sluggishness or delay. And there is no man who would not feel that this is said to all of us, if he were not prevented by his unbelief. Living water. Though the nameWater is borrowed from the present occurrence, and applied to the Spirit, yet this metaphor is very frequent in Scripture, and rests on the best grounds. For we are like a dry and barren soil; there is no sap and no rigour in us, until the Lord water us by his Spirit. In another passage, the Spirit is likewise called clean water, (Hebrews 10:22,) but in a different sense; namely, because he washes and cleanses us from the pollutions with which we are entirely covered. But in this and similar passages, the subject treated of is the secret energy by which he restores life in us, and maintains and brings it to perfection. There are some who explain this as referring to the doctrine of the Gospel, to which I own that this appellation is fully applicable; but I think that Christ includes here the whole grace of our renewal; for we know that he was sent for the purpose of bringing to us a new life. In my opinion, therefore, he 108
- 109. intended to contrastwater with that destitution of all blessings under which mankind groan and labor. Again, living water is not so called from its effect, as life-giving, but the allusion is to different kinds of waters. It is called living, because it flows from a living fountain. COFFMAN, "If thou knewest ... thou wouldest have asked ... This is the glory of that woman. These words show why Jesus accomplished this interview. He saw that the woman, despite her fallen life, would respond to a genuine opportunity to know the truth. In that precious quality, she was far superior to many of every age who indeed know the Lord of life but who will neither ask of him nor respond in any way to his mercy. Living water ... is a reference to the water of life, the spiritual realities that lead to everlasting life in the presence of God. The metaphor was probably suggested by the thirst which had brought them both to the well. Just as the body requires water, just so the soul, if it is to live, must drink at the everlasting fountain of God's word. The gift of God ... In this, Jesus referred to himself, the gift of God to all the world. Amazingly, the supreme gift of God from all eternity sat at that very moment on the ledge of Jacob's well; but the poor woman, dodging the scorn of neighbors, and coming to the well in the heat of the day, had suddenly confronted the Lord of life. Moses' discovery of the burning bush was not any more remarkable. What a pathetic thing it is to contemplate this woman standing face to face with God incarnate, and yet unaware of it. How blind are our eyes, how deadened our senses, how feeble our souls, when, face to face with God, we nevertheless cannot see him! COKE, "John 4:10. Jesus answered,—if thou knewest the gift of God,— If thou knewest what an opportunity God hath put into thine hand, of receiving the greatest blessing that ever was bestowed, as well as who, and how great a person, he is that speaks to thee; instead of scrupling to grant him so small a favour, thou wouldst surely have asked him: (for such is the force of the original) and he, without objecting to thee on account of the people to whom thou belongest, would readily have given thee living water; far better than what thou art now drawing: by which our Lord intimated his ability and readiness to communicate those influences of God's holy Spirit, which afford the noblest refreshment to the soul, and are therefore often described by water. It is certain, that the phrase living water, signifies in many good authors spring water, or running water, in opposition to that which stagnates; yet as our Lord elsewhere, in a remarkable passage recorded by this evangelist, Ch. John 6:51 calls himself living bread, because by feeding upon him lifeis to be obtained,—it is proper to adhere literally to the original in the version; though there is no doubt that the woman understood our Lord, not of living spiritual water, but of some fine spring water, which flowed so easily as not to need the pains of drawing, and was, on this account, at least, preferable to that of Jacob's well: and our Lord's reply, John 4:13-14 shews that the simile would hold in that respect. Our Lord, on this occasion, demonstrated the greatness of his condescension and benevolence; for though this woman was a person of an infamous character, and though he 109
- 110. himself was pressedwith thirst, he delayed refreshing himself that he might bring her who was spiritually dead, to the water of life. Comp. Leviticus 14:6. Jeremiah 2:13. ELLICOTT, "(10) If thou knewest the gift of God.—Expositors differ very widely as to the meaning to be given to “the gift of God” and “living water.” See, e.g., the summaries of views in the notes of Meyer and Godet, both of which are now translated into English. Yet there can be little doubt of the true meaning if we observe the turn given to her question by the emphatic pronouns, “Thou wouldest have asked of Him.” You stand by this deep well that for centuries has been God’s gift of refreshment to man and beast; you have the means of drawing the water, and are thus the apparent benefactor to Him who asks for your aid. It is not really so. There is a deep well of spiritual truth in communion with God, as necessary for man’s true life as water is for the natural life. I stand here with the means to draw, with the power to enter the depths hidden from man, and reveal to your spirit the Being of God. It is really you that are the traveller in the journey of life, weary with the burning heat of its trials, and travel-stained by the sins through which you have passed, thirsting in the hopes and fears of that spirit that cannot rest apart from God, helpless at the very side of the well, for the Eternal is ever near you, and you know Him not. If you knew this gift of God, and knew Who it is that is now here to reveal it to you, you would have asked, and He would have given you that Spirit, which would have been in you as a fountain of living water. BURKITT, "The Samaritan woman had refused Christ a draught of water in the former verse, he offers her the water of life in this verse. O! how kindly doth Christ deal with those that dealt unkindly with him! If thou knowest the gift of God, &e. Here observe, 1. The mercy which Christ had for, and was so desirous to bestow upon, this poor woman: it was the gift of God; that is, himself, his Holy Spirit, in the sanctifying gifts, and saving graces of it. All which are compared to water, in regard of their effects and operations, which are to purify the unclean , and to satisfy the thirsty. Observe, 2. The way and course which this woman and every lost sinner ought to take, in order to the obtaining of this inestimable gift; and that it is by asking it, Thou wouldst have asked, and he would have given thee living water. Learn hence, That Christ himself, his Holy Spirit; with all the sanctifying graces of it, must be earnestly sought of God, and such as do unfeignedly seek them, shall certainly obtain them. Observe, 3. The true cause and reason assigned, why sinners ask not for, and seek not after, Jesus Christ, and the graces of the Holy Spirit; and that is ignorance of the worth of Christ, and insensibleness of the want of him, that makes persons so indifferent in their desires after him, and so remiss in their endeavours for the obtaining of him. 110
- 111. Oh sinners! didyou but know who and what Christ is, that is offered to you, did you but see his beauty, fulness, and suitableness, and were you but sensible of the worth and want of him, all the world could not keep you from him; you would break through all difficulities and dangers through all sufferings and reproaches, to come unto the enjoyment of him! PETT, "‘Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you ‘Give me a drink’, you would have asked of him and he would have given you living water”.’ Jesus’ reply was significant. “If you knew the gift of God ---”. In the light of John 3:16 this must mean Himself as God’s gift to men, and stresses immediately that He is given to all men, Jew and non-Jew alike. God’s love reaches out to the world in His giving of His Son, not only to Jews. ‘And Who it is Who says --’. This confirms that it was He Who was the gift of God. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. Certainly it would indicate to the woman, even at this stage, something of His huge religious significance. “You would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water”. He was saying that if only she knew who He was, and how extensive and all embracing was God’s gift in giving Him, she would have asked and she would have received the water of eternal life springing up within her. This picture of living water as a source of spiritual blessing is a familiar one in the prophets (Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 17:13; Zechariah 14:8 cf. Isaiah 44:3-4). So is the thought of a well or fountain giving life and deliverance (Psalms 36:9; Isaiah 12:3; Zechariah 13:1). Indeed the one who meditates on God’s word day and night will be like a tree planted by rivers of water, producing abundant fruit (Psalms 1:2-3). The idea of spring water in a hot and dry land reminds us of its thirst quenching and reinvigorating power, something very true of the work of the Spirit in people’s lives. ‘You would have asked of Him and He would have --’. So the same ‘eternal life’ offered to Nicodemus, the highly respected Jewish councillor, is also available to the despised, lowly Samaritan woman on the same terms. ‘Ask and you will receive.’ Even more interesting is the thought that Jesus was saying thatHewas the One Who could give the Spirit (John 4:10; John 4:14), the One who works where He wills, to whoever came to Him. This was an indirect claim to deity (see Isaiah 40:13). He was confirming that He was the Baptiser in the Holy Spirit, and that the Spirit acted under His direction. ‘Living water’ could also mean running water from, say, a spring, so the woman, confused, asked in puzzlement where He would get this running water from. BARCLAY, "THE LIVING WATER (John 4:10-15) 111
- 112. 4:10-15 Jesus answeredher: "If you knew the free gift that God is offering you, and if you knew who is speaking to you, and if you knew who was saying to you: 'Give me to drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him: "Sir, you have no bucket to draw with and the well is deep. Where does this living water that you have come from? Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well, and who himself drank from it with his children and his cattle?" Jesus answered her: "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again for ever. But the water that I will give him will become a well of water within him, springing up to give him life eternal." The woman said to him: "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not thirst, and so that I will not have to come here to draw water." We have to note that this conversation with the Samaritan woman follows exactly the same pattern as the conversation with Nicodemus. Jesus makes a statement. The statement is taken in the wrong sense. Jesus remakes the statement in an even more vivid way. It is still misunderstood; and then Jesus compels the person with whom he is speaking to discover and to face the truth for herself. That was Jesus' usual way of teaching; and it was a most effective way, for, as someone has said: "There are certain truths which a man cannot accept; he must discover them for himself." Just as Nicodemus did, the woman took the words of Jesus quite literally when she was meant to understand them spiritually. It was living water of which Jesus spoke. In ordinary language to the Jew living water was running water. It was the water of the running stream in contradistinction to the water of the stagnant cistern or pool. This well, as we have seen, was not a springing well, but a well into which the water percolated from the subsoil. To the Jew, running, living water from the stream was always better. So the woman is saying: "You are offering me pure stream water. Where are you going to get it?" She goes on to speak of "our father Jacob." The Jews would, of course, have strenuously denied that Jacob was the father of the Samaritans, but it was part of the Samaritan claim that they were descended from Joseph, the son of Jacob, by way of Ephraim and Manasseh. The woman is in effect saying to Jesus: "This is blasphemous talk. Jacob, our great ancestor, when he came here, had to dig this well to gain water for his family and his cattle. Are you claiming to be able to get fresh, running stream water? If you are, you are claiming to be wiser and more powerful than Jacob. That is a claim that no one has any right to make." When people were on a journey they usually carried with them a bucket made from the skin of some beast so that they could draw water from any well at which they halted. No doubt Jesus' band had such a bucket; and no doubt the disciples had taken it into the town with them. The woman saw that Jesus did not possess such a traveller's leather bucket, and so again she says in effect: "You need not talk about drawing water and giving it to me. I can see for myself that you have not a bucket with which to draw water." H. B. Tristram begins his book entitled Eastern Customs in Bible Lands with this personal experience. He was sitting beside a well in Palestine beside the scene of the inn which figures in 112
- 113. the story ofthe Good Samaritan. "An Arab woman came down from the hills above to draw water; she unfolded and opened her goatskin bottle, and then untwined a cord, and attached it to a very small leather bucket which she carried, by means of which she slowly filled her skin, fastened its mouth, placed it on her shoulder, and bucket in hand, climbed the mountain. I thought of the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well, when an Arab footman, toiling up the steep path from Jericho, heated and wearied with his journey, turned aside to the well, knelt and peered wistfully down. But he had 'nothing to draw with and the well was deep.' He lapped a little moisture from the water spilt by the woman who had preceded him, and, disappointed, passed on." It was just that that the woman was thinking of when she said that Jesus had nothing wherewith to draw water from the depths of the well. But the Jews had another way of using the word water. They often spoke of the thirst of the soul for God; and they often spoke of quenching that thirst with living water. Jesus was not using terms that were bound to be misunderstood; he was using terms that anyone with spiritual insight should have understood. In the Revelation that promise is: "To the thirsty I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life" (Revelation 21:6). The Lamb is to lead them to springs of living waters (Revelation 7:17). The promise was that the chosen people would draw water with joy from the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12:3). The Psalmist spoke of his soul being thirsty for the living God (Psalms 42:1). God's promise was: "I will pour water on the thirsty land" (Isaiah 44:3). The summons was that every one who was thirsty should come to the waters and freely drink (Isaiah 55:1). Jeremiah's complaint was that the people had forsaken God who was the fountain of living waters and had hewed themselves out broken cisterns which could hold no water (Jeremiah 2:13). Ezekiel had had his vision of the river of life (Ezekiel 47:1-12). In the new world there would be a cleansing fountain opened (Zechariah 13:1). The waters would go forth from Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:8). Sometimes the Rabbis identified this living water with the wisdom of the Law; sometimes they identified it with nothing less than the Holy Spirit of God. All Jewish pictorial religious language was full of this idea of the thirst of the soul which could be quenched only with the living water which was the gift of God. But the woman chose to understand this with an almost crude literalism. She was blind because she would not see. Jesus went on to make a still more startling statement that he could give her living water which would banish her thirst for ever. The point is that again the woman took this literally; but in point of fact it was nothing less than a Messianic claim. In the prophetic vision of the age to come, the age of God, the promise was: "They shall not hunger or thirst" (Isaiah 49:10). It was with God and none other that the living fountain of the all-quenching water existed. "With thee is the fountain of life," the Psalmist had cried (Psalms 36:9). It is from the very throne of God that the river of life is to flow (Revelation 22:1). It is the Lord who is the fountain of living water (Jeremiah 17:13). It is in the Messianic age that the parched ground is to become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water (Isaiah 35:7). When Jesus spoke about bringing to men the water which 113
- 114. quenches thirst forever, he was doing no less than stating that he was the Anointed One of God who was to bring in the new age. Again the woman did not see it. And I think that this time she spoke with a jest, as if humouring one who was a little mad. "Give me this water," she said, "so that I will never be thirsty again and will not have to walk to the well day after day." She was jesting with a kind of humouring contempt about eternal things. At the heart of all this there is the fundamental truth that in the human heart there is a thirst for something that only Jesus Christ can satisfy. Sinclair Lewis in one of his books draws a picture of a respectable little business man who kicked over the traces. He is talking to the girl he loves. She says to him: "On the surface we seem quite different; but deep down we are fundamentally the same. We are both desperately unhappy about something--and we don't know what it is." In every man there is this nameless unsatisfied longing; this vague discontent; this something lacking; this frustration. In Sorrell and Son Warwick Deeping tens of a conversation between Sorrell and his son. The boy is talking about life. He says that it is like groping in an enchanted fog. The fog breaks for a moment; you see the moon or a girl's face; you think you want the moon or the face; and then the fog comes down again; and leaves you groping for something, you don't quite know what. Wordsworth, in the Ode on the Intimations of Immortality, speaks of, "Those obstinate questionings Of sense and outward things, Fallings from us, vanishings; Blank misgivings of a creature Moving about in worlds not realized." Augustine talks about "our hearts being restless till they find rest in thee." Part of the human situation is that we cannot find happiness out of the things that the human situation has to offer. As Browning had it: "Just when we're safest, there's a sunset touch, A fancy from a flower-bell, someone's death, A chorus ending from Euripides-- And that's enough for fifty hopes and fears As old and new at once as Nature's self. 114
- 115. To rap andknock and enter in our soul." We are never safe from the longing for eternity which God has put in man's soul. There is a thirst which only Jesus Christ can satisfy. MACLAREN, "THE GIFT AND THE GIVER This Gospel has two characteristics seldom found together: deep thought and vivid character-drawing. Nothing can be more clear-cut and dramatic than the scene in the chapter before us. There is not a word of description of this Samaritan woman. She paints herself, and it is not a beautiful picture. She is apparently of the peasant class, from a little village nestling on the hill above the plain, come down in the broiling sunshine to Jacob’s well. She is of mature age, and has had a not altogether reputable past. She is frivolous, ready to talk with strangers, with a tongue quick to turn grave things into jests; and yet she possesses, hidden beneath masses of unclean vanities, a conscience and a yearning for something better than she has, which Christ’s words awoke, and which was finally so enkindled as to make her fit to receive the full declaration of His Messiahship, which Pharisees and priests could not be trusted with. I need scarcely do more than remind you of the way in which the conversation between this strangely assorted pair began. The solitary Jew, sitting spent with travel on the well, asks for a draught of water; not in order to get an opening for preaching, but because He needs it. She replies with an exclamation of light wonder, half a jest and half a sarcasm, and challenging a response in the same tone. But Christ lifts her to a higher level by the words of my text, which awed levity, and prepared for a fuller revelation. ‘Thou dost wonder that I, being a Jew, ask drink of thee, a Samaritan. If thou knewest who I am, thy wonder at My asking would be more. If thou knewest what I have to give, we should change places, and thou wouldest ask, and I should bestow.’ So then, we have here gift, Giver, way of getting, and ignorance that hinders asking. Let us look at these. I. First, the gift of God. Now it is quite clear that our Lord means the same thing, whatever it may be, by the two expressions, the ‘gift of God’ and the ‘living water.’ For, unless He does, the whole sequence of my text falls to pieces. ‘Living water’ was suggested, no doubt, by the circumstances of the moment. There, in the well, was an ever-springing source, and, says He, a like supply, ever welling up for thirsty lips and foul hands, ever sweet and ever sufficient, God is ready to give. We may remember how, all through Scripture, we hear the tinkle of these waters as they run. The force of the expression is to be gathered largely from the Old Testament and the uses of the metaphor there. It has been supposed that by the ‘living water’ which God gives is here meant some one specific gift, such as that of the Holy Spirit, which sometimes is expressed by the metaphor. Rather I should be disposed to say the ‘living water’ is eternal life. ‘With Thee is the fountain of life.’ And so, in the last resort, the gift of God is God Himself. Nothing else will suffice for us, brethren. We need Him, and we need none but Him. Our Lord, in the subsequent part of this conversation, again touches upon this great metaphor, and suggests one or two characteristics, blessings, and excellences of it. ‘It shall be in him,’ it is something that we may carry about with us in our hearts, inseparable from our being, free from all possibility of being filched away by violence, 115
- 116. being rent fromus by sorrows, or even being parted from us by death. What a man has outside of him he only seems to have. Our only real possessions are those which have passed into the substance of our souls. All else we shall leave behind. The only good is inward good; and this water of life slakes our thirst because it flows into the deepest place of our being, and abides there for ever. Oh! you that are seeking your satisfaction from fountains that remain outside of you after all your efforts, learn that all of them, by reason of their externality, will sooner or later be ‘broken cisterns that can hold no water.’ And I beseech you, if you want rest for your souls and stilling for their yearnings, look for it there, where only it can be found, in Him, who not only dwells in the heavens to rule and to shower down blessings, but enters into the waiting heart and abides there, the inward, and therefore the only real, possession and riches. ‘It shall be in him a fountain of water.’ It is ‘springing up’-with an immortal energy, with ever fresh fulness, by its own inherent power, needing no pumps nor machinery, but ever welling forth its refreshment, an emblem of the joyous energy and continual freshness of vitality, which is granted to those who carry God in their hearts, and therefore can never be depressed beyond measure, nor ever feel that the burden of life is too heavy to bear, or its sorrows too sharp to endure. It springs up ‘into eternal life,’ for water must seek its source, and rise to the level of its origin, and this fountain within a man, that reaches up ever towards the eternal life from which it came, and which it gives to its possessor, will bear him up, as some strong spring will lift the clods that choked its mouth, will bear him up towards the eternal life which is native to it, and therefore native to him. Brethren, no man is so poor, so low, so narrow in capacity, so limited in heart and head, but that he needs a whole God to make him restful. Nothing else will. To seek for satisfaction elsewhere is like sailors who in their desperation, when the water- tanks are empty, slake their thirst with the treacherous blue that washes cruelly along the battered sides of their ship. A moment’s alleviation is followed by the recurrence, in tenfold intensity, of the pangs of thirst, and by madness, and death. Do not drink the salt water that flashes and rolls by your side when you can have recourse to the fountain of life that is with God. ‘Oh!’ you say, ‘commonplace, threadbare pulpit rhetoric.’ Yes! Do you live as if it were true? It will never be too threadbare to be dinned into your head until it has passed into your lives and regulated them. II. Now, in the next place, notice the Giver. Jesus Christ blends in one sentence, startling in its boldness, the gift of God, and Himself as the Bestower. This Man, exhausted for want of a draught of water, speaks with parched lips a claim most singularly in contrast with the request which He had just made: ‘I will give thee the living water.’ No wonder that the woman was bewildered, and could only say, ‘The well is deep, and Thou hast nothing to draw with.’ She might have said, ‘Why then dost Thou ask me?’ The words were meant to create astonishment, in order that the astonishment might awaken interest, which would lead to the capacity for further illumination. Suppose you had been there, had seen the Man whom she saw, had heard the two things that she heard, and knew no more about Him than she knew, what would you have thought of Him and His words? Perhaps you would have been more contemptuous than she was. See to it that, since you know so much that explains and warrants them, you do not treat them worse than she did. Jesus Christ claims to give God’s gifts. He is able to give to that poor, frivolous, impure-hearted and impure-lifed woman, at her request, the eternal life which shall 116
- 117. still all thethirst of her soul, that had often in the past been satiated and disgusted, but had never been satisfied by any of its draughts. And He claims that in this giving He is something more than a channel, because, says He, ‘If thou hadst asked of Me I would give thee.’ We sometimes think of the relation between God and Christ as being typified by that of some land-locked sea amidst remote mountains, and the affluent that brings its sparkling treasures to the thirsting valley. But Jesus Christ is no mere vehicle for the conveyance of a divine gift, but His own heart, His own power, His own love are in it; and it is His gift just as much as it is God’s. Now I do not do more than pause for one moment to ask you to think of what inference is necessarily involved in such a claim as this. If we know anything about Jesus Christ at all, we know that He spoke in this tone, not occasionally, but habitually. It will not do to pick out other bits of His character or actions and admire these and ignore the characteristic of His teachings-His claims for Himself. And I have only this one word to say, if Jesus Christ ever said anything the least like the words of my text, and if they were not true, what was He but a fanatic who had lost His head in the fancy of His inspiration? And if He said these words and they were true, what is He then? What but that which this Gospel insists from its beginning to its end that He was-the Eternal Word of God, by whom all divine revelation from the beginning has been made, and who at last ‘became flesh’ that we might ‘receive of His fulness,’ and therein ‘be filled with all the fulness of God.’ Other alternative I, for my part, see none. But I would have you notice, too, the connection between these human needs of the Saviour and His power to give the divine gift. Why did He not simply say to this woman, ‘If thou knewest who I am?’ Why did He use this periphrasis of my text, ‘Who it is that saith unto thee, “Give Me to drink”‘? Why but because He wanted to fix her attention on the startling contradiction between His appearance and His claims-on the one hand asserting divine prerogative, on the other forcing into prominence human weakness and necessity, because these two things, the human weakness and the divine prerogative, are inseparably braided together and intertwined. Some of you will remember the great scene in Shakespeare where the weakness of Caesar is urged as a reason for rejecting his imperial authority:- ‘Ay! and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans Mark him, and write his speeches in their books, Alas! it cried, “Give me some drink, . . . Like a sick girl.”‘ And the inference that is drawn is, how can he be fit to be a ruler of men? But we listen to our Caesar and Emperor, when He asks this woman for water, and when He says on the Cross, ‘I thirst,’ and we feel that these are not the least of His titles to be crowned with many crowns. They bring Him nearer to us, and they are the means by which His love reaches its end, of bestowing upon us all, if we will have it, the cup of salvation. Unless He had said the one of these two things, He never could have said the other. Unless the dry lips had petitioned, ‘Give Me to drink,’ the gracious lips could never have said, ‘I will give thee living water.’ Unless, like Jacob of old, this Shepherd could say, ‘In the day the drought consumed Me,’ it would have been impossible that the flock ‘shall hunger no more, neither shall they thirst any more, . . . for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall lead them to living fountains of water.’ III. Again, notice how to get the gift. Christ puts together, as if they were all but contemporaneous, ‘thou wouldst have asked of Me,’ and ‘I would have given thee.’ The hand on the telegraph transmits the message, and back, swift as the lightning, flashes the response. The condition, the 117
- 118. only condition, andthe indispensable condition, of possessing that water of life-the summary expression for all the gifts of God in Jesus Christ, which at the last are essentially God Himself-is the desire to possess it turned to Jesus Christ. Is it not strange that men should not desire; is it not strange and sad that such foolish creatures are we that we do not want what we need; that our wishes and needs are often diametrically opposite? All men desire happiness, but some of us have so vitiated our tastes and our palates by fiery intoxicants that the water of life seems dreadfully tasteless and unstimulating, and so we will rather go back again to the delusive, poisoned drinks than glue our lips to the river of God’s pleasures. But it is not enough that there should be the desire. It must be turned to Him. In fact the asking of my text, so far as you and I are concerned, is but another way of speaking the great keyword of personal religion, faith in Jesus Christ. For they who ask, know their necessity, are convinced of the power of Him to whom they appeal to grant their requests, and rely upon His love to do so. And these three things, the sense of need, the conviction of Christ’s ability to save and to satisfy, and of His infinite love that desires to make us blessed-these three things fused together make the faith which receives the gift of God. Remember, brethren, that another of the scriptural expressions for the act of trusting in Him, is taking, not asking. You do not need to ask, as if for something that is not provided. What we all need to do is to open our eyes to see what is there. If we like to put out our hands and take it. Why should we be saying, ‘Give me to drink,’ when a pierced hand reaches out to us the cup of salvation, and says, ‘Drink ye all of it’? ‘Ho, every one that thirsteth, come . . . and drink . . . without money and without price.’ There is no other condition but desire turned to Christ, and that is the necessary condition. God cannot give men salvation, as veterinary surgeons drench unwilling horses-forcing the medicine down their throats through clenched teeth. There must be the opened mouth, and wherever there is, there will be the full supply. ‘Ask, and ye shall receive’; take, and ye shall possess. IV. Lastly, mark the ignorance that prevents asking. Jesus Christ looked at this poor woman and discerned in her, though, as I said, it was hidden beneath mountains of folly and sin, a thirsty soul that was dimly longing for something better. And He believed that, if once the mystery of His being and the mercy of God’s gifts were displayed before her, she would melt into a yearning of desire that is certain to be fulfilled. In some measure the same thing is true of us all. For surely, surely, if only you saw realities, and things as they are, some of you would not be content to continue as you are-without this water of life. Blind, blind, blind, are the men who grope at noon-day as in the dark and turn away from Jesus. If you knew, not with the head only, but with the whole nature, if you knew the thirst of your soul, the sweetness of the water, the readiness of the Giver, and the dry and parched land to which you condemn yourselves by your refusal, surely you would bethink yourself and fall at His feet and ask, and get, the water of life. But, brethren, there is a worse case than ignorance; there is the case of people that know and refuse, not by reason of imperfect knowledge, but by reason of averted will. And I beseech you to ponder whether that may not be your condition. ‘Whosoever will, let him come.’ ‘Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life.’ I do not think I venture much when I say that I am sure there are people hearing me now, not Christians, who are as certain, deep down in their hearts, that the only rest of the soul is in God, and the only way to get it is through Christ, as any saint of God’s ever was. But the knowledge does not touch their will because they like the poison and they do not want the life. 118
- 119. Oh! dear friends,the instantaneousness of Christ’s answer, and the certainty of it, are as true for each of us as they were for this woman. The offer is made to us all, just as it was to her. We can gather round that Rock like the Israelites in the wilderness, and slake every thirst of our souls from its outgushing streams. Jesus Christ says to each of us, as He did to her, tenderly, warningly, invitingly, and yet rebukingly, ‘If thou knewest . . . thou wouldst ask, . . . and I would give.’ Take care lest, by continual neglect, you force Him at last to change His words, and to lament over you, as He did over the city that He loved so well, and yet destroyed. ‘If thou hadst known in thy day the things that belong to thy peace. But now they are hid from thine eyes.’ 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? BARNES,"Hast nothing to draw with - It seems that there were no means of drawing water affixed to the well, as with us. Probably each one took a pail or pitcher and a cord for the purpose. In traveling this was indispensable. The woman, seeing that Jesus had no means of drawing water, and not yet understanding his design, naturally inquired whence he could obtain the water. The well is deep - If the same one that is there now, it was about 100 feet deep. CLARKE,"Thou hast nothing to draw with - Ουτε αντληµα εχεις, Thou hast no bucket. Good water is not plentiful in the east; and travelers are often obliged to carry leathern bottles or buckets with them, and a line also, to let them down into the deep wells, in order to draw up water. If the well was in our Lord’s time, as it was found by Mr. Maundrell, thirty-five yards deep, it would require a considerable line to reach it; and with such it is not likely that even the disciples of our Lord were provided. The woman might well say, The well is deep, and thou hast nothing to draw with; whence then hast thou that living water? GILL, "The woman saith unto him, Sir,.... Which was an usual, way in those countries, of addressing men, and especially strangers; and expresses no uncommon respect to Christ, of whose dignity and greatness she was, entirely ignorant; and at whom she was now scoffing; for so the following words are to be understood: thou hast nothing to draw with; no pail, or bucket, or rope, to let it down with, as Nonnus adds; for it seems, there was no bucket, or vessel, fastened at the well for the common use, but everyone brought one with them, when they came to draw: 119
- 120. though it isstrange there was not one; since, according to common usage, and even of the Jews (u), "a public well had, ,קול "a bucket", or pitcher; but a private well had no bucket:'' and the well is deep; that which is now called Jacob's well, is by some said to be forty cubits deep, and by others thirty five yards: from whence then hast thou that living water? this she said in a sneering, scoffing manner: she reasoned with him, either that he must have it out of this well; but that could not be, since he had no vessel to draw with, and the well was so deep, that he could not come at the water without one; or he must have it from some neighbouring spring; upon which she scoffs at him in the following manner. HENRY, "[4.] The woman objects against and cavils at the gracious intimation which Christ gave her (Joh_4:11, Joh_4:12): Thou hast nothing to draw with; and besides, Art thou greater than our father Jacob? What he spoke figuratively, she took literally; Nicodemus did so too. See what confused notions they have of spiritual things who are wholly taken up with the things that are sensible. Some respect she pays to this person, in calling him Sir, or Lord; but little respect to what he said, which she does but banter. First, She does not think him capable of furnishing her with any water, no, not this in the well that is just at hand: Thou has nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. This she said, not knowing the power of Christ, for he who causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth needs nothing to draw. But there are those who will trust Christ no further than they can see him, and will not believe his promise, unless the means of the performance of it be visible; as if he were tied to our methods, and could not draw water without our buckets. She asks scornfully, “Whence hast thou this living water? I see not whence thou canst have it.” Note, The springs of that living water which Christ has for those that come to him are secret and undiscovered. The fountain of life is hid with Christ. Christ has enough for us, though we see not whence he has it. Secondly, She does not think it possible that he should furnish her with any better water than this which she could come at, but he could not: Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well? a. We will suppose the tradition true, that Jacob himself, and his children, and cattle, did drink of this well. And we may observe from it, (a.) The power and providence of God, in the continuance of the fountains of water from generation to generation, by the constant circulation of the rivers, like the blood in the body (Ecc_ 1:7), to which circulation perhaps the flux and reflux of the sea, like the pulses of the heart, contribute. (b.) The plainness of the patriarch Jacob; his drink was water, and he and his children drank of the same well with his cattle. b. Yet, allowing that to be true, she was out in several things; as, (a.) In calling Jacob father. What authority had the Samaritans to reckon themselves of the seed of Jacob? They were descended from that mixed multitude which the king of Assyria had placed in the cities of Samaria; what have they to do then with Jacob? Because they were the invaders of Israel's rights, and the unjust possessors of Israel's lands, were they therefore the inheritors of Israel's blood and honour? How absurd were those pretensions! (b.) She is out in claiming this well as Jacob's gift, whereas he did no more give it than Moses gave the manna, Joh_6:32. But thus we are apt to call the messengers of God's gifts the donors of them, and to look so much at the hands they pass through as to forget the hand they come from. Jacob gave it to his sons, not to 120
- 121. them. Yet thusthe church's enemies not only usurp, but monopolize, the church's privileges. (c.) She was out in speaking of Christ as not worthy to be compared with our father Jacob. An over-fond veneration for antiquity makes God's graces, in the good people of our own day, to be slighted. CALVIN, "11.Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with. As the Samaritans were despised by the Jews, so the Samaritans, on the other hand, held the Jews in contempt. Accordingly, this woman at first not only disdains Christ but even mocks at him. She understands quite well that Christ is speaking figuratively, but she throws out a jibe by a different figure, intending to say, that he promises more than he can accomplish. COKE, "John 4:11. Thou hast nothing to draw with, &c.— Literally, Thou hast no bucket. See John 4:28 and on John 4:6. In the dry countries of the East, the inhabitants find themselves obliged to carry with them great leathern bottles of water, which they fill from time to time as they have opportunity; but what is very extraordinary, in order to be able to do this, they, in many places, are obliged to carry lines and buckets with them. So Thevenot, in giving an account of what he provided for his journey from Egypt to Jerusalem, tells us, "He did not forget leathern buckets to draw water with." Rauwolff goes farther; for he gives usto understand, that the wells of inhabited countries there, as well as in the desarts, have no implements for drawing of water, but what those bring with them who come thither; for, speaking of the well or cistern of Bethlehem, he says, "It is a good rich cistern, deep and wide; for which reason, the people that go to dip for water, are provided with small leathern buckets and a line, as is usual in those countries; and so the merchants, who go in caravans through great desarts in far countries, provide themselves also with these, because in these countries you find more cisterns or wells, than springs that lie high." In how easy a light, says the author of the Observations, doth this place the Samaritan woman's talking of the depth of Jacob's well, and her remarking, that she did not observe our Lord had any thing to draw with, though he had spoken of presenting her with water. COFFMAN, "The woman's response shows that she did not understand what was meant by "living water," hence the question of its source, especially in view of the fact that Jesus had no rope. Whence then hast thou that living water ... indicates that the woman had already apprehended the fact that Jesus was not talking about the water of Jacob's well. This question of hers reveals that she understood at least a part of what Jesus was saying to her, and that she might have suspected, even at that point, the metaphorical significance of his words, as the next verse shows. ELLICOTT, "(11) The woman saith unto him, Sir . . .—Her tone changes to one of respect. Something in His voice and manner, it may be, has touched her. She does not understand His words, but she is conscious of their latent force. She feels the presence of One who teaches with authority, and the “Thou, being a Jew,” passes to the reverential “Sir.” Still, she does not see how He can give her living water. Where will He get it? He has no means for drawing it, and the 121
- 122. water in thewell is far below His reach. His word, too, strikes her, and she dwells on it;—“that living water.” She thinks of spring water, as in Genesis 26:19, and Leviticus 14:5, where the Hebrew is “living water.” He cannot draw from that well. Does He mean to say that He knows of another, with better water? The word used here for “well” is different from that in John 4:6, where the surface only was thought of. Here, and in the next verse, the depth is prominent, and we have the same word, which is rendered “pit,” in Luke 14:5. BURKITT, "Observe here, 1. How ignorant persons are of spiritual things, till enlightened by the Holy Spirit of God. This poor woman's question, Whence hast thou that living water? looks much like that of Nicodemus, How can these things be? John 3:9 A natural person cannot perceive the mind of Christ when speaking to him about spiritual things. Spiritual objects must have a spiritual eye to discern and behold them, The natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:14 Observe, 2. With what great humility and condescension our holy Lord treats this poor woman, pitying her ignorance, and pardoning her infidelity; he tells her, That the water of that well which she was about to draw, could not give an abiding satisfaction; but the thirst quenched for the present, would certainly return again: but he that should drink of the water which he had to give, that is, be made partakers of the graces of the Spirit, shall find such refreshing satisfaction there from, that all inordinate desires after earthly things will be quenched and extinguished, and will be like a well of water springing up, till he come to eternal glory. Learn hence, 1. That as the body of man is subject to a natural, so is the soul of man subject to a spiritual, kind of thirst. 2. That no creature comfort, or earthly enjoyment, can quench this thirst which the soul of man is subject unto. 3. That the Spirit of grace (which our Saviour here calls the water of life) is able fully and perfectly to quench the thirst of the soul: and where it is once savingly received, shall never be totally or finally lost. It shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life; that is, the graces of the Spirit shall be in believers as permanent habits, as fixed principles that shall not decay. Hence St. Peter calls it incorruptible seed, which liveth and abideth for ever, 1 Peter 1:23 PINK 11-19, " In viewing the Savior’s conversation with this Samaritan woman as a sample case of God’s gracious dealings with a sinner, we have seen, thus far: First, that the Lord took the initiative, being the first to speak. Second, that His first word to her was "Give"—directing her thoughts at once to grace; and that His next was "me" leading her to be occupied with Himself. Third, that He brings her face to face with her helplessness by asking her for a "drink," which in its deeper meaning, signified that He was seeking her faith and confidence to refresh His 122
- 123. spirit. Fourth, thiswas met by an exhibition of the woman’s prejudice, which, in principle, illustrated the enmity of the carnal mind against God. Fifth, Christ then affirmed that she was ignorant of the way of salvation and of His own Divine glory. Sixth, He referred to eternal life under the expressive figure of "living water." Seventh, He assured her that this living water was offered to her as a "gift," on the condition that she was to "ask" for it, and thus take the place of a receiver. This brief summary brings us to the end of verse 10, and from that point we will now proceed, first presenting an Analysis of the verses which immediately follow:— 1. The Woman’s Ignorance, verse 11. 2. The Woman’s Insolence, verse 12. 3. The Savior’s Gracious Promise, verses 13, 14. 4. The Woman’s Prejudice Overcome, verse 15. 5. The Savior’s Arrow for the Conscience, verse 16. 6. The Savior’s Omniscience Displayed, verses 17, 18. 7. The Woman’s Dawning Perception, verse 19. As we read the first section of this blessed narrative we were struck with the amazing condescension of the Lord of Glory, who so humbled Himself as to converse with this fallen woman of Samaria. Now, as we turn to consider the section which follows, we cannot fail to be impressed with the wondrous patience of the Savior. He had invited this wretched creature to ask from Him, and He promised to give her living water; but instead of promptly closing with His gracious offer, the woman continued to raise objections. But Christ did not turn away in disgust, and leave her to suffer the merited results of her waywardness and stubbornness; He bore with her stupidity, and with Divine long-sufferance wore down her opposition, and won her to Himself. "The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?" (John 4:11). Four things are brought out by this statement. First, her continued blindness to the glory of Him who addressed her. Second, her occupation with material things. Third, her concentration on the means rather than the end. Fourth, her ignorance of the Source of the "living water." Let us briefly consider each of these separately. In verse 9 we find that this woman referred to Christ as "a Jew." In replying, the Savior reproached her for her ignorance by saying, "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" (verse 10). It is true she had never before met the Lord Jesus, but this did not excuse her. It was because she was blind that she saw in Him no beauty that she should desire Him. And it is only unbelief which prevents the sinner today from recognizing in that One who died upon the cross the Son of God, and the only One who could save him from his sins. And unbelief is not a thing to be pitied, but blamed. But now that Christ had revealed Himself as the One who dispensed the "gift" of God, the Samaritan woman only answered, "Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with!" Poor woman, how little she knew as yet the Divine dignity of that One who had come to seek and to save that which was lost. How complete was her blindness. And how accurately does she picture our state by nature. Exactly the same was our condition when God, in infinite mercy, began His dealings with us—our eyes were closed to the perfections of His beloved Son, and "we hid as it were our faces from him." "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with." How this shows the trend of her thoughts. 123
- 124. Her mind wascentered upon wells and buckets! And this, again, illustrates a principle of general application. This woman is still to be viewed as a representative character. Behold in her an accurate portrayal of the sinner, as we see her mind concentrated upon material things. Her mind was occupied with the world—its duties and employments—and hence she could not rise to any higher thoughts: she could not discern who it was that addressed her, nor what He was offering. And thus it is with all who are of the world: they are kept away from the things of Christ by the things of time and sense. The Devil uses just such things to keep the soul from the Savior. "Let it be what it may, let it be only a waterpot, he cares not, so long as it occupies the mind to the exclusion of the knowledge of Christ. He cares not for the instrument, so long as he gains his own ends, to draw the mind away from the apprehension of spiritual things. It may be pleasure, it may be amusement, gain, reputation, family duties, lawful employments, so that it keeps the soul from fixing on Christ. This is all he wants. A water-pot will serve his purpose, just as well as a palace, so that he can blind them, ‘lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them’" (J. N. Darby, from whom we have extracted other thoughts, embodied in our exposition above and below). Ah! dear friend, Is there anything which has thus been keeping you away from Christ—from seeking His great salvation, and obtaining from Him the "living water?" That thing may be quite innocent and harmless, yea, it may be something praise worthy in itself. Even lawful employments, family duties, may keep a soul from the Savior, and hinder you from receiving His priceless gift. Satan is very subtle in the means he employs to blind the mind. Did you ever notice that in the Parable of the Sower the Lord tells us that the things which "choke the Word" are "the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches" (Matthew 13:22)? Should an unsaved soul read these lines we ask you to see yourself in the case of this woman, as far as we have yet considered it. Her thoughts were on the purpose which had brought her to the well—a lawful and necessary purpose, no doubt, but one which occupied her mind to the exclusion of the things of Christ! She could think of nothing but wells and buckets—she was, therefore, unable to discern the love, the grace, the winsomeness of that blessed One who sought her salvation. And how many a man there is today so busily occupied with making a living for his family, and how many a woman so concerned with the duties of the home—lawful and necessary things—that Christ and His salvation are crowded out! So it Was with this Samaritan woman. She thought only of her bodily need: her mind was centered on the common round of daily tasks. And thus it is with many another now. They are too busy to take time to study the things of God. They are too much occupied with their "waterpots" to listen to the still small voice of God. "Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with." These words illustrate another principle which, in its outworkings, stands between many a sinner and salvation. The woman’s mind was centered on means, rather than the end. She was occupied with something to "draw with," rather than with Christ. And how many today are concerned far more with their own efforts and doings than with the Savior Himself. And even where their eyes are not upon their own works, they are frequently turned to the evangelist, or to the ‘inquiry room,’ or ‘the mourner’s bench.’ And where this is not the case, the Devil will get them occupied with their 124
- 125. own repentance andfaith. Anything, so long as he can keep the poor sinner from looking to Christ alone. And, too, we may observe how this woman was limiting Christ to the use of means. She supposed He could not provide the "living water" unless He had something to "draw with." And how many imagine they cannot be saved except in some ‘Revival Meetings,’ or at least in a church-house. But when it pleases God to do so, He acts independently of all means (the Word excepted). When He desires to create a world, He speaks and it is done! He rains manna from heaven; furnishes water out of the rock, and supplies honey from the carcass of the lion! "The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?" She continues to raise objections, and press her questions. No sooner had the Lord answered one than she brings forward another. The Lord had replied to her "How?" by telling of the "gift" of God, the "living water." Now she asks "Whence?" this was to be obtained. She knew not the Source from whence this "living water" proceeded. All she knew was that the well was deep. "The well is deep." And there is a deep meaning in these words. The well is deep—far deeper than our hands can reach down to. From whence then shall man obtain the "living water?" How shall he procure "eternal life?" By keeping the Law? Nay, verily, for "by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified" (Rom. 3:20). Is it by cultivating the best that is within us by nature? No, for "in my flesh dwelleth no good thing" (Rom. 7:18). Is it by living up to the light we have, and doing the best we know how? No, for we are "without strength" (Rom. 5:6). What then? Ah! dear reader, listen: This "living water" is not a wage to be earned, a prize to be sought, a crown to be won. No; it is a gift, God’s free gift in Christ: "The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23); yes; the well is deep. Into awful depths of suffering had the Savior to descend before the life-giving Water could be furnished to sinners. "Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?" (John 4:12). As another has said, "How little she knew, as yet, of the One she was addressing. The well might be deep, but there is something deeper still, even her soul’s deep need; and something deeper than that again, even the grace that had brought Him down from heaven to meet her need. But so little did she know of Him, that she could ask, ‘Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well?’ She knew not that she was speaking to Jacob’s God—to the One who had formed Jacob and given him all that he ever possessed. She knew nothing of this. Her eyes were yet closed, and this was the true secret of her ‘How?’ and ‘Whence?’" How much this explains! When we find people asking questions, unbelieving questions, concerning the things of God, it is a sure sign that they need to have their eyes opened. The rationalist, the critic, and the infidel are blind. It is their very blindness that causes them to ask questions, raise difficulties, and create doubts, They deem themselves very clever, but they do only exhibit their folly. However, in the case of this Samaritan woman her questions proceeded not from a bold infidelity, but from nature’s blindness and ignorance, and therefore the Lord dealt patiently with her. He knew how to silence a rationalist, and ofttimes He dismissed a carping critic in a summary manner. But there were also occasions when, in marvelous condescension and gracious patience, He waited on an ignorant inquirer for the purpose of resolving his difficulties and removing 125
- 126. his fears. Andthus it was at the well at Sychar. He was not to be put off with her quibbling, nor could He be wearied by her dullness. He bore with her (as He did with each of us) in marvelous longsufferance, and left her not until He had fully met the deep need of her soul by the revelation of Himself. "Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself?" Once again we may discover here a deeper significance than what appears on the surface. Attention is called to the antiquity of the well from which Jacob and his children drank. Beautiful is the underlying spiritual lesson. The "well" is as old as man the sinner. The salvation of which the "water" of this "well" speaks, had refreshed the hearts of Abel and Enoch, Noah and Abraham, and all the Old Testament saints. God has had but one way of salvation since sin entered the world. Salvation has always been by grace, through faith, altogether apart from human works. The Gospel is no novelty: it was "preached before unto Abraham" (Gal. 3:8). Yea, it was preached to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, when, clothing our fallen first parents with coats of skins (Gen. 3:21), God made known the fact "without shedding of blood is no remission," and that through the death of an innocent substitute a covering was provided which fitted the guilty and the defiled to stand unabashed in the presence of the thrice holy One, because "accepted in the Beloved." "Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again" (John 4:13). The Lord Jesus was not to be put off. He was determined to reveal Himself to this sin-sick soul. "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." The seat of the "thirst" within man lies too deep for the waters of this earth to quench. The "thirst" of man’s soul is a spiritual one, and that is why material things are unable to slake it. Earth’s deepest well may be fathomed and drained, and the needy soul remain thirsty after all. Men and women may take their fill of pleasure, yet will it fail to satisfy. They may surround themselves with every comfort and luxury that wealth can provide, and the heart still be empty. They may court the honors of the world, and climb to the highest pinnacle of human fame, but the plaudits of men will leave an aching void behind them. They may explore the whole realm of philosophy and science, until they become as wise as Solomon, but like Israel’s king of old, they will discover that all under the sun is only "vanity and vexation of spirit." Over all the wells of this world’s providing must be written, "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." This is true not only of the material, the mental, and the social realms, but of the religious, too. Man may awaken within us certain desires, but he cannot satisfy them. Man may exhort and persuade, and we may make resolutions, amend our lives, become very religious, and yet "thirst again." The religious systems of human manufacture hold not the Water of Life. They do but disappoint. Nothing but the "living water" can quench our thirst and satisfy our hearts, and only Christ can give this. "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." What an awful illustration of this is furnished in Luke 16. There the Savior sets before us a man clothed in purple and fine linen, who fared sumptuously every day. He drank deeply of the wells of this passing world; but he thirsted again. O see him, as the Son of God lifts the veil which hides the unseen; see him lifting up his eyes in hell-torments, craving, but craving in vain, a single drop of water to cool his parched tongue. There is not as much as a drop of water in hell! There he thirsts, 126
- 127. and the unspeakablydreadful thing is that he will thirst . Fearfully solemn is this for all; but perfectly appalling for the children of ease and luxury, and they who spend their time going from well to well of this world, and giving no serious thought to an eternity of burning in the lake of fire. O that it may please God to cause some such to give these lines a thoughtful consideration, and arrest their attention, and lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Giver of that living water of which whosoever drinketh shall never thirst. "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst" (John 4:14). Here is satisfaction to the soul. The one who has asked and received is now satisfied. The Lord goes on to say, "but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." The believer now has a well of living water within, ever fresh, ever flowing, ever springing up toward its native source, for water always seeks its own level. But let us weigh each expression. "Whosoever drinketh." What is drinking? It is ministering to a felt need. It is a personal act of appropriation. It is a taking into myself that which was, previously, without me. "Of the water that I shall give him." This "water" is "eternal life," and this is not bought or won, but is received as a "gift," for the "gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." "Shall never thirst:" here the Lord speaks according to the fulness of the gift bestowed: as to our enjoyment of it, that is conditioned upon the way in which faith maintains us in fellowship with the Giver. "Never thirst" denotes a satisfying portion. "Never thirst" argues the eternal security of the recipient. Were it possible for a believer to forfeit salvation through unworthiness, this verse would not be true, for every lost soul will "thirst," thirst forever in hell. "Shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life": this "gift," this "living water," is a present possession, imparted by grace, and is something within the believer. "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." To borrow again the language of the eloquent Puritan: "Here we labor, but receive no benefit; we sow many times, and reap not; we reap, and we do not gather in; or gather in, and do not possess; or possess and do not enjoy; or if we enjoy, we are still unsatisfied: it is with anguish of spirit and circumstances of vexation. A great heap of riches makes neither our clothes more warm, our meat more nutritive, nor our beverage more palatable. It feeds the eye but never fills it. Like drink to a person suffering from dropsy, it increases the thirst and promotes the torment. But the grace of God fills the furrows of the heart; and, as the capacity increases, it grows itself in equal degrees, and never suffers any emptiness or dissatisfaction, but carries contentment and fulness all the way; and the degrees of augmentation are not steps and near approaches to satisfaction, but increasings of the capacity. The soul is satisfied all the way, and receives more, not because it wanted any, but that it can now hold the more, being become more receptive of felicity; and in every minute of sanctification, there is so excellent a condition of joy that the very calamities, afflictions, and persecutions of the world, are turned into felicities by the activity of the prevailing ingredient: like a drop of water falling into a tun of wine, it is ascribed into a new form, losing its own nature by a conversion in one more noble. These were the waters which were given us to drink, when, with the rod of God, the Rock, Christ Jesus, was smitten. The Spirit of God moves forever upon these waters; and, when the angel of the covenant had stirred the pool, whosoever 127
- 128. descends hither shallfind health and peace, joys spiritual, and the satisfaction of eternity" (Jeremy Taylor). "The woman saith unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw" (John 4:15). She is still more or less in the dark. The natural mind is occupied with natural things, and it contemplates everything through that medium; it is confined to its own little circle of feelings and ideas; and can neither see nor feel anything beyond it; it lives in its own cramped realm, finds there its own enjoyment and employment, and if left to itself, will live and die there. Poor woman! The Savior of sinners was before her, but she knew Him not. He was speaking words of grace to her, but as yet, she did not fully comprehend. He had asked for a drink, and she had replied with a "How?" He had told her of God’s gift, and she had replied with a "Whence?" He had spoken of an everlasting well, and she seeks only to be spared the trouble of coming hither to draw. And yet while all that we have just said above is no doubt true, nevertheless, as we take a closer look at this last statement of the woman, we may detect signs more hopeful. Her words afford evidence that the patient dealing of Christ with her was not in vain, yea, that light was beginning to illumine her darkened understanding. Note, she now appropriates His word, and says, "Sir, give me to drink." Relief from daily toil was, no doubt, the thought uppermost in her mind; yet, and mark it well, she was now willing to be indebted to a "Jew" for that! There was still much ignorance; but her prejudice was being overcome; her heart was being won. What, then, is the next step? Why, her conscience must be reached. A sense of need must be created. And how is this accomplished? By a conviction of sin. The first thought in connection with salvation, the prime meaning of the word itself, is that of deliverance from something. Salvation implies danger, and the sinner will not flee to Christ as a Refuge from the wrath to come until a due sense (not merely of wretchedness, but) of guilt is upon him. There can be no blessing till there is conviction and confession of sin. It is not until we discover our case to be truly desperate that we betake ourselves to Christ—until then, we attempt to prescribe for ourselves. Herein lies the force of the Savior’s next word. "Jesus said unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither" (John 4:16). It is strange that so many have missed the point of this. A little meditation will surely discern not only the solemnity, but the blessedness, of this word from the Savior, to the woman whose heart was slowly opening to receive Him. It is mainly a matter of finding the proper emphasis. Two things the Lord bade her do: the first was solemn and searching; the second gracious and precious. "Go," He said, "call thy husband"—that was a word addressed to her conscience. "And come hither"—that was a word for her heart. The force of what He said was this: If you really want this living water of which I have been telling you, you can obtain it only as a poor, convicted, contrite sinner. But not only did He say "Go," but He added "Come." She was not only to go and call her husband, but she was to come back to Christ in her true character. It was a marvelous mingling of "grace" and "truth." Truth for her conscience; grace for her heart. Truth which required her to come out into the light of her proper character, as a self- confessed sinner; grace which invited her to return to the Savior’s side. Well may we admire the wonderful ways of Him "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3). 128
- 129. "The woman answeredand said, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou hast well said I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly" (John 4:17, 18). How this exhibits the Deity of Christ! He revealed His omniscience. He knew all about this woman—her heart, her life, her very thoughts; nothing could be hid from Him. She might be a complete stranger to Him in the flesh, yet was He thoroughly acquainted with her. It was the same with Peter: the Savior knew him thoroughly the first time they met, see John 1:42 and our comments thereon. So, too, He saw Nathanael under the fig tree before he came to Him. And so, dear reader, He knows all about you. Nothing can be concealed from His all-seeing eye. But this will not trouble you if everything has been brought out into the light, and confessed before Him. "The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet" (John 4:19). A "prophet" is God’s spokesman. This poor soul now recognized the voice of God. He had spoken more deeply than any man to her soul. The Divine arrow of conviction had pierced her conscience, and the effect is striking: "I perceive." Her eyes were beginning to open: she sees something. She discovers herself to be in the presence of some mysterious personage whom she owns as God’s spokesman. It was through her conscience the light began to enter! And it is ever thus. O dear reader, have you experienced this for yourself? Has your conscience been in the presence of that Light which makes all things manifest? Have you seen yourself as guilty, undone, lost, Christless, hell-deserving? Has the arrow ever entered your conscience? Christ has various arrows in His quiver. He had an arrow for Nicodemus, and He had an arrow for this adulteress. They were different arrows, but they did their work. "He that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest" (John 3:21) was the arrow for the master in Israel. "Go, call thy husband" was His arrow for this Samaritan woman. The question of sin and righteousness must be settled in the presence of God. Has, then, this vital and all-important matter been settled between your soul and God? If so, you will be able to appreciate the sequel—the remainder of this wonderful and blessed narrative. There is a principle here of great importance to the believer. An exercised conscience precedes intelligence in the things of God. Spiritual illumination comes through the heart more than through the mind. They who are most anxious to have a better understanding of the Holy Oracles need to pray earnestly for God to put His fear upon them, that they may be more careful in avoiding the things that displease Him. One of our deepest needs is a more sensitive conscience. In Hebrews 5:11-13 we read of those who were "dull of hearing" and incapacitated to receive the deeper things of God. "Dullness of hearing" does not mean they were suffering from a stupefied mind, but rather from a calloused conscience. The last verse of Hebrews 5 speaks of those who were qualified to receive the deeper truths: "But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Thus. it was for our learning that we are shown that perception spiritual things came to the Samaritan woman through, and as the result of, a conscience active in the presence of God. 129
- 130. 12 Are yougreater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” BARNES,"Art thou greater? - Art thou wiser, or better able to find water, than Jacob was? It seems that she supposed that he meant that he could direct her to some living spring, or to some better well in that region, and that this implied more knowledge or skill than Jacob had. To find water and to furnish a good well was doubtless considered a matter of signal skill and success. It was a subject of great importance in that region. This shows how ready sinners are to misunderstand the words of Christ, and to pervert the doctrines of religion. If she had had any proper anxiety about her soul, she would at least have “suspected” that he meant to direct her thoughts to spiritual objects. Our father Jacob - The Samaritans were composed partly of the remnant of the ten tribes, and partly of people sent from Chaldea; still, they considered themselves descendants of Jacob. Which gave us - This was doubtless the tradition, though there is no evidence that it was true. And drank thereof ... - This was added in commendation of the water of the well. A well from which Jacob, and his sons, and cattle had drank must be pure, and wholesome, and honored, and quite as valuable as any that Jesus could furnish. People like to commend that which their ancestors used as superior to anything else. The world over, people love to speak of that which their ancestors have done, and boast of titles and honors that have been handed down from them, even if it is nothing better than existed here - because Jacob’s cattle had drunk of the water. CLARKE,"Our father Jacob - The ancient Samaritans were undoubtedly the descendants of Jacob; for they were the ten tribes that revolted in the reign of Rehoboam: but those in our Lord’s time were not genuine Israelites, but a corrupted race, sprung from a mixture of different nations, sent thither by Salmanezer, king of the Assyrians. See 2Ki_17:24. GILL, "Art thou greater than our father Jacob,.... A person of greater worth and character than he, who was content to drink of this water; or wiser and more knowing than he, who could find out no better fountain of water in all these parts? she calls Jacob the father of them, according to the common notion and boasting of these people, when it served their turn; otherwise they were not the descendants of Jacob; for after the ten tribes were carried away captive by the king of Assyria, he placed in their room, in the cities of Samaria, men from Babylon, Cuthah Ava, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, Heathenish and idolatrous people; see 2Ki_17:24. And from these, the then Samaritans sprung; only upon Sanballat's building a temple on Mount Gerizzim, for Manasseh his son-in-law, when put away from the priesthood by the Jews, for his marriage of his daughter, several wicked persons of the like sort, 130
- 131. came out ofJudea, and joined themselves to the Samaritans: and such a mixed medley of people were they at this time, though they boasted of Jacob as their father, as this woman did; and so to this day, they draw their genealogy from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and particularly call Joseph their father, and say, from whence are we, but from the tribe of Joseph the just, from Ephraim (w)? as they formerly did (x); "R. Meir saw a Samaritan, he said to him, from whence comest thou? (that is, from what family;) he answered, from the (tribe) of Joseph.'' Which gave us the well; Jacob gave it indeed to Joseph and his posterity, along with the parcel of ground in which it was; see Joh_4:5; but not to this mixed company: and drank thereof himself and his children, and his cattle; which shows both the goodness and plenty of the water: though our Lord had spoken of living water, this woman understood him of no other water, but spring water; called living water, from its motion, because it is continually springing up, bubbling, and ever running: so carnal persons, when they hear of spiritual things under earthly metaphors, think of nothing but carnal things; as Nicodemus, when Christ talked of being born again; and the Jews at Capernaum, when he discoursed concerning eating his flesh, and drinking his blood; for spiritual things are neither known nor received by the natural man. HENRY, "Secondly, She does not think it possible that he should furnish her with any better water than this which she could come at, but he could not: Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well? a. We will suppose the tradition true, that Jacob himself, and his children, and cattle, did drink of this well. And we may observe from it, (a.) The power and providence of God, in the continuance of the fountains of water from generation to generation, by the constant circulation of the rivers, like the blood in the body (Ecc_ 1:7), to which circulation perhaps the flux and reflux of the sea, like the pulses of the heart, contribute. (b.) The plainness of the patriarch Jacob; his drink was water, and he and his children drank of the same well with his cattle. b. Yet, allowing that to be true, she was out in several things; as, (a.) In calling Jacob father. What authority had the Samaritans to reckon themselves of the seed of Jacob? They were descended from that mixed multitude which the king of Assyria had placed in the cities of Samaria; what have they to do then with Jacob? Because they were the invaders of Israel's rights, and the unjust possessors of Israel's lands, were they therefore the inheritors of Israel's blood and honour? How absurd were those pretensions! (b.) She is out in claiming this well as Jacob's gift, whereas he did no more give it than Moses gave the manna, Joh_6:32. But thus we are apt to call the messengers of God's gifts the donors of them, and to look so much at the hands they pass through as to forget the hand they come from. Jacob gave it to his sons, not to them. Yet thus the church's enemies not only usurp, but monopolize, the church's privileges. (c.) She was out in speaking of Christ as not worthy to be compared with our father Jacob. An over-fond veneration for antiquity makes God's graces, in the good people of our own day, to be slighted. JAMIESON, " Art thou greater, etc. — already perceiving in this Stranger a claim to some mysterious greatness. our father Jacob — for when it went well with the Jews, they claimed kindred 131
- 132. with them, asbeing descended from Joseph; but when misfortunes befell the Jews, they disowned all connection with them [Josephus, Antiquities, 9.14, 3]. CALVIN, "12.Art thou greater than our father Jacob? She proceeds to charge him with arrogance in exalting himself above the holy patriarch Jacob. “Jacob, ” she says, “was satisfied with this well for his own use and that of his whole family: and hast thou a more excellent water?” How faulty this comparison is, appears plainly enough from this consideration, that she compares the servant to the master, and a dead man to the living God; and yet how many in the present day fall into this very error? The more cautious ought we to be not to extol the persons of men so as to obscure the glory of God. We ought, indeed, to acknowledge with reverence the gifts of God, wherever they appear. It is, therefore, proper that we should honor men who are eminent in piety, or endued with other uncommon gifts; but it ought to be in such a manner that God may always remain eminent above all — that Christ, with his Gospel, may shine illustriously, for to him all the splendor of the world must yield. It ought also to be observed that the Samaritans falsely boasted of being descended from the holy Fathers. In like manner do the Papists, though they are a bastard seed, arrogantly boast of the Fathers, and despise the true children of God. Although the Samaritans had been descended from Jacob according to the flesh, yet, as they were altogether degenerated and estranged from true godliness, this boasting would have been ridiculous. But now that they are Cutheans by descent, (2 Kings 17:24,) or at least collected out of the profane Gentiles, they still do not fail to make false pretensions to the name of the holy Patriarch. But this is of no avail to them; and such must be the case with all who wickedly exult in the light of men, so as to deprive themselves of the light of God, and who have nothing in common with the holy Fathers, whose name they have abused. COKE, "John 4:12. Art thou greater than our Father Jacob,— "Are you a person of greater power, or more in favour with God, than our common father Jacob, that you can procure water for yourself by supernatural means?—He was obliged to dig this well for the supply of himself and his family; can you create water?"—The mention of Jacob as a progenitor was highly proper in an address to a Jew; who might be supposed to reverence that patriarch in the highest manner, as well as the Samaritans, and could never be suspected guilty of the least disrespect to so venerable a na COFFMAN, "Art thou greater than ... Jacob ...? Indeed a greater than Jacob was there, and a greater than Moses, and a greater than Jonah, and a greater than Solomon; and the very fact of this woman's employment of such a question is of deep interest. Some have understood her words as a scornful denial that Christ had any power to give the living water he had mentioned; but it appears that something far different from scorn was intended by this reply. ELLICOTT, "(12) Art thou greater . . .?—Again, the pronoun is the emphatic word, “Thou surely art not greater.” “The well used to satisfy the wants of the 132
- 133. patriarch, and hishousehold, and his flocks, and has come down from him to us. It is surely sufficient for all our wants.” This claim of Jacob as their father was through Ephraim and Joseph, and the well was part of “the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his .son Joseph” (John 4:5). There was abundance of water near to it, but a patriarchal household could not depend for a necessity of life upon neighbours who may be hostile, and Jacob had dug this well in his own purchased plot. It was sacred, then, as the very spot where their asserted ancestor had digged his well and built his altar. There was an unbroken continuity in the history of the place, and it was prized the more because it was not so in the history of the people. PETT, "“Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself, and his sons and his cattle?” She was a little in awe and certainly felt that this man was something special. But surely not that special? So she asked Him whether He was claiming to be even greater than Jacob who first gave them the well. Jacob had had to dig the well to find water. Could this man obtain water in any other way? In both cases she uses ‘phrear’ for well, which means any well, not necessarily one fed by a living spring. The reader would pick up the contrast as representing the attitude of mind, prosaic rather than inspirational. ‘Our father Jacob, who gave us the well.’ The Samaritans too traced their ancestry back to Jacob and were proud of the fact. They also saw the well as given to them by Jacob. We can regard it as certain that this therefore resulted in a kind of veneration of the well. It was Jacob’s gift to them and spoke of their religious past. This gift contrasts with the ‘gift of God’ in John 4:10. Jesus is agreeing that He is greater than Jacob and is offering to turn the old into the new, to as it were turn water into wine, to replace all that they had looked to with something new, that is with Himself, a direct gift from God. 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, BARNES,"Shall thirst again - Jesus did not directly answer her question, or say that he was greater than Jacob, but he gave her an answer by which she might infer that he was. He did not despise or undervalue Jacob or his gifts; but, however great might be the value of that well, the water could not altogether remove thirst. GILL, "Jesus answered and said unto her,.... In a mild and gentle manner, patiently bearing all her scoffs and flouts, and continuing to instruct and inform her, concerning this living water, showing the preferableness of it to all others: 133
- 134. whosoever drinketh ofthis water; meaning in that well called Jacob's well, or any other common water: shall thirst again; as this woman had often done, and would again, as she herself knew, Joh_4:15, and as Jesus did, who very likely afterwards drank of it, Joh_19:28. For though water allays heat, quenches thirst, and refreshes and revives the spirits for a while, yet in process of time, natural heat increases, and thirst returns, and there is a necessity of drinking water again. HENRY, "[5.] Christ answers this cavil, and makes it out that the living water he had to give was far better than that of Jacob's well, Joh_4:13, Joh_4:14. Though she spoke perversely, Christ did not cast her off, but instructed and encouraged her. He shows her, First, That the water of Jacob's well yielded but a transient satisfaction and supply: “Whoso drinketh of this water shall thirst again. It is no better than other water; it will quench the present thirst, but the thirst will return, and in a few hours a man will have as much need, and as much desire, of water as ever he had.” This intimates, 1. The infirmities of our bodies in this present state; they are still necessitous, and ever craving. Life is a fire, a lamp, which will soon go out, without continual supplies of fuel and oil. The natural heat preys upon itself. 2. The imperfections of all our comforts in this world; they are not lasting, nor our satisfaction in them remaining. Whatever waters of comfort we drink of, we shall thirst again. Yesterday's meat and drink will not do today's work. Secondly, That the living waters he would give should yield a lasting satisfaction and bliss, Joh_4:14. Christ's gifts appear most valuable when they come to be compared with the things of this world; for there will appear no comparison between them. Whoever partakes of the Spirit of grace, and the comforts of the everlasting gospel, a. He shall never thirst, he shall never want that which will abundantly satisfy his soul's desires; they are longing, but not languishing. A desiring thirst he has, nothing more than God, still more and more of God; but not a despairing thirst. b. Therefore he shall never thirst, because this water that Christ gives shall be in him a well of water. He can never be reduced to extremity that has in himself a fountain of supply and satisfaction. (a.) Ever ready, for it shall be in him. The principle of grace planted in him is the spring of his comfort; see Joh_7:38. A good man is satisfied from himself, for Christ dwells in his heart. The anointing abides in him; he needs not sneak to the world for comfort; the work and the witness of the Spirit in the heart furnish him with a firm foundation of hope and an overflowing fountain of joy. (b.) Never failing, for it shall be in him a well of water. He that has at hand only a bucket of water needs not thirst as long as this lasts, but it will soon be exhausted; but believers have in them a well of water, overflowing, ever flowing. The principles and affections which Christ's holy religion forms in the souls of those that are brought under the power of it are this well of water. [a.] It is springing up, ever in motion, which bespeaks the actings of grace strong and vigorous. If good truths stagnate in our souls, like standing water, they do not answer the end of our receiving them. If there be a good treasure in the heart, we must thence bring forth good things. [b.] It is springing up unto everlasting life; which intimates, First, The aims of gracious actings. A sanctified soul has its eye upon heaven, means this, designs this, does all for this, will take up with nothing short of this. Spiritual life springs up towards its own perfection in eternal life. Secondly, The constancy of those actings; it will continue springing up till it come to perfection. Thirdly, The 134
- 135. crown of them,eternal life at last. The living water rises from heaven, and therefore rises towards heaven; see Ecc_1:7. And now is not this water better than that of Jacob's well? JAMIESON, "thirst again ... never thirst, etc. — The contrast here is fundamental and all comprehensive. “This water” plainly means “this natural water and all satisfactions of a like earthly and perishable nature.” Coming to us from without, and reaching only the superficial parts of our nature, they are soon spent, and need to be anew supplied as much as if we had never experienced them before, while the deeper wants of our being are not reached by them at all; whereas the “water” that Christ gives - spiritual life - is struck out of the very depths of our being, making the soul not a cistern, for holding water poured into it from without, but a fountain (the word had been better so rendered, to distinguish it from the word rendered “well” in Joh_4:11), springing, gushing, bubbling up and flowing forth within us, ever fresh, ever living. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of Christ is the secret of this life with all its enduring energies and satisfactions, as is expressly said (Joh_7:37-39). “Never thirsting,” then, means simply that such souls have the supplies at home. into everlasting life — carrying the thoughts up from the eternal freshness and vitality of these waters to the great ocean in which they have their confluence. “Thither may I arrive!” [Bengel]. CALVIN, "13. Every one that drinketh of this water. Though Christ perceives that he is doing little good, and even that his instruction is treated with mockery, he proceeds to explain more clearly what he had said. He distinguishes between the use of the two kinds of water; that the one serves the body, and only for a time, while the power of the other gives perpetual vigor to the soul. For, as the body is liable to decay, so the aids by which it is supported must be frail and transitory. That which quickens the soul cannot but be eternal. Again, the words of Christ are not at variance with the fact, that believers, to the very end of life, burn with desire of more abundant grace. For he does not say that, from the very first day, we drink so as to be fully satisfied, but only means that the Holy Spirit is a continually flowing fountain; and that, therefore, there is no danger that they who have been renewed by spiritual grace shall be dried up. And, therefore, although we thirst throughout our whole life, yet it is certain that we have not received the Holy Spirit for a single day, or for any short period, but as a perennial fountain, which will never fail us. Thus believers thirst, and keenly thirst, throughout their whole life; and yet they have abundance of quickening moisture; for however small may have been the measure of grace which they have received, it gives them perpetual vigor, so that they are never entirely dry. When, therefore, he says that they shall be satisfied, he contrasts not with Desire but only with Drought Shall be a fountain of water springing up into eternal life. These words express still more clearly the preceding statement; for they denote a continual watering, which maintains in them a heavenly eternity during this mortal and perishing life. The grace of Christ, therefore, does not flow to us for a short time, but overflows into a blessed immortality; for it does not cease to flow until the incorruptible life which it commences be brought to perfection., 135
- 136. COFFMAN, "In this,Jesus defined the living water he promised as a spiritual power leading to eternal life. Such would satisfy the deepest thirst of the soul, and not merely for a time, but eternally. The source of such a blessing is uniquely in Jesus Christ; and it may not be earned or merited, but is a heavenly gift to fallen and sinful men. The gift, however, is conditional. The woman would not have given Jesus a drink of water unless he had asked it, nor would Christ have blessed her unless she had asked. The Lord will not endow any soul with living water unless that soul shall ask in the appointed way through compliance with conditions prerequisite to his blessing. Eternal life ... here plainly identified the blessing Jesus promised the woman of Samaria. It was impossible after these words for the woman to have misunderstood the direction of our Lord's remarks. It does seem, however, that she misunderstood the promised blessing as including a cessation of ordinary thirst also, which would have made it unnecessary for her to come again to the well of water. COKE, "John 4:13-14. Whosoever drinketh of this water, &c.— "This water can allay the pain of thirst only for a little while, because, though it be drank ever so plentifully, the appetite will return again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; shall at no time be subject to any vehement painful sensations, arising from unmortified irregular appetites; but the water, &c. shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life; shall yield him divine satisfaction now, and shall be the source of happiness to the faithful to all eternity in heaven; where they shall feel none of the bodily appetites or wants so troublesome to men in this life." Thus Jesus, under the image of living, or spring water, taken from the well beside which he was sitting, beautifully described, as his manner was, the efficacy of the influences of the Spirit of God; for, as water quenches thirst, so these, by quieting the agitation, and cooling the fervency of earthly desires, beget an unspeakable inward peace. By this image he also set forth the plenitude and perpetuity of the celestial joys, flowing from holy dispositions, produced by the influences of the Spirit of God. For these, by an innate power, satisfying all the capacities and desires of the soul, render it so completely happy, that it is not able to form a wish or a thought of any thing better. PETT, "‘Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him, will never thirst, for the water that I will give him will become in him a well (pege as in John 4:6) of water springing up producing eternal life”.’ Jesus made clear that He was in fact greater than Jacob. The water that He was offering was not of temporary satisfaction like the water of this well, but was permanent and constantly self-renewing. That is because the one who drank of it would receive within himself an inner source of water, a spring of water resulting in eternal life. It is deeply significant that Jesus was at this stage offering spiritual life, the life of the age to come, to a Samaritan, without requiring conversion to Judaism. He recognised the valid worship of the 136
- 137. Samaritans and knewno barriers in His offer of salvation to them, even though it would still be a problem for His followers for some time to come. ‘Springing up’ - ‘allomenou. The verb is nowhere else used in Scripture of water bubbling up but its equivalent is so used in other literature. Its literal meaning is ‘leaping up, leaping on’. It is used in the Septuagint (LXX) of the Holy Spirit ‘leaping on’ men (Judges 14:6; Judges 14:19; Judges 15:14; 1 Samuel 10:6; 1 Samuel 10:10) but it can be used figuratively of the quick movement of inanimate things as here. The combined use is especially significant here in view of the fact that the water symbolises the Spirit. GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE 13-14, "No More Thirst Jesus answered and said unto her, Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.—Joh_4:13-14. 1. Those who have read with care the addresses of Christ must be struck, not only with their illustrative character, but, which is very important in the use of illustrations, with their perfect adaptation to the case in point. The force of His imagery is heightened by the fact that the emblems and figures used were taken from objects which the audience had in view at the time He addressed them, and from external things with which their minds were thoroughly familiar, and in which they had a special interest. When the multitudes sought Him at Capernaum for “the meat which perisheth,” He began to speak of “the meat which endureth unto everlasting life.” In the case before us, He gradually leads the mind of the woman of Samaria from the material water which she was drawing from the well of Jacob, to the “living water” that He could give, and which would be in her “a well of living water springing up unto eternal life.” 2. There are two kinds of wells, one a simple reservoir, another containing the waters of a spring. It is the latter kind that is spoken about here, as is clear not only from the meaning of the word in the Greek, but also from the description of it as “springing up.” That suggests at once the activity of a fountain. A fountain is the emblem of motion, not of rest. Its motion is derived from itself, not imparted to it from without. Its “silvery column” rises ever heavenward, though gravitation is too strong for it, and drags it back again. So Christ promised to this ignorant, sinful Samaritan woman that if she chose He would plant in her soul a gift which would thus well up, by its own inherent energy, and fill her spirit with music, and refreshment, and satisfaction. I The Thirst of the Soul “Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” It is not difficult to discern traces of this thirst in the faces of those whom we meet in the common way. If we take our stand at the corner of the street and scan the faces of the 137
- 138. passing crowd, itis only now and again that we gaze upon a countenance which is significant of peace. How rarely the face suggests the joy and the serenity of a healthy satisfaction. We are confronted by an abounding unrest. The majority of people seem to be afflicted with the pain of unsatisfied want. The very faces are suggestive of a disquieting thirst. We have a varied vocabulary in which we describe this prevailing condition:—“restless,” “discontented,” “dissatisfied,” “not right with himself.” Water is an essential of animal and vegetable life. With a constantly recurring appetite we seek it. To have no thirst is a symptom of disease or death. But the soul also, not having life in itself, needs to be sustained from without; and when in a healthy state it seeks by a natural appetite that which will sustain it. And as most of our mental acts are spoken of in terms of the body, as we speak of seeing truth and grasping it, as if the mind had hands and eyes, so David naturally exclaims, “My soul thirsts for the living God.” In the living soul there is a craving for that which maintains and revives its life, which is analogous to the thirst of the body for water. The dead alone feel no thirst for God. The soul that is alive sees for a moment the glory and liberty and joy of the life to which God calls us; it feels the attraction of a life of love, purity, and righteousness, but it seems continually to sink from this and to tend to become dull and feeble, and to have no joy in goodness. Just as the healthy body delights in work, but wearies and cannot go on exerting itself for many hours together, but must repair its strength, so the soul soon wearies and sinks back from what is difficult, and needs to be revived by its appropriate refreshment.1 [Note: M. Dods.] I think there is something implanted in man’s heart, fallen creature as he is, which defies him to be content with anything but God alone. It is a trace of original majesty, which leaves a mark of what he was before the fall. He is always panting for something fresh; and that is no sooner attained than it palls upon his taste. And this strong necessity of loving something makes a man form idols for himself, which he invests with fancied perfections, and when all these fade away in his grasp, and he finds their unsubstantiality, he must become either a misanthrope or a Christian. When a man has learned to know the infinite love of God in Christ to him, then he discovers something which will not elude his hold, and an affection which will not grow cold; for the comparison of God’s long-suffering and repeated pardon, with his own heartless ingratitude, convinces him that it is an unchangeable love.1 [Note: Life and Letters of F. W. Robertson, 57.] O God, where do they tend—these struggling aims? What would I have? What is this “sleep” which seems To bound all? Can there be a waking point Of crowning life? The soul would never rule; It would be first in all things, it would have 138
- 139. Its utmost pleasurefilled, but, that complete, Commanding, for commanding, sickens it. The last point I can trace is—rest beneath Some better essence than itself, in weakness; This is “myself,” not what I think should be: And what is that I hunger for but God?2 [Note: Browning, Pauline.] II The Wells of the World All things that are of earth are unsatisfactory. Our spirit craves for something more than time and sense can yield it. Nothing which comes of earth, even if it should yield a transient satisfaction, can long maintain its excellence. Pointing to the water in Jacob’s well, our Lord said, “Every one that drinketh of this water shall thirst again”; and therein He took up His parable against all earthly things, whether they be fame, or riches, or fleshly pleasure, or aught else beneath the sun. He that drinks at these shallow wells shall not quench his thirst, or if for a time he imagines that he has so done, he will be undeceived, and in a little season the old craving will return. “That which is born of the flesh” is flesh even at its best, and “all flesh is as grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth.” The religion of the flesh shares in the common fate, if it has a man’s own self for its author, his own energy as its impulse, and his own opinions for its creed. It may for a little while flourish like the flower of the field, but “the wind passeth over it and it is gone.” Waters from his own cistern may stay a man’s desires for a space, but ere long he must thirst again. Too often we try to allay a spiritual thirst by a carnal draught. When Newman in his early life was burdened with the sense of his own shortcomings in the presence of his Lord, and his letters home lacked their usual buoyancy, his mother wrote to him:—“Your father and I fear very much from the tone of your letters that you are depressed. We fear you debar yourself a proper quantity of wine.” That is a type of suggestion which is often made to people who are troubled with spiritual unrest. They are recommended to material ministries by which their feverish unrest is only intensified and inflamed. But they “thirst again.” Others make an attempt to realize satisfaction and peace by immersing themselves in stimulants like novel-reading and theatre-going, and in the manifold pleasures of society. They intensify the social stimulant. Yet they “thirst again.” Others plunge more deeply into business. The songster is languishing! How then? Re-gild his cage. The soul is languishing! How then? Re-gild her cage. Seek for more gold, more gold, and surround the soul with material treasure. And yet the soul refuses to be appeased, and “thirsts again.” Or, again, we give opiates to our disquieted and feverish souls. How many people find an opiate in 139
- 140. making a promiseto amend. They find contentment in their intentions. But the satisfaction is only transient. They speedily awake out of their unnatural rest, and they are thirsty still. Others give themselves the opiate of self-disparagement. Many a man thinks he is becoming better because he severely condemns himself. They esteem it a sign of virtue to denounce themselves as fools. They discover a sort of spiritual comfort from their own self-severity. All these are pitiable evasions. At the best they are only transient ministries, which, when their immediate influence passes away, leave us in deepened disquietude and intensified unrest.1 [Note: J. H. Jowett, Thirsting for the Springs, 140.] No man is so poor, so low, so narrow in capacity, so limited in heart and head, but he needs a whole God to make him restful. Nothing else will. To seek for satisfaction elsewhere is like sailors who in their desperation, when the water- tanks are empty, slake their thirst with the treacherous blue that washes cruelly along the battered sides of their ship. A moment’s alleviation is followed by the recurrence, in tenfold intensity, of the pangs of thirst, and by madness, and death. Do not drink the salt water that flashes and rolls by your side when you can have recourse to the fountain of life that is with God.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.] There is a Persian legend of the well of Chidher, the fountain of eternal youth, which men are ever seeking and never find. Thee have thousands sought in vain Over land and barren main, Chidher’s well,—of which men say, That thou makest young again; Fountain of eternal youth, Washing free from every stain. To thy waves the aged moons Aye betake them, when they wane; And the suns their golden light, While they bathe in thee, retain. 140
- 141. From that fountaindrops are flung, Mingling with the vernal rain, And the old earth clothes itself In its young attire again. Thitherward the freckled trout Up the water-courses strain, And the timid wild gazelles Seek it through the desert plain. Great Iskander, mighty lord, Sought that fountain, but in vain; Through the land of darkness went In its quest with fruitless pain, When by wealth of conquered worlds Did his thirst unslaked remain. Many more with parched lip Must lie down and dizzy brain, 141
- 142. And of that,a fountain sealed Unto them, in death complain. If its springs to thee are known, Weary wanderer, tell me plain. From beneath the throne of God It must well, a lucid vein; To its sources lead me, Lord, That I do not thirst again, And my lips not any more Shall the earth’s dark waters stain.1 [Note: R. C. Trench, Chidher’s Well.] III The Eternal Spring 1. What, then, is this “living water”—this thirst-quenching, soul-satisfying gift promised by Christ? The answer may be put in various ways, which really all come to one. It is Himself, the unspeakable Gift, His own greatest gift; or it is the Spirit “which they that believe on him should receive,” and whereby He comes and dwells in men’s hearts; or it is the resulting life, kindred with the life bestowed, a consequence of the indwelling Christ and the present Spirit. And so the promise is that they who believe on Him and rest upon His love shall receive into their spirits a new life-principle which shall rise in their hearts like a fountain, “springing up unto everlasting life.” 2. As regards this wonderful water, there are four points to be specially noted. (1) It is a gift of God.—“The water that I shall give him,” says Christ. There is no 142
- 143. suggestion as todigging deep with much learning into the bowels of mysterious truth to find the water for ourselves; this priceless draught is freely handed out to us by our Redeemer, without our bringing either bucket or line. There is no hint in the text that we are to purchase the life-giving water; it is presented to us without money and without price. There is no allusion to a certain measure of fitness to qualify us for the draught, it is purely a gift to be received by us here and now. Our Lord told the woman that had she known the gift of God she would have asked and He would have given. Sinner as she was, she had only to ask and have. There is no other way of obtaining eternal life but as the free gift of sovereign grace. The divine gift of eternal life is not in us by nature. It cannot be produced in us by culture, or infused into us by ceremonies, or propagated in us by natural descent; it must come as a boon of infinite charity from heaven, unpurchased, undeserved. Wisdom cannot impart it, power cannot fashion it, money cannot buy it, merit cannot procure it, grace alone can give it. If men desire wages they may earn them beneath the mastership of sin, for “the wages of sin is death.” On the side of God all is of grace, for “the gift of God is eternal life.” Whoever, then, is to be saved must be saved by the boundless charity of God—in other words, by the free gift of the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord.1 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.] (2) It is a fountain within.—“It shall be in him,” it is something that we may carry about with us in our hearts, inseparable from our being, free from all possibility of being filched away by violence, rent from us by sorrows, or even parted from us by death. What a man has outside of him he only seems to have. Our real possessions are those which have passed into the substance of our souls. All else we shall leave behind. The only good is inward good; and this water of life slakes our thirst because it flows into the deepest place of our being, and abides there for ever. I stood a little while ago in the fine old ruin of Middleham Castle. I passed beyond the outer shell, and beyond the inner defences into the keep, and there in the innermost sanctum of the venerable pile was the old well. The castle was independent of outside supplies. If it were besieged it had resources of water at its own heart. The changing seasons made no difference to the gracious supply. That is the purpose of our Master in placing the “well” within us. He wants to make us independent of external circumstances. Whatever be the season that reigns without, He wants fulness and vitality to reign within. So the Master’s gift is the gift of a well, “springing up,” leaping up, “unto eternal life.” We are renewed “by his Spirit in the inner man.”2 [Note: J. H. Jowett.] (3) It is a springing fountain.—“The water that I shall give him shall become in him a springing fountain”; it shall not lie there stagnant, but shall leap like a living thing, up into the sunshine, and flash there, turned into diamonds when the bright rays smile upon it. Here is the promise of activity. There seems small blessing, in this overworked world, in a promise of more active exertion; but what an immense part of our nature lies dormant and torpid if we are not Christians! How much of the work that is done is dreary, wearisome, collar- 143
- 144. work, against thegrain. Do not the wheels of life often go slowly? Are we not often weary of the inexpressible monotony and fatigue? And do we not go to our work sometimes, though with a fierce feeling of “need-to-do-it,” yet also with inward repugnance? And are there not great parts of our nature that have never wakened into activity at all, and are ill at ease, because there is no field of action provided for them? The mind is like millstones; if we do not put the wheat into them to grind, they will grind each other’s faces. So some of us are fretting ourselves to pieces, or are sick of a vague disease, and are morbid and miserable because the highest and noblest parts of our nature have never been brought into exercise. Surely this promise of Christ’s should come as a true gospel to such, offering, as it does, if we will trust ourselves to Him, a springing fountain of activity in our hearts that shall fill our whole being with joyous energy, and make it a delight to live and to work. It will bring to us new powers, new motives; it will set all the wheels of life going at double speed. We shall be quickened by the presence of that mighty power, even as a dim taper is brightened and flames up when plunged into a jar of oxygen. And life will be delight-some in its hardest toil, when it is toil for the sake of, and by the indwelling strength of, that great Lord and Master of our work. The indwelling power of the Holy Spirit rises superior to all disadvantages, like a spring which cannot be kept under, do what we may. Our engineers and builders know how hard it is to bind up the earth-floods from overflowing, and the spiritual floods are yet more unconquerable. It is wonderful how springs will bubble up in places where we least expect them. The great desert of Sahara will no doubt be made a very easy county to traverse, and, perhaps, may even become a fertile plain, from the fact that there is water everywhere at no very great depth below the surface, and where it is reached an oasis is formed. The government of Algeria has sent engineers into parts of the Sahara bordering on the French possession, and these men have bored the rock by Artesian wells, and greatly astonished the natives; for in the wilderness have waters leaped out and streams in the desert. At the magic touch of the living water, palm trees have sprung up and an undergrowth of vegetation, so that the solitary places have been made to sing together. When the Lord gives our souls to drink from the fountains of the great deep of His own eternal love, and to have a vital principle of grace within us, our wilderness rejoices and blossoms as the rose, and the Sahara around us cannot wither our verdure; our soul is as an oasis, though all around is barrenness.1 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon.] In the mid garden doth a fountain stand; From font to font its waters fall alway, Freshening the leaves by their continual play:— Such often have I seen in southern land, While every leaf, as though by light winds fanned, Has quivered underneath the dazzling spray, 144
- 145. Keeping its greennessall the sultry day, While others pine aloof, a parchèd band. And in the mystic garden of the soul A fountain, nourished from the upper springs, Sends ever its clear waters up on high, Which while a dewy freshness round it flings, All plants which there acknowledge its control Show fair and green, else drooping, pale, and dry.2 [Note: Trench, Poems, 144.] (4) It is an eternal fountain.—The water of a fountain rises by its own impulse, but however its silver column may climb it always falls back into its marble basin. But this fountain rises higher, and at each successive jet higher, tending towards, and finally touching, its goal, which is at the same time its source. The water seeks its own level, and the fountain climbs until it reaches Him from whom it comes, and the eternal life in which He lives. The Christian character is identical in both worlds, and however the forms and details of pursuit may vary, the essential principle remains one. So that the life of a Christian man on earth and his life in heaven are but one stream, as it were, which may, indeed, like some of those American rivers, run for a time through a deep, dark cañon, or in an underground passage, but comes out at the farther end into broader, brighter plains and summer lands; where it flows with a quieter current and with the sunshine reflected on its untroubled surface, into the calm ocean. He has one gift and one life for earth and heaven—Christ and His Spirit, and the life that is consequent upon both. “It shall be in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.” The grace continues with us, and overflows into a blessed immortality. The Spirit that redeems will also perfect. Whatever may be our estate when it finds us, our ultimate attainments will be the likeness of the Lord. The living water rises from Heaven, and rises towards Heaven. We shall at length be presented blameless before the Throne of God. “Never thirst.” That does not mean that in the Christian life desire is ended. “The ill of all ills is the death of desire.” In the redeemed life desire is intense and wakeful. There is desiring, but no despairing. There is longing, but no languishing. There is fervour, but no fever. There is aspiration and contentment. There is striving and rest. We still thirst for the fulness of grace not yet received, but there is no pain in the thirst. In the Christian life the very thirst for greater fulness is itself a delight. If I may quote Calvin, “Believers know desire, but they do not know drought.”1 [Note: J. H. Jowett.] 145
- 146. My spirit longethfor Thee, Within my troubled breast, Altho’ I be unworthy Of so divine a Guest. Of so divine a Guest, Unworthy tho’ I be, Yet has my heart no rest, Unless it come from Thee. Unless it come from Thee, In vain I look around; In all that I can see, No rest is to be found. No rest is to be found, But in Thy blessed love; O! let my wish be crown’d, And send it from above!2 [Note: J. Byrom.] 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 146
- 147. BARNES,"The water thatI shall give him - Jesus here refers, without doubt, to his own teaching, his “grace,” his “spirit,” and to the benefits which come into the soul that embraces his gospel. It is a striking image, and especially in Eastern countries, where there are vast deserts, and often a great want of water. The soul by nature is like such a desert, or like a traveler wandering through such a desert. It is thirsting for happiness, and seeking it everywhere, and finds it not. It looks in all directions and tries all objects, but in vain. Nothing meets its desires. Though a sinner seeks for joy in wealth and pleasures, yet he is not satisfied. He still thirsts for more, and seeks still for happiness in some new enjoyment. To such a weary and unsatisfied sinner the grace of Christ is “as cold waters to a thirsty soul.” Shall never thirst - He shall be “satisfied” with this, and will not have a sense of want, a distressing feeling that it is not adapted to him. He who drinks this will not wish to seek for happiness in other objects. “Satisfied” with the grace of Christ, he will not desire the pleasures and amusements of this world. And this will be forever - in this world and the world to come. “Whosoever” drinketh of this all who partake of the gospel - shall be “forever” satisfied with its pure and rich joys. Shall be in him - The grace of Christ shall be in his heart; or the principles of religion shall abide with him. A well of water - There shall be a constant supply, an unfailing fountain; or religion shall live constantly with him. Springing up - This is a beautiful image, It shall bubble or spring up like a fountain. It is not like a stagnant pool - not like a deep well, but like an ever-living fountain, that flows at all seasons of the year, in heat and cold, and in all external circumstances of weather, whether foul or fair, wet or dry. So religion always lives; and, amid all changes of external circumstances - in heat and cold, hunger and thirst, prosperity and adversity, life, persecution, contempt, or death - it still lives on, and refreshes and cheers the soul. Into everlasting life - It is not temporary, like the supply of our natural wants; it is not changing in its nature; it is not like a natural fountain or spring of water, to play a While and then die away, as all natural springs will at the end of the world. It is eternal in its nature and supply, and will continue to live on forever. We may learn here: 1. That the Christian has a never-failing source of consolation adapted to all times and circumstances. 2. That religion has its seat in the heart, and that it should constantly live there. 3. That it sheds its blessings on a world of sin, and is manifest by a continual life of piety, like a constant flowing spring. 4. That its end is everlasting life. It will continue forever; and “whosoever drinks of this shall never thirst, but his piety shall be in his heart a pure fountain “springing up to eternal joy.” CLARKE,"Springing up into everlasting life - On this account he can never thirst: - for how can he lack water who has in himself a living, eternal spring? By this water our Lord means also his doctrine, explaining and promising the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, which proceed from Jesus Christ their fountain, dwelling in a believing heart. There is no eternal life without the Spirit; no Spirit without Christ; 147
- 148. and no Christto give the Spirit, without dwelling in the heart: this his whole doctrine proclaims. GILL, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him,.... Meaning, the Spirit and his grace; see Joh_7:38; and which he more than once speaks of, as his gift here, and in the context: of which, whoever truly partakes, shall never thirst; either after sinful lusts and pleasures, and his former vicious way of living, which he now disrelishes: not but there are desires and lustings after carnal things in regenerate persons, as there were lustings in the Israelites, after the onions, garlic, and flesh pots in Egypt, when they were come out from thence; yet these are not so strong, prevalent, and predominant; they are checked and restrained by the grace of God; so that they do not hanker after sin as they did, nor drink up iniquity like water, or commit sin with greediness, as before: or else it means thirsting after the grace of God; thirsty persons are invited to take and drink of the water of life freely, and are pronounced blessed; and it is promised, that they shall be filled, or satisfied; yet not so in this life, that they shall never thirst or desire more; for as they need more grace, and it is promised them, they thirst after it, and desire it; and the more they taste and partake of it, the more they desire it: but the sense is, either as some read the words, "they shall not thirst for ever"; though they may for a time, and be in a distressed condition for want of a supply of it, yet they shall always; God will open rivers and fountains for them, and give drink to his people, his chosen; and the other state, they shall hunger and thirst no more; for the Lamb shall lead them to fountains of living waters: or rather, they shall never thirst, so as to be like the thirsty and parched earth, dried up, and have no moisture in them; for however this may seem sometimes to be their case, God will, and does, pour out water and floods upon them; yea, that grace which is infused into their souls, is an abundant and an abiding principle, which will preserve them from languishing, so as to perish: but the water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water; which denotes the plenty of it; for the grace of God given at conversion is exceeding abundant, it superabounds all the aboundings of sin; it comes in large flows into the hearts of regenerate persons, and flows out of them, as rivers of living water: and which also abides, for it continues springing up into everlasting life: it is a seed which remains, an immortal and never dying principle; it is inseparably connected with eternal life; it is the beginning of it, and it issues in it; whoever has grace, shall have glory; and whoever are called, sanctified, justified, and pardoned, shall be glorified: such is the nature, influence, and use of this living water, in Christ's gift: the words of the law are, in the Targum on Son_4:15 compared to a well of living water. MACLAREN, "THE SPRINGING FOUNTAIN There are two kinds of wells, one a simple reservoir, another containing the waters of a spring. It is the latter kind which is spoken about here, as is clear not only from the meaning of the word in the Greek, but also from the description of it as ‘springing up.’ That suggests at once the activity of a fountain. A fountain is the emblem of motion, not of rest. Its motion is derived from itself, not imparted to it from without. Its ‘silvery column’ rises ever heavenward, though gravitation is too strong for it, and drags it back again. So Christ promises to this ignorant, sinful Samaritan woman that if she chose He would plant in her soul a gift which would thus well up, by its own inherent energy, 148
- 149. and fill herspirit with music, and refreshment, and satisfaction. What is that gift? The answer may be put in various ways which really all come to one. It is Himself, the unspeakable Gift, His own greatest gift; or it is the Spirit ‘which they that believe on Him should receive,’ and whereby He comes and dwells in men’s hearts; or it is the resulting life, kindred with the life bestowed, a consequence of the indwelling Christ and the present Spirit. And so the promise is that they who believe in Him and rest upon His love shall receive into their spirits a new life principle which shall rise in their hearts like a fountain, ‘springing up into everlasting life.’ I think we shall best get the whole depth and magnitude of this great promise if, throwing aside all mere artificial order, we simply take the words as they stand here in the text, and think, first, of Christ’s gift as a fountain within; then as a fountain springing, leaping up, by its own power; and then as a fountain ‘springing into everlasting life.’ I. First, Christ’s gift is represented here as a fountain within. Most men draw their supplies from without; they are rich, happy, strong, only when externals minister to them strength, happiness, riches. For the most of us, what we have is that which determines our felicity. Take the lowest type of life, for instance, the men of whom the majority, alas! I suppose, in every time is composed, who live altogether on the low plane of the world, and for the world alone, whether their worldliness take the form of sensuous appetite, or of desire to acquire wealth and outward possessions. The thirst of the body is the type of the experience of all such people. It is satisfied and slaked for a moment, and then back comes the tyrannous appetite again. And, alas! the things that you drink to satisfy the thirst of your souls are too often like a publican’s adulterated beer, which has got salt in it, and chemicals, and all sorts of things to stir up, instead of slaking and quenching, the thirst. So ‘he that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he that loveth abundance with increase.’ The appetite grows by what it feeds on, and a little lust yielded to to-day is a bigger one to-morrow, and half a glass to-day grows to a bottle in a twelvemonth. As the old classical saying has it, he ‘who begins by carrying a calf, before long is able to carry an ox’; so the thirst in the soul needs and drinks down a constantly increasing draught. And even if we rise up into a higher region and look at the experience of the men who have in some measure learned that ‘a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things that he possesseth,’ nor in the abundance of the gratification that his animal nature gets, but that there must be an inward spring of satisfaction, if there is to be any satisfaction at all; if we take men who live for thought, and truth, and mental culture, and yield themselves up to the enthusiasm for some great cause, and are proud of saying, ‘My mind to me a kingdom is,’ though they present a far higher style of life than the former, yet even that higher type of man has so many of his roots in the external world that he is at the mercy of chances and changes, and he, too, has deep in his heart a thirst that nothing, no truth, no wisdom, no culture, nothing that addresses itself to one part of his nature, though it be the noblest and the loftiest, can ever satisfy and slake. I am sure I have some such people in my audience, and to them this message comes. You may have, if you will, in your own hearts, a springing fountain of delight and of blessedness which will secure that no unsatisfied desires shall ever torment you. Christ in His fulness, His Spirit, the life that flows from both and is planted within our hearts, these are offered to us all; and if we have them we carry inclosed within ourselves all that is essential to our felicity; and we can say, ‘I have learned in 149
- 150. whatsoever state Iam therewith to be self-satisfying,’ not with the proud, stoical independence of a man who does not want either God or man to make him blessed, but with the humble independence of a man who can say ‘my sufficiency is of God.’ No independence of externals is possible, nor wholesome if it were possible, except that which comes from absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. If you have Christ in your heart then life is possible, peace is possible, joy is possible, under all circumstances and in all places. Everything which the soul can desire, it possesses. You will be like the garrison of a beleaguered castle, in the courtyard of which is a sparkling spring, fed from some source high up in the mountains, and finding its way in there by underground channels which no besiegers can ever touch. Sorrows will come, and make you sad, but though there may be much darkness round about you, there will be light in the darkness. The trees may be bare and leafless, but the sap has gone down to the roots. The world may be all wintry and white with snow, but there will be a bright little fire burning on your own hearthstone. You will carry within yourselves all the essentials to blessedness. If you have ‘Christ in the vessel’ you can smile at the storm. They that drink from earth’s fountains ‘shall thirst again’; but they who have Christ in their hearts will have a fountain within which will not freeze in the bitterest cold, nor fail in the fiercest heat. ‘The water that I shall give him shall be in him a fountain.’ II. Christ’s gift is a springing fountain. The emblem, of course, suggests motion by its own inherent impulse. Water may be stagnant, or it may yield to the force of gravity and slide down a descending river- bed, or it may be pumped up and lifted by external force applied to it, or it may roll as it does in the sea, drawn by the moon, driven by the winds, borne along by currents that owe their origin to outward heat or cold. But a fountain rises by an energy implanted within itself, and is the very emblem of joyous, free, self-dependent and self-regulated activity. And so, says Christ, ‘The water that I shall give him shall be in him a springing fountain’; it shall not lie there stagnant, but leap like a living thing, up into the sunshine, and flash there, turned into diamonds, when the bright rays smile upon it. So here is the promise of two things: the promise of activity, and of an activity which is its own law. The promise of activity. There seems small blessing, in this overworked world, in a promise of more active exertion; but what an immense part of our nature lies dormant and torpid if we are not Christians! How much of the work that is done is dreary, wearisome, collar-work, against the grain. Do not the wheels of life often go slowly? Are you not often weary of the inexpressible monotony and fatigue? And do you not go to your work sometimes, though with a fierce feeling of ‘need-to-do-it,’ yet also with inward repugnance? And are there not great parts of your nature that have never woke into activity at all, and are ill at ease, because there is no field of action provided for them? The mind is like millstones; if you do not put the wheat into them to grind, they will grind each other’s faces. So some of us are fretting ourselves to pieces, or are sick of a vague disease, and are morbid and miserable because the highest and noblest parts of our nature have never been brought into exercise. Surely this promise of Christ’s should come as a true Gospel to such, offering, as it does, if we will trust ourselves to Him, a springing fountain of activity in our hearts that shall fill our whole being with joyous energy, and make it a delight to live and to work. It will bring to us new powers, new motives; it will set all the wheels of life going at double speed. We shall be quickened by the presence of that mighty power, even as a dim taper is brightened and flames up when plunged into a jar of oxygen. And life 150
- 151. will be delightsomein its hardest toil, when it is toil for the sake of, and by the indwelling strength of, that great Lord and Master of our work. And there is not only a promise of activity here, but of activity which is its own law and impulse. That is a blessed promise in two ways. In the first place, law will be changed into delight. We shall not be driven by a commandment standing over us with whip and lash, or coming behind us with spur and goad, but that which we ought to do we shall rejoice to do; and inclination and duty will coincide in all our lives when our life is Christ’s life in us. That should be a blessing to some of you who have been fighting against evil and trying to do right with more or less success, more or less interruptedly and at intervals, and have felt the effort to be a burden and a wearisomeness. Here is a promise of emancipation from all that constraint and yoke of bondage which duty discerned and unloved ever lays upon a man’s shoulders. When we carry within us the gift of a life drawn from Jesus Christ, and are able to say like Him, ‘Lo, I come to do Thy will, and Thy law is within my heart,’ only then shall we have peace and joy in our lives. ‘The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death.’ And then, in the second place, that same thought of an activity which is its own impulse and its own law, suggests another aspect of this blessedness, namely, that it sets us free from the tyranny of external circumstances which absolutely shape the lives of so many of us. The lives of all must be to a large extent moulded by these, but they need not, and should not be completely determined by them. It is a miserable thing to see men and women driven before the wind like thistledown. Circumstances must influence us, but they may either influence us to base compliance and passive reception of their stamp, or to brave resistance and sturdy nonconformity to their solicitations. So used, they will influence us to a firmer possession of the good which is most opposite to them, and we shall be the more unlike our surroundings, the more they abound in evil. You can make your choice whether, if I may so say, you shall be like balloons that are at the mercy of the gale and can only shape their course according as it comes upon them and blows them along, or like steamers that have an inward power that enables them to keep their course from whatever point the wind blows, or like some sharply built sailing-ship that, with a strong hand at the helm, and canvas rightly set, can sail almost in the teeth of the wind and compel it to bear her along in all but the opposite direction to that in which it would carry her if she lay like a log on the water. I beseech you all, and especially you young people, not to let the world take and shape you, like a bit of soft clay put into a brick-mould, but to lay a masterful hand upon it, and compel it to help you, by God’s grace, to be nobler, and truer, and purer. It is a shame for men to live the lives that so many amongst us live, as completely at the mercy of externals to determine the direction of their lives as the long weeds in a stream that yield to the flow of the current. It is of no use to preach high and brave maxims, telling men to assert their lordship over externals, unless we can tell them how to find the inward power that will enable them to do so. But we can preach such noble exhortations to some purpose when we can point to the great gift which Christ is ready to give, and exhort them to open their hearts to receive that indwelling power which shall make them free from the dominion of these tyrant circumstances and emancipate them into the ‘liberty of the sons of God.’ ‘The water that I shall give him shall be in him a leaping fountain.’ III. The last point here is that Christ’s gift is a fountain ‘springing up into everlasting life.’ 151
- 152. The water ofa fountain rises by its own impulse, but howsoever its silver column may climb it always falls back into its marble basin. But this fountain rises higher, and at each successive jet higher, tending towards, and finally touching, its goal, which is at the same time its course. The water seeks its own level, and the fountain climbs until it reaches Him from whom it comes, and the eternal life in which He lives. We might put that thought in two ways. First, the gift is eternal in its duration. The water with which the world quenches its thirst perishes. All supplies and resources dry up like winter torrents in summer heat. All created good is but for a time. As for some, it perishes in the use; as for other, it evaporates and passes away, or is ‘as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up’; as for all, we have to leave it behind when we go hence. But this gift springs into everlasting life, and when we go it goes with us. The Christian character is identical in both worlds, and however the forms and details of pursuits may vary, the essential principle remains one. So that the life of a Christian man on earth and his life in heaven are but one stream, as it were, which may, indeed, like some of those American rivers, run for a time through a deep, dark canyon, or in an underground passage, but comes out at the further end into broader, brighter plains and summer lands; where it flows with a quieter current and with the sunshine reflected on its untroubled surface, into the calm ocean. He has one gift and one life for earth and heaven-Christ and His Spirit, and the life that is consequent upon both. And then the other side of this great thought is that the gift tends to, is directed towards, or aims at and reaches, everlasting life. The whole of the Christian experience on earth is a prophecy and an anticipation of heaven. The whole of the Christian experience of earth evidently aims towards that as its goal, and is interpreted by that as its end. What a contrast that is to the low and transient aims which so many of us have! The lives of many men go creeping along the surface when they might spring heavenwards. My friend! which is it to be with you? Is your life to be like one of those Northern Asiatic rivers that loses itself in the sands, or that flows into, or is sluggishly lost in, a bog; or is it going to tumble over a great precipice, and fall sounding away down into the blackness; or is it going to leap up ‘into everlasting life’? Which of the two aims is the wiser, is the nobler, is the better? And a life that thus springs will reach what it springs towards. A fountain rises and falls, for the law of gravity takes it down; this fountain rises and reaches, for the law of pressure takes it up, and the water rises to the level of its source. Christ’s gift mocks no man, it sets in motion no hopes that it does not fulfil; it stimulates to no work that it does not crown with success. If you desire a life that reaches its goal, a life in which all your desires are satisfied, a life that is full of joyous energy, that of a free man emancipated from circumstances and from the tyranny of unwelcome law, and victorious over externals, open your hearts to the gift that Christ offers you; the gift of Himself, of His death and passion, of His sacrifice and atonement, of His indwelling and sanctifying Spirit. He offered all the fulness of that grace to this Samaritan woman, in her ignorance, in her profligacy, in her flippancy. He offers it to you. His offer awoke an echo in her heart, will it kindle any response in yours? Oh! when He says to you, ‘The water that I shall give will be in you a fountain springing into everlasting life,’ I pray you to answer as she did-’Sir!-Lord-give me this water, that I thirst not; neither come to earth’s broken cisterns to draw.’ 152
- 153. 15 The womansaid to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” BARNES,"The woman said ... - It may seem strange that the woman did not yet understand him, but it shows how slow sinners are to understand the doctrines of religion. CLARKE,"Give me this water - She did not as yet comprehend our Lord’s meaning; but her curiosity was much excited, and this was the design of our Lord, that he might have her mind properly prepared to receive the great truths which he was about to announce. GILL, "The woman saith unto him, Sir,.... See Gill on Joh_4:11; give me this water, that I thirst not. The Syriac and Persic versions add, "again": neither come hither; the Ethiopic version adds here, "again"; to draw. This she said also, in the same sneering and scoffing way, as her talking of not thirsting and coming thither to draw water, shows; and it is as if she had said, pray give me some of this fine water you talk of, that I may never thirst again; and so have no occasion to be at all this fatigue and trouble, to come daily to this well for water: though some think, that she now spoke seriously, having some little knowledge of what our Lord meant by living water, but with a mixture of much ignorance, and that she heartily desired it; but the reason she gives, shows the contrary. HENRY, "[6.] The woman (whether in jest or earnest is hard to say) begs of him to give her some of this water (Joh_4:15): Give me this water, that I thirst not. First, Some think that she speaks tauntingly, and ridicules what Christ had said as mere stuff; and, in derision of it, not desires, but challenges him to give her some of this water: “A rare invention; it will save me a great deal of pains if I never come hither to draw.” But, Secondly, Others think that it was a well-meant but weak and ignorant desire. She apprehended that he meant something very good and useful, and therefore saith Amen, at a venture. Whatever it be, let me have it; who will show me any good? Ease, or saving of labour, is a valuable good to poor labouring people. Note, 1. Even those that are weak and ignorant may yet have some faint and fluctuating desires towards Christ and his gifts, and some good wishes of grace and glory. 2. Carnal hearts, in their best wishes, look no higher than carnal ends. “Give it to me,” saith she, “not that I may have everlasting life” (which Christ proposed), “but that I come not hither to draw.” 2. The next subject of discourse with this woman in concerning her husband, Joh_ 4:16-18. It was not to let fall the discourse of the water of life that Christ started this, as many who will bring in any impertinence in conversation that they may drop a 153
- 154. serious subject; butit was with a gracious design that Christ mentioned it. What he had said concerning his grace and eternal life he found had made little impression upon her, because she had not been convinced of sin: therefore, waiving the discourse about the living water, he sets himself to awaken her conscience, to open the wound of guilt, and then she would more easily apprehend the remedy by grace. And this is the method of dealing with souls; they must first be made weary and heavy-laden under the burden of sin, and then brought to Christ for rest; first pricked to the heart, and then healed. This is the course of spiritual physic; and if we proceed not in this order we begin at the wrong end. JAMIESON, "give me this water, etc. — This is not obtuseness - that is giving way - it expresses a wondering desire after she scarce knew what from this mysterious Stranger. CALVIN, "15.Give me this water. This woman undoubtedly is sufficiently aware that Christ is speaking of spiritual water; but because she despises him, she sets at naught all his promises; for so long as the authority of him who speaks is not acknowledged by us, his doctrine is not permitted to enter. Indirectly, therefore, the woman taunted Christ, saying, “Thou boastest much, but I see nothing: show it in reality, if thou canst.” COFFMAN, "Some element of misunderstanding is evident in this request, but she rose to the height of asking the blessing in its fullest extent. Those who would be blessed should never wait until they know fully all that they ask; and, for the most spiritual person on earth, there is the likelihood that he, like this woman, would have many incorrect ideas of the ultimate blessing. The important thing is to ask; and, as Jesus said at the beginning of the interview, this woman was a person who would ask. May all men be just as diligent to ask of him who alone can satisfy the soul's deepest need. The woman, at this point, did not know that the blessing the requested involved moral surgery in her life, but Jesus quickly moved to enlighten her., " ELLICOTT, "(15) Come hither.—The Sinaitic and Vatican and some other MSS. read, “come through hither,” or as Alford, who adopts the reading, renders it, “come all the way hither.” Godet also adopts the reading, but renders it, in the service of a forced explanation, “pass by here,” thinking that the woman was on her way home from work at meal-time, and that this accounts for her presence at the well at noon. He regards this as sans doute, but the reading itself is at least uncertain, and is probably to be explained by its first syllable being added from the last syllable of the previous word; and the translation is more than uncertain. The woman understands the words in their physical sense. How many a toilsome hour, how many a weary journey would she be saved! BURKITT, "These words set forth unto us, 1.What manner of person this woman was, whose conversion Christ sought so industriously after. 2. The means he used in order to that end. Observe, 1. What manner of person this woman was; besides that she was an 154
- 155. idolater, as beinga Samaritan, she was also an adultress, and lived now in the sin of uncleanness with one that was not her husband, after she had five husbands before. Whence we learn, That the ice of old age will not quench the fire of lust, concupiscentia non senescit: such is the pollution of our nature, that lust will be insatiable, if grace doth not restrain it. This woman, after five marriages, yet lives in the sin of uncleanness. Observe, 2. The way and manner our Lord takes, the method and means our Lord uses, in order to her conversion. 1. He deals very tenderly and gently with her; he doth not call her whore, nor upbraid her for her impudent lewdness, in living with a man that was none of her husbands, but only gives her to understand that he knew the sin she lived in; yet this he did likewise with all imaginable privacy, whilst his disciples were away, and no body by but they two only. Hence learn, 1. That private sins are not to be reproved publicly. 2. That, in reproving sin, all sharpness and bitterness of expression must be avoided; the pill of reproof must be wrapped up in sugar; for if they to whom it is given, taste the bitterness of gall and passion mixed with it, they will certainly spit it out before, it may be upon, our faces. Our Lord's practice here instructs us, that sin is to be so reproved, as that the credit and estimation of the sinner may be preserved as much as may be. Note, 2. That as Christ dealt with this woman tenderly and gently, so he discovers her sin to her particularly, and sets her secret sin before the face of her conscience distinctly. If ever the ministry of the word works upon the minds of men to their conversion, it must be by a particular and close application of the word to every man's conscience: generals will not affect. Note, 3. What the particular sin is, which Christ charges home upon the conscience of this woman: it is the sin of uncleanness, that the man she kept with, was not her husband. Learn hence, That, amongst all sins, the sin of uncleanness will lie heaviest upon the conscience, and wound the soul most deeply, when the Spirit of God once effectually discovers it, and charges it home upon the conscience. For there is no sin so directly opposite to sanctificaton and holiness, as this sin: no sin that quenches the Holy Spirit of God like this. BARCLAY, "FACING THE TRUTH (John 4:15-21) 4:15-21 The woman said to him: "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not thirst, and so that I will not have to come here to draw water." Jesus said to her: "Go, call your husband, and come back here." The woman answered: "I have not got a husband." Jesus said to her: "You spoke well when you said, 'I have not got a husband.' For you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your 155
- 156. husband. This isthe truth that you have told." The woman said to him: "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain and you say Jerusalem is the place where we ought to worship." Jesus said: "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem." We have seen how the woman jestingly asked Jesus to give her the living water in order that she should not thirst again and might be spared the tiring journey to the well. Suddenly and stabbingly Jesus brought her to her senses. The time for verbal by-play was past; the time for jesting was over. "Go," said Jesus, "and fetch your husband and come back with him." The woman stiffened as if a sudden pain had caught her; she recoiled as if hit by a sudden shock; she grew white as one who had seen a sudden apparition; and so indeed she had, for she had suddenly caught sight of herself. She was suddenly compelled to face herself and the looseness and immorality and total inadequacy of her life. There are two revelations in Christianity: the revelation of God and the revelation of ourselves. No man ever really sees himself until he sees himself in the presence of Christ; and then he is appalled at the sight. There is another way of putting it--Christianity begins with a sense of sin. It begins with the sudden realization that life as we are living it will not do. We awake to ourselves and we awake to our need of God. Some people have held, because of this mention of the five husbands, that this story is not an actual incident but an allegory. We have seen that, when the original people of Samaria were exiled and transported to Media, people from five other places were brought in. These five different people brought in their own gods (2 Kings 17:29); and it has been held that the woman stands for Samaria and the five husbands for the five false gods to whom the Samaritans, as it were, married themselves. The sixth husband stands for the true God, but, they worship him, not truly, but in ignorance; and therefore they are not married to him at all. It may be that there is a reminder of this Samaritan infidelity to God in the story; but it is far too vivid to be a manufactured allegory. It reads too much like life. Someone has said that prophecy is criticism based on hope. A prophet points out to a man or a nation what is wrong; but he does so not to push them into despair but to point the way to cure and to amendment and to rightness of life. So Jesus began by revealing to this woman her own sinful state; but goes on to tell her of the true worship in which our souls can meet God. The woman's question comes strangely to us. She says, and she is obviously troubled when she says it: "Our fathers say--that we ought to worship here on Mount Gerizim; you say that we ought to worship in Jerusalem; what am I to do?" The Samaritans adjusted history to suit themselves. They taught that it was on Mount Gerizim that Abraham had been willing to sacrifice Isaac; they taught that it was there that Melchizedek had appeared to Abraham; they declared that it was on Mount Gerizim that Moses had first entered an altar and sacrificed to God when the people entered the promised land, although in fact it was on 156
- 157. Mount Ebal thatwas done (Deuteronomy 27:4). They tampered with the text of scripture and with history to glorify Mount Gerizim. The woman had been brought up to regard Mount Gerizim as the most sacred spot in the world and to despise Jerusalem. What was in her mind was this. She was saying to herself: "I am a sinner before God; I must offer to God an offering for my sin; I must take that offering to the house of God to put myself right with him; where am I going to take it?" To her, as to all her contemporaries, the only cure for sin was sacrifice. Her great problem was, where was that sacrifice to be made? By this time she is not arguing about the respective merits of the Temple on Mount Gerizim and the Temple on Mount Zion. All she wants to know is: Where can I find God? Jesus' answer was that the day of the old man-made rivalries was coming to an end; and the time was on the way when men would find God everywhere. It had been Zephaniah's vision that men shall worship God "each in his place" (Zephaniah 2:11). It was Malachi's dream that in every place incense would be offered as a pure offering to the name of God (Malachi 1:11). Jesus' answer to the woman was that she did not need to go anywhere special to find God, neither to Mount Gerizim nor to Mount Zion. She did not need to offer sacrifice in some special place; true worship finds God in every place. SBC, "It is evident that Christ’s method with the Samaritan was first to awaken an interest, a desire, a consciousness—at first vague, but growing clearer and clearer— that there was a condition beyond her which, whether she had known it before or not, she really required to make her happy, and which, if she liked, she could attain. For be assured of this, that some measure of hope is essential to all true repentance and conversion. I. There is a gift, there is a Giver—a gift for the Giver to give, and a Giver to give the gift. It might have been otherwise. The best part of the gift is that the Giver puts Himself into the gift. It is all free, all to be had for asking; and therefore, if any one is not happy, it is either because he does not know the gift or because he does not know the Giver. II. The real fountain of a Christian’s being is at the throne of God. It is a once- crucified, now-ascended Jesus, from whom, in glory, flow all the life-streams. Into the man’s inmost heart those life-streams from the wounds of the glorified Jesus run; and there, like some deep reservoir, that grace of God, in communication with Christ in the heavens, is treasured up; and thence, happy thoughts—holy, purifying thoughts; thoughts of strength and wisdom; thoughts of love and self-sacrifice and heaven; thoughts of Jesus, every drop redolent of its fountain, are always springing up in the man. The woman knew enough of all this to be aware, just aware, that there was something to which she was a stranger which Jesus had to give, and which would be far better to her than all she was now working and slaving for. And she said, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw." Let us see how she stood. (1) She had lost, or at least she was losing, her confidence in her own resources. The well was no longer to her what it once was; she was thinking less, if she did not think meanly of it. (2) She was conscious of, and she was expecting and she was longing for what she was told, and what she believed, would be satisfying. (3) All she looked for she was looking for at the hand of Him who could give it. J. Vaughan, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 173. 157
- 158. 16 He toldher, “Go, call your husband and come back.” BARNES,"Go call thy husband - We may admire the manner which our Saviour took to lead her to perceive that he was the Christ. His instructions she did not understand. He therefore proceeded to show her that he was acquainted with her life and with her sins. His object, here, was to lead her to consider her own state and sinfulness - a delicate and yet pungent way of making her see that she was a sinner. By showing her, also, that he knew her life, though a stranger to her, he convinced her that he was qualified to teach her the way to heaven, and thus prepared her to admit that he was the Messiah, Joh_4:29. CLARKE,"Call thy husband - Our Lord appears to have spoken these words for two purposes: 1. To make the woman consider her own state. 2. To show her that he knew her heart, and the secret actions of her life; and was therefore well qualified to teach her heavenly truths. GILL, "Jesus saith unto her,.... Observing that she continued an ignorant scoffer at him, and his words, determined to take another method with her; and convince her, that he was not a common and ordinary person she was conversing with, as she took him to be; and also what a sinner she was, and what a vicious course of life she had lived; so that she might see that she stood in need of him, as the gift of God, and Saviour of men; and of the grace he had been speaking of, under the notion of living water: saying to her, go, call thy husband, and come hither; go directly from hence to the city of Sychar, and call thy husband, and come back hither along with him again: this Christ said, not to have him come to teach and instruct him, and as if he would more readily and easily understand him, and that he might be with her, a partaker of the same grace; but to bring on some further conversation, by which she would understand that he knew her state and condition, and what a course of life she now lived, and so bring her under a conviction of her sin and danger, and need of him and his grace. HENRY, "Observe, (1.) How discreetly and decently Christ introduces this discourse (Joh_4:16): Go, call thy husband, and come hither. Now, [1.] The order Christ gave her had a very good colour: “Call thy husband, that he may teach thee, and help thee to understand these things, which thou art so ignorant of” The wives that will learn must ask their husbands (1Co_14:35), who must dwell with them as men of knowledge, 1Pe_3:7. “Call thy husband, that he may learn with thee; that then you may be heirs together of the grace of life. Call thy husband, that he may be 158
- 159. witness to whatpasses between us.” Christ would thus teach us to provide things honest in the sight of all men, and to study that which is of good report. [2.] As it had a good colour, so it had a good design; for hence he would take occasion to call her sin to remembrance. There is need of art and prudence in giving reproofs; to fetch a compass, as the woman of Tekoa, 2Sa_14:20. (2.) How industriously the woman seeks to evade the conviction, and yet insensibly convicts herself, and, ere she is aware, owns her fault; she said, I have no husband. Her saying this intimated no more than that she did not care to have her husband spoken of, nor that matter mentioned any more. She would not have her husband come thither, lest, in further discourse, the truth of the matter should come out, to her shame; and therefore, “Pray go on to talk of something else, I have no husband;” she would be thought a maid or a widow, whereas, though she had no husband, she was neither. The carnal mind is very ingenious to shift off convictions, and to keep them from fastening, careful to cover the sin. (3.) How closely our Lord Jesus brings home the conviction to her conscience. It is probable that he said more than is here recorded, for she thought that he told her all that ever she did (Joh_4:29), but that which is here recorded is concerning her husbands. Here is, [1.] A surprising narrative of her past conversation: Thou has had five husbands. Doubtless, it was not her affliction (the burying of so many husbands), but her sin, that Christ intended to upbraid her with; either she had eloped (as the law speaks), had run away from her husbands, and married others, or by her undutiful, unclean, disloyal conduct, had provoked them to divorce her, or by indirect means had, contrary to law, divorced them. Those who make light of such scandalous practices as these, as no more than nine days' wonder, and as if the guilt were over as soon as the talk is over, should remember that Christ keeps account of all. [2.] A severe reproof of her present state of life: He whom thou now hast is not thy husband. Either she was never married to him at all, or he had some other wife, or, which is most probable, her former husband or husbands were living: so that, in short, she lived in adultery. Yet observe how mildly Christ tells her of it; he doth not call her strumpet, but tells her, He with whom thou livest is not thy husband: and then leaves it to her own conscience to say the rest. Note, Reproofs are ordinarily most profitable when they are least provoking. [3.] Yet in this he puts a better construction than it would well bear upon what she said by way of shuffle and evasion: Thou has well said I have no husband; and again, In that saidst thou truly. What she intended as a denial of the fact (that she had none with whom she lived as a husband) he favourably interpreted, or at least turned upon her, as a confession of the fault. Note, Those who would win souls should make the best of them, whereby they may hope to work upon their good-nature; for, if they make the worst of them, they certainly exasperate their ill-nature. JAMIESON, "call thy husband — now proceeding to arouse her slumbering conscience by laying bare the guilty life she was leading, and by the minute details which that life furnished, not only bringing her sin vividly up before her, but preparing her to receive in His true character that wonderful Stranger to whom her whole life, in its minutest particulars, evidently lay open. SBC, "We little know what our own prayers involve. Should we pray them if we did? Here, too, the veil is drawn in mercy before the future. You ask for the waters of joy, and you have them; but the first drops of the waters of joy are the tears of penitence. The woman wished to drink of Christ’s well, but she must first drink of her own sin. "Go, call thy husband, and come hither." I. Notice, that it was just after He had awakened bright expectations of the future, 159
- 160. that Christ atonce sent her mind back into the past, and led her to retrace her sinful course. Prospects should precede retrospects. II. How was sin fastened upon the woman’s mind? Christ took it out of all generalities. He did not talk of the corruption of the human heart, but He sent one arrow straight home to its place in that heart. It is a very great thing to look upon Christ not only as the healer, but as the detector, of sin. Is it not an equal part of the physician’s work to detect as it is to heal a disease? Ask the Great Physician to do for you the same office which He did for the Samaritan woman. There is no hand which can do it like His—so faithfully, and yet so tenderly. Your own or another man’s may be rough, His will be laid delicately; theirs may be partial, His will be true; theirs uncertain, His exact. Under that wise hand, immediately the woman began to show the two signs of a changed heart, she thought badly of herself and honouringly of Christ. At once there was an acknowledgment of guilt, "I have no husband;" and at once, too, Christ stood out to her in one of His greatest offices, "I perceive that Thou art a prophet." I do not suppose that she felt sin yet as she felt it afterwards, or that she saw in Christ all that she afterwards recognised in Him, but there was some confession of faith. It is well; the rest of the road to that woman will be much easier. If you have gone so far as ever to feel and confess one sin, and to honour one attribute of the Lord Jesus Christ, from that point you will be led on, like her, quickly. J. Vaughan, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 181. CALVIN, "16.Call thy husband. This appears to have no connection with the subject; and, indeed, one might suppose that Christ, annoyed and put to shame by the impudence of the woman, changes the discourse. But this is not the case; for when he perceived that jeers and scoffs were her only reply to what he had said, he applied an appropriate remedy to this disease, by striking the woman’s conscience with a conviction of her sin. And it is also a remarkable proof of his compassion that, when the woman was unwilling of her own accord to come to him, he draws her, as it were, against her will. But we ought chiefly to observe what I have mentioned, that they who are utterly careless and almost stupid must be deeply wounded by a conviction of sin; for such persons will regard the doctrine of Christ as a fable, until, being summoned to the judgment-seat of God, they are compelled to dread as a Judge him whom they formerly despised. All who do not scruple to rise against the doctrine of Christ with their scoffing jests must be treated in this manner, that they may be made to feel that they will not pass unpunished. Such too is the obstinacy of many, that they will never listen to Christ until they have been subdued by violence. Whenever then we perceive that the oil of Christ has no flavour, it ought to be mixed with wine, that its taste may begin to be felt. Nay more, this is necessary for all of us; for we are not seriously affected by Christ speaking, unless we have been aroused by repentance. So then, in order that any one may profit in the school of Christ, his hardness must be subdued by the demonstration of his misery, as the earth, in order that it may become fruitful, is prepared and softened by the ploughshare, (76) for this knowledge alone shakes off all our flatteries, so that we no longer dare to mock God. Whenever, therefore, a neglect of the word of God steals upon us, no remedy will be more appropriate than that each of us should arouse himself to the consideration of his sins, that he may be ashamed of himself, and, trembling before the judgment-seat of God, may be humbled to obey Him whom he had wantonly despised. 160
- 161. COFFMAN, "Go, callthy husband ... The reason for Jesus' rather abrupt injection of this command into the conversation may have been complex. The gift of eternal life is not a blessing that anyone receives ALONE; it is always for others also; and those others always include, first of all, those who are members of one's family. Also, the gift of eternal life is never bestowed apart from the correction of the moral condition of the recipient. Perhaps both of these considerations may be understood as explaining the Lord's command, in which the Lord addressed himself to the woman's conscience, and in such a manner as to give her the opportunity of confessing her sins. Sins, however, are never easily confessed, and her reply fell short of revealing any moral fault. When any soul would turn to Christ and receive his inexpressible gift. the one desiring salvation is always confronted with a similar command with reference to his life. To the embezzler, the Lord says, "Go, bring thy records"; to others, he says, "Go, bring thy tax returns"; "Go, bring thy wife"; "Go, bring thy child, thy brother, thy sister"; or "Go bring anything in thy life that is contrary to divine law!" COKE, "John 4:15. Sir, give me this water,— The woman still ignorant of his spiritual meaning, and understanding him only of natural water, says to him with great respect, Sir, Κυριε, Lord,—I claim thy promise, Give me this water. The title which she gives our Lord, though a Jew, and as such esteemed an inveterate enemy to her nation, indicates great reverence and delicacy, which indeed is visible in her whole behaviour on this occasion. ELLICOTT, "(16) Go, call thy husband.—She has asked for this living water. She knows not that the well must first be dug. In the depth of her spirit there is a power of life; but like the source of a spring, it is hidden. Many a hard rock of impenitence was there, and many a layer of every-day transgression, and many a habit once formable as clay, now hard as adamant, and many a deposit of carnal thought which had left nothing but its dregs behind. All this must be dug through before she can have the living water, and this well, too, must be deep. The command, “Go, call thy husband,” is the first stroke breaking up the surface of that fair appearance, and revealing the foulness of the life beneath it. 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 161
- 162. BARNES,"I have nohusband - This was said, evidently, to evade the subject. Perhaps she feared that if she came there with the man that she lived with, the truth might be exposed. It is not improbable that by this time she began to suspect that Jesus was a prophet. Hast well said - Hast said the truth. GILL, "The woman answered and said, I have no husband,.... Which was a truth she would not have spoke at another time and place, or to any of her neighbours; but Christ being a stranger, and no odium incurring upon her by it; and this serving a purpose to excuse her going to call him, she declares the truth of the matter: Jesus said unto her, thou hast well said, I have no husband; this is the truth, it is really fact, and is the true state of the case, between thee and him, who goes for thy husband. HENRY, "(2.) How industriously the woman seeks to evade the conviction, and yet insensibly convicts herself, and, ere she is aware, owns her fault; she said, I have no husband. Her saying this intimated no more than that she did not care to have her husband spoken of, nor that matter mentioned any more. She would not have her husband come thither, lest, in further discourse, the truth of the matter should come out, to her shame; and therefore, “Pray go on to talk of something else, I have no husband;” she would be thought a maid or a widow, whereas, though she had no husband, she was neither. The carnal mind is very ingenious to shift off convictions, and to keep them from fastening, careful to cover the sin. CALVIN, "17.I have not a husband. We do not yet fully perceive the fruit of this advice, by which Christ intended to pierce the heart of this woman, to lead her to repentance. And, indeed, we are so intoxicated, or rather stupified, by our self- love, that we are not at all moved by the first wounds that are inflicted. But Christ applies an appropriate cure for this sluggishness, by pressing the ulcer more sharply, for he openly reproaches her with her wickedness; though I do not think that it is a single case of fornication that is here pointed out, for when he says that she has had five husbands, the reason of this probably was, that, being a froward and disobedient wife, she constrained her husbands to divorce her. I interpret the words thus: “Though God joined thee to lawful husbands, thou didst not cease to sin, until, rendered infamous by numerous divorces, thou prostitutedst thyself to fornication.” PETT, "‘Jesus said to her, “You have well said that you have no husband. For you have had five husbands and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly”.’ She soon learned better. Like a bolt of lightning the reply came, tearing into her heart as He replied, “You are quite right when you say ‘I have no husband’. For you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. When you say that you only speak the truth.” At these words she must have felt that all her defences were down and that she had been totally laid bare. This man knew all about her! 162
- 163. Whether she hadbeen genuinely married to all five we do not need to ask. ‘Husbands’ may have been intended to be a euphemism. But the one she was living with now she was not married to, either because she had not bothered or because Jesus was hinting at the idea that it was not a real marriage due to the other four. The woman had, unknowingly to her, come to the light and it was now shining into her innermost being seeking to reveal the truth about her (John 3:18-21). The question was how she would respond. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” BARNES,"Hast had five husbands - Who have either died; or who, on account of your improper conduct, have divorced you; or whom you have left improperly, without legal divorce. Either of these might have be. en the case. Is not thy husband - You are not lawfully married to him. Either she might have left a former husband without divorce, and thus her marriage with this man was unlawful, or she was living with him without the form of marriage, in open guilt. CLARKE,"Thou hast had five husbands - It is not clear that this woman was a prostitute: she might have been legally married to those five, and might have been divorced through some misbehavior of her own, not amounting to adultery; for the adulteress was to be put to death, both by the Jewish and Samaritan law, not divorced: or she might have been cast off through some caprice of her husband; for, in the time of our Lord, divorces were very common among the Jews, so that a man put away his wife for any fault. See the note on Mat_5:31. Some are so very fond of exaggerating that nothing can pass through their hands without an increase: hence Heracleon says she had six husbands, and Jerome modestly gives her twenty-two! Viginti duos habuisti maritos, et ille a quo sepelieris non est tuus. “Thou hast had twenty-two husbands and he by whom thou shalt be buried is not thine.” Epist. xi. He whom thou now hast is not thy husband - Νυν ᆇν εχεις, ουκ ε̣ι σου ανηρ. Bishop Pearce would translate this clause in the following manner: There is no husband whom thou now hast - or, less literally, Thou hast no husband now: probably the meaning is, Thou art contracted to another, but not yet brought home: therefore he is not yet thy husband. See Rosenmuller. Bishop Pearce contends that our Lord did not speak these words to her by way of reproof: 1. Because it is not likely that a woman so far advanced in years as to have had five husbands should have now been found living in adultery with a sixth 163
- 164. person. 2. Because itis not likely that our Lord would not, in some part of his discourse, have reproved her for her fornication, especially if guilty of it under such gross circumstances. 3. Nor is it likely that a woman of so bad a life should have had so much influence with the people of her city that they should, on her testimony, Joh_4:39-42, believe Jesus to be the Messiah. 4. Nor is it at all likely that when a discovery of her guilt was made to her, by one whom she acknowledged to be a prophet, Joh_4:19, the first thing which came into her thoughts should be the important question in religion, about the place appointed by God for his worship, so warmly contested between the Jews and Samaritans. 5. Nor is it at all probable that a person of such a bad life, without any mentioned sign of repentance, should have been the first (perhaps the only private person) to whom Jesus is recorded as declaring himself to be the Christ, as he does to her, Joh_4:26. GILL, "For thou hast had five husbands,.... Which she either had had lawfully, and had buried one after another; and which was no crime, and might be: the Sadducees propose a case to Christ, in which a woman is said to have had seven husbands successively, in a lawful manner, Mat_22:25. Or rather, she had had so many, and had been divorced from everyone of them, for adultery; for no other cause it should seem did the Samaritans divorce; seeing that they only received the law of Moses, and rejected, at least, many of the traditions of the elders; and since they are particularly said (y). "not to be expert in the law of marriages and divorces:'' and the rather this may seem to be the case, as Dr. Lightfoot observes; since these husbands are mentioned, as well as he with whom she lived in an adulterous manner; and which suggests, that she had not lived honestly with them: and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband; that is, not thy lawful husband, as the Persic version reads, and Nonnus paraphrases; being not married to him at all, though they cohabited as man and wife, when there was no such relation between them: in that saidst thou truly; or that which is truth: thus Christ the omniscient God, who knew her full well, and the whole of her past infamous conversation, and her present lewd and wicked way of living, exposes all unto her. HENRY, "(3.) How closely our Lord Jesus brings home the conviction to her conscience. It is probable that he said more than is here recorded, for she thought that he told her all that ever she did (Joh_4:29), but that which is here recorded is concerning her husbands. Here is, [1.] A surprising narrative of her past conversation: Thou has had five husbands. Doubtless, it was not her affliction (the burying of so many husbands), but her sin, that Christ intended to upbraid her with; either she had eloped (as the law speaks), had run away from her husbands, and married others, or by her undutiful, unclean, disloyal conduct, had provoked them to divorce her, or by indirect means had, contrary to law, divorced them. Those who 164
- 165. make light ofsuch scandalous practices as these, as no more than nine days' wonder, and as if the guilt were over as soon as the talk is over, should remember that Christ keeps account of all. [2.] A severe reproof of her present state of life: He whom thou now hast is not thy husband. Either she was never married to him at all, or he had some other wife, or, which is most probable, her former husband or husbands were living: so that, in short, she lived in adultery. Yet observe how mildly Christ tells her of it; he doth not call her strumpet, but tells her, He with whom thou livest is not thy husband: and then leaves it to her own conscience to say the rest. Note, Reproofs are ordinarily most profitable when they are least provoking. [3.] Yet in this he puts a better construction than it would well bear upon what she said by way of shuffle and evasion: Thou has well said I have no husband; and again, In that saidst thou truly. What she intended as a denial of the fact (that she had none with whom she lived as a husband) he favourably interpreted, or at least turned upon her, as a confession of the fault. Note, Those who would win souls should make the best of them, whereby they may hope to work upon their good-nature; for, if they make the worst of them, they certainly exasperate their ill-nature. COKE, "John 4:18. He whom thou now hast, is not thy husband:— This can imply no less than that she wasnot married to the man she now lived with; for Christ seems to have allowed the other five to have been husbands, though her separation fromsome of the former, and her marriage with the rest, had probably been unlawful. COFFMAN, "This was an astounding revelation to the woman that the stranger at the well knew all about her sinful and unhappy life; and yet this had not prevented his earnest conversation with her, nor his asking a drink at her hands. The marvel is that she did not fall upon her knees. Note that this woman had had five husbands, meaning five persons to whom she had been married, and that she was living with a sixth man without benefit of a marriage ceremony. Some deductions made from this passage fail to take these facts into consideration. It is easy to allege sin where it does not exist; and the sin uncovered here was primarily an immoral relationship with a sixth man, and not necessarily the fact of her having been so often married. The Lord left out of our sight the reasons for the break-up or termination of those marriages, some of which could have been due to the death of the husband, rather than to the wanton adultery of this woman whose heart hungered after eternal things. Let them who would charge her in such a manner sustain their charges if they can, it is the preference here to leave the matter of the multiple marriages covered. The present sin of this daughter of Samaria was fully exposed by the Lord's statement. ELLICOTT, "(18) In that saidst thou truly.—The stroke goes deeper. It lays bare the secrets of all those years over which she thought the veil of the past had for ever been drawn. The bright days of joy and dark days of sin; the heart’s promises made and broken; the sad days of death, which five times over had robbed her of a husband; or, worse than death, the sin which had severed the sacred bonds; the shame of the present shameless life—all these are at least hidden from a stranger. But His words pierce to the inmost thoughts, and prove Him to know all the acts of her life (John 4:29). “Thou hast well said, A husband I have not. The holy name may not be given to the paramour thou now hast; with the loss of purity is linked the loss of truthfulness; the very truth thou utterest is 165
- 166. meant to conveyto Me an untruth, but to One who knows all, the words are really true;—“in that saidst thou truly.” LIGHTFOOT, "[Thou hast had five husbands, &c.] Christ stops her fleering mouth with the dung of her own unchaste conversation, charging her with that infamous sort of life she had hitherto lived: q.d. "Thou, for thy impudent adulteries, hast suffered divorce from five husbands already; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband, but an adulterer." The Cuthites do not understand the law about betrothings and divorcings. They had their customs of affiancing and divorcing; and perhaps by how much the less accurate they were about their divorces, (I mean with respect to the Jewish rules,) the nearer they might come to the first institution of Moses, who allowed no divorces but in the case of adultery. That this woman was dismissed from her husbands for these infamous faults of hers, seems evident, partly, from the extraordinary number of husbands, partly, that our Saviour mentions her husbands, as well as him that then lived adulterously with her: as if he would intimate, that she lived dishonestly under her husbands, as well as with this man. 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. BARNES,"A prophet - One sent from God, and who understood her life. The word here does not denote one who foretells future events, but one who knew her heart and life, and who must therefore have come from God. She did not yet suppose him to be the Messiah, Joh_4:25. Believing him now to be a man sent from God, she proposed to him a question respecting the proper place of worship. This point had been long a matter of dispute between the Samaritans and the Jews. She submitted it to him because she thought he could settle the question, and perhaps because she wished to divert the conversation from the unpleasant topic respecting her husbands. The conversation about her manner of life was a very unpleasant topic to her - as it is always unpleasant to sinners to talk about their lives and the necessity of religion - and she was glad to turn the conversation to something else. Nothing is more common than for sinners to change the conversation when it begins to bear too hard upon their consciences; and no way of doing it is more common than to direct it to sonic speculative inquiry having some sort of connection with religion, as if to show that they are willing to talk about religion, and do not wish to appear to be opposed to it. Sinners do not love direct religious conversation, but many are too well-bred to refuse altogether to talk about it; yet they choose to converse about some speculative matter, or something pertaining to the mere “externals” of religion, rather than the salvation of their own souls. So sinners often now change the conversation to some inquiry about a preacher, or about some doctrine, or about building or repairing a place of worship, or about a Sunday school, in order to seeM to talk about religion, and yet to evade close and faithful appeals to their own consciences. 166
- 167. CLARKE,"I perceive thatthou art a prophet - And therefore thought him well qualified to decide the grand question in dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans: but she did not perceive him to be the Messiah. GILL, "The woman saith unto him, Sir,.... With another countenance, and a different air and gesture, with another accent and tone of speech, dropping her scoffs and jeers: I perceive that thou art a prophet; such an one as Samuel was, who could tell Saul what was in his heart, and that his father's asses were found, and where they were, 1Sa_9:19; and as Elisha, whose heart went with his servant Gehazi, when Naaman turned to him to meet him, and give him presents; and who could tell, ere the king's messenger came to him, that the son of a murderer had sent to take away his head, 2Ki_5:26. And such a prophet, that had such a spirit of discerning, this woman took Christ to be; and who indeed is greater than a prophet, and is the omniscient God; who knows all men's hearts, thoughts, words and actions, and needs not that any should testify of them to him; for he knows what is in them, and done by them; and can tell them all that ever they did, as he did this woman, Joh_4:29. Now in order either to shift off the discourse from this subject, which touched her to the quick; or else being truly sensible of her sin, and willing to reform, and for the future to worship God in the place and manner he had directed, she addressed Christ in the following words. HENRY, "3. The next subject of discourse with this woman is concerning the place of worship, Joh_4:19-24. Observe, (1.) A case of conscience proposed to Christ by the woman, concerning the place of worship, Joh_4:19, Joh_4:20. [1.] The inducement she had to put this case: Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. She does not deny the truth of what he had charged her with, but by her silence owns the justice of the reproof; nor is she put into a passion by it, as many are when they are touched in a sore place, does not impute his censure to the general disgust the Jews had to the Samaritans, but (which is a rare thing) can bear to be told of a fault. But this is not all; she goes further: First, She speaks respectfully to him, calls him Sir. Thus should we honour those that deal faithfully with us. This was the effect of Christ's meekness in reproving her; he gave her no ill language, and then she gave him none. Secondly, She acknowledges him to be a prophet, one that had a correspondence with Heaven. Note, The power of the word of Christ in searching the heart, and convincing the conscience of secret sins, is a great proof of its divine authority, 1Co_14:24, 1Co_14:25. Thirdly, She desires some further instruction from him. Many that are not angry at their reprovers, nor fly in their faces, yet are afraid of them and keep out of their way; but this woman was willing to have some more discourse with him that told her of her faults. [2.] The case itself that she propounded concerning the place of religious worship in public. Some think that she started this to shift off further discourse concerning her sin. Controversies in religion often prove great prejudices to serious godliness; but, it should seem, she proposed it with a good design; she knew she must worship God, and desired to do it aright; and therefore, meeting with a prophet, begs his direction. Note, It is our wisdom to improve all opportunities of getting knowledge in 167
- 168. the things ofGod. When we are in company with those that are fit to teach, let us be forward to learn, and have a good question ready to put to those who are able to give a good answer. It was agreed between the Jews and the Samaritans that God is to be worshipped (even those who were such fools as to worship false gods were not such brutes as to worship none), and that religious worship is an affair of great importance: men would not contend about it if they were not concerned about it. But the matter in variance was where they should worship God. Observe how she states the case: - First, As for the Samaritans: Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, near to this city and this well; there the Samaritan temple was built by Sanballat, in favour of which she insinuates, 1. That whatever the temple was the place was holy; it was mount Gerizim, the mount in which the blessings were pronounced; and some think the same on which Abraham built his altar (Gen_12:6, Gen_12:7), and Jacob his, Gen_33:18-20. 2. That it might plead prescription: Our fathers worshipped here. She thinks they have antiquity, tradition, and succession, on their side. A vain conversation often supports itself with this, that it was received by tradition from our fathers. But she had little reason to boast of their fathers; for, when Antiochus persecuted the Jews, the Samaritans, for fear of sharing with them in their sufferings, not only renounced all relation to the Jews, but surrendered their temple to Antiochus, with a request that it might be dedicated to Jupiter Olympius, and called by his name. Joseph. Antiq. 12.257-264. Secondly, As to the Jews: You say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. The Samaritans governed themselves by the five books of Moses, and (some think) received only them as canonical. Now, though they found frequent mention there of the place God would choose, yet they did not find it named there; and they saw the temple at Jerusalem stripped of many of its ancient glories, and therefore thought themselves at liberty to set up another place, altar against altar. (2.) Christ's answer to this case of conscience, Joh_4:21, etc. Those that apply themselves to Christ for instruction shall find him meek, to teach the meek his way. Now here, JAMIESON, "Sir, I perceive, etc. — Seeing herself all revealed, does she now break down and ask what hopes there might be for one so guilty? Nay, her convictions have not reached that point yet. She ingeniously shifts the subject from a personal to a public question. It is not, “Alas, what a wicked life am I leading!” but “Lo, what a wonderful prophet I got into conversation with! He will be able to settle that interminable dispute between us and the Jews. Sir, you must know all about such matters - our fathers hold to this mountain here,” pointing to Gerizim in Samaria, “as the divinely consecrated place of worship, but ye Jews say that Jerusalem is the proper place - which of us is right?” How slowly does the human heart submit to thorough humiliation! (Compare the prodigal; see on Luk_15:15). Doubtless our Lord saw through the fetch; but does He say, “That question is not the point just now, but have you been living in the way described, yea or nay? Till this is disposed of I cannot be drawn into theological controversies.” The Prince of preachers takes another method: He humors the poor woman, letting her take her own way, allowing her to lead while He follows - but thus only the more effectually gaining His object. He answers her question, pours light into her mind on the spirituality of all true worship, as of its glorious Object, and so brings her insensibly to the point at which He could disclose to her wondering mind whom she was all the while speaking to. 168
- 169. SBC, "God isSpirit; worship in spirit I. Christ lived in another region than that of religious quarrel. To Him, both Judaism and Samaritanism were worn-out forms of truth, and He came to put them both aside and to lead men into a new world. But had He been like some of our modern prophets, who place themselves above religious disputes, He would not have thought it worth while to decide which of them had most truth, which of them then was worthiest. "Both are nothing to Me," He would have said; "leave them both alone and come and sit with Me." But Christ did not take that position. Though He lived in the loftiest region, at home with absolute truth, He could come down among the strifes of men about relative truth, and see on which side in the lower region the greatest amount of truth lay; He thought only of the cause of truth itself and of the advantage of mankind. He thought of the cause of truth, and He felt that it was of high importance that He should plainly say whether Jerusalem or Samaria were the nearest to truth. And if we live with Him in a world above forms and opinions, churches and sects, we shall often have, if we wish to do any good, to follow Him in this. We must take trouble and say, Jerusalem is better than Samaria. II. But there was a further answer to the woman’s question. The woman had stated the whole question of religious strife, and we have discussed that part of Christ’s reply which had to do with existing circumstances. Jerusalem was better than Samaria. But there was something better still—the higher spiritual life, in which the questions in dispute between Jerusalem and Samaria would wholly cease; the life in the spirit and in truth which should pass beyond Jerusalem as a place of worship, and everywhere worship God, in which the temple and altar were neither on Mount Moriah or Mount Gerizim, but set up in every faithful heart. And we, taking this new conception of His into our hearts, rise with Him into the higher region, where the woman’s question seemed to have no meaning, where religious strife is dead, because God is worshipped as Spirit and known as Truth. To us God is everywhere, and we worship the Father most truly when we enter the realm of Infinite Love, where He abides beyond the strife of men. S. A. Brooke, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 324. CALVIN, "19.Sir, I perceive that thou art a Prophet. The fruit of the reproof now becomes evident; for not only does the woman modestly acknowledge her fault, but, being ready and prepared to listen to the doctrine of Christ, which she had formerly disdained, she now desires and requests it of her own accord. Repentance, therefore, is the commencement of true docility, as I have already said, and opens the gate for entering into the school of Christ. Again, the woman teaches us by her example, that when we meet with any teacher, we ought to avail ourselves of this opportunity, that we may not be ungrateful to God, who never sends Prophets to us without, as it were, stretching out the hand to invite us to himself. But we must remember what Paul teaches, that they who have grace given to them to teach well (77) are sent to us by God; for how shall they preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:15.) COKE, "John 4:19. I perceive that thou art a prophet.— To find a person who was a perfect stranger, and who, on account of the national animosity, could not be suspected of having any intercourse with her townsmen, or with the Samaritans in general, discovering, nevertheless, the most secret particulars of her life; made so sensible an impression on her mind, that she could not but 169
- 170. confess such adegree of knowledge more than natural; and, consequently, that the person possessed of it was a prophet, and had it communicated to him by divine inspiration. It is worth our while to trace the gradual progress of this woman's conviction: she at first gives him the appellation of a Jew only; she then wonders that he should so far have laid aside the prejudice of his nation, as to ask a favour of a Samaritan; she next calls him Sir or Lord; she then acknowledges his prophetic character; and, in consequence of that persuasion, proposes for his decision one of the most important questions in dispute between the two nations. When the Pharisees were reproved by our Lord for their hypocrisy, they furiously rejoined, He was a Samaritan, and had a devil; but when the Samaritan woman heard her most secret sins thus discovered, shewas so far from recriminating, that she cries out, Lord, I perceive thou art a prophet. COFFMAN, "Before the day ended, she would hail him as the Christ, but her perception at this point had not reached that height. Significantly, the confrontation of her own sinful conscience was the occasion of Jesus' rising so abruptly in her estimation. Only a few minutes earlier, she had recognized him only as "a Jew," who she had every right to suppose hated and despised her; but now she hailed him as a prophet. The more deeply conscious any person is of his sins, the higher Jesus rises in his sight. The woman did not deny or offer excuses or explanations, but let the implications of her sinful life stand naked and unadorned in his holy presence. There is a nobility in such an attitude that staggers belief. BURKITT, "In these verses, the Evangelist declares a three-fold effect and fruit of the grace of conversion that appeared in this woman. 1. She neither denied, nor excused, nor extenuated this sin, which Christ had charged her with, but tacitly owns, and implicitly confesses it. 2. She doth not only own and confess what she was charged with, but she doth profess reverence to our Saviour's person, and pays honour to him as an extraordinary prophet; Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 3. She desired instruction and resolution from him concerning the worship and serivces of the true God, how she might seek him, and where she might serve him most acceptably, whether at Jerusalem, or upon Mount Gerizim? Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, but ye say Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Where observe, How ready and forward persons of a false religion are to ascribe too much to antiquity, and to the example and custom of their forefathers. Whereas it is not the continuance of a thousand or two thousand years, that can make any thing truly ancient in religion, except it has been from the beginning; nothing is truly ancient in matters of religion, but that which can derive its original from him, that is truly called the Ancient of days. PETT, "John 4:19 ‘The woman says to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.” 170
- 171. John 4:20 “Ourfathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”“Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Her next comment reveals that she clearly felt that between Him and her there could be little agreement. They disagreed on crucial points. He could really have nothing to say to her. She believed that God revealed Himself on Mount Gerizim, and that they should worship God there. He would insist that that was not so and that she should worship in Jerusalem. Had He anything to say that could give her a new perspective? In accordance with Samaritan teaching, and the Samaritan Scriptures, Samaritans were told that it was at Mount Gerizim that God had revealed Himself, and that that was the place towards which they ought to turn. For in the Samaritan Pentateuch Genesis 22 and Deuteronomy 27:4 had been altered to refer to Mount Gerizim. This then, to them, was the place where God had chosen (past tense in the Samaritan Pentateuch) to put His name (Deuteronomy 5:12). But this was in stark contrast to the Jews who saw Jerusalem as the central place of worship and the place where mediation with God should take place. For as far as they were concerned Jerusalem was the central place of worship to which all should come, and apart from which there could be no sacrifices. So if she sought this living water would she have to become a Jew and worship at Jerusalem? The thought was totally unacceptable. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” BARNES,"Our fathers - The Samaritans; perhaps also meaning to intimate that the patriarchs had done it also. See Gen_12:6; Gen_33:20. Worshipped - Had a place of worship. In this mountain - Mount Gerizim, only a little way from Sychar. On this mountain they had built a temple somewhat similar to the one in Jerusalem. This was one of the main subjects of controversy between them and the Jews. The old Samaritan Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, has the word “Gerizim” instead of “Ebal” in Deu_27:4. On this account, as well as because the patriarchs are mentioned as having worshipped in Shechem, they supposed that that was the proper place on which to erect the temple. Ye say - Ye Jews. In Jerusalem - The place where the temple was built. This was built in accordance with the promise and command of God, Deu_12:5, Deu_12:11. In 171
- 172. building this, Davidand Solomon were under the divine direction, 2Sa_7:2-3, 2Sa_ 7:13; 1Ki_5:5, 1Ki_5:12; 1Ki_8:15-22. As it was contemplated in the law of Moses that there should be but one place to offer sacrifice and to hold the great feasts, so it followed that the Samaritans were in error in supposing that their temple was the place. Accordingly, our Saviour decided in favor of the Jews, yet in such a manner as to show the woman that the question was of much less consequence than they supposed it to be. CLARKE,"Worshipped in this mountain - Probably pointing to Mount Gerizim, at the foot of which Sychar was situated. The patriarchs had worshipped here-Jacob builded an altar on this mountain, and worshiped the true God: see Gen_ 22:2; Gen_33:20. Thus she could say, Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. On this mountain Sanballat had built them a temple, about 332 years before our Lord’s incarnation. See Joseph. Antiq. xi. c. viii. s. 4, and 2 Maccabees 6:2. Many heathens considered particular places as having a peculiar sanctity or fitness, for the worship of their deities, beyond others. Such places abound in Hindostan; and in them they think men ought to worship. In the Hebrew Pentateuch, Deu_27:4, etc., where the Israelites are commanded to build an altar on mount Ebal, and offer sacrifices, etc., the Samaritan Pentateuch has Gerizim instead of Ebal; and Dr. Kennicott strongly contends, Dissert. vol. ii. p. 20, etc., that Gerizim is the genuine reading: but our blessed Lord, by the following answer, shows that the place was a matter of little importance, as the Divine worship was no longer to be confined to either: Joh_4:21. See the note on Deu_27:4. GILL, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain,.... Mount Gerizim, which was just by, and within sight; so that the woman could point to it; it was so near to Shechem, or Sychar, that Jotham's voice was heard from the top of it thither, Jdg_ 9:6. By the "fathers", this woman claims as theirs, are meant, not the immediate ancestors of the Samaritans, or those only of some few generations past; but the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose descendants they would be thought to be; and they improved every instance of their worshipping in these parts, in favour of this mountain, being a sacred place. And Abraham did indeed build an altar to the Lord, in the plain of Moreh, Gen_12:6 and which the Jews themselves (z) own, is the same with Sichem; but their tradition which Theophylact reports, that Isaac was offered upon the Mount of Gerizim, is entirely false: Jacob, it is true, came to Shalem, a city of Shechem; and upon this very spot of ground, the parcel of a field, he bought of the children of Hammor, and gave to his son Joseph, he built an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel, Gen_33:18. And also upon this very mountain, the tribe of Joseph, with others stood, when they were come over Jordan, and blessed the people; all which circumstances, the Samaritans failed not to make use of in vindication of themselves, and their worship in this mountain; and which this woman might be acquainted with, and might refer unto: but as for any temple, or place of worship on this mount, there was none till of late years, even after the second temple was built. The occasion of it, as Josephus (a) relates, was this; Manasseh, brother to Jaddua the high priest, having married Nicasso, daughter of Sanballat, governor of Samaria, was on that account driven from the priesthood; he fled to his father-in-law, and related the case to him, expressing great love to his daughter, and yet a regard to his office; upon which Sanballat proposed to build him a temple on Mount Gerizim, for which he did not doubt of obtaining leave of Darius the Persian monarch, and make him an high priest. Darius being overcome by Alexander the Great, Sanballat made his court to him, and petitioned him for the building of this temple, who granted him his 172
- 173. request; and accordinglyhe built one, and Manasseh became the high priest; and many of the profligate Jews, that had married strange wives, or violated the sabbath, or had eaten forbidden meat, came over and joined him. This temple, we are told (b), was built about forty years after the second temple at Jerusalem: and stood two hundred years, and then was destroyed by Jochanan, the son of Simeon, the son of Mattathiah, who was called Hyrcanus, and so says Josephus (c); it might now be rebuilt: however, this did not put a stop to worship in this place, about which there were great contentions, between the Jews and the Samaritans; of which we have some instances, in the writings of the former: it is said (d), that "R. Jonathan went to pray in Jerusalem, and passed by that mountain (the gloss says, Mount Gerizim), and a certain Samaritan saw him, and said to him, whither art thou going? he replied, that he was going to pray at Jerusalem; he said to him, is it not better for thee to pray in this blessed mountain, and not in that dunghill house? he replied, why is it blessed? he answered, because it was not overflowed by the waters of the flood; the thing was hid from the eyes of R. Jonathan, and he could not return an answer.'' This story is told elsewhere (e), with a little variation, and more plainly as to the place, thus; "it happened to R. Jonathan, that he went to Neapolis, of the Cuthites, or Samaritans, (i.e. to Sichem, for Sichem is now called Naplous,) and he was riding upon an ass, and an herdsman with him; a certain, Samaritan joined himself to them: when they came to Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan said to R. Jonathan, how came it to pass that we are come to this holy mountain? R. Jonathan replied, whence comes it to be holy? the Samaritan answered him, because it was not hurt by the waters of the flood.'' Much the same story is told of R. Ishmael bar R. Jose (f). It is to be observed in this account, that the Samaritans call this mountain the holy mountain, they imagined there was something sacred in it; and the blessed mountain, or the mountain of blessing; no doubt, because the blessings were pronounced upon it; though a very poor reason is given by them in the above passages. And they not only urged the above instances of the worship or the patriarchs at, or about this place, which this woman refers to; but even falsified a passage in the Pentateuch, as is generally thought, in favour of this mount; for in Deu_27:4, instead of Mount Ebal, in the Samaritan Pentateuch Mount Gerizim is inserted. So stood the ease on one side of the question; on the other hand, the Jews pleaded for the temple at Jerusalem. And ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship; that is, in the temple, there; who urged, and very rightly, that God had chosen that place to put his name, and fix his worship there; and had ordered them to come thither, and bring their offerings and sacrifices, and to keep their passover and other feasts; see Deu_12:5. This was built by Solomon, according to the command and direction of God, some hundreds of years before Mount Gerizim was made use of for religious worship; and they had not only these things to plead, but also the worship which was here given to God in this place before the temple was built upon it, which they failed not to do. So the Targumist on 2Ch_3:1 enlarges on this head; "and Solomon began to build the sanctuary of the Lord in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, in the place where Abraham worshipped and prayed in the name of the Lord: פולחנא ארע אתר ,הוא "this place is the land of worship"; for there all generations 173
- 174. worshipped before theLord; and there Abraham offered up his son Isaac, for a burnt offering, and the word of the Lord delivered him, and a ram was appointed in his stead; there Jacob prayed when he fled from Esau his brother; there the angel of the Lord appeared to David, when he disposed the sacrifice in the place he bought of Ornan, in the floor of Ornan the Jebusite.'' And since, now there were so many things to be said on each side of the question, this woman desires, that seeing Christ was a prophet, he would be pleased to give her his sense of the matter, and inform her which was the right place of worship.Our fathers worshipped in this mountain,.... Mount Gerizim, which was just by, and within sight; so that the woman could point to it; it was so near to Shechem, or Sychar, that Jotham's voice was heard from the top of it thither, Jdg_9:6. By the "fathers", this woman claims as theirs, are meant, not the immediate ancestors of the Samaritans, or those only of some few generations past; but the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose descendants they would be thought to be; and they improved every instance of their worshipping in these parts, in favour of this mountain, being a sacred place. And Abraham did indeed build an altar to the Lord, in the plain of Moreh, Gen_12:6 and which the Jews themselves (z) own, is the same with Sichem; but their tradition which Theophylact reports, that Isaac was offered upon the Mount of Gerizim, is entirely false: Jacob, it is true, came to Shalem, a city of Shechem; and upon this very spot of ground, the parcel of a field, he bought of the children of Hammor, and gave to his son Joseph, he built an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel, Gen_33:18. And also upon this very mountain, the tribe of Joseph, with others stood, when they were come over Jordan, and blessed the people; all which circumstances, the Samaritans failed not to make use of in vindication of themselves, and their worship in this mountain; and which this woman might be acquainted with, and might refer unto: but as for any temple, or place of worship on this mount, there was none till of late years, even after the second temple was built. The occasion of it, as Josephus (a) relates, was this; Manasseh, brother to Jaddua the high priest, having married Nicasso, daughter of Sanballat, governor of Samaria, was on that account driven from the priesthood; he fled to his father-in-law, and related the case to him, expressing great love to his daughter, and yet a regard to his office; upon which Sanballat proposed to build him a temple on Mount Gerizim, for which he did not doubt of obtaining leave of Darius the Persian monarch, and make him an high priest. Darius being overcome by Alexander the Great, Sanballat made his court to him, and petitioned him for the building of this temple, who granted him his request; and accordingly he built one, and Manasseh became the high priest; and many of the profligate Jews, that had married strange wives, or violated the sabbath, or had eaten forbidden meat, came over and joined him. This temple, we are told (b), was built about forty years after the second temple at Jerusalem: and stood two hundred years, and then was destroyed by Jochanan, the son of Simeon, the son of Mattathiah, who was called Hyrcanus, and so says Josephus (c); it might now be rebuilt: however, this did not put a stop to worship in this place, about which there were great contentions, between the Jews and the Samaritans; of which we have some instances, in the writings of the former: it is said (d), that "R. Jonathan went to pray in Jerusalem, and passed by that mountain (the gloss says, Mount Gerizim), and a certain Samaritan saw him, and said to him, whither art thou going? he replied, that he was going to pray at Jerusalem; he said to him, is it not better for thee to pray in this blessed mountain, and not in that dunghill house? he replied, why is it blessed? he answered, because it was not overflowed by the waters of the flood; the thing was hid from the eyes of R. Jonathan, and he could not return an answer.'' 174
- 175. This story istold elsewhere (e), with a little variation, and more plainly as to the place, thus; "it happened to R. Jonathan, that he went to Neapolis, of the Cuthites, or Samaritans, (i.e. to Sichem, for Sichem is now called Naplous,) and he was riding upon an ass, and an herdsman with him; a certain, Samaritan joined himself to them: when they came to Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan said to R. Jonathan, how came it to pass that we are come to this holy mountain? R. Jonathan replied, whence comes it to be holy? the Samaritan answered him, because it was not hurt by the waters of the flood.'' Much the same story is told of R. Ishmael bar R. Jose (f). It is to be observed in this account, that the Samaritans call this mountain the holy mountain, they imagined there was something sacred in it; and the blessed mountain, or the mountain of blessing; no doubt, because the blessings were pronounced upon it; though a very poor reason is given by them in the above passages. And they not only urged the above instances of the worship or the patriarchs at, or about this place, which this woman refers to; but even falsified a passage in the Pentateuch, as is generally thought, in favour of this mount; for in Deu_27:4, instead of Mount Ebal, in the Samaritan Pentateuch Mount Gerizim is inserted. So stood the ease on one side of the question; on the other hand, the Jews pleaded for the temple at Jerusalem. And ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship; that is, in the temple, there; who urged, and very rightly, that God had chosen that place to put his name, and fix his worship there; and had ordered them to come thither, and bring their offerings and sacrifices, and to keep their passover and other feasts; see Deu_12:5. This was built by Solomon, according to the command and direction of God, some hundreds of years before Mount Gerizim was made use of for religious worship; and they had not only these things to plead, but also the worship which was here given to God in this place before the temple was built upon it, which they failed not to do. So the Targumist on 2Ch_3:1 enlarges on this head; "and Solomon began to build the sanctuary of the Lord in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, in the place where Abraham worshipped and prayed in the name of the Lord: פולחנא ארע אתר ,הוא "this place is the land of worship"; for there all generations worshipped before the Lord; and there Abraham offered up his son Isaac, for a burnt offering, and the word of the Lord delivered him, and a ram was appointed in his stead; there Jacob prayed when he fled from Esau his brother; there the angel of the Lord appeared to David, when he disposed the sacrifice in the place he bought of Ornan, in the floor of Ornan the Jebusite.'' And since, now there were so many things to be said on each side of the question, this woman desires, that seeing Christ was a prophet, he would be pleased to give her his sense of the matter, and inform her which was the right place of worship. HENRY, "[2.] The case itself that she propounded concerning the place of religious worship in public. Some think that she started this to shift off further discourse concerning her sin. Controversies in religion often prove great prejudices to serious godliness; but, it should seem, she proposed it with a good design; she knew she must worship God, and desired to do it aright; and therefore, meeting with a prophet, begs his direction. Note, It is our wisdom to improve all opportunities of getting knowledge in the things of God. When we are in company with those that are 175
- 176. fit to teach,let us be forward to learn, and have a good question ready to put to those who are able to give a good answer. It was agreed between the Jews and the Samaritans that God is to be worshipped (even those who were such fools as to worship false gods were not such brutes as to worship none), and that religious worship is an affair of great importance: men would not contend about it if they were not concerned about it. But the matter in variance was where they should worship God. Observe how she states the case: - First, As for the Samaritans: Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, near to this city and this well; there the Samaritan temple was built by Sanballat, in favour of which she insinuates, 1. That whatever the temple was the place was holy; it was mount Gerizim, the mount in which the blessings were pronounced; and some think the same on which Abraham built his altar (Gen_12:6, Gen_12:7), and Jacob his, Gen_33:18-20. 2. That it might plead prescription: Our fathers worshipped here. She thinks they have antiquity, tradition, and succession, on their side. A vain conversation often supports itself with this, that it was received by tradition from our fathers. But she had little reason to boast of their fathers; for, when Antiochus persecuted the Jews, the Samaritans, for fear of sharing with them in their sufferings, not only renounced all relation to the Jews, but surrendered their temple to Antiochus, with a request that it might be dedicated to Jupiter Olympius, and called by his name. Joseph. Antiq. 12.257-264. Secondly, As to the Jews: You say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. The Samaritans governed themselves by the five books of Moses, and (some think) received only them as canonical. Now, though they found frequent mention there of the place God would choose, yet they did not find it named there; and they saw the temple at Jerusalem stripped of many of its ancient glories, and therefore thought themselves at liberty to set up another place, altar against altar. CALVIN, "20.Our fathers. It is a mistaken opinion which some hold, that the woman, finding the reproof to be disagreeable and hateful, cunningly changes the subject. On the contrary, she passes from what is particular to what is general, and, having been informed of her sin, wishes to be generally instructed concerning the pure worship of God. She takes a proper and regular course, when she consults a Prophet, that she may not fall into a mistake in the worship of God. It is as if she inquired at God himself in what manner he chooses to be worshipped; for nothing is more wicked than to contrive various modes of worship without the authority of the word of God. It is well known that there was a constant dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans about the true rule of worshipping God. Although the Cutheans and other foreigners, who had been brought into Samaria, when the ten tribes were led into captivity, were constrained by the plagues and punishments of God (78) to adopt the ceremonies of the Law, and to profess the worship of the God of Israel, (as we read, 2 Kings 17:27;) yet the religion which they had was imperfect and corrupted in many ways; which the Jews could not all endure. But the dispute was still more inflamed after that Manasseh, son of the high priest John, and brother of Jaddus, had built the temple on mount Gerizzim, when Darius, the last king of the Persians, held the government of Judea by the hand of Sanballat, whom he had placed there as his lieutenant. For Manasseh, having married a daughter of the governor, that he might not be inferior to his brother, made himself a priest there, and procured for himself by bribes as many apostles as he could, as Josephus relates, (Ant. 11:7:2, and 8:2.) 176
- 177. Our fathers worshippedin this mountain. The Samaritans at that time did, as we learn from the words of the woman, what is customary with those who have revolted from true godliness, to seek to shield themselves by the examples of the Fathers. It is certain that this was not the reason which induced them to offer sacrifices there, but after that they had framed a false and perverse worship, obstinacy followed, which was ingenious in contriving excuses. I acknowledge, indeed, that unsteady and thoughtless men are sometimes excited by foolish zeal, as if they had been bitten by a gad-fly, so that when they learn that any thing has been done by the Saints, they instantly seize on the example without any exercise of judgment. A second fault is still more common, that they borrow the deeds of the Fathers as a cloak to their errors, — and this may be easily seen in Popery. But as this passage is a remarkable proof how absurdly they act who, disregarding the command of God, conform to the examples of the Fathers, we ought to observe in how many ways the world commonly sins in this respect. For it frequently happens that the majority, without discrimination, follow those persons as Fathers who are least of all entitled to be accounted Fathers. Thus in the present day we perceive that the Papists, while with open mouth they declaim about the Fathers, allow no place for Prophets and Apostles, but, when they have mentioned a few persons who deserve to be honored, collect a vast group of men like themselves, or at least come down to more corrupt ages in which, though there did not yet prevail so gross a barbarism as now exists, yet religion and the purity of doctrine had greatly declined. We ought, therefore, carefully to attend to the distinction, that none may be reckoned Fathers but those who were manifestly the sons of God; and who also, by the eminence of their piety, were entitled to this honorable rank. Frequently, too,we err in this respect, that by the actions of the Fathers we rashly lay down a common law; for the multitude do not imagine that they confer sufficient honor on the Fathers, if they do not exclude them from the ordinary rank of men. Thus, when we do not remember that they were fallible men, we indiscriminately mingle their vices with their virtues. Hence arises the worst confusion in the conduct of life; for while all the actions of men ought to be tried by the rule of the Law, we subject the balance to those things which ought to be weighed by it; and, in short, where so much importance is attached to the imitation of the Fathers, the world thinks that there can be no danger in sinning after their example. A third fault is — a false, and ill-regulated, or thoughtless imitation; (79) that is, when we, though not endued with the same spirit, or authorized by the same command, plead as our example what any of the Fathers did; as for instance, if any private individual resolved to revenge the injuries done to brethren, because Moses did this, (Exodus 2:12;) or if any one were to put fornicators to death, because this was done by Phinehas, (Numbers 25:7.) That savage fury in slaying their own children originated, as many think, in the wish of the Jews to be like their father Abraham, as if the command, Offer up thy son Isaac, (Genesis 22:2,) were a general command, and not rather a remarkable trial of a single man. Such a false imitation ( κακοζηλία) is generally produced by pride and excessive confidence, when men claim more for themselves than they have a right to do; 177
- 178. and when eachperson does not measure himself by his own standard. Yet none of these are true imitators of the Fathers, most of them are apes. That a considerable portion of ancient monachism flowed from the same source will be acknowledged by those who shall carefully examine the writings of the ancients. And, therefore, unless we choose to err of our own accord, we ought always to see what spirit each person has received, what his calling requires, what is suitable to his condition, and what he is commanded to do. Closely allied to this third fault is another, namely, the confounding of times, when men, devoting their whole attention to the examples of the Fathers, do not consider that the Lord has since enjoined a different rule of conduct, which they ought to follow. (80) To this ignorance ought to be ascribed that huge mass of ceremonies by which the Church has been buried under Popery. Immediately after the commencement of the Christian Church, it began to err in this respect, because a foolish affectation of copying Jewish ceremonies had an undue influence. The Jews had their sacrifices; and that Christians might not be inferior to them in splendor, the ceremony of sacrificing Christ was invented: as if the condition of the Christian Church would be worse when there would be an end of all those shadows by which the brightness of Christ might be obscured. But afterwards this fury broke out more forcibly, and spread beyond all bounds. That we may not fall into this error, we ought always to be attentive to the present rule. Formerly incense, candles, holy garments, an altar, vessels, and ceremonies of this nature, pleased God; and the reason was, that nothing is more precious or acceptable to Him than obedience. Now, since the coming of Christ, matters are entirely changed. We ought, therefore, to consider what he enjoins on us under the Gospel, that we may not follow at random what the Fathers observed under the Law; for what was at that time a holy observation of the worship of God would now be a shocking sacrilege. The Samaritans were led astray by not considering, in the example of Jacob, how widely it differed from the condition of their own time. The Patriarchs were permitted to erect altars everywhere, because the place had not yet been fixed which the Lord afterwards selected; but from the time that God ordered the temple to be built on mount Zion, the freedom which they formerly enjoyed ceased. For this reason Moses said, Hereafter you shall not do every one what appears right in his own eyes, but only what I command you, (Deuteronomy 12:8;) for, from the time that the Lord gave the Law, he restricted the true worship of himself to the requirements of that Law, though formerly a greater degree of liberty was enjoyed. A similar pretense was offered by those who worshipped in Bethel; for there Jacob had offered a solemn sacrifice to God, but after that the Lord had fixed the place of sacrifice at Jerusalem, it was no longer Bethel, the house of God, but Bethaven, the house of wickedness. We now see what was the state of the question. The Samaritans had the example 178
- 179. of the Fathersfor their rule: the Jews rested on the commandment of God. This woman, though hitherto she had followed the custom of her nation, was not altogether satisfied with it. By worship we are to understand here not any kind of worship, (for daily prayers might be offered in any place,) but that which was joined with sacrifices, and which constituted a public and solemn profession of religion. COFFMAN, "The view that these words were a mere device on the woman's part to change the conversation appears to be wrong. It reveals the deep religious interest of the questioner, and the presence of one whom she had just hailed as a prophet gave her the opportunity to learn the truth about a question that had troubled her heart a long time. What a commentary is this regarding the inner thoughts of some whom the world would count hopelessly lost. Deep within every heart the abiding question of how men "ought" to worship God is firmly implanted; and no encrustation of sin, however coarse, can fully eradicate it. There is nothing short of genius in this woman's going straight to Jesus with such a question. Christ is the source of finding the answers for all difficult and perplexing questions, none of which shall ever be answered until they are answered by the Master. It should be noted that the question was a valid and relevant one, that there was a proper answer, and that Jesus promptly gave it. COKE, "John 4:20. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain;— Whom the woman meant by the appellation offathers, is a point much disputed: they who think that she meant the Ephraimites, from whom the Samaritans pretended their descent, hold that the mountain on which they worshipped was mount Ephraim, wherewas Shiloh, the seat of the tabernacle for several years. Another account, more generally adopted, is to this effect: Sanballat, by the permission of Alexander the Great, had built a temple upon mount Gerizim, for Manasseh his son-in-law, who, for marrying Sanballat's daughter, was expelled from the priesthood, and from Jerusalem. See Nehemiah 13:28. This was the place where theSamaritans used to worship, in opposition to Jerusalem; and it was so near Sichem, the scene of this history, that a man's voice might be heard from one to the other; Judges 9:7. Now as Gerizim was the mount which the woman meant, it will easily appear whom she meant by the fathers who worshipped there. Itis generally known and acknowledged, that the Samaritans, though a mixture of Jews and foreigners,pretended to derive their origin from the patriarchs, especially from Abraham, Jacob, &c. Now it appears from scripture, that Abraham and Jacob erected altars in this place, where also the blessings were pronounced in the time of Joshua; and it is probable, likewise, that it had been a place consecrated to religious worship by the inhabitants of Sichem. See Genesis 12:6-7; Genesis 33:18; Genesis 33:20. Deuteronomy 11:29. Joshua 8:33. ELLICOTT, "(20) Our fathers worshipped.—She gives a sudden turn to the conversation. It is not that the question of worship is the all-engrossing problem of her mind, for which she seeks solution at this prophet’s hands. Such questions hardly came then within the circle of a Samaritan woman’s thoughts, and this woman’s life had not been such as to make her an exception to the rule; but the heart, quivering before the eye that reads it as it never before had read itself, shrinks from the light that is let in upon it. She will speak of anything rather 179
- 180. than of self.There is the mountain overhanging them, the theme of many a discussion between Samaritan and Jew; she will ask the prophet to decide that question. LIGHTFOOT, "[Worshipped in this mountain.] The story of that Temple on Gerizim, out of Josephus and others, is very well known. It was built in emulation and envy to that at Jerusalem, as of old were Dan and Bethel. Hence that irreconcilable hatred between the two nations, and the apostasy of divers Jews. The Samaritans attributed a certain holiness to the mountain, even after the Temple had been destroyed; but for what reason, they themselves could not well tell. However, for the defence of it, the Samaritan text hath notoriously falsified the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 27:4: for whereas the Hebrew hath it, "Ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal"; the Samaritan text and version hath it in mount Gerizim; as I have elsewhere observed. "R. Jochanan going to Jerusalem to pray, he passed by that mountain [Gerizim]. A certain Samaritan seeing him, asked him, 'Whither goest thou?' 'I am,' saith he, 'going to Jerusalem to pray.' To whom the Samaritan, 'Were it not better for thee to pray in this holy mountain, than in that cursed house?' 'Whence comes this mountain to be so holy?' saith he: 'Because (saith the other) it was not overflown by the waters of the deluge.'" A doughty reason indeed! "R. Ismael, the son of R. Joseph, going to Jerusalem to pray, passed by that mountain. A certain Samaritan meeting him, asks, 'Where art thou going?' 'I am going,' saith he, 'to Jerusalem, to pray.' Saith the other, 'Were it not better for thee to pray in this blessed mountain, than in that cursed place?' Saith the R., 'I will tell you what you are like; you are like a dog greedy after carrion: so you when you know that idols are hid under this mountain, as it is said, And Jacob hid them, you are acted with a greedy desire after them.' They said amongst themselves, 'Seeing he knows there are idols hidden in this mountain, he will come in the night and steal them away.' And they consulted together to have killed him, but he, getting up in the night, stole away." Somewhat akin to this Temple on Gerizim was that built by Onias in Egypt, the story of which you have in Josephus, and the description of it. Of this Temple also the Gemarists discourse, from whom we will borrow a few things. "Simeon the just dying, said, 'Onias my son shall minister in my stead.' For this, his brother Shimei, being older than he by two years and a half, grew very envious. He saith to his brother, 'Come hither, and I will teach thee the rule and way of ministering.' So he puts him on a leathern garment and girds him, and then setting him by the altar, cries out to his brethren the priests, 'See here what this man hath vowed, and does accordingly perform to his wife, viz., that whenever he ministered in the high priesthood, he would put on her stomacher [pectorale], and be girt about with her girdle.'" The Gloss upon the place saith the leathern garment, but Aruch, from Avodah Zarah, saith the stomacher of the heart. What the word in this place should mean is plain enough from the story itself. Shimei, that he might render his brother both ridiculous and odious to the 180
- 181. rest of thepriests, persuades him to perform his services with his wife's stomacher, instead of the breastplate of the high priest, and her girdle, instead of that curious one they were wont to be girt with, &c. The story goes on: "His brethren the priests, upon this, contrive his death; but he, escaping their hands, fled into Alexandria of Egypt; and there building an altar, offered idolatrous sacrifices upon it. These are the words of Meir: but R. Judah tells him the thing was not so: for Onias did not own his brother Shimei to be two years and a half older than himself; but envying him, told him, 'Come, and I will teach thee the rule and method of thy ministry.'" And so, as R. Judah relates the matter, the tables are turned, the whole scene altered; so that Onias persuades his brother Shimei to put on his wife's stomacher, and gird himself with her girdle; and for that reason the priests do plot the death of Shimei. "But when he had declared the whole matter as it was indeed, then they designed to kill Onias. He therefore flying into Alexandria in Egypt, builds there an altar, and offered sacrifices upon it to the name of the Lord, according as it is said, In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt." And now it is at the reader's choice to determine which of these two Temples, that in Egypt, or this upon Gerizim, is built upon the best foundation; the one, by a fugitive priest, under pretence of a divine prophecy; the other, by a fugitive priest too, under pretence that that mount was the mount upon which the blessings had been pronounced. Let the Jews speak for themselves, whether they believed that Onias, with pure regard to that prophecy, did build his Temple in Egypt; and let every wise man laugh at those that do thus persuade themselves. However, this is certain, they had universally much more favourable thoughts of that in Egypt than of this upon mount Gerizim. Hence that passage in the place before quoted: "If any one say, 'I devote a whole burnt offering,' let him offer it in the Temple at Jerusalem; for if he offer it in the Temple of Onias, he doth not perform his vow. But if any one say, 'I devote a whole burnt offering for the Temple of Onias, though he ought to offer it in the Temple at Jerusalem, yet if he offer it in the Temple of Onias, he acquits himself.' R. Simeon saith, It is no burnt offering. Moreover, if any one shall say, 'I vow myself to be a Nazarite,' let him shave himself in the Temple at Jerusalem; for if he be shaven in the Temple of Onias, he doth not perform his vow. But if he should say, 'I vow myself a Nazarite, so that I may be shaven in the Temple of Onias,' and he do shave himself there, he is a Nazarite." [And ye say, that in Jerusalem, &c.] What! did not the Samaritans themselves confess that Jerusalem was the place appointed by God himself for his worship? No doubt they could not be ignorant of the Temple which Solomon had built; nor did they believe but that from the times of David and Solomon God had fixed his name and residence at Jerusalem. And as to their preferring their Temple on Gerizim before that in Jerusalem notwithstanding all this, it is probable their boldness and emulation might take its rise from hence, viz., they saw the second Temple falling so short of its ancient and primitive glory; they observed that the divine presence over the ark, the ark itself, the cherubims, the Urim and Thummim, the spirit of prophecy, &c., were no more in that place. 181
- 182. PINK 20-30, "Inthe last chapter we continued our exposition of John 4 down to the end of verse 19. It is of surpassing interest to follow the course of the Savior’s dealings with the poor Samaritan adulteress—the Divine patience, the infinite grace and tenderness, the faithful application of the truth to her heart and conscience. We have been struck, too, with the expose of human depravity which this instance furnishes: not simply with the dissolute life of the woman, but with her prejudice, her stupidity, her occupation with material things, her procrastination—all so many exhibitions of what is in us by nature: "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man" (Prov. 27:19.) In the attitude of this sinner toward Christ we see an accurate portrayal of our own past history. Let us now resume at the point where we left off in our last. We append an Analysis of the passage which is to be before us:— 1. The place of worship, verses 20, 21. 2. Worshippers sought by the Father, verses 22, 23. 3. The character of acceptable worship, verse 24. 4. The woman’s desire for Christ, verse 25. 5. Christ fully reveals Himself, verse 26. 6. The disciples’ surprise and silence, verse 27. 7. The gratitude and zeal of a saved soul, verses 28-30. "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" (John 4:20). This woman was not regenerated, though she was on the very eve of being so. She was at that point where it is always very difficult (if not impossible) for us to determine on which side of the line a person stands. Regeneration is an instantaneous act and experience, but preceding it there is a process, sometimes brief, usually more or less protracted. During this process or transitional stage there is a continual conflict between the light and the darkness, and nothing is very clearly defined. There is that which is the fruit of the Spirit’s operations, and there is that which springs from the activities of the flesh. We may detect both of these at this point in John 4. In the previous verse the woman had said, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." This evidenced the fact that light was beginning to illumine her understanding: there was the dawning of spiritual intelligence. But immediately following this we discover the workings of the flesh—"Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Here was the enmity of the carnal mind showing itself again. It was a return to the old prejudice, which was voiced at the commencement of conversation—see verse 9. The subject of where to worship was one of the leading points of contention between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Lord had introduced a very disquieting theme. He had spoken directly to her conscience; He had been convicting of Sin. And when a sinner’s conscience is disturbed, instinctively he seeks to throw it off. He endeavors to turn aside the sharp point of the accusing shaft, by occupying his mind with other things. There is little doubt that this woman raised the subject of worship at this stage for the purpose of diverting a theme of conversation which was far from agreeable or creditable to her. "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet," she had said, and so, glad of an opportunity to shift the discourse from a subject so painful, she introduces the great point of controversy between the Jews and the Samaritans, that she might hear His opinion respecting it. And, too, this woman 182
- 183. was really interestedin the friendly advances of this mysterious Stranger who had spoken to her so graciously and yet so searchingly: and doubtless she was anxious to know how He would decide the age-long dispute. It is no uncommon thing for persons living in sin, not merely to pretend, but really to have an interest in, and a zeal for, what they term ‘religion.’ Speculation about points in theology is frequently found in unnatural union with habitual neglect of moral duty. Ofttimes a sinner seeks protection from shafts of conviction which follow the plain violation of the law of God, by discussions respecting orthodoxy and heterodoxy. Ah! "who can understand the errors" of that deceitful and desperately wicked thing, the human heart! In this question of the woman we may discover an underlying principle of general application. Her conscience had been exercised over sin, in the presence of God, and the effect upon her, as upon most quickened souls, was to be concerned with the matter of "worship"—where to worship is the question which now engages the attention. Really, it is only self again in one of its ten thousand forms. First the sinner is conscious of his prejudice; then he is occupied with his sins; then he turns to his own repentance and faith; and then where to worship—anything but Christ Himself! So it was with this woman here. The Lord had pointed out what it was that kept her from asking for the "gift of God," namely, ignorance. True, she was clear on some points. She was versed in the contention between the Jews and the Samaritans; she had been instructed in the difference between Jerusalem and Gerizim; she knew all about "father Jacob." But there were two things she did not know: "The gift of God" and "who it was that was speaking to her." As yet she knew not Christ as the all- sufficient Savior for lost sinners. Her mind was engaged with the problem of where to worship. Was it not thus with most of us? Following our first awakening, were we not considerably exercised over the conflicting claims of the churches and denominations? Where ought I to worship? Which denomination shall I join? In which church shall I seek membership? Which is the most scriptural of the different sects? These are questions which the majority of us faced, and probably many sought the solution of these problems long before they had found rest in the finished work of Christ. After all it was only another ‘refuge’ in which we sought shelter from the accusing voice which was convicting us of our lost condition. "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship"—some worship here; some worship there; where ought we to worship? Important as this question is, it is not one to be discussed by a convicted sinner. The all-important thing for him is to find himself in the presence of the revealed Savior. Let this be deeply pondered, clearly understood, and carefully borne in mind. "A convicted sinner can never become a devoted saint, until he finds his happy place at the feet of a revealed Savior" (C. H. M.). Irreparable damage has been done to souls by occupying them with churches and denominations, instead of with a Savior-God. If the sinner joins a church before he has received Christ he is in greater danger than he was previously. The church can neither save nor help to save. Many regard the church as a stepping stone to Christ, and frequently they find it but a stumbling-stone away from Christ. No stepping stones to Christ are needed. He has come all the way from heaven to earth, and is so near to us that no stepping 183
- 184. stones are required.Mark how strikingly this is illustrated in one of the Old Testament types: "An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon" (Ex. 20:24-26). It is to be noted that these instructions concerning "the altar" follow immediately on the giving of the Law, for it foreshadowed that which was to succeed the Legal dispensation, namely, the Cross of Christ, on which the great Sacrifice was offered. Note also it was expressly prohibited that the altar of stone should not be built from hewn stones. The stones must have no human tools lifted up upon them; no human labor should enter into their preparation. Neither were there to be any steps up to God’s altar. Any attempt to climb up to God will only expose our shame. Indeed, steps up are not necessary for us, for the Lord Jesus took all the steps down to where we lay in our guilt and helplessness. What stepping-stone did this woman of Samaria require? None at all, for Christ was there by her side, though she knew Him not. He was patiently dislodging her from every refuge in which she sought to take shelter. He was seeking to bring her to the realization that she was a great sinner, and He a great Savior, come down here in marvelous grace to save her, not only from the guilt and penalty of sin, but also from its dominion and power. What could "this mountain," or that "Jerusalem" do for her? Was it not obvious that a prior question, of paramount importance, claimed her serious attention, namely, What she was to do with her sins?—how she was to be saved? What relief could places of worship afford her burdened heart and guilty conscience? Could she find salvation in Gerizim? Could she procure peace in Jerusalem’s temple? Could she worship the Father in spirit and in truth in either the one or the other? Was it not plain that she needed salvation before she could worship anywhere? "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father" (John 4:21). The Lord turned her attention to a subject of infinitely greater importance than the place of worship, even the nature of acceptable worship; assuring her that the time was at hand when controversies respecting the place of worship would be obsolete. "The hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father." The meaning of this evidently is that "The time is just at hand when the public worship of God the Father should not be confined to any one place, and when the controversy as to whether Jerusalem or Gerizim had the better claim to that honor would be superceded." "Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews" (John 4:22). Here we see ‘truth’ mingling with ‘grace.’ Christ not only dealt in faithfulness. He was, and is, "the faithful and true witness." The Lord, in a very brief word, settled the disputed point—the Samaritans were wrong, the Jews right; the former were ignorant, the latter well instructed. Christ then added a reason to what He had just said—"for salvation is of the Jews." We take it that "salvation" here is equivalent to "the Savior," that is, the Messiah. In this way was the word used by Simeon—"Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation" (Luke 184
- 185. 2:29, 30). So,too, the word was used by John the Baptist, "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:6). The force then of Christ’s declaration was this: The Savior, the Messiah, is to arise from among the Jews, and therefore the true worship of Jehovah is to be found among them. It may be inquired, Why should the Lord Jesus refer to Himself under the impersonal word "salvation"? A moment’s reflection will show the propriety of it. Christ was continuing to press upon this woman the fact that she was a sinner, and therefore it was useless to occupy her mind with questions about places of worship. What she needed was salvation, and this salvation could only be had through the knowledge of God revealed as Father, in the face of Jesus Christ. Such is the ground, and the only ground, of true spiritual worship. In order to worship the Father we must know Him; and to know Him is salvation, and salvation is eternal life. What a lesson is there here for every Christian worker respecting the manner to deal with anxious souls. When we are speaking to such, let us not occupy them with questions about sects and parties, churches and denominations, creeds and confessions. It is positively cruel to do so. What they need is salvation—to know God, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us shut them up to this one thing, and refuse to discuss anything else with them until they have received the Savior. Questions about church—membership, the ordinances, etc., have their place and interest; but manifestly they are not for convicted sinners. Too many are so foolishly anxious to swell the ranks of their party, that they are in grave danger of thinking more about getting people to join them than they are about leading anxious souls simply and fully to Christ. Let us study diligently the example of the perfect Teacher in His dealings with the woman of Sychar. "But 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" (John 4:23). Here is the point which the Lord now presses upon this anxious soul. A new order of things was about to be established, and under it God would be manifested not as Jehovah (the covenant-keeping God) but as "the Father," and then the great question would not be where to worship, but how. Then the worshipper at Jerusalem will not be accounted the true worshipper because he worships there, nor the worshipper at Gerizim the false worshipper because he worships there; the one who worships in spirit and in truth, no matter where he may worship, he and he alone is the genuine worshipper. To "worship in spirit," is to worship spiritually; to "worship in truth," is to worship truly. They are not two different kinds of worship, but two aspects of the same worship. To worship spiritually is the opposite of mere external rites which pertained to the flesh; instead, it is to give to God the homage of an enlightened mind and an affectionate heart. To worship Him truly is to worship Him according to the Truth, in a manner suited to the revelation He has made of Himself; and, no doubt, it also carries with it the force of worshipping truly, not in pretense, but sincerely. Such, and such alone, are the acceptable worshippers. "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). This is a most important verse and treats of a most important but sadly misunderstood subject, namely, that of worship. Much of that which is termed "worship’ today is fleshly rather than spiritual, and is external and spectacular, rather than internal and reverential. What are all the ornate decorations in our church-houses for? the stained glass windows, the costly 185
- 186. hangings and fittings,the expensive organs! But people at once reply, ‘But God’s house must be beautiful, and He surely loves to have it so.’ But why will not such objectors be honest, and say, ‘We love to have it so, and therefore, God should too’? Here, as everywhere else, God’s thoughts are entirely different from man’s. Look at the tabernacle which was made according to the pattern which Jehovah Himself showed to Moses in the mount! ‘Yes,’ people reply, ‘but look at Solomon’s temple!’ Ah, Solomon’s, truly. But look at it, and what do we see? Not one stone left upon another! Ah, dear reader, have you ever stopped to think what the future holds for this world and all its imposing structures? The world, and all that is therein, will be burned up! Not only the saloons and the picture shows, but also its magnificent cathedrals and stately churches, erected at enormous expense, while half of the human race was hastening to the Lake of Fire without any knowledge of Christ! Does this burning up of them look as though God esteemed them very highly? And if His people pondered this, would they be so ready to put so much of their money into them? After all, is it not the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye—denominational pride—which lies behind it all? "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Note how emphatic this is—MUST. There is no alternative, no choice in the matter. This must is final. There are three "musts" in this Gospel, equally important and unequivocal. In John 3:7 we read, "Ye must be born again." In John 3:14, "The Son of man must be lifted up." In John 4:24, "God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth." It is indeed striking to observe that the first of these has reference to the work of God the Spirit, for He is the One who effects the new birth. The second "must" has reference to God the Son, for He was the One who had to die in order for atonement to be made. The third "must" respects God the Father, for He is the object of worship, the One who "seeketh" worshippers. And this order cannot be changed. It is only they who have been regenerated by God the Spirit, and justified by the Atonement of God the Son, who can worship God the Father. "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord" (Prov. 15:8). What is worship? We answer: First, it is the action of the new nature seeking, as the sparks fly upward, to return to the Divine and heavenly source from which it came. Worship is one of the three great marks which evidences the presence of the new nature—"We are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:3)—in the Greek there is no article before "spirit" or flesh;" the spirit refers to the new nature, which is born of the Spirit. In the second place, worship is the activity of a redeemed people. Israel did not worship Jehovah in Egypt; there they could only "sigh," and "cry," and "groan" (see Exodus 2:23, 24). It was not until Israel had passed through the Red Sea that we are told "Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord" (Ex. 15:1); and note, this was the Song of Redemption—the words "redeemed" and "redemption" are not found in Scripture until this chapter is reached: see verse 13. In the third place, worship proceeds from the heart. "This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me" (Matthew 15:8, 9). Worship is a redeemed heart occupied with God, expressing itself in adoration and 186
- 187. thanksgiving. Read throughthe Redemption Song, expression of Israel’s worship, in Exodus 15, and notice the frequent repetition of "Thou," "Thee," and "He." Worship, then, is the occupation of the heart with a known God; and everything which attracts the flesh and its senses, detracts from real worship. "God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." There is no choice in the matter. This emphatic "must" bars out everything which is of the flesh. Worship is not by the eyes or the ears, but "in spirit," that is, from the new nature. The more spiritual is our worship the less formal and the less attractive to the flesh will it be. O how far astray we have gone! Modern "worship" (?) is chiefly designed to render it pleasing to the flesh: a ‘bright and attractive service’, with beautiful surroundings, sensuous music, and entertaining talks. What a mockery and a blasphemy! O that we all would heed that pointed word in Psalm 89:7; "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him"—how different things would then be. Is a choir needed to ‘lead’ worship? What choir was needed to aid the Savior and His apostles as they sung that hymn in the upper room, ere going forth into the Garden? (Matthew 26:30). What choir was needed to assist the apostles, as with bleeding backs they sang praises to God in the Philippian dungeon? Singing to be acceptable to God must come from the heart. And to whom do the choirs sing—to God, or to the people? The attractiveness of singing has been substituted for "the foolishness of preaching." The place which music now holds in many of our public services is a solemn "sign of the times" to those who have eyes to see. But is music wrong? Has not God Himself bestowed the gift? Surely, but what we are now complaining about is church-singing that is professional and spectacular, that which is of the flesh, and rendered to please the ear of man. The only music which ever passes beyond the roof of the church in which it is rendered is that which issues from born again people, who "sing with grace in their hearts unto the Lord." "God is a spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." We must worship "in spirit," and not merely with the physical senses. We cannot worship by admiring grand architecture, by listening to the peals of a costly organ or the anthems of a highly trained choir. We cannot worship by gazing at pictures, smelling of incense, counting of beads. We cannot worship with our eyes or ears, noses or hands, for they are all "flesh," and not "spirit." Moreover, spiritual worship must be distinguished sharply from soulical worship, though there are few today who discriminate between them. Much, very much, of our modern so-called worship is soulical, that is, emotional. Music which makes one "feel good," touching anecdotes which draw tears, the magic oratory of a speaker which thrills his hearers, the clever showmanship of professional evangelists and singers who aim to ‘produce an atmosphere’ for worship (?) and which are designed to move the varied emotions of those in attendance, are so many examples of what is soulical and not spiritual at all. True worship, spiritual worship, is decorous, quiet, reverential, occupying the worshipper with God Himself; and the effect is to leave him not with a nervous headache (the inevitable reaction from the high tension produced by soulical activities) but with a peaceful heart and a rejoicing spirit. "The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things" (John 4:25). Here is the Savior’s 187
- 188. reward for Hisgracious patience in dealing with this woman. Slowly but surely the Word had done its work. At last this poor soul has been driven from every false refuge, and now she is ready for a revealed Savior. She is through with her prevarication and procrastinations. She had asked "How?", and Christ had graciously answered her. She had inquired "Whence?", and had received a kindly reply. She had said, "Where?", and this difficulty had been disposed of too. And now her questions ceased. She speaks with greater confidence and assurance—‘I know that Messias cometh." This was tantamount to saying, "I want Christ." "Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he" (John 4:26). For the seventh and last time (in this interview) the Lord addressed this soul whose salvation He sought and won. The moment the Samaritan woman expressed her desire for Christ, He answers, "You have Him; He is now speaking to you." Nothing more was needed. The Savior of sinners stood revealed. That was enough. All was settled now. "It was not a mount nor a temple; Samaria nor Jerusalem. She had found Jesus—a Savior—God. A detected sinner and a revealed Savior have met face to face, and all is settled, once and forever. She discovered the wonderful fact that the One who had asked her for a drink, knew all about her—could tell her all that ever she did, and yet He talked to her of salvation. What more did she want? Nothing" (C. H. M.). "And 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?" (John 4:27). Once again we may discern the providential dealings of God, regulating and directing the slightest movements of His creatures. These disciples of Christ left the Savior seated on the well, while they went into the city to buy meat (verse 8). Had they remained they would only have been in the way. The Lord desired to have this woman alone with Himself. His purpose in this had now been accomplished. Grace had achieved a glorious victory. Another brand had been plucked from the burning. The poor Samaritan adulteress had now been brought out of sin’s darkness into God’s marvelous light. The woman had plainly expressed her desire for the Christ to appear, and the Lord had revealed Himself to her. "And upon this came His disciples." Though they had not been permitted to hear what had been said between Christ and this woman, they returned in time to witness the happy finale. They needed to be taught a lesson. They must learn that the saving grace of God was not limited to Israel, that it was reaching out to sinners of the Gentiles, too. They "marvelled" as they beheld their Master talking to this despised Samaritan, but they held their peace. A Divine constraint arrested them. None of them dared to ask Him a question at that moment. "The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city" (John 4:28). Here is the blessed climax. The patient work of the condescending Savior was now rewarded. The darkness was dissipated: "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6) now shone into the heart of this believing sinner. Four times had this woman referred directly to herself, and it is striking to note the contents and order of her respective statements. First, she acknowledged her thirst—"Give me this water that (in order that) I thirst not" (verse 15). Second, she confessed her sin—"I have no husband" (verse 17). Third, she evidenced a dawning intelligence—"I perceive" (v. 19). Fourth, she avowed her faith—"I know that Messias cometh" (v. 25). Finally, she leaves her 188
- 189. waterpot and goesforth to testify of Christ. "The woman then left her waterpot and went her way into the city." Notice carefully the word "then," which is parallel with the "upon this" of the previous verse. Both look back to what is recorded in verse 26—"Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am." It will be noted that the final word of this verse is in italics, which signifies there is no corresponding word in the Greek. Omitting the word "he" the verse as it reads in the A.V. is unintelligible. We are satisfied that the correct reading would give "Jesus saith unto her, I am that speaketh unto thee." It was the enunciation of the sacred "I am" title of Jehovah (see Exodus 3:14); it was the solemn affirmation that God was addressing her soul. It is a parallel utterance to John 8:58. The pronunciation of this ineffable Name was attended with awe-inspiring effects (cf. John 18:6). This explains, here, the silence of the disciples who marvelled when they found their Master talking with the woman, but asked Him no question. It accounts for that Divine constraint resting upon them. Moreover, it gives added force and significance to what we read of in verse 28—"The woman then left her waterpot." The weary Traveller by the well stood revealed as God manifest in flesh. "The woman then left her waterpot." Ah, was not that a lovely sequel! She "left her waterpot" because she had now found a well of "living water." She had come to the well for literal water; that was what she had desired, and on what her mind was set. But now that she had obtained salvation, she thought no more of her "waterpot." It is ever thus. Once there is a clear perception of Christ to the soul, once He is known and received as a personal Savior, there will be a turning away from that on which before the carnal mind was centered. Her mind was now stayed upon Christ, and she had no thought of well, water, or waterpot. The Messias’ glory was now her end and aim. Henceforth, "for me to live is Christ" was her object and goal. She knew the Messiah now, not from hearsay, but from the personal revelation of Himself, and immediately she began to proclaim Him to others. "And went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" (John 4:28, 29). How beautiful! Transformed from a convicted sinner into a devoted saint. The work had been thorough—nothing could be put to it, nor anything taken from it: because God had done it (Ecclesiastes 3:14). There was no placing this woman on probation. There was no telling her she must hold out faithful to the end if she would be saved—wretched perversion of men! No; she was saved; saved for all eternity. Saved by grace through faith, apart from any works of her own. And now that she is saved, she wants to tell others of the Savior she had found. The love of Christ constrained her. She now had His nature within her, and therefore has she a heart of compassion of the lost. "Christian reader, be this our work, henceforth. May our grand object be to invite sinners to come to Jesus. This woman began at once. No sooner had she found Christ for herself, than she forthwith entered upon the blessed work of leading others to His feet. Let us go and do likewise. Let us by word and deed— ‘by all means,’ as the apostle says—seek to gather as many as possible around the Person of the Son of God. Some of us have to judge ourselves for lukewarmness in this blessed work. We see souls rushing along the broad and well-trodden highway that leadeth to eternal perdition, and yet, how little are we moved by the sight! How slow are we to sound in their ears, that true, that 189
- 190. proper Gospel note,‘Come!’ O, for more zeal, more energy, more fervor! May the Lord grant us such a deep sense of the value of immortal souls, the preciousness of Christ, and the awful solemnity of eternity, as shall constrain us to more urgent and faithful dealing with the souls of men" (C. H. M.). "And saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? . . . Come" was the word of invitation that this newly-born soul extended to those men. It was a word she had learned from Christ’s own lips (verse 16). It is the great word of the Gospel. It is the word which has resulted in peace to countless hearts. The last recorded words of this woman show her now as an active servant for Christ. It is remarkable to find that this final word of the woman was her seventh—the perfect number. Seven times, no more and no less, had Christ spoken to her—telling of the perfectness of His work in dealing with her. Six times she spoke to Him (the number of man in the flesh) before she was fully saved; and then to this is added the last recorded word when she went forth to tell others of the One who had saved her; making seven in all—this last one, the seventh, evidencing the perfect work which Christ had wrought in her! 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. BARNES,"Believe me - As she had professed to believe that he was a prophet, it was right to require her to put faith in what he was about to utter. It also shows the importance of what he was about to say. The hour cometh - The time is coming, or is near. When neither in this mountain ... - Hitherto the public solemn worship of God has been confined to one place. It has been a matter of dispute whether that place should be Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim. That controversy is to be of much less importance than you have supposed. The old dispensation is about to pass away. The special rites of the Jews are to cease. The worship of God, so long confined to a single place, is soon to be celebrated everywhere, and with as much acceptance in one place as in another. He does not say that there would be no worship of God in that place or in Jerusalem, but that the worship of God would not be “confined” there. He would be worshipped in other places as well as there. CLARKE,"The hour cometh, etc. - The time was now at hand in which the spiritual worship of God was about to be established in the earth, and all the Jewish rites and ceremonies entirely abolished. Worship the Father - This epithet shows the mild, benignant, and tender nature of the Gospel dispensation. Men are called to worship their heavenly Father, and to consider themselves as his children. In reference to this, our Lord’s prayer begins, 190
- 191. Our Father, whoart in heaven, etc. See Joh_4:23. GILL, "Jesus saith unto her, woman, believe me,.... In what I am now going to say, since you own me to be a prophet: the hour cometh; the time is at hand; it is very near; it is just coming: when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father; that is, God, whom the Jews, and so the Samaritans, knew under the character of the Father of all men, as the Creator and preserver of them; for not God as the Father of Christ, or of the saints by adopting grace, is here intended, which this ignorant woman at least had no knowledge of: and the reason of our Lord's speaking after this manner, signifying, that she need not trouble herself about the place of worship, was, partly, because in a little time Jerusalem, and the temple in it, would be destroyed, and not one stone left upon another; and that Samaria, and this mountain of Gerizim, with whatsoever edifice might be upon it, would be laid desolate, so that neither of them would continue long to be places of religious worship; and partly, because all distinction of places in religion would entirely cease; and one place would be as lawful, and as proper to worship in, as another; and men should lift up holy hands, and pray, and offer up spiritual sacrifices in every place, even from the rising of the sun, to the going down of the same, Mal_ 1:11. HENRY, "[1.] He puts a slight upon the question, as she had proposed it, concerning the place of worship (Joh_4:21): “Woman, believe me as a prophet, and mark what I say. Thou art expecting the hour to come when either by some divine revelation, or some signal providence, this matter shall be decided in favour either of Jerusalem or of Mount Gerizim; but I tell thee the hour is at hand when it shall be no more a question; that which thou has been taught to lay so much weight on shall be set aside as a thing indifferent.” Note, It should cool us in our contests to think that those things which now fill us, and which we make such a noise about, shall shortly vanish, and be no more: the very things we are striving about are passing away: The hour comes when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. First, The object of worship is supposed to continue still the same - God, as a Father; under this notion the very heathen worshipped God, the Jews did so, and probably the Samaritans. Secondly, But a period shall be put to all niceness and all differences about the place of worship. The approaching dissolution of the Jewish economy, and the erecting of the evangelical state, shall set this matter at large, and lay all in common, so that it shall be a thing perfectly indifferent whether in either of these places or any other men worship God, for they shall not be tied to any place; neither here nor there, but both, and any where, and every where. Note, The worship of God is not now, under the gospel, appropriated to any place, as it was under the law, but it is God's will that men pray every where. 1Ti_2:8; Mal_1:11. Our reason teaches us to consult decency and convenience in the places of our worship: but our religion gives no preference to one place above another, in respect to holiness and acceptableness to God. Those who prefer any worship merely for the sake of the house or building in which it is performed (though it were as magnificent and as solemnly consecrated as ever Solomon's temple was) forget that the hour is come when there shall be no difference put in God's account: no, not between Jerusalem, which had been so famous for sanctity, and the mountain of Samaria, which had 191
- 192. been so infamousfor impiety. [2.] He lays a stress upon other things, in the matter of religious worship. When he made so light of the place of worship he did not intend to lessen our concern about the thing itself, of which therefore he takes occasion to discourse more fully. JAMIESON, "Woman, etc. — Here are three weighty pieces of information: (1) The point raised will very soon cease to be of any moment, for a total change of dispensation is about to come over the Church. (2) The Samaritans are wrong, not only as to the place, but the whole grounds and nature of their worship, while in all these respects the truth lies with the Jews. (3) As God is a Spirit, so He both invites and demands a spiritual worship, and already all is in preparation for a spiritual economy, more in harmony with the true nature of acceptable service than the ceremonial worship by consecrated persons, place, and times, which God for a time has seen meet to keep up till fullness of the time should come. neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem — that is, exclusively (Mal_ 1:11; 1Ti_2:8). worship the Father — She had talked simply of “worship”; our Lord brings up before her the great OBJECT of all acceptable worship - “THE FATHER.” CALVIN, "21.Woman, believe me. In the first part of this reply, he briefly sets aside the ceremonial worship which had been appointed under the Law; for when he says that the hour is at hand when there shall be no peculiar and fixed place for worship, he means that what Moses delivered was only for a time, and that the time was now approaching when the partition-wall (Ephesians 2:14) should be thrown down. In this manner he extends the worship of God far beyond its former narrow limits, that the Samaritans might become partakers of it. The hour cometh. He uses the present tense instead of the future; but the meaning is, that the repeal of the Law is already at hand, so far as relates to the Temple, and Priesthood, and other outward ceremonies. By calling God Father, he seems indirectly to contrast Him with the Fathers whom the woman had mentioned, and to convey this instruction, that God will be a common Father to all, so that he will be generally worshipped without distinction of places or nations. COKE, "John 4:21. Woman, believe me, &c.— To understand the force of our Lord's reply, it will be necessary to recur to the origin of this dispute between the two nations. We shall first premise that Christ waves the decision of the question put to him by the woman, and with good reason; for he was about to destroy all local worship, by introducing a religion suited to all climates, and to be observed in all nations of the world. To talk then of the preference of this or that mountain, or to decide the point in favour of either, would have been inconsistent with his doctrine. This premised, we observe, that at the time of the migration of the Hebrews from Egypt, the whole world was sunk into idolatry; they alone were blessed with the knowledge of the true God; yet even they were perpetually relapsing into the absurdities of idol worship. Hence that load of peculiar 192
- 193. ceremonies was imposedupon them; tending particularly, amongst other wise purposes, to the keeping them pure from idolatry, to the separating them from the worship of the Pagan nations which surrounded them, and to the confirming them in that of the true God: to this end the temple was built, and the worship established at Jerusalem. Hither the whole nation was obliged to resort at stated times, to prevent their relapse into idolatry. The Samaritans, who had divided from the Jews, had built a temple, partly for the same ends, on mount Gerizim, where theyperiodically performed the ceremonies enjoined by the law. These ceremonies, and this separation of Jews from Gentiles, were designed by Providence to be continued till the coming of Christ, when a glorious change was to take place. The world was prepared by higher degrees of knowledge for the reception of the gospel. This was the hour appointed for the sun of righteousness to arise: now was to be done away every circumstance and ceremony tending to keep up the former separation; nothing was to be established, save what conduced to a general union of mankind; and the peculiar, the local, and periodical worship of Jerusalem, was to be swallowed up in that more spiritual dispensation, which was designed to produce universal peace and love. In this view, we have only to read over the passage before us, to discover at once its meaning and propriety. COFFMAN, "Jerusalem had been until that time the correct place to worship God, but Jesus deferred that part of the answer in order to reveal that a totally new system was about to be initiated, in which the PLACE of worship would have no significance at all. God may be worshipped properly ANYWHERE, provided only that the divine worship is tendered in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). ELLICOTT, "(21) Woman (comp. Note on John 2:4), believe me, the hour cometh.—Better, there cometh an hour. The Authorised version of the latter clause gives the correct sense, if it is punctuated as follows: “When ye shall, neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem, worship the Father;” “when ye shall worship, but without the limitation of holy places; when ye shall worship the Father of mankind, before whom Jew, and Samaritan, and Gentile are brethren.” Both these thoughts are suggested by her words. She had referred in the past tense to the worship on Gerizim, when for more than a century and a half the temple had been in ruins, but she refers in the present to the temple at Jerusalem, where the form of worship was every day gone through. From that temple He had just come. The ruins of the one are before Him, the ruins of the other are present to His thoughts (John 2:18-22). Both centres of local worship are to cease. She had referred more than once to the claim which arose from direct descent from the patriarch (John 4:12-20). But the Father is God, and the hour coming, and then present (John 4:23), in Christ’s mission, had the Fatherhood of God and the sonship of humanity as its message to the world. In this mountain.—Sychar was between Ebal and Gerizim, and she would point out the holy mountain with the ruins of the temple then in sight. The contrast between “our fathers” and the emphatic “ye” carries back the thoughts to the rival temple and worship on Mount Gerizim from the time of 193
- 194. Nehemiah. The enmitytook its rise in the refusal to accept the help of the Samaritans in the restoration of the temple at Jerusalem (Ezra 4:2; comp. 2 Kings 17:24 et seq.). The next step is recorded in Nehemiah 13:28. Manasseh, the son of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, had married a daughter of Sanballat, and was chased from Jerusalem. Sanballat thereupon supported his son-in-law in establishing a rival worship, but it is not clear that the temple was built until a century later, in the time of Alexander the Great. The authority for the details of the history is Josephus (Ant. xi. 8, § 2), but he seems to confuse Sanballat the Persian satrap, with Sanballat the Horonite. In any case, from the erection of the temple on Mount Gerizim, the schism was complete. The temple was destroyed by John Hyrcanus, about B.C. 129 (Ant. xiii. 9, § 1), but the mountain on which it stood continued to be, and is to this day, the holy place of the Samaritans. All travellers in the Holy Land describe their Passover, still eaten on this mountain in accordance with the ritual of the Pentateuch. They claimed that this mountain, and not Jerusalem, was the true scene of the sacrifice of Isaac, and Gentile tradition marked it out as the meeting-place with Melchizedek (Euseb. Prœp. Evang. ix. 22). In accordance with their claim, they had changed in every instance the reading of the Pentateuch, “God will choose a spot” (Deuteronomy 12:14; Deuteronomy 18:6, &c.), into “He has chosen,” i.e., Gerizim. “Ebal,” in Deuteronomy 27:5, had become “Gerizim,” and the Ten Commandments in Exodus and Deuteronomy are followed by an interpolated command to erect an altar in Mount Gerizim. Jerusalem, on the other hand, had never once been named in the Pentateuch, which was the only part of the Jewish canon which they accepted. It was but a modern city in comparison with the claim that Gerizin was a holy place from the time of Abraham downwards. BURKITT, "Here we have our Saviour's answer to the foregoing question, which consists of two parts. 1. Concerning the place of worship. 2. Concerning the worship itself. As to the place of worship, our Saviour tells her, That though the Jews had heretofore by warrant of God's word regularly worshipped at Jerusalem, and the Samaritans superstitiously worshipped at mount Gerizim, yet the hour was coming, namely, at his death, when all difference of places for God's worship should be taken away, and therefore she need not trouble herself about the place of God's worship, to know whether of the two places were holier, and the better to serve God in: for ere long the service of God should not be confined more to one place than another. Learn hence, 1. That since the death of Christ, the religious difference of places is taken away, and the worship of God not confined to any one particular place or nation. 2. Our blessed Saviour resolves her, concerning the worship itself, namely, That the ceremonial worship, which the Jews and Samaritans used, should shortly be abolished, and instead thereof a more spiritual form of worship should be 194
- 195. established, more suitableto the spiritual nature of the great and holy God, and containing in it the truth and substance of all that which the Jewish ceremonies prefigured and shadowed forth. Learn hence, That the true worship of God under the gospel, doth not consist in the external pomp of any outward ceremonies, but is spiritual and substantial: no worship is acceptable to him, who is the Father of Spirits, but that which is truly spiritual. PETT, "‘Jesus says to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father. You worship that which you know not, we worship that which we know, for salvation is of the Jews”.’ Jesus did not reply that both religions were as good. He acknowledged that the Jews had been the vehicle of God’s revelation to man, ‘salvation is of the Jews’. But He did put both in perspective. The time had come, He said, when such matters would be unimportant. Men would in future worship God away from either centre of worship, as indeed many Jews were already doing throughout the known world. And attachment to these centres would cease to be important (this the Jews had not yet realised). ‘Woman’. As with His mother earlier( see on John 2:4), a polite word for addressing women. ‘The hour is coming.’ His hour would introduce this hour, a time when worship would not be restricted to places but would be spiritual and from the heart. Then Mount Gerizim and Jerusalem would both cease to have importance. What would matter would be a heart right towards God and centred on Him. ‘You will worship the Father’. The ‘you’ (plural) here referred to Samaritans as a group and made clear that He recognised that some of them would come to experience this spiritual worship. ‘You worship what you do not know.’ Their means of revelation was limited to the Pentateuch. They had therefore rather a narrow view of God and were lacking the greater level of revelation through the prophets and the ‘holy writings’ (Psalms etc.). And because they lacked the fuller revelation given to Israel, their knowledge of God was lacking. They did not have the full knowledge of the intimacy of God as revealed to the Jews. ‘We worship that which we know, for salvation is of the Jews’. Israel had a more complete revelation in the books of the Old Testament. And furthermore, that fuller revelation promised that salvation for the world would come through the Jews and their promised Messiah. Jesus therefore acknowledged that the Jews thus had a fuller understanding of the ways of God and a greater privilege, and were to be the channels of God’s blessing to the world. As Paul summed it up ‘To them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, 195
- 196. according to theflesh, is the Christ’ (Romans 9:4-5). The Samaritans could parallel some of these but not all. So He did not deny that the Jews were greatly privileged. On the other hand He did not deny that the Samaritans genuinely worshipped God. Their faith might be somewhat lacking but it was a real faith. And now that He was here it could become a transformed faith. The statement that ‘salvation is of the Jews’ is certainly one that we would expect from a Jewish prophet. But it is not one that we would expect to be inserted by an inventor, especially by a member of the early church who had suffered much at the hands of the Jews and was aware of rivalry with them. There can really be no doubt of the Jewish emphasis and the fact that this conversation took place. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. BARNES,"Ye worship ye know not what - This probably refers to the comparative ignorance and corruption of the Samaritan worship. Though they received the five books of Moses, yet they rejected the prophets, and of course all that the prophets had said respecting the true God. Originally, also, they had joined the worship of idols to that of the true God. See 2Ki_17:26-34. They had, moreover, no authority for building their temple and conducting public worship by sacrifices there. On all these accounts they were acting in an unauthorized manner. They were not obeying the true God, nor offering the worship which he had commanded or would approve. Thus, Jesus indirectly settled the question which she had proposed to him, yet in such a way as to show her that it was of much less importance than she had supposed. We know - We Jews. This they knew because God had commanded it; because they worshipped in a place appointed by God, and because they did it in accordance with the direction and teaching of the prophets. Salvation is of the Jews - They have the true religion and the true form of worship; and the Messiah, who will bring salvation, is to proceed from them. See Luk_2:30; Luk_3:6. Jesus thus affirms that the Jews had the true form of the worship of God. At the same time he was sensible how much they had corrupted it, and on various occasions reproved them for it. CLARKE,"Ye worship ye know not what - The Samaritans believed in the same God with the Jews; but, as they rejected all the prophetical writings, they had but an imperfect knowledge of the Deity: besides, as they incorporated the worship of 196
- 197. idols with hisworship, they might be justly said to worship him whom they did not properly know. See the account of their motley worship, 2Ki_17:26-34. But after Sanballat had built the temple on Mount Gerizim, the idolatrous worship of the Cutheans and Sepharvites, etc., was entirely laid aside; the same religious service being performed in the Samaritan temple which was performed in that at Jerusalem. We know what we worship - We Jews acknowledge all the attributes of his nature, and offer to him only the sacrifices prescribed in the law. Salvation is of the Jews - Εκ των Ιουδαιων εστιν, Salvation is from the Jews. Salvation seems here to mean the Savior, the Messiah, as it does Luk_2:30; Act_ 4:12 : and so the woman appears to have understood it, Joh_4:25. The Messiah was to spring from the Jews - from them, the preaching of the Gospel, and the knowledge of the truth, were to go to all the nations of the world. It was to the Jews that the promises were made; and it was in their prophetic Scriptures, which the Samaritans rejected, that Jesus Christ was proclaimed and described. See Isa_11:3. GILL, "Ye worship ye know not what,.... However, as to her question, he more directly replies by condemning the Samaritans, and their ignorance in worship, and by approving the Jews; and so manifestly gives the preference to the Jews, not only with respect to the place, and object of worship, but with respect to knowledge and salvation. As for the Samaritans, he suggests, that they were ignorant, not only of the true object of worship, but knew not what they themselves worshipped; or, at least, were not agreed in it. The original inhabitants of those parts, from whence these Samaritans sprung, were idolatrous Heathens, placed by the king of Assyria in the room of the ten tribes he carried away captive; and these feared not the Lord, for they "knew not the manner of the God of the land": wherefore lions were sent among them which slew many of them; upon which the king of Assyria ordered a priest to be sent to instruct them: but notwithstanding this, they had everyone gods of their own, some one, and some another; and so served divers graven images, they and their children, and their children's children, to the time of the writer of the Book of Kings; see 2Ki_17:24. And though after Manasseh, and other Jews were come among them, and they had received the law of Moses, they might have some knowledge of the true God, yet they glorified him not as God; and though they might in words profess him, yet in works they denied him; and even after this they are very highly charged by the Jews with idolatrous practices on this mount. Sometimes they say (g) the Cuthites, or Samaritans, worshipped fire; and at other times, and which chiefly prevails with them, they assert (h), that their wise men, upon searching, found that they worshipped the image of a dove on Mount Gerizim; and sometimes they say (i), they worshipped the idols, the strange gods, or Teraphim, which Jacob hid under the oak in Sichem; which last, if true, may serve to illustrate these words of Christ, that they worshipped they knew not what, since they worshipped idols hid in the mount. "R. Ishmael bar Jose, they say (k) went to Neapolis, (Sichem, called Naplous,) the Cuthites, or Samaritans came to him (to persuade him to worship with them in their mountain); he said unto them, I will show you that ye do not "worship at this mountain", but "the images which are hid under it"; for it is written, Gen_35:4; "and Jacob hid them" under the oak which was by Shechem.'' And elsewhere (l) it is reported of the same Rabbi, that he went to Jerusalem to pray, as before related on Joh_4:20, and after what passed between him, and the Samaritan he met with at Mount Gerizim, before mentioned, he added; 197
- 198. "and said tohim, I will tell you what ye are like, (ye are like) to a dog that lusts after carrion; so because ye know the idols are hid under it, (the mountain,) as it is written, Gen_35:4 and Jacob hid them, therefore ye lust after it: they said--this man knows that idols are hid here, and perhaps he will take them away; and they consulted together to kill him: he arose, and made his escape in the night.'' But this was not the case of the Jews: we know what we worship; Christ puts himself among them, for he was a Jew, as the woman took him to be; and, as man, was a worshipper of God; he feared, loved, and obeyed God; he trusted in him, and prayed unto him; though, as God, he was the object of worship himself: and the true worshippers among the Jews, of which sort Christ was, knew God, whom they worshipped, spiritually and savingly; and the generality of that people had right notions of the God of Israel, having the oracles, and service of God, and being instructed out of Moses, and the prophets: for salvation is of the Jews; the promises of salvation, and of a Saviour, were made to them, when the Gentiles were strangers to them; the means of salvation, and of the knowledge of it, as the word, statutes, and ordinances, were enjoyed by them, when others were ignorant of them; and the Messiah, who is sometimes styled "Salvation", see Gen_49:18, was not only prophesied of in their books, and promised unto them, but came of them, as well as to them; and the number of the saved ones had been for many hundreds of years, and still was among them; the line of election ran among them, and few among the Gentiles were called and saved, as yet. HENRY, "First, As to the present state of the controversy, he determines against the Samaritan worship, and in favour of the Jews, Joh_4:22. He tells here, 1. That the Samaritans were certainly in the wrong; not merely because they worshipped in this mountain, though, while Jerusalem's choice was in force, that was sinful, but because they were out in the object of their worship. If the worship itself had been as it should have been, its separation from Jerusalem might have been connived at, as the high places were in the best reigns: But you worship you know not what, or that which you do not know. They worshipped the God of Israel, the true God (Ezr_4:2; 2Ki_17:32); but they were sunk into gross ignorance; they worshipped him as the God of that land (2Ki_17:27, 2Ki_17:33), as a local deity, like the gods of the nations, whereas God must be served as God, as the universal cause and Lord. Note, Ignorance is so far from being the mother of devotion that it is the murderer of it. Those that worship God ignorantly offer the blind for sacrifice, and it is the sacrifice of fools. 2. That the Jews were certainly in the right. For, (1.) “We know what we worship. We go upon sure grounds in our worship, for our people are catechised and trained up in the knowledge of God, as he has revealed himself in the scripture.” Note, Those who by the scriptures have obtained some knowledge of God (a certain though not a perfect knowledge) may worship him comfortably to themselves, and acceptably to him, for they know what they worship. Christ elsewhere condemns the corruptions of the Jews' worship (Mat_15:9), and yet here defends the worship itself; the worship may be true where yet it is not pure and entire. Observe, Our Lord Jesus was pleased to reckon himself among the worshippers of God: We worship. Though he was a Son (and then are the children free), yet learned he this obedience, in the days of his humiliation. Let not the greatest of men think the worship of God below them, when the Son of God himself did not. (2.) Salvation is of the Jews; and therefore they know what they worship, and what grounds they go upon in their worship. Not that all the Jews were saved, nor that it was not possible but that many 198
- 199. of the Gentilesand Samaritans might be saved, for in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him; but, [1.] The author of eternal salvation comes of the Jews, appears among them (Rom_9:5), and is sent first to bless them. [2.] The means of eternal salvation are afforded to them. The word of salvation (Act_13:26) was of the Jews. It was delivered to them, and other nations derived it through them. This was a sure guide to them in their devotions, and they followed it, and therefore knew what they worshipped. To them were committed the oracles of God (Rom_3:2), and the service of God, (Rom_9:4). The Jews therefore being thus privileged and advanced, it was presumption for the Samaritans to vie with them. CALVIN, "He now explains more largely what he had briefly glanced at about the abolition of the Law; but he divides the substance of his discourse into two parts. In the former, he charges with superstition and error the form of worshipping God which had been used by the Samaritans, but testifies that the true and lawful form was observed by the Jews. And he assigns the cause of the difference, that from the word of God the Jews obtained certainty as to his worship, while the Samaritans received nothing certain from the mouth of God. In the second part, he declares that the ceremonies hitherto observed by the Jews would soon be at an end. 22.You worship what you know not, we worship what we know. This is a sentence worthy of being remembered, and teaches us that we ought not to attempt any thing in religion rashly or at random; because, unless there be knowledge, it is not God that we worship, but a phantom or idol. All good intentions, as they are called, are struck by this sentence, as by a thunderbolt; for we learn from it, that men can do nothing but err, when they are guided by their own opinion without the word or command of God. For Christ, defending the person and cause of his nation, shows that the Jews are widely different from the Samaritans. And why? Because salvation is from the Jews. By these words he means that they have the superiority in this respect, that God had made with them a covenant of eternal salvation. Some restrict it to Christ, who was descended from the Jews; and, indeed, since all the promises of God were confirmed and ratified in him, (2 Corinthians 1:20,) there is no salvation but in him. But as there can be no doubt that Christ gives the preference to the Jews on this ground, that they do not worship some unknown deity, but God alone, who revealed himself to them, and by whom they were adopted as his people; by the word salvation we ought to understand that saving manifestation which had been made to them concerning the heavenly doctrine. But why does he say that it was from the Jews, when it was rather deposited with them, that they alone might enjoy it? He alludes, in my opinion, to what had been predicted by the Prophets, that the Law would go forth from Zion, (Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2,) for they were separated for a time from the rest of the nations on the express condition, that the pure knowledge of God should flow out from them to 199
- 200. the whole world.It amounts to this, that God is not properly worshipped but by the certainty of faith, which cannot be produced in any other way than by the word of God. Hence it follows that all who forsake the word fall into idolatry; for Christ plainly testifies that an idol, or an imagination of their own brain, is substituted for God, when men are ignorant of the true God; and he charges with ignorance all to whom God has not revealed himself, for as soon as we are deprived of the light of his word, darkness and blindness reign. It ought to be observed that the Jews, when they had treacherously set aside the covenant of eternal life which God had made with their fathers, were deprived of the treasure which they had till that time enjoyed; for they had not yet been driven out of the Church of God. Now that they deny the Son, they have nothing in common with the Father; for whosoever denieth the Son hath not the Father, (1 John 2:23.) The same judgment must be formed concerning all who have turned aside from the pure faith of the Gospel to their own inventions and the traditions of men. Although they who worship God according to their own judgment or human traditions flatter and applaud themselves in their obstinacy, this single word, thundering from heaven, lays prostrate all that they imagine to be divine and holy, You worship what you do not know It follows from this that, if we wish our religion to be approved by God, it must rest on knowledge obtained from His word. COKE, "John 4:22. Ye worship ye know not what:— The Samaritans worshipped the true God, and seem to have had as just notions of his perfections in general as the Jews; for they drew them from the five books of Moses, the authority of which they acknowledged. If so, the meaning of the clause in the original, can hardly be what our version has affixed to it, Ye worship ye know not what; but its proper translation seems to be, Ye worship the Deity whom ye do not know; viz. "by any revelation which he has made of himself to you," — the words το θειον, the Deity, being understood, "Whereas we Jews worship the Deity, whom we know; viz. by a revelation which he has made of himself to us;— for salvation is of the Jews:—What knowledge you have of salvation, as well as the author of salvation, cometh, by your own confession, from us;—you have your religion from us." If the reader thinks that this interpretation makes too great a supplement necessary, let him look to the following passages, particularly the words inserted in italics merely by the translators, as they stand in the common version: Mark 7:4; Mark 7:11. Luke 6:22. John 1:8; John 9:1; John 15:25 and particularly John 18:28 where the original words αλλ ινα φαγωσι το πασχα, must be rendered, But stood without, that they might eat the passover. These examples prove, that the elliptical stile is familiar to St. John; and the one last mentioned is no less peculiar than that which may be supposed in the passage under consideration. See also 2 Thessalonians 2:3 where the words, that day shall not come, are necessarilysupplied in our language by our translators. Some indeed give our Lord's words a more easy sense, thus: "Since God has declared that Jerusalem is the place of offering sacrifices acceptably, ye worship 200
- 201. him without justconceptions of him, when you fancy he has chosen Gerizim." Yet it may be doubted whether the error of the Samaritans concerning the place of worship, would be reckoned by our Lord as a sufficient reason for saying of them, that they worshipped they knew not what. There are others who would paraphrase the whole passage thus: "As you take me for a prophet, believe me, that the occasion of this dispute about the place of worship, will soon be removed; sacrifices, now offered at both places, shall ere long cease for ever; a new dispensation will be opened, which will require the true disciples of it to worship in all places; every where offering up their hearts to God, and disposed to obey him in all things. When your ancestors came into this land, they knew not the manner of God's worship; and indeed knew not God himself: And even you, though better instructed, are yet, in both respects, defective in your knowledge. Knowledge is more abundant with us the people of the Jews; and from among the Jews cometh salvation, by reason of the Messiah's birth among them, who is to introduce this new dispensation, and to render a temple unnecessary, either on Gerizim, or at Jerusalem." COFFMAN, "Ye know not ... The Samaritan worship (see under John 4:7) was faulty in several important factors. It was founded upon only a part of the word of God (the Pentateuch), and even that part was not strictly obeyed. Also, many polluting elements of paganism had been incorporated into it. That which we know ... Thus Jesus affirmed the truth of the Old Testament and the validity of the covenant with the chosen people, affirming the authenticity of the Hebrew religion. Salvation is from the Jews ... God took hold "of the seed of Abraham" (Hebrews 2:16); the Jews were custodians of the Scripture (Romans 3:2); Christ was born "under the law." The Old Testament Scriptures are they which "testify" of Christ (John 5:39). Even the church today is the Israel of God, and all Christians are "the seed of Abraham" (Galatians 3:29). In the sense of origins and the typical nature of the Jewish religion, it is still true that "salvation is of the Jews." ELLICOTT, "(22) For salvation is of the Jews.—This verse has sorely tried critics who seek to construct the Gospel out of their judgments of what it should be. It can be no difficulty to those who seek to form their judgments from the Gospel as it is. Assume that the Gospel belongs to the Greek thought of the close of the second century, and the verse must be omitted, though it is certainly part of the original text; accept the Gospel as belonging to the Hebrew thought of the first century, and this touch of Jewish theology is in entire harmony with it. The contrast between the Samaritan and the Jewish worship lay in its history, its state at that time, and its rejection of the fuller teaching of the prophetical books of the Old Testament. “In every way the Jews had much advantage, but chiefly that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” Little as they knew the treasure they possessed, they were the guardians of spiritual truth for the world, and in a sense deeper than they could fathom, “salvation was of the Jews.” (Comp. Romans 3:2; Romans 9:4-5, Notes; Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2.) The “we” of this verse is in answer to the “ye” of John 4:20. She identifies Him 201
- 202. with those whoclaim Jerusalem as the place of worship. That “ye” contained its own answer. In using it she had said that the Messiah was of the Jews. BARCLAY, "THE TRUE WORSHIP (John 4:22-26) 4:22-26 "You do not know what you are worshipping. We do know what we worship, because the world's salvation has its origin among the Jews. But the hour is coming--the hour is now here--when the real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for it is worshippers like that that the Father is looking for. God is Spirit; and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." The woman said to him: "I know that the Messiah, he who is called Christ, is coming. When he has come he will announce all things to us." Jesus said to her: "I who am speaking to you am he." Jesus had told the Samaritan woman that the old rivalries were on the way out, that the day was coming when controversy about the respective merits of Mount Gerizim and Mount Zion would be an irrelevancy, that he who truly sought God would find him anywhere. For all that Jesus still stressed the fact that the Jewish nation had a unique place in God's plan and revelation. The Samaritans worshipped in ignorance, he said. There was one sense in which that was factually true. The Samaritans accepted only the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. They rejected all the rest of the Old Testament. They had therefore rejected all the great messages of the prophets and all the supreme devotion of the Psalms. They had in fact a truncated religion because they had a truncated Bible; they had rejected the knowledge that was open to them and that they might have had. Further, the Jewish Rabbis had always charged the Samaritans with a merely superstitious worship of the true God. They always said that the Samaritan worship was founded not on love and knowledge, but on ignorance and fear. As we have seen, when the foreign peoples were brought in to dwell in Samaria, they brought their own gods with them (2 Kings 17:29). We are told that a priest from Bethel came and told them how they should fear the Lord.(2 Kings 17:28). But all the probability is that they merely added Jehovah to their list of gods because they were superstitiously afraid to leave him out. After all he was the God of the land in which they were living and it might be dangerous not to include him in their worship. In a false worship we may detect three faults. (i) A false worship is a selective worship. It chooses what it wishes to know about God and omits the rest. The Samaritans took as much of scripture as they wished and paid no attention to the rest. One of the most dangerous things in the world is a one-sided religion. It is very easy for a man to accept and hold such parts of God's truth as suit him and to disregard the remainder. We have seen, for instance, how certain thinkers and churchmen and politicians justify apartheid and racial segregation by appeal to certain parts of scripture, while they conveniently forget the far greater parts which forbid it. A minister in a great city organized a petition to help a man who had been condemned for a certain crime. It seemed to him that this was a case where 202
- 203. Christian mercy oughtto operate. His telephone bell rang, and a woman's voice said to him: "I am astonished that you, a minister, should be lending your weight to this petition for mercy." "Why should you be surprised?" he asked. The voice said: "I suppose you know your Bible ... .. I hope so," he said. "Then," said the voice, "are you not aware that the Bible says, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'?" Here was a woman who took the part of the Bible which suited her argument and forgot the great merciful teaching of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. We would do well to remember that, although no man will ever grasp the whole orb of truth, it is total truth that we should aim at, not the snatching at fragments which happen to suit ourselves and our own position. (ii) A false worship is an ignorant worship. Worship ought to be the approach to God of the whole man. A man has a mind and he has a duty to exercise it. Religion may begin with an emotional response; but the time comes when that emotional response has to be thought out. E. F. Scott said that religion is far more than merely the strenuous exercise of the intellect, but that nonetheless a very great part of religious failure is due to nothing other than intellectual sloth. To fail to think things out is in itself a sin. In the last analysis, religion is never safe until a man can tell, not only what he believes, but why he believes it. Religion is hope, but it is hope with reason behind it (1 Peter 3:15). (iii) A false worship is a superstitious worship. It is a worship given, not out of a sense of need nor out of any real desire, but basically because a man feels that it might be dangerous not to give it. Many a person will refuse to walk beneath a ladder; many a person will have a pleased feeling when a black cat crosses his path; many a person will pick up a pin with the idea that good luck will follow; many a person will have an uncomfortable feeling when he is one of thirteen sitting at a table. He does not believe in these superstitions, but he has the feeling that there might be something in them and he had better play safe. There are many people whose religion is founded on a kind of vague fear of what might happen if they leave God out of the reckoning. But real religion is founded not on fear but on the love of God and gratitude for what God has done. Too much religion is a kind of superstitious ritual to avert the possible wrath of the unpredictable gods. Jesus pointed to the true worship. God, he said, is spirit. Immediately a man grasps that, a new flood-light breaks over him. If God is spirit, God is not confined to things; and therefore idol worship is not only an irrelevancy, it is an insult to the very nature of God. If God is spirit, God is not confined to places; and therefore to limit the worship of God to Jerusalem or to any other spot is to set a limit to that which by its nature overpasses all limits. If God is spirit, a man's gifts to God must be gifts of the spirit. Animal sacrifices and all man-made things become inadequate. The only gifts that befit the nature of God are the gifts of the spirit--love, loyalty, obedience, devotion. A man's spirit is the highest part of him. That is the part which lasts when the physical part has vanished. That is the part which dreams the dreams and sees 203
- 204. the visions which,because of the weakness and faultiness of the body, may never be carried out. It is the spirit of a man which is the source of his highest dreams and thoughts and ideals and desires. The true worship is when man, through his spirit, attains to friendship and intimacy with God. Genuine worship does not consist in coming to a certain place nor in going through a certain ritual or liturgy nor even in bringing certain gifts. True worship is when the spirit, the immortal and invisible part of man, speaks to and meets with God, himself immortal and invisible. This passage closes with a great declaration. There had opened before this Samaritan woman a vista which bewildered and staggered her. Here were things beyond her understanding, things full of wonder. All that she could say was: "When the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One of God comes, then we will know all about it." Jesus said to her: "I who am speaking to you am he." It is as if Jesus said this is not a dream of the truth; this is the truth itself. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. BARNES,"But the hour cometh, and now is - The old dispensation is about to pass away, and the new one to commence. “Already” there is so much light that God may be worshipped acceptably in any place. The true worshippers - All who truly and sincerely worship God. They who do it with the heart, and not merely in form. In spirit - The word “spirit,” here, stands opposed to rites and ceremonies, and to the pomp of external worship. It refers to the “mind,” the “soul,” the “heart.” They shall worship God with a sincere “mind;” with the simple offering of gratitude and prayer; with a desire to glorify him, and without external pomp and splendor. Spiritual worship is that where the heart is offered to God, and where we do not depend on external forms for acceptance. In truth - Not through the medium of shadows and types, not by means of sacrifices and bloody offerings, but in the manner represented or typified by all these, Heb_9:9, Heb_9:24. In the true way of direct access to God through Jesus Christ. For the Father seeketh ... - Jesus gives two reasons why this kind of worship should take place. One is that God sought it, or desired it. He had appointed the old mode, but he did it because he sought to lead the mind to himself even by those forms, and to prepare the people for the purer system of the gospel, and now he sought or desired that those who worshipped him should worship him in that 204
- 205. manner. He intimatedhis will by Jesus Christ. CLARKE,"The true worshippers shall worship - in spirit - The worship of the Samaritans was a defective worship - they did not receive the prophetical writings: that of the Jews was a carnal worship, dealing only in the letter, and referring to the spirit and design, which were at a distance, by types and ceremonies. The Gospel of Christ showed the meaning of all these carnal ordinances, and the legal sacrifices, which had all their consummation in his offering of himself: thus a spiritual dispensation took the place of the carnal one which prefigured it. The preaching of the Gospel discovered the true nature of God, of salvation, of the human soul, of earthly and of heavenly things; and, because of this, it is put in opposition to the defective Samaritan worship. GILL, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers,.... The worshippers of the true God, and who worship in a right manner, whether Jews or Samaritans, or of whatsoever nation: shall worship the Father; the one true God, the Father of spirits, and of all flesh living: in spirit; in opposition to all carnal conceptions of him, as if he was a corporeal being, or circumscribed in some certain place, dwelling in temples made with hands, or was to be worshipped with men's hands; and in distinction from the carnal worship of the Jews, which lay greatly in the observation of carnal ordinances: and this shows they should not worship with their bodies only, for bodily exercise profiteth little; but with their souls or spirits, with their whole hearts engaged therein; and by, and under the influence and assistance of the Spirit of God, without whom men cannot perform worship, neither prayer, praise, preaching, or hearing, aright: and in truth; in opposition to hypocrisy, with true hearts, in the singleness, sincerity, and integrity of their souls; and in distinction from Jewish ceremonies, which were only shadows, and had not the truth and substance of things in them; and according to the word of truth, the Gospel of salvation; and in Christ, who is the truth, the true tabernacle, in, and through whom accent is had to God, prayer is made to him, and every part of religious worship with acceptance: so Enoch is said, בקושטא ,פלח "to worship in truth", before the Lord, in the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, in Gen_5:24. And it may be that the worship of all the three persons in the Godhead, as more distinctly performed under the Gospel dispensation, is here intended: for the words may be thus read, "shall worship the Father, with the Spirit", and with the truth; so the preposition εν, is rendered in Eph_6:2; and elsewhere; and then the sense is, they shall "worship the Father"; the first person in the Trinity, who is the Father of Christ, his only begotten Son, and together and equally with him "the Spirit"; the holy Spirit, as the Ethiopic version reads; and Nonnus calls it the divine Spirit: and the rather he may be thought to be intended, since it follows in Joh_4:24, "the Spirit is God"; for so the words lie in the Greek text; and are so rendered in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions; and therefore is the proper object of religious worship, whose temples the saints are, with whom they have communion, to whom they pray, and in whose name they are baptized: and also together "with the 205
- 206. truth"; with Christthe way, the truth, and the life; who is the true God, and eternal life; and who is equally to be worshipped as the Father and Spirit, as he is by the angels in heaven, and by the saints on earth; who pray unto him, trust in him, and are also baptized in his name, as in the name of the other two persons: and the rather this may be thought to be the sense, since Christ is speaking, not of the manner, but of the object of worship, in the preceding verse: for the Father seeketh such to worship him; it being agreeable to him to be worshipped in the manner, as above related; and his desire is, that the Son and Spirit should be honoured equally as himself; and such worshippers he has found, having made them such, both among the Jews and Gentiles; and such only are acceptable to him; see Phi_3:3. HENRY, "Secondly, He describes the evangelical worship which alone God would accept and be well pleased with. Having shown that the place is indifferent, he comes to show what is necessary and essential - that we worship God in spirit and in truth, Joh_4:23, Joh_4:24. The stress is not to be laid upon the place where we worship God, but upon the state of mind in which we worship him. Note, The most effectual way to take up differences in the minor matters of religion is to be more zealous in the greater. Those who daily make it the matter of their care to worship in the spirit, one would think, should not make it the matter of their strife whether he should be worshipped here or there. Christ had justly preferred the Jewish worship before the Samaritan, yet here he intimates the imperfection of that. The worship was ceremonial, Heb_9:1, Heb_9:10. The worshippers were generally carnal, and strangers to the inward part of divine worship. Note, It is possible that we may be better than our neighbours, and yet not so good as we should be. It concerns us to be right, not only in the object of our worship, but in the manner of it; and it is this which Christ here instructs us in. Observe, a. The great and glorious revolution which should introduce this change: The hour cometh, and now is - the fixed stated time, concerning which it was of old determined when it should come, and how long it should last. The time of its appearance if fixed to an hour, so punctual and exact are the divine counsels; the time of its continuance is limited to an hour, so close and pressing is the opportunity of divine grace, 2Co_6:2. This hour cometh, it is coming in its full strength, lustre, and perfection, it now is in the embryo and infancy. The perfect day is coming, and now it dawns. b. The blessed change itself. In gospel times the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. As creatures, we worship the Father of all: as Christians, we worship the Father of our Lord Jesus. Now the change shall be, (a.) In the nature of the worship. Christians shall worship God, not in the ceremonial observances of the Mosaic institution, but in spiritual ordinances, consisting less in bodily exercise, and animated and invigorated more with divine power and energy. The way of worship which Christ has instituted is rational and intellectual, and refined from those external rites and ceremonies with which the Old Testament worship was both clouded and clogged. This is called true worship, in opposition to that which was typical. The legal services were figures of the true, Heb_9:3, Heb_ 9:24. Those that revolted from Christianity to Judaism are said to begin in the spirit, and end in the flesh, Gal_3:3. Such was the difference between Old Testament and New Testament institutions. (b.) In the temper and disposition of the worshippers; and so the true worshippers are good Christians, distinguished from hypocrites; all should, and they will, worship God in spirit and in truth. It is spoken of (Joh_4:23) as their character, and (Joh_4:24) as their duty. Note, It is required of all that worship God that they worship him in spirit and in truth. We must worship God, [a.] 206
- 207. In spirit, Phi_3:3.We must depend upon God's Spirit for strength and assistance, laying our souls under his influences and operations; we must devote our own spirits to, and employ them in, the service of God (Rom_1:9), must worship him with fixedness of thought and a flame of affection, with all that is within us. Spirit is sometimes put for the new nature, in opposition to the flesh, which is the corrupt nature; and so to worship God with our spirits is to worship him with our graces, Heb_12:28. [b.] In truth, that is, in sincerity. God requires not only the inward part in our worship, but truth in the inward part, Psa_51:6. We must mind the power more than the form, must aim at God's glory, and not to be seen of men; draw near with a true heart, Heb_10:22. Thirdly, He intimates the reasons why God must be thus worshipped. a. Because in gospel times they, and they only, are accounted the true worshippers. The gospel erects a spiritual way of worship, so that the professors of the gospel are not true in their profession, do not live up to gospel light and laws, if they do not worship God in spirit and in truth. b. Because the Father seeketh such worshippers of him. This intimates, (a.) That such worshippers are very rare, and seldom met with, Jer_30:21. The gate of spiritual worshipping is strait. (b.) That such worship is necessary, and what the God of heaven insists upon. When God comes to enquire for worshippers, the question will not be, “Who worshipped at Jerusalem?” but, “Who worshipped in spirit?” That will be the touchstone. (c.) That God is greatly well pleased with and graciously accepts such worship and such worshippers. I have desired it, Psa_132:13, Psa_ 132:14; Son_2:14. (d.) That there has been, and will be to the end, a remnant of such worshippers; his seeking such worshippers implies his making them such. God is in all ages gathering in to himself a generation of spiritual worshippers. c. Because God is a spirit. Christ came to declare God to us (Joh_1:18), and this he has declared concerning him; he declared it to this poor Samaritan woman, for the meanest are concerned to know God; and with this design, to rectify her mistakes concerning religious worship, to which nothing would contribute more than the right knowledge of God. Note, (a.) God is a spirit, for he is an infinite and eternal mind, an intelligent being, incorporeal, immaterial, invisible, and incorruptible. It is easier to say what God is not than what he is; a spirit has not flesh and bones, but who knows the way of a spirit? If God were not a spirit, he could not be perfect, nor infinite, nor eternal, nor independent, nor the Father of spirits. (b.) The spirituality of the divine nature is a very good reason for the spirituality of divine worship. If we do not worship God, who is a spirit, in the spirit, we neither give him the glory due to his name, and so do not perform the act of worship, nor can we hope to obtain his favour and acceptance, and so we miss of the end of worship, Mat_15:8, Mat_15:9. CALVIN, "23.But the hour cometh. Now follows the latter clause, about repealing the worship, or ceremonies, (81) prescribed by the Law. When he says that the hour cometh, or will come, he shows that the order laid down by Moses will not be perpetual. When he says that the hour is now come, he puts an end to the ceremonies, and declares that the time of reformation, of which the Apostle speaks, (Hebrews 9:10,) has thus been fulfilled. Yet he approves of the Temple, the Priesthood, and all the ceremonies connected with them, so far as relates to the past time. Again, to show that God does not choose to be worshipped either in Jerusalem or in mount Gerizzim, he takes a higher principle, that the true worship of Him consists in the spirit; for hence it follows that in all places He may be properly worshipped. 207
- 208. But the firstinquiry which presents itself here is, Why, and in what sense, is the worship of God called spiritual ? To understand this, we must attend to the contrast between the spirit and outward emblems, as between the shadows and the truth. The worship of God is said to consist in the spirit, because it is nothing else than that inward faith of the heart which produces prayer, and, next, purity of conscience and self-denial, that we may be dedicated to obedience to God as holy sacrifices. Hence arises another question, Did not the Fathers worship Him spiritually under the Law? I reply, as God is always like himself, he did not from the beginning of the world approve of any other worship than that which is spiritual, and which agrees with his own nature. This is abundantly attested by Moses himself, who declares in many passages that the Law has no other object than that the people may cleave to God with faith and a pure conscience. But it is still more plainly declared by the Prophets when they attack with severity the hypocrisy of the people, because they thought that they had satisfied God, when they had performed the sacrifices and made an outward display. It is unnecessary to quote here many proofs which are to be found everywhere, but the most remarkable passages are the following: — Psalms 50:0. But while the worship of God under the Law was spiritual, it was enveloped in so many outward ceremonies, that it resembled something carnal and earthly. For this reason Paul calls the ceremonies flesh and the beggarly elements of the world, (Galatians 4:9.) In like manner, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says that the ancient sanctuary, with its appendages, was earthly, (Hebrews 9:1.) Thus we may justly say that the worship of the Law was spiritual in its substance, but, in respect of its form, it was somewhat earthly and carnal; for the whole of that economy, the reality of which is now fully manifested, consisted of shadows. We now see what the Jews had in common with us, and in what respect they differed from us. In all ages God wished to be worshipped by faith, prayer, thanksgiving, purity of heart, and innocence of life; and at no time did he delight in any other sacrifices. But under the Law there were various additions, so that thespirit and truth were concealed under forms and shadows, whereas, now that the vail of the temple has been rent, (Matthew 27:51,) nothing is hidden or obscure. There are indeed among ourselves, in the present day, some outward exercises of godliness, which our weakness renders necessary, but such is the moderation and sobriety of them, that they do not obscure the plain truth of Christ. In short, what was exhibited to the fathers under figures and shadows is now openly displayed. Now in Popery this distinction is not only confounded, but altogether overturned; for there the shadows are not less thick than they formerly were under the Jewish religion. It cannot be denied that Christ here lays down an obvious distinction between us and the Jews. Whatever may be the subterfuges by which the Papists attempt to escape, it is evident that we differ from the gathers in nothing more than outward form, because while they worshipped God spiritually, they were bound to perform ceremonies, which were abolished by the coming of Christ. Thus all who oppress the Church with an excessive multitude 208
- 209. of ceremonies, dowhat is in their power to deprive the Church of the presence of Christ. I do not stop to examine the vain excuses which they plead, that many persons in the present day have as much need of those aids as the Jews had in ancient times. It is always our duty to inquire by what order the Lord wished his Church to be governed, for He alone knows thoroughly what is expedient for us. Now it is certain that nothing is more at variance with the order appointed by God than the gross and singularly carnal pomp which prevails in Popery. The spirit was indeed concealed by the shadows of the Law, but the masks of Popery disfigure it altogether; and, therefore, we must not wink at such gross and shameful corruptions. Whatever arguments may be employed by ingenious men, or by those who have not sufficient courage to correct vices — that they are doubtful matters, and ought to be held as indifferent — certainly it cannot be endured that the rule laid down by Christ shall be violated. The true worshippers. Christ appears indirectly to reprove the obstinacy of many, which was afterwards displayed; for we know how obstinate and contentious the Jews were, when the Gospel was revealed, in defending the ceremonies to which they had been accustomed. But this statement has a still more extensive meaning; for, knowing that the world would never be entirely free from superstitions, he thus separates the devout and upright worshippers from those who were false and hypocritical. Armed with this testimony, let us not hesitate to condemn the Papists in all their inventions, and boldly to despise their reproaches. For what reason have we to fear, when we learn that God is pleased with this plain and simple worship, which is disdained by the Papists, because it is not attended by a cumbrous mass of ceremonies? And of what use to them is the idle splendor of the flesh, by which Christ declares that the Spirit is quenched? What it is to worship God in spirit and truth appears clearly from what has been already said. It is to lay aside the entanglements of ancient ceremonies, and to retain merely what is spiritual in the worship of God; for thetruth of the worship of God consists inthe spirit, and ceremonies are but a sort of appendage. And here again it must be observed, that truth is not compared with falsehood, but with the outward addition of the figures of the Law; (82) so that — to use a common expression — it is the pure and simple substance of spiritual worship. COKE, "John 4:23. But the hour cometh,— The thing you are chiefly concerned to know is, that a dispensation of religion is now beginning, under which all languages, countries, and places being sanctified, men are to worship God, not in Jerusalem, but in spirit; by offering the sacrifice, not of beasts, but of themselves; to love and obey him in all things, which is the truth of worship; thething signified by every sacrifice and service enjoined in the law, and whatalone was acceptable to the Father, even under the legal dispensation. See Ch. John 1:14; John 1:17. COFFMAN, "The hour cometh and now is ... indicates that a new dispensation was about to be initiated by Jesus Christ. Within only four years after this interview, all of the regulations concerning the worship of God in Jerusalem were superseded by the ordinances and requirements of the new covenant. Jesus was already baptizing thousands who would, if they continued to follow him, 209
- 210. soon receive theHoly Spirit (after Pentecost). It was the near approach of the new order. The true worshippers ... These contrast with the false, vain, ignorant worshippers of every age who have improperly worshipped God. Who are the true worshippers? They are they who worship God in spirit and in truth. See under John 4:24. For such doth the Father seek ... The initiative of God himself in man's salvation appears in the fact of God's actually seeking those of earth who will truly worship him as he has directed. ELLICOTT, "(23) But the hour cometh.—Better, as in John 4:21, but there cometh an hour. He adds to this thought, what He could not add to the previous one, “and now is.” Local worship was not yet giving way to spiritual; but a band of true worshippers was being gathered, and some were then following Him. The true worshippers.—Her distinction of place was of the accident, but the essence was the nature of the worship. What could any worship be to a God who saw the impurity of the heart, and the contradiction of thought and word? What could she know of the worship of which she speaks? Yes; and the temple at Jerusalem was a house of merchandise, instead of one of prayer; what did priest and Levite, scribe and Pharisee, know of true worship? In spirit and in truth.—The link between human nature and the divine is in the human spirit, which is the shrine of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). All true approach to God must therefore be in spirit. (Comp. Romans 1:9, and Ephesians 6:18.) Place, and time, and words, and postures, and sounds, and all things from without, are important only in so far as they aid in abstraction from the sensible world, and in elevation of the spirit within. The moment they distract they hinder true worship. Ritual cannot be discussed without risk of spiritual loss. The words “in truth,” already expressed in true worshippers, and repeated in the following verse, are more than “truly.” Sincerity is not a test of acceptable worship, though it is a requisite. Bigots sincerely think they do God’s service. Worship which is “in truth” is in harmony with the nature of the God whom we worship. To think of God in hearing His truth, to kindle the soul by hymns of praise, to realise the earlier portions of collects and prayers which utter His attributes, are necessary to the truth of the petitions, and thanksgivings, and adorations of worship. The model prayer of Christianity brings home to the heart the Fatherhood of God in its first words. For the Father seeketh such to worship him.—Better, for such the Father also seeketh His worshippers to be. The word “such,” i.e., of this character, is emphatic. The “also” expresses that the worship, on the part of the true worshippers, is in accordance with the divine will: “the Father also (on His part) . . .” The reader will not fail to note the emphasis in this reply on the word “Father” (John 4:21 and twice in this verse). This name of God, which we teach children to lisp in earliest years, came to her, it may be, now for the first time. He is not Vengeance to be appeased, nor Power to be dreaded, but Love to be 210
- 211. received. (Comp. Noteon John 3:16.) It is when men learn to think of God as Father that merely local and material worship must cease. The universal desire and practice of worship is the witness to a universal object of worship. The yearning of the human spirit is that of a child seeking the author of his being. The seeking is not human only. The Father also seeketh His child, and seeth him when he is a great way off (Luke 15:20). PETT, ". “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such does the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is Spirit, and they who worship him must worship in spirit and truth”.’ Jesus reply was that the essence of the matter was not to be found in holy places, but in the inner heart. He pointed out that God does not have a physical form limiting Him to one place, for He is Spirit. Solomon had in fact recognised this principle long before (1 Kings 8:27. See also Malachi 1:11), as indeed had some of the Psalmists. And this was something all had to learn, both Samaritan and Jew. This fact that God is Spirit, and therefore non-spatial and outside space as we know it, is important to remember. That is why He is accessible everywhere, and why we cannot even begin to understand His Being, apart from revelation. He is simply not definable in earthly terms. And that is why those who would worship Him must worship Him “in Spirit and in truth”, looking to Him as the Father. This idea of ‘spirit and truth’ is amplified throughout the Gospel and especially in John 14-17. What Jesus had come to bring was far too large to be limited to holy places and religious ceremonies, it was something that would transform the heart and bring a new relationship with God wherever men were, and it centred on truth. ‘In spirit and in truth.’ ‘In spirit’ emphasised the non-physical nature of the worship and its positive vitality. It was to be worship from the inner heart, as moved by the Spirit, made directly towards God, and irrespective of place. The danger with formal worship was that it could become cold and of little meaning. True worship had to be alive. What mattered was that such worship came from the heart. ‘In truth’, however, stressed that such worship must also be in accordance with revealed truth. His words were not just a recipe enabling men to do what they liked and have free rein in their thoughts. That could only lead to error. There was a certain body of truth which had to be remembered and taken into account. God must be worshipped as He was revealed to be in the Scriptures and in the teaching and life of Jesus. The Greek construction makes the one idea run into the other. We might say, ‘in Spiritual truth’. The description of God as ‘Spirit’ connects up with John’s general teaching about the Spirit in his Gospel. The Spirit is the life-giver and revealer of truth, thus those who come to God truly will receive life and enter into the truth, and this will raise their hearts in spiritual worship. The use of the capital letter for Spirit in the phrase ‘in Spirit and in truth’ is surely justified in the light of the Gospel as a whole, although we must recognise 211
- 212. that both meaningsare contained here. The Spirit awakens man’s spirit. The work of the Spirit in bringing men into this relationship with God had already been established (John 3:1-15). While the woman may not have recognised this, the writer did. Now it was the Spirit’s work that would make this new way of worship possible. Of course through the ages there had always been men and women who worshipped God in spirit, as the Psalms make clear. But worship connected with particular holy places, using formal ceremonies and physical sacrifices and other paraphernalia, could and had replaced the real thing for the majority. The danger with formality is that it becomes a formality. The work of the Spirit would now release men from this. The ideas of ‘spirit’ and ‘truth’ bear a superficial comparison with the teaching of the Dead Sea scrolls. They too emphasised spirit and truth. This was therefore terminology current at the time in Palestine. But to them ‘truth’ was what they themselves believed and taught, and the ‘spirit’ was not seen as divine. There is no real correlation in meaning with here. ‘The hour is coming, and now is’. Stressing that the new work of the Spirit had now begun in the presence of Jesus. ‘True worshippers’. Here there is the deliberate distinction between those who worship God externally and those who worship Him from the heart in truth (compare Isaiah 1:10-20). ‘Such does the Father seek.’ God does not desire outward worship and paraphernalia, except in so far as they are helpful in producing inner worship. He wants no sycophancy and bootlicking. He seeks worship from the heart in accordance with the truth and obedience which will demonstrate the genuineness of the worshipper. He could well have quoted here Isaiah 1:10-20. There the paraphernalia was rejected, and the heart that is right towards God and man is demanded. God desires fellowship and relationship with man. He does not seek slaves but sons. While it is right that we should look on ourselves as His slaves, as well as His sons, it is the latter that is prominent in God’s eyes. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” BARNES,"God is A spirit - This is the second reason why men should worship him in spirit and in truth. By this is meant that God is without a body; that he is not material or composed of parts; that he is invisible, in every place, pure and holy. This 212
- 213. is one ofthe first truths of religion, and one of the sublimest ever presented to the mind of man. Almost all nations have had some idea of God as gross or material, but the Bible declares that he is a pure spirit. As he is such a spirit, he dwells not in temples made with hands Act_7:48, neither is worshipped with men’s hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, Act_17:25. A pure, a holy, a spiritual worship, therefore, is such as he seeks - the offering of the soul rather than the formal offering of the body - the homage of the heart rather than that of the lips. CLARKE,"God is a Spirit - This is one of the first, the greatest, the most sublime, and necessary truths in the compass of nature! There is a God, the cause of all things - the fountain of all perfection - without parts or dimensions, for he is Eternal - filling the heavens and the earth - pervading, governing, and upholding all things: for he is an infinite Spirit! This God can be pleased only with that which resembles himself: therefore he must hate sin and sinfulness; and can delight in those only who are made partakers of his own Divine nature. As all creatures were made by him, so all owe him obedience and reverence; but, to be acceptable to this infinite Spirit, the worship must be of a spiritual nature - must spring from the heart, through the influence of the Holy Ghost: and it must be in Truth, not only in sincerity, but performed according to that Divine revelation which he has given men of himself. A man worships God in spirit, when, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, he brings all his affections, appetites, and desires to the throne of God; and he worships him in truth, when every purpose and passion of his heart, and when every act of his religious worship, is guided and regulated by the word of God. “The enlightened part of mankind,” says Abu’l Fazel, “knows that true righteousness is an upright heart; and believe that God can only be worshipped in holiness of Spirit.” Ayeen Akbery, vol. iii. p. 254. “Of all worshippers,” says Creeshna, “I respect him as the most devout, who hath faith in me, and who serveth me with a soul possessed of my spirit.” Geeta, p. 68. GILL, "God is a spirit,.... Or "the Spirit is God"; a divine person, possessed of all divine perfections, as appears from his names, works, and worship ascribed unto him; See Gill on Joh_4:23; though the Arabic and Persic versions, and others, read as we do, "God is a spirit"; that is, God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost: for taking the words in this light, not one of the persons is to be understood exclusive of the other; for this description, or definition, agrees with each of them, and they are all the object of worship, and to be worshipped in a true and spiritual manner. God is a spirit, and not a body, or a corporeal substance: the nature and essence of God is like a spirit, simple and uncompounded, not made up of parts; nor is it divisible; nor does it admit of any change and alteration. God, as a spirit, is immaterial, immortal, invisible, and an intelligent, willing, and active being; but differs from other spirits, in that he is not created, but an immense and infinite spirit, and an eternal one, which has neither beginning nor end: he is therefore a spirit by way of eminency, as well as effectively, he being the author and former of all spirits: whatever excellence is in them, must be ascribed to God in the highest manner; and whatever is imperfect in them, must be removed from him: and they that worship him; worship is due to him on account of his nature and perfections, both internal and external; with both the bodies and souls of men; and both private and public; in the closet, in the family, and in the church of God; as 213
- 214. prayer, praise, attendanceon the word and ordinances: must worship him in spirit and in truth; in the true and spiritual manner before described, which is suitable to his nature, and agreeably to his will. HENRY, " The blessed change itself. In gospel times the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. As creatures, we worship the Father of all: as Christians, we worship the Father of our Lord Jesus. Now the change shall be, (a.) In the nature of the worship. Christians shall worship God, not in the ceremonial observances of the Mosaic institution, but in spiritual ordinances, consisting less in bodily exercise, and animated and invigorated more with divine power and energy. The way of worship which Christ has instituted is rational and intellectual, and refined from those external rites and ceremonies with which the Old Testament worship was both clouded and clogged. This is called true worship, in opposition to that which was typical. The legal services were figures of the true, Heb_9:3, Heb_ 9:24. Those that revolted from Christianity to Judaism are said to begin in the spirit, and end in the flesh, Gal_3:3. Such was the difference between Old Testament and New Testament institutions. (b.) In the temper and disposition of the worshippers; and so the true worshippers are good Christians, distinguished from hypocrites; all should, and they will, worship God in spirit and in truth. It is spoken of (Joh_4:23) as their character, and (Joh_4:24) as their duty. Note, It is required of all that worship God that they worship him in spirit and in truth. We must worship God, [a.] In spirit, Phi_3:3. We must depend upon God's Spirit for strength and assistance, laying our souls under his influences and operations; we must devote our own spirits to, and employ them in, the service of God (Rom_1:9), must worship him with fixedness of thought and a flame of affection, with all that is within us. Spirit is sometimes put for the new nature, in opposition to the flesh, which is the corrupt nature; and so to worship God with our spirits is to worship him with our graces, Heb_12:28. [b.] In truth, that is, in sincerity. God requires not only the inward part in our worship, but truth in the inward part, Psa_51:6. We must mind the power more than the form, must aim at God's glory, and not to be seen of men; draw near with a true heart, Heb_10:22. Thirdly, He intimates the reasons why God must be thus worshipped. a. Because in gospel times they, and they only, are accounted the true worshippers. The gospel erects a spiritual way of worship, so that the professors of the gospel are not true in their profession, do not live up to gospel light and laws, if they do not worship God in spirit and in truth. b. Because the Father seeketh such worshippers of him. This intimates, (a.) That such worshippers are very rare, and seldom met with, Jer_30:21. The gate of spiritual worshipping is strait. (b.) That such worship is necessary, and what the God of heaven insists upon. When God comes to enquire for worshippers, the question will not be, “Who worshipped at Jerusalem?” but, “Who worshipped in spirit?” That will be the touchstone. (c.) That God is greatly well pleased with and graciously accepts such worship and such worshippers. I have desired it, Psa_132:13, Psa_ 132:14; Son_2:14. (d.) That there has been, and will be to the end, a remnant of such worshippers; his seeking such worshippers implies his making them such. God is in all ages gathering in to himself a generation of spiritual worshippers. c. Because God is a spirit. Christ came to declare God to us (Joh_1:18), and this he has declared concerning him; he declared it to this poor Samaritan woman, for the meanest are concerned to know God; and with this design, to rectify her mistakes concerning religious worship, to which nothing would contribute more than the right knowledge of God. Note, (a.) God is a spirit, for he is an infinite and eternal mind, an 214
- 215. intelligent being, incorporeal,immaterial, invisible, and incorruptible. It is easier to say what God is not than what he is; a spirit has not flesh and bones, but who knows the way of a spirit? If God were not a spirit, he could not be perfect, nor infinite, nor eternal, nor independent, nor the Father of spirits. (b.) The spirituality of the divine nature is a very good reason for the spirituality of divine worship. If we do not worship God, who is a spirit, in the spirit, we neither give him the glory due to his name, and so do not perform the act of worship, nor can we hope to obtain his favour and acceptance, and so we miss of the end of worship, Mat_15:8, Mat_15:9. CALVIN, "24.God is a Spirit. This is a confirmation drawn from the very nature of God. Since men are flesh, we ought not to wonder, if they take delight in those things which correspond to their own disposition. Hence it arises, that they contrive many things in the worship of God which are full of display, but have no solidity. But they ought first of all to consider that they have to do with God, who can no more agree with the flesh than fire with water. This single consideration, when the inquiry relates to the worship of God, ought to be sufficient for restraining the wantonness of our mind, that God is so far from being like us, that those things which please us most are the objects of his loathing and abhorrence. And if hypocrites are so blinded by their own pride, that they are not afraid to subject God to their opinion, or rather to their unlawful desires, let us know that this modesty does not hold the lowest place in the true worship of God, to regard with suspicion whatever is gratifying according to the flesh. Besides, as we cannot ascend to the height of God, let us remember that we ought to seek from His word the rule by which we are governed. This passage is frequently quoted by the Fathers against the Arians, to prove the Divinity of the Holy Spirit, but it is improper to strain it for such a purpose; for Christ simply declares here that his Father is of a spiritual nature, and, therefore, is not moved by frivolous matters, as men, through the lightness and unsteadiness of their character, are wont to be. COKE, "John 4:24. God is a Spirit, &c.— As a further answer to the woman's question, our great Teacher delivered a doctrine which may justly be called his own, as it exhibits an idea of the Supreme Being, and of the worship due to him, far more sublime than the best things which the philosophers have said on that subject. God is a Spirit, &c. "God is the supreme mind or intelligence, who by one act sees the thoughts of all other intelligences, and therefore may be worshipped in every place. And the worship of God must partake of his nature: his nature is spiritual; his worship should be so likewise. Faith and love, therefore, constitute the true spiritual worship which we owe to the Supreme Being, and which cannot but be acceptable to him, wherever offered." COFFMAN, "God is a Spirit ... The countless anthropomorphisms of the Old Testament probably caused Jesus to set such a statement as this over against them all. God may be spoken of in terms of the activities of men, such as walking, seeing, hearing, etc., but there is a sense in which God is not like man at all. God is a Spirit, eternal, immortal, invisible, omniscient, ubiquitous, omnipotent, and all-pervading. He is above all and through all and in all. Nothing can be hidden from God. He is the First Cause, himself uncaused, the Creator and Sustainer of everything that exists. He is nonetheless personal, hence the anthropomorphisms of Scripture. 215
- 216. They that worshiphim ... Just what is worship? Is it the carrying out of any kind of ritual, the observance of any days or times, or the presentation of any kind of gifts and sacrifices? Despite the fact that worship, from the earliest times, has been associated with such things, actual worship is spiritual. WHAT IS WORSHIP? A good description of worship is that of Isaiah 6:1-8, an analysis of which shows that worship is: (1) an awareness of the presence of God, (2) a consciousness of sin and unworthiness on the part of the worshipper, (3) a sense of cleansing and forgiveness, and (4) a response of the soul with reference to doing God's will: "Here am I, send me!" In the New Testament, it is evident that the worship of God involved the doing of certain things: (1) meditating upon God's word in sermon or Scripture reading, (2) singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, (3) praying to God through Christ, (4) observance of the Lord's supper, and (5) the giving of money, goods, and services for the propagation of the faith and the relief of human needs. Very well, then, does the person who DOES these things worship God? Not necessarily, because an apostle spoke of certain persons who ate the Lord's supper in a manner unworthy of it, not discerning the Lord's body. Moreover, the singing and praying were commanded to be done "with the spirit and with the understanding also." From this: it is clear that the things done in the New Testament worship were the authorized channels through which the true worship flowed, and that worship has the same relationship to the channels that electricity has to the power line that carries it. This, of course, does not disparage the authorized channels, nor suggest that man may select channels of his own. See below under: "Two Ways to Worship." True worship is the soul's adoration of the Creator functioning obediently to the divine will. Must worship in spirit and in truth ... This speaks thunderously of the fact that the worship of God must be done properly, the two requirements being that it must be engaged in with utmost sincerity and as directed by the word of God. God has revealed the manner in which he should be worshipped, and those who hope to have their worship accepted should heed the restrictions. PROHIBITIONS REGARDING WORSHIP The verse before us is a powerful prohibition. Also, Jesus said, "In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Mark 7:7). An apostle declared that "God ... dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything" (Acts 17:24,25). The author of this gospel wrote, "Testify unto every man that heareth the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18). And also, "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God" (2 John 1:1:9). Jesus said of the Pharisees, "Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition" (Matthew 15:6). Paul 216
- 217. warned the Corinthians,"Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure, transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). From these specific prohibitions, as well as from the spirit and tenor of the entire Bible, it is clearly impossible for man to approach his Creator in worship, except as God has directed. This was true in the days of Cain and Abel, of Nadab and Abihu, of David and Uzzah, and of the Lord Jesus Christ and ever afterward. It is true now and always. ONLY TWO WAYS TO WORSHIP GOD Worship is as old as the human race, but in the long history of mortal events only two ways to worship God have ever been discovered. These are: God's revealed way, and any other way that man might have devised himself. A glance at both is appropriate. I. God's way to worship. People are commanded to worship God, and it is simply inconceivable that God has not instructed men how to obey this commandment (Revelation 14:7). Of the ancient tabernacle, only a type of the worship men offer today, God said to Moses, "See that thou make all things according to the pattern" (Hebrews 8:5), and there is no way to avoid the application of this to Christian worship. Why else should it have been in the book of Hebrews? And what is the New Testament pattern of Christian worship? "The things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6) reveal that the New Testament churches: Offered prayers to God through Christ (Acts 2:46). Observed the Lord's supper (Acts 20:7). Gave of their means (1 Corinthians 16:2). Taught the sacred Scriptures (Acts 2:46). Sang certain kinds of songs (Colossians 3:16).SIZE> No student of the Bible will deny that both precept and example for the above pattern of worship are found in the New Testament. If this is not God's pattern of worship, what is it? II. Man's way of worshipping. This has varied in time, place, and circumstance; but a survey of the entire field of worship, as it has developed since the foundation of Christianity, reveals numerous activities, ceremonies, doctrines, commandments, and devices unknown to the Bible, as well as alterations, restrictions, additions, subtractions and substitutions with reference to the things that are revealed. There are even examples of incorporating elements of the old covenant, and of the acceptance of pagan elements into the sacred arena of Christian worship. It would be nearly impossible to list all the human changes, additives, and aberrations inflicted upon Christianity by the historical church, but a complete list is not necessary. The partial list below will show what is meant: 217
- 218. Auricular confession, baptizingof images, baptizing of bells, baptizing of infants, baptism of desire, baptism for the dead, burning of incense, canonization of saints, celibacy of the clergy, communion under one kind, elevation of the host, extreme unction, invocation of saints, lighting of blessed lamps and candles, Lenten fasts and ceremonies, monasticism, orders of monks and nuns, societies of Jesus, purgatory, prayers for souls in purgatory, paschal candles, priestly robes and vestments, holy paraphernalia, penance, redemption of penances, pouring for baptism, sprinkling for baptism, the rosary of the Virgin Mary, the sale of indulgences, the sacrifice of the mass, sacrifices for the dead, the sign of the cross, the separation of clergy and laity, tradition received on a level with the word of God, the doctrine of transubstantiation, and of consubstantiation, the sprinkling of holy water, the stored-up merit of dead saints, works of supererogation, the use of mechanical instruments of music, ceremonies of Ash Wednesday, the development of a hierarchical system of earthly church government, etc., etc. Now this writer has never met a person, throughout a lifetime of discussing Christianity, who would deny that at least some of the above deviations from God's pattern of worship are sinful. But, of course, the thing that makes any one of them sinful MAKES THEM ALL SO! They were not first spoken by the Lord (Hebrews 2:3). Their authority derives not from God but from men. ELLICOTT, "(24) God is a Spirit.—Better, God is spirit. His will has been expressed in the seeking. But His very nature and essence is spirit, and it follows from this that all true worship must be spiritual. The appeal is here made to a doctrine of special prominence in the Samaritan theology. They had altered a number of passages in the Pentateuch, which seemed to them to speak of God in language properly applicable to man, and to ascribe to Him human form and feelings. But to believe in the spiritual essence of God contained its own answer both as to place and mode of worship. The second “Him” (“they that worship Him”) should be omitted, as the italics show. BURKITT, "God is a Spirit; that is, he hath no body, nor bodily parts; he is not a bare spiritual substance: but a pure and perfect Spirit: and therefore his worshippers must worship him in spirit and in truth; where spirit is opposed to the legal ceremonies, and truth to the Jewish rites, not to hypocritical services: for the old patriarchs did worship God in spirit and in truth. As truth is taken for sincerity, they served him with a sincere conscience, and with a single heart. But our Saviour's business is to shew, that a worship without legal rites and Jewish ceremonies, is proper to the times of the gospel. In these words, observe, 1. The nature of God declared; God is a Spirit. 2. The duty of man inferred; therefore they that worship him, must worship him in spirit and in truth. 218
- 219. From the whole,note, 1. That God is a pure spiritual being. When bodily parts, hands, and eyes, &c. are ascribed to him, it is only in condescension to our weakness, and to signify those acts in God, which such members do perform in us. Note, 2. That the worship due from the creature to God is spiritual worship, and ought to be spiritually performed; that is, we must worship him from spiritual principles, sincere love, and filial reverence; for spiritual ends, that we may please him, and promote his glory; and after a spiritual manner, with the whole heart, soul, and mind, and with a fervency of spirit. We must have awful apprehensions of him, suitable to the nature of his being; but above all we must endeavour to resemble him: then is God best worshipped by us, when we are most like to him. The Jewsish ceremonial worship was abolished, to promote the spirituality of divine worshp; yet must not this be so understood, as if God rejected bodily worship, because he requires spiritual under the gospel: for Jesus Christ, the most spiritual worshipper, worshipped God with his body. Besides, God has created the body as well as the soul; and he will glorify the body as well as the soul: therefore it is our duty to worship and glorify God with our bodies, and with our spirits, which are his. GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, "True Worship God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.— Joh_4:24. 1. The conversation between Christ and the woman of Samaria began on common topics. By and by it became more deep and interesting. He to whom all things here were types could not converse without a Divine meaning in all He said. A draught of water connected itself with the mystery of life. As soon as she discovered His spiritual character she put the question of her day about “the place where men ought to worship.” Christ took the opportunity of defining spiritual worship. He spoke of a new worship essentially different from the old. He made religion spiritual, He pointed out the difference between religion and theology, and He revealed the foundation on which true worship must rest. A new time was coming for a new worship: “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth.” 2. It was to a very lowly soul that Jesus thus revealed Himself. She was a poor and unenlightened peasant, a woman, a Samaritan. It had been, too, a frail and erring life, that must have fallen into many mistakes, known many contumelies, endured slights and disheartenments untold. “Thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: this hast thou said truly.” How chequered and spotted an experience is there disclosed, one full of tragedies and unstanched wounds! But just to such an one Jesus Christ elects to make the revelation that the true tie between God and man lies deeper than externals, that it is an interior life which transcends all accidental differences of birth and 219
- 220. nationality, of stationand sex, even of creed and worship; that alike to Jew and to Samaritan, man and woman, saint or sinner, worshipper on Mount Zion or worshipper on Mount Gerizim, it is “a gift,” a gift of God, a personal relation established between the individual soul and the Divine life-giving source of all. It is a secret between ourselves and God. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” Christ tells us here all that we need to know about the worship that is acceptable to God. He tells us— I. The Foundation of true Worship. II. The Nature of true Worship. I Its Foundation The first essential of true worship is a true appreciation of God’s character. The foundation on which the new worship rests is a revelation made by Christ respecting the character of God. 1. God is spirit. We should greatly mistake the meaning of this if we took it as a theological definition of the Being of God. It is not theological, but practical. It is chiefly negative. It says what God is not. He is not matter. He has not a form. “A spirit hath not flesh and bones.” (1) What is meant by spirit? There are false notions which regard it as attenuated gas, a wreath of air or vapour. This is only subtle materialism. Consider the universe, with the sun and stars, the harmony of the planets—all this force, order, harmony is from God. The spring season, with bursting vegetation—its life is God. Our own minds, their thought and feeling—that is spirit. God, therefore, is the Mind of the universe. This, then, was the great truth, that God is Mind, not separated by conditions of space and time from His creatures. (2) It is difficult for us to conceive of an absolutely spiritual being, without body, parts, or form; of One who is eternal as regards time, without beginning and without end; and infinite as regards space, everywhere present, filling all things, or rather containing all within Himself. It is this idea, baffling to our imagination, of the infinite Being of God that is the foundation of spiritual worship. It is because God’s Being is infinite that He is present alike to all, and takes cognizance of all persons and their concerns, the least as well as those which seem to us the greatest. (3) The ordinary objector reasons thus: All the persons I know are visible, subject to the scrutiny of eye and ear and touch. I can well understand expressions of love, thanksgivings, cries for help, addressed to a being thus accessible to ordinary sense. But these people call when there is no one visible to 220
- 221. hear and answer;they address themselves to vacancy, and throw out their vain cries to the thin air. It is true they profess to be addressing a Spirit; but that means something which is not seen, heard, touched, handled,—an influence wholly beyond the scope of my senses. What evidence is there that such an impalpable Being hears and sees, knows, and wills, and acts? How can I be sure that it exists at all? (4) Yet the facts of the universe are not altered by our incredulity, our unwillingness or incapacity to perceive them. The realm of Spirit is a reality, spiritual laws govern everything, though we ignore both. To vulgar scepticism it might suffice to reply that its argument confuses Personality with the sensible signs of its presence. Wedded to materialist ideas it mistakes the visible, the audible, the tangible, for that which manifests its own reality and activity through these, but is not itself identical with one or all of them. It confounds the outward form with the inward essence; the symbol with the thing signified; the shell with the substance. It grossly identifies the body with the man himself. It argues as if the eye were identical with seeing, or the ear with hearing. It confounds the organ and instrument with that which acts through it. If it is true, as St. John has written, that “No man hath seen God at any time,” it is also true that no man hath at any time seen a person. Strictly speaking, persons are not visible, tangible, subject to the scrutiny of sense. For a person is surely not the group of related impressions present at a given moment to my sensorium; a man is not a certain outline or coloured surface stamped upon my retina, combined perhaps with certain vibrations of my auditory nerve and certain impulses conveyed through my nerves of touch. When we speak of a man or a person, we mean not these, but rather the unseen, unheard, unfelt reality which is the cause of them all, and which reveals its own existence to our perception through such mediating effects. Understand the terms of this statement, and it is impossible for us to deny its truth. (5) In our conceptions of God let us have no images of the fancy, no material realization. Stop every attempt to give any kind of embodiment to the Father. Leave it all indeterminate; put anything else away as a trespass and a presumption. The willingness to do this, the power to do this, is part of the discipline of the present life; it is the faith of our worship. All that we can safely have before us is quality, attributes. God is wisdom, God is power, God is greatness, God is holiness, God is love. Enshrined in those, as in a deep sanctuary, is the Infinite, the Unsearchable,—that is God. But we can see the enshrining only, the rest is hidden. It is there, and we speak to it, and we hear it, and we deal with it, and we feel it; but it is far above all sense, it is a name, it is a mystery, it is a Spirit, it is God. God is a Spirit. This relates to the nature of God; and as a spirit is the most excellent of beings that we have any notions of, God is represented under this character to heighten our thoughts of Him. We indeed know but little of the nature of spirits; the most of our acquaintance with them lies in the consciousness we have of our own souls, which all allow to be the noblest part of the man. And the most natural, obvious thought that arises in our minds about a spirit is that it is an incorporeal and invisible being, with life and action, 221
- 222. understanding and will.1[Note: Guyse.] Observe yon concave blue, That seems to close around our human view, And ends by sun and star Our keenest survey of those heavens afar. And yet we know full well, False is the specious tale our senses tell; That is no azure sky, Or solid vault, that meets our lifted eye. What curtains round our gaze, The background of the sun or starry maze, Is but blue-tinted light That veils from us the aërial infinite. And so, when we define Great heaven’s immensity by verbal sign, We act as though our bent Were here again to feign a firmament. Words in array we place, And deem therewith we see God face to face. Poor fools, and blind; not seeing Our words but mask and hide His unsearched Being.1 [Note: John Owen.] 222
- 223. 2. The greattruth that God is a Spirit, purely held, would be the best corrective of false doctrines in religion, the richest spring of peace, the most constant inspiration of duty. Examine a narrow creed, and it will not be difficult to point out where it forgets that God is a Spirit. A heart not at rest is a heart that does not know the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. A dishonoured conscience, a violated sentiment, a rebellious will, are only other names for a broken fellowship with the Father of our spirits. A soul cleansed from unspiritual thoughts of God, and in daily communion with Him, however far it might be from the fulness of objective Truth, would have in it no springs of error, of trouble, or of sin. (1) The first error that arises from an unspiritual conception of God is a tendency to localize God. The woman’s question was, in fact, “Where?” Christ’s reply was, “Nowhere in particular—everywhere.” This question lies at the root of all superstition. It is observable among the heathen, who confine the agency of a god to a certain district; among the uneducated poor of our own country, in their notions of a cemetery; and among the more refined, in the clinging mysterious idea which they attach to a church, an altar, and the elements of the sacrament. Let us define what we mean by sanctity of place. It is a thing merely subjective, not objective; it is relative to us. It belongs to that law of association by which a train of ideas returns more easily by suggestion in some one place than in another. Worship in a festive room or over a shop, would suggest notions uncongenial with devotion. Hence the use of setting apart or consecrating places for worship. There is no other sanctity of place. We hear an objection to this. It is said to be dangerous to say this: it will unsettle people’s minds; a little of this illusion is wholesome, especially for the poor. Christ did not so reason. Consider how unsettling this was to the woman. The little religion she had clung to Gerizim. The shock of being told that it was not holy might have unsettled all her religion. Did Christ hesitate one moment? He was concerned only with truth. And we are concerned only with truth. Some people are afraid of truth. As if God’s truth could be dangerous! The straight road is ever the nearest. People must bear, and shall, what an earnest mind dares to say. Is God there or not? If not, at our peril we say He is.1 [Note: F. W. Robertson.] (2) A second error is the idea that forms are immutable. “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain,” therefore so must we. How much of the mischief of the separation of sects, with all the bitterness and mistrust that have come with it, has arisen from the fact that the form of worship has been mistaken for the worship itself. It was about one o’clock in the morning. I was the only white man then on the island, and all the natives had been fast asleep for hours! Yet I literally pitched my hat into the air, and danced like a schoolboy round and round that printing- press; till I began to think, Am I losing my reason? Would it not be liker a missionary to be upon my knees, adoring God for this first portion of His blessed Word ever printed in this new language? Friend, bear with me, and believe me, that was as true worship as ever was David’s dancing before the Ark of his God! 2 [Note: John G. Paton, i. 202.] 223
- 224. (3) A thirderror is to mistake the object of worship. There is a feeling of devoutness inherent in the human mind. We hear the solemn tones of a child when repeating his prayer or hymn. Before what is greater, wiser, better than himself man bows instinctively. But the question is, what will he worship? The heathen bent before Power. To him the Universe was alive with Deity; he saw God in the whirlwind, in the lightning, and the thunder. But the forces of Nature are not God. The philosopher bows before Wisdom. Science tells him of electricity, gravitation, force. He looks down on warm devoutness; for he sees only contrivance and mind in Nature. He admires all calmly, without enthusiasm. He calls it Rational Religion. This also is ignorance. The spiritual man bows before Goodness, “The true worshippers worship the Father,” “We know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews,” that is, God is intelligible in Christ as Love, Goodness, Purity. God is a Spirit in nature; but He is a Father in character. This was part of Christ’s revelation of God to the woman of Samaria. “The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father.” Jesus was the herald of the Golden Age, and of the common worship of the universal Father. On that very day the Golden Age was dawning, for He, rising above the limits of a national religion, was seeking one outside its fold. True, as He declared to this woman, salvation was of the Jews. Unto the Jews God had revealed Himself by prophet and priest, and by means of ritual. Unto them had been granted special revelation; yet, notwithstanding all their privileges, the Jewish people had not yet learned the full glory of the Divine character. To them, God was Jehovah, the High and Mighty One inhabiting eternity; He was infinite, all-powerful, the God of Israel; but the coming of Jesus unveiled Deity, and revealed Him as the one Father of all humanity. Before His coming, men had dreaded Deity; but He, leading the children of men into the presence of the Infinite, said, “When ye pray, say, Our Father.” Thus He revealed the character of God to be that of infinite love.1 [Note: G. E. Walters, The Deserted Christ, 78.] (4) A fourth error is a mistake about the nature of reverence. This Samaritan woman had what is often called reverence—veneration for antiquity, zeal for her Church, lingering recollections of the old mountain, respect for a prophet. But what was her life? He with whom she then lived was not her husband. In other words, reverence, veneration, awe, are feelings which belong to the imagination and are neither good nor bad: they may go along with religion, but also they may not. A man may kneel to sublime things, yet never have bent his heart to goodness and purity. A man may be reverential and yet impure. Next examine a man who is called irreverent. Constitutionally so framed that he does not happen to thrill at painted windows, Gothic architecture, and solemn music, is he, therefore, without veneration? Take him out into God’s grand universe, or put before him Christ’s character: is there no adoration, no deep intense love? Tell him of a self-denying action: is there no moisture in his eye? Tempt him to meanness: is there no indignant scorn? The man has bowed his soul before Justice, Mercy, Truth, and therefore stands erect before everything else that this world calls sublime. 224
- 225. The enjoyment ofnoble architecture and music is not worship, and may be mistaken for it. The hush which falls on us, walking the aisles of a church of eight hundred years; the thrill of nerves and heart as the glorious praise begins, whose echoes fail amid fretted vaults and clustered shafts; all that feeling, solemn as it is, has no necessary connection with worshipping God in spirit and in truth. And we may delude ourselves with the belief that we are offering spiritual worship when it is all a mere matter of natural emotion, which the most godless man could share.1 [Note: A. K. H. Boyd, Sunday Afternoons in a University City, 87.] (5) A fifth error is the failure to distinguish between interest in theology and interest in religion. Here was a woman living in sin, and yet deeply interested in a religious controversy. She found, doubtless, a kind of safeguard to rest on in the perception of this keen interest. Her religion was almost nothing, her theology most orthodox. Theological controversy sharpens our disputative faculties and wakens our speculative ones. Religion is love to God and man. We do not always distinguish between theology and religion. We make skill in controversy a test of spirituality. It is but a poor test. The way the woman questioned Christ is a specimen of a common feeling. The moment Christ appeared she examined His views. She did not ask whether the Man before her was pure and spotless, or whether His life was spent in doing good; but was He sound upon the vital question of the Temple? An elderly minister was asked to take the catechizing of the congregation in a parish in the pastoral uplands of the South of Scotland. He was warned against the danger of putting questions to a certain shepherd, who had made himself master of more divinity than some of his clerical contemporaries could boast, and who enjoyed nothing better than, out of the question put to him, to engage in an argument with the minister on some of the deepest problems of theology. The day of the ordeal at last came, the old doctor ascended the pulpit, and after the preliminary service put on his spectacles and unfolded the roll of the congregation. To the utter amazement of everybody, he began with the theological shepherd, John Scott. Up started the man, a tall, gaunt, sunburnt figure, with his maud over his shoulder, his broad blue bonnet on the board in front of him, and such a look of grim determination on his face as showed how sure he felt of the issue of the logical encounter to which he believed he had been challenged from the pulpit. The minister, who had clearly made up his mind as to the line of examination to be followed with this pugnacious theologian, looked at him calmly for a few moments, and then in a gentle voice asked, “Who made you, John?” The shepherd, prepared for questions on some of the most difficult points of our faith, was taken aback by being asked what every child in the parish could answer. He replied in a loud and astonished tone, “Wha made me?” “It was the Lord God that made you, John,” quietly interposed the minister. “Who redeemed you, John?” Anger now mingled with indignation as the man shouted, “Wha redeemed me?” The old divine, still in the same mild way, reminded him “It was the Lord Jesus that redeemed you, John,” and then asked further, “Who sanctified you, John?” Scott, now thoroughly aroused, roared out, “Wha sanctified ME?” The clergyman paused, looked at him calmly, and said, “It was the Holy Ghost that sanctified you, John Scott, if, indeed, ye be 225
- 226. sanctified. Sit yedoon, my man, and learn your questions better the next time you come to the catechizing.” The shepherd was never able to hold his head up in the parish thereafter.1 [Note: Sir Archibald Geikie, Scottish Reminiscences, 72.] 3. Now see how great this truth is. That God is a Spirit comes nearer to the business and the bosoms of men, to our real interests, to our belief in progress, to our feeling of God’s Fatherhood, to our sense of man’s brotherhood, than any other truth. Is there a Church laying down dogmatic terms of salvation? This rebukes it: God is a Spirit, and the spirits that desire Him He makes His own. Is there a merely conventional worship, a merely authoritative religion, a merely ceremonial, ecclesiastical way of approaching God? This disowns it: only those who are in personal communion with Him know Him at all, and they may know Him to their full content. Is there an upright man, a devout heart, misunderstood or forsaken by the world? This sustains him: God is a Spirit, and brings all things to light. Is there a conscience that would hide itself from the light? This disables it: “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?” “The darkness and the light are both alike to thee.” Is there a troubled mind, a spirit that cannot find peace? What will quiet it? Nothing but some sense of the Infinite as very near to us; it may be from a glance at the unfathomable depths of Nature, with awe and shame at the contrast between our fretful selfishness and the silent realities of God in which we feel we have a part. To gaze upon the face of Nature is sometimes to be brought under the power of a calm and cleansing spirit then present to us; and what is religion but a quickening of the soul under the sense that a Spirit of Purity and Love is acting and looking upon us? And if ever the solemnity and beauty which man’s workmanship can produce does in its highest examples, in a cathedral, or in the Angel of the Resurrection from the great sculptor’s hand, contribute something to religious emotion, how much more may the sense of the Infinite come upon us from the spiritual aspects of the Temple not made with hands; still more if with understanding hearts we could gaze into the majestic face of Christ; still more if, led by Christ up to the Throne, into the real Presence, we could bring ourselves to look intently, with a full trust, into the fatherly face of God!1 [Note: J. H. Thom, A Spiritual Faith, 12.] He who worships the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, must, in all the qualities of his soul, in all the relations of his life, be a better man than the atheist, than the man who denies the existence of God. The man who worships a stone is a better man than he who worships nothing. The man who falls down before carven wood, or worships the beasts of the field, is a grander nature than he who never bows his head in prayer, and never lifts up his heart in aspiration and religious desire. The tendency of worship is to elevate our nature. He who worships sincerely, however ignorantly, is the better for his worship; he is enlarged in his nature, his outlook upon things is widened, he is led away from self-trust, and is taught to depend upon a power, not lower, but higher, and in his estimation better, than his own.2 [Note: J. Parker.] II 226
- 227. Its Nature To worshipis man’s highest glory. He was created for fellowship with God: of that fellowship worship is the sublimest expression. All the exercises of the religious life—meditation and prayer, love and faith, surrender and obedience, all culminate in worship. Recognizing what God is in His holiness, His glory, and His love, realizing what we are as sinful creatures, and as the Father’s redeemed children, in worship we gather up our whole being and present ourselves to our God to offer Him the adoration and the glory which are His due. The truest and fullest and nearest approach to God is worship. Every sentiment and every service of the religious life is included in it: to worship is man’s highest destiny, because in it God is all. 1. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” It is not a question of place. “Neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem is the place.” It is no question of cathedral, or church, or chapel, or hall. Wherever a heart yearns for God and pours itself forth, there is God’s House, there is God’s blessing. Every sick-room can be a House of God; every hospital ward a House of God; every lonely heart away in the deepest solitude in seeking Him can find His House. It is not a question of time. If this true idea of worship be once grasped, that it is not an outward form, not outward ceremony, not at set times, but ever, always, the going out of hearts towards and after Him, it will mean that our worship will find expression in our home life, in our factory life, in our shop life, in our dock life, in our so-called secular life, and everywhere, always, all things, sacred and secular, will be blended in one lifelong act of worship, our heart going out to God in spirit and in truth. The Lord is in His Holy Place In all things near and far! Shekinah of the snowflake, He, And Glory of the star, And Secret of the April land That stirs the field to flowers, Whose little tabernacles rise To hold Him through the hours. He hides Himself within the love Of those whom we love best; 227
- 228. The smiles andtones that make our homes Are shrines by Him possessed; He tents within the lonely heart And shepherds every thought; We find Him not by seeking far,— We lose Him not, unsought. Our art may build its Holy Place, Our feet on Sinai stand, But Holiest of Holies knows No tread, no touch of hand; The listening soul makes Sinai still Wherever we may be, And in the vow, “Thy will be done!” Lies all Gethsemane.1 [Note: William C. Gannett.] 2. We cannot read these words and not feel that the very genius and essence of the Christian religion is an exceeding simplicity. Had Christ reckoned externals of great importance, He certainly would have said so here. Those externals may be convenient, and they are helpful; and therefore the Church may justly, and with great propriety and benefit, ordain them. But if Christ’s words are to be taken in their plainest signification, God does not now require or command them. They are not a part of the new legislation; rather, they are decidedly and studiously omitted. For in this matter, it is clear that a contrast is drawn between the Samaritan and the Jewish ritual—which were both of them highly addressed to the senses—and that which Christ was introducing. He declares such things to be passed away. And nothing is laid down as the will of God respecting public worship, but this only—it must be spiritual and true. In our approaches to God, the frame of mind is everything. Like worships like. God is mystery, worship is faith; God is wisdom, worship is thought; God is love, worship is affection; God is truth, worship is sincerity; God is holiness, worship is purity; God is omnipresence, worship is everywhere; God is eternity, worship is always. Words are good, because words react on the mind, and clear and fix it; but words are not worship. Forms are good, because forms are stays and helps to 228
- 229. our infirmities; butforms are not worship. Holy places, holy things, holy persons are good, because in such a defiled world as this, what is sacred must be isolated; but no places, no things, no persons are worship. Sacraments are good, because the sacraments are the very incorporations and the essences of our salvation; but sacraments are not worship. “God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”1 [Note: James Vaughan.] I sit within my room, and joy to find That Thou who always lov’st art with me here, That I am never left by Thee behind, But by Thyself Thou keep’st me ever near; The fire burns brighter when with Thee I look, And seems a kinder servant sent to me; With gladder heart I read Thy holy book, Because Thou art the eyes by which I see; This aged chair, that table, watch, and door Around in ready service ever wait; Nor can I ask of Thee a menial more To fill the measure of my large estate, For Thou Thyself, with all a Father’s care, Where’er I turn, art ever with me there.2 [Note: Jones Very.] i. Worship in Spirit 1. God is Spirit, and what He reveals to man must be made through the medium of Spirit. If He were possessed of a material form, the way of recognition would be through the senses, but Spirit can only be spiritually discerned. God cannot be seen in the Bible, He cannot be seen in Nature, except through the exercise of the spiritual vision. Our worship, therefore, must consist in the effort of the human spirit to identify itself with the Divine, not in a mystic, self-destroying unity, but in the direction of its aspirations and its will. We seek to bring our souls into a state of conformity with God’s all-perfect will. The true worship is not the prostration of the body in kneeling, nor even the prostration of the soul in distant adoration, but the yielding of our living powers willingly and gladly to the Divine influence within us. There is an expression of 229
- 230. the great Stoicemperor, Marcus Aurelius, who perhaps came nearer than any other non-Christian of the West to the Christian life and spirit: “I reverence the God who is within.” That God has been fully made known to us in Jesus Christ, and we can give a grander significance to this expression. Our God is within us. Let us allow our thoughts to be enlightened and our energies quickened by the spirit of holiness—the unseen, constraining power of righteousness—and we are practising the true worship.1 [Note: Dean Fremantle, The Gospel of the Secular Life, 209.] 2. Before the Incarnation, man dared approach God only through priest and altar, and in an earthly temple. Jesus came to erect one altar—His Cross,—and to offer one sacrifice—Himself. He was born that He might die; and over all His pathway there fell the shadow of the Cross. The Cross was interwoven into all His life. Galilee would have made Him King; the whole region of the North went after Him. He said, “I go to Jerusalem.” He deliberately journeyed thither, everything in His journey pointing to His doom. The broken bread in the supper represented His broken body; the red wine His spilt blood. They nailed Him to His Cross, and there He was wounded for our transgressions, and bruised for our iniquities. “It is finished,” He cried; “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” Then the veil of the Temple was rent asunder. The Holy of Holies was open to mortal gaze. There was no longer any need for earthly priest or altar. The world had become a temple, the human heart the shrine of the Holy Ghost. Christ came to bring man’s spirit into immediate contact with God’s Spirit; to sweep away everything intermediate. In lonely union, face to face, man’s spirit and God’s Spirit must come together. It is a grand thought! Let us aspire to this, to greatness, goodness! So will our spirits mingle with the Spirit of the Everlasting.2 [Note: F. W. Robertson.] 3. The law of acceptable Christian worship is briefly this: it must be the worship of “the heart,” that is, of the will. Not of the voice merely; not of the hands merely; not of the bended knees merely; not of the decorously and comprehensively expressed prayer merely; not of the sweet incense merely; not of the lamb slain and burnt on the altar merely; not of the gorgeously-arrayed High Priest, nor yet of the simply-robed Scotch minister merely; not of feelings touched by old memories of our own departed days, and of those who used to worship with us long ago, but who will worship with us on earth no more; not of any or all of these things merely—but of the will. If our worship is of “the heart,” it follows that to be real we must have a real religious experience. Experience is the very soul or religion. Properly speaking, we do not begin to be religious until God and the soul have somehow come face to face. It is true that as children we are taught religious truth, but we have not experienced it, we are taught it; and there is a sense in which, if we receive that truth as little children, humbly, trustfully, teachably, we are truly religious and belong to the Kingdom of God. To very few is God more real than He is to the little child. But when that has been said, it needs to be repeated that there can be no real religion without a real religious experience. Religion is not in word alone; it is not in the hearing of the Word, it is not in the explanation of certain truths, 230
- 231. but it isprofoundly and most practically in spirit, in experience. God is not real to us until we have made our own discovery of Him in our life. This Pearl of Eternity is the Church or Temple of God within thee, the consecrated Place of Divine Worship, where alone thou canst worship God in Spirit and in Truth. In Spirit, because thy spirit is that alone in thee which can unite and cleave unto God, and receive the workings of His Divine Spirit upon thee. In Truth, because this Adoration in the Spirit is that Truth and Reality of which all outward Forms and Rites, though instituted by God, are only the Figure for a Time, but this Worship is Eternal. Accustom thyself to the Holy Service of this inward Temple. In the midst of it is the Fountain of Living Water, of which thou mayest drink and live for ever. There the Mysteries of thy Redemption are celebrated, or rather opened in Life and Power. There the Supper of the Lamb is kept; the Bread that came down from Heaven, that giveth life unto the world, is thy true nourishment: all is done, and known in real Experience, in a living sensibility of the Work of God on the Soul. There the Birth, the Life, the Sufferings, the Death, the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, are not merely remembered, but inwardly found and enjoyed as the real states of thy soul, which has followed Christ in the Regeneration.1 [Note: William Law.] ii. Worship in Truth Our worship must be “in truth”; truth as regards God Himself, and truth as regards our own state. 1. We need to have a true conception of God, as far as we know Him, as He is revealed to us through Christ. The Samaritans had not a true knowledge; the Jews knew more, they knew Him through the Prophets, though their knowledge was incomplete. They knew that Messiah should come. To worship the true God and not idols, that was the elementary teaching, the preliminary idea. But to us it is given beyond this to conceive aright of the living and unseen God. The Father is revealed to us in and through the Son—on whom human eyes have dwelt. And prayer becomes a different thing when it is a child’s cry to a Father’s heart, a child clinging to Him in His paternal character; and it is through this sense of filial relationship that we approach that inner embrace of the Father’s heart. The Son sympathizes with us in our hardness and pain. He has tasted all our trial, only without the sin, and our prayer through Him reaches the Father’s Heart through the sympathetic agency of the Son, the Spirit helping our infirmities and giving force to our prayer. Recent researches into the origins of the Old Testament have proved that the factor in the extraordinary development of moral and religious truth, which is so discernible in the history of Israel and in their gradual ascent to the loftiest heights of spiritual knowledge, from the low levels of life which they had once occupied with their Semitic neighbours, was the impression upon the people as a whole through the wonderful deeds of their history and the experience of their greatest minds, of the character of God.1 [Note: George Adam Smith, The Life of Henry Drummond, 244.] 231
- 232. Our worship mustconform to our best intellectual conceptions about God and His will. Our Lord Himself once drew a powerful contrast between the influence of a higher and a lower estimate of God’s character on the actions of men. He told His disciples that the time would come when “Whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you,” said He, “because they have not known the Father.” That is, although they believed in God, they yet ignored the special revelation made by Jesus Christ of the Fatherhood of God. Ignorance of this revelation has been the origin of some of the most terrible crimes against humanity that have ever disgraced the world. Hundreds of men and women have been roasted to death by order of Inquisitors, who, veiling their cruelty under the term auto-da-fé, witnessed that they did it in the name of what they believed to be God. On the throne of the universe they saw nothing but an angry and despotic Tyrant, who so hated heterodoxy, that He had prepared for all heretics a pandemonium of everlasting fire, and hence, quite honestly, they sought to deter men by torture from such an awful fate.1 [Note: G. F. Terry, The Old Theology in the New Age, 52.] 2. We must also have truth in ourselves. Holy character is a kind of worship. All true life is worship: “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”; “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” Before a material God a material knee would have to bow. Before a spiritual God, nothing but the prostration of the spirit can be acceptable. He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast. Love is a kind of prayer—the truest lifting up of the soul. God is a real God. The worshipper is to be a real character. The Christian must be a true man— transparent, who can bear to be looked through and through. There must be no pretence; no gilded tinsel—true gold all through. Let us take care that all our relations to God, and all our communications with Him, are honest relations, “in truth.” If our body is on its knees, let us be sure that our heart is also on its knees. If we close our eyes, let us see that we close our fancies. If we say words, let us beware that they are the exact representatives of our thoughts. If we ask anything, let it be the thing we want. If we promise, let us be sure that we mean it. If we confess with our lips, let us stop, if our mind is not confessing with its inward convictions. If we praise, let us hush our soul, if it is not in tune. Let worship be worship,—a beggar knocking at the door; a sinner prostrate for mercy; a servant looking to his Master’s eye; a child speaking to his Father; a pardoned man resting; a saved man thanking; a saint rejoicing.2 [Note: James Vaughan.] Thy house hath gracious freedom, like the air Of open fields; its silence hath a speech 232
- 233. Of royal welcometo the friends who reach Its threshold, and its upper chambers bear, Above their doors, such spells that, entering there, And laying off the dusty garments, each Soul whispers to herself: “Twere like a breach Of reverence in a temple could I dare Here speak untruth, here wrong my inmost thought. Here I grow strong and pure; here I may yield, Without shamefacedness, the little brought From out my poorer life, and stand revealed, And glad, and trusting, in the sweet and rare And tender presence which hath filled this air.”1 [Note: Helen H. Jackson.] 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” BARNES,"I know that Messias cometh - As the Samaritans acknowledged the five books of Moses, so they expected, also, the coming of the Messiah. Which is called Christ - These are probably the words of the evangelist, as it is not likely that the woman would explain the name on such an occasion. Will tell us all things - Jesus had decided the question proposed to him Joh_ 4:20 in favor of the Jews. The woman does not seem to have been satisfied with this answer, and said that the Messiah would tell them all about this question. Probably she was expecting that he would soon appear. 233
- 234. CLARKE,"I know thatMessias cometh - Instead of οιδα I know, several excellent MSS. and versions read, οιδαµεν, we know; as if she had said that all the Samaritans expected the advent of the Messiah. Though they did not receive the prophetic writings, yet the tradition of the advent of the Messiah, which was common among the Jews, and founded on promises contained even in the books of Moses, was generally received among the Samaritans also. Which is called Christ - This appears to be the evangelist’s explanation of the Hebrew word, according to his custom; Joh_1:38, Joh_1:41, Joh_1:42; Joh_9:7, etc.; for we cannot suppose that the woman understood Greek, so as to translate the Hebrew word to our word; or that she should suppose that a person who was a Jew, Joh_4:9, and a prophet, Joh_4:19, could stand in need of this interpretation. He will tell us all things - Relative to the nature of God, the nature of his worship, and the proper place to adore him in. In a word, he will settle the great national question between Gerizim and Ebal; and we shall then know certainly where we ought to worship. GILL, "The woman saith unto him,.... Not knowing well what to say to these things Christ had been discoursing about, as the place, object, and manner of worship; and being undetermined in her judgment of them, by what he had said, was willing to refer them to the Messiah's coming; of which she, and the Samaritans, had some knowledge, I know that Messias cometh which is called Christ: the last clause, "which is called Christ", are not the words of the woman explaining the Hebrew word Messiah; for as, on the one hand, she did not understand Greek, so, on the other, she could not think that the person she was conversing with, who she knew was a Jew, needed that word to be explained to him; but they are the words of the evangelist, interpreting the Hebrew word "Messiah", by the Greek word "Christ", in which language he wrote: hence this clause is left out in the Syriac version, as unnecessary to a Syriac reader, not needing the word to be explained to him. The Arabic and Ethiopic versions, and some copies, read in the plural number, "we know that Messias cometh"; the knowledge of the coming of the Messiah was not peculiar to this woman, but was common to all the Samaritans; for as they received the five books of Moses, they might learn from thence, that a divine and excellent person was to come, who is called the seed of the woman, that should bruise the serpent's head; Shiloh, to whom the gathering of the people should be; and a prophet like unto Moses: and though the word "Messiah" is not found in those books, yet, as it was usual with the Jews to call the same person by this name, they might easily take it from them, and make use of it; and they not only knew that there was a Messiah to come, and expected him, but that he was coming, just ready to come; and this they might conclude, not only from the general expectation of the Jewish nation about this time, but from Gen_49:10. And it is certain, that the Samaritans to this day do expect a Messiah, though they know not his name, unless it be ;השהב the meaning of which they do not understand (m) to me it seems to be an abbreviation of ,השהבא or הבא אשר ,הוא "he that is to come"; by which circumlocution the Jews understand the Messiah; see Mat_11:3; and to which this Samaritan woman seems to have some respect: when he is come he will tell us all things; the whole mind and will of God; all things relating to the worship of God, and to the salvation of men. This the 234
- 235. Samaritans might concludefrom his general character as a prophet, like unto Moses, to whom men were to hearken, Deu_18:15, and from a common prevailing notion among the Jews, that the times of the Messiah would be times of great knowledge, founded on several prophecies, as Isa_2:3, and which they sometimes express in the following manner (n): "in the days of the Messiah, even the little children in the world shall find out the hidden things of wisdom, and know in it the ends and computations (of times), and at that time he shall be made manifest unto all.'' And again (o), "says R. Judah, the holy blessed God will reveal the deep mysteries of the law in the times of the King Messiah; for "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord", &c. and it is written, "they shall not teach every man his brother", &c.'' And elsewhere (p), "the whole world shall be filled with the words of the Messiah, and with the words of the law, and with the words of the commandments; and these things shall extend to the isles afar off; to many people, the uncircumcised in heart, and the uncircumcised in flesh; and they shall deal in the secrets of the law.--And there shall be no business in the world, but to know the Lord only; wherefore the Israelites shall be exceeding wise, and know secret things, and comprehend the knowledge of their Creator, as much as is possible for a man to do, as it is said, "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord", &c.'' Accordingly, the Messiah is come, who lay in the bosom of the Father, and has made known all things to his disciples, he hath heard of him; he has declared him to them, his love, grace, and mercy. God has spoken all he has to say that appertains to his own worship, and the salvation of the children of men by his Son Jesus Christ. HENRY, "4. The last subject of discourse with this woman is concerning the Messiah, Joh_4:25, Joh_4:26. Observe here, (1.) The faith of the woman, by which she expected the Messiah: I know that Messias cometh - and he will tell us all things. She had nothing to object against what Christ had said; his discourse was, for aught she knew, what might become the Messiah then expected; but from him she would receive it, and in the mean time she thinks it best to suspend her belief. Thus many have no heart to the price in their hand (Pro_17:16), because they think they have a better in their eye, and deceive themselves with a promise that they will learn that hereafter which they neglect now. Observe here, [1.] Whom she expects: I know that Messias cometh. The Jews and Samaritans, though so much at variance, agreed in the expectation of the messiah and his kingdom. The Samaritans received the writings of Moses, and were no strangers to the prophets, nor to the hopes of the Jewish nation; those who knew least knew this, that Messias was to come; so general and uncontested was the expectation of him, and at this time more raised than ever (for the sceptre was departed from Judah, Daniel's weeks were near expiring), so that she concludes not only, He will come, but erchetai - “He comes, he is just at hand:” Messias, who is called Christ. The evangelist, though he retains the Hebrew word Messias (which the woman used) in 235
- 236. honour to theholy language, and to the Jewish church, that used it familiarly, yet, writing for the use of the Gentiles, he takes care to render it by a Greek word of the same signification, who is called Christ - Anointed, giving an example to the apostle's rule, that whatever is spoken in an unknown or less vulgar tongue should be interpreted, 1Co_14:27, 1Co_14:28. [2.] What she expects from him: “He will tell us all things relating to the service of God which it is needful for us to know, will tell us that which will supply our defects, rectify our mistakes, and put an end to all our disputes. He will tell us the mind of God fully and clearly, and keep back nothing.” Now this implies an acknowledgement, First, Of the deficiency and imperfection of the discovery they now had of the divine will, and the rule they had of the divine worship; it could not make the comers thereunto perfect, and therefore they expected some great advance and improvement in matters of religion, a time of reformation. Secondly, Of the sufficiency of the Messiah to make this change: “He will tell us all things which we want to know, and about which we wrangle in the dark. He will introduce peace, by leading us into all truth, and dispelling the mists of error.” It seems, this was the comfort of good people in those dark times that light would arise; if they found themselves at a loss, and run aground, it was a satisfaction to them to say, When Messias comes, he will tell us all things; as it may be to us now with reference to his second coming: now we see through a glass, but then face to face. JAMIESON, "I know Messias cometh ... when He is come, etc. — If we take our Lord’s immediate disclosure of Himself, in answer to this, as the proper key to its meaning to His ear, we can hardly doubt that the woman was already all but prepared for even this startling announcement, which indeed she seems (from Joh_ 4:29) to have already begun to suspect by His revealing her to herself. Thus quickly, under so matchless a Teacher, was she brought up from her sunken condition to a frame of mind and heart capable of the noblest revelations. tell us all things — an expectation founded probably on Deu_18:15. SBC, "Christ our Prophet. Christ came in one portion of His threefold office to be a teacher and a speaker forth to us of the will of God. As, on the one hand, those are deeply in error who limit His office to this portion of it, and omit to dwell on His High-priesthood and His Kingship, so on the other hand it would be an error equally fatal to the entering into and realizing His redemption to forget those other essentials of His office, this His great work of teaching. Consider Him as our Prophet—our teacher sent from God; enquiring into His practice and the peculiar characteristics of that He is teaching. I. His teaching was earnest and continuous. The power of His anointing ever abode upon Him, ever wrought in Him, and spoke forth from Him. "He taught them there," is the constant record of the Evangelists. The Lord wrought at His appointed work while it was day with Him, and He filled the day with His work. It was no accident of His course, but its very purpose and substance. II. It was a powerful teaching. They were astonished at His doctrine, but He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. No man could withstand the power and wisdom with which He spake. III. It was a spiritual teaching: a teaching not bound down to the exposition of the law or prophets as they stood, but designed to fill them out, to clothe their dead and bare forms with life and sinews, and to establish them where they never were planted before—in the hearts and lives of men. 236
- 237. IV. Again, Histeaching was popular teaching. We are told that the common people heard Him gladly. His teaching went straight to the heart and laid open the life. Hence it was that it moved and convinced the hearers. V. It was bold and unflinching. In what burning words did He unmask the decent sanctity of the scribes and Pharisees, who were even then conspiring to kill Him! VI. His teaching again is full of the most varied and profound wisdom. VII. It is supernatural, and above the power and grasp, as it is also above the character, of all human teachers. VIII. It is prophetic. IX. It bears witness of the Father. H. Alford, Sermons, vol. vi., p. 126. Reference: Joh_4:25, Joh_4:26.—J. Kelly, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 120. CALVIN, "25.The Messiah is about to come. Although religion among the Samaritans was corrupted and mixed up with many errors, yet some principles taken from the Law were impressed on their minds, such as that which related to the Messiah. Now it is probable that, when the woman ascertained from Christ’s discourse that a very extraordinary change was about to take place in the Church of God, her mind instantly recurred to the recollection of Christ, under whom she hoped that all things would be fully restored. When she says that the Messiah is about to come, she seems to speak of the time as near at hand; and, indeed, it is sufficiently evident from many arguments, that the minds of men were everywhere aroused by the expectation of the Messiah, who would restore the affairs which were wretchedly decayed, or rather, which were utterly ruined. This, at least, is beyond all controversy, that the woman prefers Christ to Moses and to all the Prophets in the office of teaching; for she comprehends three things in a few words. First, that the doctrine of the Law was not absolutely perfect, and that nothing more than first principles was delivered in it; for if there had not been some farther progress to be made, she would not have said thatthe Messiah will tell us all things. There is an implied contrast between him and the Prophets, that it is his peculiar office to conduct his disciples to the goal, while the Prophets had only given them the earliest instructions, and, as it were, led them into the course. Secondly, the woman declares that she expects such aChrist as will be the interpreter of his Father, and the teacher and instructor of all the godly. Lastly, she expresses her belief that we ought not to desire any thing better or more perfect than his doctrine, but that, on the contrary, this is the farthest object of wisdom, beyond which it is unlawful to proceed. I wish that those who now boast of being the pillars of the Christian Church, would at least imitate this poor woman, so as to be satisfied with the simple doctrine of Christ, rather than claim I know not what power of superintendence for putting forth their inventions. For whence was the religion of the Pope and Mahomet collected but from the wicked additions, by which they imagined that they brought the doctrine of the Gospel to a state of perfection? As if it would have been incomplete without such fooleries. But whoever shall be well taught in 237
- 238. the school ofChrist will ask no other instructors, and indeed will not receive them. COFFMAN, "What a priceless jewel of faith lay at the bottom of this poor beleaguered woman's heart. How glorious the conviction. "I know that Messiah cometh (he that is called Christ)." All the sins and mistakes of her life had not effaced her knowledge of the essential truth that Christ would come into the world and teach men all that they need to know of salvation. There it was bubbling out of her heart spontaneously, her conviction that God would send the world a Saviour. All of her failures to live a life that would have honored his coming had not destroyed her. COKE, "John 4:25. I know that Messias cometh,— This, as well as John 4:29; John 4:42 plainly proves, both that the Samaritans expected the Messiah, and that they concluded he would be a prophet. The general expectation which now prevailed, that a great prince was to arise in Judea, together with Moses's prophesy concerning him, constrained the Samaritans to a right sentiment with respect to the Messiah's nation: for though they contended that the true place of acceptable worship was in their country, they did not assume the honour of being progenitors of the deliverer of mankind. They seem also to have formed some just, though partial, ideas of the Messiah's character. His kingly dignity being chiefly described in the prophetical books, which they are said to have rejected, they considered him only as a Saviour, John 4:42 and a prophet or teacher, according to Moses's description of him, Genesis 22:18. Deuteronomy 18:18. See also Nehemiah 7:65. Hence the woman, speaking of the Messiah, said, When he is come, he will tell us all things; and therefore while our Lord industriously avoided the title of Messiah among the Jews, he without scruple discovered himself to the Samaritans, because he could do it with success; the meanness of his condition being no way inconsistent with the prophetical character. We may just observe, that the words which is called Christ, should be in a parenthesis; they being the words of the evangelist, not of the woman. ELLICOTT, "(25) I know that Messias cometh.—She is puzzled by these new doctrines. “Father!” “Spirit!” what did all this mean? Was God in any real sense like the father who in childhood’s happy days had protected, and forgiven, and loved? Was the divine nature in any real sense approached by human nature in its highest and best moments, when it seemed lifted above earth, and things of the earth? Was there for her a Father who could still forgive, a Spirit whom her spirit could still love, and in the grasp of that love lift itself to virtue and truth? How different are His words to any she has ever heard before! She, as others, feels half unconsciously their power. Her answer is also a question. He, whom her countrymen called “The Converter,” or “The Returner,” and expected from such passages as Genesis 49:10 and Deuteronomy 18:15, and whom the Hebrews called “Messias,” and Hellenists called “Christ,” would come, and with Him the answer to every question. She uses the present tense, “Messias cometh.” Can it be that He stands before her now? (Comp. John 4:29.) 238
- 239. BURKITT, "Observe here,1. What a general expectation there was in the minds of all persons (at the time of our Saviour's appearing) of one whom the Jews call the Messiah. I know that Messiah cometh. This woman, though a Samaritan, yet knew that the Messiah should come, and that he was now expected. Observe, 2. What the work and office of the Messias was apprehended and believed to be, namely, to reveal the whole mind and will of God to a lost world: When the Messiah is come, he will tell us all things. Learn hence, That the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised and true Messiah, being called and appointed by God to be the great Prophet of his church, hath fully and perfectly revealed all things needful to be known for our salvation, All things that I have heard of the Father, I have made known unto you. John 15:15 Observe lastly, How freely and fully Christ reveals himself to this poor woman; he tells her plainly, that he was the Messias. When the Jews asked him, If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly, John 10:24 Christ did not in plain terms tell them who he was; nay, when John Baptist sent two of his disciples to ask him, whether he were, He that should come; he gave them no direct answer: yet behold he makes himself plainly known to this poor woman; he discerning her humility and great simplicity, that she was willing to be instructed by him, and did not come to him as the Jews and Pharisees did, captiously, with a design to entangle and ensnare him. Hence learn, That the Lord Jesus Christ delights to reveal himself, and make known his mind and will to such as with an humble mind, and an honest simplicity of heart, do desire to know him, and understand their duty to him. PETT, "‘The woman says to him, “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called the Christ. When he is come he will tell us all things”.’ Such words led the woman to speculate about the possible coming of the Messiah, the Christ. It is possible that she used the term ‘Messiah’ to represent the hope because she knew that Jesus was a Jew, but she would herself know the deliverer as ‘the Taheb’. This was the one the Samaritans longed for who would one day come as the revealer of truth (v. 25). On the other hand the conversation would have been in Aramaic, so that she may well have used Taheb with the explanatory translation ‘Messiah’ being the author’s. Thus her words may have been ‘the Taheb, who is called (by you) the Messiah’. That is certainly what she meant. ‘He will tell us all things.’ An admission that she was aware that much was lacking in their knowledge of God and His ways. The Jews were aware of the same and awaited Messianic figures who would bring them the full truth. LLIGHTFOOT, "[I know that Messias cometh.] If the Samaritans rejected all the books of the Old Testament excepting the five Books of Moses, it may be a question whence this woman should know the name of Messias; for that is not to be found throughout the whole Pentateuch. From whence also may further arise 239
- 240. a twofold inquirymore; one, whether the Samaritans were of the same opinion with the Sadducees? the other, whether those Sadducees that lived amongst the Jews rejected all the books of the Old Testament, excepting those of Moses only? Perhaps they might so reject them as to forbid their being read in their synagogues, in the same manner as the Jews rejected the Hagiographa from being read in the synagogues: but the question is, whether they did not use them, read them, and believe them, as the Jews did those holy writings? "They snatch all the sacred books out of the fire [though on the sabbath day], whether they read or whether they read them not." The Gloss is, "Whether they read them, that is, the Prophets; which they are wont to read in their synagogues on the sabbath day; or whether they read them not, that is, the Hagiographa." It is likely that the Sadducees and Samaritans (I mean those Samaritans that lived about our Saviour's time and before) might disown the Prophets and the holy writings much after the same manner, and no more. For is it at all probable that they were either ignorant of the histories of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, the Kings, and the writings of the prophets, or that they accounted them tales and of no value? There were some amongst the Samaritans, as Eulogius in Photius tells us, who had an opinion, that "Joshua the son of Nun was that prophet of whom Moses spake, that God would raise up to them out of their brethren like to him." Do we think then that the history and Book of Joshua were unknown or disowned by them? However, I cannot omit, without some remarks, some few passages we meet with in Sanhedrim, fol. 90. 2: "The Sadducees asked Rabban Gamaliel, Whence he could prove it, that God would raise the dead? 'From the Law (saith he), and from the Prophets, and from the holy writings.' And accordingly he allegeth his proofs out of each book, which, I hope, may not be very tedious to the reader to take notice of in this place: I prove it out of the Law, where it is written, And the Lord said to Moses, Deuteronomy 31:16, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers and rise again. They say, Probably it is meant This people will rise up and go a whoring. I prove it out of the Prophets, according as it is written, Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise: awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, Isaiah 26:19. But, perhaps (say they), this may be meant of those dead which Ezekiel raised. I prove it out of the Hagiographa, according as it is written, The roof of thy mouth is like the best wine for my beloved, that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak, Canticles 7:9. But perhaps (say they), it is meant, they move their lips in the world." I add, say they, though it is not, I confess, in the Gemarist's text, because reason and sense make it evident that this ought to be added, and the Gloss confirms it. Now it would have been a most absurd thing for Gamaliel to have offered any proofs of the resurrection, either out of the Prophets, or the Hagiographa against the Sadducees, if those books had been either not known or of no authority amongst them... But further, the Book of Ezekiel is quoted by a Samaritan in this story: "Rabban Jonathan went to Neapolis (i.e. Sychar) of the Samaritans. A certain Samaritan was in his company. When they came to Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan saith 240
- 241. unto him, 'Howcomes it to pass that we are gotten to this holy mountain?' R. Jonathan saith, 'How comes this mountain to be holy?' The Samaritan answered, Because it was never plagued with the waters of the deluge. Saith R. Jonathan, 'How prove you this?' The Samaritan answered, 'Is it not written, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation, Ezekiel 22:24.' 'If it were so (saith R. Jonathan), then should the Lord have commanded Noah to have gone up into this mountain, and not have built himself an ark.'" We also meet with a Sadducee quoting the prophet Amos: "A certain Sadducee said to a certain Rabbi, 'He that created the hills did not make a spirit or the wind: and he that created the wind did not make the hills: for it is written, Behold, he that formeth the mountains and createth the wind, Amos 5:13.' The Rabbi answered, 'Thou fool, go on but to the end of the verse, and thou wilt find the Lord of hosts is his name.'" That passage also is remarkable: "They do not snatch the books and volumes of the heretics from the flames; but they may be burnt where they are." The Gloss is, "The books of heretics, i.e. idolaters [or those that use any strange worship], who wrote out the Law, the Prophets, and the Holy Writings, for their own use in the Assyrian character and holy language." If by heretics the Sadducees are to be understood, as the latter Gloss would have it, then comparing it with the former, they had the Law, Prophets, and the Holy Writings writ in the Assyrian character in the holy language. If by heretics the Christians are understood, as in the former Gloss (for as to the Gentiles, there is no room to understand it of them in this place), then we see what copies of the Old Testament the Hebrew Christians anciently had in use. It may be objected, That if the Sadducees admitted the books of the Prophets and the Holy Writings with this exception only, that they had them not read in their synagogues, how came they to deny the resurrection from the dead, when it is so plainly asserted in those books? To this may be answered, That this argument might have something in it, if it had not been one fundamental of the Sadducees' faith, that no article in religion ought to be admitted that cannot be made out plainly from the five books of Moses. Compare this with that of the Pharisees; "However any person may acknowledge the resurrection from the dead, yet if he does not own that there is some indication of it in the law, he denies a fundamental." So that whereas Moses seemed not, clearly and in terminis, to express himself as to the resurrection, the Sadducees would not admit it as an article of their faith, though something like it may have occurred in the Prophets, so long as those expressions in the Prophets may be turned to some other sense, either historical or allegorical. But if they had apprehended any thing plain and express in the books of Moses, the Prophets also asserting and illustrating the same thing, I cannot see why we should not believe they were received by them. Something of this kind is the passage now in hand, where we find the Samaritan woman using the word Messias; which though it is not to be met with in the books of Moses, yet Moses having clearly spoken of his coming, whom the 241
- 242. Prophets afterward signalizedby the name of the Messias; this foundation being laid, the Sadducees and the Samaritans do not stick to speak of him in the same manner, and under the same title, wherein the Prophets had mentioned him. But then what kind of conceptions they had of the person, kingdom, and days of the Messiah, whether they expected the forerunner Elias, or the resurrection of the dead at his coming, as the scribes and Pharisees did, is scarcely credible. 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” BARNES,"I that speak onto thee am - he I am the Messiah. This was the first time that he openly professed it. He did not do it yet to the Jews, for it would have excited envy and opposition. But nothing could be apprehended in Samaria; and as the woman seemed reluctant to listen to him as a prophet, and professed her willingness to listen to the Messiah, he openly declared that he was the Christ, that by some means he might save her soul. From this we may learn: 1. The great wisdom of the Lord Jesus in leading the thoughts along to the subject of practical personal religion. 2. His knowledge of the heart and of the life. He must be therefore divine. 3. He gave evidence here that he was the Messiah. This was the design of John in writing this gospel. He has therefore recorded this narrative, which was omitted by the other evangelists. 4. We see our duty. It is to seize on all occasions to lead sinners to the belief that Jesus is the Christ, and to make use of all topics of conversation to teach them the nature of religion. There never was a model of so much wisdom in this as the Saviour, and we shall be successful only as we diligently study his character. 5. We see the nature of religion. It does not consist merely in external forms. It is pure, spiritual, active - an ever-bubbling fountain. It is the worship of a pure and holy God, where the heart is offered, and where the desires of an humble soul are breathed out; for salvation. CLARKE,"Jesus saith unto her, I - am he - Our Lord never spoke in such direct terms concerning himself to his own countrymen; nor even to his own disciples, till a little before his death. The reason given by Bishop Pearce is the following: The woman being alone when Jesus said it, and being a Samaritan, he had no reason to apprehend that the Samaritans, if they knew his claim, would disturb his ministry before the time of his suffering came; which seems to have been the reason why he concealed it so long from his own countrymen. 242
- 243. GILL, "Jesus saithunto her,.... Upon her making mention of the Messiah, of his coming, and of his work, he took the opportunity of making himself known unto her: I that speak unto thee am he; the Messiah; see Isa_52:6. This is a wonderful instance of the grace of Christ to this woman, that he should make himself known in so clear and plain a manner, to so mean a person, and so infamous a creature as she had been: we never find that he ever made so clear a discovery of himself, in such express terms, to any, as to her, unless it were to his immediate disciples; and these he would sometimes charge not to tell who he was. SBC, "I. The woman at the well, feeling about for light, was led to her own Scriptures, and in those Scriptures to a prophecy—a prophecy of a great Teacher who was to come—the Messias. The coming Teacher, she knew, would solve all her difficulties, and make her way quite clear. It is very beautiful, very comforting, very teaching, to watch this poor, earnest, baffled woman’s soul, gathering itself at last till it centres upon Christ. She was in a great strait; where was the escape? Messias comes; He makes all things right. As the key fits into the lock, as the light matches to the eye, or as sweet music to the ear, so Christ is made for the soul, and the soul is made for Christ. Till nature has that filling it must be incomplete, and life must be restless till it settles on that one resting-place; and this that thirsting, confessing, enquiring mind was finding out, when God took her by the hand and led her, and put it into her heart to feel, "I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when He is come, He will teach us all things." II. It is a safe thing to affirm that, wherever there is a desire for Christ in the heart, Christ Himself is not far from that desire. For of this you may be assured—Christ is always nearer to you than you think. Though you do not know it, the voices of your soul are all echoes. They are the responses to other voices, which are speaking to you. Had not Jesus first talked with you, there would never have been any of those things in your mind. All along, He who is to make the answer woke the question. He is there. You have been conversing with the very object that you are seeking; and that Presence it is which has aroused the feeling which now affects you. "I that speak unto thee am He." Patiently, very patiently, by a thousand tongues, God is always conversing with us; but rare is the heart to hear it. And happy is the man who, in the poetry of nature, in the arguments of fact, in the eloquence of truth, always catches the same accent, "I that speak unto thee am He." J. Vaughan, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 197. CALVIN, "26.It is I who talk with thee. When he acknowledges to the woman that; he is the Messiah, he unquestionably presents himself as her Teacher, in compliance with the expectation which she had formed; and, therefore, I think it probable, that he proceeded to give more full instruction, in order to satisfy her thirst. Such a proof of his grace he intended to give in the case of this poor woman, that he might testify to all that he never fails to discharge his office, when we desire to have him for our Teacher. There is, therefore, no danger that he will disappoint one of those whom he finds ready to become his disciples. But they who refuse to submit to him, as we see done by many haughty and irreligious men, or who hope to find elsewhere a wisdom more perfect — as the Mahometans and Papists do — deserve to be driven about by innumerable enchantments, and at length to be plunged in an abyss of errors. Again, by these words, “I who talk with thee am the Messiah, the Son of God,” he employs the 243
- 244. name Messiah asa seal to ratify the doctrine of his Gospel; for we must remember that he was anointed by the Father, and that the Spirit of God rested on him, that he might bring to us the message of salvation, as Isaiah declares, (Isaiah 61:1.) COKE, "John 4:26. I that speak unto thee am he.— That Christ was very cautious of acknowledging himself to be the promised Messiah, in his conversation with the Jews, is very apparent. The reason for that caution has been frequently explained in this commentary, and is intimated in the foregoing note, together with his reasons for acting otherwise at present. COFFMAN, "Why did Jesus speak so forthrightly here, while on so many other occasions he was so careful not to say plainly that he was the Christ? Jesus was charged with the duty of convincing all people that he is King of kings and Lord of lords, Dayspring from on High, the Son of God, and the Lord of all creation; but he was also under the most urgent necessity of doing so in a manner that would not provide the Romans with any pretext for executing him as a seditionist. To make this even more difficult, the Pharisees and Sadducees would gladly have cooperated with the Romans in just such a judicial murder. This poor woman's word, however, was not good in any priestly court, due to her being a Samaritan; and thus it was perfectly safe for Jesus to tell her that he was the Messiah. This same phenomenon appears later in this gospel, in the case of the man born blind; who, after being cast out of the synagogue was not an acceptable witness in Jewish courts, and who was also told plainly by Christ that he was the Son of God. Through this woman Jesus taught an entire city and yet left the Pharisees without a single word that they could use in any trumped-up charge against Jesus. It is remarkable how the Lord walked unharmed and untouched through every trap that Satan laid for him. PETT, "‘Jesus says to her, “I who speak to you am He”.’ Jesus had no hesitation in quietly letting her know that He was the promised One Who was to come. In Him the truth had come. Even if the term Messiah has been used there was no danger of a misunderstanding of the term in Samaria. They held completely different ideas from the Jews. There was no danger here of a popular uprising on these grounds. To the Jews He presented Himself as ‘the Son of Man’. But to the Samaritan He could be ‘the Messiah’, the ‘Taheb’, the Revealer of truth. They would not understand ‘Son of Man’. So He gently shows her that He has come as God’s gift to men, offering living water to revive men’s hearts and bubble up within them so that their spiritual thirst can be continually satisfied. The result will be that they receive eternal life, the life of the Spirit, and can worship God in Spirit and truth. 244
- 245. The Disciples RejoinJesus 27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” BARNES,"Upon this - At this time. Marvelled - Wondered. They wondered because the Jews had no contact with the Samaritans, and they were surprised that Jesus was engaged with her in conversation. Yet no man said - No one of the disciples. They had such respect and reverence for him that they did not dare to ask him the reason of his conduct, or even to appear to reprove him. We should be confident that Jesus is right, even if we cannot fully understand all that he does. CLARKE,"Came his disciples - From the town, whither they went to buy food, Joh_4:8. Marveled that he talked with the woman - Because it was contrary to the custom of the eastern countries; and there are many canons, among the rabbins, against it. To the present time, if a man meet even his own wife in the street, he does not speak to her; and this is done to keep up the appearance of a chastity and temperance of which the eastern world knows nothing. They might wonder how a Samaritan, in whom they could expect no spirituality, could listen to the conversation of their Master, who never spake but about heavenly things. Yet no man said, etc. - They were awed by his majesty, and knew that he must have sufficient reasons to induce him to act a part to which he was not at all accustomed. A great man has said, “Converse sparingly, if at all, with women; and never alone.” Every minister of the Gospel will do well to attend to this advice. GILL, "And upon this came his disciples,.... Just as he was saying the above words, and making himself known in this full manner, his disciples, who had been into the city to buy food, came up to them: and marvelled that he talked with the woman; or with a woman; for, according to the Jewish canons, it was not judged decent, right, and proper, nor indeed lawful, to enter into a conversation, or hold any long discourse with a woman. Their rule is this, "do not multiply discourse with a woman, with his wife they say, much less with his 245
- 246. neighbour's wife: hencethe wise men say, at whatsoever time a man multiplies discourse with a woman, he is the cause of evil to himself, and ceases from the words of the law, and at last shall go down into hell (q).'' And especially this was thought to be very unseemly in any public place, as in an inn, or in the street: hence that direction (r), "let not a man talk with a woman in the streets, even with his wife; and there is no need to say with another man's wife.'' And particularly it was thought very unbecoming a religious man, a doctor, or scholar, or a disciple of a wise man so to do. This is one of the six things which are a reproach to a scholar, "to talk with a woman in the street" (s). And it is even said (t), "let him not talk with a woman in the street, though she is his wife, or his sister, or his daughter.'' And besides, the disciples might marvel, not only that he talked with a woman, but that he should talk with that woman, who was a Samaritan; since the Jews had no familiar conversation with Samaritans, men or women: and the woman was as much astonished that Christ should have anything to say to her, and especially to ask a favour of her; for though they might, and did converse in a way of trade and business, yet did they not multiply discourse, or enter into a free conversation with one another: and it may be, that the disciples might overhear what he said to the woman, just as they came up; so that their astonishment was not merely at his talking with a woman, and with a Samaritan woman, but at what he said unto her, that he should so plainly tell her that he was the Messiah, when he so strictly charged them to tell no man. Yet no man said; no, not Peter, as Nonnus observes, who was bold and forward to put and ask questions: "what seekest thou?" or inquirest of her about? is it food, or drink, or what? "or why talkest thou with her?" when it is not customary, seemly, and lawful. It may be considered, whether or no these two questions may not relate separately, the one to the woman, the other to Christ; as, the first, what seekest thou? to the woman; and the sense be, that no man said to her, what do you want with our master? what are you inquiring about of him? what would you have of him? or what do you seek for from him? and the latter, why talkest thou with her? peculiarly to Christ. The Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions, and Beza's ancient copy indeed read, "no man said to him"; which confines both the questions to Christ. Now this shows the reverence the disciples had for Christ, and the great opinion they entertained of him, that whatever he did was well, and wisely done, though it might seem strange to them, and they could not account for it: however, they did not think that he, who was their Lord and master, was accountable to them for what he did; and they doubted not but he had good reasons for his conduct. HENRY, "We have here the remainder of the story of what happened when Christ was in Samaria, after the long conference he had with the woman. I. The interruption given to this discourse by the disciples' coming. It is probable that much more was said than is recorded; but just when the discourse was brought to a head, when Christ had made himself known to her as the true Messiah, then 246
- 247. came the disciples.The daughters of Jerusalem shall not stir up nor awake my love till he please. 1. They wondered at Christ's converse with this woman, marvelled that he talked thus earnestly (as perhaps they observed at a distance) with a woman, a strange woman alone (he used to be more reserved), especially with a Samaritan woman, that was not of the lost sheep of the house of Israel; they thought their Master should be as shy of the Samaritans as the other Jews were, at least that he should not preach the gospel to them. They wondered he should condescend to talk with such a poor contemptible woman, forgetting what despicable men they themselves were when Christ first called them into fellowship with himself. 2. Yet they acquiesced in it; they knew it was for some good reason, and some good end, of which he was not bound to give them an account, and therefore none of them asked, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? Thus, when particular difficulties occur in the word and providence of God, it is good to satisfy ourselves with this in general, that all is well which Jesus Christ saith and doeth. Perhaps there was something amiss in their marveling that Christ talked with the woman: it was something like the Pharisees being offended at his eating with publicans and sinners. But, whatever they thought, they said nothing. If thou hast thought evil at any time, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, to keep that evil thought from turning into an evil word, Pro_30:32; Psa_39:1-3. JAMIESON, "marvelled that he talked with the woman — It never probably occurred to them to marvel that He talked with themselves; yet in His eye, as the sequel shows, He was quite as nobly employed. How poor, if not false, are many of our most plausible estimates! no man said ... What? ... Why? — awed by the spectacle, and thinking there must be something under it. CALVIN, "27.His disciples came, and wondered. That the disciples wondered, as the Evangelist relates, might arise from one of two causes; either that they were offended at the mean condition of the woman, or that they reckoned the Jews to be polluted, if they entered into conversation with the Samaritans. Now though both of these feelings proceeded from a devout reverence for their Master, yet they are wrong in wondering at it as an improper thing, that he deigns to bestow so great honor on a woman who was utterly despised. For why do they not rather look at themselves? They would certainly have found no less reason to be astonished, that they who were men of no note, and almost the offscourings of the people, were raised to the highest rank of honor. And yet it is useful to observe what the Evangelist says — that they did not venture to put a question; for we are taught by their example that, if any thing in the works or words of God and of Christ be disagreeable to our feelings, we ought not to give ourselves a loose rein so as to have the boldness to murmur, but ought to preserve a modest silence, until what is hidden from us be revealed from heaven. The foundation of such modesty lies in the fear of God and in reverence for Christ. COFFMAN, "They marvelled that he was speaking with a woman ... The low estate of woman in that generation is evidenced by these words. It simply was not done. No holy man, after the custom of the times, would have done what Jesus did here; but, in the beautiful words of McCartney: 247
- 248. Woman, who madeit fit and decent and moral for a prophet to talk with thee? Who threw a zone of mercy and protection around thy little child? Who lifted thee up and changed thee from man's chattel and property to man's friend and equal and inspirer? Who obliterated the brand of the slave from thy face and put on thy brow the halo of chivalry and tenderness and romance? Who so changed thy lot, that instead of marvelling today that a prophet should talk with a woman, what men marvel at is that there ever was a time when men should have marvelled that Christ talked with a woman? Come then, woman; break thine alabaster box, filled with the ointment precious and very costly. Come, break the box and pour thine ointment of love and gratitude upon his head and feet. Come, wash his feet with the tears of thy love and wipe them with thy hair for a towel.[5] ENDNOTE: [5] Clarence Edward McCartney, Great Interviews of Jesus (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, 1944), p. 38. BURKITT, "Observe here, 1. How the providence of God so ordered and disposed of things, that the disciples did not return to Christ, till he had finished his discourse with this poor woman. An humbled sinner may meet with such satisfaction and sweet refreshment in Christ's company, that the presence even of disciples themselves (the best and holiest of saints) may be looked upon as injurious to it, and an interruption of it. This poor woman had so sweet a time with Christ, that an end being put to the conference by the coming of the disciples, might be matter of grief and resentment to her: yet the providence of God so ordered, that the disciples did not come to break off the conference till Christ had made himself known as the Messias to this poor woman. Observe, 2. The carriage and behaviour of the disciples, upon their return to Christ: finding him preaching a sermon to a single woman, they marvelled, but yet were silent. Learn, 1. That the humility and condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ, in treating poor penitent and humble sinners, is a matter of wonder and admiration, even to disciples themselves. O, blessed Saviour! there was more kindness and condescension, more love and compassion, more meekness and humility in thyself alone, than in all thy disciples and followers put together. Yet observe, 2. Though they marvelled, they were silent, No man said, Why talkest thou with her? Thence note, That such reverence is due to Christ in all his dispensations and actions, that when we can see no reason for what he doth, it is not for us to inquire, much less for us to quarrel, but we must awfully admire what we cannot comprehend. Observe, 3. The behaviour of this woman after the conference was over, she 248
- 249. leaves her water-pot,and makes haste to invite and call her neighbours to Christ, whose grace and kindness she had experienced. Learn hence, That such as truly know Christ, have tasted sweetness in him, and derived comfort and satisfaction from him, will be forward to invite, and industrious to draw, others to a saving acquaintance with him. Come with me, and see a man that told me all that ever I did: Is not this the Christ? Learn farther, From the woman's leaving her water-pot behind her, and hastening to the city, That when once a soul has tasted the sweetness and excellency that is in Jesus Christ, those things which were highly esteemed before, will be little regarded then. The poor woman came to draw water, and thought much, and spake much, of the water of that well which was before her: but meeting with Jesus Christ, and tasting of his grace, she forgets both water and water-pot, and away she goes to fetch in all her acquaintance to Christ. PETT, "‘And upon this came his disciples and they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman, yet no man said, ‘What are you looking for?’ or ‘Why are you speaking with her?’ At this crucial point the disciples returned with food. ‘They marvelled that he was talking with a woman’. It was not usual for women who were alone to chat with unknown men, unless they were of unsavoury reputation, and for the same reason men of reputation were wise to avoid it. And this was especially true of Rabbis, some of whom would not deign even to speak with a woman. ‘But none said, ‘what do you want?’ or ‘why are you talking to her?’ They dared not challenge the Master. This suggests that the writer is looking back and remembering the incident. He could still remember the questions that sprang into their minds but which they dared not ask. What did the woman want? Why was Jesus risking His reputation in speaking to a lone woman? You can almost see the disciples discussing the matter quietly among themselves. This was the memory of an eyewitness. There would be no real purpose in anyone inventing this, and it is very unlikely that a later Christian who admired the Apostles would do so. Once again we have evidence that the source of this narrative was there. John 4:28-29 ‘So the woman left her water pot and went away into the city, and says to the men, “Come and see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ’ The woman solved their dilemma by leaving, as indeed she would feel she had to. But the writer remembered that ‘she left her water pot’. This act in itself was an indication that she intended to return, and was clearly noted and probably commented on among the disciples. It was certainly unusual. She had come with the purpose of drawing water. But now that had been forgotten in her excitement. Perhaps there is also an indication in it that she considered that her water jar no longer mattered. Her thirst had been satisfied by better water and she wanted to take that with her. John may have seen a deeper significance in it. The waterpot that contained 249
- 250. within it thegift of Jacob was no longer needed because she had now received the gift of God. The old was replaced by the new. When she met the men she would have said in Aramaic, ‘Come and see a man who has told me my whole life story. Is not this the Taheb?’ The writer, translates it into Greek as Messiah. It is quite clear that it was Jesus’ knowledge of her inner thoughts that had impressed her most, and it is repeated again in John 4:39 for emphasis. Thus John wants to bring home to his readers the prophetic omniscience of Jesus. BARCLAY, "SHARING THE WONDER (John 4:27-30) 4:27-30 Upon this his disciples came up; and they were in a state of amazement that he was talking to a woman; but no one said: "What are you looking for?" or, "Why are you talking to her?" So the woman left her water-pot, and went away to the town and said to the people: "Come and see a man who told me all things that I have done! Can this be the Anointed One of God?" They came out of the town and were coming to him. There is little wonder that the disciples were in a state of bewildered amazement when they returned from their errand to the town of Sychar and found Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman. We have already seen the Jewish idea of women. The Rabbinic precept ran: "Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not with his own wife." The Rabbis so despised women and so thought them incapable of receiving any real teaching that they said: "Better that the words of the law should be burned than deliver to women." They had a saying: "Each time that a man prolongs converse with a woman he causes evil to himself, and desists from the law, and in the end inherits Gehinnom." By Rabbinic standards Jesus could hardly have done a more shatteringly unconventional thing than to talk to this woman. Here is Jesus taking the barriers down. There follows a curiously revealing touch. It is the kind which could hardly have come from anyone except from one who had actually shared in this scene. However staggered the disciples might be, it did not occur to them to ask the woman what she was looking for or to ask Jesus why he was talking to her. They were beginning to know him; and they had already arrived at the conclusion that, however surprising his actions were, they were not to be questioned. A man has taken a great step to real discipleship when he learns to say: "It is not for me to question the actions and the demands of Jesus. My prejudices and my conventions must go down before them." By this time the woman was on her way back to the village without her water- pot. The fact that she left her water-pot showed two things. It showed that she was in a hurry to share this extraordinary experience, and it showed that she never dreamed of doing anything else but come back. Her whole action has much to tell us of real Christian experience. (i) Her experience began with being compelled to face herself and to see herself as she was. The same thing happened to Peter. After the draft of fishes, when Peter suddenly discovered something of the majesty of Jesus, all he could say 250
- 251. was: "Depart fromme; for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8). Our Christian experience will often begin with a humiliating wave of self-disgust. It usually happens that the last thing a man sees is himself. And it often happens that the first thing Christ does for a man is to compel him to do what he has spent his life refusing to do--look at himself. (ii) The Samaritan woman was staggered by Christ's ability to see into her inmost being. She was amazed at his intimate knowledge of the human heart, and of her heart in particular. The Psalmist was awed by that same thought. "Thou discernest my thoughts from afar.... Even before a word is on my tongue, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether" (Psalms 139:1-4). It is told that once a small girl heard a sermon by C. H. Spurgeon, and whispered to her mother at the end of it: "Mother, how does he know what goes on in our house?" There are no wrappings and disguises which are proof against the gaze of Christ. It is his power to see into the depths of the human heart. It is not that he sees only the evil there; he sees also the sleeping hero in the soul of every man. He is like the surgeon who sees the diseased thing, but who also sees the health which will follow when the evil thing is taken away. (iii) The first instinct of the Samaritan woman was to share her discovery. Having found this amazing person, she was compelled to share her find with others. The Christian life is based on the twin pillars of discovery and communication. No discovery is complete until the desire to share it fills our hearts; and we cannot communicate Christ to others until we have discovered him for ourselves. First to find, then to tell, are the two great steps of the Christian life. (iv) This very desire to tell others of her discovery killed in this woman the feeling of shame. She was no doubt an outcast; she was no doubt a byword; the very fact that she was drawing water from this distant well shows how she avoided her neighbours and how they avoided her. But now she ran to tell them of her discovery. A person may have some trouble which he is embarrassed to mention and which he tries to keep secret, but once he is cured he is often so filled with wonder and gratitude that he tells everyone about it. A man may hide his sin; but once he discovers Jesus Christ as Saviour, his first instinct is to say to men: "Look at what I was and look at what I am; this is what Christ has done for me." LIGHTFOOT, "[They marvelled that he talked with the woman.] They marvel he should talk with a woman, much more with a Samaritan woman. "R. Jose the Galilean being upon a journey [I am much mistaken if it should not be writ] found Berurea in the way: to whom he said, What way must we go to Lydda? She answered, 'O thou foolish Galilean, have not the wise men taught Do not multiply discourse with a woman? Thou oughtest only to have said Which way to Lydda?'" Upon what occasion this woman should be called Berurea is not our business at present to inquire: but that the reader may know something of her, she was the wife of R. Meir, a learned woman, and a teacher herself: "His wife Berurea was 251
- 252. a wise woman,of whom many things are related in Avodah Zarah." Another story we have of her; "Berurea found a certain scholar reading mutteringly, and spurned at him," &c. "Samuel saith, They do not salute a woman at all." "A certain matron asked R. Eleazar, 'Why, when the sin of the golden calf was but one only, should it be punished with a threefold kind of death?' He answered, A woman ought not to be wise above her distaff. Saith Hyrcanus to him, 'Because you did not answer her a word out of the law, she will keep back from us three hundred measures of tithes yearly.' But he, Let the words of the law be burned rather than committed to women." "Let no one talk with a woman in the street, no, not with his own wife." 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, BARNES,"Left her water-pot - Her mind was greatly excited. She was disturbed, and hastened to the city in great agitation to make this known. She seems to have been convinced that he was the Messiah, and went immediately to make it known to others. Our first business, when we have found the Saviour, should be to make him known also to others. CLARKE,"Left her waterpot - She was so penetrated with the great truths which Jesus had announced that she forgot her errand to the well, and returned to the city without the water for which she came out! GILL, "The woman then left her water pot,.... Her pail, or bucket, she brought with her to the well to draw water in: this she left, either for Christ and his disciples to make use of; or rather through forgetfulness, her mind being greatly impressed, and her thoughts much taken up with what Christ had said to her, and she being in haste to acquaint others with it: so the disciples left their nets, their business, their friends, and all for Christ; and so the saints are brought to quit their earthly and worldly things for the sake of Christ, and his Gospel. The Ethiopic version renders it, "she left her disputation": she left off discoursing with Christ upon the disciples coming to him. And went her way into the city: the city of Sychar, to inform her friends, relations, and neighbours what she had met with: so Andrew and Philip, when they had found Christ themselves, acquaint others with it, and bring them to him; so Levi, the publican, being called himself by Christ, makes a feast for Christ, and invites many publicans and sinners to sit down with him, that they might know him as well as himself; so the Apostle Paul, when converted, expresses a great concern for his 252
- 253. brethren and kinsmenaccording to the flesh; and such is the nature of true grace, that those that have it would have others partakers of it likewise: and saith to the men. The Ethiopic version adds, "of her house"; no doubt the men of the place in general are meant; not only those of her family, but the inhabitants of the city. The Syriac version leaves out the words, "to the men". The Jews will not allow the Cuthites, or Samaritans, to be called "men"; this they peculiarly ascribe to priests, Levites, and Israelites (u). HENRY, "The notice which the woman gave to her neighbours of the extraordinary person she had happily met with, Joh_4:28, Joh_4:29. Observe here, 1. How she forgot her errand to the well, Joh_4:28. Therefore, because the disciples were come, and broke up the discourse, and perhaps she observed they were not pleased with it, she went her way. She withdrew, in civility to Christ, that he might have leisure to eat his dinner. She delighted in his discourse, but would not be rude; every thing is beautiful in its season. She supposed that Jesus, when he had dined, would go forward in his journey, and therefore hastened to tell her neighbours, that they might come quickly. Yet a little while is the light with you. See how she improved time; when one good work was done, she applied herself to another. When opportunities of getting good cease, or are interrupted, we should seek opportunities of doing good; when we have done hearing the word, then is a time to be speaking of it. Notice is taken of her leaving her water-pot or pail. (1.) She left it in kindness to Christ, that he might have water to drink; he turned water into wine for others, but not for himself. Compare this with Rebecca's civility to Abraham's servant (Gen_24:18), and see that promise, Mat_10:42. (2.) She left it that she might make the more haste into the city, to carry thither these good tidings. Those whose business it is to publish the name of Christ must not encumber or entangle themselves with any thing that will retard or hinder them therein. When the disciples are to be made fishers of men they must forsake all. (3.) She left her water- pot, as one careless of it, being wholly taken up with better things. Note, Those who are brought to the knowledge of Christ will show it by a holy contempt of this world and the things of it. And those who are newly acquainted with the things of God must be excused, if at first they be so taken up with the new world into which they are brought that the things of this world seem to be for a time wholly neglected. Mr. Hildersham, in one of his sermons on this verse, from this instance largely justifies those who leave their worldly business on week-days to go to hear sermons. CALVIN, "28.Therefore the woman left her pitcher. This circumstance is related by the Evangelist to express the ardor of her zeal; for it is an indication of haste, that she leaves her pitcher, and returns to the city. And this is the nature of faith, that when we have become partakers of eternal life, we wish to bring others to share with us; nor is it possible that the knowledge of God shall lie buried and inactive in our hearts without being manifested before men, for that saying must be true: I believed, and therefore I will speak, (Psalms 116:10.) The earnestness and promptitude of the woman are so much the more worthy of attention, that it was only a small spark of faith that kindled them; for scarcely had she tasted Christ when she spreads his game throughout the whole city. In those who have already made moderate progress in his school, sluggishness will 253
- 254. be highly disgraceful.But she may appear to deserve blame on this account, that while she is still ignorant and imperfectly taught, she goes beyond the limits of her faith. I reply, she would have acted inconsiderately, if she had assumed the office of a teacher, but when she desires nothing more than to excite her fellow- citizens to hear Christ speaking, we will not say that she forgot herself, or proceeded farther than she had a right to do. She merely does the office of a trumpet or a bell to invite others to come to Christ. COKE, "John 4:28-29. The woman then left her water-pot, &c.— When the woman heard Jesus call himself the Messiah, she set down her pitcher, and ran into the city, where she published the news in the streets, and desired all she met to go with her, and see him, assuring them that he had told her the principal occurrences of her life; so strong an impression had that circumstance made upon her mind. The fulness of her conviction, and the haste she was in to communicate the joyful news to her countrymen, place her in an amiable light. She was so certain that our Lord was the Messiah, that she ran to call others, that they might be convinced likewise. What a contrast is there between this woman and the Jews! So far were they from bringing others to him, that they hindered them from coming, when desirous to do so. In this respect we should imitate the Samaritan woman. COFFMAN, "So the woman left her water-pot ... When from our low plain of sin and mortality, the soul of man glimpses light of the Eternal City, all temporal and secular concerns recede. Important as the water-pot was to that woman, what a negligible trifle it became to her whose heart had just been lifted up to see the Christ! Here was that same motivation that inspired the fishermen of Galilee to leave their nets and their father, and Matthew to leave his seat of custom, and follow Jesus. No mortal considerations can withstand the blast of that solar wind which emanates from the Sun of Righteousness. Come see ... With these same words, Philip persuaded Nathaniel (John 1:46); and with the same Jesus invited the disciples to his abode (John 1:39); and, with the same words, an angel of heaven said, "Come see the place where the Lord lay" (Matthew 2:8:6). That phenomenon which is Jesus Christ our Lord needs only to be observed to be believed; and the apostle who wrote this gospel retained that truth in focus throughout. Can this be the Christ ...? There is no reason to suppose that this woman had any doubt that Jesus was the Christ; but she wisely presented her witness in such a manner as to require the citizens of Sychar to provide their own answer to so great a question. 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I 254
- 255. ever did. Couldthis be the Messiah?” BARNES,"Is not this the Christ? - Though she probably believed it, yet she proposed it modestly, lest she should appear to dictate in a case which was so important, and which demanded so much attention. The evidence on which she was satisfied that he was the Messiah was that he had told her all things that she had done - perhaps much more than is here recorded. The question which she submitted to them was whether this was not satisfactory proof that he was the Messiah. CLARKE,"All things that ever I did - The Jews believed that one essential characteristic of the Messiah would be, that he should be able to tell the secrets of all hearts. This they believed was predicted, Isa_11:2, Isa_11:3. When the famous impostor Barchochab, who rose up under the empire of Adrian, about a hundred years after the incarnation, professed himself to be the Messiah, after having been deceived by him for two years, they at last thought of putting his divinity to proof on this ground: they brought before him persons whom he did not know, some of whom were very vicious, and others of a different character; they desired him to point out who were the righteous, and who were the wicked; which when he could not do, they rose up and put him to death. La Bible de Martin. GILL, "Come, see a man,.... An uncommon, an extraordinary man, a prophet, and, who himself says, he is the Messiah, who is now at Jacob's well; come, go along with me, and see him and converse with him, and judge for yourselves, who, and what he is: she does not say, "go and see"; for she proposed to go along with them herself, that she might have more conversation with him, and knowledge of him, and grace from him: so such that have tasted that the Lord is gracious, desire more grace from him, and communion with him. Which told me all things that ever I did; the more remarkable things that had been done by her in the whole series of her life and conversation; referring more especially to the account he had given her of her having had five husbands, and what the man was she now lived with; when no doubt, all the transactions of her life were laid before her, and she had, at once, a view of all her iniquities; when her sins stared her in the face, and her conscience was filled with guilt and remorse, and her soul with shame and confusion; and so it is when Christ, by his Spirit, convinces of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment: is not this the Christ? that was to come, has been promised and prophesied of, and we have expected, who is of quick understanding, and even God omniscient; surely this must be he, as he himself says he is. HENRY, "2. How she minded her errand to the town, for her heart was upon it. She went into the city, and said to the men, probably the aldermen, the men in authority, whom, it may be, she found met together upon some public business; or to the men, that is, to every man she met in the streets; she proclaimed it in the chief places of concourse: Come, see a man who told me all things that ever I did. Is not 255
- 256. this the Christ?Observe, (1.) How solicitous she was to have her friends and neighbours acquainted with Christ. When she had found that treasure, she called together her friends and neighbours (as Luk_15:9), not only to rejoice with her, but to share with her, knowing there was enough to enrich herself and all that would partake with her. Note, They that have been themselves with Jesus, and have found comfort in him, should do all they can to bring others to him. Has he done us the honour to make himself known to us? Let us do him the honour to make him known to others; nor can we do ourselves a greater honour. This woman becomes an apostle. Quae scortum fuerat egressa, regreditur magistra evangelica - She who went forth a specimen of impurity returns a teacher of evangelical truth, saith Aretius. Christ had told her to call her husband, which she thought was warrant enough to call every body. She went into the city, the city where she dwelt, among her kinsfolks and acquaintance. Though every man is my neighbour that I have opportunity of doing good to, yet I have most opportunity, and therefore lie under the greatest obligations, to do good to those that live near me. Where the tree falls, there let it be made useful. (2.) How fair and ingenuous she was in the notice she gave them concerning this stranger she had met with. [1.] She tells them plainly what induced her to admire him: He has told me all things that ever I did. No more is recorded than what he told her of her husbands; but it is not improbable that he had told her of more of her faults. Or, his telling her that which she knew he could not by any ordinary means come to the knowledge of convinced her that he could have told her all that she ever did. If he has a divine knowledge, it must be omniscience. He told her that which none knew but God and her own conscience. Two things affected her: - First, the extent of his knowledge. We ourselves cannot tell all things that ever we did (many things pass unheeded, and more pass away and are forgotten); but Jesus Christ knows all the thoughts, words, and actions, of all the children of men; see Heb_4:13. He hath said, I know thy works. Secondly, The power of his word. This made a great impression upon her, that he told her her secret sins with such an unaccountable power and energy that, being told of one, she is convinced of all, and judged of all. She does not say, “Come, see a man that has told me strange things concerning religious worship, and the laws of it, that has decided the controversy between this mountain and Jerusalem, a man that calls himself the Messias;” but, “Come see a man that has told me of my sins.” She fastens upon that part of Christ's discourse which one would think she would have been most shy of repeating; but experimental proofs of the power of Christ's word and Spirit are of all others the most cogent and convincing; and that knowledge of Christ into which we are led by the conviction of sin and humiliation is most likely to be sound and saving. [2.] She invites them to come and see him of whom she had conceived so high an opinion. Not barely, “Come and look upon him” (she does not invite them to him as a show), but, “Come and converse with him; come and hear his wisdom, as I have done, and you will be of my mind.” She would not undertake to manage the arguments which had convinced her, in such a manner as to convince others; all that see the evidence of truth themselves are not able to make others see it; but, “Come, and talk with him, and you will find such a power in his word as far exceeds all other evidence.” Note, Those who can do little else towards the conviction and conversion of others may and should bring them to those means of grace which they themselves have found effectual. Jesus was now at the town's end. “Now come see him.” When opportunities of getting the knowledge of God are brought to our doors we are inexcusable if we neglect them; shall we not go over the threshold to see him whose day prophets and kings desired to see? [3.] She resolves to appeal to themselves, and their own sentiments upon the trial. Is not this the Christ? She does not peremptorily say, “He is the Messiah,” how 256
- 257. clear soever shewas in her own mind, and yet she very prudently mentions the Messiah, of whom otherwise they would not have thought, and then refers it to themselves; she will not impose her faith upon them, but only propose it to them. By such fair but forcible appeals as these men's judgments and consciences are sometimes taken hold of ere they are aware. JAMIESON, "is not this the Christ — The form of the question (in the Greek) is a distant, modest way of only half insinuating what it seemed hardly fitting for her to affirm; nor does she refer to what He said of Himself, but solely to His disclosure to her of the particulars of her own life. CALVIN, "29.See a man. As she here speaks doubtfully, she might appear not to have been greatly moved by the authority of Christ. I reply, as she was not qualified to discourse about such high mysteries, she endeavors, according to her feeble capacity, to bring her fellow-citizens to permit themselves to be taught by Christ. It was a very powerful stimulant which she employed to excite them, when she knew, by a sign which was not obscure or doubtful, that he was a prophet; for, since they could not form a judgment from his doctrine, this lower preparation was useful and well adapted to them. Having, therefore, learned that Christ had revealed to the woman things which were hidden, they infer from it that he is a Prophet of God. This having been ascertained, they begin to attend to his doctrine. But the woman goes farther; for she bids them inquire if he be not the Messiah, being satisfied if she could only persuade them to seek, of their own accord, what she had already found in Christ; for she knew that they would find more than she promised. Who told me all things that ever I did. Why does she tell a lie, by saying that Christ told her all things ? I have already shown that Christ did not reprove her for a single instance of fornication, but that he placed before her, in a few words, many sins of her whole life. For the Evangelist has not minutely recorded every sentence, but states generally that Christ, in order to repress the woman’s talkativeness, brought forward her former and present life. Yet we see that the woman, kindled by a holy zeal, does not spare herself, or her reputation, to magnify the name of Christ: for she does not scruple to relate the disgraceful passages of her life. LIGHTFOOT, "[Which told me all things that ever I did, &c.] This passage doth something agree with the Jewish notion about their Messiah's smelling: "It is written, And he shall make him of quick scent or smell in the fear of the Lord, Isaiah 11:3. Rabba saith, He shall be of quick scent, and shall judge, as it is written, He shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, &c. Ben Coziba reigned two years and a half, and said to the Rabbins, 'I am the Messiah.' They say unto him, 'It is said of the Messiah, that he shall be of quick scent and shall judge: let us see if you can smell and judge': which when he could not do, they killed him." The Samaritan woman perceived that Jesus had smelt out all her clandestine wickednesses, which she had perpetrated out of the view of men; for which very 257
- 258. reason she arguedit with herself, that this must be the Messiah. And by her report her fellow-citizens are encouraged to come and see him. They see him, hear him, invite him, receive and entertain him, and believe in him. Is it not probable, therefore, that they, as well as the Jews, might have expected the coming of the Messiah about this time? If so, whence should they learn it? from the Jews? or from the Book of Daniel? 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. GILL, "In the mean while,.... Whilst the woman was gone into the city, and had acquainted the inhabitants, that such a wonderful person was at Jacob's well, and invited them to come and see him: his disciples prayed him, saying, master, eat; for they perceived a disinclination in him to food; and they knew that he was weary with his journey, and that it was the time of day, and high time, that he had had some food; and therefore out of great respect to him, and in concern for his health and welfare, they entreated him that he would take some food: so far was Christ from indulging his sensual appetite; and so little reason had the Scribes and Pharisees to traduce him as a wine bibber and glutton. HENRY, "(3.) What success she had in this invitation: They went out of the city, and came to him, Joh_4:30. Though it might seem very improbable that a woman of so small a figure, and so ill a character, should have the honour of the first discovery of the Messiah among the Samaritans, yet it pleased God to incline their hearts to take notice of her report, and not to slight it as an idle tale. Time was when lepers were the first that brought tidings to Samaria of a great deliverance, 2Ki_7:3, etc. They came unto him; did not send for him into the city to them, but in token of their respect to him, and the earnestness of their desire to see him, they went out to him. Those that would know Christ must meet him where he records his name. JAMIESON, " COFFMAN, "Such a development as this would require some little time. There was some little distance between the well and the city, a distance traveled twice by this woman before any person in Sychar could hear the message. Then, some considerable time passed during the interview itself, and there would have had to be some further time before the word could be generally circulated among the people. Finally, the movement of an entire multitude of villagers toward the well would also have required still further time. All of these things taken together suggest that the hour was noon, not 6:00 o'clock in the evening. It should be remembered that they were not on daylight saving time. 258
- 259. The movement ofthe multitude toward Jesus across the plain that separated between the well and the city deeply touched the Saviour's heart. The prevailing color of all clothing in those days was white, dyes being so expensive that only the rich used them; and the Lord's reference to the "white" harvest fields a little later had reference to that field of people dressed in the white garments of the poor moving toward the Lord under the glare of the sun at noon. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” CLARKE,"Master, eat - They knew that he was greatly spent both with hunger and fatigue. GILL, "In the mean while,.... Whilst the woman was gone into the city, and had acquainted the inhabitants, that such a wonderful person was at Jacob's well, and invited them to come and see him: his disciples prayed him, saying, master, eat; for they perceived a disinclination in him to food; and they knew that he was weary with his journey, and that it was the time of day, and high time, that he had had some food; and therefore out of great respect to him, and in concern for his health and welfare, they entreated him that he would take some food: so far was Christ from indulging his sensual appetite; and so little reason had the Scribes and Pharisees to traduce him as a wine bibber and glutton. HENRY, "III. Christ's discourse with his disciples while the woman was absent, Joh_4:31-38. See how industrious our Lord Jesus was to redeem time, to husband every minute of it, and to fill up the vacancies of it. When the disciples were gone into the town, his discourse with the woman was edifying, and suited to her case; when she was gone into the town, his discourse with them was no less edifying, and suited to their case; it were well if we could thus gather up the fragments of time, that none of it may be lost. Two things are observable in this discourse: - 1. How Christ expresses the delight which he himself had in his work. His work was to seek and save that which was lost, to go about doing good. Now with this work we here find him wholly taken up. For, (1.) He neglected his meat and drink for his work. When he sat down upon the well, he was weary, and needed refreshment; but this opportunity of saving souls made him forget his weariness and hunger. And he minded his food so little that, [1.] His 259
- 260. disciples were forcedto invite him to it: They prayed him, they pressed him, saying, Master, eat. It was an instance of their love to him that they invited him, lest he should be faint and sick for want of some support; but it was a greater instance of his love to souls that he needed invitation. Let us learn hence a holy indifference even to the needful supports of life, in comparison with spiritual things. JAMIESON, " COKE, "John 4:31-34. In the mean while his disciples prayed him,— While these things were doing, the disciples set the meat which they had bought, before their Master; but he regarded it not, though he then stood much in need of refreshment. He was wholly intent on the duties of his mission, preferring them to his necessary food. Hence, when his disciples entreated him to eat, he told them, that he had meat to eat which they knew nothing of; meaning the satisfaction that he was about to receive from the conversion of the Samaritans; for meat is often used in the Jewish writings to signify that which satisfies the desires of the soul, as well as the wants of the body. Hence also our Lord says, John 4:34. "My meat, my true satisfaction, and best refreshment, is to do the will of him that sent me,—and to finish his work as fast as possible, in the conversion of souls, and in the propagation of his kingdom; and I with pleasure can assure you, that it is now going on successfully." See the next note. COFFMAN, "This urgency on the part of the disciples that Jesus should eat might be the key to the excessive fatigue of Jesus. Perhaps Jesus, caught up in the glorious enthusiasm of the previous days of baptizing great numbers, had not eaten much. Certainly, there was some variation in the case with Jesus from that of his apostles; the apostles were concerned about it and insisted that Jesus eat. But it was not yet time for eating. A great multitude of villagers, visible in the distance, was moving toward the Lord of life; and he would break for them the bread of life before relieving his own physical hunger. What a difference between the Lord of glory and human dignitaries. This writer once attempted to see the mayor of New York but was informed that "His Honor" would be leaving a little early that day for lunch and would be back after three o'clock! PETT, "Verses 31-33 ‘Meanwhile the disciples begged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have meat to eat that you do not know about.” The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has any man brought him anything to eat?” ’ The disciples meanwhile begged Jesus to eat. They could not understand His reluctance. But His mind was on other things. He was waiting in expectancy for needy men to come to Him. So He replied, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about’ (compare Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4; John 5:36; John 6:38). The disciples looked at one other. ‘Has someone brought Him food?’ they asked each other. Like the woman’s had been, their minds were very caught up in material things. Their spiritual minds had not yet been awakened. Once again we have the sense of someone who was there and remembers it clearly. PINK 31-42, "We begin with the usual Analysis of the passage which is to be before us. In it we see:— 1. The Disciples’ Solicitude, verse 31. 2. The Disciples’ Ignorance, verse 32. 260
- 261. 3. The DisciplesInstructed, verses 34-38. 4. The Samaritan Converts, verse 39. 5. The Samaritan’s Request, verse 40. 6. The Samaritan Converts added unto, verse 41. 7. The Samaritan’s Confession, verse 42. Verses 31-38 form a parenthesis and tell us something of what transpired during the interval that followed the woman’s leaving the well and the Samaritans coming to Christ because of her testimony to Him. They record a conversation which took place between the Lord and His disciples. The disciples, it will be remembered, had "gone away unto the city to buy meat," and had returned from their quest, to find their Master engaged in conversation with a woman of Samaria. They had marvelled at this, but none had interrogated Him on the matter. As they had heard the Savior pronounce the ineffable "I am" title (verse 26), a Divine restraint had fallen upon them. But now the interview between the Lord Jesus and the Samaritan harlot was over. Grace had won a glorious victory. A sinner had been brought out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, and in consequence, had gone forth to tell others the good news which meant so much to her own heart. Once more the Savior was left alone with His disciples. They had returned in time to hear His closing words with the woman’, and had seen the summary effect they had on her. They had witnessed that which should have corrected and enlarged their cramped vision. They had been shown that whatever justification there might have been in the past for the Jews to have "no dealings with the Samaritans," this no longer held good. The Son of God had come to earth, "full of grace and truth," and the glad tidings concerning Him must be proclaimed to all people. This was a hard lesson for these Jewish disciples, but with infinite patience the Lord bore with their spiritual dullness. In what follows we have a passage of great practical importance, which contains some weighty truths upon service. "In the meanwhile His disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat" (John 4:31). A little earlier in the day the disciples had left their Master sitting on the well, wearied from the long journey. Accordingly, they had procured some food, and had returned to Him with it. But He evidenced no desire for it. Instead of finding Christ weary and faint, they discovered Him to be full of renewed energy. He had received refreshment which they knew not of. This they could not understand, and so they begged Him to eat of that which they had brought Him. Their request was a kindly one. Their appeal to Him was well meant. But it was merely the amiability of the flesh. The ‘milk of human kindness’ must not be mistaken for the fruit of the Spirit. Sentimentality is not spirituality. "But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of" (John 4:32). This was scarcely a rebuke: it was more a word of instruction for their enlightenment. Their minds were upon material things; the Lord speaks of that which is spiritual. "Meat" was used as a figurative expression for that which satisfied. Christ’s heart had been fed. His spirit had been invigorated. What it was that had refreshed Him we learn from His next utterance. It was something the disciples "knew not of." Not yet had they discovered that the one who gives out of the things of God is also a receiver. In dispensing spiritual blessing to others, one is blest himself. Peace and joy are a part of the reward which comes to him who does the will of God. The obedient servant has "meat to eat" that those not 261
- 262. engaged in serviceknow nothing about. These, and other principles of service, were what the Lord would now press upon His disciples. "Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?" (John 4:33). This confirmed what Christ had just said: disciples of His they might be, but as yet they were very ignorant about spiritual things. Their minds evidently dwelt more upon material things, than the things of God. They knew very little about the relation of Christ to the Father: their thoughts turned at once to the question as to whether or not any man had "brought him ought to eat." Even good men are sometimes very ignorant; yea, the best of men are, until taught of God. "How dull and thick brained are the best, ‘till God rend the veil, and enlighten both the organ and the object" (John Trapp, 1650, A.D.). But let us not smile at the dullness of those disciples; instead, see in them an exhibition of our own spiritual stupidity, and need of being taught of God. "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work" (John 4:34). What did Christ mean? In what sense is doing the will of God "meat" to one who performs it? What is the Father’s "work?" And how was Christ "finishing" it? The answer to those questions must be sought in the setting of our verse, noting its connection with what has gone before and what follows. We must first ascertain the leading subject of the passage of which this verse forms a part. As we proceed with our examination of the passage it will become more and more evident that its leading subject is service. The Lord was giving needed instruction to His disciples, and preparing them for their future work. He sets before them a concise yet remarkably complete outline of the fundamental principles which underlie all acceptable service for God. The all-important and basic principle is that of absolute obedience to the will of God. The servant must do the will of his master. This the perfect Servant Himself exemplified. Note how He refers to God. He does not say here, "My meat is to do the will of the Father," but "the will of Him that sent me." That shows it is service which is in view. Now what was "the will" of the One who had sent Christ into the world? Was it not to deliver certain captives from the hands of the Devil and bring them from death unto life? If there is any doubt at all on the point John 6:38 and 39 at once removes it—"For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." This at once helps us to define the Father’s "work"—"and finish his work, which must not be confounded with the work that was peculiarly the Son’s: though closely related, they were quite distinct. The "will" of the Father was that all those He had "given" to the Son should be saved; His "work" had been in appointing them unto salvation. "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 5:9). Appointment unto salvation (see also 2 Thessalonians 2:13) is peculiarly the work of the Father; the actual saving of those appointed is the work of the Son, and in the saving of God’s elect the Son finishes the "work" of the Father. An individual example of this had just been furnished in the case of the Samaritan woman, and others were about to follow in the "many" who should believe on Him because of her testimony (verse 39), and the "many more" who would believe because of His own word (verse 41). How all this casts its own clear light on John 5:4 of this fourth chapter, and 262
- 263. explains to usthe force of the "must" here The Lord had not journeyed to Samaria to gratify His own desire, for "he pleased not himself." In infinite grace the Son of God had condescended to lay aside (temporarily) His glory and stooped to the place of a Servant; and in service, as in everything else, He is our great Exemplar. He shows us how to serve, and the first great principle which comes out here is that joy of heart, satisfaction of soul, sustenance of spirit—"meat"—is to be found in doing the will, performing the pleasure, of the One who sends forth. Here, then, the perfect Servant tells us what true service is—the simple and faithful performance of that which has been marked out for us by God. Our "meat"—the sustenance of the laborers heart, the joy of his soul—is not to be sought in results (the "increase") but in doing the will of Him that sent us forth. That was Christ’s meat, and it must be ours, too. This was the first lesson, the Lord here teaches His disciples about Service. And it is the first thing which each of us who are His servants now, need to take to heart. "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest" (John 4:35). It is very evident that it is the subject of Service which is still before us, and the principle enunciated in this verse is easily perceived. However, let us first endeavor to arrive at the local force of these words, and their particular significance to the disciples, before we reduce them to a principle of application to ourselves. "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest." There is no need to conclude that the disciples had been discussing among themselves the condition of the fields through which they had walked on their way to the city to buy meat; though they may have done so. Rather does it seem to us that the Lord continued to instruct His disciples in figurative language. There seems no doubt that the Savior had in mind the spiritual state of the Samaritans and the estimate formed of them by His disciples. Possibly the Samaritans who had listened to the striking testimony of the woman now saved were on their way toward the well, though yet some considerable distance away, and pointing to them the Savior said to the disciples, "Lift up your eyes" and behold their state. "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest." This was plainly a rebuke. The disciples regarded Samaria as a most unlikely field to work in; at best much sowing would be required, and then a long wait, before any ripened grain could be expected. They never dreamed of telling them that the Messiah was just outside their gates! Must they not have hung their heads in shame when they discovered how much more faithful and zealous had been this woman than they? Here, then, is a further reason why Christ "must needs go through Samaria"—to teach His disciples a much needed missionary lesson. What, now, is the application to us of the principle contained in this verse? Surely it is this: we must not judge by appearances. Ofttimes we regard certain ones as hopeless cases, and are tempted to think it would be useless to speak to them about Christ. Yet we never know what seeds of Truth may have been lodged in their hearts by the labors of other sowers. We never know what influences may be working: ofttimes those who seem to us the most unlikely cases, when put to the test are the most ready to hear of the Savior. We cannot 263
- 264. tell how manymonths there are to harvest! "And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together" (John 4:36). If the previous verse contained a rebuke, here was a word to encourage. "He that reapeth receiveth wages" seems to mean, This is a work in which it is indeed a privilege to be engaged, for the laborer receives a glorious reward, inasmuch as he "gathereth fruit unto life eternal." The reward is an eternal one, for not only do those saved through the labors of the reaper receive eternal life, but because of this the joy of both will be eternal too. "That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together." The sower may have labored hard toward the salvation of souls, and yet never be permitted to witness in this life the success which God gave to his efforts. The reaper, however, does witness the ingathering; nevertheless, both sower and reaper shall rejoice together in the everlasting salvation of those garnered through their joint efforts. "And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth" (John 4:37). There is a timely warning here. To "reap" is not everything, blessed as the experience is: to "sow" is equally important. The bountiful crop garnered at Sychar was, under God, the result of the labors of earlier sowers. These Samaritans were already informed about the appearing of the Messiah, and for this knowledge they were indebted to the faithful ministry of earlier servants of God. That one sows and another reaps had been exemplified in the case of the converted adulteress. Christ had met the need which the testimony of the prophets had awakened within her. How gracious of the Lord to recognize and own the labors of those earlier sowers! Apparently their work had counted for little. They had sown the seed, yet seemingly the ground on which it had fallen was very unpromising. But now, under the beneficent influence of the Sun of righteousness came the harvest, and the Lord is not slack to remind His disciples of their indebtedness to the labors of those who had gone before. Doubtless, Philip would recall these words of Christ in a coming day (see Acts 8). And what comfort is there here for the sower today! His labors may seem to go for nothing, but if he is diligent in sowing the proper "seed," let him know that sooner or later all faithful service is rewarded. He may not "reap," but "another" will—"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Cor. 15:58). "I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors" (John 4:38). There is no doubt a historical reference here which points us back to what is recorded in Matthew 10, from which we learn that the Lord had sent forth the twelve apostles to "preach," and to "heal the sick" (verses 7, 8.). This was in Judea, and the success of their labors is indicated in John 4:1, 2—they had made and baptized many disciples. One can imagine the elation of the disciples over their success, and it was to repress their vanity that Christ here says to them, "I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor: other men labored, and ye are entered into their labors." He reminds them that they had prospered because others had labored before them. It was a word encouraging to the sower, sobering to the reaper. We may observe, in passing, that when the Lord sends us forth to "reap," He directs us to fields which have already been sown. It should also be noted that the toil of the sower is more arduous than that of the reaper: when Christ says, "Other men labored, 264
- 265. and ye (thereapers) are entered into their (the sowers’) labors" He used a word which signified "to toil to the point of exhaustion," indeed it is the same word which is used of the Savior at the beginning of this chapter, when we read, "Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey." Luther was wont to say, "The ministry is not an idle man’s occupation." Alas that so often it degenerates into such. Sowing and reaping are two distinct departments of Gospel ministry, and spiritual discernment (wisdom from God) is requisite to see which is the more needed in a given place. "To have commenced sowing at Sychar would have indicated a want of discernment as to the condition of souls in that city. To have concluded from their success at Sychar, that all Samaria was ready to receive the Lord, would have been manifestly erroneous, as the treatment He met with in one of the villages of Samaria at a later period in His life clearly demonstrates. This, surely, can speak to us, where sowing and reaping may go on almost side by side. The work in one place is no criterion of what that in another place should be; nor does it follow, that the laborer, highly blessed in one locality, has only to move to another, to find that field also quite ready for his reaping-hook" (C. E. Stuart). "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" (John 4:39). At first glance it looks as though this verse introduces a change of subject, yet really it is not so. This verse, as also the two following, enunciates and illustrates other principles of service. In the first place, we are shown how that God is pleased to use feeble messengers to accomplish mighty ends. Frequently He employs weak instruments to make manifest His own mighty power. In this, as in everything else, the Lord’s thoughts and ways are very different from ours. He employed a shepherd lad to vanquish the mighty Goliath. He endowed a Hebrew slave with more wisdom than all the magicians of Babylon possessed. He made the words of Naaman’s servants to have greater effect upon their august master than did those of the renowned Elisha. In making selection for the mother of the Savior, He chose not a princess, but a peasant woman. In appointing the heralds of the Cross, fishermen were the ones called. And so a mighty work of grace was started there in Sychar by a converted harlot. "How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" "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." The full force of this can only be appreciated as we go back to what is told us in verses 28 and 29. She did not say. ‘Of what use can I be for Christ?—I who have lost character with men, and have sunken into the lowest depths of degradation!’ No; she did not stop to reason, but with a conscience that had been searched in the presence of the Light and its burden of guilt removed, with a heart full of wonderment and gratitude to the One who had saved her, she immediately went forth to serve and glorify Him. She told what she knew; she testified of what she had found, but in connection with a Person. It was of Him she spoke; it was to Him she pointed. "He told me," she declared, thus directing others to that One who had dealt so blessedly with her. But she did not stop there. She did not rest satisfied with simply telling her fellow-townsmen of what she had heard, nor Whom she had met. She desired others to meet with Him for themselves. "Come" she said; Come to Him for yourselves. And God honored those simple and earnest words: 265
- 266. "Many of theSamaritans of that city believed on him for (because of) the saying of the woman." Thus are we shown the great aim in service, namely, to bring souls into the presence of Christ Himself. "So when the Samaritans came unto him, they besought him to abide with them; and he abode there two days. And many more believed because of his Word; and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Savior of the world" (John 4:40-42, A. R. V.). We have quoted from the A. B. V. because we believe it is the more correct here. The A. V. makes these Samaritans say, "For we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." The majority of the Greek MSS. do not contain the words "the Christ" in verse 42. These Samaritans had learned from the lips of the woman who He was, "the Christ;" now they had discovered for themselves what He was—the One who met their deepest need, "The Savior." The above scripture places Samaria in striking contrast from the unbelief and rejection of the Judeans and those dwelling in Jerusalem, where so many of His mighty works had been done, and where it might be expected multitudes would have received Him. Here in Samaria was a people who seemed most unpromising; no record is given of Christ performing a single miracle there; and yet many of these despised Samaritans received Him. And is it not much the same today? Those whom we would think were most disposed to be interested in the things of God are usually the most indifferent; while those whom we are apt to regard as outside, if not beyond, the reach of God’s grace, are the very ones that are brought to recognize their deep need, and become, ultimately, the most devoted among the followers of the Lamb. Let us now seek to gather up into a terse summary the leading lessons of the verses which have been before us. The whole passage has to do with service, and the fundamental principles of service are here enunciated and illustrated. First, we learn the essential requirement of service, as illustrated in the example of the Samaritan woman—a personal acquaintance with the Savior, and a heart overflowing for Him. Second, we are taught the spirit in which all service should be carried on—the faithful performance of the task allotted us; finding our satisfaction not in results, but in the knowledge that the will of God has been done by us. Third, we are shown the urgency of service—the fields already white unto harvest. Fourth, we have encouragement for service—the fact that we are gathering "fruit unto life eternal." Fifth, we learn about the interdependence of the servants—"one soweth and another reapeth:" there is mutual dependence one on the other: a holy partnership between those who work in the different departments of spiritual agriculture. Sixth, we have a warning for servants: they who are used to doing the reaping must not be puffed up by their success, but must remember that they are entering into the labors of those who have gone before. Finally; we are taught here the aim ever to be kept in view, and that is to bring souls into the presence of Christ, that they may become independent of us, having learned to draw directly from Him. We would call attention to the following points brought out in these verses. First, the worldwide missionary need signified in the Lord’s words in verse 35. Second, to the distinctive characteristic of this Age as seen in the absence of any public miracles. There is no hint of Christ performing any miracles here in Samaria: nor is He doing so publicly in the world today. Third, to the means employed as 266
- 267. indicated in verses39 and 41, where we are told that it was the woman’s testimony, and the Word which caused many of the Samaritans to "believe." Thus it is throughout this Age. It is the personal testimony of believers and the preaching of the Word, which are the Divinely appointed means for the propagation of Christianity. Fourth, we may note the striking prominence of the Gentiles in this typical picture: "Many of the Samaritans... believed on Him." While there is a remnant of Israel "according to the election of grace" (typified in the few disciples who were with Christ), nevertheless, it is the Gentile element which predominates in the saved of this Age. Fifth, mark that Christ is owned here not as "The Son of man," nor as "The Son of David," but as "The Savior of the world." This title does not mean that Christ is the Savior of the human race, but is a general term, used in contradistinction from Israel, including all believing Gentiles scattered throughout the earth. Thus, once more, we discover that with marvelous skill the Holy Spirit has caused this historical narrative which traces the actions of the Savior in Samaria, and which records the instructions He there gave to His disciples, to embody a perfect outline which sets forth the leading features of this present Era of Grace, during which God is taking out of the Gentiles a people for His name. This should cause us to search more diligently for the hidden beauties and harmonies of Scripture. BURKITT, "Observe here, The fit and seasonable motion which our Saviour's disciples make to him; Master, eat. Learn from thence, That though a person's chief care should be for his own soul, and for improving all opportunities for doing good to the souls of others; yet the bodies of men must not be neglected, but supported by meat and drink; especially theirs, whose health and strength may be of greater use and service to God and his church. The body is the servant of the soul, the instrument whereby it worketh: and therefore to neglect the body is to disable and unfit the soul for service, to hinder the functions and operations of it. The sixth commandment, which forbids us to kill, requires us to use all means for the preservation of life, both in ourselves and others. Observe next, Our Saviour's answer to the disciples motion; Master, eat, say they. I have meat to eat that ye know not of, says he; for my meat is to do the will of him that sent me. Not that our Saviour did not want meat at this time, for he was both hungry and thirsty, as appears by his asking water of the woman to drink, and by his sending his disciples into the city to buy meat; but our Lord was more intent upon doing his Father's work, than upon satisfying his own hunger. Christ hungered more after an opportunity of doing good to the souls of men, than he did after meat and drink to satisfy his hunger. Lord! let us, thy ministers, learn of thee to prefer the spiritual welfare of our people, before any temporal advantages whatsoever. BARCLAY, "THE MOST SATISFYING FOOD (John 4:31-34) 4:31-34 Meanwhile his disciples asked him: "Rabbi! Eat something! have food," he said to them, "of which you do not know." "Surely," his disciples kept saying 267
- 268. to each other,"someone can't have given him something to eat?" "My food," said Jesus to them, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work." This passage follows the normal pattern of the conversations of the Fourth Gospel. Jesus says something which is misunderstood. He says something which has a spiritual meaning. It is at first taken with an uncomprehending literalism and then slowly he unfolds the meaning until it is grasped and realized. It is exactly the same as Jesus did when he talked to Nicodemus about being born again, and when he talked to the woman about the water which quenched the thirst of the heart for ever. By this time the disciples had come back with food, and they asked Jesus to eat. They had left him so tired and exhausted that they were worried that he did not seem to want to eat any of the provisions which they had brought back. It is strange how a great task can lift a man above and beyond bodily needs. All his life Wilberforce, who freed the slaves, was a little, insignificant, ailing creature. When he rose to address the House of Commons, the members at first used to smile at this queer little figure; but as the fire and the power came from the man, they used to crowd the benches whenever he rose to speak. As it was put: "The little minnow became a whale." His message, his task, the flame of truth and the dynamic of power conquered his physical weakness. There is a picture of John Knox preaching in his old age. He was a done old man; he was so weak that he had to be half lifted up the pulpit steps and left supporting himself on the book- board; but before he had long begun his sermon the voice had regained its old trumpet-call and he was like "to ding the pulpit into blads (to knock the pulpit into splinters) and leap out of it." The message filled the man with a kind of supernatural strength. Jesus' answer to his disciples was that he had food of which they knew nothing. In their simplicity they wondered if someone had brought him food to eat. Then he told them: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me." The great keynote of Jesus' life is submission to the will of God. His uniqueness lies in the very fact that he was the only person who ever was or who ever will be perfectly obedient to God's will. It can be truly said that Jesus is the only person in all the world who never did what he liked but always what God liked. He was God-sent. Again and again the Fourth Gospel speaks of Jesus being sent by God. There are two Greek words used in the Fourth Gospel for this sending. There is apostellein (Greek #649) which is used seventeen times and pempein (Greek #3992) which is used twenty-seven times. That is to say, no fewer than forty-four times the Fourth Gospel speaks, or shows us Jesus speaking, about his being sent by God. Jesus was one who was under orders. He was God's man. Then once Jesus had come, again and again he spoke of the work that was given him to do. In John 5:36 he speaks of the works which his Father has given him to do. In John 17:4 his only claim is that he has finished the work his Father gave him to do. When he speaks of taking up and laying down his life, of living and of 268
- 269. dying, he says:"This commandment have I received of my Father" (John 10:18). He speaks continually, as he speaks here, of the will of God. "I have come down from heaven," he says, "not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me" (John 6:38). "I always do," he says, "what is pleasing to him" (John 8:29). In John 14:23 he lays it down, out of his personal experience and on his personal example, that the only proof of love lies in the keeping of the commandments of the one a man claims to love. This obedience of Jesus was not as it is with us, a spasmodic thing. It was the very essence and being, the mainspring and the core, the dynamic and the moving power of his life. It is his great desire that we should be as he was. (i) To do the will of God is the only way to peace. There can be no peace when we are at variance with the king of the universe. (ii) To do the will of God is the only way to happiness. There can be no happiness when we set our human ignorance against the divine wisdom of God. (iii) To do the will of God is the only way to power. When we go our own way, we have nothing to call on but our own power, and therefore collapse is inevitable. When we go God's way, we go in his power, and therefore victory is secure. EBC, "THE SECOND SIGN IN GALILEE. “In the mean while the disciples prayed Him, saying, Rabbi, eat. But He said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not. The disciples therefore said one to another, Hath any man brought Him aught to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to accomplish His work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. For herein is the saying true, One soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not laboured: others have laboured, and ye are entered into their labour. And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on Him because of the word of the woman, who testified, He told me all things that ever I did. So when the Samaritans came unto Him, they besought Him to abide with them: and He abode there two days. And many more believed because of His word; and they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world. And after the two days He went forth from thence into Galilee. For Jesus Himself testified, that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. So when He came into Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast. He came therefore again unto Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judæa into Galilee, he went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe. The nobleman saith unto Him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. The man believed the word that Jesus spake unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, saying, that his son lived. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to amend. They said therefore unto 269
- 270. him, Yesterday atthe seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judæa into Galilee”- Joh_4:31-54. The disciples, when they went forward to buy provisions in Sychar, left Jesus sitting on the well wearied and faint. On their return they find Him, to their surprise, elate and full of renewed energy. Such transformations one has often had the pleasure of seeing. Success is a better stimulant than wine. Our Lord had found one who believed Him and valued His message; and this brought fresh life to His frame. The disciples go on eating, and are too busy with their meal to lift their eyes; but as they eat they talk over the prospects of the harvest in the rich fields through which they have just walked. Meanwhile our Lord sees the men of Sychar coming out of the town in obedience to the woman’s request, and calls His disciples’ attention to a harvest more worthy of their attention than the one they were discussing: “Were you not saying that we must wait four months till harvest comes again [12] and cheapens the bread for which you have paid so dear in Sychar? But lift up your eyes and mark the eager crowd of Samaritans, and say if you may not expect to reap much this very day. Are not the fields white already to harvest? Here in Samaria, which you only wished quickly to pass through, where you were looking for no additions to the Kingdom, and where you might suppose sowing and long waiting were needed, you see the ripened grain. Others have laboured, the Baptist and this woman and I, and ye have entered into their labours.” All labourers in the Kingdom of God need a similar reminder. We can never certainly say in what state of preparedness the human heart is; we do not know what providences of God have ploughed it, nor what thoughts are sown in it, nor what strivings are being even now made by the springing life that seeks the light. We generally give men credit, not perhaps for less thought than they have, for that is scarcely possible, but for less capacity of thought. The disciples were good men, but they went into Sychar judging the Samaritans good enough to trade with, but never dreaming of telling them the Messiah was outside their town. They must have been ashamed to find how much more capable an apostle the woman was than they. I think they would not wonder another time that their Lord should condescend to talk with a woman. The simple, unthinking, untroubled directness of a woman will often have a matter finished while a man is meditating some ponderous and ingenious contrivance for bringing it to pass. Let us not fall into the mistake of the disciples, and judge men good enough to buy and sell with, but quite alien to the matters of the Kingdom. “There is a day in spring When under all the earth the secret germs Begin to stir and glow before they bud. The wealth and festal pomps of midsummer Lie in the heart of that inglorious hour Which no man names with blessing, though its work Is bless’d by all the world. Such days there are In the slow story of the growth of souls.” Such days may be passing in those around us, though all unknown to us. We can never tell how many months there are till harvest. We never know who or what has been labouring before we appear on the scene. The woman’s testimony was enough to excite curiosity. The men on her word came out to judge for themselves. What they saw and heard completed their conviction; “And they said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy speaking: for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world.” This growth of faith is one of the subjects John delights to exhibit. He is fond of showing how a weak and ill-founded faith may grow into a faith that is well rooted and strong. This Samaritan episode is significant as an integral part of the Gospel, not only 270
- 271. because it showshow readily unsophisticated minds perceive the inalienable majesty of Christ, but also because it forms so striking a foil to the reception our Lord had met with in Jerusalem, and was shortly to meet with in Galilee. In Jerusalem He did many miracles; but the people were too political and too prejudiced to own Him as a spiritual Lord. In Galilee He was known, and might have expected to be understood; but there the people longed only for physical blessings and the excitement of miracles. Here in Samaria, on the contrary, He did no miracles, and had no forerunner to herald His approach. He was found a weary wayfarer, sitting by the roadside, begging for refreshment. Yet, through this appearance of weakness, and dependence, and lowliness, there shone His native kindness, and truth, and kingliness, to such a degree, that the Samaritans, although naturally suspicious of Him as a Jew, believed in Him, delighted in Him, and proclaimed Him “Saviour of the world.” After two days of happy intercourse with the Samaritans Jesus continues His journey to Galilee. The proverbial expression which our Lord used regarding His relation to Galilee-that a prophet has no honour in his own country-is one we have frequent opportunity of verifying. The man that has grown up among us, whom we have seen struggling up through the ignorance, and weakness, and folly of boyhood, whom we have had to help and to protect, can scarcely receive the same respect as one who presents himself a mature man, with already developed faculties, no longer a learner, but prepared to teach. Montaigne complained that in his own country he had to purchase publishers, whereas elsewhere publishers were anxious to purchase him. “The farther off I am read from my own home,” he says, “the better I am esteemed.” The men of Anathoth sought Jeremiah’s life when he began to prophesy among them. It is not the truth of the proverb that presents any difficulty, but its application to the present case. For the fact that a prophet has no honour in his own country would seem to be a reason for His declining to go to Galilee, whereas it is here introduced as His reason for going there. The explanation is found in the beginning of the chapter, where we are told that it was in search of retirement He was now leaving the popularity and publicity of Judæa, and repairing to His own country. But, as frequently on other occasions, He now found that He could not be hid. His countrymen, who had thought so little of Him previously, had heard of His Judean fame, and echoed the recognition and applause of the south. They had not discovered the greatness of this Galilean, although He had lived among them for thirty years; but no sooner do they hear that He has created a sensation in Jerusalem than they begin to be proud of Him. Every one has seen the same thing a hundred times. A lad who has been despised as almost half-witted in his native place goes up to London and makes a name for himself as poet, artist, or inventor, and when he returns to his village everybody claims him as cousin. Such a change of sentiment was not likely to escape the observation of Jesus nor to deceive Him. It is with an accent of disappointment, not unmingled with reproach, that He utters His first recorded words in Galilee: “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe.” This sets us in the point of view from which we can clearly see the significance of the one incident which John selects from all that happened during our Lord’s stay in Galilee at this time. John wishes to illustrate the difference between the Galilean and the Samaritan faith, and the possibility of the one growing into the other; and he does so by introducing the brief narrative of the courtier from Capernaum. Accounts, more or less accurate, of the miracles of Jesus in Jerusalem had found their way even into the household of Herod Antipas. For no sooner was He known to have arrived in Galilee than one of the royal household sought Him out to obtain a boon which no royal favour could grant. The supposition is not without plausibility that this 271
- 272. nobleman was Chuza,Herod’s chamberlain, and that this miracle, which had so powerful an effect on the family in which it was wrought, was the origin of that devotion to our Lord which was afterwards shown by Chuza’s wife. The nobleman, whoever he was, came to Jesus with an urgent request. He had come twenty miles to appeal to Jesus, and he had been unable to trust his petition to a messenger. But instead of meeting this distracted father with words of sympathy and encouragement, Jesus merely utters a general and chilling observation. Why is this? Why does He seem to lament that this father should so urgently plead for his son? Why does He seem only to submit to the inevitable, if He grants the request at all? Might it not even seem as if He wrought the miracle of healing rather for His own sake than for the boy’s or for the father’s sake, since He says, “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe”-that is, will not believe in Me? But these words did not express any reluctance on the part of Jesus to heal the nobleman’s son. Possibly they were intended, in the first instance, to rebuke the desire of the father that Jesus should go with him to Capernaum and pronounce over the boy words of healing. The father thought the presence of Christ was necessary. He had not attained to the faith of the centurion, who believed that an expression of will was enough. Jesus, therefore, demands a stronger faith; and in His presence that stronger faith which can trust His word is developed. The words, however, were especially a warning that His physical gifts were not the greatest He had to bestow, and that a faith which required to be buttressed by the sight of miracles was not the best kind of faith. Our Lord was always in danger of being looked upon as a mere thaumaturge, who could dispense cures merely as a physician could within his own limits order a certain treatment. He was in danger of being considered a dispenser of blessings to persons who had no faith in Him as the Saviour of the world. It is therefore with the accent of one who submits to the inevitable that He says, “Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe.” But especially did our Lord wish to point out that the faith He approves and delights in is a faith which does not require miracles as its foundation. This higher faith He had found among the Samaritans. Many of them believed, as John is careful to note, because of His conversation. There was that in Himself and in His talk which was its own best evidence. Some men who introduce themselves to us, to win our countenance to some enterprise, carry integrity in their whole bearing; and we should feel it to be an impertinence to ask them for credentials. If they offer to prove their identity and trustworthiness we waive such proof aside, and assure them that they need no certificate. This had been our Lord’s experience in Samaria. There no news of His miracles had come from Jerusalem. He came among the Samaritans from nobody knew where. He came without introduction and without certificate, yet they had discernment to see that they had never met His like before. Every word He spoke seemed to identify Him as the Saviour of the world. They forgot to ask for miracles. They felt in themselves His supernatural power, lifting them into God’s presence, and filling them with light. The Galilean faith was of another kind. It was based on His miracles; a kind of faith He deplored, although He did not quite repudiate it. To be accepted not on His own account, not because of the truth He spoke, not because His greatness was perceived and His friendship valued, but because of the wonders He performed-this could not be a pleasant experience. We do not greatly value the visits of a person who cannot get on without our advice or assistance; we value the friendship of him who seeks our company for the pleasure he finds in it. And although we must all be ceaselessly and infinitely dependent on the good offices of Christ, our faith should be something more than a counting upon His ability and willingness to discharge these good 272
- 273. offices. A faithwhich is merely selfish, which recognises that Christ can save from disaster in this life or in the life to come, and which cleaves to Him solely on that account, is scarcely the faith that Christ approves. There is a faith which responds to the glory of Christ’s personality, which rests on what He is, which builds itself on the truth He utters, and recognises that all spiritual life centres in Him; it is this faith He approves. They who find in Him the link they have sought with the spiritual world, the pledge they have needed to certify them of an eternal righteousness, they to whom the supernatural is revealed more patently in Himself than in His miracles, are those whom the Lord delights in. But the lower kind of faith may be a step to the higher. The agony of the father can make nothing of general principles, but can only reiterate the one petition, “Come down ere my child die.” And Jesus, with His perfect knowledge of human nature, sees that it is vain trying to teach a man in this absorbed condition of mind, and that probably the very best way to clarify his faith and lead him to higher and worthier thoughts is to grant his request-a hint not to be overlooked or despised by those who seek to do good, and who are, possibly, sometimes a little prone to obtrude their teaching at most inopportune seasons-at seasons when it is impossible for the mind to admit anything but the one absorbing topic. Circumstances are, in general, much better educators of men than any verbal teaching; and that verbal teaching can only do harm which interposes between the moving events that are occurring and the person who is passing through them. The success of our Lord’s method was proved by the result; which was, that the slender faith of this nobleman became a genuine faith in Christ as the Lord, a faith which his whole household shared. From the very greatness of Christ, and our consequent inability to bring Him into comparison with other men, we are apt to miss some of the significant features of His conduct. In the circumstances before us, for example, most teachers at an early stage in their career would have been in some excitement, and would probably have shown no reluctance to accede to the nobleman’s request, and go down to his house, and so make a favourable impression on Herod’s court. It was an opportunity of getting a footing in high places which a man of the world could not have overlooked. But Jesus was well aware that if the foundations of His kingdom were to be solidly laid, there must be excluded all influence of a worldly kind, all the overpowering constraint which fashion and great names exercise over the mind. His work, He saw, would be most enduringly, if most slowly, done in a more private manner. His own personal influence on individuals must first of all be the chief agency. He speaks, therefore, to this nobleman without any regard to his rank and influence; indeed, rather curtly dismisses him with the words, “Go, thy son lives.” The total absence of display is remarkable. He did not go to Capernaum, to stand by the sickbed, and be acknowledged as the healer. He made no bargain with the nobleman that if his son recovered he would let the cause be known. He simply did the thing, and said nothing at all about it. Though it was only one in the afternoon when the nobleman was dismissed he did not go back to Capernaum that night-why, we do not know. A thousand things may have detained him. He may have had business for Herod in Cana or on the road as well as for himself; the beast he rode may have gone lame where he could not procure another; at any rate, it is quite uncalled for to ascribe his delay to the confidence he had in Christ’s word, an instance of the truth, “He that believeth shall not make haste.” The more certainly he believed Christ’s word the more anxious would he be to see his son. His servants knew how anxious he would be to hear, for they went to meet him; and were no doubt astonished to find that the sudden recovery of the boy was due to Him whom their master had visited. The cure had travelled much faster than he who had received the assurance of it. 273
- 274. The process bywhich they verified the miracle and connected the cure with the word of Jesus was simple, but perfectly satisfactory. They compared notes regarding the time, and found that the utterance of Jesus was simultaneous with the recovery of the boy. The servants who saw the boy recover did not ascribe his recovery to any miraculous agency; they would no doubt suppose that it was one of those unaccountable cases which occasionally occur, and which most of us have witnessed. Nature has secrets which the most skilful of her interpreters cannot disclose; and even so marvellous a thing as an instantaneous cure of a hopeless case may be due to some hidden law of nature. But no sooner did their master assure them that the hour in which the boy began to amend was the very hour in which Jesus said he would get better, than they all saw to what agency the cure was due. Here lies the special significance of this miracle; it brings into prominence this distinctive peculiarity of a miracle, that it consists of a marvel which is coincident with an express announcement of it, and is therefore referable to a personal agent.[13] It is the two things taken together that prove that there is a superhuman agency. The marvel alone, a sudden return of sight to the blind, or of vigour to the paralysed, does not prove that there is anything supernatural in the case; but if this marvel follows upon the word of one who commands it, and does so in all cases in which such a command is given, it becomes obvious that this is not the working of a hidden law of nature, nor a mere coincidence, but the intervention of a supernatural agency. That which convinced the nobleman’s household that a miracle had been wrought was not the recovery of the boy, but his recovery in connection with the word of Jesus. What they felt they had to account for was not merely the marvellous recovery, but his recovery at that particular time. Even though it could be shown, then,-as it can never be,-that every cure reported in the Gospels might possibly be the result of some natural law, even though it could be shown that men born blind might receive their sight without a miracle, and that persons who had consulted the best physician suddenly recovered strength-this, we are to remember, is by no means the whole of what we have to account for. We have to account not only for sudden, and certainly most extraordinary cures, but also for these cures following uniformly, and in every case the word of One who said the cure would follow. It is this coincidence which puts it beyond a doubt that the cures can be referred only to the will of Christ. Another striking feature of this miracle is that the Agent was at a distance from the subject of it. This is, of course, quite beyond our comprehension. We cannot understand how the will of Jesus, without employing any known physical means of communication between Himself and the boy, without even appearing before him so as to seem to inspire him by look or word, should instantaneously effect his cure. The only possible link of such a kind between the boy and Jesus was that he may have been aware that his father had gone to seek help for him, from a renowned physician, and may have had his hopes greatly excited. This supposition is, however, gratuitous. The boy may quite as likely have been delirious, or too young to know anything; and even though this slender link did exist, no sensible person will build much on that. And certainly it is encouraging to find that even while on earth our Lord did not require to be in contact with the person healed. “His word was as effective as His presence.” And if it is credible that while on earth He could heal at the distance of twenty miles, it is difficult to disbelieve that He can from heaven exercise the same omnipotent will. Note.-It is not apparent why John appends the remark, “This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judæa into Galilee.” He may, perhaps, have only intended to call attention more distinctly to the place where the miracle was wrought. This idea is supported by the fact that John shows, on parallel lines, the manifestation of Christ in Judæa and in Galilee. It is just possible that he may have 274
- 275. wished to warnreaders of the Synoptical Gospels, that Jesus had not yet begun the Galilean ministry with which these Gospels open. [12] The words (Joh_4:35) have quite the ring of a proverb-a proverb peculiar to seed-time and for the encouragement of the sower. If uttered on this occasion in seed-time, this gives December as the date. [13] This is lucidly taught in Mozley’s Bampton Lectures. 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” CLARKE,"I have meat to eat that ye know not of - Our blessed Lord seizes every opportunity to raise the minds of his apostles to heavenly things, through the medium of earthly matters. Nor does he force these things into such service. Properly understood, earthly substances are the types, representatives, and shadows of heavenly things. GILL, "But he said unto them,.... That is, "Jesus", as the Persic, or the Lord Jesus, as the Ethiopic versions express it: I have meat to eat that ye know not of: meaning the conversion of the Samaritan woman, and of other Samaritans, who were flocking in great numbers to him, which he knew, though his disciples did not; and the harvest of souls he had a prospect of, see Joh_4:35, was as meat unto him, delightful and refreshing; and his mind and thoughts were so taken up with these things, that he had no inclination to any corporeal food. JAMIESON, "meat ye know not of — What spirituality of mind! “I have been eating all the while, and such food as ye dream not of.” What can that be? they ask each other; have any supplies been brought Him in our absence? He knows what they are saying though He hears it not. CALVIN, "32.I have food to eat which you know not. It is wonderful that, when he is fatigued and hungry, he refuses to eat; for if it be said that he does this for the purpose of instructing us, by his example, to endure hunger, why then did he not do so always? But he had another object than to say that we ought simply to refuse food; for we must attend to this circumstance, that his anxiety about the present business urges him so strongly, and absorbs his whole mind, so that it gives him no uneasiness to despise food. And yet he does not say that he is so eager to obey the commands of his Father, that he neither eats nor drinks. He only points out what he must do first, and what must be done afterwards; and thus he shows, by his example, that the kingdom of God ought to be preferred to 275
- 276. all the comfortsof the body. God allows us, indeed, to eat and drink, provided that we are not withdrawn from what is of the highest importance; that is, that every man attend to his own calling. It will perhaps be said, that eating and drinking cannot but be avocations which withdraw some portion of our time that might be better employed. This I acknowledge to be true, but as the Lord kindly permits us to take care of our body, so far as necessity requires, he who endeavors to nourish his body with sobriety and moderation does not fail to give that preference which he ought to give to obedience to God. But we must also take care not to adhere so firmly to our fixed hours, as not to be prepared to deprive ourselves of food, when God holds out to us any opportunity, and, as it were, fixes the present hour. Christ, having now in his hands such an opportunity which might pass away, embraces it with open arms, and holds it fast. When the present duty enjoined on him by the Father presses him so hard that he finds it necessary to lay aside every thing else, he does not scruple to delay taking food; and, indeed, it would have been unreasonable that, when the woman left her pitcher and ran to call the people, Christ should display less zeal. In short, if we propose it as our object not to lose the causes of life on account of life itself, it; will not be difficult to preserve the proper medium; for he who shall place it before him as the end of life to serve the Lord, from which we are not at liberty to turn aside even for the immediate danger of death, will certainly reckon it to be of more value than eating and drinking. The metaphor of eating and drinking is so much the more graceful on this occasion, that it was drawn seasonably from the present discourse. 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” BARNES,"Hath any man brought him ... - This is one of the many instances in which the disciples were slow to understand the Saviour. CLARKE,"Hath any man brought him aught to eat? - Has he got food in any preternatural way? They could not help remembering the miraculous interventions of Divine providence in feeding Elijah by the ravens, at the brook Cherith, 1Ki_17:4-6, and by the ministry of an angel, 1Ki_19:5-8, and our Lord’s preternatural repast in the wilderness, after his victory over Satan, Mat_4:11. GILL, "Therefore said the disciples one to another,.... Privately, among 276
- 277. themselves, though inhis hearing; at least he knew what they said by answer; hath any man; or anyone, any angel from heaven, or any of the inhabitants of the city, or any man or woman, or this woman they had found him talking with: brought him ought to eat? for they thought of nothing else but bodily food; just as when he cautioned them against the leaven of the Sadducees and Pharisees, they imagined he said it, because they had taken no bread; whereas he meant the doctrine of these persons: so dull of understanding spiritual things were the disciples themselves, that it is not so much to be wondered at that the Samaritan woman, whilst in her carnal state, when Christ spoke of living water, should understand him of material water, or spring water. HENRY, "He minded it so little that they suspected he had had meat brought him in their absence (Joh_4:33): Has any man brought him aught to eat? He had so little appetite for his dinner that they were ready to think he had dined already. Those that make religion their business will, when any of its affairs are to be attended, prefer them before their food; as Abraham's servant, that would not eat till he had told his errand (Gen_24:33), and Samuel, that would not sit down till David was anointed, 1Sa_16:11. 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. BARNES,"My meat ... - Jesus here explains what he said in Joh_4:32. His great object - the great design of his life - was to do the will of God. He came to that place weary and thirsty, and at the usual time of meals, probably hungry; yet an opportunity of doing good presented itself, and he forgot his fatigue and hunger, and found comfort and joy in doing good - in seeking to save a soul. This one great object absorbed all his powers, and made him forget his weariness and the wants of nature. The mind may be so absorbed in doing the will of God as to forget all other things. Intent on this, we may rise above fatigue, and hardship, and want, and bear all with pleasure in seeing the work of God advance. See Job_23:12; “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necesary food.” We may learn, also, that the main business of life is not to avoid fatigue or to seek the supply of our temporal wants, but to do the will of God. The mere supply of our temporal necessities, though most people make it an object of their chief solicitude, is a small consideration in the sight of him who has just views of the great design of human life. The will of him that sent me - The will of God in regard to the salvation of men. See Joh_6:38. To finish his work - To “complete” or fully to do the work which he has commanded in regard to the salvation of men. It is his work to provide salvation, and his to redeem, and his to apply the salvation to the heart. Jesus came to do it by teaching, by his example, and by his death as an expiation for sin. And he shows us that “we” should be diligent. If he was so diligent for our welfare, if he bore fatigue 277
- 278. and want tobenefit us, then we should be diligent, also, in regard to our own salvation, and also in seeking the salvation of others. CLARKE,"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me - In these words, our blessed Lord teaches a lesson of zeal and earnestness to his apostles, and to all their successors in the Christian ministry. Let the salvation of souls lie nearer your heart than life itself. Let eating and drinking, labor and rest, reading, thinking, study, prayer, and all things, be directed to the accomplishment of this great work. Ministers of Jesus! imitate your Lord! Souls are perishing for lack of knowledge - God has given you the key of the kingdom, the knowledge of his word - O open unto them the gate of life! They are dropping by thousands into hell! O pluck the brands out of the burning! GILL, "Jesus saith unto them,.... His disciples: my meat is to do the will of him that sent me. The Ethiopic version reads, "of my Father that sent me", and who is undoubtedly intended. Now as food is pleasant, and delightful, and refreshing to the body of man, so doing the will of God was as delightful and refreshing to the soul of Christ: he took as much pleasure in it, as an hungry man does in eating and drinking. One part of the will of God was to assume human nature; this he had done, and with delight and pleasure: another part of it was to fulfil the law; and this was in his heart, and was his delight, and he was now doing it: and another branch of it was to suffer and die, in the room and stead of his people; and as disagreeable as this was in itself to the human nature, yet he cheerfully agreed to it; and was sometimes, as it were, impatient till it was accomplished; and he voluntarily became obedient to it: no man could, with greater eagerness, fall to eating, when hungry, than Christ went about his Father's will and work, even that which was most ungrateful to him, as man. And to finish his work; one part of which was to preach the Gospel, and for, which he was anointed and sent; and which he did with great assiduity and constancy: and another part of it was the conversion of sinners by it, whom he was sent to call, and with whom he delighted to be; and was the work he was now about, and took the pleasure in, the text expresses: and beside these miracles were works his Father gave him to finish; such as healing diseases, and dispossessing of devils, and which he went about doing continually, with great delight: but the chief, work of all is, that of redemption and salvation of his chosen ones: this was a work his Father called him to, and sent him into this world to perform, which he gave unto him, and Christ accepted of, and agreed to do; and though it was a very toilsome and laborious one, there being a righteous law to be fulfilled, justice to be satisfied, the sins of all his people to bear, as well as the wrath of God, and the curse of the law, and numerous enemies to grapple with, and an accursed death to undergo; yet with pleasure he performed this: for the joy of his Father's will, accomplishing his counsels and covenant, and his own engagements, and procuring the salvation of his people, he endured the cross patiently, and despised the shame of it. The whole of the and work of God was done by him, just as the Lord commanded it; exactly, according to the pattern given him, with all faithfulness and integrity; with the most consummate wisdom and prudence; with all application, diligence, and constancy, and so as to finish it, and that without the help of any other; and in such a manner that nothing can be added to it to make it more perfect, or that it can be undone 278
- 279. again by menor devils: and that the doing and finishing of this were his meat, or as delightful and refreshing to him as meat is to the body, appears from his ready and cheerful engaging in it in eternity; from his early and industrious entrance on it in time; from his constancy in it, when he had begun, insomuch that nothing could deter him from it; nor did he sink and fail under it, nor left it till he had finished it. HENRY, "(2.) He made his work his meat and drink. The work he had to do among the Samaritans, the prospect he now had of doing good to many, this was meat and drink to him; it was the greatest pleasure and satisfaction imaginable. Never did a hungry man, or an epicure, expect a plentiful feast with so much desire, nor feed upon its dainties with so much delight, as our Lord Jesus expected and improved an opportunity of doing good to souls. Concerning this he saith, [1.] That it was such meat as the disciples knew not of. They did not imagine that he had any design or prospect of planting his gospel among the Samaritans; this was a piece of usefulness they never thought of. Note, Christ by his gospel and Spirit does more good to the souls of men than his own disciples know of or expect. This may be said of good Christians too, who live by faith, that they have meat to eat which others know not of, joy with which a stranger does not intermeddle. Now this word made them ask, Has any man brought him aught to eat? so apt were even his own disciples to understand him after a corporal and carnal manner when he used similitudes. JAMIESON, "My meat is, etc. — “A Servant here to fulfil a prescribed work, to do and to finish, that is ‘meat’ to Me; and of this, while you were away, I have had My fill.” And of what does He speak thus? Of the condescension, pity, patience, wisdom He had been laying out upon one soul - a very humble woman, and in some respects repulsive too! But He had gained her, and through her was going to gain more, and lay perhaps the foundations of a great work in the country of Samaria; and this filled His whole soul and raised Him above the sense of natural hunger (Mat_4:4). CALVIN, "34.My food is to do the will of him who sent me. He means not only that he esteems it very highly, but that there is nothing in which he takes greater delight, or in which he is more cheerfully or more eagerly employed; as David, in order to magnify the Law of God, says not only that he values it highly, but that it is sweeter than honey, (Psalms 19:10.) If, therefore, we would follow Christ, it is proper not only that we devote ourselves diligently to the service of God, but that we be so cheerful in complying with its injunctions that the labor shall not be at all oppressive or disagreeable. That I may finish his work. By adding these words, Christ fully explains what is that will of the Father to which he is devoted; namely, to fulfill the commission which had been given to him. Thus every man ought to consider his own calling, that he may not consider as done to God what he has rashly undertaken at his own suggestion. What was the office of Christ is well known. It was to advance the kingdom of God, to restore to life lost souls, to spread the light of the Gospel, and, in short, to bring salvation to the world. The excellence of these things caused him, when fatigued and hungry, to forget meat and drink. Yet we derive from this no ordinary consolation, when we learn that Christ was so anxious about the salvation of men, that it gave him the highest delight to procure it; for we cannot doubt that he is now actuated by similar feelings towards us. 279
- 280. ELLICOTT, "(34) Mymeat.—Better, My food, as before (John 4:8). To do the will. . . . to finish.—Better, that I may do the will, . . . that I may finish. These verbs point out the end which He ever kept in view. In some of the best MSS., and in the received text, the tenses are different. That. I may be constantly doing the will of Him that sent Me, and may then at last complete His work. (Comp. John 17:4.) This work He speaks of here, and in John 4:32, as actual food, as the supply of the truest needs, and the satisfaction of the truest desires of His nature. (Comp. Note on Matthew 4:4.) Analogies to this are within the limits of every man’s experience, and, faint as they are, help us to learn something of what this spiritual sustenance was. The command of duty, the cheering power of hope, the stimulus of success, are forces that supply to weak and weary nerves and muscles, the vigour of a new life. Under them the soldier can forget his wounds, the martyr smile at the lion or the flame, the worn-out traveller still plod onward at the thought of home. We cannot analyse this power, but it exists. They have food to eat that those without know not of. PETT, "Verses 31-33 ‘Meanwhile the disciples begged him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have meat to eat that you do not know about.” The disciples therefore said to one another, “Has any man brought him anything to eat?” ’ The disciples meanwhile begged Jesus to eat. They could not understand His reluctance. But His mind was on other things. He was waiting in expectancy for needy men to come to Him. So He replied, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about’ (compare Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4; John 5:36; John 6:38). The disciples looked at one other. ‘Has someone brought Him food?’ they asked each other. Like the woman’s had been, their minds were very caught up in material things. Their spiritual minds had not yet been awakened. Once again we have the sense of someone who was there and remembers it clearly. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. BARNES,"Say not ye - This seems to have been a proverb. Ye say - that is, men say. Four months and ... - The common time from sowing the seed to the harvest, in 280
- 281. Judea, was about“four months.” The meaning of this passage may be thus expressed: “The husbandman, when he sows his seed, is compelled to wait a considerable period before it produces a crop. He is encouraged in sowing it; he expects fruit; his labor is lightened by that expectation; but it is not “immediate” - it is remote. But it is not so with my preaching. The seed has already sprung up. Scarce was it sown before it produced an abundant harvest. The gospel was just preached to a woman, and see how many of the Samaritans come to hear it also. There is therefore more encouragement to labor in this field than the farmer has to sow his grain.” Lift up your eyes - See the Samaritans coming to hear the gospel. They are white - Grain, when ripe, turns from a green to a yellow or light color, indicating that it is time to reap it. So here were indications that the gospel was effectual, and that the harvest was to be gathered in. Hence, we may learn: 1. That there is as much encouragement to attempt to save souls as the farmer has to raise a crop. 2. That the gospel is fitted to make an immediate impression on the minds of men. We are to expect that it will. We are not to wait to some future period, as if we could not expect immediate results. This wicked and ignorant people - little likely, apparently, to be affected - turned to God, heard the voice of the Saviour, and came in multitudes to him. 3. We are to expect revivals of religion. Here was one instance of it under the Saviour’s own preaching. Multitudes were excited, moved, and came to learn the way of life. 4. We know not how much good may be done by conversation with even a single individual. This conversation with a woman resulted in a deep interest felt throughout the city, and in the conversion of many of them to God. So, a single individual may often be the means, in the hand of God, of leading many to the cross of Jesus. 5. What evils may follow from neglecting to do our duty! How easily might Jesus have alleged, if he had been like many of his professed disciples, that he was weary, that he was hungry, that it was esteemed improper to converse with a woman alone, that she was an abandoned character, and there could be little hope of doing her good! How many consciences of ministers and Christians would have been satisfied with reasoning like this? Yet Jesus, in spite of his fatigue and thirst, and all the difficulties of the case, seriously set about seeking the conversion of this woman. And behold what a glorious result! The city was moved, and a great harvest was found ready to be gathered in! “Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap if we faint not.” CLARKE,"There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? - In Palestine, the harvest did not begin till after the passover, which was fixed on the 14th of the month Nisan, which answers to our March, and sometimes extends into April. The barley harvest was the first; after that the wheat; and both were finished by Pentecost. For, in the feast of Pentecost, the first fruits of all the harvest were carried to the temple, and waved before the Lord. See Lev_23:11. The four months, of which our Lord speaks here, must be computed, according to M. Toynard, from Shebat, which was the eleventh month of the sacred year, and which commenced that year on the 13th of January: from that, till the beginning of the wheat harvest, which began about a month after the passover, there were exactly four months. The passover was that year on the 15th of Nisan, or March 28; and Pentecost took place on the 17th of May. We may therefore suppose that it was about the 13th of January, 281
- 282. or beginning ofthe month Shebat, that John the Baptist was cast into prison, and that Christ retired into Galilee. The fixing of this epoch is of considerable importance. See Calmet’s Com. on this place. The following method of dividing the seasons among the Jews is thus stated in Bava Metsia, fol. 106. “Half Tisri, all Marheshvan, and half Cisleu, is זרע zera. Seed- Time. Half Cisleu, whole Tebeth, and half Shebat, is חורף choreph, Winter. Half Shebat, whole Adar, and half Nisan, is קור kor, the Winter Solstice. Half Nisan, all Ijar, and half Sivan, is קציר katsir, Harvest. Half Sivan, all Tammuz, and half Ab, is קייץ kyits, Summer. Half Ab, all Elul, and half Tisri, is חום chum, the great Heat.” The Jews sowed wheat and spelt in Tisri and Marheshvan; and barley in Shebat and Adar. Now let us reckon τετραµηνον, the four months, backwards, from the beginning of the barley harvest, or the middle of the month Nisan, and we shall go back to the middle of the month Cisleu, which will fall in with the beginning of our December, whence it will be easy to conjecture what feast that was, mentioned Joh_5:1, viz. the passover. See Lightfoot; and see the note on Joh_5:1. After all that learned men have said on this passage, it does not appear that our Lord meant any thing by it more than an illustration of his present subject. Though there were ordinarily four months from seed-time to harvest, and that a man, after he had sowed his seed, must wait patiently till the regular and natural harvest came, yet it was not the case now: the seed of life which he had sown but a few hours ago had already brought forth much fruit; therefore he says, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, over which it is likely the Samaritans were then coming in troops, guided by the woman who had already received the light of the Gospel of peace. The fields - are white already to harvest - Multitudes of Samaritans are coming to believe on me, and to be saved unto eternal life. Probably they had a kind of white raiment. GILL, "Say not ye, there are yet four months,.... Our Lord had been in Jerusalem and Judea, about eight months from the last passover, and there remained four more to the next passover: and then cometh harvest? barley harvest, which began at that time. Now as the passover was in the middle of the month Nisan, which was about the latter end of our March; reckoning four months back from thence shows, that it was about the latter end of our November, or beginning of December, that Christ was in Samaria, and at Jacob's well. Some think, that this does not refer to the then present time, as if there were so many months from thence to the next harvest, but to a common way of speaking, that there were four months from seed time to harvest; during which time there was a comfortable hope, and longing expectation of it: but this will, by no means, agree either with the wheat or barley harvest. The wheat was sown before this time, and the barley a good while after. "Half Tisri, Marcheshvan, and half Cisleu, were, ,זרע seed time (w)'' The earliest they sowed their wheat was in Tisri, which answers to our September and October; i.e. to half one, and half the other. The month of Marcheshvan, which answers to October and November, was the principal month for sowing it (x): hence that paraphrase on Ecc_11:2, 282
- 283. "give a goodpart of thy seed to thy field in Tisri, and do not refrain from sowing even in Cisleu.'' As for the barley, that was sown in the months of Shebet and Adar, and usually in the latter (y); the former of which answers to January and February, and the latter to February and March. And we read (z) of their sowing seventy days before the passover, which was within six weeks of the beginning of barley harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields: pointing to the lands which lay near the city of Sychar: for they are white already to harvest; alluding to the corn fields, which, when ripe, and near harvest, look white: hence we read (a) of הלבן ,שדה "the white field": which the Jews say is a field sown with wheat or barley, and so called to distinguish it from a field planted with trees; though it may be rather, that it is so called from its white look when ripe. So the three Targums paraphrase Gen_49:12, "his hills (his valleys, or fields, as Onkelos) ,יחוורן "are white" with corn, and flocks of sheep.'' Christ here speaks not literally; for the fields could not be white at such a distance from harvest; but spiritually, of a harvest of souls; and has regard to the large number of Samaritans that were just now coming out of the city, and were within sight, and covered the adjacent fields: and these he calls upon his disciples to lift up their eyes and behold; and suggests to them, that it was not a time for eating and drinking, but for working, since here was such a number of souls to be gathered in: and thus as from corporeal food he proceeded to treat of spiritual food; so from a literal harvest he goes on to speak of a spiritual one, and encourages his disciples to labour in it, by the following arguments. HENRY, "See here how Christ, having expressed his delight in his work, excites his disciples to diligence in their work; they were workers with him, and therefore should be workers like him, and make their work their meat, as he did. The work they had to do was to preach the gospel, and to set up the kingdom of the Messiah. Now this work he here compares to harvest work, the gathering in of the fruits of the earth; and this similitude he prosecutes throughout the discourse, Joh_4:35-38. Note, gospel time is harvest time, and gospel work harvest work. The harvest is before appointed and expected; so was the gospel. Harvest time is busy time; all hands must be then at work: every one must work for himself, that he may reap of the graces and comforts of the gospel: ministers must work for God, to gather in souls to him. Harvest time is opportunity, a short and limited time, which will not last always; and harvest work is work that must be done then or not at all; so the time of the enjoyment of the gospel is a particular season, which must be improved for its proper purposes; for, once past, it cannot be recalled. The disciples were to gather in a harvest of souls for Christ. Now he here suggests three things to them to quicken them to diligence: - (1.) That it was necessary work, and the occasion for it very urgent and pressing (Joh_4:35): You say, It is four months to harvest; but I say, The fields are already white. Here is, [1.] A saying of Christ's disciples concerning the corn-harvest; there are yet four months, and then comes harvest, which may be taken either generally - “You say, for 283
- 284. the encouragement ofthe sower at seed-time, that it will be but four months to the harvest.” With us it is but about four months between the barley-sowing and the barley-harvest, probably it was so with them as to other grain; or, “Particularly, now at this time you reckon it will be four months to next harvest, according to the ordinary course of providence.” The Jews' harvest began at the Passover, about Easter, much earlier in the year than ours, by which it appears that this journey of Christ from Judea to Galilee was in the winter, about the end of November, for he travelled all weathers to do good. God has not only promised us a harvest every year, but has appointed the weeks of harvest; so that we know when to expect it, and take our measures accordingly. [2.] A saying of Christ's concerning the gospel harvest; his heart was as much upon the fruits of his gospel as the hearts of others were upon the fruits of the earth; and to this he would lead the thoughts of his disciples: Look, the fields are already white unto the harvest. First, Here in this place, where they now were, there was harvest work for him to do. They would have him to eat, Joh_4:31. “Eat!” saith he, “I have other work to do, that is more needful; look what crowds of Samaritans are coming out of the town over the fields that are ready to receive the gospel;” probably there were many now in view. People's forwardness to hear the word is a great excitement to ministers' diligence and liveliness in preaching it. Secondly, In other places, all the country over, there was harvest work enough for them all to do. “Consider the regions, think of the state of the country, and you will find there are multitudes as ready to receive the gospel as a field of corn that is fully ripe is ready to be reaped.” The fields were now made white to the harvest, 1. By the decree of God revealed in the prophecies of the Old Testament. Now was the time when the gathering of the people should be to Christ (Gen_49:10), when great accessions should be made to the church and the bounds of it should be enlarged, and therefore it was time for them to be busy. It is a great encouragement to us to engage in any work for God, if we understand by the signs of the times that this is the proper season for that work, for then it will prosper. 2. By the disposition of men. John Baptist had made ready a people prepared for the Lord, Luk_1:17. Since he began to preach the kingdom of God every man pressed into it, Luk_16:16. This, therefore, was a time for the preachers of the gospel to apply themselves to their work with the utmost vigour, to thrust in their sickle, when the harvest was ripe, Rev_14:15. It was necessary to work now, pity that such a season should be let slip. If the corn that is ripe be not reaped, it will shed and be lost, and the fowls will pick it up. If souls that are under convictions, and have some good inclinations, be not helped now, their hopeful beginnings will come to nothing, and they will be a prey to pretenders. It was also easy to work now; when the people's hearts are prepared the work will be done suddenly, 2Ch_29:36. It cannot but quicken ministers to take pains in preaching the word when they observe that people take pleasure in hearing it. JAMIESON, "yet four months, and then harvest — that is, “In current speech, ye say thus at this season; but lift up your eyes and look upon those fields in the light of another husbandry, for lo! in that sense, they are even now white to harvest, ready for the sickle.” The simple beauty of this language is only surpassed by the glow of holy emotion in the Redeemer’s own soul which it expresses. It refers to the ripeness of these Sycharites for accession to Him, and the joy of this great Lord of the reapers over the anticipated ingathering. Oh, could we but so, “lift up our eyes and look” upon many fields abroad and at home, which to dull sense appear unpromising, as He beheld those of Samaria, what movements, as yet scarce in embryo, and accessions to Christ, as yet seemingly far distant, might we not discern as quite near at hand, and thus, amidst difficulties and discouragements too much for nature to sustain, be cheered - as our Lord Himself was in circumstances far 284
- 285. more overwhelming -with “songs in the night!” CALVIN, "35.Do you not say? He follows out the preceding statement; for, having said that nothing was more dear to him than to finish the work of the Father, he now shows how ripe it is for execution; and he does so by a comparison with the harvest. When the corn is ripe, the harvest cannot bear delay, for otherwise the grain would fall to the ground and be lost; and, in like manner, the spiritual corn being now ripe, he declares that there must be no delay, because delay is injurious. We see for what purpose the comparison is employed; it is to explain the reason why he hastens to perform his work. (83) By this expression,Do you not say? he intended indirectly to point out how much more attentive the minds of men are to earthly than to heavenly things; for they burn with so intense a desire of harvest that they carefully reckon up months and days, but it is astonishing how drowsy and indolent they are in gathering the heavenly wheat. And daily experience proves that this wickedness not only is natural to us, but can scarcely be torn from our hearts; for while all provide for the earthly life to a distant period, how indolent are we in thinking about heavenly things? Thus Christ says on another occasion, Hypocrites, you discern by the face of the sky what sort of day to-morrow will be, but you do not acknowledge the time of my visitation, (Matthew 16:3.) COFFMAN, "Yet four months ... Westcott noted that the "harvest began about the middle of April and lasted until the end of May."[6] This would make the date of this episode to lie somewhere between the middle of December and the last of January; another piece of evidence favoring noon as the time of day in this narrative. In either December or January, it would have been dark shortly after six o'clock. They are white already unto the harvest ... See under John 4:30, above. The white-clad multitude passing over the green fields between the village and the well had indeed turned them white; and our Lord was looking upon the immediate harvest of souls as contrasted with the grain harvest yet four months in the future. By directing the eyes of the apostles to what was taking place, he restrained their further insistence that he should eat. Dr. Tristram, as quoted by Westcott, "found the wheat and barley near Jerusalem, sown just after Christmas, four inches high on February 2Oth."[7] The comparison of converted souls to a harvest made a profound impression upon John who made five references to it in as many verses (Revelation 14:14-19). "Send forth thy sickle and reap; for the hour to reap is come; for the harvest of the earth is ripe," etc. [6] B. F. Westcott, op. cit., p. 75. [7] Ibid. COKE, "John 4:35. Say not ye, There are yet four months, &c.— Whitby, Grotius, and many others, understand this as if our Lord had said, "It is a 285
- 286. proverbial expression forthe encouragement of husbandmen, that there are but four months between seed-time and harvest." The author of the translation of 1729 renders it, "You commonly say, The other four months, and the harvest will come." And indeed the passage itself is an iambic verse, and should be read thus: u917?τι τετραμηνον, κ ο θερισμος ερχεται : Which, joined to the reasons arising from the text, proves that the passage is proverbial. It is taken from the time which commonly intervenes between sowing and reaping, and signifies, that after having used the meansof procuring a thing, the effect must not be expected to follow all on a sudden, but must be waited for with patience. Our Lord told his disciples, that in the present case, they could not apply that proverb, because, if they would lift up their eyes, they would see the fields white already to harvest; that is, would see a multitude, coming in a fit disposition to believe (see John 4:39-42.), notwithstanding the seed had been sown but an hour or two before; so that he had what was his proper food to eat,—a convenient opportunity of doing the will of him that sent him, and of finishing his work. Probably, when our Saviour said, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, &c. he might stretch forth his hand, and point to the Samaritans, who were now coming from the city to him, on the report of the woman. This appears to be the true meaning of the passage, which is by no means to be taken in a literal sense. ELLICOTT, "(35) Say not ye, There are yet four months.—The emphasis in this verse should be laid upon “ye.” It follows immediately out of the contrast between the natural and spiritual food. Every outer fact is the sign of an inner truth. They here, as the woman in John 4:11, as the teacher of Israel (John 3:4), as the Jews (John 2:20), speak in the language of the outer facts only. He speaks of the spiritual realities. Looking on the fields of springing corn, they would say that in four months there would be harvest. He sees signs of life springing up from seed sown in receptive hearts; and eyes lifted up and directed to the wide fields of the world’s nations would see that the fulness of time was come, and that the fields were even now white to harvest. The Samaritans coming to Him are as the firstfruits, the earnest of the abundant sheaves which shall follow. Four months.—This gives us probably a note on time. There is no evidence that it was a proverbial saying, and the form of the sentence is against the supposition. The legal beginning of harvest was fixed (Leviticus 23:10; Deuteronomy 16:9) for the 16th of Nisan (April). This would give us in that year, which was a Jewish leap-year, with a month added (Wieseler’s Synopsis, Eng. Trans., p. 187), some time about the middle of the month Tebeth (January) as the date of this conversation. (Comp. John 5:1.) For the idea of the harvest, comp. Matthew 9:36-38, and the parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:3 et seq. BURKITT, 'Our blessed Saviour having, in the former verses, given a most plain and evident demonstration of his fervent desire to bring souls home to God, doth in these verses labour to stir up and kindle the like affections in his disciples; and this he doth by three very effectual arguments. 286
- 287. The first argumentis drawn from the ripeness of the people, and their willingness to hear, and their readiness to be reaped and gathered by the gospel (whereof there was a present instance in the Samaritans, who were now coming forth in multitudes to Christ) which opportunity was therefore to be improved: Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. Learn hence, That as a people is sometimes ripe for the ministry of the word, as corn is ripe and ready for the reaper's hand, so it is the duty of the ministers of Christ to lay hold upon such opportunities, with as much desire and delight, as the harvest-men do upon a reaping season. The second argument to stir up the disciples diligence in preaching the gospel, is drawn from the great reward they should receive for this their work. He that reapeth receiveth wages. The harvest-man's wages is double to what other labourers receive. The ministers of God shall receive good wages at his hand, how ill soever they are requited and rewarded by an unkind world. And, as a farther encouragement, it follows: He that soweth, and he that reapeth, shall rejoice together; that is, the prophets who took so much pains in sowing the seed of the gospel, and particularly John the Baptist, and you my apostles which succeed them, and reap the fruit of what they did sow, shall have the same reward in glory, and rejoice together. Learn hence, That not only the successful, but the faithful labourer, in God's harvest, shall be rewarded; not only those which see the fruit of their ministry in the conversion of sinners, but such as are faithful seedsmen. Though the seed does not come up till we are in our graves, nay, though it rots under the clods, and does not come up at all, yet shall the faithful seedsman be rewarded according to his labour, not according to his success. The third argument to quicken the disciples diligence, is drawn frrom the easiness and facility of that labour which God required of them: Others have laboured, and ye are entered into their labours; that is, the prophets and John the Baptist have prepared the ground, and sown the seed, and made ready a people for the Lord, and now you enter into their labours, performing and gathering them into the gospel-church; yet this must not be understood absolutely, but comparatively: not as if the prophets reaped nothing, converted none: but that their fruit was small in comparison of the success which the apostles found. Nor is it to be understood as if the apostle took no pains at all, but that the prophets greater pains render the apostles labour successful, who took less pains. Learn hence, That the wisdom of God sees it fit that all his servants in the work of the ministry do not meet with the same difficulties, nor enjoy the same success. Some are laborious sowers, others are joyful reapers; some labour all their days with little visible success, others bring in many to Christ, perhaps by a single sermon: some labour even with weariness, and reap little, others enter into their labours, and reap much. 287
- 288. BARCLAY, "THE SOWER,THE HARVEST AND THE REAPERS (John 4:35-38) 4:35-38 "Are you not in the habit of saying: 'Four months, and the harvest will come'? Look you! I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, because they are already white for the harvesting. The harvester receives his reward and stores up fruit which makes for eternal life, so that he who sows and he who harvests may rejoice together. In this the saying is true--one sows and another harvests. I have sent you to harvest a crop which your labour did not produce. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labours." All this that was happening in Samaria had given Jesus a vision of a world to be harvested for God. When he said: "Four months, and the harvest will come," we are not to think that he was speaking of the actual time of year that it was in Samaria at that time. If that were so, it would have been somewhere round about January. There would have been no exhausting heat; and there would have been no scarcity of water. One would not have needed a well to find water; it would have been the rainy season, and there would have been plenty of water. What Jesus is doing is quoting a proverb. The Jews had a sixfold division of the agricultural year. Each division was held to last two months--seedtime, winter, spring, harvest, summer and the season of extreme heat. Jesus is saying: "You have got a proverb; if you sow the seed, you must wait for at least four months before you can hope to begin to reap the harvest." Then Jesus looked up. Sychar is in the midst of a region that is still famous for its corn. Agricultural land was very limited in stony, rocky Palestine; practically nowhere else in the country could a man look up and see the waving fields of golden corn. Jesus swept his gaze and his hand round. "Look," he said, "the fields are white and ready for the harvest. They took four months to grow; but in Samaria there is a harvest for the reaping now." For once, it is the contrast between nature and grace of which Jesus is thinking. in the ordinary harvest men sowed and waited; in Samaria things had happened with such divine suddenness that the word was sown and on the spot the harvest waited. H. V. Morton has a specially interesting suggestion about the fields white for the harvest. He himself was sitting at this very spot where Jacob's well is. As he sat, he saw the people come out from the village and start to climb the hill. They came in little batches; and they were all wearing white robes and the white robes stood out against the ground and the sky. It may well be that just at this moment the people started to flock out to Jesus in response to the woman's story. As they streamed out in their white robes across the fields, perhaps Jesus said: "Look at the fields! See them now! They are white to the harvest!" The white- robed crowd was the harvest which he was eager to reap for God. Jesus went on to show that the incredible had happened. The sower and the harvester could rejoice at the same time. Here was something no man might expect. To the Jew sowing was a sad and a laborious time; it was harvest which was the time of joy. "May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy! He that goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of 288
- 289. joy, bringing hissheaves with him" (Psalms 136:5-6). There is something else hidden below the surface here. The Jews had their dreams of the golden age, the age to come, the age of God, when the world would be God's world, when sin and sorrow would be done away with and God would reign supreme. Amos paints his picture of it: "Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed" (Amos 9:13). "Your threshing shall last the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last the time for sowing" (Leviticus 26:5). It was the dream of that golden age that sowing and reaping, planting and harvesting, would follow hard upon the heels of each other. There would be such fertility that the old days of waiting would be at an end. We can see what Jesus is gently doing here. His words are nothing less than a claim that with him the golden age has dawned; God's time is here; the time when the word is spoken and the seed is sown and the harvest waits. There was another side to that--and Jesus knew it. "There is another proverb," he said, "and it too is true--one sows and another harvests." Then he went on to make two applications of that. (a) He told his disciples that they would reap a crop which had been produced not by their labour. He meant that he was sowing the seed, that in his Cross, above all, the seed of the love and the power of God would be sown, and that the day would come when the disciples would go out into the world and reap the harvest that his life and death had sown. (b) He told his disciples that the day would come when they would sow and others would reap. There would be a time when the Christian Church sent out its evangelists; they would never see the harvest; some of them would die as martyrs, but the blood of the martyrs would be the seed of the church. It is as if he said: "Some day you will labour and you will see nothing for it. Some day you will sow and you will pass from the scene before the harvest is reaped. Never fear! Never be discouraged! The sowing is not in vain; the seed is not wasted! Others will see the harvest which it was not given to you to see." So in this passage there are two things. (i) There is the reminder of an opportunity. The harvest waits to be reaped for God. There come times in history when men are curiously and strangely sensitive to God. What a tragedy it is if Christ's Church at such a time fails to reap Christ's harvest! (ii) There is the reminder of a challenge. It is given to many a man to sow but not to reap. Many a ministry succeeds, not by its own force and merits, but because of some saintly man who lived and preached and died and left an influence which was greater in his absence than in his presence. Many a man has to work and never sees the results of his labours. I was once taken round an estate which was famous for its rhododendrons. Its owner loved their acres and knew them all by name. He showed me certain seedlings which would take twenty-five years to 289
- 290. flower. He wasnearly seventy-five and would never see their beauty--but someone would. No work for Christ and no great undertaking ever fail. If we do not see the result of our labours, others will. There is no room for despair in the Christian life. LIGHTFOOT, "[There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest.] The beginning of the harvest [that is, the barley-harvest] was about the middle of the month Nisan. Consult Leviticus 23:10, &c., Deuteronomy 16:9. "Half Tisri, all Marchesvan, and half Chisleu, is the seed time. Half Chisleu, whole Tebeth, and half Shebat, is the winter. Half Shebat, whole Adar, and half Nisan, is the winter solstice. Half Nisan, all Iyar, and half Sivan is the harvest. Half Sivan, all Tammuz, and half Ab, is the summer. Half Ab, all Elul, and half Tisri, is the great heat." They sowed the wheat and spelt in the month Tisri, and Marchesvan, and so onward. Targum upon Ecclesiastes 11:2; "Give a good portion of thy seed to thy field in the month Tisri, and withhold thou not from sowing also in Chisleu." They sowed barley in the months Shebat and Adar. The lateward seed, or that which is hid and lieth long in the earth; "The wheat and the spelt which do not soon ripen, are sown in Marchesvan; the early seed, the barley, which soon ripens, is sown in Shebat and Adar." "They sow seventy days before the Passover." The barley, therefore, the hope of a harvest to come after four months, was not yet committed to the ground; and yet our Saviour saith, "Behold the fields are already white unto the harvest." Which thing being a little observed, will help to illustrate the words and design of our Lord. "Lift up your eyes (saith he) and look upon the fields," &c. pointing without doubt towards that numerous crowd of people, that at that time flocked towards him out of the city; q.d. "Behold, what a harvest of souls is here, where there had been no sowing beforehand." Now let us but reckon the four months backward from the beginning of the barley-harvest, or the middle of the month Nisan, and we shall go back to the middle of the month Chisleu; which will fall in with the beginning of our December, or thereabout: whence it will be easy to conjecture what feast that was of which mention is made, chapter 5:1. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the 290
- 291. sower and thereaper may be glad together. BARNES,"He that reapeth - He that gathers the harvest, or he who so preaches that souls are converted to Christ. Receiveth wages - The laborer in the harvest receives his hire. Jesus says it shall be thus with those who labor in the ministry - he will not suffer them to go unrewarded. See Dan_12:3; Mat_19:28. Gathereth fruit unto life eternal - Converts souls, who shall inherit eternal life. The harvest is not temporary, like gathering grain, but shall result in eternal life. That both he that soweth ... - It is a united work. It matters little whether we sow the seed or whether we reap the harvest. It is part of the same work, and whatever part we may do, we should rejoice. God gives the increase, while Paul may plant and Apollos water. The teacher in the Sunday school, who sows the seed in early life, shall rejoice with the minister of the gospel who may gather in the harvest, and both join in giving all the praise to God. CLARKE,"And he that reapeth receiveth wages - Or, And already the reaper receiveth wages. By making the word ηδη, already, the beginning of this verse, on the authority of some excellent MSS. and versions, a more consistent sense is obtained than from the common arrangement, where ηδη terminates the preceding verse. Already the heavenly sower, Jesus Christ, becomes the reaper of the produce of the seed which he had so lately sown; and receives the wages which he desired, the high gratification of saving immortal souls; and gathers in his fruit unto eternal life. So the sower and the reaper, who are here one and the same person, rejoiced together, having seen the seed time and the harvest take place on the same day. The sower had not time to leave the field which he had sown, till it was full time to gather in the harvest! GILL, "And he that reapeth receiveth wages,.... Angels are sometimes called reapers, and so are ministers of the Gospel here. The works and ministry of the apostles are here expressed by "reaping": for as in reaping, when the corn is ripe, the sickle is put in, and the corn is cut down, and laid to the ground, and then bound in sheaves, and gathered into the barn; so when things are ripe in providence, and God's set time is come to convert any of his people, he makes use of his ministers for the cutting them down, laying low the loftiness and haughtiness of man, stripping him of all his goodliness, and taking him off of a dependence on his own righteousness and works, and for the gathering them into his churches, which is done with a great deal of joy and pleasure: and such as are so employed, and in this way made useful, shall "receive wages", shall not only be taken care of in providence, and have a sufficient and comfortable maintenance, the labourer being worthy of his hire; but shall have pleasure, delight, and satisfaction in their work, that being blessed for the good of souls, and the glory of Christ, and they having the presence God in it; and also shall hereafter receive the crown of righteousness, when they have finished their course, and shall shine like the stars for ever and ever. 291
- 292. And gathereth fruitunto life eternal: by fruit are meant sinners converted and turned from the error of their ways which are the fruit of a Gospel ministry, of the efficacy and power of divine grace accompanying it; see Joh_15:16; and these are gathered, by the preaching of the Gospel, out from among the rest of mankind, unto Christ, the Shiloh, or peace maker, and into his churches, and remain, abide, and persevere to the end; that grace, which is implanted in their souls, being a well of living water, springing up to everlasting life; so that they are at last gathered into Christ's garner, into heaven, where they shall live with him for ever: that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice together. The sowers are the prophets of the Old Testament, who sowed that seed in the prophecies, which sprung up in Gospel times, and laid the foundation therein of the great success of the apostles of Christ in preaching the word; for they so clearly described the Messiah, and pointed out Christ, his offices, and his work, in so distinct a manner, that when he was come he was readily known, and cheerfully embraced; they greatly facilitated the work of the apostles, who had nothing to do but to preach Christ, as come in the flesh: and hence they reaped and gathered a vast harvest of souls every where. John the Baptist also was one that sowed; he prepared the way of the Lord, and made straight his paths: and our Lord himself was a sower, that went forth to sow, and who sowed good seed in the field; all which succeeded well, and were ripening apace for a general harvest, which began on the day of Pentecost, after our Lord's ascension to heaven. This was in Judea; and in the Gentile world there was a sowing in providence, which contributed to make the work of the disciples more easy there, and to bring on, in time, a large harvest. The books of the Old Testament were translated into the Greek language; and the Jews were scattered in the several parts of the world; and the Greek tongue, in which the New Testament was to be written, was every where generally spoken; and these providences were ripening apace to bring on a great work there. And now, as before observed, the apostles were the reapers; they were remarkably successful in the gathering in of souls, even more than the prophets, than John the Baptist, or Christ himself; never was such a harvest of souls, either in Judea, or in the Gentile world, before or since; of which the conversion of these Samaritans was a pledge or earnest. Now when the whole harvest is gathered in, at the end of the world, all these will rejoice together, the "patriarchs" and prophets, the forerunner of Christ, and Christ himself, and all his apostles and ministers; the different parts they have had in this work all concurring and agreeing together, and issuing in the glory of God, and the good of souls. HENRY, "(2.) That it was profitable and advantageous work, which they themselves would be gainers by (Joh_4:36): “He that reapeth receiveth wages, and so shall you.” Christ has undertaken to pay those well whom he employs in his work; for he will never do as Jehoiakim did, who used his neighbour's service without wages (Jer_22:13), or those who by fraud kept back the hire of those particularly who reaped their corn-fields, Jam_5:4. Christ's reapers, though they cry to him day and night, shall never have cause to cry against him, nor to say they served a hard Master. He that reapeth, not only shall but does receive wages. There is a present reward in the service of Christ, and his work is its own wages. [1.] Christ's reapers have fruit: He gathereth fruit unto life eternal; that is, he shall both save himself and those that hear him, 1Ti_4:16. If the faithful reaper save his own soul, that is fruit abounding to his account, it is fruit gathered to life eternal; and if, over and above this, he be instrumental to save the souls of others too, there is fruit gathered. Souls gathered to Christ are fruit, good fruit, the fruit that Christ seeks for (Rom_1:13); it is 292
- 293. gathered for Christ(Son_8:11, Son_8:12); it is gathered to life eternal. This is the comfort of faithful ministers, that their work has a tendency to the eternal salvation of precious souls. [2.] They have joy: That he that sows and they that reap may rejoice together. The minister who is the happy instrument of beginning a good work is he that sows, as John Baptist; he that is employed to carry it on and perfect it is he that reaps: and both shall rejoice together. Note, First, Though God is to have all the glory of the success of the gospel, yet faithful ministers may themselves take the comfort of it. The reapers share in the joy of harvest, though the profits belong to the master, 1Th_2:19. Secondly, Those ministers who are variously gifted and employed should be so far from envying one another that they should rather mutually rejoice in each other's success and usefulness. Though all Christ's ministers are not alike serviceable, nor alike successful, yet, if they have obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful, they shall all enter together into the joy of their Lord at last. JAMIESON, "he that reapeth, etc. — As our Lord could not mean that the reaper only, and not the sower, received “wages,” in the sense of personal reward for his work, the “wages” here can be no other than the joy of having such a harvest to gather in - the joy of “gathering fruit unto life eternal.” rejoice together — The blessed issue of the whole ingathering is the interest alike of the sower as of the reaper; it is no more the fruit of the last operation than of the first; and just as there can be no reaping without previous sowing, so have those servants of Christ, to whom is assigned the pleasant task of merely reaping the spiritual harvest, no work to do, and no joy to taste, that has not been prepared to their hand by the toilsome and often thankless work of their predecessors in the field. The joy, therefore, of the great harvest festivity will be the common joy of all who have taken any part in the work from the first operation to the last. (See Deu_16:11, Deu_16:14; Psa_126:6; Isa_9:3). What encouragement is here for those “fishers of men” who “have toiled all the night” of their official life, and, to human appearance, “have taken nothing!” CALVIN, "36.And he who reapeth receiveth reward. How diligently we ought to devote ourselves to the work of God, he proves by another argument; namely, because a large and most excellent reward is reserved for our labor; for he promises that there will be fruit, and fruit not corruptible or fading. What he adds about fruit may be explained in two ways; either it is an announcement of the reward, and on that supposition he would say the same thing twice in different words; or, he applauds the labors of those who enrich the kingdom of God, as we shall afterwards find him repeating, I have chosen you, that you may go and bear fruit, and that your fruit may remain, (John 15:16.) And certainly both considerations ought greatly to encourage the ministers of the word, that they may never sink under the toil, when they hear that a crown of glory is prepared for them in heaven, and know that the fruit of their harvest will not only be precious in the sight of God, but will also be eternal. It is for this purpose that Scripture everywhere mentions reward, and not for the purpose of leading us to judge from it as to the merits of works; for which of us, if we come to a reckoning, will not be found more worthy of being punished for slothfulness than of beingrewarded for diligence? To the best laborers nothing else will be 293
- 294. left than toapproach to God in all humility to implore forgiveness. But the Lord, who acts towards us with the kindness of a father, in order to correct our sloth, and to encourage us who would otherwise be dismayed, deigns to bestow upon us an undeserved reward. This is so far from overturning justification by faith that it rather confirms it. For, in the first place, how comes it that God finds in us any thing to reward, but because He has bestowed it upon us by his Spirit? Now we know that the Spirit is the earnest and pledge of adoption, (Ephesians 1:14.) Secondly, how comes it that God confers so great honor on imperfect and sinful works but because, after having by free grace reconciled us to himself, He accepts our works without any regard to merit, by not imputing the sins which cleave to them? The amount of this passage is, that the labor which the Apostlesbestow on teaching ought not to be reckoned by them hard and unpleasant, since they know that it is so useful and so advantageous to Christ and to the Church. That he who soweth, and he who reapeth, may rejoice together. By these words Christ shows that the fruit which the Apostles will derive from the labors of others cannot give just ground of complaint to any person. And this additional statement deserves notice; for if in the world the groans of those who complain that the fruit of their labor has been conveyed to another do not hinder the new possessor from cheerfully reaping what another has sown, how much more cheerful ought the reapers to be, when there is mutual consent and mutual joy and congratulation? But, in order that this passage may be properly understood, we must comprehend the contrast between sowing andreaping Thesowing was the doctrine of the Law and the Prophets; for at that time the seed thrown into the soil remained, as it were, in the blade; but the doctrine of the Gospel, which brings men to proper maturity, is on that account justly compared to the harvest. For the Law was very far from that perfection which has at length been exhibited to us in Christ. To the same purpose is the well-known comparison between infancy and manhood which Paul employs, when he says, that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth not from a servant, though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father, (Galatians 4:1.) In short, since the coming of Christ brought along with it present salvation, we need not wonder if the Gospel, by which the door of the heavenly kingdom is opened, be called the harvest of the doctrine of the Prophets. And yet it is not at all inconsistent with this statement, that the Fathers under the Law were gathered into God’s barn; but this comparison must be referred to the manner of teaching; for, as the infancy of the Church lasted to the end of the Law, but, as soon as the Gospel had been preached, it immediately arrived at manhood, so at that time the salvation began to ripen, of which the sowing only had been accomplished by the Prophets. But, as Christ delivered this discourse in Samaria, he appears to extend the 294
- 295. sowing more widelythan to the Law and the Prophets; and there are some who interpret these words as applying equally to the Jews and to the Gentiles. I acknowledge, indeed, that some grains of piety were always scattered throughout the whole world, and there can be no doubt that — if we may be allowed the expression — God sowed, by the hand of philosophers and profane writers, the excellent sentiments which are to be found in their writings. But, as that seed was degenerated from the very root, and as the corn which could spring from it, though not good or natural, was choked by a huge mass of errors, it is unreasonable to suppose that such destructive corruption is compared tosowing Besides, what is here said about uniting in joy cannot at all apply to philosophers or any persons of that class. Still, the difficulty is not yet solved, for Christ makes special reference to the Samaritans. I reply, though everything among them was infected by corruptions, there still was some hidden seed of piety. For whence does it arise that, as soon as they hear a word about Christ, they are so eager to seek him, but because they had learned, from the Law and the Prophets, that the Redeemer would come? Judea was indeed the Lord’s peculiar field, which he had cultivated by the Prophets, but, as some small portion of seed had been carried into Samaria, it is not without reason that Christ says that there also it reached maturity. If it be objected that the Apostles were chosen to publish the Gospel throughout the whole world, the reply is easy, that Christ spoke in a manner suited to the time, with this exception, that, on account of the expectation of the fruit which already was nearly ripe, he commends in the Samaritans the seed of prophetic doctrine, though mixed and blended with many weeds or corruptions. COKE, "John 4:36-38. And he that reapeth, &c.— As the disciples laboured together with our Lord in this spiritual harvest,—to encourage them, he put them in mind of the reward. The passage should be read as follows: "He that reapeth and gathereth the fruit [of souls] unto life eternal; he that conducts others into heaven (alluding to the gathering of reaped corn into barns) such a person—receiveth wages; that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice together; namely, in the reward bestowed on them, the pleasure of which will be increased by their joint participation of it." Our Lord then proceeds to apply another proverb, John 4:37. The words, whereon ye bestowed no labour, John 4:38 mean, "no labour of sowing;" Other men laboured, namely, in sowing the feeds of piety and holiness among the Jews, and therebyexposed themselves to great persecutions, (he meant the prophets of old;—) "and ye are entered into their labours,—into the field on which their labour had been carefully employed;" εις του κοπον αυτων .—Comp. 2 Corinthians 10:15. "Ye are employed to reap that, which they with great difficulty sowed; for ye are gathering into the kingdom of heaven those, who, by the writings of the prophets and the grace of God, having been imbued with a sense of piety and virtue, are prepared for entering into it." This application of the proverb, one soweth and another reapeth, does not imply any discontent in the persons who sow without reaping, as it seems to do in common use; for the sower and the reaper are represented as rejoicing together in the rewards of this spiritual husbandry. COFFMAN, "These words were spoken by the Lord during the interval before 295
- 296. the arrival ofthe multitude. This is an extension of the metaphor of the harvest, there never being a harvest without a sowing and reaping. The great reward is the gathering of fruit unto life eternal, in the joy of which both sowers and reapers shall rejoice together. He that reapeth receiveth wages ... It is not known if Jesus was here thinking of the reaping that Philip the evangelist would do in Samaria (Acts 8:4-13), or if he was thinking of the multitudes who would believe that very day (John 4:41), or perhaps of both. Rejoice together ... Sowers and reapers alike rejoice in the harvest of the gospel; and their doing so together would indicate that, in the instance in hand, sowing and reaping would occur in the closest proximity of time, as it did on that occasion. Jesus was the sower who planted the word in the heart of the woman; but the fruit was coming over the fields at that very moment; and the apostles, who hardly knew that any sowing had taken place, were about to participate in the reaping. Evidently, the Lord intended in these words to show the equal importance of both sowing and reaping, both being necessary, and to show that the reaper should always, in humility, remember the one who had sown. That Christ was indeed the sower here is indicated by "He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man" (Matthew 13:37). PETT, "Verses 36-38 ‘He who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For in this the saying holds true, ‘one sows and another reaps’. I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’ Jesus now took the opportunity to press home the lesson. The opportunity was not only His but theirs. They too must take every opportunity to proclaim His message, for then they will receive great rewards and they will ‘gather fruit for eternal life’. This latter refers to those who would be saved through their labours. They will have the joy of knowing they have changed the lives of others and brought them into the life of the age to come. By their fruits they will be known. He then reminded them that they were not the only ones involved. There have to be sowers as well as reapers, and often the former is the harder task. The prophets had sown, and had suffered. John the Baptiser had sown, and he too would suffer, although he at least had seen some of the harvest. Simeon and Anna the prophetess were sowers (Luke 2). But the disciples were in the privileged position of being reapers. They would harvest the work of others. The work of the Spirit had now begun. They must not hesitate to reap the harvest. Then both sowers and reapers would be able to rejoice together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another 296
- 297. reaps’ is true. BARNES,"Isent you, etc. — The I is emphatic - I, the Lord of the whole harvest: “sent you,” points to their past appointment to the apostleship, though it has reference only to their future discharge of it, for they had nothing to do with the present ingathering of the Sycharites. ye bestowed no labour — meaning that much of their future success would arise from the preparation already made for them. (See on Joh_4:42). others laboured — Referring to the Old Testament laborers, the Baptist, and by implication Himself, though He studiously keeps this in the background, that the line of distinction between Himself and all His servants might not be lost sight of. “Christ represents Himself as the Husbandman [rather the Lord of the laborers], who has the direction both of the sowing and of the harvest, who commissions all the agents - those of the Old Testament as well as of the New - and therefore does not stand on a level with either the sowers or the reapers” [Olshausen]. CLARKE,"Herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth - Or, One is the sower, and another is the reaper. In what respects you, of this business, this proverb is true - One is the sower, etc., for I have sent you to reap, to preach my Gospel, and gain converts, where ye have not labored - have not sown the first seeds of eternal life. Others have labored - the patriarchs and prophets, and ye are entered into the fruits of their labors. They announced the Messiah who was to come, and the expectation of the people was excited, and they longed for his appearance; but they were gathered to their fathers before they could see the fruit of their labor. You are come to tell the people that the kingdom of God is among them, and that God has visited his people. The proverb which our Lord mentions above was taken from what ordinarily happens in the course of the Divine providence, where one takes a great deal of pains to procure that of which another reaps the benefit. See instances of this proverb, Lev_26:16 : Ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. Mic_6:15 : Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but not anoint thee with the oil. See also Hos_7:9. The Greeks had the same proverb: Αλλοι µεν σπερουσι, αλλοι δ’αν αµησονται. So had the Latins: Aliis leporem excitasti. You have beat the bush, and another has found the hare. See the famous verses of Virgil beginning with, Sic vos non vobis, in which the fowls, the sheep, the bees, and the oxen, are elegantly brought in as illustrations of the propriety of the proverb. Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves. Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves. Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes. Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves. So you, ye birds, of wondrous skill possest, Not for yourselves construct the curious nest. So you, ye sheep, who roam the verdant field, Not for yourselves your snowy fleeces yield, 297
- 298. So you, yebees, who every flower explore, Not for yourselves amass the honied store. So you, ye patient kine, inured to toil, Not for yourselves subdue the stubborn soil! Bishop Pearce gives this text a remarkable turn. The verse he translates thus: I sent you away, that ye might reap that whereon ye bestowed no labor; i.e. I did not send you to the city (Joh_4:8) for this purpose only, that ye might buy meat; but I sent you away chiefly with this intent, that there might be a harvest for you to reap upon your return; though you sowed no seed, and bestowed no labor for that purpose. While you were gone, I sowed spiritual seed in the heart of a Samaritan woman; and she is gone, and is about to return with many of her city, whom she has brought to believe, (Joh_4:39-42.) These, and the many more which will believe upon hearing my doctrine, (Joh_4:41), will all be a harvest arising out of the seed which I sowed in your absence, and on which, therefore, ye bestowed no labor. He farther adds, that the Greek θεριζειν, stands for του θεριζειν, and such expressions are often used to signify, not the end and design, but the event only. Pearce’s Comment. GILL, "And herein is that saying true,.... This verifies that proverbial expression so much in use, and which may be applied to different persons and cases: one soweth, and another reapeth; the prophets sowed, and the apostles reaped. HENRY, "(3.) That it was easy work, and work that was half done to their hands by those that were gone before them: One soweth, and another reapeth, Joh_4:37, Joh_4:38. This sometimes denotes a grievous judgment upon him that sows, Mic_ 6:15; Deu_28:30, Thou shalt sow, and another shall reap; as Deu_6:11, Houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not. So here. Moses, and the prophets, and John Baptist, had paved the way to the gospel, had sown the good seed which the New Testament ministers did in effect but gather the fruit of. I send you to reap that whereon you bestowed, in comparison, no labour. Isa_40:3-5. [1.] This intimates two things concerning the Old Testament ministry: - First, That it was very much short of the New Testament ministry. Moses and the prophets sowed, but they could not be said to reap, so little did they see of the fruit of their labours. Their writings have done much more good since they left us than ever their preaching did. Secondly, That it was very serviceable to the New Testament ministry, and made way for it. The writings of the prophets, which were read in the synagogues every sabbath day, raised people's expectations of the Messiah, and so prepared them to bid him welcome. Had it not been for the seed sown by the prophets, this Samaritan woman could not have said, We know that Messias cometh. The writings of the Old Testament are in some respects more useful to us than they could be to those to whom they were first written, because better understood by the accomplishment of them. See 1Pe_1:12; Heb_4:2; Rom_16:25, Rom_16:26. [2.] This also intimates two things concerning the ministry of the apostles of Christ. First, That it was a fruitful ministry: they were reapers that gathered in a great harvest of souls to Jesus Christ, and did more in seven years towards the setting up of the kingdom of God among men than the prophets of the Old Testament had done in twice so many ages. Secondly, That it was much facilitated, especially among the Jews, to whom they were first sent, by the writings of the prophets. The prophets sowed in tears, crying out, We have laboured in vain; the apostles reaped in joy, saying, Thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph. Note, From the labours of ministers that are 298
- 299. dead and gonemuch good fruit may be reaped by the people that survive them and the ministers that succeed them. John Baptist, and those that assisted him, had laboured, and the disciples of Christ entered into their labours, built upon their foundation, and reaped the fruit of what they sowed. See what reason we have to bless God for those that are gone before us, for their preaching and their writing, for what they did and suffered in their day, for we are entered into their labours; their studies and services have made our work the easier. And when the ancient and modern labourers, those that came into the vineyard at the third hour and those that came in at the eleventh, meet in the day of account, they will be so far from envying one another the honour of their respective services that both they that sowed and they that reaped shall rejoice together; and the great Lord of thee harvest shall have the glory of all. CALVIN, "37.For in this is the saying true. This was a common proverb, by which he showed that many men frequently receive the fruit of the labor of others, though there was this difference, that he who has labored is displeased at seeing the fruit carried away by another, whereas the Apostles have the Prophets for the companions of their joy. And yet it cannot be inferred from this, that the Prophets themselves are witnesses, or are aware, of what is now going on in the Church; for Christ means nothing more than that the Prophets, so long as they lived, taught under the influence of such feelings, that they already rejoiced on account of the fruit which they were not permitted to gather. The comparison which Peter employs (1 Peter 1:12) is not unlike; except that he addresses his exhortation generally to all believers, but Christ here speaks to the disciples alone, and, in their person, to the ministers of the Gospel. By these words he enjoins them to throw their labors into a common stock, so that there may be no wicked envy among them; that those who are first sent to the work ought to be so attentive to the present cultivation as not to envy a greater blessing to those who are afterwards to follow them; and that they who are sent, as it were, to gather the ripe fruit, ought to be employed with equal cheerfulness in their office; for the comparison which is here made between the teachers of the Law and of the Gospel may likewise be applied to the latter, when viewed in reference to each other. ELLICOTT, "(37) Herein is that saying true—i.e., in the deeper sense of the word true (comp. Note on John 1:9)—has its realisation; is ideally true. The proverb itself was known both to the Greeks and to the Romans (sec examples in Schottgen and Lampe), but the reference is probably to the Old Testament Scriptures. Those who heard it would certainly think of such passages as Deuteronomy 6:11, or Isaiah 65:21-22. The saying expressed something of the bitterness of human disappointment, which in darker moments all men have felt. They have sown in hopes and plans and works, which have never sprung above the surface, or have been reaped in their results by other men; or they themselves have passed away before the harvest has come. This is as men see it, but this is not the ideal truth. The saying is realised in the relation between sower and reaper, which was true then, and holds true of every sower who really sows the good seed. He, too, has a daily work and a daily sustenance in the will of Him that sent him. In the inner consciousness of that work being done, and the hope of its completion, he has food no less real than that of him who reaps the harvest. That he stands alone is the result of his rising above his generation; that he is 299
- 300. little understood, orrewarded, by those for whom he works, will be a disappointment to his friends, but, in his truest thoughts, not to himself. His satisfaction will be hard for men to understand. “Surely no one has brought him to eat!” “I have food to eat that ye know not of.” Men smile at this as sentiment or enthusiasm, but this food has been the strength of the best lives, and noblest deeds, of humanity. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” BARNES,"I sent you - In the commission given you to preach the gospel. You have not labored or toiled in preparing the way for the great harvest which is now to be gathered in. Other men laboured - (1) The prophets, who long labored to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. (2) The teachers among the Jews, who have read and explained the law and taught the people. (3) John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way. And, (4) The Saviour himself, who by his personal ministry taught the people, and prepared them for the success which was to attend the preaching of the apostles. Especially did Jesus lay the foundation for the rapid and extensive spread of the gospel. “He” saw comparatively little fruit of his ministry. He confined his labors to Judea, and even there he was occupied in sowing seed which chiefly sprang up after his death. From this we may learn: 1. That the man who is crowned with eminent success has no cause of “boasting” over others, any more than the man who reaps a field of grain should boast over the man who sowed it. The labor of both is equally necessary, and the labor of both would be useless if God did not give the increase. Compare 1Co_3:6. 2. We should not be discouraged if we do not meet with immediate success. The man that sows is not disheartened because he does not see the harvest “immediately” spring up. We are to sow our seed in the morning, and in the evening we are not to withhold our hand, for we know not whether shall prosper, this or that; and we are to go forth bearing precious seed, though “weeping,” knowing that we shall come again rejoicing, bearing our sheaves with us, Ecc_11:4; Psa_126:6. 3. Every part of the work of the ministry and of teaching men is needful, and we should rejoice that we are permitted to bear any part, however humble, in bringing sinners to the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, 1Co_12:21-24. 300
- 301. GILL, "I sentyou to reap,.... To preach the Gospel, and gather in souls by your ministry; referring to the mission of them in Mat_10:6; that whereon ye bestowed no labour; being sent to the Jews, who had the writings of the prophets, and were versed in them; and had learned from them that the Messiah was to come, and were now in general expectation of him; so that they had nothing more to do, than to declare to those persons who were cultivated by the prophets, and were like to ground tilled and manured, that the Messiah was come, and the kingdom of heaven was at hand. Other men laboured; the prophets, and John the Baptist: and ye are entered into their labours; to finish the work they had begun, and which was almost done to their hands. HENRY, "This also intimates two things concerning the ministry of the apostles of Christ. First, That it was a fruitful ministry: they were reapers that gathered in a great harvest of souls to Jesus Christ, and did more in seven years towards the setting up of the kingdom of God among men than the prophets of the Old Testament had done in twice so many ages. Secondly, That it was much facilitated, especially among the Jews, to whom they were first sent, by the writings of the prophets. The prophets sowed in tears, crying out, We have laboured in vain; the apostles reaped in joy, saying, Thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph. Note, From the labours of ministers that are dead and gone much good fruit may be reaped by the people that survive them and the ministers that succeed them. John Baptist, and those that assisted him, had laboured, and the disciples of Christ entered into their labours, built upon their foundation, and reaped the fruit of what they sowed. See what reason we have to bless God for those that are gone before us, for their preaching and their writing, for what they did and suffered in their day, for we are entered into their labours; their studies and services have made our work the easier. And when the ancient and modern labourers, those that came into the vineyard at the third hour and those that came in at the eleventh, meet in the day of account, they will be so far from envying one another the honour of their respective services that both they that sowed and they that reaped shall rejoice together; and the great Lord of thee harvest shall have the glory of all. JAMIESON, "I sent you, etc. — The I is emphatic - I, the Lord of the whole harvest: “sent you,” points to their past appointment to the apostleship, though it has reference only to their future discharge of it, for they had nothing to do with the present ingathering of the Sycharites. ye bestowed no labour — meaning that much of their future success would arise from the preparation already made for them. (See on Joh_4:42). others laboured — Referring to the Old Testament laborers, the Baptist, and by implication Himself, though He studiously keeps this in the background, that the line of distinction between Himself and all His servants might not be lost sight of. “Christ represents Himself as the Husbandman [rather the Lord of the laborers], who has the direction both of the sowing and of the harvest, who commissions all the agents - those of the Old Testament as well as of the New - and therefore does not stand on a level with either the sowers or the reapers” [Olshausen]. 301
- 302. ELLICOTT, "(38) Isent you to reap . . .—The pronouns are again emphatic. “I sent you to reap;” and the statement is of wide meaning. He is ever the Sower. All others are more or less fully reapers, though in the degree in which they really reap they will become likened unto Him, and will become sowers too. We all inherit from the past the greatest part of our mental and spiritual knowledge. The child of to-day knows more than the philosopher of early history. Other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.—Or, others have laboured. In the immediate application to the present case, the “others” is to be interpreted of Christ Himself, who had been sowing during their absence, and it may be of the woman who has sown this seed by her testimony to the Samaritans. Or the plural may be chosen as in contrast with the plural ye, and as pointing to the general truth, while the immediate reference is to Christ only., " Many Samaritans Believe 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” BARNES 39-42,"And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him, ... - There is seldom an instance of so remarkable success as this. From a single conversation, in circumstances, in a place, and with an individual little likely to be attended with such results, many sinners were converted; many believed on the testimony of the woman; many more came to hear, and believed because they heard him themselves. We should never despair of doing good in the most unpromising circumstances, and we should seize upon every opportunity to converse with sinners on the great subject of their souls’ salvation. CLARKE,"Many of the Samaritans - believed on him for the saying of the woman - This woman was the first apostle of Christ in Samaria! She went and told her fellow citizens that the Messiah was come; and gave for proof, that he had told her the most secret things she had ever done: see on Joh_4:29 (note). This word, which is twice repeated, in Joh_4:29 and here, strongly intimates that a more particular conversation had taken place, between our Lord and the Samaritan woman, than what is here related. GILL, "And many of the Samaritans of that city,.... Of Sychar, which was a 302
- 303. city of Samaria; believedon him; that he was the true Messiah he had told the woman he was; and she put it to them whether he was or not: before they saw him, or had any conversation with him themselves, they believed in him; see Joh_20:29; for the saying of the woman which testified, he told me all that ever I did: the account she gave was so plain, and honest, and disinterested, that they could not but give credit to it; and since the person was an utter stranger to her, and yet had laid before her the whole series of her past life and conversation, they concluded he could be no other than the Messiah, who should tell all things; and being of quick understanding or smell, was able to disclose the secrets of men. HENRY, "IV. The good effect which this visit Christ made to the Samaritans (en passant) had upon them, and the fruit which was now presently gathered among them, Joh_4:39-42. See what impressions were made on them, 1. By the woman's testimony concerning Christ; though a single testimony, and of one of no good report, and the testimony no more than this, He told me all that ever I did, yet it had a good influence upon many. One would have thought that his telling the woman of her secret sins would have made them afraid of coming to him, lest he should tell them also of their faults; but they will venture that rather than not be acquainted with one who they had reason to think was a prophet. And two things they were brought to: - (1.) To credit Christ's word (Joh_4:39): Many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman. So far they believed on him that they took him for a prophet, and were desirous to know the mind of God from him; this is favourably interpreted as believing on him. Now observe, [1.] Who they were that believed: Many of the Samaritans, who were not of the house of Israel. Their faith was not only an aggravation of the unbelief of the Jews, from whom better might have been expected, but an earnest of the faith of the Gentiles, who would welcome that which the Jews rejected. [2.] Upon what inducement they believed: For the saying of the woman. See here, First, How God is sometimes pleased to use very weak and unlikely instruments for the beginning and carrying on of a good work. A little maid directed a great prince to Elisha, 2Ki_5:2. Secondly, How great a matter a little fire kindles. Our Saviour, by instructing one poor woman, spread instruction to a whole town. Let not ministers be either careless in their preaching, or discouraged in it, because their hearers are few and mean; for, by doing good to them, good may be conveyed to more, and those that are more considerable. If they teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, a great number may learn at second hand. Philip preached the gospel to a single gentleman in his chariot upon the road, and he not only received it himself, but carried it into his country, and propagated it there. Thirdly, See how good it is to speak experimentally of Christ and the things of God. This woman could say little of Christ, but what she did say she spoke feelingly: He told me all that ever I did. Those are most likely to do good that can tell what God has done for their souls, Psa_66:16. JAMIESON, "many ... believed, etc. — The truth of Joh_4:35 begins to appear. These Samaritans were the foundation of the Church afterwards built up there. No miracle appears to have been wrought there (but unparalleled supernatural knowledge displayed): “we have heard Him ourselves” (Joh_4:42) sufficed to raise their faith to a point never attained by the Jews, and hardly as yet by the disciples - that He was “the Savior of the world” [Alford]. “This incident is further remarkable 303
- 304. as a rareinstance of the Lord’s ministry producing an awakening on a large scale” [Olshausen]. CALVIN, "39.And many Samaritans out of that city believed. The Evangelist here relates what was the success of the woman’s announcement to her citizens, from which it is evident that the expectation and desire of the promised Messiah had no small vigor among them. Now, the word believe is here used inaccurately, and means that they were induced by the woman’s statement to acknowledge Christ to be a Prophet. It is, in some respects, a commencement offaith, when minds are prepared to receive the doctrine. Such an entrance to faith receives here the honorable appellation offaith, in order to inform us how highly God esteems reverence for his word, when he confers so great honor on the docility of those who have not yet been taught. Now, their faith manifests itself in this respect, that they are seized with a desire to profit, and, for that reason, desire that Christ should remain with them COKE, "John 4:39-40. And many of the Samaritans—believed— Many of the Samaritans had been so struck with the account which the woman gave of Jesus, that they believed him to be the Messiah on her testimony. Accordingly, being come to him, they begged him to take up his residence in their city. Jesus, in compassion to their wants and desires, complied so far as to stay with them two days; which was a proper mediumbetween his entirely neglecting them, and the giving them so much of his time and company as would have broken in upon the design of his journey into Galilee. During the time of his stay, the discourses which our Lord delivered were attended with great power, as appeared by their success: for they brought many of the Sycharites to believe on him as the Messiah. COFFMAN, "THE HARVEST IN SAMARIA The secret of all soul-winning is that of making oneself of "no reputation," even as did our Lord (Philippians 2:7 KJV); and one can only marvel at this woman's willingness to make the exposition of her shameful life the principal evidence that would lead a city to the Lord. It must not be thought for a moment that her mere statement, "He told me all the things that I ever did," would have been enough to turn out a whole city to see Jesus. Not at all. Such a statement would have had to be followed up with a statement of "what things" he had told; and it may be assumed that, regardless of the woman's standing in the eyes of her neighbors, or regardless of what any of them knew about her, there were areas of the Saviour's revelation that laid bare the dark secrets of her soul; yet she unflinchingly cried out the message to all who would hear it. At the very least, the witness was such as publicized and blazed abroad the sordid details of her life to the total community. No one can look upon this as a small thing that she did. The turnout of this city to accept Jesus Christ was a stark contrast with the snobbish rejection of the Lord by the hierarchy in Jerusalem. Here, quite early in the Saviour's ministry, was wholesale evidence that the Gentiles would turn to 304
- 305. the Lord whenthey received the opportunity. This overwhelming display of affection for Jesus in Samaria should have been a warning to Israel that the day of grace was running out for them, and that the times were hastening to the day foretold by God through Moses when it was prophesied that "I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, With a nation void of understanding will I anger you" (Deuteronomy 32:31). BURKITT, "Here an account is given of the conversion of more of the Samaritans from the city of Sichar. Some believed on him, upon the full report which the woman had made, That, He had told her all that ever she did; but others were brought to believe by his own word. Now from the woman's being an instrument to bring her acquaintance to Christ by her own experience of what she had heard from him: Learn, 1. That very weak instruments, when they employ themselves for Christ, desiring to extol his praise, and set forth his glory, are sometimes richly blessed with great success. Many of the Samaritans believed for the saying of this poor woman. Learn, 2. That when a person can say but little of Christ, yet if it be spoken from experience and sensible feeling, it will be more successful and persuasive, than much more that which is spoken from notional knowledge. Such was this woman's testimony concerning Christ, Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ? She spake what she found, yea, what she felt within herself, and speaking her own experience, many believed on him for her saying. But farther, These Samaritans believed Christ to be a prophet upon the testimony of this woman: but they believed him afterwards to be the Messias, or the Saviour of the world, upon the credit and authority of his own word, ver, 41. And many more believed because of his own word. Thence learn, That although instruments speaking may be a mean to draw persons to give some assent to truth, yet it is Christ himself that must work a full persuasion, and his own word is the surest foundation for faith to build and depend upon: Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves. PETT, "Verse 39 ‘And from that town many of the Samaritans believed on him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all things that I ever did.” The woman’s testimony had convinced the townspeople that here might be the Taheb. It was a time of great expectation in Palestine, and there are special times when small things produce great results. The writer recognises that this could only be as a result of the activity of the Spirit. God was clearly at work. It would appear that they saw some change in this woman who had candidly told them that this man had laid bare her past life, something of which they also knew, and 305
- 306. that it helpedto convince them. It was apparent to them that something had happened, that she was no longer the loose woman that she had been. To some extent they believed even before they met Jesus Himself, for they would never have believed that this woman would ever be involved in religious excitement. Their rapid and genuinely responsive faith was intended to be in deliberate contrast with those Jews whose faith was lacking (John 2:23-25) and with Nicodemus the ‘ruler of the Jews’ who continued to hesitate. BARCLAY, "THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD (John 4:39-42) 4:39-42 Many of the Samaritans from that city believed on him, because of the woman's story, for she testified: "He told me all things that I have done." So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay amongst them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed when they heard his word, and they said to the woman: "No longer do we believe because of your talk. We ourselves have listened to him, and we know that this is really the Saviour of the World." In the events which happened at Samaria we have the pattern by which the gospel so often spreads. In the rise of belief among the Samaritans there were three stages. (i) There was introduction. The Samaritans were introduced to Christ by the woman. Here we see full-displayed God's need of us. Paul said:. "How are they to hear without a preacher?" (Romans 10:14). The word of God must be transmitted by man to man. God cannot deliver his message to those who have never heard it unless there is someone to deliver it. "He has no hands but our hands To do his work today: He has no feet but our feet To lead men in his way: He has no voice but our voice To tell men how he died: He has no help but our help To lead them to his side." It is at once our precious privilege and our terrible responsibility to bring men to Christ. The introduction cannot be made unless there is a man to make it. Further, that introduction is made on the strength of personal witness. The cry of the Samaritan woman was: "Look what he has done for me and to me." It was not to a theory that she called her neighbours; it was to a dynamic and changing 306
- 307. power. The churchcan expand until the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of the Lord only when men and women themselves experience the power of Christ, and then transmit that experience to others. (ii) There was nearer intimacy and growing knowledge. Once the Samaritans had been introduced to Christ, they sought his company. They asked him to stay with them that they might learn of him and come to know him better. It is true that a man must be introduced to Christ, but it is equally true that once he has been introduced he must himself go on to live in the presence of Christ. No man can go through an experience for another man. Others may lead us to the friendship of Christ, but we must claim and enjoy that friendship ourselves. (iii) There came discovery and surrender. The Samaritans discovered in Christ the Saviour of the world. It is not likely that they themselves put it exactly that way. John was writing years afterwards, and was putting the discovery of the Samaritans into his own words, words which enshrine a life-time's living with and thinking about Jesus Christ. It is only in John that we find this tremendous title. We find it here and in 1 John 4:14. To him it was the title par excellence for Christ. John did not invent the title. In the Old Testament God had often been called the God of salvation, the Saviour, the saving God. Many of the Greek gods had acquired this title. At the time John was writing the Roman Emperor was invested with the title Saviour of the World. It is as if John said: "All that you have dreamed of has at last in Jesus come true." We do well to remember this title. Jesus was not simply a prophet, who came with a message in words from God. He was not simply an expert psychologist with an uncanny faculty for seeing into the human mind. True, he showed that very skill in the case of the Samaritan woman, but he showed more than that. He was not simply an example. He did not come simply to show men the way in which life ought to be lived. A great example can be merely heart-breaking and frustrating when we find ourselves powerless to follow it. Jesus was Saviour. He rescued men from the evil and hopeless situation in which they found themselves; he broke the chains that bound them to the past and gave them a power which enabled them to meet the future. The Samaritan woman is in fact the great example of his saving power. The town where she stayed would no doubt have labelled her a character beyond reformation; and she herself would no doubt have agreed that a respectable life was beyond her. But Jesus came and doubly rescued her; he enabled her to break away from the past and he opened a new future to her. There is no title adequate to describe Jesus except Saviour of the World. 307
- 308. 40 So whenthe Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. CLARKE,"He abode there two days - We are not told that he wrought any miracles among them; this does not appear to have been necessary: they were a simple-hearted, teachable people, and they credited him on the evidence of his own eternal truth. Why are not miracles wrought now? Miracles were only for the establishment of the doctrines of Christianity, where they were first preached; we profess to believe these doctrines; therefore, to us, miracles would be useless. Where the doctrine is credited, no miracle is necessary: the Samaritans believed, and no miracle was wrought among them; for the simple reason, it was not necessary. GILL, "So when the Samaritans were come unto him,.... The Ethiopic version reads, all the Samaritans; they came to him at Jacob's well, upon the woman's solicitations, and the account she gave of this extraordinary person: and after they had conversed with him, and heard him themselves, they were taken with his divine discourses, and being thoroughly persuaded that he was the Messiah, they besought him that he would tarry with them; they were not like the Gergesenes, who besought him to depart out of their coasts as soon he was in them: but these men were delighted with his company; and notwithstanding his being a Jew, desired a conversation with him, and entreated that he would go along with them to their city, and stay with them: and he abode there two days; he went with them to Sychar. He would not deny their request, lest they should be discouraged; and yet would not make any long stay with them, that he might give no umbrage to the Jews; though it is very likely from this short stay in Samaria, they afterwards reproached him as a Samaritan, Joh_ 8:48. Our Lord's direction to his disciples not to enter into any of the cities of the Samaritans, was not a rule to himself, or binding upon him, and was only a rule to them "pro tempore". HENRY, "(2.) They were brought to court his stay among them (Joh_4:40): When they were come to him they besought him that he would tarry with them. Upon the woman's report, they believed him to be a prophet, and came to him; and, when they saw him, the meanness of his appearance and the manifest poverty of his outward condition did not lessen their esteem of him and expectations from him, but still they respected him as a prophet. Note, There is hope of those who are got over the vulgar prejudices that men have against true worth in a low estate. Blessed are they that are not offended in Christ at the first sight. So far were they from being offended in him that they begged he would tarry with them; [1.] That they might testify their respect to him, and treat him with the honour and kindness due to his character. God's prophets and ministers are welcome guests to all those who sincerely embrace the gospel; as to Lydia, Act_16:15. [2.] That they might receive instruction from him. Those that are taught of God are truly desirous to learn more, and to be better acquainted with Christ. Many would have flocked to one that would 308
- 309. tell them theirfortune, but these flocked to one that would tell them their faults, tell them of their sin and duty. The historian seems to lay an emphasis upon their being Samaritans; as Luk_10:33; Luk_17:16. The Samaritans had not that reputation for religion which the Jews had; yet the Jews, who saw Christ's miracles, drove him from them: while the Samaritans, who saw not his miracles, nor shared in his favours, invited him to them. The proof of the gospel's success is not always according to the probability, nor what is experienced according to what is expected either way. The Samaritans were taught by the custom of their country to be shy of conversation with the Jews. There were Samaritans that refused to let Christ go through their town (Luk_9:53), but these begged him to tarry with them. Note, It adds much to the praise of our love to Christ and his word if it conquers the prejudices of education and custom, and sets light by the censures of men. Now we are told that Christ granted their request. First, He abode there. Though it was a city of the Samaritans nearly adjoining to their temple, yet, when he was invited, he tarried there; though he was upon a journey, and had further to go, yet, when he had an opportunity of doing good, he abode there. That is no real hindrance which will further our account. Yet he abode there but two days, because he had other places to visit and other work to do, and those two days were as many as came to the share of this city, out of the few days of our Saviour's sojourning upon earth. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. GILL, "And many more believed,.... The Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions add, "on him": when he was come into the city, and had preached to the inhabitants in general, a larger multitude than before believed in him as the Messiah, and professed him, and became followers of him. Because of his own word; which came to them, not in word only, but in power, and was the power of God unto salvation to them; and was received by them, not as the word of man, but as the word of God; and it wrought effectually in them, and was an hammer to break their rocky hearts in pieces, and to bring them into subjection to himself, his Gospel and ordinances: whether his word or doctrine was accompanied with miracles is not certain; this shows, that their faith in him was founded on his own word, which fell with great weight upon them. It seems to have an emphasis laid upon it, his own word, in distinction from the woman's saying. HENRY, "Secondly, We are told what impressions were made upon them by Christ's own word, and his personal converse with them (Joh_4:41, Joh_4:42); what he said and did there is not related, whether he healed their sick or no; but it is intimated, in the effect, that he said and did that which convinced them that he was the Christ; and the labours of a minister are best told by the good fruit of them. Their hearing of him had a good effect, but now their eyes saw him; and the effect was, 1. 309
- 310. That their numbergrew (Joh_4:41): Many more believed: many that would not be persuaded to go out of the town to him were yet wrought upon, when he came among them, to believe in him. Note, It is comfortable to see the number of believers; and sometimes the zeal and forwardness of some may be a means to provoke many, and to stir them up to a holy emulation, Rom_11:14. 2. That their faith grew. Those who had been wrought upon by the report of the woman now saw cause to say, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, Joh_4:42. Here are three things in which their faith grew: - (1.) In the matter of it, or that which they did believe. Upon the testimony of the woman, they believed him to be a prophet, or some extraordinary messenger from heaven; but now that they have conversed with him they believe that he is the Christ, the Anointed One, the very same that was promised to the fathers and expected by them, and that, being the Christ, he is the Saviour of the world; for the work to which he was anointed was to save his people from their sins. They believed him to be the Saviour not only of the Jews, but of the world, which they hoped would take them in, though Samaritans, for it was promised that he should be Salvation to the ends of the earth, Isa_49:6. (2.) In the certainty of it; their faith now grew up to a full assurance: We know that this is indeed the Christ; alēthōs - truly; not a pretended Christ, but a real one; not a typical Saviour, as many under the Old Testament, but truly one. Such an assurance as this of divine truths is what we should labour after; not only, We think it probable, and are willing to suppose that Jesus may be the Christ, but, We know that he is indeed the Christ. (3.) In the ground of it, which was a kind of spiritual sensation and experience: Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves. They had before believed for her saying, and it was well, it was a good step; but now they find further and much firmer footing for their faith: “Now we believe because we have heard him ourselves, and have heard such excellent and divine truths, accompanied with such commanding power and evidence, that we are abundantly satisfied and assured that this is the Christ.” This is like what the queen of Sheba said of Solomon (1Ki_10:6, 1Ki_10:7): The one half was not told me. The Samaritans, who believed for the woman's saying, now gained further light; for to him that hath shall be given; he that is faithful in a little shall be trusted with more. In this instance we may see how faith comes by hearing. [1.] Faith comes to the birth by hearing the report of men. These Samaritans, for the sake of the woman's saying, believed so far as to come and see, to come and make trial. Thus the instructions of parents and preachers, and the testimony of the church and our experienced neighbours, recommend the doctrine of Christ to our acquaintance, and incline us to entertain it as highly probable. But, [2.] Faith comes to its growth, strength, and maturity, by hearing the testimony of Christ himself; and this goes further, and recommends his doctrine to our acceptance, and obliges us to believe it as undoubtedly certain. We were induced to look into the scriptures by the saying of those who told us that in them they had found eternal life; but when we ourselves have found it in them too, have experienced the enlightening, convincing, regenerating, sanctifying, comforting, power of the word, now we believe, not for their saying, but because we have searched them ourselves: and our faith stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, 1Co_2:5; 1Jo_5:9, 1Jo_5:10. CALVIN, "41.And many more believed. From what followed it is evident that Christ’s compliance with their wish was highly proper; for we see how much fruit was reaped from the two days which he granted to their request. By this example we are taught that we ought never to refrain from working, when we have it in our power to advance the kingdom of God; and if we are afraid that our readiness in complying may be liable to unfavorable reports, or may often 310
- 311. prove to beuseless, let us ask from Christ the Spirit of counsel to direct us. The word believe is now used in a different sense; for it means not only that they were prepared for faith, but that they actually had a proper faith COKE, "John 4:41-42. And many more believed— This was the more extraordinary, as they not only had a natural prejudice against him asa Jew; but, living near mount Gerizim, had a particular interest in maintaining the usual worship there, which must have been very advantageous to the neighbourhood in a temporal point of view. Perhaps on this they would no longer worship there, which might irritate the rest of the Samaritans, and mightin part excite the ill usage which Christ afterwards met with in this country. Luke 9:52-53. It is observable, that the Samaritan woman expressed her expectation of the Messiah; that Jesus made a clear declaration to her of his being so; that she believed him to be so; that she went hastily into Sychar, full of the interesting discovery; that at the importunate request of the inhabitants, Christ continued in the town at the foot of Gerizim for two days; and that many of the Samaritans, through divine grace, were such candid judges, so ingenuously disposed to embrace the truth, that without the cogency of miracles they confessed, We have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world; a confession of faith higher by some degrees, as Dr. Lightfoot remarks, than the Jews' common creed concerning the Messiah; for they held him only for a Saviour of the Jewish nation: whence we may see how deeply and cordially these Samaritans had drunk in the water of life, so as to acknowledge Christ in his proper character. Probably the Samaritans might have collected from Genesis 49:10 thatChrist was to be the Saviour of the world; that the Gentiles were to receive some benefit from the Messiah's coming, and one way or other to be subjected to him; and our Lord's discourse might confirm that apprehension: but there is no reason at all to believe, that they perfectly understood the doctrine of the calling of the idolatrous Gentiles, which was so long a mystery even to the apostles themselves? ELLICOTT, "(41) And many more believed.—The veil is left upon those two days, as upon so many days in the life of Christ. We know how much was said at the well in a few minutes, and that many believed on Him in a few hours. What questions they must have asked! What truths He must have taught during this sojourn! How that central truth of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man must have burned in the hearts of this mixed and despised people! Salvation was of the Jews, and they were from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim. But Fatherhood is a truth for every heart of man, and He who thus linked heaven and earth was the Saviour of the world. We know not what words passed from them to Him, from Him to them; but we know that the result was that many more believed, and that those who before believed on testimony passed to the higher faith of personal conviction. PETT, "Verse 41-42 ‘And many more believed because of his word, and they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of your words, but because we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world”.’ 311
- 312. Jesus, considerably revivedby the experience and no longer tired, taught them for ‘two’ days. And it was to their credit that they recognised what the majority of the Jews would not, that here indeed was the Saviour of the world (compare Isaiah 45:21). The words deliberately bring out that they had gone beyond belief in Him as the Taheb, as a result of His teaching, and had recognised the significance of His coming in greater depth. They now knew that He had come to save the whole world. This would be partly apparent from the fact that this Taheb was a Jew not a Samaritan, and yet was reaching out to the Samaritans. The only other use of this phrase ‘Saviour of the world’ is in 1 John 4:14, where it is connected with the giving of the Spirit. Clearly John, who had possibly written the epistle earlier, recognised that here the Spirit had been at work and their eyes had been opened. The idea is summarised in Acts 1:8. The title would have even more significance to John’s readers who would be aware of the ascription of this title ‘Saviour of the world’ to Roman emperors. Here was the One Who was the true Saviour of the world. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” CLARKE,"We have heard him ourselves - On seeing and hearing our Lord, the faith of those who had already believed on the woman’s testimony was abundantly confirmed; and, besides those, may others believed who had not heard the woman speak. This is indeed the Christ - The promised Messiah. The Savior of the world - Not of the Jews only, but of the Samaritans, and of the whole Gentile world. GILL, "And said unto the woman,.... Who, it appears, kept hearing Christ, attending on him, and conversing with him; for having tasted of his grace, she could not leave him: now we believe, not because of thy saying; not on account of that only: it should seem that these were the same persons that believed upon her word before they went out of the city; and who, when come to Christ, invited him into it; and now, having heard his excellent discourses, were confirmed in the faith of him: 312
- 313. for we haveheard him ourselves; not only externally with their bodily ears, but internally, having ears given them to hear, so as to understand what he said; to mix it with faith, and receive it in love; to feel the power of it in their hearts, and taste the sweetness of it, and be nourished by it; and so as to distinguish his voice from another's, as Christ's true sheep are capable of. And know that this is indeed the Christ; the true Messiah, and not a false one; the Messiah spoken of by Moses, whose books the Samaritans received, as the seed of the woman, the Shiloh, and prophet, like to Moses; the Christ of God, who is anointed to be prophet, priest, and King. The Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions leave out the word "Christ", and only read what follows, the Saviour of the world: they knew him to be the Saviour, he who was spoken of as such; for his work to bruise the serpent's head implies it, and his name Shiloh imports as much: and besides, he is called by Jacob God's salvation, Gen_49:18. God appointed him as a Saviour; he sent him, and he came as such, and is become the author of salvation; and his name is called Jesus, on this account: and a great Saviour he is; both able, and willing; and he is suitable to the case of sinners; and is a complete, and an only one: and these Samaritans knew him to be "the Saviour of the world"; not of every individual person in it, for all are not saved by him; nor of the Jewish world, for many of them died in their sins; but of the Gentiles, in distinction from the Jews; see Joh_3:16; even of all God's elect, whether among Jews or Gentiles; of all that believe in him, of whatsoever nation, and in whatsoever state and condition: so that their knowledge of him, and faith in him, were beyond that of the Jews, who looked upon the Messiah only as a Saviour of their nation; and that the Gentiles would have no manner of benefit and advantage by him: though the Jews (b) do call the angel in Exo_23:20 דעלמא ,פרוקא "the Saviour", or "Redeemer of" the world. And this the Samaritans might know from the writings of Moses, as from Gen_22:18 their present knowledge of Christ was not a mere notional, speculative, and general one, but was special, spiritual, and saving, which they had from the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ; they approved of him as their Saviour; they trusted in him as such; they had an experimental acquaintance with him, and practically owned him; and which they attained to by hearing him. HENRY, "Those who had been wrought upon by the report of the woman now saw cause to say, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, Joh_4:42. Here are three things in which their faith grew: - (1.) In the matter of it, or that which they did believe. Upon the testimony of the woman, they believed him to be a prophet, or some extraordinary messenger from heaven; but now that they have conversed with him they believe that he is the Christ, the Anointed One, the very same that was promised to the fathers and expected by them, and that, being the Christ, he is the Saviour of the world; for the work to which he was anointed was to save his people from their sins. They believed him to be the Saviour not only of the Jews, but of the world, which they hoped would take them in, though Samaritans, for it was promised that he should be Salvation to the ends of the earth, Isa_49:6. (2.) In the certainty of it; their faith now grew up to a full assurance: We know that this is indeed the Christ; alēthōs - truly; not a pretended Christ, but a real one; not a typical Saviour, as many under the Old Testament, but truly one. Such an assurance as this of divine truths is what we should labour after; not only, We think it probable, and are willing to suppose that Jesus may be the Christ, but, We know that he is indeed the Christ. (3.) In the ground of it, which was a kind of spiritual sensation and 313
- 314. experience: Now webelieve, not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves. They had before believed for her saying, and it was well, it was a good step; but now they find further and much firmer footing for their faith: “Now we believe because we have heard him ourselves, and have heard such excellent and divine truths, accompanied with such commanding power and evidence, that we are abundantly satisfied and assured that this is the Christ.” This is like what the queen of Sheba said of Solomon (1Ki_10:6, 1Ki_10:7): The one half was not told me. The Samaritans, who believed for the woman's saying, now gained further light; for to him that hath shall be given; he that is faithful in a little shall be trusted with more. In this instance we may see how faith comes by hearing. [1.] Faith comes to the birth by hearing the report of men. These Samaritans, for the sake of the woman's saying, believed so far as to come and see, to come and make trial. Thus the instructions of parents and preachers, and the testimony of the church and our experienced neighbours, recommend the doctrine of Christ to our acquaintance, and incline us to entertain it as highly probable. But, [2.] Faith comes to its growth, strength, and maturity, by hearing the testimony of Christ himself; and this goes further, and recommends his doctrine to our acceptance, and obliges us to believe it as undoubtedly certain. We were induced to look into the scriptures by the saying of those who told us that in them they had found eternal life; but when we ourselves have found it in them too, have experienced the enlightening, convincing, regenerating, sanctifying, comforting, power of the word, now we believe, not for their saying, but because we have searched them ourselves: and our faith stands not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God, 1Co_2:5; 1Jo_5:9, 1Jo_5:10. CALVIN, "42.On account of thy speech. Though I have followed Erasmus in rendering this word by oratio, (speech,)because loquela, which the ancient interpreter uses, is a barbarous term; yet I wish to warn my readers that the Greek word λαλία has the same meaning with the Latin word loquentia, that is, talk, ortalkativeness; and the Samaritans appear to boast that they have now a stronger foundation than a woman’s tongue, which is, for the most part, light and trivial. We believe. This expresses more fully the nature of their faith, that it has been drawn from the word of God itself, so that they can boast of having the Son of God as their Teacher; as, indeed, it is on his authority alone that we can safely rely. True, indeed, he is not now visibly present, so as to speak to us mouth to mouth; but, by whomsoever we happen to hear him, our faith cannot rest on any other than on himself. And from no other source proceeds that knowledge which is likewise mentioned; for the speech which comes from the mouth of a mortal man may indeed fill and satisfy the ears, but will never confirm the soul in calm confidence of salvation, so that he who has heard may be entitled to boast that he knows In faith, therefore, the first thing necessary is, to know that it is Christ who speaks by his ministers; and the next is, to give him the honor which is due; that is, not to doubt that he is true and faithful, so that, relying on so undoubted a guarantee, we may rely safely on his doctrine. Again, when they affirm that Jesus isthe Christ andthe Savior of the world, they undoubtedly have learned this from hearing him. Hence we infer that, withintwo days, the sum of the Gospel was more plainly taught by Christ than he had hitherto taught it in Jerusalem. And Christ testified that the salvation, which he had brought, was common to the whole world, that they might understand more 314
- 315. fully that itbelonged to them also; for he did not call them on the ground of their being lawful heirs, as the Jews were, (87) but taught that he had come to admit strangers into the family of God, and to bring peace to those who were far off, (Ephesians 2:17.) COFFMAN, "And they said to the woman ... What a change is this! The poor soul who only two days previously had gone to the well in the heat of noontide, in solitary isolation, and shrinking from the scorn of neighbors, has suddenly been elevated to a status of equality and acceptance on the part of all. Those who extended the hospitality of Sychar to Jesus did not fail to include also the lonely and sinful woman who was their link to the Lord of life, "And they said to HER ...!" The Saviour of the world ... Acute indeed was the perception of that village. They were not looking for a knight on a white horse who would throw out the Romans and resurrect the vanished empire of Solomon. They took Jesus for what he truly was and ever is, not a political or military hero, but a Redeemer come to give eternal life to men. Oh, that Jerusalem might have been as perceptive as Sychar! Jesus Heals an Official’s Son 43 After the two days he left for Galilee. BARNES,"Into Galilee - Into some of the parts of Galilee, though evidently not into Nazareth, but probably direct to Cana, Joh_4:46. CLARKE,"Went into Galilee - Bishop Pearce thinks that some words have been lost from the end of this verse, which may be supplied thus: Went into Galilee, but not to Nazareth; for Jesus himself had declared, etc. In Mat_13:57; Mar_6:4, and Luk_4:24, which are the only texts where Jesus is said to have declared this, he always spake of Nazareth only, and not of Galilee in general, a country where he lived for the most part, and wrought the greatest number of his miracles, and made the most converts. GILL, "Now after two days he departed thence,.... When he had stayed two days at Sychar conversing with, and discoursing to the Samaritans, which were the means of the conversion of many of them; he departed out of that country, and passed on his way: and went into Galilee; as he first intended; see Joh_4:3. 315
- 316. HENRY, "I. Christ'scoming into Galilee, Joh_4:43. Though he was as welcome among the Samaritans as he could be any where, and had better success, yet after two days he left them, not so much because they were Samaritans, and he would not confirm those in their prejudices against him who said, He is a Samaritan (Joh_ 8:48), but because he must preach to other cities, Luk_4:43. He went into Galilee, for there he spent much of his time. JAMIESON, "Joh_4:43-54. Second Galilean miracle - Healing of the courtier’s son. after two days — literally, the two days of His stay at Sychar. COFFMAN, "JESUS ENTERED GALILEE AGAIN After two days ... These were the two days just spent in Sychar. A prophet hath no honor in his own country ... The injection of this proverb in such a manner as to make it a reason for Jesus' going into Galilee (which was his own country) presents a problem that has been solved in various ways. Alford thought that Jesus intended to bring about a decline in his popularity, that being exactly why he had stopped baptizing and headed north. If that indeed was the Master's purpose, in order to avoid a premature crisis with the Pharisees, then the proverb fits. And yet the very next verse states that the Galileans received him, having seen the miracles done in Jerusalem when they went up to the feast. Meyer explained that Jesus' mention of the proverb might have been intended to suggest somewhat indirectly the reason of his going to Galilee. Thus: If a prophet, as Jesus himself testified, is without honor in his own country, he must earn it in another. And this Jesus had done in Jerusalem. He now brought with him the honor of a prophet from a distance. Hence too, he had found acceptance with the Galileans because they had seen his miracles in Jerusalem (John 2:23).[8] This interpreter prefers the view of Alford because the degree of acceptance in Galilee was not sufficient to thwart the Lord's purpose of achieving a decrease in his popularity. True, the next verse mentions the Galileans' reception of him, but it left much to be desired. Jesus said (John 4:48), "Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe." ENDNOTE: [8] Alvah Hovey, Commentary on John (Philadelphia: The American Baptist Publication Society, 1885), p. 125. PETT, "Verses 43-45 ‘And after two days he went out from there to Galilee, for Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country. So when he came into Galilee the Galileans received him having seen all the things that he did in Jerusalem at the feast. For they also went to the feast.’ After His successful ministry Jesus departed for Galilee, for ‘Jesus himself 316
- 317. testified that aprophet has no honour in his own country’. The reference to ‘his own country’ here must be to Judea to make sense of the context, although later it would also apply to Nazareth as well (Luke 4:24). (His birthplace was in Judea). We have already been told that He had come to His own home (Jerusalem and Judea as the centres of the Jewish religion) and His own people had not received him (John 1:11). ‘No honour’ means from the Jewish authorities and influential people, for His ministry to the common people had been successful. It was the authorities who would not give Him His due. Thus for the time being He would concentrate on work in the North. (Both Judea and Galilee could be looked on as His own country for He was born in one and brought up in the other). In Galilee He was at first welcomed because of ‘all they had seen He had done in Jerusalem at the Feast’. But once again we are reminded of John 2:23-24. They believed because of the signs, but He could not trust their belief for its foundation was insecure, and as far as we are aware He carried out no public ministry at this stage. Did He recognise that they were not yet ready and that their superficial attitude could do more harm than good? They were proud of their fellow-countryman because of His successes, but did they want the inner change that He would require of them? There are times when it is better to be silent than to speak. How different they were from the Samaritans. Had their welcome been for the right reasons it is hardly conceivable that He would not have done for them what He had done for the Samaritans. BARCLAY, "THE UNANSWERABLE ARGUMENT (John 4:43-45) 4:43-45 Two days after Jesus left there and went to Galilee. Jesus himself declared that a prophet has no honour in his own country. But when he came into Galilee, the Galilaeans welcomed him, because they had seen all that he had done at Jerusalem at the Feast, for they too had gone to the Feast. All three synoptic gospels tell of the saying of Jesus that a prophet has no honour in his own country (Mark 6:4; Matthew 13:57; Luke 4:24). It was an ancient proverb with much the same meaning as our own "familiarity breeds contempt." But John introduces it in a very strange place. The other gospels introduce it on occasions when Jesus was rejected by his own countrymen; John introduces it on an occasion when he was accepted. It may be that John is reading the mind of Jesus. We have already seen that Jesus had left Judaea and set out for Galilee to avoid the controversy that an increasing publicity was bringing to him. The hour of conflict had not yet come (John 4:1-4). It may be that his astonishing success in Samaria had actually surprised him; his words about the astonishing harvest have the ring of glad surprise about them. It may well be that Jesus set out for Galilee hoping to find rest and retirement there, because he did not expect those of his native country to respond to him. And it may be that exactly the same happened in Galilee as happened in Samaria, that against all expectations there was a surge of response to his teaching. We must either explain the saying in this way or assume that somehow it has crept into the wrong place. 317
- 318. However that maybe, this passage and the one before give us the unanswerable argument for Christ. The Samaritans believed in Jesus, not because of someone else's story but because they themselves had heard him speak things whose like they had never heard. The Galilaeans believed in him, not because someone had told them about him but because they had seen him do in Jerusalem things whose like they had never seen. The words he spoke and the deeds he did were arguments to which there was no answer. Here we have one of the great truths of the Christian life. The only real argument for Christianity is a Christian experience. It may be that sometimes we have to argue with people until the intellectual barriers which they have erected are battered down and the citadel of their mind capitulates. But in the great majority of cases the only persuasion we can use is to say: "I know what Jesus is like and I know what Jesus can do. All that I can ask you to do is to try him yourself and to see what happens." Effective Christian evangelism really begins when we can say: "I know what Christ has done for me," and go on to say: "Try him, and see what he can do for you." Here again tremendous personal responsibility is laid upon us. No one is likely to attempt the experience unless our own lives show its value. There is little use in telling people that Christ will bring them joy and peace and power, if our own lives are gloomy, worried and defeated. Men will be persuaded to try the experiment only when they see that for us it has ended in an experience which is much to be desired. PINK 43-54, "What has been before us from verse 4 to the end of verse 42 in this chapter is in the nature of a parenthesis, inasmuch as these verses record what occurred in Samaria, which was outside the sphere of Christ’s regular ministry in Judea and Galilee. Here in the last twelve verses of the chapter we are brought onto familiar ground again. It would seem then, that we may expect to find a continuation of what was before us in the first three chapters of John’s Gospel, namely, historical events and practical teaching in both of which the Divine and moral glories of the Lord Jesus are displayed, and beneath the narrative of which we may discern hidden yet definitely defined typical and prophetical pictures. We saw in our earlier studies that two things are made very prominent in the opening chapters of this Gospel. First, the failure of Judaism, the deplorable condition of Israel. Some solemn portrayals of this have already been before us. In the second place, we have seen the Holy Spirit drawing our attention away from Israel to Christ; and then at the beginning of chapter four a third principle has been illustrated, namely, a turning from Judaism to the Gentiles. Furthermore, we have observed that not only do we have depicted in these opening sections of our Gospel the sad spiritual state of Israel at the time our Lord was here upon earth, but the narrative also furnishes us with a series of striking foreshadowings of the future. Such is the case in the concluding section of John 4. Here, once more, we are reminded of the pitiable condition of Judaism during the days of Christ’s public ministry. This is brought out in a number of particulars, which will become more evident as we study them in detail. First, we 318
- 319. have the expresstestimony of the Lord Himself that He had no honor "in his own country." This was in vivid contrast from His experiences in Samaria. Second, while we are told that "the Galileans received him," it was not because they recognized the glory of His person, or the authority and life-giving value of His words, but because they had been impressed by what they had seen Him do at Jerusalem. Third, there is the declaration made by Christ to the nobleman— intended, no doubt, for the Galileans also"except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe." All of this serves to emphasize the condition of the Jews—their inability to recognize the Lord Jesus the Christ of God, and their failure to set to their seal that what He spake was the truth. It is the practical lessons taught by this passage which are to occupy our attention in the body of this chapter. Before pondering these we submit an Analysis of this closing section of John 4:— 1. Christ goes into Galilee, verse 43. 2. Christ’s tragic plaint, verse 44. 3. Christ received by the Galileans, verse 45. 4. The nobleman’s request of Christ, verses 46, 47. 5. Christ’s reply, verses 48-50. 6. The nobleman’s journey home, verses 50-53. 7. This miracle Christ’s second in Galilee, verse 54. "Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee" (John 4:43). Different indeed are God’s ways from ours. During those days spent in Samaria many had believed on Christ to the saving of their souls. And now the Savior leaves that happy scene and departed into a country where He had received no honor. How evident it is that He pleased not Himself! He had come here to do the will of the Father, and now we see Him following the path marked out for Him. Surely there is an important lesson here for every servant of God today: no matter how successful and popular we may be in a place, we must move on when God has work for us elsewhere. The will of the One who has commissioned us must determine all our actions. Failure must not make us lag behind, nor success urge us to run before. Neither must failure make us fretful and feverish to seek another field, nor success cause us to remain stationary when God bids us move on. The one, perhaps, is as great a temptation as the other; but if we are following on to know the Lord, then shall we know when to remain and when to depart. "Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee." This resumes and completes what is said in verses 3 and 4. The Lord, accompanied by His disciples, left Judea because of the jealousy and enmity of the Pharisees. He "departed again into Galilee" (verse 3). But before He goes there, "he must needs go through Samaria" (verse 4). We have learned something of the meaning of that "must needs." But the need had now been met, so the Lord Jesus departed from Samaria and arrives at Galilee. The religious leaders in Jerusalem regarded Galilee with contempt (see John 7:41, 52). It was there that "the poor of the flock" were to be found. The first three Gospels record at length the Galilean ministry of the Redeemer, but John’s gives only a brief notice of it in the passage now before us. "For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country" (John 4:44). The reference is to what is recorded in Luke 4. At Nazareth, "where he had been brought up," He entered the synagogue and read from Isaiah 60, 319
- 320. declaring "This dayis this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Those who heard Him "wondered," and said, "Is not this Joseph’s son?" They were totally blind to His Divine glory. The Lord replied by saying, "Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country" (Luke 4:23, 24). Proof of this was furnished immediately after, for when Christ referred to God’s sovereign dealings of old in connection with Elijah and Elisha, we are told, "And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong" (verses 28, 29). Thus was He dishonored and insulted by those among whom His preministerial life had been lived. He was without honor in "his own country," that is, Galilee; and yet we now find Him returning there. Why, then, should He return thither? The answer to this question is found in Matthew 4: "Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Napthalim: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Naphthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up" (verses 12-16). This furnishes us with another instance of the obedience of the perfect Servant. In the volume of the Book it was written of Him. Prophecy is not only an intimation of what will be, but a declaration of what shall be. Prophecy makes known the decrees of God. As, then, Christ had come here to do the will of God, and God’s will (revealed in the prophetic word) had declared that the people in Galilee who walked in darkness, should see a great light, etc. (Isa. 9:1, 2) the Lord Jesus Christ goes there. "For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country." How this reveals to us the heart of the Savior! He was no stoic, passing through these scenes, unmoved by what He encountered: He was not insensible to the treatment He met with, He "endured such contradiction of sinners against himself" (Heb. 12:3). The indifference, the unbelief, the opposition of Israel, told upon Him, and caused His visage to be "marred more than any man" (Isa. 52:14). Hear Him, as by the spirit of prophecy, He exclaims, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my reward with my God" (Isa. 49:4). So here, when we hear Him testifying, "A prophet hath no honor in his own country," we can almost catch the sob in His voice. For two days He had experienced the joys of harvest. His spirit had been refreshed. The "meat" which had been ministered to His soul consisted not only of the consciousness that He had done the will of the One who had sent Him, but also in the faith and gratitude of the woman who had believed on Him. This had been followed by the Samaritans beseeching Him to tarry with them, and the consequent believing of many of them because of His word. But such joyful harvesting was only for a very brief season. Two days only did He abide in Samaria. Now, He turns once more to Galilee, and He goes with sad foreboding. "For Jesus himself testified, that a prophet hath no honor in his own country." 320
- 321. His use ofthe word "prophet" here is very suggestive. It was the word that the woman had used when her perceptive faculties began to be illumined (verse 19). There, in Samaria, He had been honored. The Samaritans believed His bare word, for no miracles were performed before them. But now in Galilee He meets with a faith of a very inferior order. The Galileans received Him because they had seen "all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast" (verse 45). So, too, the nobleman’s house (verse 53) did not believe until a miracle had been performed before their eyes. Thus a solemn contrast is pointed. In Galilee He is not honored for His person’s and word’s sake; in Samaria He was. As prophet He was not honored in Galilee; as a miracle-worker He was "received." This principle is frequently exemplified today. There is many a servant of God who is thought more highly of abroad than he is at home. It is a true saying that "familiarity breeds contempt." Ofttimes a preacher is more respected and appreciated when visiting a distant field than he is by his own flock. "Then when he was come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things that he did at Jerusalem at the feast: for they also went unto the feast" (John 4:45). How this brings out the fickleness and the shallowness of human nature. For upwards of twenty years the man Christ Jesus had lived in Galilee. Little or nothing is told us about those years which preceded His public work. But we know that He did all things well. His manner of life, His ways, His deportment, His every act, must have stood out in vivid contrast from all around Him. Had His fellow-townsmen possessed any spiritual discernment at all they must have seen at once that Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Holy One of God. But they were blind to His glory. The perfect life He had lived quietly among them was not appreciated. As the Son of God incarnate He was unknown and unrecognized. But now things were changed. The humble Carpenter had left them for a season. He had commenced His public ministry. He had been to Jerusalem. There He had sternly corrected the Temple abuses. There He had performed such miracles that many believed on his name" (John 2:23). Many of the Galileans who were in attendance at the Feast had also witnessed His wonderful works, and they were duly impressed. On their return home they would doubtless tell others of what they had witnessed. And now that the Lord Jesus returns to Galilee, He is at once "received." Now that His fame had spread abroad the people flocked around Him. Such is human nature. Let a man who lived in comparative obscurity leave his native place, become famous in some state or country, and then return to his home town, and it is astonishing how many will claim friendship, if not kinship, with him. Human nature is very fickle and very superficial, and the moral of all this is to warn us not to place confidence in any man, but to value all the more highly (because of the contrast) the faithfulness of Him who changes not. "So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum" (John 4:46). Why should we be told where the Lord was when He performed the miracle of healing the nobleman’s son? Why, after mentioning Cana, is it added, "Where he made the water wine"? And why tell us in the last verse of the chapter, "This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judea into Galilee?" Surely it is apparent at once that we are to place the two miracles that were wrought at Cana side by side. The Holy Spirit indicates there is some connection between them, something which they have in common. Following this 321
- 322. hint, a closestudy of the record of these two miracles reveals the fact that there is a series of striking comparisons between them, apparently seven in number. In the first place, both were third day scenes: in John 2:1 we read, "And the third day there was a marriage in Carla of Galilee;" and in John 4:43 we are told, "Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee." Second, when Mary came to Christ and told Him they had no wine, He rebuked her (John 2:4), so when the nobleman asked Christ to come down and heal his sick child the Lord rebuked him (John 4:48). Third, in each case we see the obedient response made by those whom the Lord commanded (John 2:7 and 4:50). Fourth, in both miracles we see the Word at work: in each miracle the Lord did nothing but speak. Fifth, in both narratives mention is made of the servant’s knowledge (John 2:9 and 4:51). Sixth, the sequel in each case was that they who witnessed the miracle believed: in the one we read, "And his disciples believed on him" (John 2:11); in the other we are told, "And himself believed, and his whole house" (John 4:53). Seventh, there is a designed similarity in the way in which each narrative concludes: in John 2:11 we are told, "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee," and in John 4:54, "This is again the second miracle which Jesus did, when he was come out of Judea into Galilee." Here is another example of the importance of comparing two incidents which are placed side by side in Scripture (sometimes for the purpose of comparison, at others in order to point a series of contrast); here we have an example of comparison between two miracles which, though separated in time and in the narrative, both occurred at the same place, and are the only miracles recorded in the New Testament as being wrought in Cana. "And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum." The word "nobleman" signifies a royal officer: probably he belonged to Herod’s court; that he was a man of station and means is evident from the fact that he had servants (verse 51). But neither rank nor riches exempt their possessor from the common sorrows of human kind. Naaman was a great man, but he was a leper (2 Kings 5:1). So here was a nobleman, yet his son lay at the point of death. The rich have their troubles as well as the poor. Dwellers in palaces are little better off than those who live in cottages. Let Christians beware of setting their hearts on worldly riches: as Bishop Ryle well says, "They are uncertain comforts, but certain cares." No doubt this nobleman had tried every remedy which money could produce. But money is not almighty. Many invest it with an imaginary value that it is far from possessing. Money can not purchase happiness, nor can it ensure health. There is just as much sickness among the aristocracy as there is among the common artisans. "When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto him" (John 4:47). This domestic trial was a blessing in disguise, for it caused the anxious father to seek out Christ, and this resulted in him believing, and ultimately his whole house believed. God uses many different agents in predisposing men to receive and believe His Word. No doubt these lines will be read by more than one who dates his first awakening to the time when some loved one lay at death’s door—it was then he was made to think seriously and saw the need for preparing to meet God. It is well when trouble leads a man to God, instead of away from God. Affliction is one of God’s medicines; then let us beware of murmuring in time of trouble. "And besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for he was at the 322
- 323. point of death"(John 4:47). This nobleman evidently had a measure of faith in the ability of the great Physician, otherwise he had not sought Him at all. But the measure of his faith was small. He had probably learned of the miracles which the Lord had performed at Jerusalem, and hearing that He was now in Galilee— only a few miles distant—he goes to Him. The weakness of his faith is indicated in the request that the Lord should "come down" with him to Capernaum. He believed that Christ could heal close by, but not far away; at short range, but not at a distance. How many there were who thus limited Him. Jairus comes to Christ and says, "My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live" (Mark 5:23). The woman with the issue of blood said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole" (Mark 5:28). So, too, Martha exclaimed, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died" (John 11:21). But let us not censure them, rather let us condemn our own unbelief. But different far from this "nobleman" was the faith of the centurion that sought the Lord on behalf of his sick servant, and who said, "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed" (Matthew 8:8). It seems to us this is the reason (or one reason, at least) why we are told here in John 4 that the nobleman came from Capernaum, so that we should link the two together and note the comparisons and contrasts between them. Both resided at Capernaum: both were Gentiles: both were men of position: both came to Christ on behalf of a sick member of his household. But in Matthew 8 the centurion simply spread his need before Christ and refrained from dictating to Him; whereas the nobleman bids the Savior "come down" to Capernaum. In Matthew 8 we find that the Lord offered to accompany the centurion—Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him" (verse 7). He does the very opposite here in John 4. In Matthew 8 the centurion declines the Lord’s offer and says, "Speak the word only;" where as the nobleman meets Christ’s rebuke by repeating his original request—"Sir, come down ere my child die" (verse 49). Thus we see again the value of observing the law of Comparison and Contrast. "Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe" (John 4:48). This was a rebuke. Not only was the faith of this nobleman weak, but he so far forgot himself as to dictate to the Lord Jesus, and tell Him what to do. The force of Christ’s reply seems to be this: ‘You are demanding signs of Me before you will fully trust your boy’s case into My hands.’ This is a serious mistake which is made by many seeking souls. We must not be so wickedly presumptuous as to tell God how to act and what to do. We must state no terms to the Lord Most High. He must be left to work in His own way. "Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe." How this brings out the omniscience of Christ! He knew this man’s heart. A measure of faith he had, but he was afraid to fully commit himself. The Lord knew this, and so addressed Himself to the suppliant accordingly. "Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe." How searching this is! Is it not a word that many of us need? Is it not at this very point we most often fail? We ask God for a certain thing, and we have a measure of faith that it will be given us; but in the interval of waiting the bare word of God is not sufficient for us—we crave a "sign." Or again; we are engaged in some service for the Lord, and we are not without faith that our labors will result in some fruitage for Him, 323
- 324. but ere thefruit appears we become impatient, and we long for a "sign." Is it not so? Is it true of you, dear reader, that "except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe?" Ah! have we not all of us cause to cry, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9:24)? Fellow-worker, God has declared that His Word shall not return unto Him void (Isa. 55:11). Is not that sufficient? Why ask for "signs"? Fellow-Christian, God has declared that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us (1 John 5:15). Is not His promise enough? Why, then. crave for "signs"? "The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die" (John 4:49). While it is evident that the nobleman was still slow of heart to commit himself, unreservedly, into the hands of Christ; nevertheless, it is good to see the spirit in which he received the Lord’s rebuke. Though he was a nobleman he did not become angry when corrected; instead, he "suffered the word of exhortation," and with commendable importunity continued to plead his suit. "The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die." Bishop Ryle has a helpful word on this: "There is here a salutary lesson for the young. Sickness and death come to the young as well as the old. But the young are slow to learn this lesson. Parents and children are apt to shut their eyes to plain facts, and act as if the young never die young. The gravestones in our cemeteries show how many there are who never reached to man’s estate at all. The first grave ever dug on earth was for a young man! The first one who ever died was not a father, but a son! He, then, who is wise will never reckon confidently on long life. It is the part of wisdom to be prepared." We trust these words will come home to the hearts of Christian parents who read this chapter. In the action of this father who came to Christ on behalf of his child there is an example which you will do well to emulate. If you are not deeply concerned about the soul’s welfare of your children, who is likely to be? It is your bounden duty to teach them the Word of God; it is your holy privilege to bring them in prayer to God. Do not turn over to a Sunday School teacher what is incumbent upon you. Teach your little ones the Scriptures from their earliest infancy. Train them to memorize such verses as Psalm 9:17; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 6:23, etc., and God has promised to honor them that honor Him. Be not discouraged if you are unable to detect any response, but rest on the promise, "Cast thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find it again after many days." "The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die." How the response of Christ to this request brought out the perfections of Jehovah’s Servant! This "nobleman," remember, occupied a high social position; most likely he was a member of Herod’s court. To any man governed by fleshly considerations and principles, this would have been a tempting opportunity to make a favorable impression in society; it offered a chance to gain a footing in high places, which a man of the world would have quickly seized. But the Lord Jesus never courted popularity, nor did He ever toady to people of influence and affluence. He ever refused to use the ways of the world. He "condescended to men of low estate," and was the Friend not of princes and nobles, but of "publicans and sinners." Well may each servant of God take this to heart. "Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth" (John 4:50). The Lord never turns away a soul that truly seeks Him. There may be much ignorance (as indeed there is in all of us), there may be much of the flesh mixed in with our appeals, but if the heart is really set on Him, He always responds. And not only so, 324
- 325. invariably He doesfar more for us than we ask or think. It was so here. He not only healed the son of this nobleman, but He did so immediately, by the word of His power. "Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth." This nobleman was a Gentile, for there were no "nobles" among the Jews; and in harmony with each similar case, the Lord healed his son from a distance. There are three, possibly four, different eases recorded in the Gospels, where Christ healed a Gentile, and in each instance He healed from a distance. There was a reason for this. The Jews were in covenant relationship with God, and as such "nigh" to Him. But the Gentiles, being "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise" were "far off" (Eph. 2:12, 13), and this fact was duly recognized by the Savior. "And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him" (John 4:50). Here once more, we are shown the Word (John 1:1, 14) at work. This comes out prominently in the miracles described in this Gospel. The Lord does not go down to Capernaum and take the sick boy by the hand. Instead, He speaks the word of power and he is healed instantly. The "words" He spake were "spirit and life" (John 6:63). And this imparting of life at a distance by means of the word has a message for us today. If Christ could heal this dying boy, who was at least ten miles away, by the word of His mouth, He can give eternal life today by His word even though He is away in heaven. Distanc