The Samaritan Woman at
the Well (Part 1)

The Samaritan Woman at the Well
(Part 1) (John 4:1-26)

1"Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3he left Judea and departed again for Galilee."

*Jesus had no desire to get caught up in a Jewish argument about who was greater, He, or John the Baptist.

Verse 4 says "And he had to pass through Samaria."

*Most Jews traveling through the Samaritan Countryside would go around Samaria and would only into the cities to trade. Jesus deliberately went through Samaria, and in doing so crossed strict cultural boundaries of people with differing gender and moral values. But as we will see, it was necessary, because He had a divine appointment with the woman from Samaria, and He met her at Jacob's Well.

The Samaritan People

They considered themselves (not the Jews) to be the true heirs of God’s promises to Israel.

Their religion taught that God spoke to his people only through Moses, so the only books that were in both the "Jewish and Samaritan Bible" were Genesis through Deuteronomy, and their versions differ in some details.

They celebrated a number of the same feasts (such as the Passover.) They also believed there would be a Saviour, the Messiah.

The Samaritans are descendants of 2 groups. They were a mixed race.

In the 2nd century BC the Samaritans reportedly helped the Syrians in their wars against the Jews.

When you think about it, in our time, wouldn't Jesus' going to Samaria be somewhat like His going to Iran, or Syria in our present day. (except in that day they were all under the thumb of the Roman Empire, and were forbidden to fight)

5"So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour."

*So here Jesus is resting (and waiting) at Jacob's Well, located in Jacob's Field near the city of Sychar in Samaria.

Due to her questionable lifestyle she was an outcast among her own people, and if she had been a Jew she could have been sentenced to death by "stoning."

She came to draw water in the middle of the day, the other women came in the cool of the day. She came at a time when she would avoid other people. But that particular day Jesus was there waiting on her.

Don't you think He knew this woman would be at the well and was waiting for her arrival?

SO IN VERSE 7:

7"A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." 8(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food."

*Jesus didn't waste any time.

AND IN VERSES 9-10 "The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." 10Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

*The Gift of God: The gift of God was His Son (John 3:16) offeriing the gift of eternal life.

*Living water: In Jer 17:13 God refers to Himself as the "spring of living water." (perpetual life?)

IN VERSES 11 AND 12: 11"The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock."

*Jesus knew that she didn't know who He was.

AND IN VERSE 13: 13"Jesus said to her, Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,"

14"but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

(according to Vines Dictionary this "spring of water welling up to eternal life" is figurative of the Holy Spirit in the believer)

*Never thirst - In verse 14 Jesus said "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again," - I believe God has placed a natural thirst to know and worship Him in every human being. Satan recognizes that and makes the most of it by attempting to lead the ones who do not know God into worshiping idols, astrology, witch-craft, cows etc.

15"The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water."

* At this point she may not have understood everything Jesus was saying, but it seems obvious that she was detecting something good in Jesus that she had never seen in anyone else.

16"Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come here." 17"The woman answered him, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true."

*She told Him the truth, but not the whole truth. Truth is (perhaps another truth) that Jesus knew all about her life and what she was like.

But we can see that she was beginning to take Jesus seriously, and in the next few verses seemed to be questioning her faith, and wanted to know more about Jesus and what He believed.

19"The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." 21Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father."

*The Jews and Samaritans despised one another's worship places. She said we worship on this mountain (which was Mt Gerizim.)(a little less than 2900FT) Jesus more or less said that will soon be immaterial, "believe me the time is coming when you will neither worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem."

*Don't you think He was saying that she 'herself' would/could soon become the temple of God.

22 "You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him."

*Salvation is from the Jews; - that is from the bloodline of Abraham - down through Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel, which later became the name of his descendents, and a complete nation.

24"God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

*He was saying that after we are born again we then become the temple and His Spirit bonds with our spirit.

In John 17 - He prayed for Himself, then He prayed for the disciples, then He prayed for us.

After praying for the disciples He prayed: "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us... "In verse 23 I in them and you in me..."

25"The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things." 26Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."

*He actually told her that He was the Messiah [John 4:26], studies show that this was the only time He voluntarily announces this to anyone until His appearance before Pilate upon His arrest. (There were other references as when in the Synagogue announcing the beginning of His ministry, by quoting from Isaiah 61, and of Peter's acknowledgement of His being the Christ), and such, but the first and possibly only time while witnessing.

*John the Baptist said he was not worthy to even untie Jesus' shoes, Yet here is Jesus, God the Son, reaching out to this Samaritan woman who was of a different race, a different society, living in adultery.

*This is a beautiful example of God's love and total acceptance. A love that accepts us where we are. Jesus the King of kings went out of His way to find and to offer this woman by the well a place in His coming kingdom. This woman, without a name, and who doesn't appear again in scripture was an outcast in her own society. Jesus reached out to her and she reached back. We can only wonder how many millions she has witnessed to over the centuries. This sure has witnessed to me.

OUR NEXT STUDY: PART TWO OF JESUS AND THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA

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Samaritan Woman at the Well