John Chapter 4 Jesus Christ, the Soul Winner We shall start this preparation notes by viewing the Map

p of Palestine at the Time of Jesus from E-sword with the Graphics Viewer. Locate Jerusalem in Judaea where Jesus was and look for Galilee in the north, the destination. Also locate Samaria (the region and the city), Sychar, and Mt Gerizim. Once the place is located, go to the dictionaries to explore its meaning. Smiths dictionary gives brief and concise background to the places. ISBE gives a thorough exposure that is beneficial if you have more time. v 4 Must needs Why must Jesus need to go through Samaria? There were three possible reasons: geographical, evangelical and spiritual. v5 Gill explained how Sychar was synonymous with Shechem, a city that Jacob passed through (Gen 33:16) and was the burial grounds of Joseph (Jos 24:32). v6 Jacobs well Clarke and Vincent Word Study gave physical descriptions and archaeological directions. Jesus wearied with His journey no painting can display the graphic genius from the pen of John. The sixth hour - About twelve oclock noon. This was the common time of the Jewish meal, and this was the reason why his disciples were gone away to buy food. v7 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 Christ was thirsty as a human being but He was more thirty as a divine being athirst for the soul of the woman of Samaria. v8 City refers to city of Sychar. Meat -G5160 trophe_ trof-ay' From G5142; nourishment (literally or figuratively); by implication rations (wages): - food, meat. Buy meat buy food. v9 How is it that thou, being a Jew - not altogether refusing, yet wondering at so unusual a request from a Jew by His dress and dialect would be apparent to a Samaritan. For this reason, this racial animosity that gave rise to the powerful impact of the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) and the thankfulness of the Samaritan leper (Luke 17:16-18) in the teachings of Jesus Christ. CWS gave a balanced view of the bickering between the two races Jews have no familiar or friendly intercourse with. That they had dealings of some kind is shown by the disciples going into the city to buy provisions. Some authorities omit for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. The Jews treated the Samaritans with every mark of contempt, and accused them of falsehood, folly, and irreligion. The Samaritans sold Jews into slavery when they had them in their power, lighted spurious signals for the beacon-fires kindled to announce the beginnings of months, and waylaid and killed pilgrims on their road to Jerusalem. v10 Gift G1431 do_ rea do-reh-ah' From G1435; a gratuity: - gift. The word carries the sense of a bountiful, free, honourable gift. Living - G2198 zao_ dzah'-o A primary verb; to live (literally or figuratively): - life (-time), (a-) live (-ly), quick. Living water - The Jews and residents of Palestine 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. v11 To draw with The noun means what is drawn, the act of drawing, and the thing to draw with. Here the bucket, of skin, with three cross sticks at the mouth to keep it open, and let down by a goat's-hair rope. Not to be confounded with the water-pot (_ ) of John 4:28. The word is found only here in the New Testament. (VWS) 2 The well is deep - If the same one that is there now, it was about 100 feet deep. (Barnes). Fictions will not include this kind of details as recorded by John. You can almost see her nose drawn up on one side sneering with the question asked of Jesus. v12 Art thou greater (_ _ ) The interrogative particle indicates that a negative answer is expected: Surely thou art not. The _ , thou, first in the sentence, is emphatic,

and possibly with a shade of contempt. (VWS) Our father Jacob - The Samaritans claimed descent from Joseph, as representing the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. 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. (2Ki 17:24) v13 Whosoever drinketh literally every one that drinks. 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. v14 The water that I 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 traveller 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. (Barnes) 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 faith in Christ 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. v15 The woman saith like all sinners, she is slow to understand spiritual matters. Give me this water - She did not as yet comprehend our Lord s meaning; but her curiosity was much aroused, and this was the design of our Lord, that he might have her mind properly prepared to receive the great spiritual truths which he was about to announce. v16 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 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. (See also John 4:29) v17 I have no husband this answer was true and she was attempting to divert the subject of conversation. v18 Five husbands before you jumped hastily into conclusion on her morals, listen to John 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 3 successively, in a lawful manner, Matt 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. 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. v19 Prophet The order is a prophet art thou; the emphasis being on prophet. A prophet is 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. Believing Jesus now to be a man sent from God, she proposed to him a question regarding the proper place of worship. This point had been long a matter of dispute between the Samaritans and the Jews. She submitted it to Jesus because she thought He could settle the question, and perhaps because she wished to divert the conversation from the unpleasant topic respecting her husbands. v20 Our fathers our ancestors. Worshipped means had a place of worship. 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 Lords incarnation. (Josephus in Antiq. xi. c. viii) On this mountain the temple was somewhat similar to the one in Jerusalem in structure and purpose. This was one of the main subjects of controversy between them and the Jews. Ought to worship better translated as must worship. v21 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 ... So far, 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 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. Jesus did 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 because God would be worshipped in other places as well. v22 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 Jehovah: besides, as they incorporated the worship of idols (2Ki17:26-34). 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. Salvation is of the Jews Rightly translated as Salvation is from the Jews . Salvation here means the Saviour is born of Jewish kin. v23 The true worshippers shall worship - The worship of the Samaritans was a defective worship. They rejected the prophetical writings. The worship of the Jews was a ritualistic worship, dealing only in the letter and the law. The Gospel of Christ showed the meaning of all these rituals and the legal sacrifices had their consummation in his offering of Himself. The preaching of the Gospel revealed 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 (and the Jews). 4 v24 The phrase in spirit and in truth describes the two essential characteristics of true worship: in spirit, as distinguished from place or form or other sensual limitations (John 4:21); in truth, as distinguished from the false conceptions resulting from imperfect knowledge (John 4:22). True worship includes a spiritual sense of the object worshipped, and a spiritual communion with it; the manifestation of the moral consciousness in feelings, motions of the will, moods of elevation, excitements, etc. It includes also a truthful conception of the object. v25 Messiah cometh - The woman uses the Jewish name, which was known in Samaria. The Samaritans also expected the Messiah, basing their hopes on such Scriptures as Gen 3:15; Gen 49:10; Num 24:17; Deut 18:15. They looked for Him to restore the kingdom of Israel and to re-establish the worship on Gerizim, where they supposed that the tabernacle was hidden. Which is called Christ - This appears to be

the evangelists explanation of the Hebrew word, according to his custom for it was unlikely that the woman understood Greek. v26 I am He Literally, I am. The less political conception of the Samaritan Messiah made it possible for Jesus to announce Himself to the woman without fear of being misunderstood as He was by the Jews. This incident furnishes a notable illustration of our Lord's love for human souls, and of His skill, tact, and firmness in dealing with moral degradation and ignorant bigotry. He initiates the conversation with the woman by asking a favour. Her hesitation arises less from prejudice of race than from surprise at being asked for drink by a Jew. He seizes upon a near and familiar object as the key-note of His great lesson. He does not overwhelm her with new knowledge, but stimulates question and thought. He treats her sin frankly, but not harshly. He is content with letting her see that He is aware of it, knowing that through Him, as the Discerner, she will by and by reach Him as the Forgiver. Even from her ignorance and coarse superstition He does not withhold the sublimest truth. He knows her imperfect understanding, but He assumes the germinative power of the truth itself. He is not deterred from the effort to plant His truth and to rescue a soul, either by His own weariness or by the conventional sentiment which frowned upon His conversation with a woman in a public place. v27 The woman - The Rabbinical writings taught that it was beneath a man's dignity to converse with women. It was one of the things which a Rabbi must not do. v28 Left her waterpot - She was so preoccupied with the great truths which Jesus had announced that she forgot her errand to the well, and returned to the city without the water which she came out for. v30 They went out - How different from the response of the Jews! v31 Eat - in the chapter we have seen the humanity of Jesus as he wearied, thirsted and now time to eat. v32 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. Properly understood, earthly substances are the types, representatives, and shadows of heavenly things. v34 Jesus here explains what he said in John 4:32. His great object - the great design of his life - was to do and complete the will of God. v35 Say not - In what follows, Jesus is contrasting the natural harvest-time with the spiritual, which was immediately to take place in the ingathering of the Samaritans. Ye is emphatic, marking what the disciples expect according to the order of nature. As you look on these green fields between Ebal and Gerizim, ye say, it is yet four months to harvest. v36 Both.. soweth.. andreapeth 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. Instead of four months of waiting, here the sower and 5 reaper rejoiced together because the time between sowing and harvesting was greatly shortened. v39 Many believed seldom was there such instantaneous result. Told me all this was the second time she declared this (4:29) indicating that the conversation between this woman and Jesus could be longer and she was deeply impressed with the omniscience of the Lord. v40 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. (Clarke). v42 We have heard him ourselves - On seeing and hearing our Lord, the faith of those

who had already believed on the womans 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 Saviour of the world - not of the Jews only but of the Samaritans and of the whole Gentile world. This is good news to us

Elder Lee ST