John 4:10

Ἀπεκρίθη … ὕδωρ ζῶν. “If thou knewest;” the pathos of the situation strikes Jesus. The woman stands on the brink of the greatest possibilities, but is utterly unconscious of them. Two things she did not know: (1) τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ θεοῦ, the free gift of God. This is explained in the last words of the verse to be “living water”; but in its first occurrence it is indefinite: “If thou knewest the freeness of God's giving, and that to each of His children He has a purpose of good”. But in God's direction the woman cherished no hope. (2) She did not know τίς ἐστιν ὁ λέγων σοι, Δός μοι πιεῖν. So long as she thought Him an ordinary Jew she could expect nothing from Him. Had she known that Jesus was the bearer of God's free gift to men, she would have asked of Him. σὺ ἀν ᾔτησας αὐτόν, σὺ is emphatic. You would have anticipated my request by a request on your own behalf. And instead of creating difficulties I would have given thee living water. ὕδωρ ζῶν, by which the woman understood that He meant spring water. What He did mean appears immediately. John 4:11. λέγει αὐτῷ … τὸ ζῶν; She addresses Him with κύριε, perhaps fancying from His saying, “If you had known who it is that says to you,” that He was some great person in disguise. But her answer breathes incredulity: οὔτε ἄντλημα ἔχεις. She began her sentence meaning to say, “You neither have a bucket, nor is the well shallow enough for you to reach the water without one,” but she alters its construction and puts the second statement in a positive form. The depth of the well is variously given. Conder found it 75 feet. πόθεν … She is mystified, μὴ σὺ μείζων … θρέμματα αὐτοῦ. Jesus had spoken as if independently of the well He could procure living water: but even Jacob (claimed by the Samaritans as their father, and whose bones lay in their midst), great as he was, used this well. θρέμματα. “What is nourished.” Kypke adduces several instances in which it is used of “domestics”. Plato, Laws, 953 E, uses it of “nurslings of the Nile,” the Egyptians. But Wetstein adduces many instances of its use in the sense of “cattle”. Theophylact thinks this points to the abundant supply of water.