John 4:25

This great statement rather overwhelms and bewilders the woman. Ἰλιγγίασε πρὸς τὸ τῶν ῥηθέντων ὕψος, Euthymius, after Chrysostom. Somewhat helplessly she appeals to the final authority, οἶδα ὅτι Μεσσίας … πάντα. The Samaritan expectation of a Messiah was based on their knowledge of Deuteronomy 18, and other allusions in the Pentateuch, and on their familiarity with Jewish ideas. He was known as Hashab or Hathab, the Converter, or as El Muhdy, the Guide. For the sources of information, see Westcott's Introd. to Gospels, chap. ii., note 2. “It appears from Josephus (Ant., xviii. 4, 1) that in the later years of the procuratorship of Pilate, there was an actual rising of the Samaritans, who assembled on Mount Gerizim, under the influence of these Messianic expectations. Who can say that they may not have been originally set in motion by the event recorded in the Fourth Gospel?” Sanday. It was His prophetic endowment which this woman especially believed in, “He will tell us all”; and for Him she was willing to wait.