John 4:10

John 4:10. 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. We may well believe that there was something in the manner of Jesus, when uttering His first words, that invited conversation, and was intended to lead the woman to inquiry. This point gained, His next words could but cause surprise and excite remark. Her answer had told of her recognition of Him as a Jew: His reply declares her ignorance of Him and of what He was able to give. The ‘gift of God' is probably not different from the ‘living water' afterwards mentioned. John himself gives an explanation of the latter in hap. John 7:39, and his interpretation must be applied here also. ‘Living water,' then, denotes the gift of the Holy Spirit. This was pre-eminently the promised gift of the Father (see especially Isaiah 44; Joel 2), beautifully and most aptly symbolized by the fresh springing water, which wherever it comes makes the desert rejoice, and everything live (Ezekiel 47:9). This was also the especial gift of the Son (see chap. John 1:33), in whom the promises of the Father are fulfilled (2 Corinthians 1:20). Had the woman known God's gift, known also that the Dispenser of this gift stood before her, she would have been the petitioner, and He, with no delay and without upbraiding, would have given her living water.