_When the Lord knew_ Without receiving information from any one; _how the Pharisees_ Whose interest in the sanhedrim was very great; _had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John_ To shun the effects of their envy and malice, which were hereby excited; _he left Judea_ After having... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he must needs go through Samaria_ The road from Judea to Galilee lying directly through it. _Then cometh he_ In the progress of his journey; _to a city of Samaria, called Sychar_ The original name of the place was Sichem, or Shechem, but now the Jews called it _Sychar_, which name they used as... [ Continue Reading ]
_There cometh_ At the very juncture of time; _a woman of Samaria to draw water_ The providence of God so ordering it, that she might have an opportunity of hearing the truth, in order to her salvation. _Jesus_ With a view to introduce a discourse which he graciously intended should be the means of h... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then saith the woman, How is it that thou, being a Jew_ As it appears by thy habit and dialect thou art; _askest drink of me, &c., for the Jews have no dealings_ Or rather, _no friendly intercourse; with the Samaritans_ They would receive no kind of favour from them. That the expression, _no dealin... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus answered_ And in his answer shows her that he was not under the power of such common prejudices; _If thou knewest the gift of God_ Which he is now bestowing on mankind by his Son; meaning the Holy Spirit and its fruits, styled, as here, δωρεα του Θεου, _the gift of God, Acts 8:20_, and η δωρε... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus said, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again_ How much soever this water may be esteemed, and though it may refresh the body, and allay its thirst for a little while, yet the appetite will soon return, even if it be drunk ever so plentifully. _But whosoever drinketh of the water... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus saith, Go call thy husband_ What Christ had said to her concerning his grace and eternal life, he found had made little impression upon her, because she had not been convinced of sin; therefore, waiving the discourse about the _living water_, he sets himself to awaken her conscience, and proc... [ Continue Reading ]
_The woman saith, Sir, I perceive thou art a prophet_ “To find a person who was a perfect stranger, and who, on account of the national animosity, could not be suspected of having any intercourse with her townsmen, or with the Samaritans in general, discovering, nevertheless, the most secret particu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Jesus saith to her_ In answer to this case of conscience; _Believe me_ Our Lord uses this expression only once, and that to a Samaritan. To his own people, the Jews, his usual language is, _I say unto you. The hour cometh_ Which will put an entire end to this controversy; _when ye_ Both Jews and Sa... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye worship ye know not what_ Or rather, as the original words, υμεις προσκυνειτε ο ουκ οιδατε, _ye worship what ye know not_, that is, ye Samaritans are ignorant, not only of the place, but, in a great measure, also of the very object of worship. They believed indeed, in a sense, in the one living... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the hour cometh and now is_ The fixed and stated time, concerning which it was of old determined when it should come, even the _accepted time_ and _day of salvation._ And when our Lord thus spoke, it was coming in its full strength, lustre, and perfection. As if he had said, The thing you are c... [ Continue Reading ]
_God is a Spirit._ &c. “As a further answer to the woman's question, our Lord delivered a doctrine which may justly be called his own, as it exhibits an idea of God, and of the worship which is due to him, far more sublime than the best things said by the philosophers on that subject.” Christ came t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The woman saith, I know that Messias cometh_ She probably meant from among the Jews. The Jews and Samaritans, though so much at variance in other things, agreed in the expectation of the Messiah and his kingdom. This the Samaritans probably grounded on the writings of Moses, which, as has been obse... [ Continue Reading ]
_Upon this came his disciples_ Who, as was said before, were gone into the city to buy food; _and marvelled that he talked with the woman_ Or rather (as the word γυναικος is without the article) _with a woman_, which the Jewish rabbies reckoned it scandalous for a man of distinction to do. And that... [ Continue Reading ]
_The woman then_ Seeing other company coming up to interrupt the discourse, immediately _left her water-pot_ Or pail, behind her, forgetting smaller things, while her thoughts were engrossed with matters of the greatest importance; _and went her way_ with all haste _into the city_ Where she publishe... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the mean while_ Before the people came; _his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat_ They set the meat, which they had brought, before him, and requested him to partake of it, knowing how much he needed refreshment. _But he said, I have meat to eat that ye know not of_ Meat which yields me mu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Say not ye, There are yet four months_, &c. Dr. Whitby, Grotius, and many others, understand this, as if our Lord had said, It is a proverbial expression for the encouragement of husbandmen, that there are but four months between seed-time and harvest. “But I cannot acquiesce,” says Dr. Doddridge,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Herein is that saying true_ That common proverb; _One soweth and another reapeth_ He alludes to what often happens, namely, that after he has sown his field, a man dies before he gathers in the harvest, and so leaves it to another, who enjoys the advantage of his pains. But the application which ou... [ Continue Reading ]
_Many of the Samaritans believed on him_ That is, believed him to be a divinely-commissioned teacher, and even the true Messiah, as appears from John 4:42; _for the saying of the woman, who testified, He told me all that ever I did_ A declaration which both struck and convinced them: so is God somet... [ Continue Reading ]
_And many more believed_ “This was the more extraordinary, as they not only had a national prejudice against him as a Jew, but, living near mount Gerizim, had a particular interest in maintaining the usual worship there; which must have been very advantageous to the neighbourhood. Perhaps on this th... [ Continue Reading ]
_After two days, he went into Galilee_ That is, into the country of Galilee: but not to Nazareth, where he had spent his childhood and youth. It was at that town only that he had no honour. And therefore he passed by it, and went to other towns. Luke, speaking of this journey, says, Luke 4:14, _Jesu... [ Continue Reading ]
_There was a certain nobleman_ One belonging to the king's court, as the word βασιλικος, here used, properly signifies. The Syriac and Arabic versions render it, _a minister_, or _servant of the king_, namely, of Herod; who, though only tetrarch of Galilee, yet was commonly distinguished by the titl... [ Continue Reading ]