John 4:1-54

The Samaritan Woman

1-42. Christ in Samaria. The ministry in Samaria is recorded because it is the author's design to exhibit Christ as the Saviour, not only of Israel, but of the world (John 4:42).

The Samaritans were mainly an alien race, descended from the colonists planted in the land by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 17:24; 2 Kings 17:26; 2 Kings 17:29; Ezra 4:1; Ezra 4:9). They boasted, however, of being Israelites, and with some degree of justification, for there was probably a considerable Jewish element in the population. Their worship, originally a compromise with heathenism, was now purely Jewish. They kept the sabbath, and the Jewish feasts, and observed circumcision and other traditional ordinances. Of the OT. they accepted only the Pentateuch, which they interpreted as commanding the erection of a Temple on Mt. Gerizim. That Christ should have preached in Samaria is somewhat surprising in view of such passages as Matthew 15:24 and Matthew 10:5, but it must be remembered that He did not enter Samaria for this purpose, but simply to reach Galilee (John 4:3).