IV. [(3) JESUS MANIFESTS HIMSELF PUBLICLY (_continued_): (_d_) _In Samaria_ (John 4:1). _The woman of Samaria, and the living water_ (John 4:1). _The people of Samaria, and the fields white unto harvest_ (John 4:17); (e) _In Galilee_ (John 4:43). _Received by the people. The courtier’s faith._]... [ Continue Reading ]
(1) WHEN THEREFORE THE LORD KNEW. — The second clause of this verse is given in the exact words of the report which came to the Pharisees: _When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees heard, “Jesus maketh and baptizeth more disciples than John.”_ The report which reached John (John 3:26) had co... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH JESUS HIMSELF BAPTIZED NOT. — This is a correction, not of the writer’s statement, but of the report carried to the Pharisees. The form of the report is quite natural. John did personally baptise, and when multitudes thronged him, it is probable that his disciples assisted. Greater numbers st... [ Continue Reading ]
AGAIN. — This word is almost certainly part of the original text, though it is not found in some MSS. Its omission is due to a difficulty of interpretation. What is the previous return into Galilee? The only one mentioned in this Gospel is that of John 1:43. We have had another note of time in John... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MUST NEEDS GO THROUGH SAMARIA — i.e., following the shortest and most usual road, and the one we find Him taking from Galilee to Jerusalem (Luke 9:52; see Note there). Josephus spoke of this as the customary way of the Galileans going up during the feasts at Jerusalem (_Ant._ xx. 6, § 1). The Pha... [ Continue Reading ]
The “Samaria” of this chapter is the province into which the older kingdom had degenerated, and which took its name from the capital city. This was the Shomĕron built by Omri, on a hill purchased from Shemer (1 Kings 16:23). The city was given by Augustus to Herod the Great, who rebuilt it, and call... [ Continue Reading ]
JACOB’S WELL is one of the few spots about the position of which all travellers are agreed. Jesus, passing from south to west would pass up the valley of _Mochna_ until the road turns sharp to the west, to enter the valley of Sichem between Ebal and Gerizim. Here is Jacob’s field, and in the field i... [ Continue Reading ]
OF SAMARIA — _i.e.,_ of the country (John 4:1), not of the city, which was nine miles farther north. She was of the people inhabiting the valley between Ebal and Gerizim, not, like Himself, a chance passenger by the well. The contrast is at once drawn between Him, a Jew and a man, and her, of Samari... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR introduces His reason for asking this favour of her. The disciples had gone on. He was alone, and without the means of getting water for Himself (John 4:11). MEAT. — Better, _food,_ as the former word is misleading in modern English. See Genesis 1:29, and Deuteronomy 20:20, where herbs and frui... [ Continue Reading ]
WOMAN OF SAMARIA (twice). — Better, _Samaritan woman._ In both cases the Greek has the adjective. It is the religious and national position as a Samaritan which is prominent in this verse. BEING A JEW. — This she would know from dress and language. It has been noted that the Hebrew for “Give me to... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THOU KNEWEST THE GIFT OF GOD. — Expositors differ very widely as to the meaning to be given to “the gift of God” and “living water.” See, _e.g.,_ the summaries of views in the notes of Meyer and Godet, both of which are now translated into English. Yet there can be little doubt of the true meanin... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WOMAN SAITH UNTO HIM, SIR... — Her tone changes to one of respect. Something in His voice and manner, it may be, has touched her. She does not understand His words, but she is conscious of their latent force. She feels the presence of One who teaches with authority, and the “Thou, being a Jew,”... [ Continue Reading ]
ART THOU GREATER ...? — Again, the pronoun is the emphatic word, “_Thou_ surely art not greater.” “The well used to satisfy the wants of the patriarch, and his household, and his flocks, and has come down from him to us. It is surely sufficient for all our wants.” This claim of Jacob as their father... [ Continue Reading ]
WHOSOEVER DRINKETH OF THIS WATER. — Jesus does not answer her question, but asserts the universal recurrence of thirst, after even the water of Jacob’s well, to lead her to the thought that His “living water” is something widely different.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WATER THAT I SHALL GIVE HIM. — These words are emphatic as opposed to _this_ water. It is not an external supply, which must be sought to meet the recurring physical want, but it is the inner never-failing source, the fountain of living water, which satisfies every want as it occurs. He who has... [ Continue Reading ]
COME HITHER. — The Sinaitic and Vatican and some other MSS. read, “come through hither,” or as Alford, who adopts the reading, renders it, “come all the way hither.” Godet also adopts the reading, but renders it, in the service of a forced explanation, “pass by here,” thinking that the woman was on... [ Continue Reading ]
GO, CALL THY HUSBAND. — She has asked for this living water. She knows not that the well must first be dug. In the depth of her spirit there is a power of life; but like the source of a spring, it is hidden. Many a hard rock of impenitence was there, and many a layer of every-day transgression, and... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE NO HUSBAND. — The stroke has left its mark. It lays bare to her own consciousness the past and present life, but she does not know that it is laid bare to His. The reply is no longer prefaced by the half-sarcastic “Thou, being a Jew,” or the reverential “Sir.” The tone has passed from vivacit... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT SAIDST THOU TRULY. — The stroke goes deeper. It lays bare the secrets of all those years over which she thought the veil of the past had for ever been drawn. The bright days of joy and dark days of sin; the heart’s promises made and broken; the sad days of death, which five times over had ro... [ Continue Reading ]
But who can it be who thus enters her mind and reads the pages of her memory as if it were a book? He must be as one of those of olden time of whom she has heard. The tone of reverence prevails again, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.”... [ Continue Reading ]
OUR FATHERS WORSHIPPED. — She gives a sudden turn to the conversation. It is not that the question of worship is the all-engrossing problem of her mind, for which she seeks solution at this prophet’s hands. Such questions hardly came then within the circle of a Samaritan woman’s thoughts, and this w... [ Continue Reading ]
WOMAN (comp. Note on John 2:4), BELIEVE ME, THE HOUR COMETH. — Better, _there cometh an hour._ The Authorised version of the latter clause gives the correct sense, if it is punctuated as follows: “When ye shall, neither in this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem, worship the Father;” “when ye shall worsh... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS. — This verse has sorely tried critics who seek to construct the Gospel out of their judgments of what it should be. It can be no difficulty to those who seek to form their judgments from the Gospel as it is. Assume that the Gospel belongs to the Greek thought of the clo... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE HOUR COMETH. — Better, as in John 4:21, _but there cometh an hour._ He adds to this thought, what He could not add to the previous one, “and now is.” Local worship was not yet giving way to spiritual; but a band of true worshippers was being gathered, and some were then following Him. THE T... [ Continue Reading ]
GOD IS A SPIRIT. — Better, _God is spirit._ His will has been expressed in the seeking. But His very nature and essence is spirit, and it follows from this that all true worship must be spiritual. The appeal is here made to a doctrine of special prominence in the Samaritan theology. They had altered... [ Continue Reading ]
I KNOW THAT MESSIAS COMETH. — She is puzzled by these new doctrines. “Father!” “Spirit!” what did all this mean? Was God in any real sense like the father who in childhood’s happy days had protected, and forgiven, and loved? Was the divine nature in any real sense approached by human nature in its h... [ Continue Reading ]
I THAT SPEAK UNTO THEE. — The announcement is being made. The solution of some of the problems which she connects with the Messianic advent is contained in the very words she has heard. AM HE — _i.e.,_ the Messiah. (Comp. especially Notes on John 8:24; John 8:58.)... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THE WOMAN. — Better, probably, _with a woman._ They are surprised, not at His talking with a Samaritan, but at His talking in public with a woman, which was directly contrary to the Rabbinic precepts. The words of the Law were to be burnt rather than taught to a woman. A man should not speak in... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WOMAN THEN LEFT HER WATERPOT. — The waterpot left behind was a pledge of her return; and it is to us a mark of the presence of him who has related the incidents.... [ Continue Reading ]
IS NOT THIS THE CHRIST? — Better, _is this the Christ?_ She felt that He was a prophet when His words revealed her past life (John 4:19). She has had the thought of Christ present to her mind when He teaches the nature of true worship (John 4:25). She has heard that He is the Messiah from His own li... [ Continue Reading ]
CAME UNTO HIM. — Literally, _were coming unto Him._ They were still on the way when the conversation in John 4:31 took place. The general expectation of the Messiah, and the receptive spirit of the Samaritans, is shown in her alacrity to go and tell the men of the place, and in their desire at once... [ Continue Reading ]
MASTER. — The Hebrew word Rabbi has been preserved in the earlier passages (John 1:38; John 1:49; John 3:2; John 3:26), and will meet us again in John 6:25. It is less ambiguous than the English word, and should be restored here and in John 9:2; John 11:28. They had left Him weary by the side of the... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE MEAT TO EAT THAT YE KNOW NOT OF. — The emphasis is on the pronouns, which are opposed to each other. “Meat” is better rendered _food_ (see Note on John 4:8). The Greek word here is the same as in John 6:27; John 6:55.... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH ANY MAN BROUGHT HIM OUGHT TO EAT? — The question expects the negative answer, “Surely no one hath brought Him anything to eat?” The only person with Him is this Samaritan woman. Surely she has not! They understand His words in the ordinary sense. He proceeds to explain their real meaning.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY MEAT. — Better, _My food,_ as before (John 4:8). TO DO THE WILL.... TO FINISH. — Better, _that I may do the will,... that I may finish._ These verbs point out the end which He ever kept in view. In some of the best MSS., and in the received text, the tenses are different. That. I may be constant... [ Continue Reading ]
SAY NOT YE, THERE ARE YET FOUR MONTHS. — The emphasis in this verse should be laid upon “ye.” It follows immediately out of the contrast between the natural and spiritual food. Every outer fact is the sign of an inner truth. They here, as the woman in John 4:11, as the teacher of Israel (John 3:4),... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE THAT REAPETH. — The wages of the reaper is the joy — the greatest that the heart can know — of gathering others, as men gather corn into the garner, into eternal life. The sower is Christ Himself, whose words have been the seed in the woman’s heart, already bringing forth a harvest in those w... [ Continue Reading ]
HEREIN IS THAT SAYING TRUE — i.e., in the deeper sense of the word true (comp. Note on John 1:9) — has its realisation; is ideally true. The proverb itself was known both to the Greeks and to the Romans (sec examples in Schottgen and Lampe), but the reference is probably to the Old Testament Scriptu... [ Continue Reading ]
I SENT YOU TO REAP... — The pronouns are again emphatic. “I sent _you_ to reap;” and the statement is of wide meaning. He is ever _the_ Sower. All others are more or less fully reapers, though in the degree in which they really reap they will become likened unto Him, and will become sowers too. We a... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY OF THE SAMARITANS OF THAT CITY BELIEVED. — The willingness to receive the truth on the part of the Samaritans, is contrasted with the rejection of it on the part of the Jews. They refused the witness of a great prophet; these accept the witness of a woman. Their minds were prepared by the gener... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN THE SAMARITANS WERE COME. — The next step in their faith is to go to Him and ask Him to remain with them, that they too may learn from Him; and He, a Jew, accepts the hospitality of Samaria, and abides with them for two days.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND MANY MORE BELIEVED. — The veil is left upon those two days, as upon so many days in the life of Christ. We know how much was said at the well in a few minutes, and that many believed on Him in a few hours. What questions they must have asked! What truths He must have taught during this sojourn!... [ Continue Reading ]
WE HAVE HEARD HIM OURSELVES. — The “Him” is not part of the original text, and the sentence is more forcible without it: _We have ourselves heard._ Probably “the Christ” should also be regarded as no part of the original text, and the last clause should be, _and know that this is truly the Saviour o... [ Continue Reading ]
TWO DAYS. — Literally, _the two days._ It is the time mentioned in John 4:40, not a second period of two days.... [ Continue Reading ]
A PROPHET HATH NO HONOUR. — The statement that a prophet hath no honour in his own country is at first thought a strange explanation of the fact that He went into Galilee, and that the Galileans received Him; and the common geographical solutions, as that “His own country” means Judæa, or Nazareth,... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL THE THINGS THAT HE DID. — See the reference in John 2:23 to the unrecorded work at Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
SO JESUS CAME AGAIN INTO CANA OF GALILEE. — He returns to the place where He had manifested His glory and knit to Himself in closer union the first band of disciples. This thought is present to the writer as the reason why He went there. It was the place “where He made the water wine.” AND THERE WAS... [ Continue Reading ]
The distance of Capernaum from Cana was from twenty to twenty-five miles. The report of Christ’s return to Galilee had spread, then, over this wide area.... [ Continue Reading ]
SIGNS AND WONDERS. — See Note on John 2:11. The words are here addressed to Jews, for there is no reason to think that the nobleman himself was not one. They are spoken to him, but the _ye_ extends them to others standing near and to the class of persons whom he represents. It had been so with the J... [ Continue Reading ]
ERE MY CHILD DIE. — But human sorrow is the birth-pang of faith. The sense of utter powerlessness leads the soul to cast itself on the Strong One for strength. The faith is still weak, but it is there. It does not realise that Christ can speak the word and heal the child, but it does feel that His p... [ Continue Reading ]
GO THY WAY. — His faith is to be strengthened, and is to pass beyond a trust in aid through bodily presence. Jesus will not go down, but he is himself to go with the assurance, “Thy son liveth.” Up to this point he had believed on the testimony of others, but he, too, now believes on account of the... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS HE WAS NOW GOING. — Many a long mile lay between him and his child, and many an anxious thought must have come to his mind as he journeyed homeward. Now faith would be strong, and now almost give way; but he travels on with the words, “Thy son liveth,” which had come to him as a voice from he... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ENQUIRED HE OF THEM. — But these two facts — the assurance at Cana, and the actual healing powers at Capernaum — were they in truth related to each other? He remembers the hour at which one was spoken; he inquires the hour at which the other was realised. He does not even now grasp the full mea... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE FATHER KNEW. — He was not mistaken, then. The power he had felt when these words were spoken to him was real. The hours that had passed since, as he hastened to know all, had prepared him to read the sign. “Thy son liveth!” “The seventh hour yesterday!” There is more than one miracle here. A... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS AGAIN THE SECOND. — The English version has inserted the article, which is not found in the Greek, and has added in italics _is_ and _that._ Omitting these additions, and remembering that in St. John’s language every miracle has its deeper teaching, the verse will read, “This again, a second... [ Continue Reading ]