These notes are rather stream-of-consciousness (it’s a copy-paste out of my Obsidian vault on this chapter), and not meant to read like a well-written blog post. Click here to see the Sabbath school handout (printable).
There is a controversy between John’s disciples and Jesus’ disciples, and the Pharisees discover that this may be a point of contention. Jesus chooses to depart to go back home to Galilee.
and it was absolutely necessary for those that go quickly [to Jerusalem,] to pass through that countrey. For in that road you may, in three days time, go from Galilee to Jerusalem.
It’s a 3 day journey. Refer to a map, and you’ll see that Jacob’s well is at the midpoint. Fun fact, Jacob’s well is one of the only landmarks in the life of Jesus that we have near perfect certainty that we know its location in modern times. It’s located at the near halfway mark between Jerusalem and Galilee, and so we know that Jesus has walked at this point all day the day prior, and this is the second long day of walking.
(Sunday possibility) Sunday morning - Leave Jerusalem
Monday mid day, get to Jacob’s well
Tuesday, stay in Samaria
Wednesday - Resume journey, travel all day
Thursday - Arrive at Cana at around noon
(There’s enough wiggle room such that Jesus could have left on a Monday, but in either case, we know that these events occured either on a Monday or a Tuesday, not that it really matters…)
Events happen either December AD 27 or January AD 28 (because we know Jesus says the harvest is 4 months away, and the harvest happens in April).
Josephus Autobiography, section 52 (https://penelope.uchicago.edu/josephus/autobiog.html)
Path of the Jews to Jerusalem goes through Samaria.
Antiquities XX, 6, 1. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm#link20note-11
It was the custom of the Galileans, when they came to the holy city at the festivals, to take their journeys through the country of the Samaritans;
(Nice zoomed in map here https://www.biblewalks.com/mountgerizim/ 
)
Is it raining? (Probably not because Jesus was thirsty. It might have rained the day before, though).
Origin of the Samaritans
And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
[25] And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. [26] So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” [27] Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” [28] So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD. [29] But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.
2 King 17:24-29
According to inscriptions from Sargon’s palace at Khorsabad, the Assyrian king claims that 27,290 people in Samaria were relocated to Assyria (see https://www.biblewalks.com/mountgerizim/)
The city is about 2/3 of a mile (Starbucks is 0.4 miles away form Camarillo Church, Taco Bell is 1.5 miles). This is 1 kilometer, or 1000 yards (10 football fields). Walking speed is ~3 miles/hour, so the disciples can go from the well to the city in about 15 minutes (SDA Commentary 4:6 says 10 minutes walk). Jewish custom permitted trade for necessity but no social interactions (see DA 183.2). The disciples went in, bought food, and returned. How long does buying food take? I spend 15 minutes at the grocery store, but there were 5-12 disciples at this point, and it always takes longer in a group. Let’s give them 30 minutes to buy food. So all in all, the disciples were gone for 50 minutes.
Assuming the conversation with the Samaritan woman lasted 15 minutes (perhaps John is paraphrasing), and the disciples arrive at the well just as Jesus is finishing talking with the woman, the disciples were leaving the city. This suggests the following timeline.
[Why didn’t Jesus walk all the way to the city?? Wasn’t it on the way, he must have really needed to take a break] - 11:25 Jesus sits down at Jacob’s well to rest. He is obviously exhausted from walking and needs to take a break. Disciples go on into the city to get food for Jesus (maybe the disciples idea, judging by the fact that Jesus seems so dismissive later on about eating the food in John 4:31-32). - 11:35 Disciples arrive at Sychar - 11:48 Samaritan woman departs Sychar - 11:58 Samaritan woman arrives at well - 12:00 Woman turns to leave, Jesus starts talking to the woman - 12:05 Disciples depart Sychar - 12:15 Disciples arrive at Jacob’s well - 12:16 Woman leaves water jar at the well, runs to the city. Running is 50% faster than walking if you’re old enough to have been married 5 times. - 12:20 Disciples awkwardly unpack their belongings (John 4:27) begin urging Jesus to eat - 12:23 Woman arrives at Sychar. Spends next ~10 minutes running through the marketplaces telling everyone that she met the Christ. This is approximately 18 minutes after the disciples depart. - 12:33 Woman returns towards well, with the whole city following her - 12:40 Jesus points his disciples to look at the city walking through the fields (fields are metaphor for the harvest of the gospel)
Jesus had been sitting at the well for approximately 35 minutes by the time the Samaritan woman arrives. Jesus is sweating, his mouth is dry. There are no nearby trees to find shade under, because it says that Jesus is sitting “on” (Epi in Greek) the well. What’s going through Jesus’ mind? (Antecedent reading! Thinking about Jesus sitting in silence for 35 minutes is a nice storytelling tactic to brief the audience on the antecedent reading)
Wells: (Three sojourners found their wives at a well) - Abraham’s servant Eleazar found Rebekah at the well. In Genesis 24:13-14: “Behold, I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Let the young woman to whom I shall say,”Please let down your jar that I may drink,” and who shall say, “Drink, and I will water your camels” - let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master., [15] Before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milca, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with her water jar on her shoulder” - Jacob came to a bunch of shepherds at noontime who were delaying feeding their flocks until after they were watered. They were waiting for Rachel to arrive before any of them could drink Genesis 29:7-8. - Exodus 2:17-21 The seven daughters of Midian come out to the well, but they are harassed by other shepherds, Moses drives the shepherds away, and then provides water to the flocks. The daughters leave Moses [at the well?] and they run home to tell their father what had happened.
Mount Gerasim: () - This is where the bonesa of Joseph and the other patriarchs were buried (Joshua 24:32) - Joseph had purchased the piece of land from the sons of Hamor for 100 pieces of money (Joshua 24:32, Gen 33:19, see Gill on Gen 48:22 with reference (w), The Jews alsos ay that Jacob had to fight for that land in order to reclaim it from the Amorites) - Jotham’s voice was heard in Judges 9:6 - Abraham built an altar to the Lord in the plain of Moreh (Gen 12:6, see Gill 4:12) - The tribe of Joseph blessed israel from this mountain when they came over the Jordan - Theophylact reports the Samaritans believe that Abraham offered Isaac on Mount Gerizim (this is false though) - Jacob built an alter called Elelohe-Israel (Gen 33:18) after his encounter with Esau - Samaritans thought this is where the Ark rested after the flood - Samaritans thought this was the most central mountain in the world - There was a temple on top of the mountain from the 5th century BCE to the 2nd century BCE, was rebuilt, and then destroyed by the Jews around 110 BCE, now only the ruins remained
The woman arrives. She does not interact with Jesus at all because of the animosity between the Jews and the Gentiles. She avoids eye contact, lowers her bucket into the well.
She has been trying to ignore Jesus. Why is this? 1. Option 1, she herself holds prejudice against the Jews, and wants nothing to do with him (she recognizes he is a Jew by his dress) 2. Option 2, she wants to avoid contact with people (evidenced by her coming to the well in the middle of the day, she also likely being an outcase because of her 5 husbands prior)
Sources are conflicted on the depth of the well. In year 16XX, it was measured at 35 feet deep, and in year 19XX it was measured at 135 feet deep. On the other hand, John Gill on John 4:11 says some say it’s 35 yards = 100 feet, others 40 cubits = 60 feet) In either case, the woman would not have dropped her bucket into the well, but would have likely lowered the bucket via a rope. Assuming the well is 35 feet deep, and she can lower at 1 feet/second, and raise it at 0.5 feet per second (it’s a heavy bucket), and we allow 10 seconds for the bucket to fill at the bottom, it takes her almost 2 minutes to fill the bucket. According to DA 183.4, she ignores Jesus during this time. This is a bit of an awkward exchange. She lifts the bucket up, and turns to leave when Jesus says, “Give me to drink.” (When I read this in the greek, it sounded a bit rude, but DA 183.4 says that Jesus’ request was made “with the tact born out of divine love”)
Next, she responds. it’s not simplythat the Jews have “no dealings” with the Samaritans. There’s evidence (see John Gill on this verse) that the Jews could buy food, lodge with, and even send grain to be milled from Samaritans. The “favors” however were one-sided. The poor people of Samaria were under the care of the Jews, but Jews would not accept a favor from a Samaritan. Furthermore, it was considered inappropriate for a man to talk with a woman in the street (see Gill on John 4:27, it was considered one of the 6 things you could reproach a teacher for, namely that “he talks to a woman on the street, though she is his wife, his sister, his daughter”). She is shocked that (1) this Jew talks to her a Samaritan, and (2) talks to her a woman.
Jesus responds. The first time, he said, “Give me drink” (didomi). Now he says, if you understood the “gift of God.” Understand that with antecedent reading, Jesus is making a play on words. He was asking the woman for a gift of water, when he himself identifies himself as the gift of living water. Furthermore, the “gift of God” is described in John 3:16, “for God so loved the world that He gave (didomi)” His only begotten Son.
Jesus’ response also contains another play on word. in the greek, the phrase is “hudor zon” (living water). In English, we might say running water. In Spanish, they say ….., but in Greek, water that is running (and not in a well) is hudor zon. There is a double entendre then in this Greek.
- Jesus is saying, you should have asked me and I would have granted you water from a river (and not from this well). This is an attractive option to a woman whose arm muscles are sore now from lifting a heavy (30 pound?) pitcher up 30 feet. If she could walk to a stream where she could just kneel down to draw water, and presumably that may also help with her aversion to seeing other people, since there are multiple places in a stream that she could draw from
- Jesus had a much deeper meaning, a spiritual meaning (Jesus being the water that flowed from the Rock in the Old Testament, according to Paul, see 1 Cor 10:4)
The woman now leads with “sir,” as she will do again in her next response. This indicates a sudden shift from her first response where she said, “thou, being a Jew.” Something about Jesus awakens respect from the woman.
The woman sees that Jesus has no bucket, and no rope. She asks whether He is greater than Jacob. Keep in mind that Jacob dug this well because there was no running water nearby. For Jesus to have access to a freshwater spring would indicate that Jesus knew something about the local hydrology that Jacob didn’t. When Jacob dug the well, he likely tried to dig a well in the most favorable location (perhaps inspired by God?). The fact that Jesus knows where water is better than Jacob indicates perhaps somehow that Jesus is better.
Jesus responds to the questio, “are you better” with a response that says, “if you drink from this living water once And for all that will solve your thirst (the once is not translated into the English, but it is present in the Greek In the 2nd Aorist conjugation). Compare Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:7.
In John 4:14, Jesus uses a triple negative in the Greek to say that she will never again be thirsty (ou me eis aion = no not into eternity)
Interesting to note how the roles have changed. Jesus started out the conversation asking a small favor of the woman. The woman responded in a jeering way, asking how it was possible that Jesus would be asking a Samaritan woman for such a favor, this guy must be really desperate. Now, the woman is the one who is begging Jesus for water, even though Jesus has no rope and no water pot.
The woman wants to stop having to come to the well. This indicates that she still believes Jesus is talking about satisfying physical thirst, but somehow whatever he does will make it so that she doesn’t need to walk to the well each day. However, in first-century Palestine it is the job of the woman to come out to the well to fetch water for the household, so as long as there are others in the household that need to drink, the woman would still need to come to bring water to her husband.
Jesus, in asking for her to bring her husband, is “accomodating” her misunderstanding in order to continue the conversation. Again, there seems to be a double purpose here. In the beginning of the chapter, we see that there is a theme about baptizing and making disciples, and that there was a growing rivalry between Jesus’ disciples and John’s disciples. The question is, “who is more influential?” When Jesus asks the woman to go get her husband, he is saying, “you have a sphere of influence, people that depend on you for water. Why don’t you bring them here so that they can also be blessed by the same thing that you’ve been blessed by.” Of course, this is an akwward topic for the woman because she has a sullied past. Feeling uncomfortable, the woman tries to deny that she has a sphere of influence and avoid further probing into her personal life by saying “I have no husband.”
By responding that she has no husband, she is saying, “I will sign off on continuing to come to this well, I will keep this blessing to myself, and maybe share later” How often do we do the same thing?!
However, Jesus is not going to let her off the hook. And in fact, he show something very beautiful here. He says, “you have had 5 husbands, and the one you have now (the sixth) is not your husband.” This number 6 is symbolic of human imperfection. However, wells are used three times in the Torah as the setting for a prophet meeting his future bride. Although he doesn’t outright say it, Jesus (in pointing out her sullied past) also points out something incredibly redemptive that Jesus is always waiting for us at the end of our broken roads and willing to to be our Savior.
Anxious to change the subject, she says, “I perceive that you’re a prophet,” and she changes the conversation to a point of religious contention. They were at the base of Mount Gerasim. In the context of Samaritan worship, Mount Gerasim was more important than Jerusalem (Jerusalem is hardly mentioned in the Torah, but Mount Gerasim is mentioned multiple times, and would be the natural “most holy place” for an orthodox Torah person who felt that God’s word closed at Deuteronomy).
Gentle Jesus is not going to railroad the woman by sticking on her husband and whatever other faults she may have wished to keep private. Jesus answers her question, but points her above the basic controversy of “where to worship.” At the time Jesus says this, a temple that had formerly been built on Mount Gerasim was in ruins but Jerusalem still stood. This story however was written down by John around 98 AD, about 30 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. And so now neither the Jews nor the Samaritans had a temple to worship in. Jesus’ words have great import to the Samaritan woman, but also to the audience of John in saying, “the time is coming and is now come when you will neither at this mountain nor in Jerusalem worhsip the Father.”
The woman wants to know if this coming that Jesus is referring to is the same as the coming of the Messiah that the Samaritans had. The Samaritans based their Messianic expecgtation on Deuteronomy 18:15-18, and called him “Taheb” which means the restorer or the returning One.
Jesus says, “Believe me” Efverywhere else in the NT, he says, “Amen amen”
Spiritual Application
Jesus’ conversation with the woman mirrors our own experience with Jesus.
“Give me to drink” illustrates the beginning, perhaps primitive instinct that we have to save ourselves by works. Jesus then responds by saying, (v10) “If you knew who you were talking to, you wouldn’t be trying to offer me something, but you would realize that I’m the one that is offering you the gift” Accepting Jesus as your sacrifice
(v13-14) Baptism, a washing that is done once and for all (you don’t need to come back and get baptized again every time you sin) “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life”
- Evangelism (v16)- Go and call your husband (there is always someone that we can witness to, even if we deny it, or say that we are disqualified)
- Bible study (v22) You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews
- Prayer (v23) - The hour is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him (John 4:23). It’s not about “going to church” it’s about having that private personal relationship
(V25) Prepared for the coming of Christ “I know that the Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things” (Deuteronomy 18:15)
- The LORD your God will raise up for you a propohet like me from among you, from your brothers–it is to him you shall listen–just as you desired the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembvly, when you said, “Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.” And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken’, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
