A Samaritan Woman Meets Her Messiah
JOHN 4:3-42
3. He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
4. But He needed to go through Samaria.
5. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6. Now Jacob's Well was there. Yeshua therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Yeshua said to her, "Give Me a drink."
8. For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10. Yeshua answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him , and He would have given you living water (myaim hayim)."
11. The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Here then do You get that living water?"
12. "Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?"
13. Yeshua answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again."
14. "But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life."
15. The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water that I may not thirst, nor come her to draw."
16. Yeshua said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
17. The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Yeshua said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband.'"
18. "For you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."
19. The woman said to Him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet."
20. "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain (Mt. Gerezim), and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship."
21. Yeshua said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father."
22. "You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews."
23. "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."
24. "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
25. The woman said to Him, "I know that the Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will tell us all things."
26. Yeshua said to her, "I who speak to you am He."
27. And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or "Why are You talking with her?"
28. The woman then left her waterpot, wet her way into the city, and said to the men,
29. "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?"
30. Then they went out of the city and came to Him.
31. In the meantime, His disciples urged Him, saying, "Rabbi, eat!"
32. But He said to them, "I have food to eat which you do not know."
33. Therefore the disciples said to one another, "Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?"
34. Yeshua said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work."
35. "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes an look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!"
36. "And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together."
37. "For in this the saying is true: 'One sows and another reaps.'"
38. "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others labored and you have entered into their labors."
39. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did."
40. So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed two days.
41. And many more believed because of His own word.
42. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Messiah, the Redeemer of the world."


Vs. 3: On His departure from Judea, moving towards Galilee, Yeshua chooses to go through Samaria. Now Jews and Samaritans were rather antagonistic against each other. Jews did not like Samaritans, and the feelings were rather mutual. The reason for this antagonism was because of what the Samaritans did. The Samaritans set up a rival religious system. As far as the Scriptures are concerned, the accepted the Mosaic Law only. They were anti-Jerusalem and they were against worshiping in Jerusalem. In contrast to the Temple in Jerusalem they built their own on Mount Gerezim overlooking the ancient city of Shechem. A suburb of Shechem, Sycar, was their holy place where they worshiped and sacrificed. Also, because of their anti- Jerusalem spirit they went through the Mosaic Law and deleted any possible reference to Jerusalem and replaced it with Mount Gerezim.

Vs. 6: Some have conjectured that since the Samaritan woman went to the well at noon while the other women went in the cooler hours of the morning, this in itself indicated that she was a sinful woman. Rather let us consider that in fact she was bearing the pain of rejection from men that she had loved, as well as the fear of being cursed even by God. She could well have been the object of considerable ridicule and scorn from the other women in town. Per haps the day had come when she could bear it no longer and preferred the quiet loneliness of the well at noon.

In fact, the reason for her situation may have been something that she had absolutely no control over. We will look at the reason for this possibility in the following verses.

Vs. 7: She made her way to the well as was her custom. She noticed a man sitting there as she approached and true to the manners and customs, she stayed to the opposite side and prepared to draw water. Unexpectedly He spoke to her. "Give Me a drink." With these simple words the conversation that would change her life forever was initiated.

Vs. 9: The situation of the Pharisees and the Samaritans was similar to that of the Pharisees and the publicans. The background for this hatred was a little different, but the feelings were just as bad. These feelings about the Samaritans went from one extreme to another. For instance, Abodah Zarah 44:4 says, "The country of the Cuthites (a Rabbinic term for the Samaritans) is clean, the gatherings of waters are clean. Their dwellings are clean. Their roads are clean. A Jew man eat the products of it. They may wash or drink with the water of it, lodge in their dwellings and their dust does not defile."

An opposing view is found in Terumah 17:4 where it says, "Ezra, Zerubabul, and Joshua gathered together the whole congregation at the Temple of the Lord with 300 priests, 300 books of the Law, and 300 children, and excommunicated the Samaritans in the name of the Lord in a writing upon a table, tablets, and anathema; both the upper and lower house. Let no Israelite eat one morsel of anything that is a Samaritan's. Let no Samaritan become a proselyte to Israel, nor let them have part in the resurrection of the dead."

Vs. 9-14: There begins here for the woman a revelation of a new kind of life. Yeshua does this by creating in her a need, a need that she could not meet. For He asks her for a drink of water and that creates a surprise. It is obvious to her that He is a Jew, whether by His accent or by the clothes He wore. Since Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, her surprise is that He, a Jew, would be talking to her a Samaritan, and a woman at that. In response to her surprise Yeshua responds that He has a form of water that she at this point does not have access to. It is the kind of water that will spring into living water so that she will never thirst again. Thirst here in Yeshua's statement is spiritual thirst, but in her understanding at this stage she interprets to be physical thirst. In the process of revealing to her a new kind of life, He shows her her need for eternal life.

Vs: 15-19: The next stage of revelation is the revelation of herself. Because, as she having requested this new type of water, she first needs to see her sin before she can appreciate salvation. To reveal something of herself the Lord asks her to go and call her husband. After revealing to her the need for eternal life, a new kind of life, He begins to reveal to her where she is as to point out her sin. She does what people often do when you deal with the sin issue and get personal, they want to argue theology.

Vs. 18: Typical commentaries and sermons about this passage of Scripture paint a picture of a woman with highly questionable character and morals. Having had five husbands and now living with a sixth man outside the bonds of marriage readily conjures up in the American mind the image of a Hollywood starlet who changes spouses at the slightest whim and has no concept of a genuine commitment. These accepted interpretations fly in the face of sound Scriptural exegesis because they ignore the culture and society in which Yeshua and the woman lived. In Deuteronomy chapter 24 the conditions for divorce under the Law are outlined and it is clear that the person in the marriage who has the authority to initiate a divorce is the husband. Women were allowed to initiate divorce in some isolated instances, but these were rare. Women in that society had little right to file for divorce as we are accustomed to seeing today. It was uniquely the husband's prerogative. Therefore, the first thing to note is that since this lady had apparently been divorced five times, what has really happened is that five husbands have rejected her and sent her away. One must ask, "Why?"

Was she an adulteress as some have suggested? Again, let us look to Scripture. The penalty for adultery under the Law was death by stoning. If this woman lived an immoral lifestyle, she would have been dead long ago. Then why would five husbands consecutively have sent her away? We do assume that all five husbands divorced her although we must consider the possibility that one or more of them died. Yeshua does not say that she was divorced five times, but only that she had five previous husbands. Was she impossible to live with? A cantankerous, nagging woman? Or could it be that she was one of those who contributed to the first century statistics regarding divorce and the main reason for them? Jewish mentality placed a great emphasis on having an heir, a child, particularly a son who could carry on the family name, heritage, and business. The ability to bear children was considered evidence of the blessing of God on one's live. One only has to remember Hannah, the mother of Samuel, and the ridicule from Peninah because of Hannah's barrenness (I Sam. 1). When Sarah's maidservant, Hagar, bore Ishmael to Abraham, the Scriptures record that she scorned her mistress after she had the child (Genesis 16:4-6). Historical records indicate that in the time of Yeshua, the major cause for divorce among Jewish couples was this very issue: barrenness. The same would hold true for Samaritans, who also valued the Law of Moses. Though a husband might love his wife, if after a reasonable time she was unable to present him with an heir, the husband had the legal right to issue her a certificate of divorce and put her away. Many did.

What about the sixth man? Wasn't she living in sin with him? Of course she was! However, if you read the Gospels carefully you will quickly see that Yeshua was far more merciful towards those involved in sin of a sexual nature than He was towards some of the Pharisees whom He called hypocrites and sons of the devil. Yeshua never compromised on the issue of sin and He came to set this woman free. But, He saw in her what most of us would not see. He saw a woman so hurt and so wounded that she had given up hope. "What does it matter any more? I might as well get some enjoyment out of life." Yeshua had the answer she was looking for.

Vs. 20-24: Now Yeshua does not avoid answering the question. Instead, He gives her a revelation of what constitutes true worship. He answers that the Samaritan place of worship is dead wrong. The Samaritans worship that which they do not know, whereas the Jews worship that which they do know, because salvation is of the Jews. However, their time is coming, and that will be after His death and resurrection, where one special locality will no longer be chosen as a place of worship (Acts 7:48), but the worship of God will be in spirit and truth.

Vs. 22: A profound and abiding Christian appreciation for Jewish culture and the Jewish people comes from sensing inwardly that one's deepest spiritual identity is with a Jewish Messiah and that "salvation is from the Jews." It is being cognizant that one has received a spiritual heart transplant of being change rom the inside out. It is the existential realization that one is "grafted into Israel," a Jewish people. It is to recognize that through father Abraham one enters a new family and a new world of relationship. This personal perception is particularly fed by a consciousness that one owes an enormous debt of appreciation to the Jewish people.

Vs. 24: Another question begs to be asked. If she was such a sinner, then why didn't Yeshua say to her as He had said to the woman caught in adultery, "Go, and sin no more" (John 8:11). When Yeshua dealt with sin, He said, "Go, and sin no more." When He dealt with demons He said, "Be gone!" When He dealt with disease, He said, "Be healed." But, to this woman He said, "The Father seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and truth." Why? Could it be that in spite of all her problems, He saw someone with a heart that was genuinely seeking God? Yeshua looked past the fault and ministered to the cause. His unconditional acceptance demolishes the stronghold of rejection. His perfect love casts out the fears of insecurity. The highway to wholeness is worship of God, for He inhabits our praises.

Vs. 25: Yeshua finally shows her the One that she must believe in order to have the kind of life He first offered her in the beginning, and that is to believe that He is the Messiah. With that declaration of His Messiahship the woman runs to town. But, during this discussion, His disciples have returned having gone into town to purchase food. They were rather disturbed that Yeshua was speaking to a Samaritan woman, but Yeshua uses this to teach them a lesson in the principle of evangelism. The principle that He shows them is that some sow, but others reap. They are now reaping what Yochanan the Immerser and his disciples had sown.

Vs. 42: A very different kind of picture of this woman than what we are used to hearing, yet this explanation is far more in keeping with the culture, the society, and the religious system of that day. This particular account is one of the most startling and dramatic examples of how distorted our understanding can become when we interpret Scripture, not only out of context, but also their chronological, geographical, and social context.

The Arrival of Yeshua in Galilee
JOHN 4:43-45

43. Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee.
44. For Yeshua Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
45. So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast, for they had also gone to the feast.

Vs. 45: The feast being talked about here is Pesach (Passover), the first in His three ministry time period.