Commentary on John 4:1-42
- Scot Bellavia
- Apr 4
- 13 min read
NASB v 1-6 So then, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that He was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing; rather, His disciples were), He left Judea and went away again to Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, tired from His journey, was just sitting by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
It may seem odd that while Jesus passes through Samaria (Jews and Samaritans hated each other; see verse 9), He stops at a meet-cute site.
Perhaps too much is made in connecting this scene at a well to those in the Old Testament. But it is at a well that
The author's explicit mention here that it is Jacob's well and about the sixth hour (noon)—in Genesis 29, Rachel comes to the well at broad daylight—lend credence to the parallel. Of course, Jesus is not here to meet a wife, though she turns out to be a member of His bride.
David Guzik comments that Sychar is ancient Shechem where (among other events) God appeared to Abram and renewed His promise for land and children (Gen 12:6-7) and Joshua renewed Israel's covenant with God (Joshua 24). Matthew Henry observes that "Shechem yielded the first proselyte that ever came into the church of Israel (Gen 34:24), and [here, in John 4] it is the first place where the gospel is preached out of the commonwealth of Israel."
What sets the stage for the rest of the scene is that the Lord is in Samaria, thirsty for water in the heat of the day.
Mary Elizabeth Baxter is comforted in the humanity of Jesus described here. In being tired, He knows the trials of one like a homemaker who has "little opportunity to refresh Himself in an unbroken rest."
v 7-9 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away to the city to buy food. So the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, though You are a Jew, are asking me for a drink, though I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)
The dialogue and parenthetical insert highlights the probable discomfort of the situation: a Jew and a Samaritan one-on-one, a man and a woman one-on-one. Jesus breaks the ice and speaks first.
How does she know He was Jewish? I will assume it is by His rabbinical attire. One commentator assumes His dialect.
The woman does not expect the two of them to talk, much less that He, a Jewish man, would need something from her, a Samaritan woman. David Brown says, "It is this national antipathy that gives point to the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37) and the thankfulness of the Samaritan leper (Luke 17:16, 18)."
Some commentators read insolence in the woman's question—which may not be unjustified. Guzik cites James Boice in saying that if the woman and Jesus' disciples crossed paths on her way from and their way to the city, likely the disciples would have assumed she should step off the road or may have even pushed her out of their way.
v 10-15 Jesus replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” She said to Him, “Sir, You have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do You get this living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well and drank of it himself, and his sons and his cattle?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty, nor come all the way here to draw water.”
The yellow highlight identifies when the speaker is talking about the water in the well and the blue highlight identifies the water that comes from Jesus, which He calls living water.
The Samaritan woman takes His statement literally and associates herself with Him in her appeal to our father Jacob.
As with His parables and other symbolic dialogue, Jesus veils His true meaning until the listener asks further, and perceives—once He opens their eyes.
Of Jesus' statement that everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, Chuck Smith says that "that can be said of every physical experience that you might possess or seek or find." Nothing but Christ will ultimately satisfy.
Henry observes that Jesus' reply does not answer her question about why He should ask her for a drink; "Christ will convert this woman, not by showing her that the Samaritan worship was schismatical (though really it was so), but by showing her her own ignorance and immoralities, and her need of a Saviour." And Mary Elizabeth Baxter sees it as Jesus' kind answer turning away the woman's wrath. By this, "He had secured her attention, and had shown her that He had something to give her far more precious than she had to give Him."
v 16-19 He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” The woman answered and said to Him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this which you have said is true.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.
Rather than clarify the woman's misunderstanding, Jesus tells her to call her husband.
Henry says this is not a non sequitur or change of topic. Jesus guides the conversation “to awaken her conscience, to open the wound of guilt, and then she would easily apprehend the remedy of grace.” Henry notes this is the proper order of “dealing with souls; they just first be made weary and heavy-laden under the burden of sin, and then brought to Christ for rest; first pricked to the heart, and then healed.”
The woman is terse. But He asks in order to prove His divine authority, implying to her the information she omitted. This secret knowledge leads her to perceive He is a prophet and she does change the topic in the next verse.
To traditional ears, a woman who has shacked up with six men must be promiscuous. Perhaps she is a prostitute, gold digger, desperate housewife, or black widow. Maybe she is "the crazy ex-wife" and has daddy issues. Instead, I favor recent interpretations which account for her having been widowed more than once (due to the poorer healthcare of the time) and/or divorced (a victim of liberal readings of Mosaic law regarding divorce).
The point remains: She is ashamed over her marital history.
I love this from Matthew Henry's commentary: "Observe how mildly Christ tells her of [her past]; he doth not call her strumpet (hooker) but...leaves it to her own conscience to say the rest. Note, Reproofs are ordinarily most profitable when they are least provoking." and "Those who would win souls should make the best of them, whereby they may hope to work upon their good-nature; for, if they make the worst of them, they certainly exasperate their ill-nature."
v 20-24 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and yet you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one must worship.” Jesus said to her, “Believe Me, woman, that a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But a time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” Jesus said to her, “I am He, the One speaking to you.”
Again, the Samaritan again associates herself with the Jew saying Our fathers. Yet, she draws out a possible contention between her people and His: There is sacred significance to this mountain but the Jews say one must worship in Jerusalem.
We can trust that He is not slandering Samaritans; He is stating a fact. 2 Kings 17:26-28 alludes to the syncretism of her people, leading to them to worship what they do not know.
He prophesies a time when—even now it has arrived—these disputes will be moot: neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. Henry notes that Jesus' conclusion is that it is not important where we worship God but "the state of mind in which we worship Him. Note, The most effectual way to take up differences in the minor matters of religion is to be more zealous in the greater."
The Father desires His worshipers to worship Him in spirit and truth because God is spirit. She knows this and is anticipating the One to declare all things—an anticipation Brown says likely comes from Deuteronomy 18:15 and Adam Clarke reads in Isaiah 11:2-3.
Hearing her faith in the coming Messiah, He explicitly declares to her that he is the One. This moment leads me to contrast it with the previous chapter.
John 3 | John 4 |
Jesus, one-on-one with a man at night 1-2 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him | Jesus, one-on-one with a woman in the day 6-7 So Jesus, tired from His journey, was just sitting by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. |
recognition that He is from God 2 Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him | recognition that He is from God 19 Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. |
Jesus' metaphor 3 Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” | Jesus' metaphor 10 Jesus replied to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” |
takes Jesus literally 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” | takes Jesus literally 11 She said to Him, "Sir, You have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do You get this living water? |
a new order of spiritual birth 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. | a new era of spiritual worship 23 But a time is coming, and even now has arrived, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. |
the Jew in spiritual darkness 10-11 Jesus answered and said to him, "You are the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you people do not accept our testimony. | the Samaritan in spiritual darkness 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. |
how to have eternal life 14-15 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes will have eternal life in Him. | how to have eternal life 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never be thirsty; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” |
God gets the glory
20-21 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.” | God gets the glory
39 Now from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified
42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One truly is the Savior of the world.” |
The conversation ends with Jesus having the last word. Then, we know nothing of Nicodemus until John 19, when he helps prepare Jesus’ body for burial. | Jesus is noticeably more explicit in His “big reveal” to the Samaritan than He is talking with the Pharisee. Immediately, we hear what she does next. 26 Jesus said to her, “I am He, the One speaking to you.” |
v 27-30 And at this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What are You seeking?” or, “Why are You speaking with her?” So the woman left her waterpot and went into the city, and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is He?” They left the city and were coming to Him.
That Jesus had been speaking with a woman was more of a surprise to His disciples than that He was speaking with a Samaritan. However, they bit their tongues over this discomfort.
Guzik sees the tidbit that the woman left her waterpot is a mark of eyewitness testimony. Henry sees this as an indication of the woman's transformation saying, "Those who are brought to the knowledge of Christ will show it by a holy contempt of this world and the things of it." Now that she has found living water, she forsakes the well's water.
As far as the reader knows, Jesus only revealed to the woman that He knew her marital history. Yet, she says He told me all the things that I have done. Perhaps they had an extended, unrecorded conversation. Or, perhaps this was her greatest shame and to know this about her is to know everything about her.
Likely, we can count on one hand the people in our lives who know our darkest secrets. We think, "If you really knew me, you wouldn't want to be my friend." Whether Jesus told the woman only of the six men in her life or told her more than this, what was her greatest shame is now her greatest testimony. In the good news of encountering the Christ, the One for whom she was waiting (v 25), she was willing to have her deeds exposed (John 3:20-21) as testimony.
I like Guzik's comment: "The Samaritan woman was so impressed by the love of Jesus — even as He confronted her sin — that she forgot that she would rather everyone else forget all the things that she ever did."
In v 20, the Samaritan knew the Messiah is coming. And when He does, she expects He will declare all things to us. In v 29, He has declared all the things about her to her—could He be the Christ?
v 31-38 Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat something.” But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work. Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields, that they are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps may rejoice together. For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have come into their labor.”
As we wait for the people of Sychar to come to the well to meet the Christ, we read of a time where again Jesus is taken literally, this time by His disciples.
Henry said the woman held a holy contempt for her waterpot after tasting living water. Here he notes that Jesus holds a "holy indifference to the needful supports of life, in comparison with spiritual things."
Perhaps because of their fixation on His getting food, Jesus allegorizes the harvest being ready to reap. This calls to mind a time has arrived in v 23. His food, the harvest, is the will and work of Him who sent Me. Bringing sinners to repentance and ushering in the Kingdom of God is happening as He speaks: the woman, so recently a believer, is now spreading the good news of His arrival. This time is coming as the citizens of Sychar are now coming. Raise your eyes, do you see them?
v 39-42 Now from that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One truly is the Savior of the world.”
Guzik notes that He stayed there two days is "remarkable" as the Jews "regarded Samaria and the Samaritans as a place and people to avoid if possible." Recall from v 9, Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
The people of Sychar are inclined to believe in Him by the testimony of their neighbor. We, too, are compelled by what God has done in the lives of our neighbors. But it is in personal experience, when we have heard for ourselves, that we truly know this One is the Savior of the world.
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