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There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

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Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

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The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

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Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof ° himself, and his children, and his cattle? °

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Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

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But whosoever ° drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never ° ° thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

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The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

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Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

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The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

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For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

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The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

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Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

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Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

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Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

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But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

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God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

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The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

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Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

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And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

John 4:7

4:7 woman of Samaria. Apparently in order to talk to this woman, Jesus deliberately took this route through Samaria to get to Galilee, even though, normally, “the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans” (John 4:9). He knew her need and that of the other people of the region (John 4:18,39), and “must needs go through Samaria” (John 4:4). In so doing, He was “leaving us an example, that (we) should follow His steps” (I Peter 2:21), both of personal soul-winning and of rejecting ethnic prejudice.

John 4:14

4:14 shall never thirst. The “living water” (John 4:10) of which Christ spoke was, of course, symbolic of the salvation He would provide. The waters of Eden (Genesis 2:10) and the New Jerusalem (Revelation 22:1) also speak of this.

John 4:22

4:22 of the Jews. The religion of the Samaritans was a corrupt offshoot of the Jews’ religion, but it had no saving efficacy. The Jews had the temple of God, where the atoning sacrifices were offered, as well as the “oracles of God” (Romans 3:2). Most importantly, it was of them “as concerning the flesh Christ came” (Romans 9:5).

John 4:23

4:23 in truth. True worship and saving faith no longer are mediated through types or require physical aids, now that Christ has come to bring full and free salvation. The truth in Christ, received through the Spirit by faith, is the worship the Father seeks (compare II Chronicles 16:9).

John 4:23

4:23 seeketh such to worship him. How could the omniscient God ever have to seek anything?! Yet the Lord Jesus affirmed that He does. Furthermore, Christ said that He Himself had “come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). In some inscrutable way, bound up in the humanly impenetrable balance between divine election and human responsibility, it satisfies the infinite heart of God when we respond to His sacrificial love in gratitude and worship.

John 4:26

4:26 I that speak unto thee. Even though the Samaritan religion was very deficient in many areas, they did believe in the Messianic promises, and it is significant that Jesus used His contact with this woman to convey the news of their fulfillment to these people. It is a common opinion that the Samaritans only used the Pentateuch, but they were obviously familiar with the doctrine of the coming Messiah, which is developed mostly in the books of Psalms and Prophets.

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