John 4:10

If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink.

The gift of God is not water, nor even peace of soul, but Christ himself, God's "unspeakable gift." "God gave his only begotten Son." She neither knew of God's unspeakable gift, nor that the Son given was at that moment speaking to her. Had she known, the Savior declares:

Thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Observe: 1. That Christ asks. favor in order to confer. greater one; makes. request in order to open up. conversation that will give access to. heart. 2. The well and the water suggest the thirst of the soul and the waters of life. With him natural objects, the sparrows, the lilies, the storm, the harvest, the water, the sower, the seed, etc., were constantly made texts for teaching spiritual truth. Living water meant, literally, "running" water, the water from. fountain or stream. It is known from the term used for well in the Greek of verse. (pege) that it was. fountain fed by subterranean springs, not. deep cistern supplied with rainwater. The "living water," water that fails not while it quenches thirst, but flows right on perennially, is taken by the Savior as. symbol of himself, the one who quenches the thirst of the soul. Elsewhere he says: "The Spirit and the Bride say come; and let him that is athirst come and partake of the waters of life freely."