John 4:11

John 4:11. She saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? In the answer of Jesus there was much to cause surprise, especially in the emphatic reference to Himself; but there was nothing in the actual terms used that compelled the hearer to seek for a figurative meaning. ‘Living water' was a phrase in ordinary use in speaking of the fresh bubbling spring or the flowing brook. ‘Isaac's servants digged in the valley and found there a spring of living water' (Genesis 26:19, margin). Wherever running water is spoken of in the ceremonial law, the same expression is used. Hence nothing more than the fresh spring that supplied the well might at first be presented to the woman's mind, and that this precious gift came of the Divine bounty would be no unfamiliar thought. Though, as a Samaritan, she might know little or nothing of God's promise of His Spirit under this very emblem, or of Jeremiah's comparison of God Himself to a fountain of living waters (Jeremiah 2:13), yet reflection would suggest some such meaning. At present, however, she answers without reflection, and perceives no higher promise than that of the Creator's bounty, attained without the use of ordinary means.