CHAPTER IV. _Jesus, finding that the Pharisees took offence at his making_ _many disciples, leaves Judea to pass into Galilee_, 1-3. _And passing through Samaria comes to Sychar, and rests at_ _Jacob's well_, 4-6. _While his disciples were gone to the city to buy meat, a woman_ _of Samaria com... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:2. _JESUS HIMSELF BAPTIZED NOT_] John 3:22, John 3:22.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:4. _AND HE MUST NEEDS GO THROUGH SAMARIA._] Or, _It was_ _necessary for him to pass through Samaria_: for this plain reason, and no other, because it was the only proper road. Samaria lay northward of Judea, and between the great sea, Galilee, and Jordan; and there was therefore no goin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:5. _A CITY - CALLED SYCHAR_] This city was anciently called _Shechem_. It seems to have been situated at the foot of Mount Gerizim, in the province of Samaria, on which the temple of the Samaritans was built. After the ruin of Samaria by Salmanezer, _Sychar_, or _Shechem_, became the c... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:6. _JACOB'S WELL WAS THERE._] Of this well Mr. Maundrell gives the following account. "About one-third of an hour from Naplosa, the ancient Sychar and Sychem, stood Jacob's well. If it be inquired, whether this be the very place, seeing it may be suspected to stand too remote from Sych... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:7. _THERE COMETH A WOMAN OF SAMARIA TO DRAW WATER_] That this was the employment of the females, we see in different parts of the Sacred Writings. See Genesis 24:11, c. Exodus 2:16, and the note at the end of that chapter. The Jews say that those who wished to get wives went to the well... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:9. _THAT THOU, BEING A JEW_] Probably the inhabitants of Judea distinguished themselves from those of Samaria by some peculiar mode of dress; and by this the Samaritan woman might have known Christ: but it is likely that our Lord spoke the Galilean dialect, by which we find, from Mark 1... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:10. _IF THOU KNEWEST THE GIFT OF GOD_] δωρεαν signifies a _free_ gift. A _gift_ is any thing that is _given_, for which no equivalent has been or is to be returned: a _free gift_ is that which has been given without asking or entreaty. Such a _gift_ of kindness was Jesus Christ to the w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:11. _THOU HAST NOTHING TO DRAW WITH_] ουτε αντλημα εχεις, _Thou hast no bucket_. Good water is not plentiful in the east; and travellers are often obliged to carry leathern _bottles_ or _buckets_ with them, and a _line_ also, to let them down into the deep wells, in order to draw up wat... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:12. _OUR FATHER JACOB_] The _ancient_ Samaritans were undoubtedly the descendants of Jacob; for they were the ten tribes that revolted in the reign of Rehoboam: but those in our Lord's time were not genuine Israelites, but a corrupted race, sprung from a mixture of different nations, se... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:14. _SPRINGING UP INTO EVERLASTING LIFE._] On this account he can never thirst:-for how can he lack water who has in himself a living, eternal spring? By this water our Lord means also his doctrine, explaining and promising the gifts and graces of the _Holy Ghost_, which proceed from Je... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:15. _GIVE ME THIS WATER_] She did not as yet comprehend our Lord's meaning; but her curiosity was much excited, and this was the design of our Lord, that he might have her mind properly prepared to receive the great truths which he was about to announce.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:16. _CALL THY HUSBAND_] Our Lord appears to have spoken these words for two purposes: 1. To make the woman consider her own state. 2. To show her that he knew her heart, and the secret actions of her life; and was therefore well qualified to teach her heavenly truths.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:18. _THOU HAST HAD FIVE HUSBANDS_] It is not clear that this woman was a _prostitute_: she might have been legally married to those five, and might have been divorced through some misbehaviour of her own, not amounting to adultery; for the adulteress was to be put to death, both by the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:19. _I PERCEIVE THAT THOU ART A PROPHET._] And therefore thought him well qualified to decide the grand question in dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans: but she did not perceive him to be the _Messiah_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:20. _WORSHIPPED IN THIS MOUNTAIN_] Probably pointing to Mount _Gerizim_, at the foot of which Sychar was situated. The patriarchs had worshipped here - Jacob builded an altar on this mountain, and worshiped the true God: see Genesis 22:2; Genesis 33:20. Thus she could say, _Our fathers... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:21. _THE HOUR COMETH_, c.] The time was now at hand in which the spiritual worship of God was about to be established in the earth, and all the Jewish rites and ceremonies entirely abolished. _WORSHIP THE FATHER._] This epithet shows the mild, benignant, and tender nature of the Gospel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _YE WORSHIP YE KNOW NOT WHAT_] The Samaritans believed in the same God with the Jews; but, as they rejected all the prophetical writings, they had but an imperfect knowledge of the Deity: besides, as they incorporated the worship of idols with his worship, they might be justly said to wors... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _THE TRUE WORSHIPPERS SHALL WORSHIP - IN SPIRIT_] The worship of the Samaritans was a _defective_ worship - they did not receive the prophetical writings: that of the Jews was a carnal worship, dealing only in the _letter_, and referring to the spirit and design, which were at a distance,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 24. _GOD_ IS _A SPIRIT_] This is one of the first, the greatest, the most sublime, and necessary truths in the compass of nature! There is a God, the cause of all things - the fountain of all perfection - without parts or dimensions, for he is ETERNAL - _filling_ the heavens and the earth - _... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _I KNOW THAT MESSIAS COMETH_] Instead of οιδα _I know_, several excellent MSS. and versions read, οιδαμεν, _we know_; as if she had said that all the Samaritans expected the advent of the Messiah. Though they did not receive the prophetic writings, yet the tradition of the advent of the _M... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _JESUS SAITH UNTO HER, I - AM_ HE.] Our Lord never spoke in such _direct_ terms concerning himself to his own countrymen; nor even to his own disciples, till a little before his death. The reason given by Bishop Pearce is the following: The woman being _alone_ when Jesus said it, and being... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 27. _CAME HIS DISCIPLES_] From the town, whither they went to buy food, John 4:8. _MARVELLED THAT HE TALKED WITH THE WOMAN_] Because it was contrary to the custom of the eastern countries; and there are many canons, among the rabbins, against it. To the present time, if a man meet even his ow... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _LEFT HER WATERPOT_] She was so penetrated with the great truths which Jesus had announced that she forgot her errand to the well, and returned to the city without the water for which she came out!... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _ALL THINGS THAT EVER I DID_] The Jews believed that one essential characteristic of the Messiah would be, that he should be able to tell the secrets of all hearts. This they believed was predicted, Isaiah 11:2. When the famous impostor _Barchochab_, who rose up under the empire of Adrian... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _THEY WENT OUT OF THE CITY_] Such effect had the simple testimony of the woman on their minds. _AND CAME UNTO HIM._] Or, _Were coming to him_; for they did not reach him immediately; all that discourse between him and his disciples, mentioned John 4:31, inclusive, having taken place befor... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _MASTER, EAT._] They knew that he was greatly spent both with hunger and fatigue.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _I HAVE MEAT TO EAT THAT YE KNOW NOT OF._] Our blessed Lord seizes every opportunity to raise the minds of his apostles to heavenly things, through the medium of earthly matters. Nor does he _force_ these things into such service. Properly understood, earthly _substances_ are the types, re... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _HATH ANY MAN BROUGHT HIM_ AUGHT _TO EAT?_] Has he got food in any preternatural way? They could not help remembering the miraculous interventions of Divine providence in feeding Elijah by the ravens, at the brook Cherith, 1 Kings 17:4, and by the ministry of an angel, 1 Kings 19:5, and ou... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _MY MEAT IS TO DO THE WILL OF HIM THAT SENT ME_] In these words, our blessed Lord teaches a lesson of zeal and earnestness to his apostles, and to all their successors in the Christian ministry. Let the salvation of souls lie nearer your heart than life itself. Let eating and drinking, lab... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _THERE ARE YET FOUR MONTHS, AND_ THEN _COMETH HARVEST?_] In Palestine, the harvest did not begin till after the passover, which was fixed on the 14th of the month Nisan, which answers to our _March_, and sometimes extends into _April_. The _barley_ harvest was the first; after that the _w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _AND HE THAT REAPETH RECEIVETH WAGES_] Or, And _already_ _the reaper receiveth wages_. By making the word ηδη, _already_, the beginning of this verse, on the authority of some excellent MSS. and versions, a more consistent sense is obtained than from the common arrangement, where ηδη termi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 37. _HEREIN IS THAT SAYING TRUE, ONE SOWETH, AND ANOTHER_ _REAPETH._] Or, _One is the sower, and another is the reaper_. In what respects _you_, of this business, this proverb is true-_One is the_ _sower_, c., for I have sent you to reap, to preach my Gospel, and gain converts, where ye have n... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _MANY OF THE SAMARITANS - BELIEVED ON HIM FOR THE SAYING_ _OF THE WOMAN_] This woman was the first apostle of Christ in Samaria! She went and told her fellow citizens that the Messiah was come; and gave for proof, that he had told her the most secret things she had ever done: see on John 4... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 40. _HE ABODE THERE TWO DAYS._] We are not told that he wrought any miracles among them; this does not appear to have been necessary: they were a simple-hearted, teachable people, and they credited him on the evidence of his own eternal truth. Why are not miracles wrought now? Miracles were on... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 42. _WE HAVE HEARD_ him _ourselves_] On seeing and hearing our Lord, the faith of those who had already believed on the woman's testimony was abundantly confirmed; and, besides those, may others believed who had not heard the woman speak. _THIS IS INDEED THE CHRIST_] The promised Messiah. _T... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 43. _WENT INTO GALILEE._] Bishop Pearce thinks that some words have been lost from the end of this verse, which may be supplied thus: Went into Galilee, but not to Nazareth; for Jesus himself had declared, c. In Matthew 13:57 Mark 6:4, and Luke 4:24, which are the only texts where Jesus is sai... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 44. _JESUS HIMSELF TESTIFIED_] He bore testimony to the general truth of the following proverb. Matthew 13:57, Matthew 13:57.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 45. _THE GALILEANS RECEIVED HIM_] They received him as the promised _Messiah_, because of the miracles which they had seen him perform at Jerusalem, at the Passover. See John 2:23.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 46. _WHERE HE MADE THE WATER WINE._] John 2:1, c. Cana was on the road from Nazareth to Capernaum and the Sea of Tiberias. _A CERTAIN NOBLEMAN_] An officer of the king's court: for this is the meaning of the original word, βασιλικος, which the Vulgate translates _regulus_, a little king. Thi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 48. _EXCEPT YE SEE SIGNS AND WONDERS_, c.] Our Lord does not tell this man that he had no faith, but that he had not _enough_. If he had had _none_, he would not have come from Capernaum to Cana, to beg him to heal his son. If he had had _enough_, he would have been contented with recommendin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 49. _SIR, COME DOWN_, c.] He did not think our Lord could cure him without being _present_, and seems here to feel himself hurt, because our Lord did not come at his first entreaty. It is difficult for a _proud_ man, or a _man in office_, to humble himself, or to treat even God Almighty with p... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:50. _GO THY WAY; THY SON LIVETH._] Had our Lord gone with him, as he wished, his unbelief could not have been fully removed; as he would have still thought that our Lord's power could not reach from Cana to Capernaum: in order to destroy his unbelief at once, and bring him into the fuln... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:52. _THEN INQUIRED HE OF THEM THE HOUR_] The servants, overjoyed to find their master's son so suddenly restored, set off to meet him, that they might impart to him tidings which they knew would be so very agreeable; and he, intent on having his faith settled, began immediately to inqui... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:53. _SO THE FATHER KNEW_] He had the fullest proof that his son's cure was supernatural, and that it was wrought by the Lord Jesus. _HIMSELF BELIEVED, AND HIS WHOLE HOUSE._] He and his whole family became true converts to the doctrine of the manifested Messiah. The whole family, impre... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 4:54. _THIS - SECOND MIRACLE_] The first miracle which Christ performed was in this same city of Cana, just after his baptism; and this second took place after his arrival here from Jerusalem, whence, we have seen, he was driven by the persecution raised against him by the scribes and Pha... [ Continue Reading ]