So much animosity existed between devout Jews [Jews devoted to and practicing the Law] and Samaritans that devout Jews endured considerable inconvenience to avoid the territory that served as the Samaritan homeland. The most direct route from Galilee [a Jewish region] to Jerusalem [the Jewish holy city containing the Jewish temple] or vice versa was to take the route through Samaria. However, to avoid contact with Samaritans, devout Jews commonly descended down into the Jordan valley, circumvented the area Samaritans lived in, and ascended over 2000 feet in elevation in less than 20 miles to arrive in Jerusalem. In a time that often depended on walking, Jews lengthened the distance and increased the physical demands of the journey to avoid Samaritans! That is dedication to resentment!
To grasp a fuller appreciation of today's incident, consider the evidences found in the Misnah concerning the ill will that existed between Jews and Samaritans. (1) In many prayers offered in public by Jews, a certain number of qualified people had to be present for the prayer to be said. Berakoth 7:1 declares a Samaritan could not be included in the count to say the Common Grace, and Berakoth 8:1 restricted the saying of 'Amen' if a Samaritan said the Benediction. Shebiith 8:10 declared Jewish religion could not accept anything from a Samaritan he did not personally vow [thus things such as the temple tax could not be given by a Samaritan]. Ketuboth 3:1 includes Samaritan women in a list of women with whom a Jewish man could behave with sexual indecency and pay a fine, but not be killed (compare to Deuteronomy 22:22-27). Samaritan females were to be considered unclean from the cradle [Niddah 4:1]. The only two writs in which a Samaritan could serve as a witness to a Jewish action were the writ of divorce [very common] and the writ of emancipation [Gittin 1:5]. A Jew of documentable Jewish lineage was forbidden to marry a Samaritan [Kiddushin 4:3]. A devout Jew could not plough in a field containing a Jewish grave, but he could plough in a field containing a Samaritan grave [Oholoth 17:3]. One of the respected Jewish scholars even suggested that eating the bread of a Samaritan was like eating pork! (To the Jews, pork was unclean--see Leviticus 11.)
It was not a one-sided resentment. Roshan Ha-Shanah 2:2 referred to a Samaritan practice of deliberately lighting fires on mountains to confuse communication of Jewish communities in declaring the beginning of their month. Jews followed a lunar calendar that required an official declaration of the first sighting of the moon. Samaritans sought to confuse the Jews in their calendar counting. Though Samaritans accepted and followed the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), they engaged in a debate with Jews concerning mount Gerizim being the appropriate place to worship God rather than the temple mount in Jerusalem (see Deuteronomy 12:1-14).
Jesus left Jerusalem to return to Galilee. He did the unusual. He traveled through Samaria. He stopped at a well near the village of Sychar about noon. He was tired and hungry. His disciples went into Sychar to acquire food, and Jesus [in their absence] asked a Samaritan woman [who was alone] for a drink.
The entire circumstance was unusual! It takes little imagination to realize how started the woman was. "What does this Jewish man really want? Why would he speak to me?" Ordinarily a respectable Jewish man did not speak to any woman in public, and he surely would not require a woman to speak to him. For a Jewish man to ask a Samaritan for a drink, for a Jewish man to take water [or any food or drink] from a Samaritan and risk uncleanness, for a Jewish man to drink or eat from a Samaritan vessel was unusual to say the least! The woman must have been thoroughly confused!
When she voiced her confusion, [paraphrased] Jesus responded, "If you had any idea of who spoke to you, you would ask me for living water."
Now she is even more confused. He had no water, or he would not have asked her for a drink. He had nothing to use to draw water from the well. Who was he? Thus she asked, "Are you greater than Jacob who dug this well?" He responded, "If you drink water from this well, you will be thirsty again. However, my living water destroys thirst forever. It replaces physical life with eternal life."
Immediately what Jesus said was relevant! What a wonderful thought--no need ever to come to this well again and draw water! Thus she responded, "Let me have this water to eliminate my physical thirst permanently!"
Ah, but there was a catch! Jesus said, "Go get your husband." She said, "I do not have one." Jesus said, "You answer correctly. You had five husbands, and you are not married to the man you now live with."
Suddenly she was uncomfortable--this man she never met previously knew too much about her. Change the subject! Get the "spotlight" on a subject that causes every devout Jew to react. Talk about the correct site of worship! That is what she attempted to do.
Jesus responded, "You do not know what you are talking about. Soon this discussion of geography in worshipping God will be mute. Soon it will be only a matter of what is inside the worshipper, not where the worshipper is. God will be worshipped for Who He is, not where the worshipper is."
Then the woman made a startling statement, a statement never attributed to a Jew: "We know the Messiah [Christ--two languages, each meaning 'anointed one'] comes and will tell us everything." Jesus quite simply responded, "I am the Christ right here right now."
Two things are insightful! When the disciples returned and saw Jesus speaking to this woman, they were thoroughly confused. This just was not done by any respectable Jewish man!"
After Jesus stayed in the village of Sychar for two days [by invitation], the Samaritan men said, "Now we believe due to what we hear, not as a result of your [the woman's] report" (John 4:41, 42).
For Thought and Discussion:
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 12