John 4

Intro

John 4:1-3

John the Baptist has Pharisees visit him and drawing scrutiny. Yeshua getting more popular and having His disciples immerse more people would have drawn ire from the pharisees and caused conflict before the appointed time.

Verses 1-3 are one sentence in Greek.

Yeshua left Judea and went to Galilee

‘When the Lord learned of this’ appears first. The order of the sentence puts the emphasis on Yeshua. Raising the notion that He is the initiator of everything that comes after.

Not much to say except to keep in mind the timing and sovereignty of God as we go through this and the rest of the chapters.

Samaria

John 4:4

Except from major festivals, Jews chose to walk around Samaria rather than through it. So great was the hate for the Samaritans because of their mixed Jewish and foreign blood (Deuteronomy 7:3-5) and mixed faith

They only believed in the Torah

Had their own temple at Mount Gerizim

Origin: (2 Kings 17:24-25)

Idolatry: (2 Kings 17:41)

To the Jews it was more vile to believe in God alongside idols than not believe in God at all. To worship God as a common idol was to profane His name. So deep was the hatred, the following from the Talmud help build a picture of the feeling they had.

Mishnah Sheviit 8:10 “Whoever eats bread [baked] by Samaritans is like one who eats the flesh of a pig.”

This doesn’t provide a unified picture of the attitude towards them but an example of the worst of it.

Questions:

Had to pass? Why does Yeshua have to do anything?

Yeshua had a divine appointment with the woman and the Samaritan people He himself set up.

Who are your Samaritans?

Have you yourself ever felt othered as the Samaritans were?

Do you approach people considered outkasts or dejected? Even by the church?

Jacob’s Well

John 4:5-6

Foot of Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritans had their own temple.

Jacob’s well isn’t mentioned in the Tanakh, but the land is mentioned as Jacob’s inheritance to his descendants.

Genesis 48:22

The word for well here denotes a running spring, while later words are used to denote a dug out well. Meaning it is likely a dug out well fed by a spring. Which is still active to this day.

Wearied from His journey.

How can He get weary? What does that mean for the rest of what we know happens?

Since He became flesh He was subject to earthly limitations. (Heb 2:10-14)

The Jewish counting of time starts at 6am or sunrise. So 6th hour meant high noon most likely.

Most usually the women would come out at the break of daylight or before evening to draw water when the day was coolest. Noon would be the worst time to come draw water. That and the fact that she came by herself indicates she couldn’t come with the rest and was therefore an outcast.

A Drink

John 4:7-9

v.7 For Jews speaking to women in public wasn’t a proper thing to do. Not for a layman but certainly not a Rabbi. For Yeshua to speak to her asking for a drink was surprising on several levels. One in that she was Samaritan, another that she was a woman.

Pirke Avot: Timeless Wisdom for Modern Life: Translation (Chapter 1)

Thus sages have said: So long as a man talks a lot with the woman, he causes evil to himself, neglects the study of the Torah, and in the end will inherit Gehinnom.

So it wasn’t just a matter of propriety for them but a matter of religious zeal. Later when the disciples return their surprised is based in this context.

v.8 Even His disciples buying food among the Samaritans was considered to be breaking tradition as even their food would make you unclean.

v.9 Her response was one of understandable shock. Even venom. By treating her as He would a fellow Jew she was already being ministered to by Him. To drink from a vessel from an unclean person was to defile yourself.

The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary 1:4

b. Shabbat 1:4, II.19.E

E. Said R. Nahman bar Isaac, “Also on that day they made the rule that Samaritan women are classified as unclean with menstrual uncleanness from their cradles.”

Living Water

John 4:10-12

What does “Living water” mean? When else is water used as an imagery?

v.10 Living water is used naturally to refer to moving waters. As opposed to stagnant waters. Which was associated with being able to grow crops, drinking and watering livestock.

But in the Tanakh living water is used to describe the life giving Spirit of God. (Jer 2:13; Zech 14:8)

He provokes her with His response. What is the gift of God? Who is He? And what is living water?

Opening her up to think spiritually and not just earthly.

v.11 Like the other encounters the woman misunderstands what is spiritual as physical and asks what can He draw with from the deep well. (135 feet by recent estimate) Deepest well in Israel. Almost like it

was made that way to make this point. To show how deep the human need is.

v.12 Our father Jacob? In Greek this is a question which expects a negative answer. She couldn’t imagine anyone greater the Jacob who dug out the well that they rely on to live. Even asking “our father Jacob” would have been offensive to Jews who see the Samaritans as half-breeds.

There’s a sense of aggression here, and attempts to draw out animosity so that the unusual situation she finds herself in would resolve to what she’s used to.

When sharing your faith with people, how often do you get the sense they are trying to rile you up? If they can do that, they can write you off as another hypocrite Christian and they no longer have to confront the Truth.

Wellspring

John 4:13-15

v.13 Yeshua makes the point that water offers only temporary quenching. One has to continuously come back to the well to satisfy the need.

Likewise whatever earthly pleasures or sustances cannot truly fulfill us. They are fleeting and once they do, leave us as empty as before we consumed them.

Where do you seek fulfillment? What is your “well”?

Have you had a specific moment you realized the well you were drawing from was empty?

v.14 Yeshua describes that He has the true satisfaction to the true, spiritual need. When you Trust Yeshua you never lack for spiritual need again. (John 7:38-39)

Have you had a moment or period where you felt as though the only thing you had was Messiah to keep you going?

v.15 The woman’s response indicates that she’s still thinking of only the physical realm. She is starting to desire what He has to offer, but believes it’s just water that will save her from making all these trips out to the well.

Husband

John 4:16-18

When Yeshua saw that she still had her mind on physical things He went for the heart and brought up a pain point, a shameful sin.

He did this by starting with a casual call to bring her husband. She answered with a technically true statement but one that deceptively hides the reality of her situation.

He would then go on to press in and expose the whole truth. Showing her He knew exactly the situation she was in and the state of her spiritual health.

He knew her sin yet He did not speak it as to condemn her, but rather out of love for her. Just knowing what He did was enough to put her to death under Jewish law.

Do you ever find yourself trying to hide sin from God? despite knowing He already knows all your sins? Do you have sin that you feel such shame that even in prayer do you not share it unto Yeshua?

Smokescreen

John 4:19-20

Why did she respond with her questions in V.19 the way she did?

The woman, recognizing Yeshua’s understanding, called Him a prophet, then continued to challenge Him with a question. But even if still resistant, she prolly didn’t even realize she was no longer thinking of physical sustenance.

Jews and Samaritans both recognized the Torah’s commandment to worship in a certain place (Dt 12:5)

For the Samaritans recognizing only the Torah, it was where the Israelites gathered to be blessed before walking into the promised land (Dt 27:12) It was also overlooking the place that Abraham first built an altar to God at Shechem (Ge 12:6-7)

For the Jews, having the full Tanakh as revelation, worshipped in Jerusalem (2Ch 6:6)

The Hasmonean king John Hyrcanus destroyed the Mount Gerizim temple and brought Samaria under his control around 120 BCE, and the Samaritans later desecrated the Jerusalem temple by spreading human bones in it during Passover.

Even without the temple in Gerizim, the Samaritans still worshipped there.

True Worship

John 4:21-24

v.21 Yeshua points out than ‘an hour is coming’ referring to His death on the cross which ushers in a new age and in it a different kind of worship. Geographical places will no longer matter. He points out specifically neither here not in Jerusalem, which is likely another prophecy of the destruction of the temple (70 AD) .

Instead, each and every believer in Messiah will be a temple unto God. (1Co 6:19)

v.22 Yeshua points out that despite the lack of need of a physical temple the Samaritans did not have it right, they do not know the Lord in truth. Salvation from the Jews doesn’t mean they will all be saved or that we are somehow gatekeepers to it. But rather that the prophesied Messiah will come from Abraham to the line of David and the tribe of Judah.

Where and when do you worship?

v.23 an hour is coming and now is. Yeshua makes the point that the time is now. The heavenly kingdom and it’s ruler are here now.

True worshippers - God is looking for people who will worship Him earnestly in Spirit and in Truth. They must acknowledge Yeshua as the living God and worship through Him. To worship in spirit means to worship inwardly, in the heart. Not outwardly like the pharisees.

v.24 God is spirit - tells us of His invisible and ethereal nature. He is without form. He cannot be conceived unless by His own revelation. Sentence puts the emphasis on spirit.

Must worship in spirit and truth - this is a equirement. An ethereal God cannot be worshipped properly by means of physical acts. He is worshipped internally in the heart. And according to the truth revealed through Scripture.

How do you worship? Do you feel more spiritual if you worship to a song or in church? Don’t let feelings dictate your worship. (Ro 12:1)

Messiah Revealed

John 4:25-26

What do you think the woman is conveying in saying this? What is her expectation of the Messiah?

What is different about Yeshua’s response here than other declarations of deity? Why do you think He does that here?

v.25 The Samaritans also anticipated a coming Messiah. But having rejected all books except from the 5 books of Moses, they did not expect a Davidic king. But rather a prophet to be raised like Moses (De 18:15-18) she herself longed for the Messiah to come and make sense of the broken world she lives in. This also can mean that when she referred to Him as a prophet, she was already beginning to see Him as Messiah. But lacking the knowledge, worshipping what she doesn’t know, didn’t know who He really was.

v.26 When speaking with the Jews He was careful not to outright declare the title of Messiah, though He implied it so much that those who studied scripture ought to have known exactly the claims. With the Samaritan woman who was not quite Jewish and did not hold those dogmatic beliefs. He outright says plainly He is the Messiah. The outcast of a woman rejected by outcast people was approached by the Messiah Himself and offered the gift of true and eternal life.

The word ‘He’ doesn’t show in Greek. It’s literally “I am” instead. Making it another ‘I am’ Messianic claim.