John 4 - NIV First Century Study Bible

4:4–26 The Samaritan woman. The Hebrew reader was taken back to the sacred setting of the patriarchs as Jesus sat down at Jacob’s well. The story hints at a common Biblical “type scene” from the patriarchal narratives, in which an encounter at a well between a male and a female led to a marriage (see note on Ge 24:15–27). In fact, Jesus ended up speaking directly to the woman about marriage, but in a completely unexpected way. What’s more, Jesus broke with observant Jewish expectations in three senses: (1) by talking with an unmarried woman; (2) by associating with an enemy of the Jews (see Jn 4:9); and (3) by touching and receiving something from an “unclean” Samaritan.

4:9 Jews do not associate with Samaritans. Josephus described serious tensions between Jews and Samaritans, including Samaritan attacks on Jewish pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem (see also Lk 9:51–56; 10:25–37). During one Passover, Samaritans scattered bones on the temple mount in order to desecrate the festival and make the temple ritually impure. (Josephus, Antiquities, 18.2.2; 20.6.1.) The Mishnah reads, “R. Eliezer used to say: He that eats the bread of Samaritans is like to the one that eats the flesh of swine.” (Mishnah Shebiith 8:10.)

4:14 A spring of water. This has a prophetic backdrop in Moses’ role as a water-giver (see Ex 17:5–6; Nu 20:1–11; 21:16–18) and in Jeremiah’s image of God as the “spring of living water” (Jer 2:13). There are also eschatological and Messianic overtones to Jesus’ words. One rabbinic text reads: “As the former redeemer made a well to rise [compare Nu 21:17–18], so will the later Redeemer bring up water.” (Ecclesiastes Rabba 1:9; compare Arnold, Backgrounds Commentary, 2:44.) Water is an important image in John’s Gospel. It represents the Spirit of God and is a symbol that Jesus is the Messiah (see Jn 1:26; 3:5–8; 5:1–9; 7:38; 9:1–7; 19:34).

4:18 Five husbands. Jesus may have been hinting at the religious convictions of Samaritans. Josephus claimed Samaritans worshiped five gods, as their ancestors had (see 2Ki 17:24–34). (Josephus, Antiquities, 9.14.3.)

4:20 Worshiped on this mountain. The question of where to worship God was just as important in the ancient mind as how to worship God (see note on Dt 12:5). Mount Gerizim was the site where the Israelites gathered to be blessed after entering the promised land (see Dt 27:12). Samaritans had been worshiping on the mountain since the fifth century bc with various shrines and eventually a temple. The temple in Gerizim was destroyed by the Jewish king John Hyrcanus in 128 bc, but the Samaritans continued worshiping there.

4:24 Spirit and in truth. Jesus claimed God was not a material being who needed a geographic location (compare Ac 17:24–25). Also, salvation history was not exclusively Jewish. This sort of teaching was both mystical and radically counterintuitive to many of Jesus’ contemporaries who held fast to rules regarding how to worship God in the right way and in the right place.

4:27 Talking with a woman. The Mishnah reads, “He that talks much with womankind brings evil upon himself and neglects the study of the Law and at the last will inherit Gehenna” (Mishnah Avot 1:5.) (compare notes on Mt 26:13; 28:1; Lk 8:2–3; 10:38–42).

4:32 I have food to eat that you know nothing about. In rabbinic tradition, Moses was thought to have been sustained directly by God while on Mount Sinai (see notes on Dt 9:9; see also Jer 15:16).