The Woman Of Samaria - Her Life And Times

The Woman of Samaria - Her Life And Times

WATER

Cool, clear water. A commodity most of us today take for granted. We turn on a faucet, and fresh, clean water is readily available. In Palestine, however, water is scarce and highly valued.

The long, mostly rainless summers cause most of the rivers in Palestine to dry up completely. Even the Jordan River becomes shallow, narrow, and muddy in the summer months. The early peoples of Palestine depended on rain during the spring and fall months for their water supply. Though scarce at other times during the year, the rain during these seasons kept the springs and wells flowing and the cisterns full.

The Jews became adept at gathering every bit of rainwater, storing it up for future use during the dry seasons. Cisterns, covered pools dug out of rock specifically for storing rainwater, were numerous. In Jerusalem, the temple area alone had thirty-seven cisterns, one of them large enough to hold over two million gallons of water. Gutters, pipes, and waterways directed the rainwater from the surface to the underground cisterns, which would provide a constant supply of water, even during dry spells.

Heavy dew provided a good share of the moisture required by crops growing in the summer months. The warm, cloudless nights of Palestinian summers provide prime conditions for dew to form. Where ample water was readily available, farmers irrigated crops and vineyards to maximize the produce received from a field.

Drinking water was stored and carried in goatskins. Many towns and cities had drinking water for sale in their markets and on the streets. Only a small amount of water was used for washing, simply because it was so scarce. However, good hospitality required that a guest in someone’s home receive a basin of water to wash at least his or her feet and hands after walking on the dusty roads (Genesis 18:4; John 13:5).

Getting daily water from the neighborhood well or cistern was the duty of the younger women of a household. They would usually go to the well in the evening, when the air was cooler. It’s interesting to note that the Samaritan woman went to the well at noon (“the sixth hour”), probably in order to avoid the other women, who may have looked down on her.

Water is used in symbolic ways throughout Scripture. David compared his troubles to “deep waters” (Psalm 69:1 – 2, 14; 124:5). The book of Proverbs compares people’s words to deep waters and wise words to a “bubbling brook” of water (Proverbs 18:4). Good news is like fresh water (Proverbs 25:25). Several passages refer to our sins being washed away (Psalm 51:7; Ephesians 5:26; Hebrews 10:22). Jesus told the Samaritan woman that he had water that would take away her thirst forever. The water he was speaking of was not, of course, two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, but spiritual water — a water that will fill us so full of himself that all our needs will be met, all our wants satisfied, and all our thirsts fulfilled.