NLT Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition - Flipbook - Page 29
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4:4
Matt 10:5
Luke 9:52
4:5-6
Gen 33:19; 48:22
Josh 24:32
4:7
Gen 24:17
1 Kgs 17:10
4:9
Ezra 4:1-3; 9–10
Matt 10:5
Luke 9:52-53
John 8:48
Acts 10:48
4:10
Isa 12:3; 44:3
Jer 2:13; 17:13
John 7:37-39
1 Cor 12:13
Rev 7:17; 21:6; 22:17
4:14
John 6:35; 7:38
4:15
John 6:34
•
J ohn
4
4He had to go through Samaria on the way. 5Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6Jacob’s well was there;
and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. 7Soon a
Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.”
8He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
9The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans.*
She said to J esus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me
for a drink?”
10Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking
to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
11“But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep.
Where would you get this living water? 12And besides, do you think you’re greater than
our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and
his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
13Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. 14But
those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling
spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
15“Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again,
and I won’t have to come here to get water.”
16“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.
4:9 Some manuscripts do not include this sentence.
Pharisees. They resented Jesus’ popularity as well as his message, which
challenged much of their teaching. Because Jesus was just beginning his
ministry, the time was not yet right to confront these leaders openly. He
left Jerusalem and traveled north toward Galilee.
4:4 To go from the territory of Judea to Galilee meant passing through
a central territory called Samaria. Most Jews did everything they could
to avoid traveling through Samaria. The reason goes way back into their
history.
After the northern kingdom, with its capital at Samaria, fell to the
Assyrians, many Jews were deported to Assyria, and foreigners were
brought in to settle the land and help keep the peace (2 Kings 17:24).
The intermarriage between those foreigners and the remaining Jews
resulted in a mixed race, a people who were impure in the opinion of
Jews who lived in the southern kingdom. Thus, the pure Jews hated
this mixed race, called Samaritans, because they felt that their fellow
Jews who had intermarried had betrayed their people and nation. The
Samaritans had set up an alternate center for worship on Mount Gerizim
(John 4:20) to parallel the Temple at Jerusalem, but it had been destroyed
150 years earlier. While there was long-standing prejudice between Jews
and Samaritans, Jesus did not live by such restrictions. The route through
Samaria was shorter, and that was the route he took.
4:5-7 Jacob’s well was on the property originally owned by Jacob
(Genesis 33:18-19). It was not a s pring-fed well but a well into which
water would seep from rain and dew, collecting at the bottom. Wells
were almost always located outside the city along the main road. Twice
each day, morning and evening, women would come to draw water. This
woman came at noon, however, probably to avoid meeting people who
knew her reputation. Jesus gave this woman an extraordinary message
about fresh and pure water that would quench her spiritual thirst forever
(John 4:13-14).
4:7-9 This woman was (1) a Samaritan, a member of the hated mixed
race; (2) known to be living with a man but not married; and (3) in a public
place. No respectable Jewish man would talk to a woman under such
circumstances. But Jesus did. The Good News is for every person, regardless of his or her race, social position, and past sins. We must be prepared
to share the Good News at any time and in any place. Jesus crossed all
social, cultural, and political barriers to share the Good News, and we
who follow him must do no less. What barriers do you need to cross?
4:10 What did Jesus mean by “living water”? In the Old Testament, many
verses speak of thirsting after God as one thirsts for water (Psalm 42:1;
Isaiah 55:1; Jeremiah 2:13; Zechariah 13:1). God is called the fountain
of life (Psalm 36:9) and the fountain of living water (Jeremiah 17:13). In
saying he would bring living water that could forever quench a person’s
thirst for God, Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah. Only the Messiah
could give this gift that satisfies the soul’s desire.
4:13-15 Many spiritual functions parallel physical functions. As our
bodies hunger and thirst, so do our souls. But our souls need spiritual
food and water. The woman confused the two kinds of water, perhaps
because no one had ever talked with her about her spiritual hunger and
thirst before. We would not think of depriving our bodies of food and
water when they hunger or thirst. Why, then, should we deprive our souls?
The living Word, Jesus Christ, and the written Word, the Bible, satisfy our
hungry and thirsty souls.
4:15 The woman mistakenly believed that if she received the water
Jesus offered, she would not have to return to the well each day. She was
interested in Jesus’ message because she thought it could make her life
easier. But if that were always the case, people would accept the Good
News for the wrong reasons. Jesus did not come to take away challenges
but to change us on the inside and to empower us to deal with problems
from God’s perspective.
Mediterranean
Sea
GALILEE
N
Cana
Nazareth
Mount Ebal
SAMARIA
Mount Gerizim
Sychar
Jerusalem
JUDEA
IDUMEA
Capernaum
Sea of
Galilee
Jordan River
4:1-3 Already opposition was rising against Jesus, especially from the
PE
RE
A
Dead
Sea
0
0
20 mi
20 km
THE VISIT
IN SAMARIA
Jesus went to
Jerusalem for the
Passover, cleared
the Temple, and
talked with Nicodemus, a religious
leader, about eternal
life. He then left
Jerusalem and traveled in Judea. On
his way to Galilee,
he visited Sychar
and other villages
in Samaria. Unlike
most Jews of the
day, he did not try
to avoid the region
of Samaria.
