---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  John 4"
description: "CHAPTER 4   :-. CHRIST AND THE
WOMAN OF SAMARIA—THE
SAMARITANS OF SYCHAR. 1-4. the Lord knew—not by
report, but in the sense of  :-, for which reason He i"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/john/4"
---

CHAPTER 4

. CHRIST AND THE
WOMAN OF SAMARIA—THE
SAMARITANS OF SYCHAR.

**1-4. the Lord knew**—not by
report, but in the sense of , for which reason He is here styled "the Lord."

**2. Jesus baptized not**—John
being a servant baptized with his own hand; Christ as the Master,
"baptizing with the Holy Ghost," administered the outward
symbol only through His disciples.

**3. left Judea**—to avoid
persecution, which at that early stage would have marred His work.
**departed into Galilee**—by
which time John had been cast into prison ().

**4. must needs go through Samaria**—for
a geographical reason, no doubt, as it lay straight in his way, but
certainly not without a higher design.

**5. cometh . . . to**—that is, as
far as: for He remained at some distance from it.
**Sychar**—the "Shechem"
of the Old Testament, about thirty-four miles from Jerusalem,
afterwards called "Neapolis," and now "Nablous."

**6-8. wearied . . . sat thus**—that
is, "as you might fancy a weary man would"; an instance of
the graphic style of St. John [WEBSTER
and WILKINSON]. In fact,
this is perhaps the most *human* of all the scenes of our Lord's
earthly history. We seem to be beside Him, overhearing all that is
here recorded, nor could any painting of the scene on canvas, however
perfect, do other than lower the conception which this exquisite
narrative conveys to the devout and intelligent reader. But with all
that is *human,* how much also of the *divine* have we
here, both blended in one glorious manifestation of the majesty,
grace, pity, patience with which "the Lord" imparts light
and life to this unlikeliest of strangers, standing midway between
Jews and heathens.
**the sixth hour**—*noonday,*
reckoning from six A.M.
From [Song of Solomon 1:7](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/1/7) we know, as from
other sources, that the very flocks "rested at noon." But
Jesus, whose maxim was, "I must work the works of Him that sent
Me while it is day" ([John 9:4](../../../kjv/john/9/4)),
seems to have denied Himself that repose, at least on this occasion,
probably that He might reach this well when He knew the woman would
be there. Once there, however, He accepts . . . the grateful ease of
a seat on the patriarchal stone. But what music is that which I hear
from His lips, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest" ([John 9:4](../../../kjv/john/9/4)).

**7. Give me to drink**—for the
heat of a noonday sun had parched His lips. But "in the last,
that great day of the feast," Jesus stood and cried, saying, "If
any man thirst let him come unto Me and *drink*" ().

**6-8. wearied . . . sat thus**—that
is, "as you might fancy a weary man would"; an instance of
the graphic style of St. John [WEBSTER
and WILKINSON]. In fact,
this is perhaps the most *human* of all the scenes of our Lord's
earthly history. We seem to be beside Him, overhearing all that is
here recorded, nor could any painting of the scene on canvas, however
perfect, do other than lower the conception which this exquisite
narrative conveys to the devout and intelligent reader. But with all
that is *human,* how much also of the *divine* have we
here, both blended in one glorious manifestation of the majesty,
grace, pity, patience with which "the Lord" imparts light
and life to this unlikeliest of strangers, standing midway between
Jews and heathens.
**the sixth hour**—*noonday,*
reckoning from six A.M.
From [Song of Solomon 1:7](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/1/7) we know, as from
other sources, that the very flocks "rested at noon." But
Jesus, whose maxim was, "I must work the works of Him that sent
Me while it is day" ([John 9:4](../../../kjv/john/9/4)),
seems to have denied Himself that repose, at least on this occasion,
probably that He might reach this well when He knew the woman would
be there. Once there, however, He accepts . . . the grateful ease of
a seat on the patriarchal stone. But what music is that which I hear
from His lips, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest" ([John 9:4](../../../kjv/john/9/4)).

**9-12. How is it that thou**—not
altogether refusing, yet wondering at so unusual a request from a
Jew, as His dress and dialect would at once discover Him to be, to a
Samaritan.
**for,** c.—It is this
national antipathy that gives point to the parable of the good
Samaritan ([Luke 10:30-37](../../../kjv/luke/10/30-37)),
and the thankfulness of the Samaritan leper ([Luke 17:16](../../../kjv/luke/17/16)
[Luke 17:18](../../../kjv/luke/17/18)).

**10. If thou knewest,** &c.—that
is, "In Me thou seest only a petitioner to thee but if thou
knewest who that Petitioner is, and the Gift that God is giving to
men, thou wouldst have changed places with Him, gladly suing of Him
living water—nor shouldst thou have sued in vain" (gently
reflecting on her for not immediately meeting His request).

**9-12. How is it that thou**—not
altogether refusing, yet wondering at so unusual a request from a
Jew, as His dress and dialect would at once discover Him to be, to a
Samaritan.
**for,** c.—It is this
national antipathy that gives point to the parable of the good
Samaritan ([Luke 10:30-37](../../../kjv/luke/10/30-37)),
and the thankfulness of the Samaritan leper ([Luke 17:16](../../../kjv/luke/17/16)
[Luke 17:18](../../../kjv/luke/17/18)).

**12. Art thou greater,** c.—already
perceiving in this Stranger a claim to some mysterious greatness.
**our father Jacob**—for
when it went well with the Jews, they claimed kindred with them, as
being descended from Joseph but when misfortunes befell the Jews,
they disowned all connection with them [JOSEPHUS,
*Antiquities,* 9.14,3].

**13, 14. thirst again . . . never
thirst,** c.—The contrast here is fundamental and all
comprehensive. "This water" plainly means "this
natural water and *all satisfactions of a like earthly and
perishable nature.*" Coming to us *from without,* and
reaching only the *superficial* parts of our nature, they are
soon spent, and need to be anew supplied as much as if we had never
experienced them before, while the deeper wants of our being are not
reached by them at all whereas the "water" that Christ
gives—*spiritual life*—is struck out of the very depths of
our being, making the soul not a *cistern,* for holding water
*poured into* it *from without,* but a *fountain* (the
word had been better so rendered, to distinguish it from the word
rendered "well" in ), springing, gushing, bubbling up and flowing forth *within*
us, ever fresh, ever living. *The indwelling of the Holy Ghost as
the Spirit of Christ* is the secret of this life with all its
enduring energies and satisfactions, as is expressly said (). "Never thirsting," then, means simply that
such souls have the supplies *at home.*
**into everlasting
life**—carrying the thoughts up from the eternal freshness and
vitality of these waters to the great ocean in which they have their
confluence. "Thither may I arrive!" [BENGEL].

**15-18. give me this water,**
&c.—This is not obtuseness—that is giving way—it expresses
a wondering desire after she scarce knew what from this mysterious
Stranger.

**16. call thy husband**—now
proceeding to arouse her slumbering conscience by laying bare the
guilty life she was leading, and by the minute details which that
life furnished, not only bringing her sin vividly up before her, but
preparing her to receive in His true character that wonderful
Stranger to whom her whole life, in its minutest particulars,
evidently lay open.

**15-18. give me this water,**
&c.—This is not obtuseness—that is giving way—it expresses
a wondering desire after she scarce knew what from this mysterious
Stranger.

**19, 20. Sir, I perceive,**
c.—Seeing herself all revealed, does she now break down and ask
what hopes there might be for one so guilty? Nay, her convictions
have not reached that point yet. She ingeniously shifts the subject
from a personal to a public question. It is not, "Alas, what a
wicked life am I leading!" but "Lo, what a wonderful
prophet I got into conversation with! He will be able to settle that
interminable dispute between us and the Jews. Sir, you must know all
about such matters—our fathers hold to this mountain here,"
pointing to *Gerizim* in Samaria, "as the divinely
consecrated place of worship, but ye Jews say that *Jerusalem*
is the proper place—which of us is right?" How slowly does the
human heart submit to *thorough* humiliation! (Compare the
*prodigal* see on ).
Doubtless our Lord saw through the fetch; but does He say, "That
question is not the point just now, but have you been living in the
way described, yea or nay? Till this is disposed of I cannot be drawn
into theological controversies." The Prince of preachers takes
another method: He humors the poor woman, letting her take her own
way, allowing her to lead while He follows—but thus only the more
effectually gaining His object. He answers her question, pours light
into her mind on the *spirituality* of all true worship, as of
its glorious Object, and so brings her insensibly to the point at
which He could disclose to her wondering mind whom she was all the
while speaking to.

**21-24. Woman,** c.—Here are
three weighty pieces of information: (1) The point raised will very
soon cease to be of any moment, for a total change of dispensation is
about to come over the Church. (2) The Samaritans are wrong, not only
as to the *place,* but the whole *grounds* and *nature*
of their worship, while in all these respects the truth lies with the
Jews. (3) As God is a *Spirit,* so He both *invites* and
*demands* a *spiritual worship,* and already all is in
preparation for a *spiritual economy,* more in harmony with the
true nature of acceptable service than the ceremonial worship by
consecrated *persons, place,* and *times,* which God for a
time has seen meet to keep up till fulness of the time should come.
**neither in this mountain nor
yet at Jerusalem**—that is, *exclusively* ([Malachi 1:11](../../../kjv/malachi/1/11)
[1 Timothy 2:8](../../../kjv/1-timothy/2/8)).
**worship the Father**—She
had talked simply of "worship"; our Lord brings up before
her the great OBJECT of
all acceptable worship—"THE
FATHER."

**22. Ye worship ye know not
what**—without any *revealed authority,* and so very much in
the dark. In this sense, the Jews *knew what they were about.*
But the most glorious thing here is the reason assigned,
**for salvation is of the
Jews**—intimating to her that *Salvation* was not a thing
left to be reached by any one who might vaguely desire it of a God of
mercy, but something that had been *revealed, prepared, deposited
with a particular people,* and must be sought *in connection
with, and as issuing from them;* and that people, "the Jews."

**23. hour cometh, and now
is**—evidently meaning her to understand that this new economy
was in some sense being set up while He was talking to her, a sense
which would in a few minutes so far appear, when He told her plainly
He was *the Christ.*

**21-24. Woman,** c.—Here are
three weighty pieces of information: (1) The point raised will very
soon cease to be of any moment, for a total change of dispensation is
about to come over the Church. (2) The Samaritans are wrong, not only
as to the *place,* but the whole *grounds* and *nature*
of their worship, while in all these respects the truth lies with the
Jews. (3) As God is a *Spirit,* so He both *invites* and
*demands* a *spiritual worship,* and already all is in
preparation for a *spiritual economy,* more in harmony with the
true nature of acceptable service than the ceremonial worship by
consecrated *persons, place,* and *times,* which God for a
time has seen meet to keep up till fulness of the time should come.
**neither in this mountain nor
yet at Jerusalem**—that is, *exclusively* ([Malachi 1:11](../../../kjv/malachi/1/11)
[1 Timothy 2:8](../../../kjv/1-timothy/2/8)).
**worship the Father**—She
had talked simply of "worship"; our Lord brings up before
her the great OBJECT of
all acceptable worship—"THE
FATHER."

**25, 26. I know Messias cometh . . .
when He is come,** &c.—If we take our Lord's immediate
disclosure of Himself, in answer to this, as the proper key to its
meaning to *His ear,* we can hardly doubt that the woman was
already *all but prepared for even this startling announcement,*
which indeed she seems (from ) to have already begun to suspect by His revealing her to
herself. Thus quickly, under so matchless a Teacher, was she brought
up from her sunken condition to a frame of mind and heart capable of
the noblest revelations.
**tell us all things**—an
expectation founded probably on .

**26. I that speak . . . am he**—He
scarce ever said anything like this to His own people, the Jews. He
had magnified them to the woman, and yet to themselves He is to the
last far more reserved than to her—*proving* rather than
plainly *telling* them He was the Christ. But what would not
have been *safe* among them was safe enough with her, whose
*simplicity* at this stage of the conversation appears from the
sequel to have become perfect. What now will the woman say? We
listen, the scene has changed, a new party arrives, the disciples
have been to Sychar, at some distance, to buy bread, and on their
return are astonished at the company their Lord has been holding in
their absence.

**27. marvelled that he talked with
the woman**—It never probably occurred to them to marvel that He
talked with *themselves;* yet in His eye, as the sequel shows,
He was quite as nobly employed. How poor, if not false, are many of
our most plausible estimates!
**no man said . . . What? . . .
Why?**—awed by the spectacle, and thinking there must be
something under it.

**28-30. left her water-pot**—How
exquisitely natural! The presence of strangers made her feel that it
was time for her to withdraw, and He who knew what was in her heart,
and what she was going to the city to do, let her go without
exchanging a word with her in the hearing of others. Their interview
was too sacred, and the effect on the woman too overpowering (not to
speak of His own deep emotion) to allow of its being continued. But
this one artless touch—that she "left her water-pot"—speaks
volumes. The living water was already beginning to spring up within
her; she found that man doth not live by bread nor by water only, and
that there was a water of wondrous virtue that raised people above
meat and drink, and the vessels that held them, and all human things.
In short, she was transported, forgot everything but One, and her
heart running over with the tale she had to tell, she hastens home
and pours it out.

**29. is not this the Christ**—The
*form* of the question (in the *Greek*) is a distant,
modest way of only half *insinuating* what it seemed hardly
fitting for her to *affirm;* nor does she refer to what He said
of Himself, but solely to His disclosure to her of the particulars of
her own life.

**30. Then they went out,** &c.—How
different from the Jews! and richly was their openness to conviction
rewarded.

**31-38. meantime**—that is, while
the woman was away.
**Master, eat**—*Fatigue*
and *thirst* we saw He felt; here is revealed another of our
common infirmities to which the Lord was subject—*hunger.*

**32. meat ye know not of**—What
spirituality of mind! "I *have* been eating all the while,
and such food as ye dream not of." What can that be? they ask
each other; have any supplies been brought Him in our absence? He
knows what they are saying though He hears it not.

**31-38. meantime**—that is, while
the woman was away.
**Master, eat**—*Fatigue*
and *thirst* we saw He felt; here is revealed another of our
common infirmities to which the Lord was subject—*hunger.*

**34. My meat is,** c.—"A
Servant here to fulfil a prescribed work, to *do* and to *finish,*
that is 'meat' to Me and of this, while you were away, I have had My
fill." And of what does He speak thus? Of the condescension,
pity, patience, wisdom He had been laying out upon *one soul*—a
very humble woman, and in some respects repulsive too! But He had
gained her, and through her was going to gain more, and lay perhaps
the foundations of a great work in the country of Samaria; and this
filled His whole soul and raised Him above the sense of natural
hunger ([Matthew 4:4](../../../kjv/matthew/4/4)).

**35. yet four months, and then
harvest**—that is, "In current speech, ye say thus at this
season; but lift up your eyes and look upon those fields in the light
of *another* husbandry, for lo! *in that sense,* they are
even now white to harvest, ready for the sickle." The simple
beauty of this language is only surpassed by the glow of holy emotion
in the Redeemer's own soul which it expresses. It refers to the
*ripeness* of these Sycharites for accession to Him, and the joy
of this great Lord of the reapers over the anticipated ingathering.
Oh, could we but *so,* "lift up our eyes and look"
upon many fields abroad and at home, which to dull sense appear
unpromising, as *He* beheld those of Samaria, what movements, as
yet scarce in embryo, and accessions to Christ, as yet seemingly far
distant, might we not discern as quite near at hand, and thus, amidst
difficulties and discouragements too much for nature to sustain, be
cheered—*as our Lord Himself was* in circumstances far more
overwhelming—with "songs in the night!"

**36. he that reapeth,** c.—As our
Lord could not mean that the reaper only, and not the sower, received
"wages," in the sense of *personal reward* for his
work, the "wages" here can be no other than the joy of
having such a harvest to gather in—the joy of "gathering fruit
unto life eternal."
**rejoice together**—The
blessed issue of the whole ingathering is the interest alike of the
sower as of the reaper it is no more the fruit of the last operation
than of the first; and just as there can be no reaping without
previous sowing, so have those servants of Christ, to whom is
assigned the pleasant task of merely reaping the spiritual harvest,
no work to do, and no joy to taste, that has not been prepared to
their hand by the toilsome and often thankless work of their
predecessors in the field. *The joy,* therefore, *of the great
harvest festivity will be the common joy of all who have taken any
part in the work from the first operation to the last.* (See
[Deuteronomy 16:11](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/16/11); [Deuteronomy 16:14](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/16/14);
[Psalms 126:6](../../../kjv/psalms/126/6); [Isaiah 9:3](../../../kjv/isaiah/9/3)).
What encouragement is here for those "fishers of men" who
"have toiled all the night" of their official life, and, to
human appearance, "have taken nothing!"

**31-38. meantime**—that is, while
the woman was away.
**Master, eat**—*Fatigue*
and *thirst* we saw He felt; here is revealed another of our
common infirmities to which the Lord was subject—*hunger.*

**38. I sent you,** &c.—The *I*
is emphatic—I, the Lord of the whole harvest: "sent you,"
points to their *past* appointment to the apostleship, though it
has reference only to their *future* discharge of it, for they
had nothing to do with the present ingathering of the Sycharites.
**ye bestowed no labour**—meaning
that much of their future success would arise from the *preparation
already made* for them. (See on ).
**others laboured**—Referring
to the Old Testament laborers, the Baptist, and *by implication*
Himself, though He studiously keeps this in the background, *that
the line of distinction between Himself and all His servants might
not be lost sight of.* "Christ represents Himself as the
Husbandman [rather the Lord of the laborers], who has the direction
both of the sowing and of the harvest, who commissions *all* the
agents—those of the Old Testament as well as of the New—and
therefore does not stand on a level with either the sowers or the
reapers" [OLSHAUSEN].

**39-42. many . . . believed,**
&c.—The truth of [John 4:35](../../../kjv/john/4/35)
begins to appear. These Samaritans were the foundation of the Church
afterwards built up there. No miracle appears to have been wrought
there (but unparalleled supernatural knowledge displayed): "*we
have heard Him ourselves*" ([John 4:35](../../../kjv/john/4/35)) sufficed to raise their faith to a point never attained by
the Jews, and hardly as yet by the disciples—that He was "the
Saviour of *the world*" [ALFORD].
"This incident is further remarkable as a rare instance of the
Lord's ministry producing *an awakening on a large scale*"
[OLSHAUSEN].

**40. abode two days**—Two
precious days, surely, to the Redeemer Himself! Unsought, He had come
to His own, yet His own received Him not: now those who were not His
own had come to Him, been won by Him, and invited Him to their town
that others might share with them in the benefit of His wonderful
ministry. Here, then, would He solace His already wounded spirit and
have in this outfield village triumph of His grace, a sublime
foretaste of the inbringing of the whole Gentile world into the
Church.
. SECOND
GALILEAN MIRACLE—HEALING
OF THE COURTIER'S
SON.

**39-42. many . . . believed,**
&c.—The truth of [John 4:35](../../../kjv/john/4/35)
begins to appear. These Samaritans were the foundation of the Church
afterwards built up there. No miracle appears to have been wrought
there (but unparalleled supernatural knowledge displayed): "*we
have heard Him ourselves*" ([John 4:35](../../../kjv/john/4/35)) sufficed to raise their faith to a point never attained by
the Jews, and hardly as yet by the disciples—that He was "the
Saviour of *the world*" [ALFORD].
"This incident is further remarkable as a rare instance of the
Lord's ministry producing *an awakening on a large scale*"
[OLSHAUSEN].

**43, 44. after two days**—literally,
the two days of His stay at Sychar.

**44. For Jesus testified,** c.—This
verse had occasioned much discussion. For it seems strange, if "His
own country" here means *Nazareth,* which was in Galilee,
that it should be said He came to Galilee *because* in one of
its towns He expected no good reception. But all will be simple and
natural if we fill up the statement thus: "He went into the
region of Galilee, but not, as might have been expected, to that part
of it called 'His own country,' Nazareth (see [Mark 6:4](../../../kjv/mark/6/4)
[Luke 4:24](../../../kjv/luke/4/24)), *for* He acted on
the maxim which He oft repeated, that 'a prophet,'" &c.

**45. received**—welcomed Him.
**having seen . . . at the
feast**—proud, perhaps, of their Countryman's wonderful works at
Jerusalem, and possibly won by this circumstance to regard His claims
as at least worthy of respectful investigation. Even this our Lord
did not despise, for saving conversion often begins in less than this
(so Zaccheus, [Luke 19:3-10](../../../kjv/luke/19/3-10)).
**for they also went**—that
is, it was their practice to go up to the feast.

**46, 47. nobleman**—courtier,
king's servant, or one connected with a royal household; such as
Chuza ([Luke 8:3](../../../kjv/luke/8/3)), or Manaen ([Luke 8:3](../../../kjv/luke/8/3)).
**heard that Jesus was come out
of Judea**—"where he had doubtless seen or heard what things
Jesus had done at Jerusalem" ([Luke 8:3](../../../kjv/luke/8/3)), [BENGEL].
**come down**—for Capernaum
was down on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee.

**48-54. Except ye see signs,**
c.—He *did* believe, both as his coming and his urgent
entreaty show but how imperfectly we shall see; and our Lord would
deepen his faith by such a blunt and seemingly rough answer as He
made to Nicodemus.

**49. come down ere my child
die**—"While we talk, the case is at its crisis, and if Thou
come not instantly, all is over." This was faith, but partial,
and our Lord would perfect it. The man cannot believe the cure could
be wrought without the Physician coming to the patient—the thought
of such a thing evidently never occurred to him. But Jesus will in a
moment bring him up to this.

**50. Go thy way; thy son liveth**—Both
effects instantaneously followed:—"The man believed the word,"
and the cure, shooting quicker than lightning from Cana to Capernaum,
was felt by the dying youth. In token of faith, the father takes his
leave of Christ—in the circumstances this evidenced full faith. The
servants hasten to convey the joyful tidings to the anxious parents,
whose faith now only wants one confirmation. "*When* began
he to amend? . . . Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left
him"—the very hour in which was uttered that great word, "Thy
son liveth!" So "himself believed and his whole house."
He *had* believed before this, first very imperfectly; then with
assured confidence of Christ's word; but now with a faith crowned by
"sight." And the wave rolled from the head to the members
of his household. "To-day is salvation come to this *house*"
([Luke 19:9](../../../kjv/luke/19/9)); and no mean house
this!
**second miracle Jesus did**—that
is, in Cana; done "after He came out of Judea," as the
former before.

**48-54. Except ye see signs,**
c.—He *did* believe, both as his coming and his urgent
entreaty show but how imperfectly we shall see; and our Lord would
deepen his faith by such a blunt and seemingly rough answer as He
made to Nicodemus.

```json
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