Joh 4:4-10 | KingComments | STEP | It says so humanly that “the Lord”, Who is the Omniscient, “knew”, in the sense of came to know. It is as if it is told to Him or that He hears it being told somewhere. In this we see His truly being Man in the foreground, yet He is the eternal God Who knows everything. This is the wonder of His Person that we cannot fathom. He learns that the Pharisees have heard that He makes and baptizes more disciples than John. ‘Making disciples’ is done by baptizing ( ). The Pharisees also came to John’s baptism. They were not baptized by him, but denounced by him ( ). John was already a threat to their position, but now they hear that the Lord is attracting even more people. As a result, they feel even more threatened. Their hatred of Him becomes manifest because they practice evil things that He brings to light. They do not want to be exposed by Him ( ). In order to withdraw Himself from their hatred for the moment, the Lord leaves Judea, where the Pharisees are strongly represented. John the evangelist mentions in an interlude that the Lord Himself does not baptize, but that His disciples do. His disciples cannot but baptize into a living Messiah. He Himself knows that He must first suffer and die as the Son of Man and therefore He does not baptize. He leaves Judea and returns to Galilee. His coming to Galilee is the moment when in the other Gospels His public service begins, through which in Galilee “a great light” is seen ( ). His way to Galilee leads through Samaria. He had to go through there. It is a Divine ‘had to’, for this is how His Father determines His way. As true Man He opened His ear to the Father that morning ( ), by which He knows that in Samaria He will meet a weary woman. God wants to use that encounter to have a testimony among the nations that His Son is the Savior of the world ( ).

‏ John 4:4-10

From Judea via Samaria to Galilee

It says so humanly that “the Lord”, Who is the Omniscient, “knew”, in the sense of came to know. It is as if it is told to Him or that He hears it being told somewhere. In this we see His truly being Man in the foreground, yet He is the eternal God Who knows everything. This is the wonder of His Person that we cannot fathom. He learns that the Pharisees have heard that He makes and baptizes more disciples than John. ‘Making disciples’ is done by baptizing (Mt 28:19). The Pharisees also came to John’s baptism. They were not baptized by him, but denounced by him (Mt 3:7).

John was already a threat to their position, but now they hear that the Lord is attracting even more people. As a result, they feel even more threatened. Their hatred of Him becomes manifest because they practice evil things that He brings to light. They do not want to be exposed by Him (Jn 3:20). In order to withdraw Himself from their hatred for the moment, the Lord leaves Judea, where the Pharisees are strongly represented.

John the evangelist mentions in an interlude that the Lord Himself does not baptize, but that His disciples do. His disciples cannot but baptize into a living Messiah. He Himself knows that He must first suffer and die as the Son of Man and therefore He does not baptize.

He leaves Judea and returns to Galilee. His coming to Galilee is the moment when in the other Gospels His public service begins, through which in Galilee “a great light” is seen (Mt 4:12-17). His way to Galilee leads through Samaria. He had to go through there. It is a Divine ‘had to’, for this is how His Father determines His way. As true Man He opened His ear to the Father that morning (Isa 50:4), by which He knows that in Samaria He will meet a weary woman. God wants to use that encounter to have a testimony among the nations that His Son is the Savior of the world (Jn 4:42).

By Jacob’s Well

The Lord comes to Sychar. John reminds us that this city is near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. This tells us about the relationship between Jacob and his son Joseph. We know that Joseph was the son of his father Jacob’s love. Jacob had already given Joseph on one occasion a varicolored tunic as an expression of his love for him (Gen 37:3). He had also given Joseph a piece of land that he had bought from the sons of Hamor (Gen 33:19; Jos 24:32). In the relationship of love between Jacob and Joseph and its manifestations, we have a wonderful picture of the Father’s love for the Son. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand (Jn 3:35).

Near Sychar is the well of Jacob. It is the well for the weary and thirsty pilgrim. The Lord Jesus is weary from His journey and sits down by the well as a weary Traveler. John again has an eye for detail and mentions that it is about the sixth hour.

We see how the Son of God shares in the general suffering of mankind when He sits there, tired from the journey, by the well to rest. He is content with that. He seeks nothing but to do the will of His Father, Who has led Him there. In what follows, we have a beautiful sequence of features or attributes of the Savior that all become visible in their full glory and splendor. Everything He says reveals His perfect Godhead. We see in Him that God is light and that God is love. From what He needs, it is clear that He is perfectly Man.

An Encounter at the Well

While the Lord is sitting there, resting, a woman of Samaria comes to draw water from the well. We become witnesses to an extraordinarily meaningful encounter of a lonely, poor, sinful woman with the Judge of the Living and the Dead.

He opens the conversation with the question whether she wants to give Him, the eternal God, the Creator of heaven and earth, a drink. As Man, He depends on this woman for a sip of water. He Who has provided food and drink for an entire nation in a wilderness for forty years, He Who has turned water into wine and feeds a hungry crowd, asks someone else for a drink. He utters no command, but He takes the place of a humble Questioner toward a woman who lives in sin. Thus the Lord begins the conversation with this woman He knows through and through. He knows how to approach her in order to finally give her the full blessing He has for her.

This encounter has been meticulously prepared by God. When the Son of God and the woman meet, no one is present. The disciples had to leave and make room for her. They know nothing of this grace. The woman too comes to the well alone. She is not with the other women. In her solitude, she meets the Savior of the world through the wonderful guidance of God Who brought her there. What a meeting! Two lonely people meet each other. But Who was lonelier than He? The conversation is between Him and her personally, without possible interference or distraction from others.

The Samaritan woman is most astonished by the Lord’s question. She sees that He is a Jew. She knows that in the eyes of the Jews she is ‘only’ a Samaritan woman and therefore has no significance. The contempt of Jews for Samaritans is great, so great, in fact, that Jews completely ignore the Samaritans. Jews are acting as if they don’t exist. There is no relationship whatsoever with them. That is why she is amazed at how it is possible that He, Who is for her at the moment no more than “a Jew”, is asking her for a drink.

The Gift of God

In His respond, the Lord tells the woman about God Who has a gift. He says it in a way that awakens in her a longing for that gift. The Son does not present God as One Who demands, but as a Giver. If she knew the gift of God, which is eternal life in Him Who now speaks to her, she would reverse the roles. She would have asked Him a drink and He would have given her living water. God is the source of living water (Jer 2:13; Zec 14:8) and as God the Son He now offers that living water to men.

With this offer He wants to provide for her spiritual need, her spiritual thirst. He is able to quench that thirst. To this end He points to Himself as the Humble One Who is also the Son of the Father, yet Who has bowed down so deeply that He can ask a sinful woman for water. This is how close God has come to man in His Son, in Him Who is the true God and eternal life. With the words “who it is who says to you” He points to Himself as the weary and thirsty Man Who asks her for a sip of water and Who at the same time is the eternal Son of God. He is truly the gift of God to men.

Can God reveal more clearly that He is a Giver? The fact that she has no idea at this time doesn’t change the fact of that great gift of God. If she had any notion of it, she would have asked living water from Him. It is the question of the life-giving Word of God that presents God to the hearts of those who long for this living water. If we have that desire, it becomes active in our heart and connects us to the Lord Jesus and all that is to be found in Him.

The woman, like Nicodemus in the previous chapter, can only think on a natural level. Consequently, she limits the Lord’s words to the human resources on which she would depend to receive that living water. She asks Him where He can get the living water from. And is He perhaps greater than that which is of old, that has always met the needs, previously met the needs of Jacob and his family and possessions, and now meets her needs as well?

When there is no awareness of the glory of Christ, tradition is always an obstacle to accepting what comes from God. A great name and great gifts and a long tradition, blind us to God’s work in Christ. As a result, the true Great is not recognized in His greatness.

The Lord is in the process of breaking through her traditions. He first points her to the water of the well. That water refreshes for a certain period of time, but after that there is thirst and the need to drink again. Water from a natural well quenches thirst for a while, but not forever. This is how God has ordained it for the creature. This is different for those who are given to drink from the Holy Spirit. That is what Christ then speaks about with regard to the water He offers. The water He gives not only delivers from restless search for peace, but gives so much more. That water is a source of joy that someone receives in his innermost being and that he will never lose.

There is even more connected to it. That well in a person is connected to eternal life. By this the Lord refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit which He gives in the believer to become a fresh well of Divine joy in his innermost being (Jn 7:39). In John 3, the gift is the only begotten Son Whom God has given to the world (Jn 3:16). Here the gift is the Holy Spirit Whom God gives us through His Son enabling us to enjoy all that has been given to us in the Son.

All that God has given us can be summed up in: “Eternal life.” Eternal life has two aspects. It is both the Lord Jesus Himself (1Jn 5:20) and knowing the Father and the Son, which is also called eternal life (Jn 17:3). Possessing such a well that enables us to enjoy eternal life leads to lasting fulfillment. Where that well is present, there will be no need for anything else forever. These are the wonderful things associated with the gift of God.

The woman has already understood so many of the Lord’s words that she yearns to possess what He speaks of. Yet she still connects it with the natural well, where she will no longer have to go in order to quench her natural thirst.