A WOMAN OF SAMARIA
Tuesday – October 30, 2018, Cheshvan 21, 5779
Greetings Partners, friends, and visitors to this blog called The Three Minute Word. Most people who follow these Bible teaching find that it takes way longer than three minutes to read and digest what is being said of Holy Spirit to the reader. Again, today the featured picture is from the boat landing on Messalonskee Lake in Oakland, Maine. Beautiful spot. We will pick up our study of the Bible Book of John in the fourth chapter and the account of a Samaritan woman.
John 4:3-8 (KJV)
3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.
4 And he must needs go through Samaria.
5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
So, we see that the Jesus Christ Evangelistic Association (I made up the association name) has left Judaea and on the way to Galilee have stopped in Samaria. Samaritans had Jewish roots but had mixed extensively with Gentiles so were regarded by the Jews to be of a lesser stature and not Jews. We find Jesus at Jacob’s well in Samaria while the disciples go into town to get some food. According to Dake’s Study Notes this well was frequented by young men looking for a bride and by women of ill repute. Perhaps the Samaritan woman would fall into that category. The name Jacob is that of the Patriarch who gave rise or was the progenitor of the twelve tribes of Israel. As you may recall he was renamed Israel which means to rule as God or a prince who has power with God. Jacob wrestles with a man (thought to be an angel) and is told he will no longer be called Jacob but Israel (Genesis 32:28). A short time later in an encounter with God Jacob’s name is actually changed by God from Jacob to Israel (Genesis 35:10). A well whether it be then or now is a life giving, sustaining, resource. The ultimate life giver, Jesus, is sitting at this well. And certainly, One who had power with God was there and One who would shortly again rule as God was there.
What do you think about the phrase “Jesus therefore, being wearied” was resting at the well? Is this a statement you would expect of a person operating as God or a person operating as a man? The entire ministry of Jesus from entering the womb of the Virgin Mary to His Resurrection from the Dead was done as a man. From our Bible text we find it is about noon and “a woman of Samaria” comes to the well to draw water. Notice that Jesus really issues an order not a request. This lack of what we might consider civility or good manners was in keeping with the status of Samaritans in the eyes of the Jews (and in their own eyes) and the status of women in particular. Now, let’s see this account develop.
John 4:9-12 (KJV)
9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?
12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Notice that this woman of Samaria makes direct reference to the fact that she is a Samaritan with whom Jews have no dealings and that she is a woman lowering her status even further. She readily identified Jesus as a Jew. She refers to His command as a request which I would guess was expected given her status in the eyes of the Jews. It seems that the Samaritans were of such low stature that a Jew would not ask a Samaritan for something. The One who loves all people, who would soon die for all peoples responds perhaps with the first alter call, telling her about the living water, the Word of God, and she was talking to the Word, the Word of God. He is talking spiritual, she continues to talk natural or carnal, at least for the time being. First, she responds with the observation that He does not have anything to draw water with so He could not have drawn water for her. Next, she refers explicitly to her Jewish roots and obviously reveres Jacob highly. I will pick up here Lord willing tomorrow.
Until our next publication, as a Bible Teacher and Prophetic Voice I speak this blessing over each and every one of you, receive it by faith in Jesus name!
Numbers 6:24-26 (AMP)
24 The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;
25 The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;
26 The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).
By: Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
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