Jesus Leaves Judaea for Galilee by Way of Samaria (4:1-4)

4:1. ὁ κυριος. This is read by ABCLTbW, but the Western reading (אDΘ fam. 1, with a b c e ff2 l Syr. cur.) is ὁ Ἰησοῦς. It is plain that the text has been tampered with. The verse is clumsily expressed and seems to have been rewritten, ὁ κύριος having probably been inserted in the later draft to remove any ambiguity as to the subject of the sentence.

It has been pointed out (on 1:38) that His disciples were accustomed to address Jesus either as Rabbi (Teacher) or as Mari (Lord). And in His absence, according to the Synoptists, they used both terms, either saying ὁ διδάσκαλος (as Jesus bade them do, Mark 14:14) or ὁ κύριος (Mark 11:3), an appellation which He approved (Mark 5:19). In Jn., Martha says ὁ διδάσκαλος (11:28); Mary Magdalene says ὁ κύριος (20:2, 18), and so do the disciples (20:25, 21:7).

In direct narrative, when the evangelists are using their own words and not reporting the words of others, a distinction must be made. In Lk. (7:13, 10:1, 11:39, 12:42, 17:5, 22:61), “the Lord” is often used by the evangelist. So in the Marcan Appendix (16:19, 20) we have “the Lord” twice. This also is the usage of the Gospel of Peter. But Mk. (followed by Mt.) never writes “the Lord,” but always “Jesus.” The primitive narratives, that is, took the form “Jesus said …,” “Jesus did …” The form “the Lord said” is later.

Now in the direct narrative of the Fourth Gospel we find “Jesus” as in Mk., and not “the Lord” as in Lk., with five exceptions which are instructive. In 4:1, 6:23, 11:2, ὁ κύριος is the true reading; but these verses are all explanatory glosses, not from the hand of Jn., but written after the first draft of the story had been completed. In 20:20, 21:12, where we have ὁ κύριος, we are in the middle of the post-Resurrection narrative, and it is not unnatural that special reverence should be exhibited in writing of Him who had risen.

Soon after the Resurrection, the title began to imply that larger and deeper meaning of ὁ κύριος as the representative of יְהוָֹה which is frequent in Paul and is found in the Acts (2:36, 9:11).That “Jesus is Lord” (1 Corinthians 12:3; cf. Php 2:11) has become the central thought of the Christian profession; but now the predicate means more than “Master,” for it expresses the doctrine of the Incarnation. Perhaps we may say that the passage from the lower to the higher sense begins with the citation of Psalm 110:1 by the Master Himself (Mark 12:36).

Thus the use by Jn. of the form of narrative in which the central figure is designated as “Jesus” (save in the exceptional passages cited) rather than as “the Lord,” illustrates well the primitive characteristics which the Fourth Gospel exhibits.

Probably some time had elapsed since Jesus had begun His ministry in Judæa (cf. διέτριβεν, 3:22); and it is possible that His departure was subsequent to John’s imprisonment (cf. 3:24). The Pharisees (see on 1:24) had begun to take notice of Him, being perhaps even more suspicious of Him than they had been of John (1:24), because they had heard that (ὅτι recitantis) “Jesus is making more disciples than John”; and so He moved to another place (cf. 7:1, 10:39). At this stage He was anxious to avoid open collision with the Pharisees. It will be noticed that we have the “making of disciples” and “baptizing” associated closely thus early, long before the charge is said to have been given to the apostles μαθητεύσατε … βαπτίζοντες αὐτούς (Matthew 28:19).

The art. is omitted before Ἰησοῦς πλείονας μαθ. ποιεῖ, contrary to the general usage of Jn., who prefers to write ὁ Ἰησοῖς (see on 1:29). We have the same omission at 4:47, 6:24, and for the same reason as here, viz. that ὅτι introduces the words which were actually spoken: the construction is not oblique, but that of ὅτι recitantis.

2. If this verse is part of the original draft of the Gospel, it is a parenthetical comment or correction by Jn., and is quite in his manner (see on 2:21). He wishes to prevent his readers from making any mistake; the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was baptizing disciples in large numbers, but Jn. pauses to explain that the report which reached them was inaccurate in so far as it suggested that Jesus baptized in person. And it may be that this correction of ἐβάπτιζεν in 3:22 (where see note) is well founded.

But it is probable that the verse 4:2 is not from the hand of Jn.,1 but was added at a revision of the text, because of the idea that it would detract from the dignity of Jesus to perform the ministry of baptism, which even Paul was accustomed as a rule to leave to others. There are slight indications, too, that the style of the verse is not Johannine. καίτοιγε does not occur elsewhere in the N.T., and Jn. is apt to use καί where another would use καίτοι (see on 1:11. Again, Ἰησοῦς is not preceded by the def. article, as is the general usage of Jn. (see on 1:29). For οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, see on 2:2.

3. ἀφῆκεν τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, “He forsook Judæa.” ἀφίημι is an unusual word to use of leaving a place, but cf. 16:28.

DΘ fam. 13 with Latin texts read τὴν Ἰουδαίαν γῆν (cf. 3:22).

καὶ ἀπῆλθεν πάλιν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν, “He departed again into Galilee,” the first ministry in Galilee having been already described (1:43-2:12); see on 3:24. We should not have expected the aor. ἀπῆλθεν, as the journey is not yet completed, and the Samaritan episode comes next. But it is quite good Greek, εἰς meaning “towards.” “He left again for Galilee,” is the exact rendering.

πάλιν is a favourite word with Jn., as with Mk. It is used of going back to a place, as it is here, 4:46, 6:15, 10:40, 11:7, 18:33, 38, 19:4, 9, 20:10. AB*ΓD omit πάλιν, but ins.אB2CDLTbWΘ fam. 13 with the O.L. and Old Syriac vss.

4. ἔδει δὲ αὐτὸν κτλ., sc. “He had to go through Samaria,” unless He wished to make a detour. Josephus mentions (Antt. xx. 6. 1) that it was the habit of the Galilæans going to Jerusalem to pass through Samaria, this being the direct route (cf. Luke 9:51, Luke 9:52). But apparently Jesus did not start from Jerusalem, but from Jericho (cf. 3:22); and the road that He took was probably the north-western road from thence to Ai and Bethel, where He would strike the great northern road used by caravans.

ἔδει does not stand here for any Divine necessity, although Jn. often uses it thus (see on 2:4, 3:14).

Discourse at the Well with the Samaritan Woman (Vv. 5-26)

5. Συχάρ. “Near to the plot of ground (χωρίον; cf. Matthew 26:36) that Jacob gave to Joseph,” i.e. to the E. of Shechem (Genesis 33:18, Genesis 48:22), the modern Nabliûs. Some have thought that Sychar and Shechem are identical, but they have been distinguished since Eusebius. Sychar is probably to be identified with the village ˒Askar (ע having displaced א, a linguistic change which is also observable in the Arabic form of Ascalon). ˒Askar is situated about five furlongs N.E. of Jacob’s Well.1

E. A. Abbott finds Sychar in the root שׁכר “drunkenness”; i.e. it is an opprobrious name for Shechem (cf. Isaiah 28:1: this, he suggests, is suitable to the moral of the dialogue, which has to do with drinking.2 But there is no need to find such subtle and obscure allegory in a place-name.

6. κεκοπιακώς. The verb is used again by Jn. only at v. 38. ὁδοιπορία appears elsewhere in the N.T. only at 2 Corinthians 11:26.

ἐκαθέζετο, “He was seated”; cf. 11:20, 20:12. καθέζομαι in the N.T. is always used in a durative sense. Tw has the unique variant ἐκάθισαν.

οὕτως may mean “just as He was,” sc. without waiting to select a place deliberately; but more probably it refers to κεκοπιακὼς ἐκ τῆς ὁδοιπορίας “tired with His journey, He was seated by the well.” Cf. 1 Kings 2:7 for a somewhat similar use of οὕτως. οὕτως is omitted here in some cursives and in Latin, Syriac, and Coptic vss.

For κεκοπιακώς, see on 1:14 for Jn.’s emphasis on the true humanity of Jesus. He saw nothing in speaking of Jesus as “tired” which was inconsistent with His oneness with Him of whom the prophet wrote, “The Everlasting God, the Lord, fainteth not, neither is weary” (Isaiah 40:28).

“Jacob’s Well”3 is at a fork in the northern road to Samaria; one branch, the ancient caravan road, going N.E. to Scythopolis, the other going W. by Nablus and thence N. to Engannim. The well is about 100 feet deep, and at the bottom the water collects, probably by infiltration. The double title πηγή (v. 6) and φρέαρ (vv. 11, 12) is thus explicable. Why any one should have taken pains to sink a deep pit, when there is abundance of water both at Nabl̂us and ˒Askar, we cannot tell; any more than we can explain why a woman should come half a mile from ˒Askar to draw water which she could have got in the village. But, at any rate, the well is there, and probably has been there since the days of Jacob. In the absence of knowledge of the exact position of the woman’s house, it would be idle to speculate as to the motive which drew her to this, which was even then a sacred well, rather than to the ˓Ain at ˓Askar.

“It was about the sixth hour,” that is, about noon (see on 1:39), the natural time to rest while the sun was at its height. The account given by Josephus of Moses resting by a well in. Midian (Exodus 2:15) provides a striking parallel: καθεσθείς ἐπί τινος φρέατος ἐκ τοῦ κόπου καὶ τῆς ταλαιπωρίας ἠρέμει μεσημβρίας οὕσης οὐ πόρρω τῆ πόλεως (Antt. ii. xi. 1). As in the Gospel story, Moses was sitting by the well at midday, weary with his journey, when the women came to draw water for their flocks. No doubt, the usual time for this was in the evening, but there is no improbability in water being drawn sometimes at noon, as Josephus represents it, and as Jn. says that the woman came to do.

7. “A woman of Samaria” (ἐκ τῆς Σαμαρίας: cf. 1:44). In later days she was commemorated as St. Photina, on March 20.

For ἀντλεῖν, the regular word for drawing water from a well, see on 2:8, 9 above.

δός μοι πεῖν. So א*B*C*DL the rec. has πιεῖν. This is a common Greek constr.; cf. Xen. Cyrop. vii. i. 1, τῷ δὲ Κύρῳ … προσήνεγκαν ἐμφαγεῖν καὶ πιεῖν, and see v. 33.

8. οἰ γὰρ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ κτλ., “For His disciples had gone into the city (sc. Sychar, vv. 5, 39) to buy food.” Had they been with Him, they would have been the natural persons to draw water for their Master, and He would not have had need to ask of a stranger. Probably they carried with them an ἅντλημα, or skin-bucket, as part of their travelling equipment, in which water could be drawn. The woman notices that Jesus has no ἄντλημα (v. 11).

We do not know which of His disciples were with Jesus on this journey (see on 2:2), or how many there were. See further on v. 18.

Syr. sin. places this clause in its chronological order after πηγῇ (v. 6), a rearrangement of the text made for the sake of clearness;1 but the use of parenthesis is quite in Jn.’s style (see, e.g., 2:6).

τροφάς, victuals, only here in pl. number.

That the disciples should buy victuals in a Samaritan town shows that the barrier between Jew and Samaritan was not impassable. The rule as to food seems to have varied from time to time. One Rabbinical precept is, “Let no man eat the bread of the Cuthæans, for he that eateth their bread is as he that eateth swine’s flesh” (M. Shebhiith, viii. 10), and Samaritan wine was forbidden to a Jew. But, on the other hand, “the victuals of the Cuthæans are permitted if not mixed with wine or vinegar” (Jesus. Ab. Zar. v. 4), and their unleavened bread was allowed (Bab. Kidd. 76a).1 There was continuous traffic of Jews through Samaria—from Galilee to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem to Galilee—and it is unlikely, except at moments of intense theological excitement, that a hungry traveller would have scrupled to buy bread in a Samaritan village, or that a Samaritan villager would have scrupled to sell it.

9. Πῶς σὺ Ἰουδαῖος ὢν κτλ. The Samaritan woman affects surprise—for her words are ironical—that a Jew should ask her for water. There was nothing strange in asking a woman for water, as it was women who generally drew it from the wells; cf. Genesis 24:17. However bitter the feeling between Jew and Samaritan, we cannot suppose that a draught of cold water in the noontide heat would be likely to be refused by either to other. It was counted the mark of a wicked man “not to have given water to the weary to drink” (Job 22:7); and the precept of kindness was universal: “If thine enemy be thirsty, give him water to drink” (Proverbs 25:21). Yet the woman makes her little gibe—half-jest, half-earnest—recalling to Jesus the old feud between Jews and Samaritans. She recognised Jesus as a Jew, perhaps by His dress or perhaps by His manner of speech (cf. Matthew 26:73). The narrative does not say explicitly that she granted the request of Jesus, Δός μοι πεῖν, but the reader is intended to understand that she did so.

The explanatory comment οὐ γὰρ συνχρῶνται Ἰουδαῖοι Σαμαρείταις, “for Jews do not treat familiarly with Samaritans,” is omitted by א*D a b e, but it must be retained with אaABCLTbWNΘ. συγχρᾶσθαι does not occur again in N.T., but it appears in Ignat. Magn. 3, ὑμῖν δὲ πρέπει μὴ συγχρᾶσθαι τῇ ἡλικίᾳ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου, “it becomes you not to presume upon the youth of your bishop,” to treat him with undue familiarity.

If συνχρῶνται is translated “have dealings with,” co-utuntur, the comment would not be accurate; for although Jews and Samaritans were intolerant of each other (cf. Luke 9:53, John 8:48), of necessity there was much business intercourse. As v. 8 indicates, Jews could trade with Samaritans, as indeed they could do with heathen (cf. Nehemiah 13:16).

The comment is not that of the Samaritan woman, but of the evangelist, and is quite in his manner (cf. Introd., p. xxxiv).

10. ἀπεκρ. καὶ εἶπ. For the constr., see on 1:50.

εἰ ᾔδεις τὴν δωρ. κτλ., “If thou knewest the gift of God”; Cf. 8:19. δωρεά, a free gift, occurs in the Gospels adverbially (Matthew 10:8), and is always used in the Acts and Epistles of a divine gift. It refers here to the “living water” mentioned in the next sentence, i.e. to the gift of the Holy Spirit (which σωρεά always indicates in the Acts). Some commentators have referred to 3:16, and have interpreted it of the gift which God gave of His Son, and the revelation of salvation through Him.

τίς ἐστιν ὁ λέγων σοι. The woman had taken Him for a Jew. But He was no ordinary Jew, and if she had understood who He was, she would have been the suppliant (σὺ ἂν ἤτησας αὐτόν, “It is you who would have asked Him), and He would have granted her request (cf. Matthew 7:7); He would have given her “living water.”

ἔδωκεν ἄν σοι ὕδωρ ζῶν. This saying was paradoxical in its form, like the saying with which the attention of Nicodemus was arrested (3:3). The woman did not understand it (v. 11), nor could she have been expected to do so. But Jesus is here following the method by which He was accustomed to convey instruction to simple people who were willing to learn; and the discourse which follows may be particularly compared with 6:26f. The plan of these instructions, for which there are Synoptic parallels, has been discussed in the Introduction, p. cxi.

ὕδωρ ζῶν. “Living water” is water issuing from a spring or fountain, unlike the water in Jacob’s Well, which was due to percolation and rainfall,1 being collected in a kind of cistern or pit (τὸ φρέαρ, v. 12). This was good water, but had not the virtues of “running” or “living” water, such as was always preferred, especially for purposes of purification (Genesis 26:19, Leviticus 14:5, Numbers 19:17).

Water was full of symbolism to Eastern thought, and in the O.T. it is often symbolic of the Divine Wisdom which is the source of life. Thus “the law of the wise” is πηγὴ ζωῆς (Proverbs 13:14; cf. Proverbs 14:27). The Son of Sirach declares that he that possesses the law shall obtain wisdom: “with bread of understanding shall she feed him, and give him water of wisdom to drink” (Ecclus. 15:2, 3). Zechariah’s vision of hope is that “living waters shall go out from Jerusalem” (Zechariah 14:8; cf. Ezekiel 47:1, Joel 3:18), i.e. that in the glorious future the blessings of the Law shall be extended far and wide. The promise of Isaiah (12:3) is “with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation,” a passage specially parallel to the declaration of Christ here.

“If thou hadst known who it is that speaketh to thee, thou wouldest have asked Him, and He would have given thee living water.” To appreciate the depth of this saying, it must be remembered that, according to the O.T., it is Yahweh Himself who is the Fountain of living waters (Psalm 36:9, Jeremiah 2:13, Jeremiah 2:17:13; cf. Song of Solomon 4:15, where the mystic Bride is described as φρέαρ ὕδατος ζῶντος). So also in the Apocalypse, the river of the Water of Life proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Revelation 22:1; cf. Revelation 7:17). Thus the statement of Jesus to the Woman of Samaria that, had He been asked, He would have given her living water, implies His claim to be One with the Lord of the O.T. prophets, who is alone the Source and Spring of the living waters which refresh the soul and assuage the spiritual thirst of men. See further on v. 14.

Note that Jesus does not call Himself the Living Water, although He calls Himself the Living Bread (6:51). It is from Him that the Living Water proceeds, for this is the symbol of the Spirit which He was to send (7:39).

There is no exact parallel in Philo to this doctrine of the Living Water which flows from the Word, although the similar idea expounded by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 10:4) of the mystical meaning of the Rock in the Desert from which water flowed forth for the refreshment of Israel is found in Leg. Alleg. ii. 21: ἡ γὰρ ἀκρότομος πέτρα ἡ σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν, ἣν ἄκραν καὶ πρωτίστην ἔτεμεν ἀπὸ τῶν ἑαυτοῦ δυνάμεων, ἐξ ἧς ποτίζει τὰς φιλοθέους ψυχάς.

In the Messianic forecast of Isaiah 35:7 one of the promised blessings was εἰς τὴν διψῶσαν γῆν πηγὴ ὕδατος, and at v. 26 below (where see note) Jesus is represented as declaring that He was Messiah. See on 9:1 for a quotation of this Messianic passage by Justin Martyr.

11. κύριε. She is impressed by the Speaker, and so addresses Him now (cf. vv. 15-19) in terms of respect (see on 1:38). How could He provide spring water, or water of any kind, without a bucket (ἄντλημα; cf. v. 8)?

For φρέαρ and its depth, see on v. 6. The broken Constr. οὔτε … καί is found only once again in N.T., at 3 John 1:10.

λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ γυνή. B, with the Coptic Q and Syr. sin., omits ἡ γυνή; but אcACDLTbWΘ.

12. It could not be from the well, that Jesus would provide living water. Whence then could He get it? Even Jacob got water for himself and his household from this well. Was the Speaker greater than Jacob, who had to draw the water from the well like any one else?

μὴ σὺ μείζων εἶ τοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰακώβ; See 6:31 and cf. the similar question put by the Jews (8:53), “Art thou greater than our father Abraham?”

“Our father Jacob.” The Samaritans claimed descent from Joseph, through Ephraim and Manasseh (Josephus, Antt. xi. 8, 6).

ὃς ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν τὸ φρέαρ. Field compares Pausan. iii. 25, 3: ἔστι δὲ ἐν τῇ πυρρίχῳ φρέαρ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ, δοῦναι δέ σφισι τὸν Σιληνὸν νομίζουσι.

θρέμμα is a word occurring nowhere else in the Greek Bible. τὰ θρέμματα means “cattle,” a usage of which Wetstein gives many instances; etymologically, it might include also Jacob’s servants or retainers, all who were fed by him.

13, 14. Jesus explains to the puzzled woman that He does not speak of ordinary spring water. Those who drink of it will thirst again; but the Living Water satisfies eternally (οὐ μὴ διψήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα: cf. 6:35). The parallels between this discourse and that of 6:26f. have been exhibited in the Introduction, p. cxi.

14. “It shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life.” In v. 10 the thought is of God as the Eternal Fountain; but it was also a Hebrew thought that the man who has assimilated the Divine Wisdom becomes himself, as it were, a fountain from which streams of the water of life proceed. Thus the promise of Isaiah 58:11 is, “Thou shalt be like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” Schoettgen quotes an apposite saying from the Talmud: “Quando homo se convertit ad dominum suum, tanquam fons aquis uiuis impletur, et fluenta eius egrediuntur ad omnis generis homines et ad omnes tribus.” And similarly Wetstein quotes from Tanchuma, f. 17. 1: “Unde Abrahamus didicit legem? R. Simeon filius Jochai dixit: bini renes eius tanquam binae lagenae aquarum factae sunt, ex quibus lex promanavit.” See on 7:38 below.

The passage in Ecclus. 24:21-31 about the Divine Wisdom presents some parallels to these thoughts. The stream of the waters of Wisdom comes originally from God: “Her thoughts are filled from the sea, and her counsels from the great deep” (v. 29). Of the wise man increasing in wisdom it may be said, “My stream became a river, and my river became a sea” (v. 31); these waters of Wisdom lose themselves at last in the same eternal Ocean whence they sprang. Cf. Psalm 36:9 παρὰ σοὶ πηγὴ ζωῆς. The water of life is, as Jesus says here, πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, leaping forth to eternal life. C. Wesley puts it all in familiar words:

“Thou of life the Fountain art,

Freely let me take of The