John 4:25

The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) I know that Messias cometh.—She is puzzled by these new doctrines. “Father!” “Spirit!” what did all this mean? Was God in any real sense like the father who in childhood’s happy days had protected, and forgiven, and loved? Was the divine nature in any real sense approached by human nature in its highest and best moments, when it seemed lifted above earth, and things of the earth? Was there for her a Father who could still forgive, a Spirit whom her spirit could still love, and in the grasp of that love lift itself to virtue and truth? How different are His words to any she has ever heard before! She, as others, feels half unconsciously their power. Her answer is also a question. He, whom her countrymen called “The Converter,” or “The Returner,” and expected from such passages as Genesis 49:10 and Deuteronomy 18:15, and whom the Hebrews called “Messias,” and Hellenists called “Christ,” would come, and with Him the answer to every question. She uses the present tense, “Messias cometh.” Can it be that He stands before her now? (Comp. John 4:29.)

Benson Commentary

John 4:25-26. The woman saith, I know that Messias cometh — She probably meant from among the Jews. The Jews and Samaritans, though so much at variance in other things, agreed in the expectation of the Messiah and his kingdom. This the Samaritans probably grounded on the writings of Moses, which, as has been observed, they received as of divine authority. It was also, doubtless, strengthened by the slight acquaintance which they had with the writings of the prophets, and by the hopes which they knew were entertained by the Jewish nation, not to mention the general expectation which now prevailed in many parts of the East, that a great prince was soon to arise in Judea; which is called Christ — It would appear from the manner in which this clause is expressed, that it was spoken by the woman; and yet it is manifest that could not have been the case. “Our Lord and the woman spoke a dialect of the Chaldee, at that time the language of the country, and in the New Testament called Hebrew, wherein Messiah was the proper term, and consequently needed not to be explained to either of them into Greek, which they were not speaking, and which was a foreign language to both. But it was very proper for the evangelist, who wrote in Greek, and in the midst of those who did not understand Chaldee, when introducing an oriental term, to explain it for the sake of his Greek readers.” — Campbell. When he is come, he will tell us all things — Relating to the service of God, which it is necessary for us to know: he will supply our defects of knowledge, rectify our mistakes, and put an end to all our disputes, and will make us fully acquainted with the mind and will of God. The woman seems to have spoken this with joy for what she had already learned, and with a desire of fuller instruction. Jesus saith — Hasting to satisfy her desire before his disciples came; I that speak unto thee am he — Our Lord did not speak of himself thus plainly to the Jews, because, as they were full of expectation that the Messiah, when he came, would erect a glorious temporal kingdom, and constitute them a free, happy, and prosperous people, if Jesus had openly professed to be that expected deliverer of their nation, many of them would doubtless have taken up arms in his favour, and others have accused him to the Roman governor. Yet he did, in effect, declare what implied it, though he declined using and applying to himself the particular title. For in a multitude of places he represented himself both as the Son of man, and as the Son of God: both which expressions were generally understood by the Jews as peculiarly applicable to the Messiah.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:4-26 There was great hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews. Christ's road from Judea to Galilee lay through Samaria. We should not go into places of temptation but when we needs must; and then must not dwell in them, but hasten through them. We have here our Lord Jesus under the common fatigue of travellers. Thus we see that he was truly a man. Toil came in with sin; therefore Christ, having made himself a curse for us, submitted to it. Also, he was a poor man, and went all his journeys on foot. Being wearied, he sat thus on the well; he had no couch to rest upon. He sat thus, as people wearied with travelling sit. Surely, we ought readily to submit to be like the Son of God in such things as these. Christ asked a woman for water. She was surprised because he did not show the anger of his own nation against the Samaritans. Moderate men of all sides are men wondered at. Christ took the occasion to teach her Divine things: he converted this woman, by showing her ignorance and sinfulness, and her need of a Saviour. By this living water is meant the Spirit. Under this comparison the blessing of the Messiah had been promised in the Old Testament. The graces of the Spirit, and his comforts, satisfy the thirsting soul, that knows its own nature and necessity. What Jesus spake figuratively, she took literally. Christ shows that the water of Jacob's well yielded a very short satisfaction. Of whatever waters of comfort we drink, we shall thirst again. But whoever partakes of the Spirit of grace, and the comforts of the gospel, shall never want that which will abundantly satisfy his soul. Carnal hearts look no higher than carnal ends. Give it me, saith she, not that I may have everlasting life, which Christ proposed, but that I come not hither to draw. The carnal mind is very ingenious in shifting off convictions, and keeping them from fastening. But how closely our Lord Jesus brings home the conviction to her conscience! He severely reproved her present state of life. The woman acknowledged Christ to be a prophet. The power of his word in searching the heart, and convincing the conscience of secret things, is a proof of Divine authority. It should cool our contests, to think that the things we are striving about are passing away. The object of worship will continue still the same, God, as a Father; but an end shall be put to all differences about the place of worship. Reason teaches us to consult decency and convenience in the places of our worship; but religion gives no preference to one place above another, in respect of holiness and approval with God. The Jews were certainly in the right. Those who by the Scriptures have obtained some knowledge of God, know whom they worship. The word of salvation was of the Jews. It came to other nations through them. Christ justly preferred the Jewish worship before the Samaritan, yet here he speaks of the former as soon to be done away. God was about to be revealed as the Father of all believers in every nation. The spirit or the soul of man, as influenced by the Holy Spirit, must worship God, and have communion with him. Spiritual affections, as shown in fervent prayers, supplications, and thanksgivings, form the worship of an upright heart, in which God delights and is glorified. The woman was disposed to leave the matter undecided, till the coming of the Messiah. But Christ told her, I that speak to thee, am He. She was an alien and a hostile Samaritan, merely speaking to her was thought to disgrace our Lord Jesus. Yet to this woman did our Lord reveal himself more fully than as yet he had done to any of his disciples. No past sins can bar our acceptance with him, if we humble ourselves before him, believing in him as the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I know that Messias cometh - As the Samaritans acknowledged the five books of Moses, so they expected, also, the coming of the Messiah.

Which is called Christ - These are probably the words of the evangelist, as it is not likely that the woman would explain the name on such an occasion.

Will tell us all things - Jesus had decided the question proposed to him John 4:20 in favor of the Jews. The woman does not seem to have been satisfied with this answer, and said that the Messiah would tell them all about this question. Probably she was expecting that he would soon appear.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

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 Joh 4:29) 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 De 18:15.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The woman by this reply, though a woman of Samaria, showeth herself to be a Jew, for she was one of them who lived in an expectation of one whom the Jews called the Messiah, prophesied of by Daniel under this notion, Daniel 9:25,26, and by the psalmist, Psalm 2:2; which term Messiah signifieth Christ (that is, anointed) in the Greek. She had a further notion, that this Messiah should be a great Prophet, Deu 18:15; yea, she appears to have had a further notion of the Messiah, viz. that when he came he should reveal to them the whole will of God as to the salvation of man, and the worship of God: this lets us know, that she was none of the Assyrian part of the inhabitants of Samaria. If any ask, how she, being a Samaritan, should know any thing of the Messiah, the Samaritans receiving only the five books of Moses? It is easily answered, That even the five books of Moses make mention of the Messiah, under the notion of the seed of the woman, Genesis 3:15, the seed of Abraham, Genesis 12:3, Shiloh, Genesis 49:10, the Prophet like to Moses, Deu 18:15. And for the name Messiah, she might easily learn it from other Jews, that the Person called Shiloh, and the Prophet, was called by Daniel the Messiah.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The woman saith unto him,.... Not knowing well what to say to these things Christ had been discoursing about, as the place, object, and manner of worship; and being undetermined in her judgment of them, by what he had said, was willing to refer them to the Messiah's coming; of which she, and the Samaritans, had some knowledge,

I know that Messias cometh which is called Christ: the last clause, "which is called Christ", are not the words of the woman explaining the Hebrew word Messiah; for as, on the one hand, she did not understand Greek, so, on the other, she could not think that the person she was conversing with, who she knew was a Jew, needed that word to be explained to him; but they are the words of the evangelist, interpreting the Hebrew word "Messiah", by the Greek word "Christ", in which language he wrote: hence this clause is left out in the Syriac version, as unnecessary to a Syriac reader, not needing the word to be explained to him. The Arabic and Ethiopic versions, and some copies, read in the plural number, "we know that Messias cometh"; the knowledge of the coming of the Messiah was not peculiar to this woman, but was common to all the Samaritans; for as they received the five books of Moses, they might learn from thence, that a divine and excellent person was to come, who is called the seed of the woman, that should bruise the serpent's head; Shiloh, to whom the gathering of the people should be; and a prophet like unto Moses: and though the word "Messiah" is not found in those books, yet, as it was usual with the Jews to call the same person by this name, they might easily take it from them, and make use of it; and they not only knew that there was a Messiah to come, and expected him, but that he was coming, just ready to come; and this they might conclude, not only from the general expectation of the Jewish nation about this time, but from Genesis 49:10. And it is certain, that the Samaritans to this day do expect a Messiah, though they know not his name, unless it be the meaning of which they do not understand (m) to me it seems to be an abbreviation of or , "he that is to come"; by which circumlocution the Jews understand the Messiah; see Matthew 11:3; and to which this Samaritan woman seems to have some respect:

when he is come he will tell us all things; the whole mind and will of God; all things relating to the worship of God, and to the salvation of men. This the Samaritans might conclude from his general character as a prophet, like unto Moses, to whom men were to hearken, Deuteronomy 18:15, and from a common prevailing notion among the Jews, that the times of the Messiah would be times of great knowledge, founded on several prophecies, as Isaiah 2:3, and which they sometimes express in the following manner (n):

"in the days of the Messiah, even the little children in the world shall find out the hidden things of wisdom, and know in it the ends and computations (of times), and at that time he shall be made manifest unto all.''

And again (o),

"says R. Judah, the holy blessed God will reveal the deep mysteries of the law in the times of the King Messiah; for "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord", &c. and it is written, "they shall not teach every man his brother", &c.''

And elsewhere (p),

"the whole world shall be filled with the words of the Messiah, and with the words of the law, and with the words of the commandments; and these things shall extend to the isles afar off; to many people, the uncircumcised in heart, and the uncircumcised in flesh; and they shall deal in the secrets of the law.--And there shall be no business in the world, but to know the Lord only; wherefore the Israelites shall be exceeding wise, and know secret things, and comprehend the knowledge of their Creator, as much as is possible for a man to do, as it is said, "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord", &c.''

Accordingly, the Messiah is come, who lay in the bosom of the Father, and has made known all things to his disciples, he hath heard of him; he has declared him to them, his love, grace, and mercy. God has spoken all he has to say that appertains to his own worship, and the salvation of the children of men by his Son Jesus Christ.

(m) 1 Epist. Samar. ad Scaliger, in Antiq. Eccl. Oriental, p. 125. (n) Zohar in Gen. fol, 74. 1.((o) Zohar in Lev. x. 1.((p) Maimon. Hilch. Melachim, c. 11. sect. 4. & 12. 5.

Geneva Study Bible

The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 4:25-26. The woman is struck by Christ’s answer, but she does not yet understand it, and she appeals to the Messiah; Χριστῷ Χριστὸν ἔλεξεν, Nonnus. Well says Chrysostom: εἰλιγγίασεν ἡ γυνὴ (she grew dizzy) πρὸς τὰ λεχθέντα, καὶ ἀπηγόρευσε πρὸς τὸ ὕψος τῶν εἰρημένεν, καὶ καμοῦσα ἄκουσον τί φησιν, κ.τ.λ. The presentiment that Jesus Himself was the Messiah is not to be recognised in her words (against Luthardt); yet these are neither evasive nor abrupt (Lücke, de Wette), but the expression of the need of the manifestation of the Messiah, which was deeply felt in this moment of profound impression,—a need which Jesus perceived, and immediately satisfied by the declaration that followed. The Samaritans, sharing the national hope of the Jews, and taking their stand upon the Messianic passages in the Pentateuch (such as Genesis 15; Genesis 49:10, Numbers 24, and especially Deuteronomy 18:15), were expecting the Messiah,[193] whom they called הַשָּׁהֵב or הַתָּהֵב (now el Muhdy; see Robinson, III. 320), whose mission they apprehended less in a political aspect, though also as the restoration of the kingdom of Israel, and the re-establishment of the Gerizim-worship, yet merely as the result of human working. See Gesen. de theol. Sam. p. 41 ff., and ad carmina Sam. p. 75 f.; Bargès, passim; Vilmar, passim. Against B. Bauer’s unhistorical assertion, that at that time the Samaritans had no Messianic belief (Evang. Gesch. Joh. Beil. p. 415 ff.), see B. Crusius. Μεσσίας (without the article, as in John 1:42) is uttered by the woman as a proper name, and thus she adopted the Jewish title, which was doubtless well known in Samaria, and the use of which might be so closely connected with a feeling of respect for the highly gifted Jew with whom she was conversing, that there is no adequate ground for the assumption that the evangelist puts the word into her mouth (Ammon).

ΠΆΝΤΑ] used in a popular indefinite sense.

ἘΓΏ ΕἸΜΙ] I am He, i.e. the Messiah, John 4:25, the simple usual Greek expression, and not in imitation of Deuteronomy 32:39. Observe the plain and direct avowal, in answer to the guilelessness of the Samaritan woman, whose faith was now ready to acknowledge Him (comp. Chrysostom). The consideration of the special circumstances, and of the fact that here there was no danger of a political abuse of the avowal (John 6:15), obviates the seeming contradiction between this early confession and Matthew 8:4; Matthew 16:20.

[193] The Samaritan name השׁהב or התהב is by some rendered the converter (so Gesenius and Ewald), and by others the returning one (Moses), as Sacy, Juynboll (Commentar. in hist. gentis Sam. L. B. 1846), Hengstenberg. Both are linguistically admissible; the latter, considering Deuteronomy 18:15, is the most probable.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 4:25. This great statement rather overwhelms and bewilders the woman. Ἰλιγγίασε πρὸς τὸ τῶν ῥηθέντων ὕψος, Euthymius, after Chrysostom. Somewhat helplessly she appeals to the final authority, οἶδα ὅτι Μεσσίας … πάντα. The Samaritan expectation of a Messiah was based on their knowledge of Deuteronomy 18, and other allusions in the Pentateuch, and on their familiarity with Jewish ideas. He was known as Hashab or Hathab, the Converter, or as El Muhdy, the Guide. For the sources of information, see Westcott’s Introd. to Gospels, chap. ii., note 2. “It appears from Josephus (Ant., xviii. 4, 1) that in the later years of the procuratorship of Pilate, there was an actual rising of the Samaritans, who assembled on Mount Gerizim, under the influence of these Messianic expectations. Who can say that they may not have been originally set in motion by the event recorded in the Fourth Gospel?” Sanday. It was His prophetic endowment which this woman especially believed in, “He will tell us all”; and for Him she was willing to wait.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. Messias] See note on John 1:41. There is nothing at all improbable in her knowing the Jewish name and using it to a Jew. The word being so rare in N.T. we are perhaps to understand that it was the very word used; but it may be S. John’s equivalent for what she said. Comp. John 4:29. Throughout this discourse it is impossible to say how much of it is a translation of the very words used, how much merely the substance of what was said. S. John would obtain his information from Christ, and possibly from the woman also during their two days’ stay. The idea that S. John was left behind by the disciples, and heard the conversation, is against the whole tenour of the narrative and is contradicted by John 4:8; John 4:27.

which is called Christ] Probably a parenthetic explanation of the Evangelist’s (but contrast John 1:41), not the woman’s. The Samaritan name for the expected Saviour was ‘the Returning One,’ or (according to a less probable derivation) ‘the Converter.’ ‘The Returner’ points to the belief that Moses was to appear again.

when he is come] Or, when He comes. ‘He’ is in emphatic contrast to other teachers.

all things] In a vague colloquial sense.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 4:25. Λέγει, [the woman] saith) with joy at the truth which she had come to know, and with earnestness and hope of coming to the full knowledge, concerning Messiah Himself.—ὁ λεγόμενος Χριστός, who is called Christ) The evangelist adds this, as an interpretation. Chrysost. on the passage, Whence was it, that the Samaritans were expecting the Christ, seeing that they admitted the authority of Moses alone? It was from Moses himself.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 25, 26. -

(e) The Christ as conceived by Samaria. Verse 25. - We probably do not possess here the whole of the conversation. It is clear, however, that strange presentiments of something more precious than any sanctuary, or any ritual, dawned upon the Samaritan woman. "A prophet" might tell her and her people where men ought to worship. The Prophet she discovered answered a desire for the "where" by revealing the "how" they are to worship. But there are many other lessons they need, and she gives expression to an idea of the Messiah, and of his coming, which startles us by its boldness. The woman saith unto him, I know (οϊδα, I know as a matter of current opinion and with intuitive certainty) that Messias cometh (which is called Christ). [This parenthetical clause by the evangelist is the explanatory translation into Greek of the Aramaic word. This must be so, unless we could be certain, with Hug, Diodati, and Roberts, that Jesus and the woman were speaking Greek to each other.] The woman turns from a theme which she has partially understood. How should a woman have been able at a moment to discharge and dispense with the traditions of a life, and the prejudices hoary with age? We know that the Samaritans anticipated One who should be a "converter," or "restorer" (Gesenius, 'Anecdota Samaritana,' p. 65, translates the Samaritan word הַשָּׁהֵב by conversor (so Ewald); Hengstenberg, Tholuck, Meyer, by restitutor), and cherished a hope of his appearance, upon the faith of the great promise (Deuteronomy 18:15) that One would arise who would make known to them the Divine will. It is remarkable, but not unreasonable, that she should have adopted the Hebrew word in common use among all the Jewish people. In ver. 29 it is given in Greek without any reference to the original speech. Samaritans and Jews alike anticipated a Christ an Anointed One, a Plenipotentiary, a Guide. The more spiritual apprehension which follows becomes some explanation of the fact that our blessed Lord should have admitted to her what he afterwards, in Galilee, kept reticently in reserve. The Galilaeans would have come, on his slightest encouragement, and against his will have made him a king. This would have forced on him a position and dignity which, from their standpoint, would have wrecked his spiritual mission and frustrated his design. This woman, here and later on, made it obvious that her notion of the "Restitutor" or "Messiah" was One who, when he is come, will declare to us all things; in ver. 29 One who can read the secrets of the heart, and knows her and others altogether; while from ver. 42 we learn that she and her friends were anticipating there and then "the Saviour of the world." Luthardt here points back to Genesis 5:29 as part of the origin of the Samaritan idea. John 4:25

Vincent's Word Studies

Messiah cometh. The woman uses the Jewish name, which was known in Samaria. The Samaritans also expected the Messiah, basing their hopes on such Scriptures as Genesis 3:15; Genesis 49:10; Numbers 24:17; Deuteronomy 18:15. They looked for Him to restore the kingdom of Israel and to re-establish the worship on Gerizim, where they supposed that the tabernacle was hidden. They called Him Hushab or Hathab, meaning the Converter, or, according to some, the Returning One. The Samaritan idea was less worldly and political than the Jewish.

Which is called Christ

Added by the Evangelist. Compare John 1:41.

He is come (ἐκεῖνος)

Emphatic; pointing to Messiah as contrasted with all other teachers.

He will tell (ἀναγγελεῖ)

Literally, proclaim or announce. The compounded preposition ἀνά, the radical meaning of which is up, signifies throughout, from bottom to top. The verb is used in John 16:13, of the revelations of the Comforter.