7 There cometh a woman of 9 Then saith the 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. c 2 Kings 17. 24; Luke the higher minds of the day, in bringing them. from their proud half-scepticism to the deepest and most humbling hearttruths of his Gospel. The latter shows how he would take a rude mind of humble rank, and raise it to a knowledge of himself, and in himself to a grasp of the sublimest truths of eternity and God. 2. Modern rationalists have expressed much contempt at the want of dignity of Jesus's holding this converse with a garrulous female at a country well. Still greater was the contempt of the Jewish rabbis for woman. "No man salutes a woman," says one doctor. "He plays the fool who instructs his daughter in the law," says another. This condescension of the Saviour, therefore, crosses alike the pride of the rationalist and of the rabbi. Doubtless it was Jesus's intention to cross the pride of both. Those sublime truths which the philosophers of Greece could impart only to the schools, Christianity brings down to the masses of society; to its humblest ranks; to women and to children. 3. This female, however, evidently possessed great strength of womanly character; a strength of passion which had exposed her to the extraordinary guilt of her past life; strength, nevertheless, of religious conviction powerfully struggling with her guilty nature; and strength of intellect, exhibited not only in the keenness of her insight into his remarks in the dialogue, but displayed in the powerful effect of her report upon the action of her townsmen. 4. The successive steps by which the Lord reveals himself furnish a beautiful study into the operations of mind. He presents himself first as a man and a Jew, 7-9; he proposes himself to her faith as a spiritual life-giver, 10-15; he 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. 9. 52, 53; Acts 10. 28. confirms the faith in his offer by prcving himself a holy prophet, 16–19; he so unfolds the truths of God as to be accepted as Messias, 20-26. Through all this progress he carries also the thought of her sin and his salvation. 7. Of Samaria-Not of the city of Samaria, the ancient capital, which lay upon a mountain-top eight miles distant, but of the province and race of Samaria. To draw water — Bringing her own cord and pitcher "to draw with." As Shechem is two miles distant she probably came from the field of labour, probably the flourishing grain field of Mukhnah. The town may, however, have then stretched nearer to the well. Give me to drinkMaking a request from which the whole revelations that follow could be gradually drawn. 8. Unto the city-Of Shechem, by the shorter route, for his midday refreshment. To buy-In Samaria they would find no hospitable entertainer; and they must purchase from the conmon purse, of which Judas was sooner or later the carrier. 9. Being a Jew-Jesus presents himself to her first as a Jew. If he shows himself by needing drink to be a man, doubtless, in his dress, his dialect, and his physiognomy, this Lord of all was a Jew. Askest drink of me-Some feeling of gratification there doubtless was in the woman's mind, that a Jew should be obliged to ask a favour of a Samaritan. Yet this very fact both called attention to their religious differences and prepared her mind to listen with complacency. Moreover, his land voice, serene aspect, and calm dignity, even in petitioning, present to her insight something of divine, and prepare her heart for faith. Jews have no dealings 10 Jesus answered and said father Jacob, which gave us unto her, If thou knewest the the well, and drank thereof gift of God, and who it is that himself, and his children, and saith to thee, Give me to drink; his cattle? thou wouldest have asked of 13 Jesus answered and said him, and he would have given unto her, Whosoever drinkthee living water. eth of this water shall thirst again: 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? 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give 12 Art thou greater than our him shall be in him a well of d Isa. 12. 3, & 44. 3; Jer. 2. 13; Zech. 13. 1, & 14. 8.- -e Chap. 6. 35, 58. Chap. 7. 38. -It was the Jew who was the most positively hostile, and with some justice; for it was the Samaritan who was the mean and mendacious offender. See notes on Matt. x, 5; Luke ix, 5254. His religious system was an imitation and a mockery of Judaism, and yet claiming to be the genuine reality. He first plagiarized the Jew, and then audaciously boasted of being the true original. This woman has her misgivings that the Jew may be right, (verse 20;) and this, joined to the impression which the Lord's appearance has made upon her, induces her to ask, not without surprise, the reason of his condescension. 10. If thou knewest-Lange unworthily makes our Lord say this as a sort of contest or issue with her. On the contrary, here commences a train of suggestion and query by which the Lord directly leads her mind to the perception that he is not merely a soothsayer or clairvoyant, but a holy prophet of the true Jehovah. Verse 19. He does this, first, by (10-15) raising her thoughts from the material to the supernatural; and, second, by leading her, through a route which discloses to herself her sin, to himself as the prophetic searcher of guilt, 16-19. The gift of God-The divine gift of the draught of eternal life through the Messiah. Living water-By a suggestive double sense, living water may mean pure runwing water, or it may mean the water of divine life, thus forming a transition from the physical to the spiritual. 11. Woman saith-She perceives the double meaning, and queries which is the true sense. If it be the material water of this present well he means, he must make a deep draught with neither rope nor bucket. If it be some kind of transcendental, mystical, or immortalizing water he means, he must be greater than the father of the tribes himself who dug this wonderful well! 12. Greater than...Jacob-For Jacob could furnish his water only by digging a well, and no better water could he furnish for self and household. Our father Jacob-She ostentatiously claims to be in the true line of descent from the great father. 13. Whosoever drinketh-Jesus raises his words to their higher meaning. She has made the double supposition of the waters of this well or some transcendent water, and he finishes the parallel. This is but a temporal water; his is the perennial spring of eternal life. And he can furnish it, even though he is to be supposed, thereby, immeasurably great. er than our father Jacob. 14. Shall never thirst-Will never thirst; the simple future. In him a well-The supply will not be, like the material water from an external and distant spring, but within. And while the well is thero the ever-living water will incessantly spring up. The water can never die or dry; but the well may, water springing up into ever- said unto her, Thou hast well lasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. 16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. 17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband: 18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. h 19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped in said, I have no husband. Jesus' this mountain; and ye say, Chapter 6. 34, & 17. 2, 3; Romans 6. 23; by sin and apostacy, be removed. See 15. Sir, give me this water-Her reverent Sir, or Lord, indicates that this is no feigned or sarcastic supplication. Yet there is scarce anything truly spiritual in her request. She asks only a divine draught that shall give exemption from bodily thirst, and from this labour of coming, drawing, and carrying. She is reluctant to rise to the full spirituality of his words or of his character. Jesus will now so direct the conversation as to furnish her proof that he is a prophet of God, and that his words express divine spiritual truth. 16. Go, call thy husband-Jesus knew that she had no living husband, just as God knew that Cain had no living brother. Gen. iv, 9. A catechiser or teacher puts questions to his pupil, not because he cannot furnish the answer, but because, perhaps, his pupil cannot. See note on Matthew v, 31. Jesus by giving this order to her does not for a moment deceive her, making her think he does not know. She sees at the instant that he knows and is touching her guilty point of character. h Luke 7. 16, & 24. 19; chapter 6. 14, & 7. 40. i Judges 9.7. she have shrunk from the glance of that pure eye with shame as she faltered forth these words! 18. Five... not thy husband — The Evangelist does not state the emotions of the woman now. But her own language, (verse 29,) "he told me all things that ever I did," shows that at Jesus's words her whole life's history of guilt rises up so vividly to her view, that she verily believes that it was he who told her the whole! So it is said that men in the instant of drowning have seen at a glance, as in a picture, the whole of their lives, coexisting, as it were, before the mind at once. 19. Sir...art a prophet-Confessing thereby her own sins, and acknowledging him as a divine guide. 20. Our fathers worshipped-It is a great mistake to suppose that she now, by "a womanly dexterity," changes the discussion to avoid a disagreeable topic. Thou art a prophet, are her thoughts; and if a prophet truly sent from God, thou canst solve this great question between Moriah and Gerizim, of which I, with all Samaritans, have heard from our childhood up. Is salvation of the Jews or of the Samaritans? No expression of deep penitent emotion is indeed recorded; but her testimony in verse 29, and her intense action, 28-30, are full proof that the words of this verse are an earnest inquiry, Is salvation from Samaria or from the Jews? In this mountain— Pointing doubtless to Gerizim, rising 17. I have no husband-How must in grandeur before them, and crow ned |