How Did The Samaritan Woman Know Jesus Was A Jew?

How Come the Samaritan Woman Knew that Jesus Was a Jew?

″How did the Samaritan Woman know that Jesus was a Jew?″ was a question that I was asked once.You inquire as to how the Samaritan lady was aware that Jesus was a Jew before to meeting him (John 4:9).Whether it was by his mannerisms, accent, or behavior, Jesus unmistakably revealed that He was Jewish.

However, we should not infer that the words that originally passed between them are the whole total of the words that are found in John 4:7-9.What is recorded in the Bible is always relevant, but it does not imply that each recorded discourse represents the entirety of the conversation!Jesus asks the lady if she would be willing to give Him a drink in verse 7, and the Samaritan woman responds in verse 9 by saying, ″Because you are a Jew and I am a Samaritan, how can you ask me for a drink?″ In reality, any drink offered to them by a Samaritan would have been regarded ceremonially impure by the Jews at the time.With no doubt, Jesus asked her for a drink in order to begin showing her how the New Covenant will vary from the Old Covenant, with salvation being extended to Gentiles.

However, to specifically answer your question, we are not entirely certain how this woman came to the conclusion that Jesus was a Jew so quickly; most likely, He revealed this through Jewish mannerisms or accent, although it is equally possible that additional words passed between them that were not recorded in the inspired text.Because Jesus had requested a drink and was certainly exhausted, it is highly plausible that the lady would have inquired as to how far He had traveled and where He had come from.I hope this has provided an answer to your query.Robin A.Brace published a book in 2006 titled UPDATE: Was Jesus’s use of a tassel, on the other hand, a way of identifying him?

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How Did She Know?

″When the Samaritan lady heard this, she said, ″How is it that you, a Jew, would beg for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?″ 4:9 (John 4:9) We don’t believe that Jesus wore a label on his chest that said, ″I am a Jew,″ because none of us believes that.So how did the Samaritan lady know, without asking, that Jesus was a Jew when she encountered him at noon by a well near her city?Nothing else than his physical appearance, such as his clothing and/or the manner in which he spoke or behaved, could have prompted this reaction.

The Lord dressed and conducted himself in the manner of a regular Jewish man of his period, and she identified his ethnicity only on the basis of this banal appearance and mannerism.What can we take out from this apparently inconsequential piece of information?One clear fact that we can learn from that incident in the Gospel of John is that, if we want to be like Jesus, we must dress appropriately for our time and position in history.This is a reality that we can all agree on.

We are to follow Jesus’ example and observe the culture around us, determining what is regarded appropriate apparel for our position in society, and then dressing in that manner.When it comes to dressing styles, respectable sinners serve as role models for the children of God to follow.That is the method by which Jesus demonstrated how to pick a wardrobe, and it is sin to choose a wardrobe on any other basis.This standard is the norm of real holiness, and because of its simplicity, it is difficult to come by for many people to discover.Men are always on the lookout for a religious path that will cause them to seem and behave in a way that is distinct from what is normal in this society.

A really spiritual guy, on the other hand, is not one who tries to be different from the world because a truly spiritual man is already distinct from the world and is attempting to be as similar to others as he possibly can be to others.
We were taught in the theater that in order to portray the character of a drunken person, one must concentrate carefully on being sober during the whole performance.
A drunken person is not attempting to become drunk; rather, he is already intoxicated.
He is attempting to maintain his sobriety.
This is also true when it comes to genuine holiness.

It is because the guy who is filled with the Holy Spirit is so different from others within that he spends his time attempting to conform to his surroundings.
This implies that if you happen to meet a man going down the street who looks to be holy, he is most likely not so.
If he wears in a manner that differs from the manner in which regular, good men in society dress, he is a con artist.
The Old Testament also has examples of religiously distinguished persons who dressed in such garb not because they were truly holy, but rather to impress and deceive others around them (Zech.
13:4).
Maintain your normalcy.

True holiness does not go counter to common sense or decency in any way.
Because real humility is required to give up the flesh’s desire to have the appearance of good but not the substance of it, the road to everlasting life is narrow.
This is one of the factors that contributes to the narrowness of the road to eternal life.

Paul cautioned us to ″avoid the appearance of evil at all costs.″ I want to warn you that the simple ″appearance of good″ is a component of the ″appearance of evil″ that you must avoid at all costs.

Why Was the Samaritan Woman Able to Recognize Jesus as the Messiah?

A large number of Christians, I’m guessing, are familiar with the tale of the Samaritan lady, which appears in the Bible.
When she went to get some water, she came face to face with the Lord Jesus, who asked her if she would like anything to drink.
She knew that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah as a result of her conversation with Him, which she recounted in her book.
She was simply an ordinary woman with little Bible knowledge, but she was able to do what she set out to achieve.
This is just incredible.

It is well known among Christians that throughout the three and a half years during which the Lord Jesus labored on the earth, a large number of individuals had brief encounters with Him, and that a large number of people had heard Him speak.The fact that He was the Messiah, however, was only recognized by a small number of people.So, how did the Samaritan woman accomplish this?

Let’s take a look at her tale together and see if we can find answers to these concerns.″There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus says to her, ‘Give me something to drink.’″ It is written in the Bible: (Because his followers had gone to the city to get meat, he was alone.) Then the lady of Samaria confronted him, saying, ″How is it that you, a Jew, beg drink from me, who is a woman of Samaria?″ she wondered.Because the Jews do not have any business relationships with the Samaritans.Seeing her dissatisfied with the gift of God and realizing who it was who said to her, ″Give me something to drink,″ Jesus responded by saying, If you had known the gift of God, and who it was who said to you, ″Give me something to drink,″ you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.

… Whoever drinks this water will experience thirst again; but, whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never experience thirst again; rather, the water that I will give him will be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life, as I have promised.
The woman approached him and said, ″Sir, please give me some water because I am neither thirsty nor have I come here to draw.″ Jesus told her to go home and summon her husband, and then come here.
The woman responded by saying, ″I don’t have a spouse.″ Jesus responded to her by saying, ″You have correctly said that I have no husband.″ For you have had five husbands, and the one you currently have is not your husband; thus, you have accurately stated that I have no husband.
Sir, I believe you are a prophet, according to the woman who approached him.

Our forefathers worshiped on this mountain, and you claim that Jerusalem is the proper site for mankind to worship as well.
Woman, trust me when I say that the hour has come when you will no longer worship the Father on this mountain, nor even in Jerusalem, but only in your hearts.
You worship something you don’t know about; we worship something we do know about: for salvation belongs to the Jews.
However, the hour has come, and it is now, when sincere worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father is looking for such to worship him in spirit and in truth.
In the same way that God is a Spirit, those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The lady responded to him by saying, ″I know that the Messias, also known as Christ, is coming; and when he arrives, he will teach us everything.″ Jesus responded to her by saying, ″I am he who speaks to you.″ … The lady then abandoned her water pot and made her way into the city, calling out to the men, ″Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did: isn’t he the Christ?″ The men responded affirmatively.

(John 4:7-10, 13-26, 28-29; 5:7-10, 13-26, 28-29).According to the texts quoted above, there are two primary reasons why the Samaritan woman was able to realize that the Lord Jesus was the promised Messiah: first, she had a vision of the Messiah who had appeared to her.Recognition of God’s Voice in the Lord Jesus’ Utterance (Step 1) At first, when the Lord Jesus approached the Samaritan woman and asked her for some water, she was wary of Him because He was a Jew, and Jews had no business ties with Samaritans in those days.However, when the Lord Jesus spoke to her for a few moments, she recognized that He was different from the rest of the people around her, and she addressed Him as Sir.

″Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again,″ the Lord Jesus said, ″But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life,″ she was struck by the fact that His words carried authority and power that could not be expressed by ordinary people.As a result, the Lord Jesus disclosed her deepest secrets by telling her, ″For you have had five husbands, and he whom you currently have is not your spouse.″ She was taken aback by this because no one was aware of the activities she was up to in secret.However, the Lord Jesus, who had never met her before, was fully aware of her existence.She was certain that regular people would never be able to achieve such a feat, thus she regarded the Lord Jesus as a prophet.

Therefore, she shared her own dilemma with Him and inquired as to whether she should travel to the mountain or Jerusalem in order to worship God.″The hour has come,″ the Lord Jesus declared, ″when you will no longer worship the Father on this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem.″ She received an emphatic message from him when he said, ″When real worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father desires such worshippers.″ After hearing all of this, she came to the conclusion that the Lord Jesus was the promised Messiah.It was because the Lord Jesus, with a single word, cleared up her perplexity and directed her in the direction of the road of practice that leads to God’s worship.Her understanding was enhanced as a result of this.

She learned that when worshiping God, Christians should not strictly stick to exterior formalities, but rather worship God in spirit and in truth, and that only true and sincere prayer is pleasing to God’s heart.She was overjoyed and became even more persuaded that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah when she heard Him proclaim, ″I am he who speaks to you,″ for the first time.As a result, she hastily traveled to the city in order to share the good news with the locals.Despite the fact that the conversation between the Lord Jesus and her was brief, the name by which she addressed Him altered almost immediately.We believe this is because she recognized that the Lord’s words had authority and force, and that He was able to unveil her innermost secrets and corruption, fix her dilemma and misunderstanding, and point out to her the straightforward path to practice.

As a result, she came to believe that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah who was about to arrive.When we are confronted with difficulties and pain, only God’s words can instill trust and power in us.Are you interested in reading more of God’s words?Setting herself aside and seeking help in a humble manner As a matter of fact, the Samaritans had long been despised by the Jews, and the two groups had never interacted with one another.Her amazement at hearing Jesus ask her for some water came as a result of this encounter with the Lord Jesus.However, she did not reject to converse with the Lord as a result of this, but rather respectfully listened to what He had to say.

When she learned that the Lord Jesus was in possession of the living water, she was able to set herself aside and beg Him to provide her with the water that could provide her with everlasting salvation.
When the Lord Jesus disclosed her horrible secrets to her, even though she was unwilling to share them, this did not prevent her from continuing to chat with Him and seeking guidance from Him.
After the Lord Jesus cleared up her uncertainty and helped her comprehend how to worship God in a way that was pleasing to God’s will, she came to the conclusion that the Lord Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Another reason the Samaritan lady was able to obtain salvation by grace, as we can see from this passage, is because she was able to humble herself and seek the truth.Consequently, she experienced God’s mercy, heard God’s voice, and welcomed the Messiah into her life.We are now in the latter days, the critical period leading up to the return of the Lord.So, how might we absorb the strengths of the Samaritan lady in order to be prepared to greet the return of the Lord Jesus Christ?1.

Paying Attention to God’s Voice in the Morning ″I still have many things to say to you, but you are unable to handle them at this time,″ the Lord Jesus stated.As for the arrival of the Spirit of truth, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not talk of himself, but whatever he hears, that will he declare, and he will show you things to come.″ (See also John 16:12-13.) In addition, the book of Revelation prophesies, ″He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches″ on several occasions (Revelation 2-3).We may infer from these statements that when the Lord returns in the final days, He will speak to us once more in order to reveal the realities that we do not yet comprehend.He expects us to be smart virgins who pay listen to His voice when He speaks to us.It is in this manner that we might follow in the footsteps of the Lamb, attend the bridal feast, and be saved by God in the final days.

To prepare for the Lord’s return, we must seek out and actively listen for the utterances of the Holy Spirit that are directed to all of the churches.After hearing that the Lord has come to utter His word, we should follow the Samaritan woman’s example and investigate whether the word has authority and power, whether it is able to reveal our corruptions that no one else is aware of, whether it is able to resolve our problems and difficulties, and whether it is able to point us in the direction of practice.I think that, upon hearing the words of the returning Lord, everyone who has a heart and a spirit will be able to discern that it is the voice of God speaking to them.The Lord Jesus said, ″My sheep recognize my voice and follow me, just as I have known them before the beginning of time″ (John 10:27).2.Being someone who is depressed in spirit and actively seeks to improve their situation The Lord is in charge.

″Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you,″ Jesus said.″For everyone who asks receives; everyone who seeks finds; and to everyone who knocks, it will be opened.″ (Matthew 7:7-8; Luke 7:7-8).″Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,″ the Bible says.(See Matthew 5:3 for more information.) The Lord’s mandate of us is that we search in humility, and it is also the determining factor in whether or not we will be able to greet the Lord’s coming.

Now, while we await the Lord’s return, the majority of us are befuddled and confronted with several difficulties.
When it was predicted that Christ would return in 2000, many people wondered why the Church had failed to greet Him when He finally arrived.
Further, the Lord’s homecoming has largely been fulfilled, leading all those brothers and sisters who sincerely believe in the Lord to believe that the Lord has returned and to wonder whether He has already appeared someplace to do His work in the world.
So, shouldn’t we be actively looking for His footprints?
The Lord is a dependable source of support.
He gives blessings to those who are impoverished in spirit, and he has compassion on those who are thirsty for the truth.

If we can seek in humility, pray more to the Lord, and actively look for His footprints, God will undoubtedly lead and guide us, and we will be able to welcome the Lord’s coming in the last days as He has promised.Recommended: ″Undermine the enchantment″ Clip number two: What Kind of Appearance Will the Lord Have When He Returns to Earth?Understanding God’s voice and Greeting the Lord a new investigation on the question, ″How will the Second Coming of the Lord take place?″

A historical perspective on the Samaritan woman in John 4 by Alaa Qasasfa

The story of the Samaritan Woman in John 4 is among one of the most prominent, well-known, and preached stories in the Gospels throughout the centuries. In this article, I select to focus and interpret verses 16-30 with a special emphasis on the expression “husbands”. The popularity of this story and the disputes among scholars on the expression “husbands” has generated numerous, abundant, and lengthy diverse interpretations. For instance, some theologians prefer to interpret the word “husbands” allegorically, presuming that the five husbands would represent the five false gods of the Samaritans as we read in 2 Kings 17:30. Or perhaps, the five books of Moses. Others view the overall aim of the plot pastorally as an example of how Jesus dealt with the Samaritan woman to lead her to believe in Him. As a result of these different analysis, I intend in this paper to present a rational interpretation concerning the expression “husbands” and its connotations.

I propose that John frames the story of the Samaritan woman as a representation of a symbolic marriage between God and the Church. The hermeneutical tool that I would like to use to explore and reinforce this argument is based on a combination of several allusions between the story of the Samaritan woman and other stories in the New and Old Testaments, rhetorical emphasis of the narrator, and cultural-archaeological aspects. Before I start deconstructing the term “husbands” and its nuances, a summary of the story is needed.

A summary of the Story of the Samaritan Woman

In general, the Gospel of John was written to first century A.D. Jewish community to introduce Jesus’ identity and His ministry. However, in this story the audience was both Jewish (the disciples) and Samaritans. The plot tackles a deep meaningful conversation and debate between Jesus and the Samaritan woman in the city of Nablus in Palestine. The conversation took place around an ancient sacred well called Jacob’s Well. Jesus was thirsty and stopped to drink water and met the Samaritan woman who came to draw water from that well. The woman was surprised that a Jewish man spoke to her and disregarded around five hundred years of an ancient enmity and hostility between the Samaritans and Jews. The conversation was about water, living water, husbands, and the appropriate place of worship. Afterward, the Samaritan woman recognized Jesus as the Messiah and returned to her town to spread this news and invoke the men of the city who later invited Him to stay in their town. There are several missing pieces in the story, such as not knowing the precise identity of the Samaritan woman, as well as her role in the society. Also, there is a gloomy picture of the identity of her husbands, whether they are real or symbolic husbands. These missing pieces complicate the story and open it up for more assumptions, speculations, and opinions.

Exploring the expression “husbands” literally and metaphorically

When we read the story of the Samaritan woman, the first thing that would attract our attention after the theme of the living water is the expression “husbands”. Why did the Samaritan woman have five husbands? To answer this question properly, we should inquire, if the narrator is rendering these husbands factual or imaginary. When we examine the expression “husbands” based on the story’s original context, we end up toward the possibility that this expression could be both literal and metaphorical.

Firstly, if we assume that these husbands were literal, then there are affirmations and scenes from Jesus’ time, as well as from the intertestamental period, where women might have several literal husbands. For instance, women might experience the frequent death of their husbands, as we read in Mark 12:19-22, “Teacher, they said, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. In fact, none of the seven left any children” (NIV). Furthermore, in the Apocryphal book of Tobit 3:8, we read another example where women could face or fall under demonic attacks; the book states that “Sarah had been married seven times, but the evil demon, Asmodeus, killed each husband before the marriage could be consummated. The servant woman said to Sarah, You husband killer! Look at you! You’ve already had seven husbands, but not one of them lived long enough to give you a son” (GNT). In this sense, the Samaritan woman may be caught in one of these difficult circumstances and this would justify her multiple husbands. However, the Talmud did not permit more than three marriages, including in the case of the death of the husbands. This indicates that the narratives in Mark, Tobit, and in John 4 pertaining to numerous marriages may contain aspects of Hyperbole. Ska agrees, stating that there is “probably a willful exaggeration in the narrative.” Regardless of the potential exaggeration, the Samaritan woman could have remarried frequently due to the death of her husbands which was beyond her control. From this standpoint, we should not rush to conclude and look down at her as a prostitute. Therefore, the preachers, pastors and ministers should pause their reckless treatment of accusing and rebuking her of being a prostitute. If she was a prostitute, then she should be stoned according to the Samaritan’s Pentateuch. When she returned to her town to spread the news about Jesus, the men of the city believed her; however, if she was an unacceptable woman in her community, then logically, these men would not listen to her. Additionally, the narrative of the plot refutes the idea of adultery as the rhetorical strategy of the gospel of John would not support this view. For instance, when Jesus encountered the woman who was caught in adultery in John 8, Jesus forgave and told her to not sin again.

Secondly, there are signs and hints in the original context asserting the symbolic approach of the expression “husbands”. In other words, the nuances of the term “husbands” could be a connotation for a metaphorical marriage as we will read below.

It was known that Samaria was a center of Baal’s worship because he was one of the most attractive gods in the ancient world due to his commission of being the god of storms, rain and fertility, which the land of Samaria was longing for. It is possible that the narrator of John 4 was playing with words because Baal has a double meaning as a master or husband. This approach is well established in the discourses of the book of Hosea, especially in chapter 2. The theme of this chapter and the narrative itself are about the relationship of marriage between the husband (most likely God), and the wife (most likely ancient Israel). In the discourse, Hosea was exercising wordplay on the word Baal as we read in Hosea 2:16, “On that day, says the Lord, you will call me, “My husband,” and no longer will you call me, “My Baal” (NRSV)”. From this perspective, if Baal is mentioned in the context of marriage as a husband, and Samaria was a center of worshiping Baal, then we should consider that the Samaritan woman was allegorically married to Baal or even to the five gods that the Assyrians brought to Samaria as we read in 2 Kings 17:30-34.

In almost every commentary on John 4, for example in Beutler’s commentary, the commentators would claim that there is inconsistency of logic and topic between verses 16-19. For instance, in verse 16, the dialogue was on the topic of “husbands” then immediately in verse 19 shifted to discuss the appropriate place of worship. If we consider the approach that the woman might be a metaphorical representation of marriage to Baal, then there is consistency in the topic because Jesus and the woman would be continuing to argue about the aspect of religion, involving the metaphoric marriage, and the appropriate place of worship.

The idea of women marrying the gods is familiar in the Ancient Near East. Archaeologists have unearthed several archaeological archives in Babylonia discussing a group of women called ‘“Naditu” who metaphorically married to the gods in the ancient world. For example, we read intensively about the Naditu of god Marduk.This idea sounds distant in time and geography from the story of the Samaritan woman; however, we should remember that the Jewish people were in captivity in Babylon and Assyria for at least seventy years. Hence, they may have been influenced by this ancient practice. Or maybe the narrator in our story signals or alludes to something associated with this practice which his audience should have known.

The rhetorical strategy of the book of John

The rhetorical emphasis of the narrator of the book of John would strengthen the element of metaphorical marriage. For instance, Jesus attended a wedding in John 2; this same chapter mentions the six jars that were full of water which would correspond to six o’clock which was the time when the Samaritan woman went to the well. In John 3, which immediately precedes the chapter of the story of the Samaritan woman, Jesus was described without any doubt as the bridegroom (John 3:27-30). In this light, I see chapters 2-4 alluding to the theme of metaphorical marriage.

Additionally, the story of the Samaritan woman as an allegory of marriage would go in harmony with the wider perspective of the Bible. The Old and New Testament emphasize metaphorically the idea that God is the groom and the people, or the Church is the bride as we clearly read in the book of Hosea, Song of Songs, the story of the ten virgins in Matthew 25, and the book of Revelation.

Summary

Based on the above, I lean toward the conclusion that the narrator of John 4 used the dreadful fortune of the Samaritan woman with her husbands as a teaching device to teach and allude that God is the appropriate, legitimate, forever, and metaphorical or spiritual husband or master for her and the Samaritan people – as a representation of the Church. In other words, the expression “husbands” was elaborated from literal to allegorical to teach a lesson. This is exactly like the theme of the water in the plot, the theme was developed and transformed from physical water to living or spiritual water. This transition from literal to metaphorical denotes double meanings or nuances of the themes. In this sense, we should consider that the expression “husbands” was elaborated and transformed from literal to metaphorical nuances to deliver the connotation of metaphorical spiritual marriage.

The application of the story

There are several theological lessons that we can learn and draw from the dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. First, the woman is not a prostitute as many commentators assumed as I demonstrated earlier in the article. Second, Jesus encompassed and included the Samaritan people in His grace and love regardless of their status of being despised and rejected. Third, the woman listened well to Jesus and even asked Him questions, and this was a path to her salvation. Four, we learn that the true worship is not tied or attached to sacred locations, but the genuine worship is by spirit and truth. Five, Jesus used a woman to be an instrument to give the good news to her people and community; I look at this aspect as an element of encouragement for women in Palestine, as well as in the Eastern cultures to strengthen their roles and voices in the churches and different ministries.

Bibliography

The Holy Bible, NIV, GNT and NRSV.

Arnold, Clinton. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. Michigan: Zondervan, 1984.

Bailey, Kenneth. Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes. Illinois: InterVarsity press, 2008.

Beutler, Johannes. A Commentary on the Gospel of John. Michigan: William B.Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2013.

Borchert, Gerald. Dynamics of Evangelism. Texas: Word Books, 1976.

Cook, Joan. Wells, Women and Faith. (Article). Published in EGL & MWBS 17, 1997.

Hoskyns, Edwyn. The Fourth Gospel. London: Faber and Faber, 1947.

O’day, Gail and Hylen, Susan. John. Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.

Ska, Jean-Louis. Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4) Using the Old Testament. Journal of Loyola School of Theology. Vol. 13, No.1 (1999).

Stol, Marten. Women in ancient near East. Berlin: Walter Gruyter, 2016.

Hoskyns, Edwyn. The fourth Gospel. P. 242-44

Beutler, Johannes. A Commentary on the Gospel of John. P. 120

Borshert, Gerald. The Dynamics of Evangelism. P. 61-62

St Photini’s Greek Orthodox Church (aka Jacob’s Well church) in Nablus today commemorates the site and the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman and can be visited on daily basis.

Bailey, Kenneth. Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes. P. 203

Arnold, Clinton. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. P.46

Ska, Jean-Louis. Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4) Using the Old Testament. P. 87

Beutler, Johannes. A Commentary on the Gospel of John. P.118

The Key Points of the Samaritan Woman Recognizing the Lord Jesus Was the Messiah

Submitted by Zhang Yiping A large number of Christians, I’m guessing, are familiar with the tale of the Samaritan lady, which appears in the Bible.
When she went to get some water, she came face to face with the Lord Jesus, who asked her if she would like anything to drink.
She knew that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah as a result of her conversation with Him, which she recounted in her book.
She was simply an ordinary woman with little Bible knowledge, but she was able to do what she set out to achieve.
This is just incredible.

Jesus Teaches at Jacob’s Well

Jesus Gives a Sermon at Jacob’s Well Gaye Strathearn is an actress and singer from the United Kingdom.Devotional for Brigham Young University in Idaho The 8th of August, 2006 It is recorded in John 4:4 that Jesus must pass through Samaria on His trip from Judea to Galilee, which indicates that this occurred early in His career.The requirement that John was referring to was not geographical in nature.Because the context shows that Jesus was most likely already in the Jordan valley, he could have easily bypassed Samaria by passing via the Bethshan gap and into Galilee, which would have been a lot easier.Nevertheless, He had business to attend to in Samaria, so He proceeded instead to Sychar, which was close to the tract of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph and the Jacob s Well (John 4:5–6).Specifically, the events detailed in John 4 are intriguing to me for three key reasons.

On the one hand, according to Matthew 10, when Jesus delivered His mandate to his Twelve disciples, he expressly directed them not to participate in missionary activity among the Samaritans.
But in this occasion, He appears to have gone out of his way to travel across Samaria and seek out the Samaritan woman, which is unusual for Him.
Second, Jesus’ teachings in John 4 serve as an important illustration of one of the major themes that runs throughout John’s gospel: that Jesus, who comes from above and sees things from a heavenly perspective, must interact with people who are limited to a very earthly perspective in order to accomplish his mission on earth.
The interactions he has with His mother and with his sister Mary as well as with Nicodemus and the Pharisees show us that he is trying hard to help them understand who he is and what he has come to do on Earth from an everlasting viewpoint.
The Savior’s interactions with his own disciples and the Samaritan men of the city are primarily concerned with assisting them in raising their sights so that they can understand more clearly who He is and what his mission entails, without the limitations of religious and political assumptions, which are at the heart of the story.
In addition, Jesus’ narrative of his contact with the Samaritan lady demonstrates an in-depth understanding of both Samaritan beliefs and customs and the history of Judeo-Samaritan interactions.

For the sake of our comprehension of John 4, allow me to spend a few minutes discussing some of these concerns.We must first get a clear understanding of who the Samaritans were.In our talks, we have not always been cautious to differentiate between Samarians, who were the people who lived in the geopolitical region of Samaria, and Samaritans, who were the people who resided in the geographical region of Samaria.Not everyone who resided in Samaria was a member of the Samaritan community.This is significant since the name Samaritan appears just once in the Old Testament, according to our current King James Version of the Bible.

It is found in 2 Kings 17:29 in the Bible.Samaritan is a transliteration of the Hebrew phrase has s o me ro ni m, which means ″good Samaritan.″ The line is set in the context of a description of the situation following the evacuation of northern tribes and the entrance of Assyrian immigrants to the area in question.According to the book, these colonists assimilated portions of their religious rituals into those of the Israelite faith.What we’re really debating here is how we should translate the word hassomerom; should it be translated as Samaritan or Samarian?For these reasons, I believe that the term Samarian should be used instead of Assyrian because there is no evidence of Assyrian religious influence in the Samaritan religion and because we do not find any concrete evidence of a separate and distinct Samaritan religion until a much later time period, during the Hasmonean Period (167-63 AD).

To be true, there had been a long history of hostility between the northern and southern Israelite tribes that could be traced back to pre-Monarchical days prior to the division of the nation.There were instances when the strain was very high, such as during the time of Ezra the prophet.Yet, we know from Jeremiah 41 and 2 Chronicles 34 that people from Samaria continued to make offerings at the temple in Jerusalem and to participate in its sacrifices despite the fact that they lived in the region.

In reality, Josephus recounts that they continued to visit to the Jerusalem temple well into the Roman period, according to his sources.
However, two significant incidents throughout the Hasmonean period imply that the break with Judaism became more significant.
Earliest and foremost, it is at this period that we discover the first indications of an unique Samaritan biblical canon emerging from antiquity.

The construction of the Jewish canon was still in the early stages at the time of this writing, but there are certain instances when the Samaritans were developing a canon that distinguished them from their Jewish equivalent.According to the Dead Sea Scrolls, the spelling and script style employed to create the Samaritan texts are compatible with a date during the Hasmonean Period, indicating that they were written during this time period.A kind of Hebrew alphabet known as paleo-Hebrew, or old-Hebrew, is used to write the text.

It was about the time of Ezra’s reign that the square Aramaic script became popular and widespread throughout the Persian Empire.
Interestingly, this alphabet is quite close to the Hebrew script with which we are all familiar today.
This presentation depicts the Aramaic alphabet in the far left column, followed by various forms of the paleo-Hebrew script in the remaining columns.
The form of paleo-Hebrew that is employed in the Samaritan texts is the same type of paleo-Hebrew that was in use throughout the Hasmonean Period of history.
Why did the Samaritans start using the paleo-Hebrew script in the first place?
It was most likely driven by a desire to make the argument that they were the descendants of the genuine Israel, according to the evidence.

Essentially, it served as a way for them to distinguish themselves from their Jewish adversaries.
In addition, the Samaritans identified themselves by the content of their scriptural canon, which they considered to be authoritative.
In contrast to the Jews, they limited their canon to the five books of Moses, known as the Pentateuch.

It was as a result that they disregarded the prophetic tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures.Even within the confines of their Pentateuch, there are several notable discrepancies between their version and the Hebrew one with which we are more familiar.Let me give you a brief illustration.People of Israel were instructed in Deuteronomy 27:4-8 to construct an altar on the other side of the Jordan River, on which they would offer sacrifices to the Lord their God after they had crossed over.

According to the Hebrew Bible, they were instructed to construct an altar atop Mount Ebal.Mount Gerizim, on the other hand, is the location of the altar in the Samaritan Pentateuch.This alternative interpretation highlights one of the most significant contrasts between the Samaritans and the Jews.

Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, is the holiest site for the Samaritans, as it is the revealed location for the temple, which they constructed during the Greek era.As a result, this interpretation of Deuteronomy 27 is so significant to Samaritan theology that it has been included as the final commandment in their rendition of Moses’ Ten Commandments.These interpretations imply that the construction of the Samaritan canon was driven, at least in part, by the desire to deploy it as an intellectual weapon against their Jewish adversaries, as suggested by the text.The response of the Samaritans to the Jewish Maccabean Revolt is the second incident that points to the establishment of the Samaritan religion during the Hasmonean Period as a possible indicator.Both Samaria and Judea were experiencing a great deal of political and theological upheaval at this period.Both territories were subjected to severe religious persecution while under the governmental power of Antiochus Ephiphanes IV, a Greek-Seleucid king from Egypt.

However, it is noteworthy that when the Hasmoneans rose up in revolt against the Seleucids, the Samaritans did not join them in their struggle for independence.
Despite the fact that they would have plainly benefited from the removal of the Seleucids from control over them, they appear to have believed that they would have any more religious freedom under the Hasmoneans.
If this is the case, it would show that by this time, both they and the Hasmoneans recognized the Samaritans as having their own religion separate from Judaism.
One of the Hasmonean leaders, John Hyrcanus (134 104 BC), reinforced this opinion by treating the Samaritans as though they were Gentiles.

The temple on Mount Gerizim was demolished during a military campaign that included attacks on Syrian cities.He also assaulted Samaria and Shechem during the campaign, which included attacks on Syrian cities.The fact that the Samaritans were able to trace their High Priestly ancestry back to the true Zadokite dynasty, according to one researcher, may have been a motivating factor in Hyrcanus’ attack against Mount Gerizim in particular.

This was in contrast to the Hasmoneans, who were descended from a priestly family but had taken the high priestly functions from the Seleucids through a political appointment in 152 BC.As a result, the matter grew more complicated than just a question of where the temple should be built; it also became a question of who had a genuine claim to the position of high priest.Both Samaritans and Jews had internalized these occurrences by the time Jesus spoke with them at Jacob’s Well, and both groups had strong religious beliefs about Jesus and his teachings.Through an understanding of these concepts, we are better able to comprehend the Master Teacher’s ability to persuade the Samaritans to rise above their political and religious animosity toward the Jews and recognize in Jesus the Christ, the Saviour of the world despite their political and religious differences with him (John 4:42).

The disciples left Jesus shortly after arriving at Jacob’s Well so that they may go and get meals in the city.In the midst of his repose, a Samaritan lady came to the well to get water.She identified Jesus as a Jew as soon as He asked her for a drink and she agreed.Despite the deep-seated emotions of enmity between the two groups, she recognized them in her response in verse 9.

So, how does it come about that you, a Jew, ask me for anything to drink while I am a lady from Samaria?
Because the Jews do not have amicable connections with the Samaritans, this is a serious issue.
The woman’s comment demonstrates that all she perceived in Jesus was an adversary.
The request of Jesus, in contrast to her narrow perception, demonstrated that he had broken the borders between Jews and Samaritans.
He noticed something in the woman that went much beyond her role as a Good Samaritan.

As a result, He assisted her in raising her ambitions.
He did this by employing the extremely earthy and mundane job of getting water on a regular basis.
When the Samaritan lady arrived at the well, she was preoccupied with the monotony of her daily responsibilities.

According to verse 15, this was a duty that she certainly hoped she didn’t have to do, but she couldn’t.The Master Teacher, on the other hand, utilized that duty as an opportunity to teach the woman about the realities of eternal.The live water, which would be a spring of water bursting up into eternal life, was brought to her attention while she was preoccupied on the physical water and the difficulties of accessing it without a bucket in verse 14.

John 7:37 states explicitly that ″if any man thirst,″ he or she should come to Jesus and drink from the well.This was the gift of God that Jesus was providing not just to the Jews, but also to a Samaritan lady who had come to him for healing.That it would continue for eternity was a bigger gift than the well Jacob dug, which had provided water for millennia.It was a gift from God that came without the need for the painstaking work that would have been necessary to get water from a well that was a hundred feet deep!However, in order to accept the gift, the Samaritan lady needed to come to understand who Jesus was; she needed to understand that He was much more than a Jew and that He was not an enemy of her people.

Jesus did not intervene until after the lady had been attracted to him by the promise of living water before he moved to assist her in raising her sights.He needed to achieve two things in order to do so.First and foremost, He needed to bring her to a place where she saw her own sinfulness and, as a result, her need for assistance.It was also necessary for him to establish his authority as God’s ambassador on this planet.He was able to do both in a single, superb teaching moment.

His instruction to call her spouse served as a mirror of spiritual reflection as well as an opening for her to perceive Him from a more elevated spiritual perspective at the same time.It was He who revealed to her that, despite the fact that they had just met a few minutes before, He knew who she was: more than simply the fact that she was a Samaritan, he knew that she was a woman who had been married five times but was now living with a guy who wasn’t her husband.It was at this time that the Samaritan woman realized she had no idea what she was worshiping.She had rejected the continuous revelation of God through the Old Testament prophets because she was a Samaritan; she appeared to have been unaware of the true purpose of the temple; and she appeared to have been unaware of the implications of her declaration that Jesus was a prophet because she was a woman.Because the prophet standing before her was the source of salvation and because He, as she had swiftly identified at the outset of their encounter, was a Jew, Jesus had taught here that salvation belonged to the Jews.As a result, Jesus instructed her on the fundamentals of sincere worship.

It is not always a result of one’s geographical location, nor is it a function of one’s ability to worship in a physical structure.The importance of sincere worshipers worshiping in spirit and in truth, according to Jesus, is the most crucial thing to remember.It is an absolute requirement, in fact, that this procedure be followed.Accordingly, Elder McConkie taught that our aim is to worship the one true and living God and to do it by the power of the Holy Spirit and according to the manner that he has established.Saving faith is found in the acceptable worship of the real God; nevertheless, devotions paid to false gods and which are not based on everlasting truth do not provide this certainty of salvation.

As recorded in the Joseph Smith Translation of John 4:26, Jesus then taught that anyone who engaged in real worship would receive the Holy Spirit from God.The woman appeared to be perplexed once more.The only thing that the Samaritans looked forward to as a result of their religion was the appearance of the Taheb.

In verse 25, she declares, ″I know that the Messias, who is called Christ, is coming; and when he comes, he will tell us all things.″ She is referring to the coming of the Messiah, who is also known as Christ.
Despite the fact that she refers to Jesus as the messiah, we must remember that the Samaritans’ hope was significantly different from that of their Jewish neighbors.
A king of David was definitely not something the Samaritans were expecting when they were looking for the Messiah!
Instead, their Taheb was a restorer who would usher in a new era of divine favor upon the world.
After setting the stage for the teaching moment, Jesus was ready to reveal His true identity to the Samaritan woman in its entirety.
He is the fulfillment of this Samaritan hope, just as Jesus taught the Nephites that He is the prophet like unto.

But, in establishing that identification, he went a step farther than Jesus did.He referred to himself as ″I AM,″ which is a celestial designation.He literally declares in verse 26 that He is the one who talks to you, referring to himself as I Am.Jesus was, in fact, a prophet in the same vein as Moses, but He was also the God who guided Moses.

As a result of both of these circumstances, He had certainly come to tell her everything.
There’s no question that the Samaritan lady grasped the significance of what Jesus was saying.
In verse 28, John informs us that she then left her waterpot behind.
After arriving to the well with her waterpot in quest of water, she was rewarded with water, but it was not the sort she could transport in a container.
She had discovered the source of living water that Jesus had promised.
After realizing what she had received, she felt a strong desire to spread the good news to others, just like Lehi did after seeing the tree of life.

As soon as she returned to Sychar, she urged the villagers to come see a guy who had told her everything she had ever done: ″Is he not the Christ?″ she wondered.
The use of the Greek particle me ti at the beginning of the query suggests that she did not anticipate receiving a good response.
Her invitation to come and see for themselves, rather than relying on her testimony, was most likely motivated by this use.
Just as the Samaritan lady was about to walk away from the well, Jesus’ followers arrived with the fo