The Woman At The Well

The Bible is full of stories, parables, and examples of human interactions. In the Gospel of John, the story is told of meeting the woman at the well. This story has many angles and meanings that are discussed at length by many Bible commentators. Lets discuss some of them and also what additional meanings that we can glean from this bit of literature.(Bible Study)

Thread moved here from the Proposed New Topics forum.

One of the interesting things is the contrast between this woman in chapter 4 and the previous person Nicodemus in chapter 3. Jesus came to this immoral woman in broad daylight where everyone could see Him. Nicodemus came to Jesus by night secretively.Nicodemus had a noble reputation and had a high morality as a teacher of Israel. This woman most likely had a poor reputation of having five husbands.Nicodemus came wanting something from Jesus, mainly explanations about His teaching. Jesus came to this woman expressing His need first. He was dependent upon her to give Him a drink of water. He took a position of dependency upon this woman.This is good for starters perhaps.This message has been edited by jaywill, 02-08-2006 09:05 AM

Good show, Jaywill!~ I want to expand this study and include the parable of the Good Samaritan in it as well. The Topic? Samaritans.

Yes, Jesus drew her out. But when she met salvation and the disciples offered Jesus food, He said that He had food to eat that they did not know of. His meaning was to save that sinful woman became food to the Savior. He derived great nourishment from being able to fulfill His Father's purpose in leading her to salvation.It is also interesting that Jesus went out of His way to meet this woman. That is if you believe, as I do, that the rendevous was all pre-ordained by God."He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. And He had to pass through Samaria. So He came to a city if Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land that Jacob gave to Joseph his son ..." (4:5,6)These were people of mixed Jewish and Gentile blood from around 700 B.C. when the Assyrians captured Samaria and brought people from Babylon and other heathen countries to the cities of Samaria (2 Kings 17:6,24). They had the Pentateuch but were not recognized by the Jews as being part of the Jewish people. Jesus went out of up into this region to meet with this woman according to God's sovereignty.He found this very thirsty woman there. Jesus told her that whoever drank of that well water would thirst again. This was a picture of her sinful and worldly life. However much you drink of the world's sinful pleasures that is how thirsty you will be tomorrow. The degree to which one is thirsty in his being for the world is the same degree that he has enjoyed it previously. It cannot satisfy. And one's thirst is only stirred up all the more when one partakes of the sinful world.This woman is really a representative of us all. We drink and we go away not satisfied but thirst again. Or the satisfaction is fleeting. Tomorrow you will be just as thirsty for life. Christ came to be her real deep satisfaction.Both Nicodemus and this woman at the well had the same need. They needed the divine life brought to them by Jesus Christ the Son of God. Nicodemus needed to be reborn by that divine life. And this woman needed the divine life installed within her to be a fountain springing up into eternal life (v.14).This continues the gospel of John's theme that in Christ is the life of God - "In Him was life. And the life was the light of men" (John 1:4). The high moral man needed God's life. And the low class husband exchanging woman needed divine life. Both the "good" and the "bad" need Christ as life.All those who have been effected by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, need to come back to the life of God. Those on the good side of the tree need life as well as those on the evil side of the tree need life. This gospel therefore has much to do with the Genesis account of created man being between two trees - the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.Not only the Jews need a Messiah for their national kingdom. But the Gentiles and those of mixed blood need the Jewish Messiah to be their Savior. He is the Savior of the world also.

Peripheral, perhaps, but possibly the best song Peter, Paul, and Mary every recorded was "The Woman at the Well." Gospel at its very finest!

Well, Gospel means "Good News" so you are not off topic!

Hi, Jaywill. I have a couple of questions I want to ask without meaning any disrespect or giving any offense. I hope I can manage that.You say: I don't see why you claim that Jesus had to go out of his way.According to the OP quote below, Jesus was on the lam from the Pharisees and had to go through Samaria anyway: So why do you say he had to go out of his way to meet the woman at the well?In the following quote from your message, I am curious about several things: First, if they had the same need, I'm curious about the difference in figural language you use for Nicodemus and the woman. Nicodemus "needed to be reborn" and the woman "needed the divine life installed within her." I thought even the most moral of people were sinful and fall short.Secondly, why do you call the woman "low class" and "bad"? Am I missing something here because of translation issues? Am I to understand that none of the "five husbands" were, in fact, husbands, and the lady was a six-man fornicator? There does seem to be a clear suggestion that she has a lover ("the one you have now is not your own"), but Jesus doesn't say the first five were not her own.Is there something about the original text that rules out the first five husbands actually having been husbands? Did the Samarians not practice taking deceased brothers' wives as a wife in the polygamous practices found elsewhere in the time/region? What were the Samarian beliefs about sexual activity outside marriage? Did they permit divorce? Do you suppose Nicodemus could have had multiple wives?Finally, Jesus seems most concerned with demonstrating his knowledge of the most intimate details of her life to prove his authenticity as the Christ, not to demonstrate her shame.He doesn't call her bad or low class--why do you? And why "husband exhanging"? Are you suggesting there were husband swapping parties in Samaria?Thanks, Jay, for your time. I know that's a lot of questions, but I'd appreciate any feedback you want to offer.

---

"Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?"
-Sir Toby Belch, Twelfth Night Save lives! Click here!
Join the World Community Grid with Team EvC!
---------------------------------------

I prefer the Taj Mahal version, Coragyps.

---

"Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?"
-Sir Toby Belch, Twelfth Night Save lives! Click here!
Join the World Community Grid with Team EvC!
---------------------------------------

Wow! I knew not that he'd done it! I'll go looking!

Good point. What was His "way" anyway? What was His mission---His "job" so to speak? On the lam? Yep! He was runnin away from those pesky religious folk! Which brings up the hypothetical question of whether Jesus acted according to a preordained purpose or whether He reacted according to the actions of humanity.He was most definitely human, yet He knew some things beyond what the normal human did or could know. After all, He told the woman everything she ever did, according to her. She was probably wanting to make Him her next husband! Interesting, because it may be alluded that Jesus Himself was in fact the man that she now had...(spiritually, of course) yet she was not married to Him. Just a thought! This message has been edited by Phat, 02-09-2006 08:46 AM

---

Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil. --Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago

Omnivorous,I will try to address your secondary questions which I find easier. I may not be able to prove that Jesus went out of His way. But there are nine cases like this in John. One of them is of this Samaritan woman outside of Judea where we would expect the Messiah to have His main ministry. To clarify, both needed to be born again of the Spirit of God. In the case of Nicodemus we are told that to believe in God’s only begotten Son will qualify one to have eternal life (John 3:16). And we are also told that no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. So believing in the Son and receiving Him through the regeneration of new birth are every persons need, the woman in the next chapter included.What John records about the woman illuminates something further about the new birth, I believe here:”But whosever drinks the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water gushing up into eternal life” (4:14)In this passage we see that it is more than to just receive the gift of eternal life as an objective matter. It is that the life that has been installed within at the new birth, will encrease and swell, springing up like a fountain, into eternal life. The eternal life is embeded deep within a person's being. It will swell up gradually within them, subjectively, consuming mortality from the inside out, developing into the realm of eternal life.I do not mean that either the woman or Nicodemus do not need to experience the salvation mentioned to the other person. It is a matter of John progressively revealing this life which is in Christ and is Christ in deeper and deeper details. The woman is to be consumed from within by the Spirit of life springing up and flowing into her whole being until she is filled with life. Nicodemus was a ruler of the people, a rabbi of Israel. His name even means Conqueror of the People or Victor of the People. There should be little doubt that he was high cultured by human standards. The woman in chapter four, whether they were husbands or temporary partners, was most likely not of good reputation. She went to get water at the hotest time of the day, alone. I think it was customary for groups to go get water at a cooler time of the day. We may gather by this her sense of alienation from society because of her reputation.I think it is fair enough simply to say that she was not to be compared to Nicodemus as a Victor of the People. She was a reject as far as the Jews were concerned because she was a Samaritan. And she had things to conceal about her past, which Jesus gently and loving touched. She was to have her conscience freed before could drink the living water of Jesus - ”The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water so that I will not thirst nor come here to draw. He said to her, Go, call your husband and come here” (4:15,16)We can only speculate about the woman’s life. But Jesus Christ first positioned her to face her past failures before He would offer her the living water. This matches the experience of many of us who have met Jesus. First we had to acknowledge what we surpressed all of our lives. That is that we indeed are not moral right. We are indeed sinful. He did not ask her to change. Her simply invited her to admit. Her invited her to confess. He invited her to agree with Him that she was a slave of her passions and helpessly thirsty. Her five men were obtained by her simply because she was so thirsty.It is the same with most typical sinners. We sin simply because we are so thristy for enjoyment. And the sinning only encreases our thirst. It is a sad life and we need a Savior and a Friend in Jesus God’s Son. We cannot gather that much about the text. I think the implication was that she was a problematic partner. Perhaps she was told all her life that she was very beautiful like a modern Hollywood actress who has married many times. Elizabeth Taylor had eight husbands. She also had problems with alchohol use. My only point here is that the woman was very lonely, very thirsty, very problematic, and needed Jesus and the life which He offers.When Jesus touched her conscience she immediately shifted the conversation to religious matters. This is not uncommon behavior for people. When they are touched by God about their behavior through some speaker, they shift the talk to matters of where to go to church, doctrine, religious custom, religious tradition, etc. It seems a kind of defense mechanism we have that we jump into religious talk to kind of “put our best foot forward” or deflect conviction away from ourselves, to instead talk religiously.The story is very touching. And it really brings out how wonderful a Person Jesus Christ is as a Healer. But consider the atmosphere:”The woman answered and said, I do not have a husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I do not have a husband, For you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly” (4:17,18)Jesus is pointing out that the woman is concealing the truth. Concealing her shameful past by telling a partial truth. If there were nothing for her to be ashamed of, as in the case of the previous five brother husbands dying, then she should have nothing to conceal. As it stands, Jesus gently points out to her that she is concealing her past in the disguise of telling a true fact - ”I have no husband.”She said that the Lord told her all the things that she ever did (verse 28), not the things which were done TO her. So I think that you have to consider the words carefully: ”Then the woman left her waterpot and went away into the city, and said to the people, Come, see a man who told me all that I have done. Is this not the Christ?”Something in the conversation set the woman free. She was pardoned by no other than the Christ Himself. His pardon totally released her from the burden of her past. Her chains of her reputation fell off completely. She was released and set free. She boldly went to share her good experience with everyone. The Samaritans had the first five books of Moses. They worshipped God. The place to worship they disputed with the typical Isrealites. Based upon the fact that they held dear the Pentateuch I believe that their sense of marriage was influenced by Moses the same way the Jews’ beliefs were. I didn’t say that He did so to make her ashamed. Why do you assume that that is my interpretation? That seems a conclusion that you jump to, that I believe Jesus was eager to expose her shame for shame’s sake. He wanted to heal her and satisfy her with what she needed, the life of God which is with Jesus and is Jesus. Again, I think you are taking my comment about “low class” to devalue the woman’s worth. Please be realistic and admit that in society some people have higher reputations and some have lower ones. God loves them all. My only point was that there is a contrast between the previous case of the Jewish Rabbi in chapter 3 who was a Victor of the People and the woman of the rejected Samaritans who concealed from Jesus that she had five previous men and another who was not her husband - ”I have no husband” was her way of supposedly concealing her past.There may be a number of novel alternative ways to view the story. Perhaps she was Nicodemis’s childhood sweetheart! Can’t prove that she wasn’t. So if you want to take a flight of hypotheticals, be my guest.I tend at this time to take the account as I have commented on it briefly. You’re welcome.This message has been edited by jaywill, 02-08-2006 05:55 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 02-08-2006 11:25 PMThis message has been edited by jaywill, 02-09-2006 06:48 AM

Thanks again, Jay, for satisfying my curiosity.

---

"Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?"
-Sir Toby Belch, Twelfth Night Save lives! Click here!
Join the World Community Grid with Team EvC!
---------------------------------------

John chapter four is another amazing confirmation of the consistency of the Bible's overall revelation. The Bible ends with God having obtained a dwelling place within man. The saved human beings become the eternal tabernacle within which God lives. John four is a stop along the way to this destination. How so?Jesus and the woman engage on a short discussion on where is the place for God the Father to be worshipped."Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, yet you say that Jerusalem is the place where men must worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father... But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness, for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness" (See John 4:20-24)In the Old Testament the location of the worship of God was in the temple in Jerusalem. This temple was the house of God. In the new covenant man becomes the habitation of God. The human spirit as the innermost part of man is the place for men to worship the Father. The location on the earth for the worship of the Father is the human spirit of man. Paul latter tells of God's eternal plan to build a habitation for Himself in man's spirit - "...Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone; In whom all the building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; In whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in spirit" (Eph. 2:20b-22).God is taking the saved people who have been regenerated in their human spirit (John 3:6) and building them together into a "dwelling place of God in spirit" (Eph. 2:22). There is this location as the true Jerusalem temple they are to worship the Father "in spirit and in truthfulness". That is that they may be built up in the divine life into a habitation of God within the regenerated spirit of redeemed man.According to John chapter 4 the true worship is the drink in the Holy Spirit. And this can be because God installs the Spirit of Christ within the believer as a fountain of water gushing up into eternal life - "... but the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water gushing up into eternal life" (v.14).Therefore the true worship of God is receiving the Spirit of God and allowing this living Spirit to gush up and flow within one's being ushering the drinking one into eternal life. The gushing up and filling of the fountain of God's life is also the filling of the living temple with Himself that man may become a corporate entity becomming "a dwelling place of God in spirit" (Eph. 2:22).God's eternal plan from the beginning of Genesis was to dispense His life into man building Himself into man and man into God. Man was created for this. And the universe was created for this. John's gospel brings this matter to the forefront. It is not ultimately on the sacred mountain or in the sacred city that man will worship God. It is in the New Jerusalem as the human / divine dwelling place of God that man will worship the Father in spirit and truthfulness.This message has been edited by jaywill, 02-09-2006 05:59 PM

I wonder if He did allof this just for Earth or whether there are other people or "nations" out there in the vast array of galaxies? The Bible has much symbolism for water, (River of Life, etc) air,(Luke 7:24, John 3:8) and fire...(notice that the lake is a lake of fire.) Lakes stagnate. Rivers flow.

---

Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil. --Alexander Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago