John 4:5-26 commentary

 5: Then cometh he to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph 6: Now Jacob's well was there Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour ^[noon] 7: There cometh a 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 9: Then saith the woman of 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 10: Jesus answered and said unto her If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee Give me to drink thou wouldest have asked of Him and He would have given thee Living Water 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?

12: Art thou greater than our father Jacob which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle? 13: Jesus answered and said unto her Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again 14: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him ^{[Invisible women x’s 3]} shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting 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 Jesus said unto her Thou hast well 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

Comments: ^{John 4:17-18} We do not know if the Woman at the Well was widowed or divorced. Chances are good that her fifth husband put her away without giving her a divorce settlement, thereby leaving her in marital limbo, which prevented her from marrying. If she had been divorced at any time in her past, Jesus acknowledged her marriages as legitimate. He did not stigmatize her for being married five times, though he did not legitimize her current living arrangement.

19: The woman saith unto him Sir I perceive that thou art a prophet 20: Our fathers ^{[invisible women x’s 2]} worshipped in this mountain and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship

Comments: ^{John 4:19-20} It goes without saying, that in this passage the woman refers to her ancestors, both her foremothers as well as her forefathers worshipped, but who is pictured in reader’s minds when all ancestors are called “fathers?” Who is pictured in the minds of readers when translators translate all people as “men?” Males are pictured, rendering women invisible. Gender-biased-translation is the case with most every Bible translation. This must be addressed and corrected.

Though a social outcast, otherwise she would not be drawing water at high noon when none of the other women would be at the well, the Woman at the Well is obviously interested in the things of God. As soon as Jesus spoke of spiritual matters, she immediately launches into a theological debate.  

21: Jesus saith unto her Woman believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain ^{Amos 5:1} nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father 22: Ye worship ye know not what We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews

Comments: ^{John 4:21-22} Jesus stopped the debate by telling her the Law of Moses, that required worship to take place in the Temple at Jerusalem, would soon be abolished. When he said that salvation is through the Jews, it was an unapologetic reminder that the scriptures foretold that Messiah would descend from the line of Judah.  

23: But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth for the Father seeketh such to worship him 24: God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth 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 26: Jesus saith unto her I that speak unto thee am He

Comments: ^{John 4:23-24} We worship by the Holy Spirit, by the Truth of HIS WORD, through faith in the RISEN SON OF GOD, who is TRUTH personified. Jesus said he was the only way, the only truth, and the only life, and that no one could come to the Father except through Him. Jesus died for the sins of all, so that all could be saved, but not all will be saved.

^{John 4:25-26} The Woman at the Well was looking for Messiah. She was a woman of faith. The first record we have of Jesus verbally revealing his identity to anyone, is to a woman. Though history and gender-biased-Bible-translators have tried to render women invisible, Jesus never did. Our Creator went out of his way to obliterate sinful gender-based hierarchies and double standards. Jesus made a point to let women and his male disciples know that his female creation was every bit as important, relevant, and autonomous as his male creation, and needed to be publicly treated as such.

Romans Chapter 7: Divorce Age of Accountability Babies go to Heaven

    1: Know ye not brethren for I speak to them that know the law how that the law has dominion over a person as long as they live 2: For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives but if the husband be dead she is loosed from the law of her husband 3: So then if while her husband lives she be married to another man she shall be called an adulteress but if her husband be dead she is free from that law so that she is no adulteress though she be married to another man[1] 4: Wherefore my brethren you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that you should be married to another even to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God 5: For when we were in the flesh the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death 6: But now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter[2] 7: What shall we say then Is the law sin God forbid No I had not known sin but by the law for I had not known lust except the law had said You shall not covet 8: But sin taking occasion by the commandment worked in me all manner of cravings For without the law sin was dead 9: For I was alive without the law once but when the commandment came sin revived and I died[3] 10: And the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death 11: For sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me and by it slew me 12: Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good 13: Was then that which is good made death unto me God forbid But sin that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is good that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful 14: For we know that the law is spiritual but I am fleshly sold under sin 15: For that which I do I allow not for what I would that do I not but what I hate that do I 16: If then I do that which I would not I consent unto the law that it is good 17: Now then it is no more I that do it but sin that dwells in me 18: For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing for to will [good intention] is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not 19: For the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do 20: Now if I do that I would not it is no more I that do it but sin that dwells in me 21: I find then a law that when I would do good evil is present with me 22: For I delight in the law of God after the inward man 23: But I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members 24: O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death 25: I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God but with the flesh the law of sin[4]

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[1] A few scriptures pertaining to divorce: ^{1 Corinthians 7:12-16, Jeremiah 3:8, Ezra 10:3, Matthew 5:32, Matthew 19:9, (}this is by no means a comprehensive list). Jesus permitted divorce under certain circumstances. Paul permitted divorce under certain circumstances. Under the Old Covenant, divorce was permitted (and even commanded on a few occasions), but Jewish tradition (not the scriptures themselves) favored husbands while leaving betrayed wives with little to no legal or socially acceptable recourse. Jewish husbands, on the other hand, were free to do as they wished with virtually no consequences. They had a nasty habit of putting away their wives without divorcing them ^{Malachi 2:14-15}, thus avoiding a divorce settlement. God condemned this, calling it treachery. Many Bible translations erroneously translate the words, “Putting Away,” as divorce, when the words do not always refer to divorce, but rather to a putting away without divorce. Putting away a wife (only husbands did this) without divorcing her, left a couple married—no divorce had taken place. And while the husband was free to take another wife (wives) without cultural censor, the wife who was put away was left in desperate straits. If she had no friends or family who would take her in, a woman had virtually no way to survive in ancient economies. She needed a man to support her, else she was condemned to either servitude or prostitution. A case in point might be the Woman at the Well, who had obviously—at some point in her life—been a woman of good character and reputation (we know this because she had been highly marriageable. five men had esteemed her highly enough to make her their wife). But, at some point, this woman who had always been a wife, ended up living with a man who was not her husband. Had she been widowed four times and the fifth husband put her away without divorcing her? That is entirely possible, given her history of respectable marriage and the completely opposite circumstances Jesus eventually found her in. Whatever happened, this woman, who had obviously lived an upright life through five marriages (otherwise it is doubtful anyone would have married her at all), chose to make herself a cultural outcast by living with a man she was not married to. Based on her history of being a wife, this final choice was likely due to desperation—not to basic immorality. Although the religious crowd scorned and feared her, divorce/co-habitation was not the end of God’s purpose for this rejected woman’s life. Jesus broke tradition by seeking her out and keeping a divine appointment with her (and he must of necessity go through Samaria ^{John 4:4}). He saved her and called her to preach his gospel.

[2] Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty!

[3] This can refer to nothing else than when the writer was an infant and young child, before the age of accountability. During that brief period of life, little ones are alive to God. Jesus said the same when he picked up the the young child and said whoever causes one of those “little ones who believe” to stumble, get off easy if their only punishment is having a [giant] millstone tied about their necks and are cast into the sea.” Jesus said, execution by drowning would be the better thing for those who turned little ones from the faith connection God allows all babies to be born with. Paul wrote the time eventually arrived when the "commanded came,” and he died. This is a reference to the day his conscience was awakened, and he became aware of right and wrong—that is the age of accountability (It came for this writer at age six. Corrie Ten Boom said it came for her at age five. The actual age is likely different for each individual, younger for some, and older for others). This verse, answers the question of whether or not babies go to Heaven. The answer is, Yes. When David and Bathsheba’s child died, David said, “I will go to him but he shall not come to me.” David certainly knew that his infant was with God. This verse of scripture, underscores the urgency of evangelizing (and discipling)  children—who are usually very open to receiving Christ at young ages when presented with the gospel. When this writer’s children were very young, they were presented often with the Good News of the Risen Savior, and chose to pray the prayer of faith at ages, five, five, and eight (respectively). This writer also has an infant who went to be the Lord at the tender age of one day. This verse gives her much comfort and hope, as, along with the Psalmist, she can say, “I will go to him…”  

[4] Paul was honest about being in the same quandary with all people, of violating his conscience, from time to time, when his good intention was to obey God. How many say, along with Paul, I want to do right, but I seem to do wrong. Everyone! If we were perfect and sinless, we would have no need of a Savior. Even after we are Born Again, if we say we have no sin, the Bible says we are liars, and the truth is not in us. The good news is, that we can confess our sins (to God [agree with him that we have sinned]), and when we do that, He promises forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness.  

Additional commentary pending for this chapter. Questions and comments are welcome.

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John 4:1-18 Divorce and Co-Habitation

    1: When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Iesous made and baptized more disciples than John 2: Though Iesous himself baptized not but his disciples 3: He left Judaea and departed again into Galilee 4: And it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria[1] 5: Then came he to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph[2] 6: Now Jacob's well was there Iesous therefore being wearied with his journey[3] sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour 7: There came a woman of Samaria to draw water Iesous said to her Give me to drink 8: For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy food 9: Then said the woman of Samaria unto him How is it that you being a Jew ask drink of me which am a woman of Samaria for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans 10: Iesous answered and said to her If you knew the gift ho Theos and who it is that says to you Give me to drink you would have asked of him and he would have given you living water 11: The woman said to him sir you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep from where then have you that living water 12: Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well[4] and drank of it himself and his children, and his cattle 13: Iesous answered and said to her Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again 14: But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give them shall never thirst but the water that I shall give them shall be in them a well of water springing up into everlasting life 15: The woman said to him Sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come here to draw.[5] 16: Iesous said to her Go call your husband and come [back] here 17: The woman answered and said I have no husband Iesous said to her You have well said I have no husband[6] 18: For you have had five husbands and he who you now have is not your husband in that you answered honestly[7]

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[1] There was a woman there he needed to see. He was going to reach out in love to a woman who was outcast and desperately lonely. 

[2] This fact must have come from spoken tradition as the Hebrew scriptures record the coat of many colors given to Joseph by his father, Jacob, and the jealousy of his brothers, but nothing about a parcel of land. The question is, was the land given to Joseph while he was still young, before he was sold into slavery by his brothers (at age 17), or was it bequeathed to him later while they were all still in Egypt?   

[3] Statements like this give us a glimpse into the humanity of Jesus. He had walked a long way. He was tired. His feet probably hurt. He was thirsty. He sat on the well. It felt good to sit down. God became just like us. He experienced everything we experience ^{Hebrews 5:15}.

[4] The Samaritans descended from Jacob through his grandson, Ephraim, one of the two sons of Joseph.

[5] This woman suffered so much from the treatment she received of others that she waited until she could be reasonably sure that no one else would be at the well when she arrived, so she came in the heat of the day to draw her water. This well was apparently not in the middle of town at a convenient location, so the walk to and from it was better made when the sun was not yet high. Yet here was this woman at high noon only just arriving at the well. The cruel treatment she received from others, who came to the well during the cooler times of the day, must have been unbearable for her. The town well also served a second purpose as a social hub for the women as they came together to draw water each morning (we see an example of this in the Book of Ruth, where the well was the place Naomi reunited with the town’s women when she returned to Bethlehem-Judah from her long sojourn into Moab). But it was not for this un-named Samaritan woman to enjoy a morning visit with other women who met together in the cool of each morning. She apparently had few friends among these women. She was not an accepted part of a crowd who no doubt snubbed or jabbed at her with painful, malicious remarks. She was a social reject. She likely felt rejected by God as well. But she wasn’t. And Jesus went out of his way, into territory hated and avoided by respectable Jews, to tell her this. It was to a woman who was outcast in her community that Jesus felt compelled to travel through Samaria to see.

[6] What would have happened if the woman had not been honest with Jesus about her marital status? Would she have run back to town to fetch her “husband” only to find no one at the well waiting for her when she returned? Jesus made the first move. He started the conversation that changed this woman’s life—If she could pass the honesty test. He reached out to her with full knowledge of the fact that she was living in sin with a man she was not married to. But before he would continue, he required honesty. She had to come clean in order for Jesus to reveal the truth that would set her free. 

[7] There a few things to note about Jesus’ answer. The gentleness with which Jesus confronted her sin is an example we should learn to emulate. Her honest answer about her marital status wasn’t a confession really, but she did not pretend to be a respectably married woman when she wasn’t. Even had she offered the details of her sin, she would not have been condemned for it—as we know from the rest of the discourse.

It is commonly asserted that this woman had been divorced. There is no basis to assume whether that was the case or not. She could have been. Assuming that she was a divorced woman—as is almost always asserted—it is important to note that Jesus acknowledged each of her five marriages as legitimate by saying she had, had five husbands. He did not suggest that she had anything to ask forgiveness for regarding any of her five marriages. This does not suggest she had never been divorced, but if she had been divorced, then Christians need to ask themselves why one of their most common words of “comfort” to divorced brethren are, “God forgives divorce” when Jesus said no such thing to this woman who had been married five times. Whether she had ever been divorced or not, most Christians have been taught that the woman at the well was a divorced woman. It is important to understand that all divorce is not sin. There are scriptural grounds for divorce, and it is an erroneous and smug position to assume that divorce is always sin when dealing with Christians who have experienced the pain (and undeserved shame heaped on them by other Christians) of it.  

The woman at the well could very well have been widowed five times and been considered anathema as a wife. She could have been “put away” by her last husband, and therefore unmarriageable due to the fact that, though he cast her off, refused to legally divorce her in order to avoid paying a divorce settlement. This was a common practice in those days and before. God had harsh things to say through the prophet Malachi about men who dealt treacherously with wives they grew tired of by casting them off. Many Jewish wives were put away but never set free from the marriage by a legal divorce. This forced them to either live in limbo for the rest of their lives, or to marry again, anyway, bringing the label of adulteress on themselves, or to live with a man without being married to him. Regardless of what the case was with the woman at the well, the scriptures do not say “God hates divorce.” It is written that God hates shalach^H7971 the putting away (sending away or casting off). Shalach (casting off) without a bill of keriythuwth^H3748 (bill of divorce) is not the same as a divorce. The prophet Jeremiah^3:8 wrote that God himself cast off Israel and gave her a bill of divorce for adultery against him. The salient points in this verse are 1.) Jesus confronted the woman’s sin but complemented her honesty and dealt gently with her 2.) The scriptures do not record whether her previous marital status was divorced or widowed. It is commonly taught that the woman at the well had been divorced at least once but perhaps multiple times, yet Jesus acknowledged the legitimacy of each of her five marriages and demanded no repentance from her on the issue of adultery/divorce. 

Special Features of the HHBC

1.       The main body of scripture text in this commentary is based on the Received Text (Textus Receptus) of the NT and the Ben Chayyim Masoretic text of the OT as found in the Original *Strong’s Concordance, 1894, by James Strong, and compared diligently with the work of respected scholars.

2.       Archaic language is updated in most cases, but The AV is followed unchanged where the language and sense of the translation is clear to the modern reader.

3.       Where a Hebrew or Greek word has no good English equivalent, the original word is left untranslated, in italics, and, in some cases but not all, with the *Strong’s Greek [G] or Hebrew [H] reference number notated beside it (see list of untranslated words below).

4.       Where the Old Covenant is quoted in the New Testament, the Hebrew words may be used and left untranslated

5.       In New Testament quotes of Old Testament that include the word “Lord” in referring to Jehovah [YHWH], the word LORD will be capitalized

6.       Proper names and the names of God are often left untranslated

7.       The names and titles of God are in bold print

8.       The words of Jesus are in bold print

9.       Scripture cross-references are noted in line with the text

10.    There is little punctuation used in the main body of the scripture-commentary text

11.    Brackets [ ] indicate alternate rendering or short commentary

12.    Longer commentary is located in footnotes

*20^th Century editions of this work, such as, The New Updated Strong’s, and, The Strongest Strong’s, are not referenced in the HHBC as they do not correspond to the Textus Receptus or the Ben Chayyim Masoretic Text this commentary is based upon.

List of Untranslated Words used in this passage of the HHBC

Ho G3588 definite article corresponding to: the; this; that. Other usages include: of; etc.; who; which

Iesous _{pronounced Ee-ay-soos} G2424 translated Jesus: Yeshua is the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is “Joshua.” Iesous is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is “Jesus.” Thus, the names “Joshua” and “Jesus” are essentially the same; both are English pronunciations of the Hebrew and Greek names for our Lord. For examples of how the two names are interchangeable, see Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8 in the KJV. In both cases, the word Iesous refers to the Old Testament character Joshua

https://gotquestions.org/Yeshua-Jesus.html

Theos G2316 Deity; god; The reason the word, Theos, is largely left untranslated in this commentary, is to put to rest erroneous teaching that the word must be prefaced by the definite article, “ho,” in order to be referring to Yahweh. In fact, most New Testament scripture references to Theos are not introduced using the definite article, “ho,” but even so, it cannot be argued when the Almighty is being referenced—especially in the case of John 1:1, where John, a Jew who would never commit blasphemy by following anyone who was called “A” god, calls Jesus God. John was specifically stating that Jesus is YHWH [Yahweh].