John 4:7–9

The third and nearest occasion of this conference, is, that while he was sitting there, a woman of Samaria, (originally of that countrey, it seems of the town of Sychar) cometh to draw water, upon which followeth the conference; wherein he leads her from one thing to another, till she come to know him to be the Messiah.

It may be summed up in this order, 1. Christ seeking a drink in his disciples absence, v. 7, 8. gets a tart answer, v. 9. 2. He discovering how much she mistook him, and that he had better water to give her, then she would offer him, v. 10 she reasons against this his offer, v. 11, 12. 3. Christ pointing out yet further the excellencie of what he offered, v. 13, 14. doth beget but a natural desire in her after it, v. 15. 4. Christ not prevailing by his offers, doth discover her misery to her, and that he knew her lewdnesse, v. 16, 17, 18. 5. The woman upon this, taking him to be a Prophet, v. 19. propounded the controversie betwixt the Jewes and the Samaritanes, concerning the place of publick worship, v. 20. and gets a full resolution to it, v. 21, 22, 23, 24. 6. The woman upon this discourse, bringing to remembrance the Messiah who was to come, is brought to know that Christ was he, v. 25, 26.

In the first discourse betwixt them (in these verses,) Christ seeking drink, both to quench his thirst, and that thereby he might take occasion to conferre with her; she casts up the dissensions betwixt the Samaritanes and Jewes, tartly checking him, that in his need he would now make use of her; Here John inserts, that the disciples, (who, it seems, were not so many as afterward) were gone to buy provision, as a reason why she found Christ alone, and why he employed her and not them to get drink. As for this great distance betwixt the Jewes and the Samaritanes, it began first at the defection of the ten tribes from the Temple at Hierusalem, and from the house of David and did encrease, partly, when heathen Nations, with some few Israelites, did possesse that land which had been given to Israel the brethren of the Jewes, and did invent a mungrel way of Religion, 2 Kings 17. partly, by reason of many injuries done to the Jewes by these Samaritanes; who, however they boasted to be descended of Jacoh, when the Jewes were in any good condition, (as appeareth in part from v. 12.) yet they were their bitter enemies in their adversity, as appeareth from Ezra, Nehemiah, and the histories of those times; And chiefly, this difference was heightened, when the Samaritanes with some Apostate Jewes, built a Temple in Mount Gerizim, in opposition to that at Jerusalem, and so that countrey became a shelter of all Apostate Jewes. Doct. 1. Providence may be intending much mercy to those who are unworthy of it, and are little minding it; for, this woman of Samaria, who was a vile woman, v. 18. cometh to draw water, and mindeth no other thing, and yet Providence made her to tryst with the Saviour of sinners; and with him, when he was actually under the feeling of our infirmities, being weary and thirsty, and so a meet Lord to deal with such an insensible woman. 2. It is no strange thing to see Christ and his followers much straitened in outward things: to see them need a drink of water, and have scarce any willing to supply them, and to have their dinner to seek at dinner time; for, this hath our humbled Lord sanctified to his followers in his own person; and by this his want he hath recovered their right to outward benefits, which was forfeited in Adam. 3. Albeit Christ humbled himself, and became poor, that through his poverty we might become rich; yet hath he also left an example to his meanest followers, of studying an honest way of living, and providing for their subsistence, and not by scandalous beggery, or being burdensome; for, he sent his disciples to buy meat. 4. There may be somewhat betwixt Christ, and those he will do good unto, that it were not meet that even disciples should know of it; therefore, among other causes, the disciples were gone away unto the City, that they might not be witnesses to Christs ripping up of her shameful fault in this conference; nor to her miscarriages in her discourses with him. 5. It is a commendable practice in men to be constant in their habit and fashions, and not affect novelty in these; for, herein Christ hath cast a copie, being known at first to be a Jew, by his habit and language. 6. It needs not seem strange, if Christ or his people, not only want and get no supply, but be mocked and insulted over in their necessities, by those who may help them; for, Christ being thirsty, gets a taunt instead of a drink. See, John 19.28, 29. with Psal. 69.21, 7. Contentions about Religion are ordinarily very hot, and draw not only to alienation of affections, but even to the breaking the bonds of civil society and converse: for, so was it here the Jewes had no dealings with the Samaritanes. 8. It is an evidence of a malicious heart to insult over the miseries of any, and to take advantage of the misery of those they hate, to do them all the spite they can: for, so much doth her taunt import, How is it, that thou being a Jew, askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jewes have no dealings with the Samaritanes. As if she had said, ye regard us not at other times, but now when ye need, ye seek to us, and therefore I will not answer you. 9. Self-love is so deeply rooted in every one, that even the basest cannot endure to be despised: for, the ground of her quarrel is, that they were contemned by the Jewes, the Jewes have no dealings with the Samaritanes. 10. Christ is a Lord who will not stand on any impediment, but will come over them all, to reconcile sinners to himselfe; for, he keeps no such distance with Samaritanes, nor with a lewd woman among them, and counts it his glory to take so wilde a creature.