John 4:9-13 (WEL) The Samaritan woman says to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman because the Jews have nothing to do with the Samaritans?” 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew God’s gift and who it is who asks you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman says to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. So, where then are you going to get this living water?” 12 “Are you greater than our forefather Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it along with his children and cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again. 14 “Whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst; furthermore, the water I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” 15 The woman says to him, “Sir, give me this water, in order that I may never thirst, neither come here to draw water.”
V9 The Samaritan woman says to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman because the Jews have nothing to do with the Samaritans?”
She was suspicious, curious, and puzzled. Samaritans are unclean in Jewish culture. If she drew water for a Jew to drink, the water would be unclean and make the Jew unclean by drinking it.
(Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary): “To be unclean refers to foods that are unfit, to defilement of a moral or religious character, and to spiritual impurity. The Old Testament distinguishes between what is clean and helpful and what is unclean and unacceptable (Leviticus 10:10; Leviticus 11:47). The priest was to teach the people the difference (Ezekiel 44:23).
“The teaching about uncleanness springs from the concept of God’s holiness (Leviticus 11:44–45).”
V10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew God’s gift and who it is who asks you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
Two things were unknown to this woman: 1) the identity of the person she is talking with and 2) God’s gift.
If she had known, she could have all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). Praise God that He seeks the lost. Jesus is God’s gift and gives gifts:
Eternal life—Romans 6:23
Every good and perfect gift—James 1:17 and 2 Peter 1:3
Spiritual gifts to glorify God by using them to edify the church (believers) and non-believers (preaching the Gospel)—1 Corinthians 12:4
The Holy Spirit—Acts 2:38
Promises of God—2 Peter 1:4
“Lewis Sperry Chafer, a prominent theologian and co-founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, identified 33 spiritual blessings that believers receive upon accepting Christ. These blessings are considered fundamental to the Christian faith and reflect the richness of God’s grace. Here is a summary of these spiritual blessings:
- In the eternal plan of God, salvation was part of God’s plan from eternity past.
- Redeemed: Believers are set free from sin and have the hope of future redemption.
- Reconciled: Through Christ, believers are reconciled to God.
- Related through propitiation: God’s justice is satisfied through Christ’s sacrifice.
- Forgiven all sins: All sins are forgiven through Christ.
- Joined to Christ: Believers are united with Christ in a spiritual sense.
- Freed from the Law: Believers are no longer under the law but under grace.
- God’s faithfulness: Assurance of God’s faithfulness in all circumstances.
- God’s peace: The peace of God that surpasses all understanding.
- God’s consolation: Comfort provided by God in times of trouble.
- God’s intercession: Christ and the Holy Spirit intercede for believers.
- Recipient of an inheritance in Christ: Believers inherit spiritual blessings through Christ.
- Recipient of an inheritance in heaven: Assurance of eternal rewards in heaven.
- Made a light on God’s behalf: Believers are called to reflect God’s light in the world.
- Possessing every spiritual blessing: All spiritual blessings are available to believers in Christ.”
There are at least a total of 70 when I did an AI search. Space does not permit the whole list, and at least 180 when including the Psalms, Prophets, and Gospels. Some of these blessings are only for Christians (Jews and Gentiles who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation). Some of the blessings are only for Israel (ethnic Jews who have a piece of real estate in the Middle East).
Note, the Lord Jesus states that she needs to ask of Him for these gifts and if she asks, He will give living water (salvation and the Holy Spirit).
V11 The woman says to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. So, where then are you going to get this living water?”
She wants that water but doesn’t understand what type of water that Jesus is telling her about.
V12 “Are you greater than our forefather Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it along with his children and cattle?”
An honest question, Jacob gave this water and this water, so how can you be greater than Jacob?
This was on a piece of real estate the Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor (Genesis 33:19).
(Easton’s Bible Dictionary) “It is at the entrance to the valley between Ebal and Gerizim, about 2 miles south-east of Shechem. It is about 9 feet in diameter and about 75 feet in depth, though in ancient times it was no doubt much deeper, probably twice as deep. The digging of such a well must have been a very laborious and costly undertaking.”
V13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will thirst again.
Jesus corrects her that He is not speaking of physical water but spiritual water.
Physical water is needed by our body to live.
Spiritual water is needed by our soul and spirit to live. It is this water that Jesus can give if asked.
The Holy Spirit is usually understood to be this spiritual water.
Others believe that salvation is the water that Jesus speaks of.
Adam Clarke: “On this account he can never thirst: – for how can he lack water who has in himself a living, eternal spring? By this water our Lord means also his doctrine, explaining and promising the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, which proceed from Jesus Christ their fountain, dwelling in a believing heart. There is no eternal life without the Spirit; no Spirit without Christ; and no Christ to give the Spirit, without dwelling in the heart: this his whole doctrine proclaims.”
V14 “Whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst; furthermore, the water I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
A person who drinks the water that Jesus gives will never need a drink again, for it is a living well, an ever-flowing spring.
(Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary) “…the “water” that Christ gives—spiritual life—is struck out of the very depths of our being, making the soul not a cistern, for holding water poured into it from without, but a fountain (the word had been better so rendered, to distinguish it from the word rendered “well” in John 4:11), springing, gushing, bubbling up and flowing forth within us, ever fresh, ever living. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost as the Spirit of Christ is the secret of this life with all its enduring energies and satisfactions, as is expressly said (John 7:37-39). “Never thirsting,” then, means simply that such souls have the supplies at home.”
V15 The woman says to him, “Sir, give me this water, in order that I may never thirst, neither come here to draw water.”
She asks for this water because she believes Jesus’s message. She still is not clear that Jesus is not speaking of physical water, but that doesn’t matter much for she is asking from her own personal free will.
Jesus will further clarify this in the next passages.
We learn:
- The importance of receiving the water that Jesus gives.
- The need to ask God for this gift.
Questions:
- Have you asked God for this spiritual water?
- If you have, how have you been blessed by it?