From the Category, “The Eastern Eye”
[The Bible is an “Eastern” book. It was written many years ago in the “East” which today we refer to as “The Middle East.” As such, there are many customs and idioms that are not familiar to the “Western” mind.
In understanding the Scriptures it is important for us to understand the culture, but it doesn’t mean that we should necessarily follow that culture. Rather, it is in the understanding of the Eastern culture that we gain light and understanding about many things in the Bible.]
There are great truths in a record in the Gospel of John when Jesus stopped in Samaria and talked with a woman at the well. Understanding some of the culture of that day and time really enhances this familiar incident and gives us great insight.
Jesus was traveling north from Judea to Galilee and he stopped in a city in Samaria, which was geographically along the way. However, Judeans traveling in that part of the country would purposely travel greater distances just to avoid going through Samaria. Jesus, who always did the will of His Father, did not avoid Samaria on this trip.
After Israel (the Northern ten tribes) was taken into captivity by the Assyrians, the people left in the area of Samaria intermingled with people from other lands that the Assyrians brought into the Samaria area. As a result, both the Galileans and Judeans looked upon the Samaritans as not being full-blooded Jews. For this reason the Samaritans were not allowed to help in rebuilding the Temple.
The Judeans did everything they could to avoid any dealings with the Samaritans. This of course sheds light on the parable Jesus told, referred to by many as the parable of the Good Samaritan.
He Asked For Water
Jesus and his disciples arrived at a city in Samaria where there was a well, and he sent them to town to get food. He himself was tired and sat on the well, and a woman came along with her water pot to draw water. Jesus asked her for a drink. She, being a Samaritan, recognized Jesus as a Galilean, and asked him why he would ask her for a drink of water. Jesus began to tell her about living water.
In the culture of the lands and times of the Bible, it was acceptable to ask a woman for water, but not to have a conversation with her. But even so, this was a Samaritan woman, and a Judean would normally not even ask for water.
When asked for water in that culture, a woman would comply, but would not get into a conversation. Yet, this woman initiated the conversation when she asked Jesus why he as a Jew was asking water from a Samaritan woman. The conversation that followed was astounding.
In the middle of the conversation, Jesus asked her to go call her husband. She answered that she had no husband. Jesus said she answered correctly and that she had five husbands previously, and the current man in her life was not her husband.
Don’t Guess!
It’s not wise to guess or speculate that this woman had been divorced five times. God’s Word does not tell us that. Furthermore, unlike the Judeans, the Samaritans had a custom of courting, and it is possible that was the situation with the man she was seeing, whom Jesus indicated was not her husband.
From reading the entire record, it is obvious that the woman at the well did not have a disreputable reputation. On the contrary, she must have had credibility because when she left speaking with Jesus and went into town a number of people not only listened to what she told them about Jesus, but they came to see Jesus.
Jesus knew some information about the woman because God, by way of His spirit in Jesus, revealed it to him. That is how he knew. That Jesus knew these things indicated to the woman that he was a prophet, and she told him so.
Then this woman asked some very good questions. She wanted to know who was worshiping correctly: the Samaritans or the Judeans. Jesus answered by telling her the days were coming very shortly when the true worshipers would worship God by way of the spirit.
He then went even further and told her that God was spirit, and that they who worship Him must worship Him truthfully by way of the spirit. And when she next asked about the coming Messiah, he told her plainly that he was the Messiah.
She Left Her Water Pot
At this point, the disciples return, very curious as to why Jesus is talking to this Samaritan woman. The woman then leaves her water pot and heads to town to tell everyone she knows. It is very significant that the woman left her water pot.
In that culture you never, ever leave your water pot. It’s not expensive; it is just a clay pot. But it has great sentimental value. If you leave or forsake your water pot it is equal to forsaking God; you could even be ostracized because your actions indicate you have no respect for God.
At that moment in time, for that woman, the consequences of breaking culture no longer mattered. She just met the long awaited Messiah face to face, one-on-one! She went into town with a very exciting message and brought a crowd back with her.
The Samaritans then asked Jesus Christ to stay with them and he stayed with them for two days. It was a great blessing for those Samaritans because Jesus did the will of the Father and traveled into Samaria.
Salvation is by God’s grace, not of works. God is no respecter of persons. He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.
John 4:3-43
He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.And he must needs go through Samaria.
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.
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.
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.
(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)
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.
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.
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?
Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
But whosoever drinketh 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.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:
For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
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.
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?
The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,
Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?
Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.
In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.
But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.
And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.
So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.
And many more believed because of his own word;
And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Now after two days he departed thence, and went into Galilee.
Mike Verdicchio
2013
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Resources
There are a number of books that you can read to get insight on customs, manners, idioms and meanings from the Eastern culture in which the Bible was written. The best I know of were written by Bishop K. C. Pillai. I have had the pleasure of listening to many recorded teaching by him.
He wrote three books, and they are hard to find, and are usually over priced. But, if you want to you can check this link to see what Amazon has to offer. Light Through an Eastern Window
Another great resource that I have used for years is a book called, “Manners and Customs of the Bible,” by James Freeman. Mine was printed in 1972 and I know they have newer additions. For the newest edition, just click the link and it will take you to Amazon. The New Manners and Customs of the Bible (Pure Gold Classics)
Many years ago I gave a sermon on John 4 and did a lot of research; indeed there are many lessons to be learned from the incident of what is known as “The Woman at the Well”. I have a little different take on the woman at the well.
The woman I believe was of a disreputable reputation. The women of the time went early to the well to get water for the day, however this woman was at the well at noontime I think to avoid meeting with the other women of the city. When Jesus told her to go get her husband she answered, “I have no husband”, Jesus replied that she answered correctly and that indeed she had had five husbands and the man that she was with now was not her husband, that was enough to give her a bad reputation so, from my research, I think, she did not wish to make this known to, what was to her, a stranger.
Indeed, the water pot, although not necessarily expensive, was a valuable asset to the people of that time because it meant that, possibly, there would be no water until it was replaced; so, apart from the: “…forsake[ing] your water pot…[being] equal to forsaking God…” belief, the woman knew that she would return, and at that moment, the mission that Jesus had sent her on was of more importance and the water pot would be a burden and hindrance to her.
One of the lessons I learned from this incidence is thatGod does not look at us the same way we look at one another. This woman was the first ‘missionary’ that Jesus sent out and she was: (1) a woman, (2) a Samaritan: a despised person, and (3) a person of disrepute, hardly the type of person that we, if we had lived at that time, would choose to send out on a mission; and I dare say, we, even in this day of more tolerance, would choose to send on a mission for God.
P.S. There are other lessons to be learned from this book and chapter.
Wayne, there are many, many lessons to be learned from all thebooks of the Bible – plenty for our whole lifetime, don’t you agree?
My understanding of the culture is that if she was a disreputable woman, firstly men would not have listened to her, let alone followed her out of town.