João 4
Ray Stedman · Citado em PreceptAustin
João 4
Stedman - This direct route from Judea to Galilee was about 70 miles, or two and a half days' walk. But many of the Jews chose not to go through Samaria. They traveled the hot desert road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and up the Jordan valley. Thus, because of the terrible prejudice that prevailed against the Samaritan people, they journeyed almost twice the distance on a much hotter and more uncomfortable road. But our Lord cut right through that ignorant, narrow-minded prejudice and went through Samaria. (The Man Who Understood Woman) THOUGHT - Who is the Samaritan" in your life? Who is that you absolutely detest and even feel defiled by? Who do you do not want to share the Gospel with? Jesus gives us an example of the summun bonum, the highest good, the greatest goal, indeed the supreme purpose for which He came to die - "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Lk 19:10+) He did not come to seek and save those who were likable, those who were worthy, those who were good, etc. If He had, no one would have been saved, for no one is in any of those categories! We were ALL "detestable" and "defiled" by our sins of thought, word and deed, and yet Jesus came to sit beside us and speak the Gospel to our calloused hearts, saving us from the guttermost to the uttermost! As His disciples we too MUST GO to the detestable, the defiled, the downcast, the derelict, the dirty, etc. and engage them in a Gospel centered conversation, allowing God's Holy Word and Holy Spirit to open their hearts like He did Lydia's heart in Acts 16:14+. Will you go share the news of "Living Water" with a "Samaritan" this year? Prejudice is a great timesaver: It enables you to form opinions without getting the facts. Deffinbaugh (The Woman at the Well) - D. A. Carson (BORROW The Gospel according to John), citing Josephus, maintains that Jews much more commonly passed through Samaria. It would therefore seem that only a few strict Jews refused to do so. Samaria - John Kitto (one of Spurgeon's favorite writers) has this note - Sama´ria (watch-height), a city, situated near the middle of Palestine, built by Omri, king of Israel, on a mountain or hill of the same name, about B.C. 925. It was the metropolis of the kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes. The hill was purchased from the owner, Shemer, from whom the city took its name (1Ki 16:24-25). Samaria continued to be the capital of Israel for two centuries, till the carrying away of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser, about B.C. 722. During all this time it was the seat of idolatry, and is often as such denounced by the prophets… It was the seat of a temple of Baal, built by Ahab (1Ki 16:31-32, 21:25-26), and destroyed by Jehu. It was the scene of many of the acts of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, connected with the various famines of the land, the unexpected plenty of Samaria, and the several deliverances of the city from the Syrians. After the exile of the ten tribes, Samaria appears to have continued, for a time at least, the chief city of the foreigners brought to occupy their place; although Shechem soon became the capital of the Samaritans as a religious sect… Augustus (Caesar) bestowed Samaria on Herod; who eventually rebuilt the city with great magnificence, and gave it the name of Sebaste. Here Herod planted a colony of 6000 persons, composed partly of veteran soldiers, and partly of people from the environs; enlarged the circumference of the city; and surrounded it with a strong wall twenty stades in circuit. In the midst of the city—that is to say, upon the summit of the hill—he left a sacred place of a stade and a half, splendidly decorated, and here he erected a temple to Augustus, celebrated for its magnitude and beauty. The whole city was greatly ornamented, and became a strong fortress. Such was the Samaria of the time of the New Testament, where the Gospel was preached by Philip, and a church was gathered by the apostles. (Samaria - Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature - click for full article) (Samaria - Wikipedia) The Samaritans (Hebrew: Shomronim) are an ethno-religious group named after and descended from ancient Semitic inhabitants of Samaria, since the Assyrian exile of the Israelites.[25] Religiously, the Samaritans are adherents of Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism. Based on the Samaritan Torah, Samaritans claim their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel. Their temple was built at Mount Gerizim in the middle of 5th century BC and was destroyed by the Macabbean (Hasmonean) John Hyrcanus late in 110 BC, although their descendants still worship among its ruins. The antagonism between Samaritans and Jews is important in understanding the Bible's New Testament stories of the "Samaritan woman at the well" and "Parable of the Good Samaritan". (Wikipedia) Gary Burge has an excellent summary of Samaritans - The apostasy of the Old Testament northern kingdom of Israel (finally based in the city of Samaria) was well known. When the Assyrians conquered and exiled the northern kingdom in 722 B.C., they repopulated the region with people from throughout their empire (2 Kings 17:23–24). Remnants of the defeated Israelite kingdom now mixed with Persians and other conquered peoples. The paganism known to Jeroboam now was mixed with countless other practices, making the religious impurity of the land infamous (2 Kings 17:25ff.). In time, the monotheism of Judaism prevailed, but it suffered important modifications. The Samaritans rejected the writings of the Prophets (including the histories [1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Chronicles]) and wisdom literature (Proverbs, Psalms, etc.) because of these writings’ emphasis on Judea and David’s line centered on Jerusalem. Their Scriptures were limited to the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), and their worship was centered on a new temple on Mount Gerizim, towering above ancient Shechem, while Jerusalem was rejected as a place of pilgrimage. Following the Babylonian exile when Zerubbabel led the rebuilding of the temple, Samaritan help was adamantly refused (Ezra 4:2–3), which fueled more conflict. When Alexander the Great and later Greek generals controlled Palestine (beginning about 330 B.C.), they made Samaria an important base, knowing that here they could find sympathetic, anti-Jewish allies. When the Jews had their opportunity (128 B.C.) they attacked Samaria, destroyed Shechem, and burned the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim. By Jesus’ day, a smoldering tension existed between the regions of Judea and Samaria. Partly based on race and religion, it echoed many centuries of terrible political fights. (See John - NIV Application Commentary scroll up and down for more text or BORROW John - The NIV Application Commentary) Kostenberger adds that "In Jesus’ day, relations between Jews and Samaritans were generally characterized by bitter hostility (e.g., Pseudepigrapha of the OT = Testament of Levi 7:2, which calls Shechem “City of the Senseless” or "city of imbeciles"). In an apparent attempt to ease the tension, Herod the Great married a Samaritan woman named Malthace, who bore him both Antipas and Archelaus (Josephus, J.W. 1.28.4 §562; Ant. 17.1.3 §20), but to little avail. On the whole, Samaritans were considered to be irremediably impure… Despite their recognition of the five books of Moses, they were suspected of being an idolatrous cult on the basis of their veneration of Mount Gerizim as a holy mountain (cf. m. ?ul. 2:8). The Jewish historian Josephus portrays the Shechemites as a refuge for Jewish religious apostates (Ant. 11.11.7 §§346–47). He also records an occasion (between A.D. 6–9) when some Samaritans tried to desecrate the Jerusalem temple on the eve of the Passover (Ant. 18.2.2 §§29–30) and another instance (in A.D. 52) when they attacked Jewish pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem (Ant. 20.6.1–3 §§118–36). To call someone—especially a fellow-Jew—a “Samaritan” was a gross insult (cf. b. Sotah 22a) (see John scroll up and down for more text). Had to (must) (1163)(dei from deo = to bind or tie objects together, put in prison and also root of doulos, bond-servant) refers to what is not optional but needful (binding) out of intrinsic necessity or inevitability. Dei refers to inward constraint which is why it is often translated must. (as in Jn 4:24 = "must worship in spirit and truth") Dei describes that which is under the necessity of happening or which must necessarily take place. Jesus' trek into Samaria was His Father's will and as He stated "I do nothing on My own initiative." (Jn 8:28) Again Jesus clearly stated "I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." (Jn 5:30) Although some take dei here to indicate logical necessity only, in John's Gospel its use involves God's will or plan (see below). John has 10 passages that speak of the sense of divine necessity. In other words, whenever John uses the impersonal verb dei' the necessity involves God’s will or plan: John 3:7 “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must (dei) be born again.’ John 3:14 “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must (dei) the Son of Man be lifted up; John 3:30 “He must (dei) increase, but I must (dei) decrease. John 4:4KJV And he must (dei) needs go through Samaria. John 4:20 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought (dei) to worship.” John 4:24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must (dei) worship in spirit and truth.” John 9:4 “We must (dei) work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. John 10:16 “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must (dei) bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. John 12:34 The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, ‘The Son of Man must (dei) be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” John 20:9 For as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that He must (dei) rise again from the dead. James Smith - Handfuls of Purpose - THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. John 4:1-30. "A love that gives and takes—that seeth faults, Not with flaw-seeking eyes like needle-points, But loving, kindly, ever looks them down With the overcoming faith of meek forgiveness." —Lowell. "He must needs go through Samaria." There was a must needs for every word Christ spoke, and for every act that He did. Those Jews, which had "no dealings with the Samaritans," usually avoided going through Samaria when journeying from Judea to Galilee; but Christ's love for sinners constrained Him to go that way. He lived not to please Himself, but to seek and to save the lost. In this He has left us an example that we should follow His steps. Meanwhile let us centre our thoughts on the woman. See her as— I. A Flagrant Sinner. It is quite clear from verse 18 that this woman lived in a condition of shameless immorality. She seems to have been the chief among this class of sinners. But Jesus knew when and where to find her. It is no mere chance-work to come into contact with the Son of God. He knoweth the way that we take. II. An Awakened Questioner. "How is it that Thou... askest of me?" etc. (Jn 4:9). As soon as she comes into His presence her curiosity is aroused. Whoever could come into touch with Christ without being moved in one way or another. Yet some dare to pronounce Him nothing more than human. This Samaritan knew that He was a Jew, although the Jews, in their hate, declared that He was a Samaritan (John 8:48). It is interesting to note that it was the un-Jewish largeheartedness of Christ that first awakened her interest in Him. This is His chief characteristic as the Saviour of sinners. III. A Carnal Reasoner. Jesus answered the woman's inquiry with a revelation of Himself, as the Giver of "living water." He sought to make her conscious of her need of the "Gift of God" (v. 10). Her answer shows that she was in total darkness as to spiritual things. "Sir," she said, "Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep" (v. 11). As if this life-giving water was to come out of Jacob's well. But she was not more blind than Nicodemus was when he said, "How can a man be born when he is old?" Through sin, the descent of man from God is so great that, without a miracle of grace he cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14). Carnal reason has never yet understood the Word of God. IV. A Bewildered Trifler. "Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw" (v. 15), She has now got a faint glimmering that He is not speaking of the water in the well of Jacob; but she has the idea that the water He gives isbut a substitute for that which was in Sychar's Well. So her quick, flippant answer is: Oh, that would be very convenient; just give it me that I may be saved the pain of thirst, and the trouble of carrying it from the well. Her curiosity seems now turned into a sort of half-puzzled spirit of ridicule. As yet she is unfit to receive the Kingdom of God by faith. The deep things of God are never revealed to a frivolous soul. The plough of conviction must be driven deeper down. The seed of the Word must have an honest heart. V. A Religious Inquirer. The Lord met her flippant reply with these stinging words: "Go, call your husband" (vv. 16-20). This led up to the confession: "Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet." All lightness and frivolousness seems now to vanish, and in downright earnestness she asks Him to settle for her that vexed question as to "where men ought to worship." The mental and moral process through which this woman passed is in beautiful harmony with the teaching of all the New Testament, and with present-day Christian experience. The question now with this anxious soul is: Where should I worship? How am I to be put right with God? What must I do to be saved? VI. An Earnest Listener. Now that the conversation had so wonderfully turned upon the most vital point for a sin-smitten seeking soul, with what eagerness would she drink in the message of light and life from her Saviour's lips. What a message this is (vv. 21-24). "Woman, believe Me... worship the Father in spirit and in truth...God is a Spirit." This was a new revelation to her, and was the death-blow to all her prejudice, self-righteousness, and sectarianism. It was also the opening of a new door of hope for her, in bringing salvation within her reach there and then. "I know that Messias cometh," she said. "When He is come, He will tell us all things." Jesus saith unto her, "I that speak unto thee am He." What a transforming revelation this was 1 VII. A Fearless Testifier. She went and said to the men of the city, "Come, see a man which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" (vv. 28-30). Yes, this is the Christ, who tells us plainly what we are, and what we need, and who offers to supply that need without money or price (v. 10). She was not ashamed to own Him, as the revealer of her sins, and the Anointed One of God; and her earnest, faithful testimony was blessed to the salvation of many (v. 39). She had no commission, but the expulsive power of a new revelation became in her irresistible. We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen. The love of Christ constraineth us. Cyril Hocking - John 4:1–9 GIVE ME TO DRINK WHAT PROMPTED the Lord to leave, now that He was attracting more followers in Judaea than John had done, followers who in turn were being baptized by His own disciples’? The Lord ‘knew’ that the Pharisees ‘had heard’ this, and as His hour had not yet come He would do nothing to precipitate the further hardening of their jealous and hard hearts. Prophets generally were not honoured in their own country; this He meekly accepted. His departure to Galilee is evidence of His submission to His Father’s programme for Him. His route to Galilee also is subject to inner divine compulsion; ‘he must needs go through Samaria’, and in particular He will break his journey for two days at a city called Sychar, vv. 5, 39, 40. Not the shortness of the way, but the seasonableness of a divine visitation to Sychar and its people constrained the Lord to go this way. Beautiful on these mountains were the feet of Him who was to bring good tidings of salvation to Sychar! However, to seek and to save the firstfruit of that harvest, He must initiate a disarming dialogue between Himself and a woman of that city. There were so many obstacles to be overcome; so much to be unlearned as well as to be learned by her. So it is today. Sacred traditions, true and false, provide props for many forms of piety which do not know the power, or satisfaction of true godliness, the springs of which are in God. This woman has no personal God-given inheritance in the neighbourhood, though she dwells ‘near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph’, v. 5. She remains dissatisfied though she draws water at Jacob’s well (lit. ‘spring’, vv. 6 (2), 14, the source of its supply, ct. the word used in vv. 11, 12), which tradition knows well even if God’s word knows nothing of it! This Jewish Stranger sat ‘as he was’, wearied and thirsty, on the well-side and asked her, ‘Give me to drink’, ct. 19:28. That any Jew should ask drink of her, a Samaritan woman, startled her, for her people were a mixed race whose religious syncretism fostered schism and rivalry. More surprises were in store for her as the Stranger speaks to her, Himself the spring of all satisfying and lasting blessing. QUESTION - What can we learn from the woman at the well? ANSWER - The story of the nameless Samaritan woman at the well, recorded only in the Gospel of John, is a revealing one, full of many truths and powerful lessons for us today. The story of the woman at the well follows on the heels of the account of Jesus’ interaction with Nicodemus, a Pharisee and prominent member of the Jewish Sanhedrin (John 3:1–21). In John 4:4–42 we read about Jesus’ conversation with a lone Samaritan woman who had come to get water from a well (known as Jacob’s well) located about a half mile from the city of Sychar in Samaria. This was an extraordinary woman. She was a Samaritan, a race of people that the Jews utterly despised as having no claim on their God, and she was an outcast and looked down upon by her own people. This is evidenced by the fact that she came alone to draw water from the community well when, during biblical times, drawing water and chatting at the well was the social highpoint of a woman’s day. However, this woman was ostracized and marked as immoral, an unmarried woman living openly with the sixth in a series of men. The story of the woman at the well teaches us that God loves us in spite of our bankrupt lives. God values us enough to actively seek us, to welcome us to intimacy, and to rejoice in our worship. As a result of Jesus’ conversation, only a person like the Samaritan woman, an outcast from her own people, could understand what this means. To be wanted, to be cared for when no one, not even herself, could see anything of value in her—this is grace indeed. But there are many other valuable truths we glean from this story. We learn that: 1) Only through Jesus can we obtain and receive eternal life: “Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life’” (John 4:13–14; cf. John 14:6). 2) Jesus’ ministering to those outcasts of the Jewish society (the Samaritans) reveals that all people are valuable to God and that Jesus desires that we demonstrate love to everyone . . . including even our enemies (John 4:7–9; Matthew 5:44). 3) Jesus is the Messiah (John 4:25–26; 1:41; Matthew 27:22; Luke 2:11). 4) Those who worship God, worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:23–24; Psalm 145:18). 5) Our testimony about Jesus is a powerful tool in leading others to believe in Him: “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I ever did.’ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. And because of his words many more became believers. They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world”’ (John 4:39–42). Additionally, we learn from Jesus’ dialogue with the woman at the well three absolute truths about salvation: 1) Salvation comes only to those who recognize their desperate need for the spiritual life they do not have. Living water can be obtained only by those who recognize that they are spiritually thirsty. 2) Salvation comes only to those who confess and repent of their sin and desire forgiveness. Before this immoral woman could embrace the Savior, she had to concede the full burden of her sins. 3) Salvation comes only to those who take hold of Jesus as their Messiah. For the absolute truth is that salvation is found in no one else (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). David
João 4
Stedman - How do we keep from thirsting? We have water piped in, available to us all the time, so that when we feel even a little thirsty we take a drink of it. This is what Jesus means here. The water he would give would be available constantly so that when one was thirsty one could drink immediately and so would never get terribly thirsty. (The Man Who Understood Woman) Marvin Vincent on the strong negative shall never thirst - It must not be understood, however, that the reception of the divine life by a believer does away with all further desire. On the contrary, it generates new desires. The drinking of the living water is put as a single act, in order to indicate the divine principle of life as containing in itself alone the satisfaction of all holy desires as they successively arise; in contrast with human sources, which are soon exhausted, and drive one to other fountains. Holy desire, no matter how large or how varied it may become, will always seek and find its satisfaction in Christ, and in Christ only. Thirst is to be taken in the same sense in both clauses, as referring to that natural craving which the world cannot satisfy, and which is therefore ever restless. Drusius, a Flemish critic, cited by Trench (“Studies in the Gospels”), says: “He who drinks the water of wisdom thirsts and does not thirst. He thirsts, that is, he more and more desires that which he drinks. He does not thirst, because he is so filled that he desires no other drink.” The strong contrast of this declaration of our Lord with pagan sentiment, is illustrated by the following passage from Plato: (John 4 Commentary) In John 6 Jesus again alludes to the promise of supernatural "water" that alone is able to eternally quench the deep God-given thirst of one's soul. Notice that He was addressing the crowd who was following Him seeking physical bread! It seems that Jesus is ever trying to pry our eyes from the paltry portions of this passing planet and focus them on the things above where He is seated at the right hand of God (Col 3:1-note, Col 3:2-note) (John 6:35) Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me (come = believing in Him as the context shows) will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never (Gk = "ou me" = strong double negative conveying the thought that he will NEVER, EVER) thirst. Shall… thirst (1372) (dipsao from dipsa = thirst) is used to refer to literal thirst (Mt 25:35, 37, 42, 44; Jn 19:28) and figurative thirst (Mt 5:6, Jn 4:13, 14, 6:35, 7:37, Rev 7:16, 21:6, 22:17). And so we see that dipsao is used to describe both physical thirst and the deep spiritual longing that is in every heart. Vincent on will become in him - "A supply having its fountain-head in the man's own being, and not in something outside himself." While I agree in part with Vincent, the truth is that the Source is the Spirit of Christ and while He does indwell a believer, ultimately He is from outside of us. (John 4 Commentary) Alford on a well springing up to eternal life - All earthly supplies have access only into those lower parts of our being where the desires work themselves out—are but local applications; but the heavenly gift of spiritual life which Jesus gives to those who believe on Him, enters into the very secret and highest place of their personal life, the source whence the desires spring out;—and, its nature being living and spiritual, it does not merely supply, but it lives and waxes onward, unto everlasting life, in duration, and also as producing and sustaining it. It should not be overlooked, that this discourse had, besides its manifold and wonderful meaning for us all, an especial moral one as applied to the woman,—who, by successive draughts at the ‘broken cistern’ of carnal lust, had been vainly seeking solace:—and this consideration serves to bind on the following verses (John 4:16ff.) to the preceding, by another link besides those noticed below. (John 4 Commentary) This is an old chorus based on this story of the woman at the well in John 4… Fill My Cup, Lord Like the woman at the well I was seeking For things that could not satisfy And then I heard my Savior speaking, “Draw from the well that never shall run dry.” Fill my cup, Lord I lift it up, Lord. Come and quench This thirsting of my soul Bread of Heaven, Feed me till I want no more. Fill my cup, fill it up And make me whole. Well - Jesus used a different Greek word for well (pege) in contrast to the word the woman had used for well (phrear). The former is alive, dynamic, active, a spring, a fountain, but the latter is but a hole in the ground, more like a cistern, with water at the bottom. Spurgeon (John 4:14 Life’s Ever-Springing Well) - Not a pool (or cistern) of water standing still and becoming stagnant, nor even a stream of water gently gliding on, but a spring perpetually forcing itself upward. You have seen springs at work, and you have noticed that they never cease, they never pause, there is never a moment in which they are quiet. Let all things else change its occupation, the spring could fairly say—“Men may come, and men may go, But I go on for ever.” In the silent night watches, when no eye gazes upon them, the springs bubble on; and when the hot and broiling sun is parching the meadows, cool and clear is the up-leaping, ever-flowing springs. Springs are in perpetual motion, and no known power could stop them. If for mischief heaps of rubbish are piled upon them, they somehow percolate the mass, upheave and find a vent for themselves at last, for their force must win a course for itself. So brethren, when God puts the new life into a man, it is a very active and vigorous principle… The divine life is such a thing of force, that surrounding circumstances do not operate upon it as you might have supposed. In frosty weather, when we have seen the rivers frozen across, we have been told by peasants, that the old spring-head on the side of the hill was flowing on the same as ever. Decorated with icicles up to the edge of the old spout, still the stream gushes out. So a Christian may be placed in the worst imaginable circumstances; he may live in a family so ungodly, that the name of Christ is only used to blaspheme with; he may scarcely ever meet with a Christian associate, he may even be denied the means of grace, the Bible itself may be taken from him, but if the inner life be there, such is its native heat, that you cannot freeze it; such is its constant force and power, that it will continue flowing still. It might have been more happy with the man, it certainly would have been more for his comfort and usefulness, if he had been under other conditions, but here is joy for our heart to recollect that under the worst possible conditions, such is the energy of the grace which God implants, that it will continue to spring upward into everlasting life… I tell you the living spring cannot be stayed in its action. If you have but a cistern full of water, it will be quiet enough, but if it be a spring, it is for ever seething, bubbling, gushing. When I have watched certain springs, I have seen them apparently casting up little particles of sand and dust, making and casting down little circular mounds of earth; and so the inner life within the spirit often brings to light to our own minds our faults and our imperfections, so that nothing appears to be so active as our corruptions, and we anxiously ask, “Is it living water that is bubbling up, or is it only the sand of my sin that is so full of energy?” Beloved, grace lives and aspires; it is an up-going flame, a springing well, and not a down-going cataract. It is a great mercy when the master principle within our spirits is not a going down, but a springing up. Be thankful for upward tendencies, and say unto the Lord:— Thou of life the fountain art— Freely let me take of thee; Spring thou up within my heart, Rise to all eternity. A PICTURE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT It is fascinating that the verb hallomai which Jesus choose for springing up is the same verb used in the OT (Septuagint = Lxx) to describe the Holy Spirit coming upon ("leaping upon" as it were) Samson (Jdg 14:6, 14:19, 15:14) and Saul (1Sa 10:10). Vine writes that in John 4:14 hallomai is used as a "figurative of the Holy Spirit in the believer." How interesting also to note that in both the Old and New Testament the Spirit is described in terms of pouring out, as one does with literal water… Isaiah 32:15 Until (Note this important expression of time! Pentecost was a partial fulfillment but the latter part of this prophetic promise has not been fulfilled - It will be in the Millennium) the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fertile field and the fertile field is considered as a forest. Isaiah 44:3 ‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring (Ed: Sounds like "thirsty souls" in a "thirsty land"!) and My blessing on your descendants; Ezekiel 39:29 "And I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD. Joel 2:28-29 (Acts 2:17-18) "And it will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. "And even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. Henry Morris (Defender's Study Bible - an excellent conservative resource) - This great promise of the Holy Spirit was precursively fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-21), though He was not given to "all flesh" at that time. The remaining parts of this prophecy (Joel 2:30-31) were not fulfilled at that time, but all will be fulfilled as Christ's return draws near. (Online Source - click notes in right margin) Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that (a strategic terms of purpose or result) they will look on Me whom they have pierced (When the Deliverer returns, He will remove ungodliness from Israel before He establishes His Messianic Kingdom on earth - see Ro 11:25-27-note); and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. Acts 2:33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. Acts 10:45 And all the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also. Romans 5:5-note and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out (ekcheo - perfect tense which speaks of the effect as lasting, indeed lasting throughout eternity!) within our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us. Titus 3:5-6-note He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 Whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior Gary Burge observes that "Jesus’ image is dramatic: The woman in search of a well discovers that the Spirit could transform her life into a well that does not require reaching and dipping, but which roils and gurgles with water until it spills over its rim. (See John - NIV Application Commentary scroll up and down for more text) Steven Cole on will become in him a well of water spring up - In him shows that true Christianity is not primarily a matter of rituals and ceremonies, but rather an inward, personal relationship with the living God. It must be in each person’s heart. The picture of this living water springing up points to the continual source of life that the indwelling Holy Spirit supplies to believers. It’s active and always flowing. There may be times of greater and lesser flow, but it never dries up, as so many Arizona rivers do. (Living Water for a Thirsty Woman) Spurgeon on a well of water spring up - Hence he will always be contented. He who has grace in his heart is a happy man; he grows more and more satisfied with the grace as it wells up increasingly in living power in his character and life. Oh, if you have never received that living water, may God give it to you just now! You shall never regret receiving it; but you shall rejoice over it evermore. James Smith - On the sands at Saltcoats there is a spring of fresh water, but as it is within the tide-mark, it is frequently buried beneath the briny waves. But every time the tide recedes the spring appears as fresh and full as ever. If there is within us what our Lord offers to give us, "a well of living water springing up within," it will manifest itself. The billows of temptation or the flood-tide of sorrow and affliction may overflow for a season, but as sure as every living thing must move, so sure will it spring up again untainted by the contact. Its source is not in its surroundings, but deep in the heart of God, the Fountain of eternal life and love (John 4:14). (Handfuls on Purpose) The world offers a stagnant cistern. Christ offers a satisfying well. PICTURE OF THE SPIRIT SPRINGING UP WITHIN US Springing up (242) (hallomai - Vine say akin to halma = "a leap") means to leap, leap up, jump, spring, spring up, to gush. "Used of quick movement by living beings like jumping." (Brown). To leap, to dance, to rejoice much with song and dance! The two literal uses in Acts (Acts 3:8, 14:10) describe men lame from birth who jump up after being healed by one of the apostles (first Peter, then Paul). Jesus applies hallomai metaphorically to the picture of water bubbling up as from an underground spring. There are 3 uses in the NT (see below) and 8 in the Septuagint with 4 of these uses referring to the Holy Spirit "leaping upon" individuals (Samson in Jdg 14:6, 19, 15:14 and Saul in 1Sa 10:10)! The use in Isaiah 35:6 refers to the Millennium when the lame will leap! Given these "supernatural" uses of hallomai in both the OT and the NT, it is not surprising to see Jesus use it in a similar context describing the supernatural effects of "drinking" the "living waters," which in context means to believe in Him. What a glorious picture of the Holy Spirit - inward, irrepressible, inexhaustible! Louw-Nida Semantic Domains on Hallomai - The action of water forming bubbles and welling up from underneath the ground. (UBS) Boa says springing up is "a beautiful metaphor. It’s like an artesian well that springs up and it has no boundaries, no limits. It continues to spring from the inside to the outside. This is a marvelous metaphor of the Spirit of God Who is ultimately going to be given." Keri Wyatt - Even a sacred well, when compared to the living water of Jesus, becomes a mere cistern. The things we think will bring us life are dry and lifeless in comparison to the wellspring of life that we can find in relationship with Him. (Deeper into the word: reflections on 100 words from the new testament) A derivative is ephallomai which means to leap upon and describes the demoniac in Acts 19:16! Another great derivative of hallomai (see also below) is the verb exallomai which means to leap out (as from a house), to leap up or forth as from the place where one sat (All uses in Scripture = Isa 55:12; Joel 2:5; Mic 2:12; Nah 3:17; Hab 1:8; Acts 3:8). Hallomai was used in classic Greek work Homer's Iliad to describe an arrow "leaping" from the string ("the bow twanged, and the string sang as the arrow flew gladly on over the heads of the throng."). The derivative verb is agalliao which means to leap for joy. Agalliao means to experience a state of great joy and gladness, often accompanied by verbal expression and appropriate bodily movements. It speaks of great rejoicing and exultation. The idea is this person shows their excessive, ecstatic joy by leaping and skipping. It describes jubilant exultation, a quality of joy that remains unhindered and unchanged by what happens.
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Stedman - This direct route from Judea to Galilee was about 70 miles, or two and a half days' walk. But many of the Jews chose not to go through Samaria. They traveled the hot desert road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and up the Jordan valley. Thus, because of the terrible prejudice that prevailed against the Samaritan people, they journeyed almost twice the distance on a much hotter and more uncomfortable road. But our Lord cut right through that ignorant, narrow-minded prejudice and went through Samaria. Deffinbaugh - D. A. Carson, citing Josephus, maintains that Jews much more commonly passed through Samaria. It would therefore seem that only a few strict Jews refused to do so. Samaria - John Kitto (one of Spurgeon's favorite writers) has this note - Sama´ria (watch-height), a city, situated near the middle of Palestine, built by Omri, king of Israel, on a mountain or hill of the same name, about B.C. 925. It was the metropolis of the kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes. The hill was purchased from the owner, Shemer, from whom the city took its name (1Ki 16:24-25). Samaria continued to be the capital of Israel for two centuries, till the carrying away of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser, about B.C. 722. During all this time it was the seat of idolatry, and is often as such denounced by the prophets… It was the seat of a temple of Baal, built by Ahab (1Ki 16:31-32, 21:25-26), and destroyed by Jehu. It was the scene of many of the acts of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, connected with the various famines of the land, the unexpected plenty of Samaria, and the several deliverances of the city from the Syrians. After the exile of the ten tribes, Samaria appears to have continued, for a time at least, the chief city of the foreigners brought to occupy their place; although Shechem soon became the capital of the Samaritans as a religious sect… Augustus (Caesar) bestowed Samaria on Herod; who eventually rebuilt the city with great magnificence, and gave it the name of Sebaste. Here Herod planted a colony of 6000 persons, composed partly of veteran soldiers, and partly of people from the environs; enlarged the circumference of the city; and surrounded it with a strong wall twenty stades in circuit. In the midst of the city—that is to say, upon the summit of the hill—he left a sacred place of a stade and a half, splendidly decorated, and here he erected a temple to Augustus, celebrated for its magnitude and beauty. The whole city was greatly ornamented, and became a strong fortress. Such was the Samaria of the time of the New Testament, where the Gospel was preached by Philip, and a church was gathered by the apostles. (Samaria - Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature - click for full article) (Samaria - Wikipedia) The Samaritans (Hebrew: Shomronim) are an ethno-religious group named after and descended from ancient Semitic inhabitants of Samaria, since the Assyrian exile of the Israelites.[25] Religiously, the Samaritans are adherents of Samaritanism, an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism. Based on the Samaritan Torah, Samaritans claim their worship is the true religion of the ancient Israelites prior to the Babylonian exile, preserved by those who remained in the Land of Israel. Their temple was built at Mount Gerizim in the middle of 5th century BC and was destroyed by the Macabbean (Hasmonean) John Hyrcanus late in 110 BC, although their descendants still worship among its ruins. The antagonism between Samaritans and Jews is important in understanding the Bible's New Testament stories of the "Samaritan woman at the well" and "Parable of the Good Samaritan". (Wikipedia) Gary Burge has an excellent summary of Samaritans - The apostasy of the Old Testament northern kingdom of Israel (finally based in the city of Samaria) was well known. When the Assyrians conquered and exiled the northern kingdom in 722 B.C., they repopulated the region with people from throughout their empire (2 Kings 17:23–24). Remnants of the defeated Israelite kingdom now mixed with Persians and other conquered peoples. The paganism known to Jeroboam now was mixed with countless other practices, making the religious impurity of the land infamous (2 Kings 17:25ff.). In time, the monotheism of Judaism prevailed, but it suffered important modifications. The Samaritans rejected the writings of the Prophets (including the histories [1–2 Samuel, 1–2 Kings, 1–2 Chronicles]) and wisdom literature (Proverbs, Psalms, etc.) because of these writings’ emphasis on Judea and David’s line centered on Jerusalem. Their Scriptures were limited to the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), and their worship was centered on a new temple on Mount Gerizim, towering above ancient Shechem, while Jerusalem was rejected as a place of pilgrimage. Following the Babylonian exile when Zerubbabel led the rebuilding of the temple, Samaritan help was adamantly refused (Ezra 4:2–3), which fueled more conflict. When Alexander the Great and later Greek generals controlled Palestine (beginning about 330 B.C.), they made Samaria an important base, knowing that here they could find sympathetic, anti-Jewish allies. When the Jews had their opportunity (128 B.C.) they attacked Samaria, destroyed Shechem, and burned the Samaritan temple on Mount Gerizim. By Jesus’ day, a smoldering tension existed between the regions of Judea and Samaria. Partly based on race and religion, it echoed many centuries of terrible political fights. (John - The NIV Application Commentary) Arnold adds that "In Jesus’ day, relations between Jews and Samaritans were generally characterized by bitter hostility (e.g., Pseudepigrapha of the OT = Testament of Levi 7:2, which calls Shechem “City of the Senseless” or "city of imbeciles"). In an apparent attempt to ease the tension, Herod the Great married a Samaritan woman named Malthace, who bore him both Antipas and Archelaus (Josephus, J.W. 1.28.4 §562; Ant. 17.1.3 §20), but to little avail. On the whole, Samaritans were considered to be irremediably impure… Despite their recognition of the five books of Moses, they were suspected of being an idolatrous cult on the basis of their veneration of Mount Gerizim as a holy mountain (cf. m. ?ul. 2:8). The Jewish historian Josephus portrays the Shechemites as a refuge for Jewish religious apostates (Ant. 11.11.7 §§346–47). He also records an occasion (between A.D. 6–9) when some Samaritans tried to desecrate the Jerusalem temple on the eve of the Passover (Ant. 18.2.2 §§29–30) and another instance (in A.D. 52) when they attacked Jewish pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem (Ant. 20.6.1–3 §§118–36). To call someone—especially a fellow-Jew—a “Samaritan” was a gross insult (cf. b. Sotah 22a) (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Vol 2) John 4:1-26 Jesus Three Steps with the Woman at the Well 1. First, He gave the revelation concerning new life. He stated that He came to give everlasting life. 2. Second, He revealed the spiritual need of the woman. He spoke of her immoral relationship with the man with whom she was living. This caused the woman to suppose Jesus was a prophet. Third, He revealed the nature of the Father declaring that “God is spirit” and consequently can be worshiped in any geographical place. 3. Finally, He revealed Himself to her as the Messiah. (J. Dwight Pentecost in Today in the Word, June 24, 1989) Wringing Skills - He needed to go through Samaria. —John 4:4 - As a little girl, I disliked some of the chores I had to do, especially washing the dishes. The only pleasure I found in this task was a secret challenge: to see if I could wring the last drop of water out of the dishcloth. My mother, however, always managed to wring more out of it, for years of practice had made her hands strong. Whatever our age, life is made up of things we must do. While some people oppose these duties, others focus on the challenge—wringing every drop of purpose and opportunity out of them they can. Jesus faced such a necessity. On His journey from Judea to Galilee, He needed to go through the hostile territory of Samaria (Jn. 4:4). Although His disciples must have wondered why they had to take that route, Jesus knew it was necessary. While He was there, He reached a Samaritan woman and her village with His message of salvation. A wise person once remarked, “I have learned much more from the things I had to do than from the things I chose to do.” Do you want to be able to say that? Then don’t rebel against the things you have to do. Instead, wring from them great lessons of life. But remember, such “wringing skills” need years of practice. - Joanie Yoder Help us, Lord, to see potential In the mundane tasks we do; May we view them as a challenge In our quest to follow You. —Sper Duty can be a delight if seen as a divine opportunity. John 4:5 So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph: erchetai (PMI) oun eis polin tes Samareias legomen (PPP) Sucar plesion tou choriou o edoken (AAI) Iakob to Ioseph to huio autou: Genesis 33:19; Ge 48:22; Joshua 24:32 JESUS THE SOUL WINNER Ray Pritchard introduces this fascinating dialogue - The story of Jesus and the woman at the well is very familiar. As I have studied it this week, I have been struck by how simple and profound it is. A man meets a woman in a seemingly chance encounter. In a few brief moments her life is changed forever. There are lessons here about racial prejudice, religious hatred, and dealing with moral outcasts. This story also conveys valuable truth about how to do evangelism. As we begin, I should note that this is the longest recorded conversation anyone ever had with Jesus. It is longer than any recorded conversation with any of his disciples. (The Woman at the Well - Christ Speaks to the Problem of a Guilty Past) So (oun) - always pause to ponder this term of conclusion, for this discipline will engage your mind (active reading in contrast to far less productive passive reading - See Mortimer Adler's great book - How to Read a Book - Pdf online) and slows you down allowing your Teacher, the Spirit, more time to speak to you (See related discussion of The Bible and Illumination) Sychar - Located about 30 miles north of Jerusalem, approximately half-way between Jerusalem and Nazareth, at the base of Mt Gerizim, which the Samaritans claimed was the true center of worship of Jehovah. Jacob’s well was about a half mile outside the village. Sychar is "mentioned only once, in connection with the visit of Jesus to Jacob's Well." (ISBE article and location on map). The location appears to be near the ancient town of Shechem in the vicinity of Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, two mountains famous in Israel's history as the place where Joshua read ALL the words of Moses to the people (Joshua 8:33-35) in preparation for possessing the promised land. The principle still holds - the "law" while not able to save us, is ever able to instruct us in the way of righteousness, and obedience (enabled by the Spirit, not our fallen flesh - to attempt to obey by the latter mode is to fall into the sticky wicket of legalism!) is the way to "possess our promised possessions." (cp The Word, our life in Deut 32:47, see context Dt 32:45-46, see also how Caleb possessed his possessions! Nu 14:24). May God grant all of us a "Caleb-like" mindset that we too enabled by His Spirit, might follow the Lord fully, so that He might bring us into the fullness of our possessions of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph 1:3). Amen Parcel of ground Jacob gave to his son Joseph - Beale and Carson note that this "reference reflects the customary inference from Ge 48:21-22 and Josh. 24:32 that Jacob gave his son Joseph the land at Shechem that he had bought from the sons of Hamor (Ge 33:18–19) and which later served as Joseph’s burial place (cf. Ex. 13:19; Josh. 24:32) (Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament) Ge 33:19 He bought the piece of land where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. Ge 48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22 “I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.” Joshua 24:32 They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. They became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. John 4:6 and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour: en (IAI) de ekei pege tou Iakob. o oun Iesous kekopiakos (RAP) ek tes hodoiporias ekathezeto (IMI) houtos epi te pege; hora en (IAI) os ekte.: being - Matthew 4:2; 8:24; Hebrews 2:17; 4:15 sat - Luke 2:7; 9:58; 2 Corinthians 8:9 sixth- 11:9; Matthew 27:45). And Jacob's well was there - Where is there? See discussion on preceding passage regarding this geographical area. Related Resources - Pictures and drawings of this well; Jacob's Well - Wikipedia; Jacobs Well (1); Jacobs Well (2) Jacob's Well - Jacob's well, at the eastern entrance of the charming valley of Shechem, is still in existence (Ed: This dictionary was published circa 1859), though now little used and often nearly dry. It is covered by a vaulted roof, with a narrow entrance closed by a heavy rock. Around it is a platform, and the remains of a church built over the spot by the empress Gelena. Close at hand is mount Gerizim, which the woman of Sychar no doubt glanced at as she said, "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain." On the west is the broad and fertile plain of Mukna, where the fields were "white already to the harvest." The woman intimated that the well was "deep," and had no steps. Actual measurement shows it to be seventy five feet deep, and about nine feet in diameter. Dr. Wilson, in 1842, sent down with ropes a Jew named Jacob, to explore the well and recover a Bible dropped into it by Rev. Mr. Bonar three years before. This was found, almost destroyed by lying in water. As the traveler stands by this venerated well and thinks of the long series of men of a hundred nations and generations who have drunk of its waters, thirsted again, and died, he is most forcibly affected by the truth of Christ's words to the Samaritan woman, and made to feel his own perishing need of the water "springing up into everlasting life," John 4:1-54 . (Wells and Springs - American Tract Society Bible Dictionary) So (oun) - Always pause and ponder this term of conclusion - you will often be pleasantly surprised at the added illumination the Spirit provides. At the very least, this discipline slows you down and allows you time to better digest the Word. Notice that in this passage (as is often the case) you are forced to go back and read the preceding passage in order to have an accurate context. Max Alderman - Jesus declared to Nicodemus the necessity of being born again. While speaking to Nicodemus he used the common term of birth. He now uses the common phenomenon of thirst while still relating to man’s greatest need. It was even the rich man in hell, who had enjoyed all that there was on earth yet was pleading for one drop of water to cool his parched tongue while in hell (Lk 16:24). A thirst of that kind, in that place will never be satisfied. The thirst there will never end. (The Gospel of John) Jesus, being wearied from His journey - The fact of His being wearied is another of a multitude of evidences supporting Jesus' humanity. His ministry was not based on His divinity, but His humanity enabled by divinity. In other words, Jesus' was empowered for ministry by the Holy Spirit, just as we can and should be! (For more detailed discussion of this important truth see The Holy Spirit.) It is vital that believers understand that they are to be imitators of Paul and Jesus (1Cor 11:1) while entails that we be filled with and empowered by the Spirit, just as were Paul and Jesus! The pattern has not changed, but too many believers (I fear even pastors and other Christian leaders) are woefully ignorant of their vital need for the ministry of the Spirit. This ignorance and failure to appropriate the Spirit's power may well account for the large number of men burning out and leaving the pastorate! Just a thought to ponder (Pastor Burnout Statistics)! (Especially if you are being wearied like Jesus! See word study of kopiao below). Scofield - As we are wearied in His service, though never wearied of it, so was He in His Father’s service… NOTE:—(a) That weariness does not keep the model Servant from working. (b) That the Wise Servant began at some point of common interest, Jn 4:7. (c) That He refused to be drawn into a sectarian discussion, Jn 4:8–10. (d) That He responded to the woman’s first gleam of personal interest by touching her conscience, Jn 4:16–18. (e) That He swept aside ceremonialism and mere religiousness as the resource of an awakened conscience, Jn 4:19–24. Too many moderns would have said: “Join the church, and live right.” (f) That He revealed Himself as the alone resource for a sinner, Jn 4:25–26. (Things New and Old: Old and New Testament Studies - Compiled by A C Gaebelein) Being wearied (2872)(kopiao from kopos = labor, fatigue, and used in secular Greek of a "beating") speaks of intense, hard, wearisome toil even to the point of utter exhaustion. Kopiao describes not so much the actual exertion as the weariness which follows the straining of all one's powers to the utmost. The person (in this case Jesus) has become physically worn out, weary or faint. In fact the work described by kopiao left one so weary it was as if they had been beaten. John uses the perfect tense which describes Jesus' weariness beginning at a certain point in time and persisting. It describes not just momentary fatigue, but a state of weariness. Can you identify with this dear reader, dear Christian worker? Then see the discussion of the power Source - The Holy Spirit. The writer of Hebrews reminds us "we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." (Heb 4:15) A T
João 4:4-15
Stedman - How do we keep from thirsting? We have water piped in, available to us all the time, so that when we feel even a little thirsty we take a drink of it. This is what Jesus means here. The water he would give would be available constantly so that when one was thirsty one could drink immediately and so would never get terribly thirsty. Marvin Vincent on the strong negative shall never thirst - It must not be understood, however, that the reception of the divine life by a believer does away with all further desire. On the contrary, it generates new desires. The drinking of the living water is put as a single act, in order to indicate the divine principle of life as containing in itself alone the satisfaction of all holy desires as they successively arise; in contrast with human sources, which are soon exhausted, and drive one to other fountains. Holy desire, no matter how large or how varied it may become, will always seek and find its satisfaction in Christ, and in Christ only. Thirst is to be taken in the same sense in both clauses, as referring to that natural craving which the world cannot satisfy, and which is therefore ever restless. Drusius, a Flemish critic, cited by Trench (“Studies in the Gospels”), says: “He who drinks the water of wisdom thirsts and does not thirst. He thirsts, that is, he more and more desires that which he drinks. He does not thirst, because he is so filled that he desires no other drink.” The strong contrast of this declaration of our Lord with pagan sentiment, is illustrated by the following passage from Plato: (Vincent's Word Studies) In John 6 Jesus again alludes to the promise of supernatural "water" that alone is able to eternally quench the deep God-given thirst of one's soul. Notice that He was addressing the crowd who was following Him seeking physical bread! It seems that Jesus is ever trying to pry our eyes from the paltry portions of this passing planet and focus them on the things above where He is seated at the right hand of God (Col 3:1-note, Col 3:2-note) (John 6:35) Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me (come = believing in Him as the context shows) will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never (Gk = "ou me" = strong double negative conveying the thought that he will NEVER, EVER) thirst. Shall… thirst (1372) (dipsao from dipsa = thirst) is used to refer to literal thirst (Mt 25:35, 37, 42, 44; Jn 19:28) and figurative thirst (Mt 5:6, Jn 4:13, 14, 6:35, 7:37, Rev 7:16, 21:6, 22:17). And so we see that dipsao is used to describe both physical thirst and the deep spiritual longing that is in every heart. Vincent on will become in him - "A supply having its fountain-head in the man's own being, and not in something outside himself." While I agree in part with Vincent, the truth is that the Source is the Spirit of Christ and while He does indwell a believer, ultimately He is from outside of us. Alford on a well springing up to eternal life - All earthly supplies have access only into those lower parts of our being where the desires work themselves out—are but local applications; but the heavenly gift of spiritual life which Jesus gives to those who believe on Him, enters into the very secret and highest place of their personal life, the source whence the desires spring out;—and, its nature being living and spiritual, it does not merely supply, but it lives and waxes onward, unto everlasting life, in duration, and also as producing and sustaining it. It should not be overlooked, that this discourse had, besides its manifold and wonderful meaning for us all, an especial moral one as applied to the woman,—who, by successive draughts at the ‘broken cistern’ of carnal lust, had been vainly seeking solace:—and this consideration serves to bind on the following verses (John 4:16ff.) to the preceding, by another link besides those noticed below. This is an old chorus based on this story of the woman at the well in John 4… Fill My Cup, Lord Like the woman at the well I was seeking For things that could not satisfy And then I heard my Savior speaking, “Draw from the well that never shall run dry.” Fill my cup, Lord I lift it up, Lord. Come and quench This thirsting of my soul Bread of Heaven, Feed me till I want no more. Fill my cup, fill it up And make me whole. Well - Jesus used a different Greek word for well (pege) in contrast to the word the woman had used for well (phrear). The former is alive, dynamic, active, a spring, a fountain, but the latter is but a hole in the ground, more like a cistern, with water at the bottom. Spurgeon (John 4:14 Life’s Ever-Springing Well) - Not a pool (or cistern) of water standing still and becoming stagnant, nor even a stream of water gently gliding on, but a spring perpetually forcing itself upward. You have seen springs at work, and you have noticed that they never cease, they never pause, there is never a moment in which they are quiet. Let all things else change its occupation, the spring could fairly say—“Men may come, and men may go, But I go on for ever.” In the silent night watches, when no eye gazes upon them, the springs bubble on; and when the hot and broiling sun is parching the meadows, cool and clear is the up-leaping, ever-flowing springs. Springs are in perpetual motion, and no known power could stop them. If for mischief heaps of rubbish are piled upon them, they somehow percolate the mass, upheave and find a vent for themselves at last, for their force must win a course for itself. So brethren, when God puts the new life into a man, it is a very active and vigorous principle… The divine life is such a thing of force, that surrounding circumstances do not operate upon it as you might have supposed. In frosty weather, when we have seen the rivers frozen across, we have been told by peasants, that the old spring-head on the side of the hill was flowing on the same as ever. Decorated with icicles up to the edge of the old spout, still the stream gushes out. So a Christian may be placed in the worst imaginable circumstances; he may live in a family so ungodly, that the name of Christ is only used to blaspheme with; he may scarcely ever meet with a Christian associate, he may even be denied the means of grace, the Bible itself may be taken from him, but if the inner life be there, such is its native heat, that you cannot freeze it; such is its constant force and power, that it will continue flowing still. It might have been more happy with the man, it certainly would have been more for his comfort and usefulness, if he had been under other conditions, but here is joy for our heart to recollect that under the worst possible conditions, such is the energy of the grace which God implants, that it will continue to spring upward into everlasting life… I tell you the living spring cannot be stayed in its action. If you have but a cistern full of water, it will be quiet enough, but if it be a spring, it is for ever seething, bubbling, gushing. When I have watched certain springs, I have seen them apparently casting up little particles of sand and dust, making and casting down little circular mounds of earth; and so the inner life within the spirit often brings to light to our own minds our faults and our imperfections, so that nothing appears to be so active as our corruptions, and we anxiously ask, “Is it living water that is bubbling up, or is it only the sand of my sin that is so full of energy?” Beloved, grace lives and aspires; it is an up-going flame, a springing well, and not a down-going cataract. It is a great mercy when the master principle within our spirits is not a going down, but a springing up. Be thankful for upward tendencies, and say unto the Lord:— Thou of life the fountain art— Freely let me take of thee; Spring thou up within my heart, Rise to all eternity. A PICTURE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT It is fascinating that the verb hallomai which Jesus choose for springing up is the same verb used in the OT (Septuagint = Lxx) to describe the Holy Spirit coming upon ("leaping upon" as it were) Samson (Jdg 14:6, 14:19, 15:14) and Saul (1Sa 10:10). Vine writes that in John 4:14 hallomai is used as a "figurative of the Holy Spirit in the believer." How interesting also to note that in both the Old and New Testament the Spirit is described in terms of pouring out, as one does with literal water… Isaiah 32:15 Until (Note this important expression of time! Pentecost was a partial fulfillment but the latter part of this prophetic promise has not been fulfilled - It will be in the Millennium) the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fertile field and the fertile field is considered as a forest. Isaiah 44:3 ‘For I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring (Ed: Sounds like "thirsty souls" in a "thirsty land"!) and My blessing on your descendants; Ezekiel 39:29 "And I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I shall have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel," declares the Lord GOD. Joel 2:28-29 (Acts 2:17-18) "And it will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. "And even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. Henry Morris (Defender's Study Bible - an excellent conservative resource) - This great promise of the Holy Spirit was precursively fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-21), though He was not given to "all flesh" at that time. The remaining parts of this prophecy (Joel 2:30-31) were not fulfilled at that time, but all will be fulfilled as Christ's return draws near. (Online Source - click notes in right margin) Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that (a strategic terms of purpose or result) they will look on Me whom they have pierced (When the Deliverer returns, He will remove ungodliness from Israel before He establishes His Messianic Kingdom on earth - see Ro 11:25-27-note); and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. Acts 2:33 "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. Acts 10:45 And all the circumcised believers who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out upon the Gentiles also. Romans 5:5-note and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out (ekcheo - perfect tense which speaks of the effect as lasting, indeed lasting throughout eternity!) within our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us. Titus 3:5-6-note He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 Whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior Gary Burge observes that "Jesus’ image is dramatic: The woman in search of a well discovers that the Spirit could transform her life into a well that does not require reaching and dipping, but which roils and gurgles with water until it spills over its rim. (The NIV Application Commentary) Steven Cole on will become in him a well of water spring up - In him shows that true Christianity is not primarily a matter of rituals and ceremonies, but rather an inward, personal relationship with the living God. It must be in each person’s heart. The picture of this living water springing up points to the continual source of life that the indwelling Holy Spirit supplies to believers. It’s active and always flowing. There may be times of greater and lesser flow, but it never dries up, as so many Arizona rivers do. (Living Water for a Thirsty Woman) Spurgeon on a well of water spring up - Hence he will always be contented. He who has grace in his heart is a happy man; he grows more and more satisfied with the grace as it wells up increasingly in living power in his character and life. Oh, if you have never received that living water, may God give it to you just now! You shall never regret receiving it; but you shall rejoice over it evermore. James Smith - On the sands at Saltcoats there is a spring of fresh water, but as it is within the tide-mark, it is frequently buried beneath the briny waves. But every time the tide recedes the spring appears as fresh and full as ever. If there is within us what our Lord offers to give us, "a well of living water springing up within," it will manifest itself. The billows of temptation or the flood-tide of sorrow and affliction may overflow for a season, but as sure as every living thing must move, so sure will it spring up again untainted by the contact. Its source is not in its surroundings, but deep in the heart of God, the Fountain of eternal life and love (John 4:14). (Handfuls on Purpose) The world offers a stagnant cistern. Christ offers a satisfying well. Springing up (242) (hallomai - Vine say akin to halma = "a leap") means to leap, leap up, jump, spring, spring up, to gush. "Used of quick movement by living beings like jumping." (Brown). To leap, to dance, to rejoice much with song and dance! The two literal uses in Acts (Acts 3:8, 14:10) describe men lame from birth who jump up after being healed by one of the apostles (first Peter, then Paul). Jesus applies hallomai metaphorically to the picture of water bubbling up as from an underground spring. There are 3 uses in the NT (see below) and 8 in the Septuagint with 4 of these uses referring to the Holy Spirit "leaping upon" individuals (Samson in Jdg 14:6, 19, 15:14 and Saul in 1Sa 10:10)! The use in Isaiah 35:6 refers to the Millennium when the lame will leap! Given these "supernatural" uses of hallomai in both the OT and the NT, it is not surprising to see Jesus use it in a similar context describing the supernatural effects of "drinking" the "living waters," which in context means to believe in Him. What a glorious picture of the Holy Spirit - inward, irrepressible, inexhaustible! Louw-Nida Semantic Domains on Hallomai - The action of water forming bubbles and welling up from underneath the ground. (UBS) Keri Wyatt - Even a sacred well, when compared to the living water of Jesus, becomes a mere cistern. The things we think will bring us life are dry and lifeless in comparison to the wellspring of life that we can find in relationship with Him. (Deeper into the word: reflections on 100 words from the new testament) A derivative is ephallomai which means to leap upon and describes the demoniac in Acts 19:16! Another great derivative of hallomai (see also below) is the verb exallomai which means to leap out (as from a house), to leap up or forth as from the place where one sat (All uses in Scripture = Isa 55:12; Joel 2:5; Mic 2:12; Nah 3:17; Hab 1:8; Acts 3:8). Hallomai was used in classic Greek work Homer's Iliad to describe an arrow "leaping" from the string ("the bow twanged, and the string sang as the arrow flew gladly on over the heads of the throng."). The derivative verb is agalliao which means to leap for joy. Agalliao means to experience a state of great joy and gladness, often accompanied by verbal expression and appropriate bodily movements. It speaks of great rejoicing and exultation. The idea is this person shows their excessive, ecstatic joy by leaping and skipping. It describes jubilant exultation, a quality of joy that remains unhindered and unchanged by what happens.