JESUS SPEAKS TO A WOMAN AT JACOB’S WELL

JOHN 4:1–42

Jesus regularly demonstrated that he was the long-awaited Messiah not only by what he said and did but by where he said and did things. Particularly relevant was his conversation with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well. At the frontier of her own understanding, she proclaimed, “‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I who speak to you am he’” (John 4:25–26). We will see that it was not the fact that Jesus spoke to a Samaritan or that he spoke to a woman that offers the most insight into this declaration but that he said it where he did for a reason.

The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus had been in Judea and was returning to Galilee. The shortest and most efficient route led through the region of Samaria, which brought Jesus to a well outside the village of Sychar (John 4:4–6). Although Sychar is not mentioned in Scripture prior to John’s Gospel, it resides a short walk from ancient Shechem, which was in ruins centuries before Jesus made his way to the well. This was an area of considerable Bible history.10

Once the Northern Kingdom was conquered, the Assyrians deported the Jewish residents of higher standing while importing new citizens from a variety of other conquered nations. From that time on, the territories of Manasseh (the part that lay west of the Jordan River) and Ephraim remained mixed both ethnically and religiously (2 Kings 17:24–41). After the Babylonian captivity was over and exiles were allowed to return, these two tribal regions became known as Samaria. Since then, persistent tension had existed between Hebrews and people living in this region, who were called Samaritans (John 4:9).11

When we go back in time, long before the period of the Divided Kingdom, we find that the location of Sychar had deep and vital connections to the promise of the Messiah, which made it a powerful location for Jesus’s messianic declaration. When God called Abram, he brought him to the Promised Land in general and to Shechem in particular. The Lord appeared to Abram at Shechem and made him three powerful promises: that he would have descendants, possess land, and be a blessing to the nations (Gen. 12:1–3). Abram built a memorial altar at Shechem to commemorate these promises. Jacob purchased land there, built his own memorial altar, and dug a well, apparently to serve those coming to use the worship site (Gen. 33:18–19). The well was still in use at the time of Jesus and became the setting for the conversation with the Samaritan woman (John 4:6).

Remains of a Byzantine church that now lay atop Mount Gerizim, where the Samaritan temple once stood.

After the time of Jacob when Joshua brought the Israelites back to the Promised Land, he led the nation of Israel to this location for a service of rededication (Deuteronomy 27–28; Josh. 8:30–35). The laws given to Israel at Mount Sinai were written on large stones, and a memorial altar was built on Mount Ebal. At this place the law of God was read to the people. At the time of Joshua the location of Shechem (a short distance from Sychar) became Israel’s first national sacred gathering place.

Jesus spoke to a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well for a reason. It was at that well, outside the village of Sychar and near the ancient ruins of Shechem, that Jesus pronounced his messianic identity. Given all the historical events associated with this spot, it is no coincidence that Jesus came to Jacob’s well to make the powerful announcement: “I who speak to you am he” (John 4:26). With the words of the covenant given to Abram (Gen. 12:7) and the covenant messages given to Moses (Deut. 18:15; Acts 3:22; 7:37) echoing in the air, Jesus proclaimed that he was the Prophet and the Messiah, the fulfillment of all messianic expectation.

Mount Gerizim (view looking southwest).

Greek Orthodox priest drawing water from Jacob’s well at Sychar (Askar).