John 4:7-26

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 4:12

Art thou greater than our father Jacob ,.... A person of greater worth and character than he, who was content to drink of this water; or wiser and more knowing than he, who could find out no better fountain of water in all these parts? she calls Jacob the father of them, according to the common notion and boasting of these people, when it served their turn; otherwise they were not the descendants of Jacob; for after the ten tribes were carried away captive by the king of Assyria, he placed... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 4:13

Jesus answered and said unto her ,.... In a mild and gentle manner, patiently bearing all her scoffs and flouts, and continuing to instruct and inform her, concerning this living water, showing the preferableness of it to all others: whosoever drinketh of this water ; meaning in that well called Jacob's well, or any other common water: shall thirst again ; as this woman had often done, and would again, as she herself knew, John 4:15 , and as Jesus did, who very likely afterwards... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 4:14

But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him ,.... Meaning, the Spirit and his grace; see John 7:38 ; and which he more than once speaks of, as his gift here, and in the context: of which, whoever truly partakes, shall never thirst ; either after sinful lusts and pleasures, and his former vicious way of living, which he now disrelishes: not but there are desires and lustings after carnal things in regenerate persons, as there were lustings in the Israelites, after the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 4:15

The woman saith unto him, Sir ,.... See Gill on John 4:11 ; give me this water, that I thirst not . The Syriac and Persic versions add, "again": neither come hither ; the Ethiopic version adds here, "again"; to draw . This she said also, in the same sneering and scoffing way, as her talking of not thirsting and coming thither to draw water, shows; and it is as if she had said, pray give me some of this fine water you talk of, that I may never thirst again; and so have no... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 4:16

Jesus saith unto her ,.... Observing that she continued an ignorant scoffer at him, and his words, determined to take another method with her; and convince her, that he was not a common and ordinary person she was conversing with, as she took him to be; and also what a sinner she was, and what a vicious course of life she had lived; so that she might see that she stood in need of him, as the gift of God, and Saviour of men; and of the grace he had been speaking of, under the notion of living... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 4:17

The woman answered and said, I have no husband ,.... Which was a truth she would not have spoke at another time and place, or to any of her neighbours; but Christ being a stranger, and no odium incurring upon her by it; and this serving a purpose to excuse her going to call him, she declares the truth of the matter: Jesus said unto her, thou hast well said, I have no husband ; this is the truth, it is really fact, and is the true state of the case, between thee and him, who goes for thy... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 4:18

For thou hast had five husbands ,.... Which she either had had lawfully, and had buried one after another; and which was no crime, and might be: the Sadducees propose a case to Christ, in which a woman is said to have had seven husbands successively, in a lawful manner, Matthew 22:25 . Or rather, she had had so many, and had been divorced from everyone of them, for adultery; for no other cause it should seem did the Samaritans divorce; seeing that they only received the law of Moses, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 4:19

The woman saith unto him, Sir ,.... With another countenance, and a different air and gesture, with another accent and tone of speech, dropping her scoffs and jeers: I perceive that thou art a prophet ; such an one as Samuel was, who could tell Saul what was in his heart, and that his father's asses were found, and where they were, 1 Samuel 9:19 ; and as Elisha, whose heart went with his servant Gehazi, when Naaman turned to him to meet him, and give him presents; and who could tell,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 4:20

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain ,.... Mount Gerizim, which was just by, and within sight; so that the woman could point to it; it was so near to Shechem, or Sychar, that Jotham's voice was heard from the top of it thither, Judges 9:6 . By the "fathers", this woman claims as theirs, are meant, not the immediate ancestors of the Samaritans, or those only of some few generations past; but the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose descendants they would be thought to be; and they... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 4:21

Jesus saith unto her, woman, believe me ,.... In what I am now going to say, since you own me to be a prophet: the hour cometh ; the time is at hand; it is very near; it is just coming: when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem , worship the Father ; that is, God, whom the Jews, and so the Samaritans, knew under the character of the Father of all men, as the Creator and preserver of them; for not God as the Father of Christ, or of the saints by adopting grace,... read more

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