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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - John 4:4-26

We have here an account of the good Christ did in Samaria, when he passed through that country in his way to Galilee. The Samaritans, both in blood and religion, were mongrel Jews, the posterity of those colonies which the king of Assyria planted there after the captivity of the ten tribes, with whom the poor of the land that were left behind, and many other Jews afterwards, incorporated themselves. They worshipped the God of Israel only, to whom they erected a temple on mount Gerizim, in... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 4:15-21

4:15-21 The woman said to him: "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not thirst, and so that I will not have to come here to draw water." Jesus said to her: "Go, call your husband, and come back here." The woman answered: "I have not got a husband." Jesus said to her: "You spoke well when you said, 'I have not got a husband.' For you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. This is the truth that you have told." The woman said to him: "Sir, I see that you are a... 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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:18

Thou hast had five husbands - It is not clear that this woman was a prostitute: she might have been legally married to those five, and might have been divorced through some misbehavior of her own, not amounting to adultery; for the adulteress was to be put to death, both by the Jewish and Samaritan law, not divorced: or she might have been cast off through some caprice of her husband; for, in the time of our Lord, divorces were very common among the Jews, so that a man put away his wife for... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:17

Verse 17 17.I have not a husband. We do not yet fully perceive the fruit of this advice, by which Christ intended to pierce the heart of this woman, to lead her to repentance. And, indeed, we are so intoxicated, or rather stupified, by our self-love, that we are not at all moved by the first wounds that are inflicted. But Christ applies an appropriate cure for this sluggishness, by pressing the ulcer more sharply, for he openly reproaches her with her wickedness; though I do not think that it... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 4:1-42

7. The ministry and revelation of the Lord to those beyond the strict compass of the theocracy. This passage describes an incident of consummate interest, and records a specimen of our Lord's intercourse with individuals, and the reaction of that instruction upon the disciples. The event is a solitary chink through which the light of historical fact falls upon an otherwise darkened and unknown period of the Saviour's life. When we skirt a forest we see at intervals, where by some... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 4:7-26

(2) The revelations and misunderstandings comprised in the interview with the Samaritaness. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 4:15-20

A serious turn to the conversation. I. THE ARRESTED ATTITUDE OF THE SAMARITAN WOMAN . "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither pass this way to draw." She is still ignorant of the meaning of his words, but she begins to have a dim apprehension of something behind them profoundly touching her life. We cannot otherwise understand the next phase of the conversation. II. OUR LORD LIFTS THE VEIL FROM HER PAST LIFE , AND THUS REVEALS ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 4:16-20

(c) The heart-searching issuing in perception of the prophetic rank of Jesus. read more

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