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Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:16

Call thy husband - Our Lord appears to have spoken these words for two purposes: To make the woman consider her own state. 2. To show her that he knew her heart, and the secret actions of her life; and was therefore well qualified to teach her heavenly truths. 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

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:19

I perceive that thou art a prophet - And therefore thought him well qualified to decide the grand question in dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans: but she did not perceive him to be the Messiah. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:20

Worshipped in this mountain - Probably pointing to Mount Gerizim, at the foot of which Sychar was situated. The patriarchs had worshipped here-Jacob builded an altar on this mountain, and worshiped the true God: see Genesis 22:2 ; Genesis 33:20 . Thus she could say, Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. On this mountain Sanballat had built them a temple, about 332 years before our Lord's incarnation. See Joseph. Antiq. xi. c. viii. s. 4, and 2 Maccabees 6:2. Many heathens considered... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:21

The hour cometh, etc. - The time was now at hand in which the spiritual worship of God was about to be established in the earth, and all the Jewish rites and ceremonies entirely abolished. Worship the Father - This epithet shows the mild, benignant, and tender nature of the Gospel dispensation. Men are called to worship their heavenly Father, and to consider themselves as his children. In reference to this, our Lord's prayer begins, Our Father, who art in heaven, etc. See John 4:23 . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:22

Ye worship ye know not what - The Samaritans believed in the same God with the Jews; but, as they rejected all the prophetical writings, they had but an imperfect knowledge of the Deity: besides, as they incorporated the worship of idols with his worship, they might be justly said to worship him whom they did not properly know. See the account of their motley worship, 2 Kings 17:26-34 . But after Sanballat had built the temple on Mount Gerizim, the idolatrous worship of the Cutheans and... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:11

Verse 11 11.Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with. As the Samaritans were despised by the Jews, so the Samaritans, on the other hand, held the Jews in contempt. Accordingly, this woman at first not only disdains Christ but even mocks at him. She understands quite well that Christ is speaking figuratively, but she throws out a jibe by a different figure, intending to say, that he promises more than he can accomplish. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:12

Verse 12 12.Art thou greater than our father Jacob? She proceeds to charge him with arrogance in exalting himself above the holy patriarch Jacob. “Jacob, ” she says, “was satisfied with this well for his own use and that of his whole family: and hast thou a more excellent water?” How faulty this comparison is, appears plainly enough from this consideration, that she compares the servant to the master, and a dead man to the living God; and yet how many in the present day fall into this very... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:13

Verse 13 13. Every one that drinketh of this water. Though Christ perceives that he is doing little good, and even that his instruction is treated with mockery, he proceeds to explain more clearly what he had said. He distinguishes between the use of the two kinds of water; that the one serves the body, and only for a time, while the power of the other gives perpetual vigor to the soul. For, as the body is liable to decay, so the aids by which it is supported must be frail and transitory. That... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - John 4:15

Verse 15 15.Give me this water. This woman undoubtedly is sufficiently aware that Christ is speaking of spiritual water; but because she despises him, she sets at naught all his promises; for so long as the authority of him who speaks is not acknowledged by us, his doctrine is not permitted to enter. Indirectly, therefore, the woman taunted Christ, saying, “Thou boastest much, but I see nothing: show it in reality, if thou canst.” read more

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