John 4 Samaritan Woman

[BrushedByAngels]

I hope this topic is allowed in this section.

I have noticed a few different bibles with different scripture. Two of them say this Samaritan woman lived with her boyfriend and the other two do not. She also had five husbands and in Jewish custom you were only allowed divorced two times or three at the most.

My question is : Which one is correct and if she did live with him, Jesus doesn’t seem to be too bothered by it Was he not bothered by all of her marriages At the end of the chapter I expected him to say “go and sin no more” but he does not.

 

[SonCatcher]

Jesus is never bothered by a sinner who is willing to repent.

As for the 5 husbands/no husband/boyfriend issue: Jesus tells her her life, “You have had five husbands and the one you have now is not your husband.” It is clear that she chose a lifestyle similar to what we see today: living together with someone for a time, breaking up and then living with someone else. Sometimes that is referred to as a “common law marriage.” It is not, however, a true marriage by most customs and certainly not by Jewish or Catholic norms.

 

[oneplustwo]

I hope this topic is allowed in this section.

I have noticed a few different bibles with different scripture. Two of them say this Samaritan woman lived with her boyfriend and the other two do not. She also had five husbands and in Jewish custom you were only allowed divorced two times or three at the most.

My question is : Which one is correct and if she did live with him, Jesus doesn’t seem to be too bothered by it Was he not bothered by all of her marriages At the end of the chapter I expected him to say “go and sin no more” but he does not.

I can’t tell you why different translations say this or don’t say it, but my opinion about why Jesus did not seem bothered by her sin was because it would have done her no good at this stage in her faith.

I have heard it said before in sermons that a likely reason why this woman was going to the well at the hour that she was is because she could not go with the other women of the town at the normal hour: she was already an outcast for her behavior. Maybe people all day long were letting her know how bothered they were by her behavior.

Maybe what she needed first was hope?

 

[valentino]

i dont believe Jesus had to tell her whaat she was doing was wrong.After He spoke she got the message.

 

[BrushedByAngels]

i dont believe Jesus had to tell her whaat she was doing was wrong.After He spoke she got the message.

Unfortunately we don’t know that because the chapter doesn’t specify how she changed her life. I’m sure she knew what she did (five marriages) was wrong, but do we know what happened to the current boyfriend? Did she break up with him? Did she remain celibate after speaking to Jesus?

 

[TimothyH]

The fact that the woman draws water at noon is relevant in that the normal time to draw water was in the morning for use throughout the day. The woman was clearly an outcast because of her behavior and drawing water a time of the day when the well was not busy probably indicated her fear of being harmed or punished in some way.

The fact that Jesus was speaking to a woman would have been enough to shock his disciples but the that she was clearly a promiscuous woman made it especially scandalous. Samaritans were seen as no better than dogs and his speaking with her would have been akin to front page news on the supermarket tabloids.

But Jesus seems not to care at all. In fact, what is most amazing to me about the whole episode is not the details of the woman’s imorality, but that Jesus clearly reveals himeslf to her.

*The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” Jesus said to her, “I am he, 11 the one who is speaking with you.” (John 4:25-26)*Peter confessed Jesus as the “Son of the living God” only after having walked with him for a great length of time and even then denied Jesus three times. Judas betrayed Jesus. Thomas refused to believe unless he saw the nail marks. And the Pharisees were just obstinate. Yet Jesus speaks for two minutes with a sexually promiscous outcast from a group of people whom the Jews viewed as nothing more than filthy dogs and when he clearly says “I am the messiah”, she believes him and runs to tell everyone about it.

**Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.” (John 4:41-42)**Through the thestimony of a woman - whom the Jews viewed a filthy dog of a whore - a whole nation was converted and came to believe in the truth that Jesus is the savior of the world.

-Tim-

 

[rcjones]

There are three women at the well.

The first was Rebekah who was chosen by the Father as a bride for the son.
The second was Rachel who was wooed, and worked for by the Son.
The third was the woman at Sychar who was gather by the Holy Ghost. Why the Holy Ghost? Sychar means ‘intoxicated’ as a pointer to Pentecost.

These three women all represent the bride of Christ and illustrate each person of the Godhead’s role in obtaining the bride.

Now each woman also has a hidden prophecy of Mary and the church. Mary was suspected of being a prostitute, yet she was the virgin bride.

Rebekah was a virgin bride, yet in the word play of the story, there is a hint or suspicion of being a prostitute. It says the servant ‘took’ her. The word for ‘took’ also means ‘married’. It also says that when she saw Isaac that she covered herself.

Rachel and Leah together paint the picture of the prostitute and virgin with Leah playing the role of the prostitute by sneaking into Jacob’s bed.

The woman at Sychar had the taint of a prostitute, yet she and the town were gathered to Christ as his bride.

Rebekah’s well was open and she carried water (the word) on her shoulder. She represents Israel called to be God’s witness.

Rachel’s well was covered with a stone (as was Christ’s tomb) and the Christ figure (Jacob) had to roll the stone away. Jacob had worked for his bride even as Christ did the work of the cross for his.

At Sychar, Jesus, the living water was outside the well representing the resurrected Christ who was being fruitful and multiplying as the Spirit gave life.

The well in each case was literally the same well. the Father chose, the Son called, and the Holy Spirit gathered the bride, the church.

The bride is both a prostitute (idolatry in our sin) and the virgin bride as Christ has made us new. Since our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west, the prostitute nature is likewise removed.