1.
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The Lord. Only twice before the resurrection (4: 1; 6:
23) does John use this title for Jesus in his narrative. Why here?
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9.
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Askest. Normally this Greek word describes a request
from an inferior to a superior! (v. 10 also).
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12.
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Our father Jacob, which gave us the well. An
interesting little addition to O.T. history.
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Art thou greater...?The form of the question implies:
Surely you are not!
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14.
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Springing up. In LXX this word describes the Holy
Spirit springing up in Samson; Jud. 14: 6.19; 15: 14. But there seems to be
allusion here to Num. 21: 17-19, when Israel was on the border of its
inheritance; and thence they came to Mattaneh (the gift-of God; v.10 here), and
to Nahaliel (God is my inheritance). See Pr. 10: 11a.
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18.
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Saidst. This form of this verb is commonly used for a
divine pronouncement or inspiration. Then was Jesus saying: ‘You spoke
more truth than you know?’ or was he commending the insight behind what
she had said symbolically?
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19.
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I perceive. There could be a play on words here
implying: If I am a prophet, then by God I tell you that you are the
Prophet like unto Moses.
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22.
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We know what we worship. Why should Jesus use here a
neuter pronoun with reference to the God of Israel? Salvation links with
Saviour (v. 42) and with the allusions in this chapter to Joshua at
Shechem.
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23.
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The hour cometh, and now is. Contrast v.21: “the
hour cometh.”
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27.
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Yet no man said. The disciples were in some awe of
Jesus; cp. v. 33; 12: 20-22; 13: 22-24; 16: 17-19; 21: 12; Mk. 9: 32.
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28.
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Left her water pot. This hardly suggests the purblind
materialist she is often made out to be. Comparable examples: Mt. 4: 20; Mk. 10:
50.
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29.
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Told me all things that ever I did. Cp. the reaction
described in 1 Cor. 14: 24,25.
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Is not this the Christ? The form of the question
attempts to cloak her own enthusiasm: He can’t be, can he? This, and her
“Come, see...” betrays a good “preaching
technique”.
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33.
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Apostolic misunderstanding of their Master: 14: 5; 11: 13; Mt.
15: 15; 16: 7,22; Lk. 22: 38.
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35.
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Harvest. Contrast Jer. 8: 20 (and context) as a
prophecy of God’s judgment on Israel (A.D.70) when they shut their minds
to the gospel.
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Four months, and then cometh harvest. If literal, and
not proverbial, then this sets the time as about December, four months before 5:
1. Had the disciples been commenting on high food prices in Shechem —
until the next harvest should come in?
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38.
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/ sent you. This past tense is the chief reason for
regarding v. 36-38 as a parenthesis, preserving a later intensely
relevant saying of Jesus spoken after Mt. 10: 37; Lk. 10: 2. Perhaps John
inserted it here (a) because of a possible play on words - Sychar may mean
“wages” (v. 36); (b) because “I sent you to reap that whereon
ye bestowed no labour” echoes Joshua’s “sincerity and
truth” exhortation, spoken to Israel on this very spot (24: 13).
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39.
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Believed on him. Elsewhere the phrase implies
baptism.
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40.
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Besought him that he would tarry. Again contrast the
not infrequent attitude of Jewry: Mt. 8: 34; Lk. 4: 29; 13: 31. There is also
Lk. 9: 52,53.
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