International S. S. Lessons.
By Editor
"So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading."—Neh. 8:8
LESSON XII.—SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1894. [NOTE.—The questions which follow are merely suggestive for the student on the leading points of the lesson; it is presumed that the thorough student will think of many more as he studies the subject. References, where verses alone are given, always refer to the lesson scripture printed above. All other references are given in book, chapter, and verse. The text printed is that of the Revised Version, not because it is especially preferred, but because it is not found in every family, as is the common version.] 9. The Samaritan woman therefore saith unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
10. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
11. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; from whence then hast thou that living water?
12. Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his sons, and his cattle?
13. Jesus answered and said unto her, Everyone that drinketh of this water shall thirst again;
14. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life.
15. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come all the way hither to draw.
16. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.
17. The woman answered and said unto him, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou saidst well, I have no husband;
18. For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband; this hast thou said truly.
19. The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
20. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father.
22. Ye worship that which ye know not; we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.
23. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such doth the Father seek to be his worshipers.
24. God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
25. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh (which is called Christ); when he is come, he will declare unto us all things.
26. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.
Golden Text: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." Verse 14. NOTE.—The events between this and our last lesson are as follows: After the interview with Nicodemus, Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem to spend the summer in Judea. Here he taught the people, and his disciples baptized them, the crowds leaving, to a great extent, the ministry of John the Baptist, and going to Jesus. This awakened jealousy in some of John's disciples, and they reported the fact to John; but John was not jealous, and bore testimony to Jesus that he was the Messiah. In our lesson of to-day we have the record of Jesus going through Galilee and passing through Samaria. When reaching the city of Samaria, where Jacob's well was, Jesus sat down, weary with his journey, about noon. While resting, a woman comes to draw water, of whom Jesus asks to give him a drink, as his disciples were gone away to buy food. Here our lesson of this week begins. 1. As Jesus asked the woman of Samaria for a drink, what reply did she make? Verse 9.
2. Why was the woman astonished? Verse 9. See note 1.
3. What did Jesus reply to the woman? Verse 10, first part.
4. What did he say he was able to give? Id.
5. What reply did the woman make? Verses 11, 12. See note 2.
6. What does Jesus say in regard to the drinking of the water from the well? Verse 13.
7. What did he say of him who drank of the water he would give? Golden text.
8. What did he say that water would be to him? Verse 14, last part.
9. As he told her this, what did the woman ask of him? Verse 15.
10. What did Jesus tell her to do? Verse 16.14
11. When the woman said she had no husband, what did Jesus say unto her? Verse 17.
12. How did he show that he knew her inner life? Verse 18.
13. As he revealed to her her sin, what did the woman perceive? Verse 19.
14. What did she say about the place of worship? Verse 20. See note 3.
15. What did Jesus reply in regard to the place of worship? Verse 21.
16. What did he tell her of the worship of her nation? Verse 22. See note 4.
17. What worshipers alone are pleasing to God?
18. How must men do in order to truly worship him? Verse 24.
19. What did the woman say in reply to this? Verse 25.
20. How plainly did he reveal himself? Verse 26. See note 5. 1. The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.—The Samaritans were the descendants of the different nations which the king of Assyria brought into Palestine when the children of Israel were taken into captivity, as recorded in 2 Kings 17. Their religion was a mixture of the worship of the true God with various forms of idolatry. Perhaps as years had gone by they had learned to reverence God more and their own idols less. They opposed the Jews at the time of the building of the temple under Zerubbabel and Ezra (see Ezra 4), and through opposition they seem to have aroused hatred between the two classes. Nothing was so evil in the eyes of a Jew as a Samaritan. To be a Samaritan and to be possessed of a devil was one and the same thing with a Jew. They said unto Jesus at one time, "Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" John 8:48. The woman knew that the Jews had this feeling toward her nation, and was therefore surprised that Jesus should ask her for a drink of water. But our Saviour uses this little incident to teach not only the woman, but the entire race, a deep spiritual lesson. 2. The woman was as slow to understand a spiritual lesson as was Nicodemus. The carnal mind does not understand the things of the Spirit of God. When Jesus told Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again," Nicodemus could not comprehend our Lord's meaning. When he tells the Samaritan woman that he would give her living water, she understands by the term that he would draw it from Jacob's well. But our Saviour's object was to lighten her understanding. By the natural water, life-giving and cheering, he would teach her the necessity of the Spirit of God, which gives eternal life. 3. As Jesus was revealed to the woman as a prophet, another question seems to arise in her mind in regard to the true place of worship. One of the questions of frequent discussion between the Jews and Samaritans was in regard to the true place of worship. Of course the Jews claimed that at Jerusalem was the only place of worship, while the Samaritans claimed that the Mount of Samaria was the place, doubtless Mount Gerizim. Their ancestors had worshiped there for more than four hundred years before Christ, and it was there that the blessings were read, as recorded in Deuteronomy 27 and Joshua 8. But it was also true that God had chosen Jerusalem, and now that Jesus, a Jew, had shown himself to her as a prophet, evidently doubt came into the mind of the woman in regard to the true place of worship, and she thought that after all Jerusalem was to be preferred to Samaria. 4. What our Saviour said was literally true. The Samaritans did not know what they did worship. For proof of this read 2 Kings 17:41: "So these nations feared the Lord, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, so do they unto this day." But the Jews, backslidden though they were, had a knowledge of the true God. God had committed to them his holy law and the great plan of salvation, and through them came the Seed of Abraham, our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Jews, and that man has little regard for the words of the Saviour who sneers at anything which God has given through the Jews, as "Jewish." Christ himself was a Jew, and so were all his apostles. 5. How clearly and plainly Jesus reveals himself to the simple-hearted! He could not say to the Jews, those of his own nation, "I am the Christ." They would not believe him, because of their jealousy and hardness of heart, but to a woman of a despised nation, one who was a sinner, but who longs to know Christ, he reveals himself. She says, When he (Messiah) is come, he will tell me all things. Jesus says, I am he. The woman goes and tells her people, and many of the Samaritans come and believe in Jesus. And so it is with those who have great light and privileges, but who turn away from the blessings which God gives, and harden their hearts against it, while those who have few privileges and less light see the truth, and receive some of the great blessings which the truth brings.