Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Jesus spoke these words to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well when she raised the dispute over worship on Mount Gerizim versus Jerusalem. Her people's worship was ignorant worship, for they worshiped the true God yet mixed His worship with idolatry and images and rejected Jerusalem as His appointed place. The Jews knew what they worshiped, for to them had been entrusted the Scriptures with a clear revelation of God's character and government and the great truths of redemption, and salvation was of the Jews because the Messiah was to come from among them. True worship would no longer be confined to Jerusalem or Gerizim or any particular place, but must be in spirit and in truth with religion rooted in the heart and carried to every nation. Though a Jew Himself, He set aside Jewish prejudice and intolerance, crossed the barrier between Jews and Samaritans, and brought to that despised people the salvation the Jews rejected, making it available to all mankind.
Encounter at Jacob's Well
Jesus, a Jew, spoke these words to the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well at Sychar at noon. He was faint from hunger and thirst after a long journey since morning with the noontide sun upon Him. Cool water lay near yet inaccessible because the well was deep and He had nothing to draw with, having no rope or jar, so He waited for someone to come to draw. When the woman filled her pitcher He asked her for a drink.
Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies who avoided all dealing except trade in case of necessity. All social intercourse was condemned, and a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor receive a kindness, not even bread or water. The Samaritans had built a temple on Mount Gerizim in opposition to the temple at Jerusalem, and their religion combined Jewish faith and customs with heathenism. Their claim to be God's people helped sustain the schism and enmity between the two nations.
After He said Give me to drink, the woman raised the prejudice that a Jew should ask drink of a Samaritan, a class the Jews thoroughly despised. In the East water was the gift of God and giving drink to a thirsty traveler was a sacred duty, but hatred kept her from offering kindness. With divine love He sought the key to her heart by asking rather than offering a favor, since trust awakens trust. Though as King of heaven He made the ocean and controls the waters and opened the springs of the earth, He rested weary and depended on a stranger's kindness for a drink.
After He laid open her past life with five husbands and the man she then lived with who was not her husband, conviction of sin was awakened in her. She tried to turn the conversation from her sin by drawing Him into religious controversy, saying her fathers worshiped in that mountain, Mount Gerizim, while the Jews said Jerusalem was the place where men ought to worship. His answer belongs to the beginning of His mission work. Like all His teachings it is positive with authority, not guesswork, and joins His many invitations of mercy and goodness that cut away doubt about finding mercy and grace and salvation in God. Spoken with the conviction of the Spirit of God, the words were believed as truth and aroused her moral nature and awakened her sense of higher need as no teaching she had heard before.
Ignorant Worship and True Worship
Samaritan worship was ignorant worship, offered without fully knowing the God worshiped, lacking knowledge of God as revealed in truth. Their faith was corrupted by idolatry and confused in contrast with more faithful knowledge, for though they worshiped the true God they represented Him with images and mixed idolatry with the ceremonies given through Moses. Their worship was mixed with reverence for images even though they regarded the images only as reminders of the living God. Though their religious understanding later improved, they still clung to idolatry and rejected Jerusalem as the true place of worship.
Jewish worship knew what it worshiped, holding a more accurate and truer understanding of God, His government, and religion than other nations. The Scriptures gave a clear presentation of God's character and government, and the great truths of redemption had been entrusted to the Jews. Salvation is of the Jews because salvation came through the Jewish people and was connected with them. The Messiah was to come from among them, and He came from Judea as the Jewish Saviour.
At that time worship at Jerusalem had a special place in God's plan, and for a time God required the Jewish nation to worship at Jerusalem, with the truth entrusted to them. That special appointment did not mean worship or truth was to remain confined to one people or place. True worship would no longer depend on or be confined to Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim or another particular place. Worshipers must worship the Father in spirit and in truth, with religion rooted in the heart, purifying the life and leading to good works, and the truth should be carried to every nation and place.
Salvation Carried to All
Jesus identified Himself with the Jews as those entrusted with the knowledge of God, while refusing Samaritan prejudice and lifting worship above disputes over sacred places and ceremonies. Though a Jew, He set at naught Pharisaic customs and prejudices, showing He did not share Jewish intolerance nor restrict the gifts of grace by race or nation. He mingled with Samaritans, accepted the hospitality of that despised people, slept under their roofs, ate with them at their tables food prepared and served by their hands, taught in their streets, and treated them with utmost kindness, courtesy, sympathy and social kindliness that recognized the dignity of humanity. His divine grace thus brought to Samaritans the salvation that came through the Jews yet was rejected by the Jews, proving that people despised as unworthy could hunger for truth and making salvation available to all mankind.
This Jewish salvation was carried to one who was a stranger, an alien from Israel living in open sin, the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, with whom He reasoned more earnestly and eloquently than with kings, councillors or high priests. He presented the truths of His spiritual kingdom despite Samaritan darkness and error, and through that despised woman a whole Samaritan city was brought to hear Him, her testimony leading many to hear and believe. His message reached people hostile toward Him, and He later directed disciples to preach first in Samaritan cities, so that after His ascension they were welcomed there and gathered converts. The setting thus shows the saving message associated with His Jewish ministry was also offered to Samaritans, and His ministry began to break down the division between Israel and other nations.
The encounter is a model of personal work in which He taught spiritual truth to one listener rather than waiting for a crowd to gather, giving rich instruction and precious lessons freely to an individual despised woman whom others judged by standing and surroundings but in whom He recognized a receptive heart. Though not received by the learned Jews He spoke distinctly to a humble woman, and she carried the truth to her countrymen so that many Samaritans were reached through her. The Samaritans received Christ's light when the woman shared it and accepted Christ through His word without requiring miracles, while the Jews failed to recognize Him despite His mighty works. Her openness contrasts with religious leaders who rejected His teaching when it crossed their interpretations, and with scribes and Pharisees who were like old dried-up skin bottles that could not hold the new wine of His kingdom.
He found no place for the precious lessons He came to give among the scribes and Pharisees, whose interpretations of Scripture were not correct yet who would receive no evidence from the revelation of the Spirit and would reject truth when their ideas were crossed, but He found a place for His truth in the heart of the Samaritan woman though she was a sinner. Her reception exposes the Jews in handling Christ's work, and God makes new bottles for the wine of His kingdom by choosing humble and despised receivers such as the Samaritan woman, Matthew the publican, and the fishermen. The Samaritans coming out and hearing Him proves that those counted as unbelieving who have never heard the truth have hearts more susceptible to receive it than those who have been in the truth, have had evidences of God's work, and yet excuse unbelief and use brain and thought and talk to stay God's work when they see God working in a certain line. Everyone who drinks the living water becomes a fountain of life and a missionary, a source of life who refreshes others like a spring in the desert and shares the gospel.
This offering of the water of life fulfills the promise in Eden that the Seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head and continues until every soul has been tested, showing Christ as the world's Redeemer who knows every soul's necessities and holds an inexhaustible supply of grace, love and truth as the daily bread of life and living spring for the parched soul, which never runs dry however much is drawn and given. After that talk He told His disciples to lift up their eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already for harvest; eager, attentive crowds gathered to hear the truth show fields white for harvest. People can worship without knowing the true object of worship when they hold to tradition without searching Scripture to distinguish truth from error and establish what is true; absence of controversy does not prove sound doctrine, and investigation and questions can expose confusion and prompt examination of faith.
Giving glory to human agencies is worshiping what is not known; having unlimited confidence in man and speaking of excellence supposed to belong to him is false and misguided worship, while true worship gives glory to God alone, exalts God, and requires frail, erring human beings to humble themselves before Him. The teaching rejects the idea that one place is the required center of worship; Battle Creek is not the world's Jerusalem, and people need not travel there to learn or serve God, for God is present everywhere and can provide teachers to those who faithfully use their abilities where they are.
Jesus spoke these words to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well when she raised the dispute over worship on Mount Gerizim versus Jerusalem. Her people's worship was ignorant worship, for they worshiped the true God yet mixed His worship with idolatry and images and rejected Jerusalem as His appointed place. The Jews knew what they worshiped, for to them had been entrusted the Scriptures with a clear revelation of God's character and government and the great truths of redemption, and salvation was of the Jews because the Messiah was to come from among them. True worship would no longer be confined to Jerusalem or Gerizim or any particular place, but must be in spirit and in truth with religion rooted in the heart and carried to every nation. Though a Jew Himself, He set aside Jewish prejudice and intolerance, crossed the barrier between Jews and Samaritans, and brought to that despised people the salvation the Jews rejected, making it available to all mankind.
Encounter at Jacob's Well
Jesus, a Jew, spoke these words to the woman of Samaria at Jacob's well at Sychar at noon. He was faint from hunger and thirst after a long journey since morning with the noontide sun upon Him. Cool water lay near yet inaccessible because the well was deep and He had nothing to draw with, having no rope or jar, so He waited for someone to come to draw. When the woman filled her pitcher He asked her for a drink.
Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies who avoided all dealing except trade in case of necessity. All social intercourse was condemned, and a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor receive a kindness, not even bread or water. The Samaritans had built a temple on Mount Gerizim in opposition to the temple at Jerusalem, and their religion combined Jewish faith and customs with heathenism. Their claim to be God's people helped sustain the schism and enmity between the two nations.
After He said Give me to drink, the woman raised the prejudice that a Jew should ask drink of a Samaritan, a class the Jews thoroughly despised. In the East water was the gift of God and giving drink to a thirsty traveler was a sacred duty, but hatred kept her from offering kindness. With divine love He sought the key to her heart by asking rather than offering a favor, since trust awakens trust. Though as King of heaven He made the ocean and controls the waters and opened the springs of the earth, He rested weary and depended on a stranger's kindness for a drink.
After He laid open her past life with five husbands and the man she then lived with who was not her husband, conviction of sin was awakened in her. She tried to turn the conversation from her sin by drawing Him into religious controversy, saying her fathers worshiped in that mountain, Mount Gerizim, while the Jews said Jerusalem was the place where men ought to worship. His answer belongs to the beginning of His mission work. Like all His teachings it is positive with authority, not guesswork, and joins His many invitations of mercy and goodness that cut away doubt about finding mercy and grace and salvation in God. Spoken with the conviction of the Spirit of God, the words were believed as truth and aroused her moral nature and awakened her sense of higher need as no teaching she had heard before.
Ignorant Worship and True Worship
Samaritan worship was ignorant worship, offered without fully knowing the God worshiped, lacking knowledge of God as revealed in truth. Their faith was corrupted by idolatry and confused in contrast with more faithful knowledge, for though they worshiped the true God they represented Him with images and mixed idolatry with the ceremonies given through Moses. Their worship was mixed with reverence for images even though they regarded the images only as reminders of the living God. Though their religious understanding later improved, they still clung to idolatry and rejected Jerusalem as the true place of worship.
Jewish worship knew what it worshiped, holding a more accurate and truer understanding of God, His government, and religion than other nations. The Scriptures gave a clear presentation of God's character and government, and the great truths of redemption had been entrusted to the Jews. Salvation is of the Jews because salvation came through the Jewish people and was connected with them. The Messiah was to come from among them, and He came from Judea as the Jewish Saviour.
At that time worship at Jerusalem had a special place in God's plan, and for a time God required the Jewish nation to worship at Jerusalem, with the truth entrusted to them. That special appointment did not mean worship or truth was to remain confined to one people or place. True worship would no longer depend on or be confined to Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim or another particular place. Worshipers must worship the Father in spirit and in truth, with religion rooted in the heart, purifying the life and leading to good works, and the truth should be carried to every nation and place.
Salvation Carried to All
Jesus identified Himself with the Jews as those entrusted with the knowledge of God, while refusing Samaritan prejudice and lifting worship above disputes over sacred places and ceremonies. Though a Jew, He set at naught Pharisaic customs and prejudices, showing He did not share Jewish intolerance nor restrict the gifts of grace by race or nation. He mingled with Samaritans, accepted the hospitality of that despised people, slept under their roofs, ate with them at their tables food prepared and served by their hands, taught in their streets, and treated them with utmost kindness, courtesy, sympathy and social kindliness that recognized the dignity of humanity. His divine grace thus brought to Samaritans the salvation that came through the Jews yet was rejected by the Jews, proving that people despised as unworthy could hunger for truth and making salvation available to all mankind.
This Jewish salvation was carried to one who was a stranger, an alien from Israel living in open sin, the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well, with whom He reasoned more earnestly and eloquently than with kings, councillors or high priests. He presented the truths of His spiritual kingdom despite Samaritan darkness and error, and through that despised woman a whole Samaritan city was brought to hear Him, her testimony leading many to hear and believe. His message reached people hostile toward Him, and He later directed disciples to preach first in Samaritan cities, so that after His ascension they were welcomed there and gathered converts. The setting thus shows the saving message associated with His Jewish ministry was also offered to Samaritans, and His ministry began to break down the division between Israel and other nations.
The encounter is a model of personal work in which He taught spiritual truth to one listener rather than waiting for a crowd to gather, giving rich instruction and precious lessons freely to an individual despised woman whom others judged by standing and surroundings but in whom He recognized a receptive heart. Though not received by the learned Jews He spoke distinctly to a humble woman, and she carried the truth to her countrymen so that many Samaritans were reached through her. The Samaritans received Christ's light when the woman shared it and accepted Christ through His word without requiring miracles, while the Jews failed to recognize Him despite His mighty works. Her openness contrasts with religious leaders who rejected His teaching when it crossed their interpretations, and with scribes and Pharisees who were like old dried-up skin bottles that could not hold the new wine of His kingdom.
He found no place for the precious lessons He came to give among the scribes and Pharisees, whose interpretations of Scripture were not correct yet who would receive no evidence from the revelation of the Spirit and would reject truth when their ideas were crossed, but He found a place for His truth in the heart of the Samaritan woman though she was a sinner. Her reception exposes the Jews in handling Christ's work, and God makes new bottles for the wine of His kingdom by choosing humble and despised receivers such as the Samaritan woman, Matthew the publican, and the fishermen. The Samaritans coming out and hearing Him proves that those counted as unbelieving who have never heard the truth have hearts more susceptible to receive it than those who have been in the truth, have had evidences of God's work, and yet excuse unbelief and use brain and thought and talk to stay God's work when they see God working in a certain line. Everyone who drinks the living water becomes a fountain of life and a missionary, a source of life who refreshes others like a spring in the desert and shares the gospel.
This offering of the water of life fulfills the promise in Eden that the Seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head and continues until every soul has been tested, showing Christ as the world's Redeemer who knows every soul's necessities and holds an inexhaustible supply of grace, love and truth as the daily bread of life and living spring for the parched soul, which never runs dry however much is drawn and given. After that talk He told His disciples to lift up their eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already for harvest; eager, attentive crowds gathered to hear the truth show fields white for harvest. People can worship without knowing the true object of worship when they hold to tradition without searching Scripture to distinguish truth from error and establish what is true; absence of controversy does not prove sound doctrine, and investigation and questions can expose confusion and prompt examination of faith.
Giving glory to human agencies is worshiping what is not known; having unlimited confidence in man and speaking of excellence supposed to belong to him is false and misguided worship, while true worship gives glory to God alone, exalts God, and requires frail, erring human beings to humble themselves before Him. The teaching rejects the idea that one place is the required center of worship; Battle Creek is not the world's Jerusalem, and people need not travel there to learn or serve God, for God is present everywhere and can provide teachers to those who faithfully use their abilities where they are.