John 4:10

John 4:10-12 . Jesus answered — And in his answer shows her that he was not under the power of such common prejudices; If thou knewest the gift of God — Which he is now bestowing on mankind by his Son; meaning the Holy Spirit and its fruits, styled, as here, δωρεα του Θεου , the gift of God, Acts 8:20 , and η δωρεα , the gift, Acts 11:17 ; and who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink — How great a person he is who is now conversing with thee. Instead of scrupling to grant him so small a favour, thou wouldest have asked — Συ αν ητησας , thou surely wouldest have asked; of him, and he — Without objecting to thee on account of the people unto whom thou belongest; would readily have given thee living water — Water incomparably better than that which thou art drawing. By this our Lord intended to signify his ability and readiness to communicate those influences and graces of the Holy Spirit, which refresh the soul that earnestly desires them, as water refreshes a thirsty person. The influences of the Holy Spirit are termed living water also, John 8:38 ; and water of life, Revelation 21:6 ; and Revelation 22:1 ; Revelation 22:17 ; and clean water, Ezekiel 36:26-27 .

The phrase, living water, frequently signifying, in the language of Judea, only springing water, or running water, in opposition to that which stagnates, the woman mistook his meaning and replied, Thou hast nothing to draw with — Ουτε αντλημα εχεις , thou hast not a bucket, nor any other instrument wherewith thou canst draw the water; and this well — The only spring hereabout; is deep: from whence then hast thou — Whence canst thou obtain; that living water — Of which thou speakest? Or, what is the extraordinary supply which thou declarest may be had from thee? Mr. Maundrell tells us, that the well, now shown as Jacob’s, is thirty- five yards deep. Art thou greater — “Art thou a person of greater power, or more in favour with God; than our father Jacob — That thou canst procure water by supernatural means? He was obliged to dig this well, in order to provide drink for himself and his family: canst thou create water?” Although this woman speaks of Jacob as the father, or progenitor of the Samaritans, they were in truth not his progeny, but the descendants of those nations which the king of Assyria placed there in the room of the Israelites, whom he carried away captive, 2 Kings 17:24 ; who gave us the well — In Joseph their supposed father; and drank thereof himself — So even he, great and holy as he was, had no better water than this.

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest {d} the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee {e} living water. (d) By this word the we are shown that Christ speaks of some excellent gift, that is to say, even about himself, whom his Father offered to this woman. (e) This everlasting water, that is to say, the exceeding love of God, is called living or of life, to make a difference between it and the water that should be drawn out of a well: and these metaphors are frequently used by the Jews.

John 4:10 . Ἀπεκρίθη … ὕδωρ ζῶν . “If thou knewest;” the pathos of the situation strikes Jesus. The woman stands on the brink of the greatest possibilities, but is utterly unconscious of them. Two things she did not know: (1) τὴν δωρεὰν τοῦ θεοῦ , the free gift of God. This is explained in the last words of the verse to be “living water”; but in its first occurrence it is indefinite: “If thou knewest the freeness of God’s giving, and that to each of His children He has a purpose of good”. But in God’s direction the woman cherished no hope. (2) She did not know τίς ἐστιν ὁ λέγων σοι , Δός μοι πιεῖν . So long as she thought Him an ordinary Jew she could expect nothing from Him. Had she known that Jesus was the bearer of God’s free gift to men, she would have asked of Him. σὺ ἀν ᾔτησας αὐτόν , σὺ is emphatic. You would have anticipated my request by a request on your own behalf. And instead of creating difficulties I would have given thee living water.— ὕδωρ ζῶν , by which the woman understood that He meant spring water. What He did mean appears immediately. John 4:11 . λέγει αὐτῷ … τὸ ζῶν ; She addresses Him with κύριε , perhaps fancying from His saying, “If you had known who it is that says to you,” that He was some great person in disguise. But her answer breathes incredulity: οὔτε ἄντλημα ἔχεις .

She began her sentence meaning to say, “You neither have a bucket, nor is the well shallow enough for you to reach the water without one,” but she alters its construction and puts the second statement in a positive form. The depth of the well is variously given. Conder found it 75 feet.— πόθεν … She is mystified, μὴ σὺ μείζων … θρέμματα αὐτοῦ . Jesus had spoken as if independently of the well He could procure living water: but even Jacob (claimed by the Samaritans as their father, and whose bones lay in their midst), great as he was, used this well.— θρέμματα . “What is nourished.” Kypke adduces several instances in which it is used of “domestics”. Plato, Laws , 953 E, uses it of “nurslings of the Nile,” the Egyptians. But Wetstein adduces many instances of its use in the sense of “cattle”. Theophylact thinks this points to the abundant supply of water.

10. If thou knewest, &c.—that is, "In Me thou seest only a petitioner to thee but if thou knewest who that Petitioner is, and the Gift that God is giving to men, thou wouldst have changed places with Him, gladly suing of Him living water—nor shouldst thou have sued in vain" (gently reflecting on her for not immediately meeting His request).

If thou knewest, etc. Answering rather something latent in the question than the question itself, as in Jesus' first answer to Nicodemus. The gift (δωρεὰν) Only here in the Gospels, though Luke uses it in Acts four times, and the kindred adverb, δῶρημα, freely, is found once in Matthew. The word carries the sense of a bountiful, free, honorable gift. Compare δῶρημα, gift, and see on James 1:17. Asked (ᾔτησας) Jesus uses the same word for ask which the woman had employed of his asking her, the word expressing the asking of the inferior from the superior. Here it is the appropriate word. Living water (ὕδωρ ζῶν) Fresh, perennial. A familiar figure to the Jews. See Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 17:13; Zechariah 14:8. Not necessarily the same as water of life (ὕδωρ ζωῆς, Revelation 21:6; Revelation 22:1, Revelation 22:17).

Many by the gift of God here understand Christ, whom God gave to the world, John 3:16 ; and who is the greatest gift that God ever gave to the world; so as the latter words, who it is, &c., expound the former. Thou wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee, either a true knowledge of the doctrine or the grace tendered in the gospel; or the Holy Spirit, called water, because it washes and cleanses the soul; and living water, because it is always running and flowing.

10 . the gift of God ] What He is ready to give thee, what is now held out to thee, thy salvation. For ‘knewest’ read hadst known . Comp. John 11:21 ; John 11:32 , John 14:28 , where we have the same construction; and contrast John 5:46 and John 8:19 , where the A. V. makes the converse mistake of translating imperfects as if they were aorists. thou wouldest have asked of him ] instead of His asking of thee: ‘thou’ is emphatic. ‘Spiritually our positions are reversed. It is thou who art weary, and foot-sore, and parched, close to the well, yet unable to drink; it is I who can give thee the water from the well, and quench thy thirst for ever.’ There is a scarcely doubtful reference to this passage in the Ignatian Epistles, Romans VII. See on John 6:33 , to which there is a clear reference in this same chapter. The passage with these references to the Fourth Gospel is found in the Syriac as well as in the shorter Greek versions of Ignatius; so that we have almost certain evidence of this Gospel being known as early as a.d. 115. See on John 3:3 .

John 4:10 . Εἰ ἤδεις , if thou hadst known ) Ignorance is a hindrance; but the disclosure of her ignorance shows the compassion of the Lord, and kindled a longing desire in the woman’s heart.— τὴν δωρεάν , the gift ) The gift is the living water.— τίς ἐστιν , who it is ) He speaks in the third person, modestly. It is the prerogative of Him, who saith this, to give the living water. Subsequently He discloses, who it is ; John 4:26 .— σὺ ἂν ἤτησας — καὶ ἔδωκεν ἄν ) thou wouldest ask—and He would give : or rather, thou wouldest have asked, and He would have given, i.e. , not only would you not wonder at my asking, but even you of your own accord would have asked of Me. The pronoun σὺ , thou , employed in this place in particular, rather than with the verb ᾐδεις , hadst known , forms an emphatic opposition to that αἰτεῖς , dost thou ask? [ John 4:9 ]. John is wont to put the imperfect tense with the particle ἄν , where the sentence requires that very time: ἐπιστεύετε ἄν , ἠγαπᾶτε ἄν , οὐκ ἂν εἴχετε , ἐφίλει ἄν , ἠγωνίζοντο ἄν , ch. John 5:46 , John 8:42 , John 9:41 , John 15:19 , John 18:36 . But the Aorist has the same force as the Pluperfect, οὐκ ἂν ἐτεθνήκει , οὐκ ἂν ἀπέθανε , ch. John 11:21 ; John 11:32 ; though in Eph. 1 Chronicles 2:19 , he employs the Pluperfect itself, μεμενήκεισαν ἄν . The passages therefore may possibly seem doubtful in meaning ch. John 14:2 ; John 14:28 , and here, ch.

John 4:10 : εἶπον ἄν : εἶπον ἄν , I would say , or I would have said ; ἐχάρητε ἄν , ye would rejoice , or ye would have rejoiced ; ᾔτησας ἄν , ἔδωκεν ἄν , thou wouldest seek , and He would give ; or, thou wouldest have sought , and He would have given . But, however, since he might have written, and yet he does not write ἔλεγον , ἐχαίρετε , ᾔτεις , ἐδίδου ; we understand the Aorist as a Pluperfect, as also at ch, John 18:30 , [ εἰ μὴ ἦν οὗτος κακοποιὸς , οὐκ ἄν σοι παρεδώκαμεν αὐτόν ], we would not have delivered Him up : Galatians 4:15 ; ἐδώκατε ἄν , ye would have given . The Lord then saith, Thou wouldest have asked from Me, before that I said to thee, Give Me to drink . And, He had said, Give Me to drink , that, conversely, the woman might learn to ask from Himself the living water.— ἔδωκεν ἄν ) This ἄν depends on the former particle ἄν being previously brought into action.— ὓδωρ , water ) In a similar way Jesus takes an allegory from bread, ch. John 6:27 , etc. [Having fed 5000 with a few loaves, and being therefore followed by the crowd, He proceeds, “Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat, which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you,”] etc.: and from light , ch. John 8:12 “I am the light of the world:” [an image suggested perhaps by the sun then rising: comp.