Solomor's death, and jrave the answer which rent his kingdoir, in two. (1 Kings, xii. 1.) Here Jeroboam first dwelt, when he was made king of Israel. (1 Kings xii. 25.) And finally, close bv Shechem was the city of Samaria itself, and the two hills of Ebal and Gerizini, where tlie solemn blessings and cur-ings were recited, after Israel entered Canaan. (Josh. viii. 33.) A more interesting neighbourhood it is difficult to imagine. Whichever way the eye of a wearied traveller looked, he would see some- thing to remind him of Israel's history.
It is only fair to say that one of the latest travellers in Pales tine (Dr. Thomson, author of " The Land and the Book,") doubts whether Sychar and Shechem really were the same place. He grounds his doubt on the fact that the well now called Jacob's well is two miles from the ruins of Shechem, and that close to these ruins are beautiful fountains of water. He thinks it highly improbable that a woman of Shechem would go two miles to draw water, if she could find it close by. He therefore thinks it more likely that a place now called Aschar, which is close to Jacob's well, must be the ancient Sychar, and that Sychar and Shechem were two different places.
The subject is one on which it is impossible to attain a conclu- sive decision. Whether the ruins now called the ruins of Shechem are really on the site of ancient Shechem, — whether the well now called Jacob's well is really the well spoken of in this chapter, — whether ancient Shechem may not have been nearer the well than it now appears, — are all points on which, after eighteen hundred years have passed away, it is impossible to fpeak positively. It ought, however, to be remembered, that the opinion of most competent judges is almost entirely against Dr. Thomson's theory. Moreover, it is worth noticing that the Samaritan woman's words, '' Neither come hither to draw," seem to imply that she had to come some distance to Jacob's well when she drew water.
[A^ea7\...pa7xel....ground....Jacol),... Joseph.] The ground here spoken of seems to consist of two parts. One part was bought by Jacob of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of silver. (Gen. xxxiii. 29.) The other seems to have been his by conquest, when his sons slew the Shechemites for dishonouring Dinah. (Gen. xxxiv. 28, and xlviii. 22.)
Let it be carefully noted that St. John here speaks of Jacob and Joseph and the events of their lives, as if the history con- tained in Genesis was all simple matter of fact. It is always so in the New Testament. The modern theory, that the histories of the Old Testament are only fables, destitute of any foundation in fact, is a mere baseless invention, without a single respectabla argument to be adduced in its favour.
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6. — [JacoVs well] It is not known how or when this well received its name. In Genesis Ave find mention of Abraham and Isaac diggino: wells, but not of Jacob doing so. All we know about it is what we read in the chapter before us,
A well called Jacob's well is still shown to all travellers in Palestine, near the ruins of Shechem, and is commonly supposed to be one of the oldest and most genuine remains of ancitut times in the Ho'y Land. In fact there seems no reason for dis- puting the common belief, that it is the veiy identical well at which our Lord sat and held the conversation recorded in thi3 chapter. It is in good preservation, and about thirty yards deep,
[ Wearied with Ms journey^ This expression deserves notice. It shows the reality of our Lord's human nature. He had a body hke our own, subject to all the conditions of flesh and blood. — It shows our Lord's infinite compassion, humility, and condescension, when He became flesh, and came on earth to live and die for our sins. Though He was rich He became poor. He who had made the world, and whose were "the cattle on a thou- sand hills," was content to be a weary traveller on foot, in order to provide eternal redemption for us. We never read of Jesus travelling in a carriage, and only once of His riding on a beast. — It supplies the poor with the strongest argument for content- ment. If Christ was willing to be poor, we may surely be willing to submit to poverty. Men need not be ashamed of poverty, if they have not brought it on themselves by misconduct. It is disgraceful to be profligate and immoral. But it is no sin to be poor. — Finally, it shows believers what a sympathizing Saviour Christ is. He knows what it is to have a weak and weary body. He can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. When our work wearies us, though we are not weary of our work, we may confidently tell Jesus, and ask Him for help. He knows the heart of a weary man.
l^Sat thus on the well.] The general meaning of these words is, that our Lord sat down on the stones, which, according to Eastern custom, formed a wall or battlement round the mouth of the well. The particular meaning of the word " thus " in the sentence, is a point that has perplexed commentators in every age, and will perhaps never be settled.
Some think, as De Dieu, A. Clarke, and Schleusner, that "thus" is a pleonasm, or elegant expletive and redundancy in the Greek original, and that although a Greek would see a meaning in it, as giving a finish to the sentence, it has no spe- cial meaning that can be attached to it in the English transla- tion.
Some think, as Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius, Muscu-. lus, Bengel, Glassius, and Wordsworth, that ''thus" means "just