would leave her water-pot. So large a vessel could not be carried quickly, whether empty or full.
The mind of the woman in leaving her water-pot seems to mf» clear and unmistakeable. She was entirely absorlDed in the things which she had heard from our Lord's mouth. She was anxious to tell them without delay to her friends and neighbours. She therefore postponed her business of drawing water, for which she had left her house, as a matter of secondary importance, and hurried off to tell others what she had been told. The sentence is deeply instructive.
Lightfoot thinks, beside this, that the woman left her water-pot out of kindne-s to our Lord, " that Jesus and ITis disciples might have wherewithal to drink."
[Went her way., city.] The Greek word rendered "went her way," means simply, " departed " or " went." The city must of course mean " Sychar."
[Saith to the men.] We must not suppose that the woman spoke to th> men only, and not to her own sex. But it is pro- bable that the " men " of the place would be 'the first persons she woul'i see, and that the women would not be in the streets, but at home. Moreover it is not unlikely that the expression is meant to show us the woman's zeal and anxiety to spread the good tidings. She did not hesitate to speak to men, though she well knew that anything a woman might say about religion was dot likely to command attention.
Cyril, on this verse, remarks the power of Christ's grace. He feegan by bidding the womnn to go and " call her husband." The end of the conversation which ensued was her going and calling all the men of the city to come and see Clu-ist.
*^. — [Come, see a maw.] The missionary spirit of the woman, in this verse, deserves special notice. Having found Christ herself, she invites others to come and be acquainted with Him. Origen calls her " the apostle of the Samaritans."
Let it be noted that her words are simple in the extreme. She enters into no argument. She only asks the men to " come and see." This, after all, is often the best way of dealing with souls. A bold invitation to come and make trial of the Gospel often produces more eflect than the most elaborate arguments in sup- port of its doctrines. Most men do not want their reason con- vinced so much as their will bent, and their conscience aroused. A simple-minded, hearty, unlearned young disciple will often touch hearts that would hear an abstruse argument without being moved. — This fact is most encouraging to all hehevers who try to do good. All cannot argue. But all believers may say,
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" Come and see Ch' ist. If you would only look at Him and see Him, you would soon believe."
Barradius remarks what a practical illustration ihe woman affords of one of the concludmg sentences of Revelation, " Let him that heareth say, Come." (Rev. xxii. 17.) The Samaritan woman having heard, said " Come," and the result was that manj souls came and took the water of life freely.
Cyril remarks the difference between the woman's conduct and that of the servant who buried his talent in the ground. She received the talent of the good tidings of the Gospel, and at once put it o. ' at interest.
Chrysostom remarks the wisdom of the woman. " She did not say, Come, helieve, but Come, see, a gentler expression than the other, and one which more attracted them."
\^Told me all things. ..ever I did^ These words must be taken with some qualification?. Of course they cannot mean that our Lord had literally told the woman " all things that ever she did in her life." This would have been physically impossible in th6 space of a single afternoon. — The probable meaning is, "He has told me all the principal sins that I have committed. He has shown a perfect knowledge of the chief events of my life. He has shown such thorough acquaintance with my history, that I doubt not He could have told me anything I ever did."
Some allowance must probably be made for the warm and excited feehngs of the woman when she spoke these words. She used hyperbolical and extravagant language, under the influence of these feelings, which she would probalDly not have used in a calm state of mind, and v/hich we must therefore not judge too strictly. Moreover, as Poole remarks, it admits of doubt whether our Lord may not have spoken of other things in the conversation, which St. John has not been inspired to record.
Let it be noted, that the Samaritan woman, in saying that " our Lord had told her all things she had ever done," very probably referred to the common opinion about Messiah's om- niscience. The Rabbinical writers, according to Lightfoot, specially applied to Messiah the words of Isaiah, " He shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by the sight of his eyes." (Isai. xi. 3.) Her words, therefore, were a well-known argument, that our Lord must be the Christ, and her object in using them would be the roughly understood.
[/s not this the Christ ?] The Greek words so rendered would be translated with equal correctness, "Is this the Christ? Can