The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 298

after the early testimoniee of John, when oursi ve, 69); not "the city'' Shechem- J eeus went to Onno and C11pemaum (eh. i. 43). the lv,tJµ of Acts vii. 16, or :Sl1<1µa. of Jose- Whether this journey corrrsponded with that phus (Gen. xxxiii. 18; Josh. xx. 7; Judg. mentioned in Matthew ancl Mnrk, as following ix. 7)-not Seba.ate (Se.maria.), but" a city," the boptism nod temptation of Jesus, or not, one of the cities requiring special designa- it is not to be confounrlecl with the journey tion beyond its mere name, which would which John he.cl already recorded. he.rdly have been necessary, if so renowned Ver. 4.-And he must needs go through a spot as the metropolis of the ancient Bamll.ria. There woe no physical necessity kingdom, or the ancient patriarchal city of o.bout it. He might, e.s bigoted Jews were Shechem or Sychem, had been thought of. accustomed to do, have crossed the Jordan The similarity of the names Syehar and e.ud passed through Perroa instee.cl. There Sichem led mauy to suppose tha.t John con- was no such animus in the heart of Jesus, founded either the names or the place11. and e. Divine e.nd providential monition was Those who were anxious to undervalue the the occasion of his to.king- the direct roo.d. accuracy of the author have attributed it to Geikie has drawn e. vivid picture of the mistake. Schenkel still sees the error of e. difficulties to which Jewish travellers on the Gentile Christian. Others have snpposed borders of Same.rin were exposed (see Hos. that the word, meaning" town of drunka.rrls" vi. 9; Josephus, 'Ant.,' x.x. 6.1; 'Bell. Juel.,' (Isa. xxviii. 1, 7-:;~:), or "town of liars" ii. 12. 4; • Vit.,' 52), e.nd also of the physical (Hab. ii. 18,,R_it), was intentionally applied features of the land. Se.maria, e.s o. name by John to Shechem, or the.t some provincial of the small district of central Palestine, pronunciation of the name of the old city arose from the name of the city " So.maria," had thus been commemorated. Hengsten- built by Omri, e.nd made the site of the berg suggested that Sychar was a suburb of kingdom of larael (1 Kings xvi. 24), e.nd Sichem or Shechem, e.nd Robinson placed that of the Baal- and of the calf-wor~hip. the latter much nearer to Ja.cob's well than Samaria suffered from the siege, e.nd the the present Nablous. Tholuck gave a phi- city was depopulated by Shalmanezer (Sar- losophical solution-that m and r in the two gon), and colonized with Assyrians under words, being liquids,. were interchanged; Esarhe.ddou. It was destroyed by Hyr- e.nd Meyer e.t one tune held that John canus ond rebuilt in splendour by Herod simply applied the vulgar name. Jerome the G~eot, and by him dedicated to Augus- (' Qumst. Heb. in Gen. xlviii.') said it was a. tus, and ea.lied Seba.ite after him. Though corruption of the name Sichem. But Euse- Shechem (equivalent to Sichem) was the bius discriminated Shechem from Sychur more famous site, and overshadowed Herod's in his ' Onomasticon,' sub roce; o.nd a place city by its historical int_erest, yet ". Sa- ea.lied Sochar or Sichra is mentioned, o.nd maria." was the name which has surV1ved also its " well,'' in the Talmud. Delitzsch all others, and covered a larger space. (' Zeitschrift fur Luth. Theo!.,' 1856) bas Jesus was probably on the borders of Sa- quoted seven pe.sso.ges which refer to the maria, in the Judaian country, before he pluce as the birthplace of rabbis, and as commenced his journey. Se.maria was in- having been alternately occupied by Jews cluded in the tetre.rchy of Archelaus, and and Samaritans. 1'1oreover, in late years, formed part of the province under the pro- Palestine explorers ho.ve found, within halj curo.torship of Pontius Pila_te ; while Herod a mile of Jacob's well, a village, El' Askar, Antipas reigned over Galilee e.nd Ferree.. preserving to the present ds.y the old no.me. 1 The Lord was fulfilling the Divine will, in Nor has the name been in late years d:rawn commencing his Ge.lilman ministry, in from this narrative e.nd given to this insig- leaving Judme. proper for the present, e.nd nificant village, for e. Samaritan chronicle, passing through Samaria. It is worthy of datin"' from the twelfth century, preserves notice tho.t John here attributes to "the the n~me e.s Iskar. A priori it is fe.r more Pharisees,'' re.ther than "the Jews,'' the probable that a woman of Sychar, than one opposition which indicated the wisdom or of Shechem, should have come to dro.:v necessity of this course. water, in consequence of the nearer proxi- Ver. 5.-He oometh therefore to a oity of mity of the former " city " than of the Bame.rie., called Syohe.r (luxc£i,, with e.11 the latter to Jacob's well. It is further cha- principal uncials; not ::S,xc£p, us read by racterized as near to the parcel of grolllld the Elzevir edition of Stephens, with one nor in many cursives, e.nd was e.t one time 1 Captain Conder (' -i::ent-Work_ in ,Pe.le~- omitted by Griesbach e.nd Tischendorf; but tine,' i. 71, etc.), e.nd 'P1ot. Palestine, vol. 1, Tischendorf (8th edit.), Westcott e.nd Hort, 236 have described it at length. Canon .Revised Version, retain it, on the authority wiiliams advocated this solution. Eder- of~. B•, 0, D, L, the best cursives, e.ncl nu- sheim (' Life of Christ,' App. xv. voL ii. merous versions. 76!), Westcott, aud othen defend it. )I 1011N, 162 THE GOSPEL ACOORDING TO ST. JOHN. [ OH, IV. 1-64:,