1 When therefore the LORD knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John,

2 (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)

3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee.

4 And he must needs go through Samaria.

5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

9 Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest 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 living water.

11 The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

12 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?

13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither.

17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband:

18 For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.

19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.

20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.

22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

25 The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.

26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.

27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her?

28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men,

29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?

30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.

31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat.

32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.

33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?

34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

39 And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all that ever I did.

40 So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them: and he abode there two days.

41 And many more believed because of his own word;

42 And said unto the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.

Amen

Christ Jesus has deliberately asked a Samaritan woman to bring her husband forward when he already knew she had no husband. What was He trying to do? Flush out a truth  that he already knew existed? Perhaps. I do think that she told him nothing that he did not already know. I do think that Jesus Christ knew just who He would be meeting that day, at the well. Interestingly we also notice that the authority that this woman resides with is not her husband. Has she sinned?

Although most people would be quick to judge her for an harlot we do not have this testimony. For Christ is also quick to point out that she has had five husbands. If he called them husbands then they were husbands indeed. For all we really know she could easily have been a widow. We do not know whether the man she lived with took her to wife, or do we? If he took her to wife, would he not be her husband? One thing is certain: This woman was quick to honor the authority of the Husbandman and she also quickly perceived that He was a prophet among the patriarchs. It did not take her very long to suspect that Jesus was the Christ. It was the witness of Christ that convinced her, and those came to see him that day, that he was the Messiah. Jesus knew something about the Samaritan woman that no other man could have possibly known. I would not be too quick to judge this woman to use this verse as a prohibition against common-law marriage. That is not what this verse is about. It is about the LIVING WATER and illustrates how Jesus Christ honors His own laws implicitly. Even Christ honored the law of the HUSBANDMAN and the scripture reveals how that the woman was subject unto it.

The allegory of the well was a dynamic that even Christ had to fulfill. Remember Issac and Rebekah? How was Issac's wife identified? Again, a very similar thing occured when Jacob procurred his bride. Now here are three examples of a woman at the well and the law of the Husbandman is exempflied in each of them. Only Jesus had that LIVING WATER. In all three cases the woman at the well was eligble for marriage. I think that the last woman (the scripture does not tell her name) was through with fleshly marriage. I think she was tired of it. I really believe she was looking for something better. I think she was tired of getting thirsty and that her reproach as a woman still required that she maintain some male authority over her. Jesus came to the rescue. He is the Husbandman.

If Jesus Christ had really desired us to believe that a government certified piece of paper was so important in the sanctification of a marriage between a man and a woman he would have said so. He knew exactly how many men this woman had joined with in marriage. Do you think he needed to see a certificate to verify this? The fact is, that the man she had at that time was NOT her husband in the traditional sense of the word; for whatever reason that man did NOT take her to wife in the marriage bed but he was still her authority because she was pleased to dwell with him and serve him. PERIOD. She was not an harlot as many churches today would have us to believe. The Samaritan woman wasn't an harlot any more than Rebekah and Rachel were whores. We should not be so quick to jump to conclusions about people.

This is a classic tactic of the enemy and author of confusion. Of course, there may be some among us who would also be inclined to agree that Rachel was a whore. After all... she took her sister's own husband, right? Right. And it was lawful for her to do so. At that time there was no such law was given that it should be otherwise and... in the beginning it was not so. No, I will not judge these women. The Word judges them. The Word plainly states, that in this respect, they have NOT SINNED. All three of these women obeyed the biblical law of the HUSBANDMAN. (To which I might add, is considerably more than what most men and most women attending assemblies in the mainstream churches of North America today are doing.)

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