Good Evening Yamon Ki Yesepar;
John 4:10: “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink;’ you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”
Genesis 26:19: “And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley and found there a well of springing water.”
For those who were in my Saturday Hebrew class you may see a real Hebrew idiom here. The word for “spring” is “chi’im” You remember the song from Fiddler on the Roof, “LaChi’im” To life? Literally, Isaac’s servants dug a well and found “living waters.” So why do our English translators not translate this as “living waters?” Well, it just doesn’t make sense, I mean what is “living waters?” The translators assume it involves movement therefore you will find this translated as spring water, which is moving water, or simply flowing waters.”
The Sages translates this as “living waters” for a special reason. The ancient Hebrews associate “living waters” with the revelation of knowledge from Torah (Rabbi Eliezer Shore). Every Jew in Jesus day as well as the Samaritans knew this association or Hebrew idiom. The Samaritans in particular knew this because the well in Genesis 26:19 was located in Samaria, in fact there was a certain woman who made daily use of this well. She also would have known the story behind the well. The story which was very well known to the Jews and the Samaritans told how Abraham dug the well and then it was sealed up with earth (dirt) and it’s impurities by the Philistines (Genesis 26:15). Isaac redug the well and again it was sealed over. Finally Jacob unsealed the well again and gave it to Joseph. The sages taught this was a representation of the revelation of Torah which is sealed up by the “earth.” Earthly passions keep one from understanding and experiencing the revelations of God.
Note how in John 4:10 Jesus is taking a very rabbinic approach to talking with the woman at the well. Jesus was not talking to her like some celebrity would to a store clerk: “If you knew who it was asking you for broccoli you would have personally led him to the cooler.” As a rabbinical form of teaching, this would have struck the woman at the well as saying: “If you knew (were intimate) with the gift of God and with who it is (God) that is saying: “Give me to drink…”
This may seem like a situation where Jesus is talking about something spiritual and the woman at the well was missing the point entirely. Jesus was not playing some game with this woman. He was very straight forward with her and she was responding as any good student would to a rabbi. The impropriety wasn’t so much that Jesus was speaking to a woman, He spoke to women all the time like the woman with the issue of blood, the woman seeking healing for her daughter, to Mary and Martha, etc., What was unusual was that He was engaging a woman in a form of midrashing. When Jesus said “living water” the woman at the well instantly knew what Jesus was talking about. As a good student she picked up on a natural illustration to discuss a spiritual issue. Her response could very well have meant: “What do you have that is so special that you can remove the impure shells that keep us from getting this living water. Are you greater than Jacob who removed the impure shells for this well?” Jesus response was very intense. You drink of the water of Jacob you will thirst again. In other words “You listen to the teaching of your fathers and you will always go to them for more. On another level, you keep seeking fulfillment in relationships that only satisfied for a moment and then you thirst again for another relationship. “But the water I will give you will be in you a “well” of living water springing up into the everlasting life.” This “living water” or revelation of God will not come from the teachings of your fathers, but from within you and it will lead to eternal life. “Eternal life” to the Jewish and Samaritan mind was not heaven but was that state of peace and oneness with God. What this woman was trying to fulfill in her earthly relationships could only have fulfillment in peace and oneness with God.
The woman then responds by saying that she would sure like this “living water” or this peace and oneness with God. So Jesus gets to the heart of the issue, he brings up her relationships and the fact that she is living in sin. Her response is “Well, yeah, so what am I to do about it. How do I get cleansed from this sin when I, a Samaritan, would not be allowed to go to Jerusalem and offer a sacrifice in atonement for my sins and worship (enter into intimacy with God). We do that on this mountain, are you saying that I will find atonement for my sins and intimacy (worship) on this mountain? We don’t have to go to the temple to offer the sacrifice?” To the Semitic thinking redemption from sin and intimacy with God are all wrapped up in the word worship.
Jesus response could not have been better news for this woman. “The time is coming and is even now here when you will no longer need to go to a mountain or a temple to find atonement for your sins and intimacy with God. You will worship God in spirit and in truth. The Greek word used here for truth is aletheia, but in the Septuagint aletheia is used for the Hebrew word “emeth” which means “divine instruction.” In other words you will worship God not in giving animal sacrifices and keeping all the festivals and laws but you will worship God in your spirit and through instruction directly from God and not from the teachings of your fathers.
Finally the woman leaves the motif of a “well of living waters” and breaks the tradition of a midrash by saying: “Well, of course, when the Messiah comes He will tell us all things” or “lead us into this truth or divine instruction.” That is when Jesus dropped His little bomb: “I that speak to you am He.” In the Greek He said “ego eimi” “I – I AM speaks to you.” Did he actually use the divine, sacred name here? I think He did and that convinced the woman that He was more than just a prophet. If He used the divine name, He was either a liar, insane or the Messiah. Consider this, the word husband meant more than just a legal marriage. A woman did not call a man her husband unless she was truly in love with him, otherwise she called him Baali (my master). This woman went through five men seeking her “true love.” She was not surprised that Jesus knew about her many affairs, he could have learned that from anyone in town. But He knew what no one else could have known – her heart. No, a liar or a crazy man could have easily found out about her affairs, but no liar or crazy man could so accurately read her heart. That is what convinced her she was speaking to the Messiah.
During Jesus life on earth, he never said out right, “I am the Messiah,” But as a rabbi, He was saying it all the time – in a very rabbinical way.
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