At the Well

Our water is finished today, so I have to go to the well to get more. The well is quite a distance from home and the city (called Sychar), so it is quite annoying to see our water finished just when you need it. Anyway, I have no choice but to fetch the jar and start walking. The sun was high as it was noon, making the journey under the heat even more uncomfortable. The paths were quiet as most people were in their homes or farms during that time; so, I walked alone to get some water outside Sychar. I had no traveling companion to talk with.

By the footpaths were farms of barley and wheat, and the barley was almost ripe for harvest. After walking for a while under the scorching heat and on the stony paths, I approached the well and saw a man sitting by. I was quite startled to see Him and wondered why a man will sit by a well at that time. As I got closer, I realized He was not from our village; He must be a stranger. On reaching the well, I was even more surprised and angry because he seemed a Jew. What is a Jew doing in a Samaritan village at this time, and why is He sitting on our well (dug by Jacob)?

The Jews were our bitter enemies: they hated us and looked down on us as pagans (idol worshippers) and dirty dogs. They would have nothing to do with us even though we are all descendants of Jacob. They said bitter and dehumanizing things about us and won’t even touch us or drink from our cup even when they are dying. They would rather see us dead than have anything to do with us even if that will save our lives. The Jews and Samaritans were all once a single nation under one ruler and kingdom until the death of king Solomon. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, who succeeded Solomon, failed to give a peaceful and respectful response to our leaders when they went to him to negotiate for a reduction in taxes and other harsh measures imposed on the nation by Solomon.

King Rehoboam did not respect the leaders of the ten tribes who went to see him although his advisers asked him to give heed to them. Hence, ten out of the twelve tribes rebelled against him and chose for themselves a new leader, Jeroboam. Therefore, the kingdom/nation was divided into two: the Northern kingdom and the Southern kingdom. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin (and the Levites) formed the Southern kingdom of Judah while the remaining 10 tribes formed the Northern kingdom. The ten northern tribes quickly deteriorated into idolatry regardless of the repeated warnings and admonitions from prophets such as Elijah, Elishah, Hosea, and Joel. Owing to these idolatrous practices, they were mostly swept away by the Assyrians into slavery and scattered throughout the Assyrian kingdom. The Assyrians then brought other nations to replace the Israelites who were taken away to Assyria, thereby mixing the northern tribe with other non-Israelites (2 Kings 17:24).

And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day. (1 Chronicles 5:26)

In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and he took Ijon, and Abel Beth Maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria. (2 Kings 15:29)

The remaining Israelites and other nations who were brought in to mix up with the northern tribes, became known as the Samaritans. The Southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin (and the Levites from the tribe of Levi who served as priests), also known as the kingdom of Judah or Jews, were also taken away later on by king Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon for idolatry. However, they were allowed to return by the Persians (Cyrus the Great) while the scattered Israelites were lost among the Assyrians: they never returned to rejoin their brethren as the Jews did. Before the Jews were carried away, King Hezekiah invited the remnants of Israel (the ten northern tribes) to the Passover in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 30 and 31) to help them leave idolatry. The Levites who were in the Northern tribe (and some people from the other tribes) all left to the Southern kingdom to flee the idolatry.

When the Jews returned from Babylon, they started rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem under Ezrah and Nehemiah. Our people tried to help them, but they refused, increasing the bitterness and enmity between the Samaritans and the Jews. This enmity and rivalry have continued until my time. The Jews believed their Temple in Jerusalem was where we should all worship, but we the ten tribes of Samaria believed that our place of worship on mount Gerizim was also accepted with God. We had several points of disagreement and divergence from the Jews and their interpretation of scripture.

Reaching the well, I quietly ignored him and tried to fetch water and return as quickly as possible to avoid any interaction or association with Him. He however startled me by asking for water, “Give me to drink“. I was shocked: “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.” He responded by promising me access to a living water that will fill me with water always so that I don’t thirst: “Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?” I really didn’t take him seriously and intensified my mockery of Him when He told me His water will make me thirst no more. Indeed, that would be great! If I can get access to an everlasting water, then I wouldn’t have to come here again under this scorching heat and dusty footpath to fetch water again. Therefore, I told him (quite confused if He was real or just mocking me) “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.” (John 4).

He however put my doubt about Him to rest when He told me my marital history. I was both shocked and ashamed that a total stranger could thus tell me about my promiscuous past. I couldn’t but admit that “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.” I therefore tried to change the topic about my marriage and asked Him about details of differences between the Samaritans and the Jews, which He answered with such clarity and authority that I couldn’t retort. I therefore asked Him about a question that has been on our minds for ages: “I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.” To the shock of my life, He said “I that speak unto thee am He.” My heart skipped a beat as my feet trembled under my body. Out of fear, confusion, and bewilderment, I forgot my empty water pot at the well and ran past a group of young Jewish men, who were walking towards the well, back to Sychar (the city) and reported: “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”

I returned with the men of the city, who believed me and wanted to see for themselves. Jesus returned with us to the city and abode there for two days. He taught us from the scriptures and told us all things that we enquired of Him. With so much authority and power did He teach us, not like the teachings of the Jews or Pharisees. He was not discriminatory or disrespectful towards us as the Jews were. In His face was love, tenderness, and such modest meekness that He drew us towards Him in love. He did no miracle, but the people believed in Him: “And many more believed because of His own word; 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.”

I ran fast towards Sychar to tell everyone about this man I had met who claimed to be the Christ.

Jesus was accepted by the Samaritans who were despised as idolators and pagans by the Jews, but He was rejected and crucified by His own: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” What an eventful day it was for me: a lowly Samaritan woman without a husband. A woman with a troubled past was chosen by God to receive the living water of life, and through her, all her fellow citizens at Sychar. What a great honour and testament to the love and non-discriminatory nature of God. That day, my life and that of the city of Sychar, changed forever and the gospel was prosperous in Samaria even after the death of Christ (Acts 8:5-25). If God can come to me, so can He come to you, dear gentle reader. Will you give Him water to drink? For He asks of thee: “Give me to drink.”