Jesus and the Woman With Five Husbands

This chapter is based on John 4:1-42.

On the way to Galilee, Jesus traveled through Samaria. It was noon when He reached Jacob’s well. Tired from His journey, He sat down to rest while His disciples went to buy food.HH 77.1

Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies. The rabbis said it was lawful to trade with Samaritans in case of necessity, but a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor accept a kindness, not even a morsel of bread or a cup of water. In buying food, the disciples were acting in harmony with the customs of their nation. But it did not enter the thought even of Christ’s disciples to ask a favor of the Samaritans.HH 77.2

As Jesus sat by the well, He was faint from hunger and thirst. The journey had been long, and the noonday sun beat down on Him. His thirst increased at the thought of the cool, refreshing water so near, but He had no rope nor water jar, and the well was deep.HH 77.3

A woman of Samaria approached, and seeming not to notice His presence, she filled her pitcher with water. As she turned to go, Jesus asked for a drink. No Oriental would withhold such a favor. Offering a drink to the thirsty traveler was a duty so sacred that Arabs would go out of their way to perform it.HH 77.4

The Savior was looking to find the key to the woman’s heart, and with the tact that springs from divine love, He asked a favor. Trust awakens trust. The King of heaven came to this outcast woman, asking a service from her. He who made the ocean, who controls the waters of the deep, who opened the springs and channels of the earth, was dependent on a stranger’s kindness for even a drink of water.HH 77.5

The woman saw that Jesus was a Jew. In her surprise, she forgot to grant His request, but tried to learn the reason for it. “How is it,” she asked, “that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”HH 77.6

Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”HH 77.7

“Had you asked of Me, I would have given you a drink of the water of everlasting life.”HH 77.8