by Ptr. Art Calaguas<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shalom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, the person of the Samaritan woman was reviewed. Now to complete our Lord\u2019s discourse with the Samaritan woman at Jacob\u2019s well, we look at the following crucial verses: John 4:19-26 and 39-42 to focus on the person of the Messiah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After correctly perceiving that the Lord Jesus was a prophet in that he knew of her past, the Samaritan woman then asks in John 4:20, if her belief that Mt. Gerizim is the place for Israelites to worship the One True God or is it Jerusalem as the Judeans claim. Remember that the Samaritans believe that they are the true Israelites, not the \u201cJudahites\/Jews.\u201d The basis of the question in her mind was Deuteronomy 12:1-14 where the LORD God instructs the Israelites that a specific place will be chosen and his Name will dwell there. It would be only there where they should worship and bring their sacrifices and offerings. Doing so in other places was expressly prohibited. In the next verse 21, the Lord graciously told her that a time is coming that worship of the Father would neither be at Mt. Gerizim nor in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the woman this must have been a uniting, illuminating thought and the reply of the Lord Jesus not choosing between Mt. Gerizim and Jerusalem was probably unexpected. Also unexpected for her perhaps was the use of \u201cFather\u201d substituting for \u201cGod.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But before this could really sink in, the Lord Jesus then immediately said in John 4:22 literally that the \u201cyou (the Samaritans) worship who you have not known; we (the Israelites) worship who we have known, for salvation is from the Judahites\/Jews.\u201d Now, a less-educated person would have reacted to this statement. Back then, Torah was taught very early to male children. For a woman to know the Torah was exceptional. This Samaritan woman probably did not react negatively because she remembered Genesis 49:8-10 embedded in our Lord\u2019s words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The context of Genesis 49:8-10 is the dying patriarch Jacob (the one who dug the well where the conversation was taking place) blessing his sons. While there is agreement for Genesis 49:8-9, verse 10 is a difficult Hebrew passage and there are various ways to read and interpret this verse. There are also some slight Samaritan Pentateuch variations. To paraphrase Genesis 49:8, Jacob blessed Judah and prophesied to him that Judah\u2019s brothers shall praise him; his hand shall be on his enemies\u2019 neck; and his father\u2019s sons (Judah\u2019s brothers) shall bow down before him. Genesis 49:10 has 4 Hebrew phrases and the 2nd<\/sup> and 3rd<\/sup> phrases are difficult. The 1st<\/sup> phrase goes like this: the (ruler\u2019s) rod\/scepter will not depart from Judah. The 2nd<\/sup> phrase is translated as follows: [nor the ruler\u2019s staff from between his feet; or ruler\u2019s staff is replaced by lawgiver (KJV)\/prophet\/prince (LXX)]. The difficult 3rd<\/sup>phrase says: [until Shiloh comes (or until he comes to Shiloh); or until he comes to whom it belongs; or until tribute comes to him; etc.]. The 4th<\/sup> phrase says: and to him (shall be) the obedience of the peoples. A review of several English translations show a multiplicity of renderings as the Hebrew and its variations are difficult for the identified 2nd<\/sup> and 3rd<\/sup> phrases. And there are some who view Shiloh as another name for the Messiah. These scholarly discussions are there for all to read. But note that Genesis 49:10 is generally regarded (by both Samaritan Israelites and Jewish Israelites) as a messianic prophecy. And that is the point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For the Samaritan woman, this was prophecy and she and her people believed that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah. And Judah\/Judea was not Samaria. But how did the Samaritan Torah view the person of the Messiah during those times? Since they did not recognize the wealth of prophecies in the Prophets and explanations in the Writings, the Samaritan view was probably confined to verses such as Genesis 1:3 where \u201clight\u201d was pointing to the illumination from the Messiah; and Genesis 3:15 (the Proto-evangel) which prophesied the enmity between the seed of the woman and the serpent\u2019s seed and that the woman\u2019s offspring would be victorious. And most probably, the Samaritans also clung to Deuteronomy 18:15, 18 and 19 where Moses declared that the LORD God would raise a prophet (the Prophet) like Moses. Hence to them the Messiah would be a great Teacher-Prophet. Furthermore, as it was attributed to the Messiah coming from the tribe of Judah, \u201csalvation\u201d in John 4:22 simply meant provisions and protection for her people and victory over their enemies. It is with these Samaritan views in mind that we can continue with the discourse between the Lord and the woman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Lord Jesus graciously continues in John 4:23-24 with the deep spiritual education of the woman. It was one-on-one personal evangelism. The Samaritan woman must have felt in her heart that this \u201cJewish prophet\u201d sharing these spiritual truths to her truly loved her and could see what was in her heart; that she was a \u201cseeker\u201d and truly wanted to worship the true God. Again the Lord uses \u201cFather;\u201d twice this time, as a substitute for \u201cGod\u201d and tells the woman that the time has come that true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth; as these are the kind of worshippers God seeks. The Lord declares that God is spirit; and it is necessary for those who worship to worship him in spirit and truth. The Lord Jesus must have reminded the Samaritan woman of Genesis 1:2 where the Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters and also hinted at Deuteronomy 6:5 (the Shema) where Moses asked all Israelites to love the LORD God with all their entire being as the LORD God loved them and chose them to be his people. This included both the Samaritan Israelites and the Jewish Israelites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [In a parallel encounter in chapter 3 of John\u2019s Gospel, the Lord was in a discourse with Nicodemus and was also patiently instructing him that one must be born \u201cfrom above\u201d (literally) to enter the kingdom of God. The Lord again uses the themes of water and spirit. And one must be \u201creborn\u201d of the Spirit. And Nicodemus must have been reminded of Ezekiel quoting the LORD God that the Israelites thrown into exile back then would be sprinkled with clean water to cleanse them and each will be given a new heart and a new spirit. In fact the prophet quotes God as saying \u201cI will put my Spirit within you…\u201d and that they will be his people and he will be their God (Ezekiel 36:24-28). But it is only in the later chapters of this Gospel that the Lord Jesus promises and specifically teaches about the \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03ac\u03ba\u03bb\u03b7\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, \u201cparakletos\u201d(the Holy Spirit), the \u201cSpirit of truth\u201d (John 14:16-31; 16:5-15).]<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this time, the woman might have thought that perhaps this \u201cJewish prophet\u201d was trying to explain why they did not need to worship in Mt. Gerizim or in Mt. Zion (in Jerusalem).But why does he use \u201cFather\u201d for \u201cGod?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In John 4:25, the woman realizes that she needs far greater revelation to fully grasp what the Lord Jesus was saying and so says that she has known that the Messiah is coming and when he comes, he will explain everything. She believes that the great Teacher-Prophet that Moses wrote about will fulfill her thirst and fully enlighten her entire being and enable her to worship God in spirit and truth. The Lord Jesus then reveals to her: \u1f18\u03b3\u03ce\u03b5\u1f30\u03bc\u03b9<\/mark>, \u1f41\u03bb\u03b1\u03bb\u1ff6\u03bd\u03c3\u03bf\u03b9.<\/em>The literal translation is: \u201c<\/em>I AM<\/mark>, the one speaking to you\u201d<\/em>(John 4:26).These words could be expressed this way, emphatically: \u201cI truly am he, the one speaking to you!\u201d Or \u201cit\u2019s really me!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we had seen in the previous part, the Samaritans from Sychar believed from the woman\u2019s testimony that indeed, here was the Messiah in the person of the Lord Jesus. They spoke to him and asked him to stay with them and the Lord obliged them their invitation. When he had stayed with them, even more placed their faith in him. They believed even more than from the testimony of the woman. And their conclusion was that not only was Jesus their Messiah, but also the \u03a3\u03c9\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1 (Savior) of the world(John 4:39-42).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Compared with all other Gospel narratives where he kept his identity secret, except for his closest disciples, the Lord Jesus directly states early on that he is the Messiah to the Samaritan woman and to the Sychar folk. He is the Messiah, King of all Israelites and Savior of the world!\u03a7\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2and\u03a3\u03c9\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We will continue next week with the next \u201cI AM.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n God bless us all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Ptr. Art Calaguas Shalom. Last week, the person of the Samaritan woman was reviewed. Now to complete our Lord\u2019s discourse with the Samaritan woman at Jacob\u2019s well, we look at the following crucial verses: John 4:19-26 and 39-42 to focus on the person of the Messiah. After correctly perceiving that the Lord Jesus was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[6,7,16,18,17,9,8,5],"class_list":["post-86","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ptr-art-calaguas","tag-church-of-the-risen-lord","tag-crl","tag-i-am","tag-jesus","tag-john","tag-spiritual-refreshment-of-the-day","tag-upcemi","tag-upcrl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86\/revisions\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upcrl.org\/refreshment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}