This is a preview relevant to Christian women's equality (indeed all women), not posted as yet (in its entirety) to the Hungry Hearts Online Bible Commentary
John 4: 1 When
therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Iesous made and baptized
more disciples than John 2: Though Iesous himself baptized not but his
disciples 3: He left Judaea and departed again into Galilee 4:
And it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria[1]
5: Then came he to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar near to the
parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph[2]
6: Now Jacob's well was there Iesous therefore being wearied with
his journey[3]
sat thus on the well and it was about the sixth hour 7: There came a
woman of Samaria to draw water Iesous said to her Give me to drink 8:
For his disciples were gone away into the city to buy food 9: Then said
the woman of Samaria unto him How is it that you being a Jew ask drink of me
which am a woman of Samaria for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans 10:
Iesous
answered and said to her If you knew the gift ho Theos and who it is that says to you
Give me to drink you would have asked of him and he would have given you living
water 11: The woman said to
him sir you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep from where then have
you that living water 12: Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave
us the well[4]
and drank of it himself and his children, and his cattle 13: Iesous
answered and said to her Whoever drinks of this
water shall thirst again 14: But whoever drinks of the water that I
shall give them shall never thirst but the water that I shall give them shall
be in them a well of water springing up into everlasting life 15: The woman said to
him Sir give me this water that I thirst not neither come here to draw.[5]
16: Iesous said to her Go call your husband
and come [back] here 17: The woman answered and said I have no
husband Iesous said to her You have well said I
have no husband[6]
18: For you have had five
husbands and he who you now have is not your husband in that you answered honestly[7]
19: The woman said to
him Sir I perceive that you are a prophet 20: Our fathers worshipped in
this mountain and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where [we] ought to
worship[8]
2 Chronicles 6:6 21: Jesus said to her Madam believe me the hour comes when you shall neither in
this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father 22: You worship
you know not what we know what we worship for salvation is from the Jews 23:
But the hour is come even is now when the true worshippers shall worship the
Father by [the] Pneuma[9]
and by [the] truth[10]
for the Father seeks such to worship him 24: Ho Theos is a Pneuma and
they that worship him must worship him by [the] Pneuma and by [the] truth 25: The woman said to
him I know that Messias comes which is called Christos when he is come
he will tell us all things[11]
26: Jesus said to her I who speak
to you am he[12]
27: And upon this came his disciples and marvelled that he talked
with the woman yet none said What seekest thou or Why talk thou with her 28:
The woman then left her waterpot and went her way into the city and said to anthropos[13]
29: Come see a man which told me all things that ever I did is not this Ho
Christos
30: Then they went out of the city and came to him
[1] There
was a woman there he needed to see. He was going to reach out in love to a
woman who was outcast and desperately lonely.
[2]
This fact must have come from spoken tradition as the Hebrew scriptures record
the coat of many colors given to Joseph by his father, Jacob, and the jealousy
of his brothers, but nothing about a parcel of land. The question is, was the land
given to Joseph while he was still young, before he was sold into slavery by
his brothers (at age 17), or was it bequeathed to him later while they were all
still in Egypt?
[3]
Statements like this give us a glimpse into the humanity of Jesus. He had
walked a long way. He was tired. His feet probably hurt. He was thirsty. He sat
on the well. It felt good to sit down. God became just like us. He experienced
everything we experience Hebrews 5:15.
[4]
The Samaritans descended from Jacob through his grandson, Ephraim, one of the
two sons of Joseph.
[5]
This woman suffered so much from the treatment she received of others that she
waited until she could be reasonably sure that no one else would be at the well
when she arrived, so she came in the heat of the day to draw her water. This
well was apparently not in the middle of town at a convenient location, so the
walk to and from it was better made when the sun was not yet high. Yet here was
this woman at high noon only just arriving at the well. The cruel treatment she
received from others, who came to the well during the cooler times of the day,
must have been unbearable for her. The town well also served a second purpose
as a social hub for the women as they came together to draw water each morning
(we see an example of this in the Book of Ruth, where the well was the place
Naomi reunited with the town’s women when she returned to Bethlehem-Judah from
her long sojourn into Moab). But it was not for this un-named Samaritan woman
to enjoy a morning visit with other women who met together in the cool of each
morning. She apparently had few friends among these women. She was not an
accepted part of a crowd who no doubt snubbed or jabbed at her with painful,
malicious remarks. She was a social reject. She likely felt rejected by God as
well. But she wasn’t. And Jesus went out of his way, into territory hated and
avoided by respectable Jews, to tell her this. It was to a woman who was
outcast in her community that Jesus felt compelled to travel through Samaria to
see.
[6]
What would have happened if the woman had not been honest with Jesus about her
marital status? Would she have run back to town to fetch her “husband” only to
find no one at the well waiting for her when she returned? Jesus made the first
move. He started the conversation that changed this woman’s life—If she could
pass the honesty test. He reached out to her with full knowledge of the fact
that she was living in sin with a man she was not married to. But before he
would continue, he required honesty. She had to come clean in order for Jesus
to reveal the truth that would set her free.
[7] There
a few things to note about Jesus’ answer. The gentleness with which Jesus
confronted her sin is an example we should learn to emulate. Her honest answer about
her marital status wasn’t a confession really, but she did not pretend to be a respectably
married woman when she wasn’t. Even had she offered the details of her sin, she
would not have been condemned for it—as we know from the rest of the discourse.
It is commonly asserted
that this woman had been divorced. There is no basis to assume whether that was
the case or not. She could have been. Assuming that she was a divorced woman—as
is almost always asserted—it is important to note that Jesus acknowledged each
of her five marriages as legitimate
by saying she had, had five husbands.
He did not suggest that she had anything to ask forgiveness for regarding any
of her five marriages. This does not suggest she had never been divorced, but
if she had been divorced, then Christians need to ask themselves why one of
their most common words of “comfort” to divorced brethren are, “God forgives
divorce” when Jesus said no such thing to this woman who had been married five times.
Whether she had ever been divorced or not, most Christians have been taught
that the woman at the well was a divorced woman. It is important to understand
that all divorce is not sin. There are scriptural grounds for divorce, and it
is an erroneous and smug position to assume that divorce is always sin when
dealing with Christians who have experienced the pain (and undeserved shame
heaped on them by other Christians) of it.
The woman at the well could
very well have been widowed five times and been considered anathema as a wife.
She could have been “put away” by her last husband, and therefore
unmarriageable due to the fact that, though he cast her off, refused to legally
divorce her in order to avoid paying a divorce settlement. This was a common
practice in those days and before. God had harsh things to say through the
prophet Malachi about men who dealt treacherously with wives they grew tired of
by casting them off. Many Jewish wives were put away but never set free from
the marriage by a legal divorce. This forced them to either live in limbo for
the rest of their lives, or to marry again, anyway, bringing the label of
adulteress on themselves, or to live with a man without being married to him.
Regardless of what the case was with the woman at the well, the scriptures do
not say “God hates divorce.” It is written that God hates shalachH7971 the putting away (sending away or casting
off). Shalach (casting off) without a
bill of keriythuwthH3748 (bill
of divorce) is not the same as a divorce. The prophet Jeremiah3:8
wrote that God himself cast off Israel and
gave her a bill of divorce for adultery against him. The salient points in this
verse are 1.) Jesus confronted the woman’s sin but complemented her honesty and
dealt gently with her 2.) The scriptures do not record whether her previous
marital status was divorced or widowed. It is commonly taught that the woman at
the well had been divorced at least once but perhaps multiple times, yet Jesus
acknowledged the legitimacy of each of her five marriages and demanded no
repentance from her on the issue of adultery/divorce.
[8] Religion
is the strongest bond rulers can use to ensure the loyalty of their people, and
that is where the bad blood between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah was
deliberately solidified by Jeroboam, who had renounced David’s dynasty and
became the first king of Israel. Jeroboam introduced idol worship as a national
religion to Israel. Samaria, a part of Jeroboam’s kingdom, later, under Omri,
became the Capitol city of Israel and eventually became known as home to hybrid
Jews—ancient Israelites descended from Joseph [1/2 tribe of Ephraim] who later
interbred with Canaanites.
The basis of the Woman
at the Well’s argument about where to worship was an ancient argument and was
deliberately engendered by two of Israel’s kings, Jeroboam and Omri. The biblical
history is as follows: 1
kings 12:25
Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim and dwelt therein and went out
from thence and built Penuel 26: And Jeroboam said in his heart Now
shall the kingdom return to the house of David 27: If this people go up
to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem then shall the heart of
this people turn again unto their lord even unto Rehoboam king of Judah and
they shall kill me and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah 28: Whereupon
the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said to them It is too
much for you to go up to Jerusalem behold your gods O Israel which brought you
up out of the land of Egypt 29: And he set the one in Bethel and the
other put he in Dan 30: And this thing became a sin for the people went
to worship before the one even unto Dan.
1 Kings 16:23 In the thirty and
first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel twelve years
six years reigned he in Tirzah 24: And he bought the hill Samaria of
Shemer for two talents of silver and built on the hill and called the name of
the city which he built after the name of Shemer owner of the hill Samaria 25:
But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were
before him 26: For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat
and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin to provoke the LORD God of
Israel to anger with their vanities
[9] It
is only through the Holy Spirit that we can know and worship God. The Holy
Spirit must draw us, indwell us, and empower us to worship God.
[10]
Jesus is the way the TRUTH and the life. No one comes to the Father but by him.
Jesus said the written Word of God as Truth—Thy Word is TRUTH—We must worship
God according to his Word, through his risen son, Jesus.
[11] Faith
always supersedes theology. In spite of the woman’s bad theology based on
history, tradition, and outright lies fed to her ancestors by evil rulers and
no doubt by the contemporary religious leaders of her day, nothing could
squelch her faith in the coming Messiah. God always honors faith.
[12] The
scripture record shows that the first person Jesus declared himself to, was a woman. If complementarian male headship, as taught by
the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, is true, then Jesus would have asked
her to go fetch one of the male heads of the city to stand beside her as he announced
to the male who he was, as he knew she—a woman—would immediately run into the
city and begin preaching that the
Savior had come. But he did not tell her to call the men, first, before
revealing his identify. He broke Jewish protocol (shocked his disciples into
stunned silence) and kept a divine appointment with a woman. He then entrusted this woman,
who was an absolute social outcast and held to bad Samaritan theology, with the
first announcement ever that he was the long awaited Messiah.
[13] The
unfortunate fact of translating the word anthropos
as men in this verse has slandered
The Woman at the Well, and forever sullied her name as associating her with
being a prostitute when there is no scriptural evidence to support this
assumption. When she went into the city to preach the gospel that Jesus was
Messiah, there is no reason to believe she went to only males. She more likely announced this fact loudly and
publicly to all within earshot. The crowd that came out of the city to see Jesus was no doubt a mixed
crowd of both men and women. There is no textual reason why anthropos should be translated as men in this verse. The word is just
as accurately translated as people or
person and can refer to either females, males, or mixed crowds of both,
or to the human race in general; it all depends upon the context. Although Greek
is an androcentric (male centered) language—as is English and most other languages—the
Greek word, anthropos, is not unique
to just males.
Special Features of the HHBC
1. The main body of scripture
text in this commentary is based on the Received Text (Textus Receptus) of the
NT and the Ben Chayyim Masoretic text of the OT as found in the Original *Strong’s
Concordance, 1894, by James Strong, and compared diligently with the work of
respected scholars.
2. Archaic language
is updated in most cases, but The AV is followed unchanged where the language
and sense of the translation is clear to the modern reader.
3. Where a Hebrew or
Greek word has no good English equivalent, the original word is left
untranslated, in italics, and, in
some cases but not all, with the *Strong’s Greek [G] or Hebrew [H] reference
number notated beside it (see list of untranslated words below).
4. Where the Old
Covenant is quoted in the New Testament, the Hebrew words may be used and left
untranslated
5. In New Testament
quotes of Old Testament that include the word “Lord” in referring to Jehovah
[YHWH], the word LORD will be capitalized
6. Proper names and
the names of God are often left untranslated
7. The names and
titles of God are in bold print
8. The words of Jesus
are in bold print
9. Scripture cross-references
are noted in line with the text
10. There is little punctuation
used in the main body of the scripture-commentary text
11. Brackets [ ]
indicate alternate rendering or short commentary
12. Longer commentary
is located in footnotes
*20th
Century editions of this work, such as, The New Updated Strong’s, and, The
Strongest Strong’s, are not referenced in the HHBC as they do not correspond to
the Textus Receptus or the Ben Chayyim Masoretic Text this commentary is based
upon.
List of Untranslated Words in the
HHBC
Adam H120 Pronounced “audawm”
The name of the first man, and the name God gave to both the first man and the first woman; the entire human race—homosapiens
in general; mixed crowds in the Hebrew are also referred to as audawm. In the
HHBC Hebrew text, when H120 is used in reference to groups of both females and
males, or of the human race in general, the
phonetic spelling of “audawm” will be used. In both Old and New
Testament commentary in place of androcentric translation such as mankind
or human race, the word audawm will be used. The word “Adam”
will be used only when the text is specifically referencing the first male.
Adelphos G80 Brother;
fellow Christians in general, both male and female; used of a group of Jesus siblings
which included his sisters
Adown H113 Lord
Aner G435 Male, husband, all people, a group of people
composed of both females and males (which indicates that G435 could be
translated as female unless the context demands otherwise)
Amen G281 When used at
the beginning of a discourse, it means truly or assuredly; When used at the end
of a discourse or prayer, it means so be it, let it be so: The
word "amen" is a most remarkable word. It was transliterated directly
from the Hebrew into the Greek of the New Testament, then into Latin and into
English and many other languages, so that it is practically a universal word.
It has been called the best known word in human speech. The word is directly
related — in fact, almost identical — to the Hebrew word for "believe"
(amam), or faithful. Thus, it came to mean "sure" or
"truly", an expression of absolute trust and confidence. — HMM
Anthropos G444 A human being; the human race in
general; Mixed crowds of both men and women; angels who are sometimes mistaken
for men; people in general, whether female or male. In instances where this is
the case, rather than using a gender specific or androcentric term, the HHBC commentary
uses the untranslated Greek word, anthropos,
which is frequently used in the Received Text for mixed groups of women and men
and of the human race as a whole. Most languages are androcentric (male
centered) including the Hebrew and Greek our English scriptures were translated
from. Most English translations are even more so, and in many cases supplement
the text with the words, man or men where they do not appear. For that reason,
where the Greek word, anthropos,
occurs, the HHBC often leaves it untranslated, leaving it to the context and
the reader to decide if the text is alluding specifically to males, or to a
mixed crowd/group composed of both females and males, or of the entire human
race in general.
Aule G833 Hall, Court,
Palace [home/habitation]
Autos G846 a pronoun
that could be translated any number of ways: she, he, it, himself, herself, the
same, they, their, etc..
Christos G5547 pronounced
kree-stos: Christ; Anointed One; Messiah
Ho G3588 definite
article corresponding to: the; this; that. Other usages include: of; etc.; who;
which
Iesous Pronounced Ee-A-Soos
G2424 translated Jesus: Yeshua is the
Hebrew name, and its English spelling is “Joshua.” Iesous is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name, and its
English spelling is “Jesus.” Thus, the names “Joshua” and “Jesus” are
essentially the same; both are English pronunciations of the Hebrew and Greek
names for our Lord. For examples of how the two names are interchangeable, see
Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8 in the KJV. In both cases, the word Iesous refers to the Old Testament
character Joshua
https://gotquestions.org/Yeshua-Jesus.html
Kosmos G2889 The earth,
the world/universe, the system of this world/arranged order of things, the
people who inhabit the earth
Logos G3056 Word (said,
thought, computation, motive)
Messias G3323 pronounced
Me-say-us or Me-sy-us: Messiah; Christ; Savior
Pneuma G4151 Pronounced
Nu-maa: SpiritTheos G2316 Deity; god; The reason the word, Theos, is largely left untranslated in
this commentary, is to put to rest erroneous teaching that the word must be
prefaced by the definite article, “ho,” in order to be referring to Yahweh. In fact, most New Testament
scripture references to Theos are not
introduced using the definite article, “ho,” but even so, it cannot be argued
when the Almighty is being referenced—especially in the case of John 1:1, where
John, a Jew who would never commit blasphemy by following anyone who was called
“A” god, calls Jesus God. John was specifically stating that Jesus is YHWH
[Yahweh].
YHWH H3068 (without vowels—Hebrew has no vowels) known as
the Tetragrammaton) Yahweh; The true name of the name of the Almighty; Known to
scholars as the Tetragrammaton; the correct pronunciation is, Yahveh.” This
pronunciation has never been lost, according to Jewish scholar, Kaufmann Kohler.
In the HHBC, any New Testament citing of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton from an Old
Covenant source will be treated as Hebrew. The letters YHWH will be used in the
verse in place of LORD.
No comments:
Post a Comment