A few years ago, I was asked by my home church leader to lead a study on John 4. I’ve read John 4 many times. It’s a short story about an apparent random encounter between the Lord and a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

As I prepared for the bible study, what I found in John 4 was a multi-layered story with roots deeply embedded in the history of ancient Israel. Jesus choice of this particular location was purposeful. It was on the messianic agenda, fulfilling a little known detail of his mission that is spoken of through the prophet Ezekiel. What is the prophecy? Before the prophecy can be fulfilled, it was necessary for a long standing dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans to be resolved. Jesus resolved this dispute, which had persisted for hundreds of years, instantly with a profound revelation to the woman that he had not previously disclosed to anyone else. What was this dispute? What did he reveal to put the dispute to rest once and for all?

Suffice to say that this short encounter at the well was critically important, not only to the Samaritan woman and the town of Sychar, but to the rest of the world, and ultimately to the coming Kingdom of God.

Details Matter

There are some very specific details provided in this passage of scripture. The teaching of this account is typically focused on a Samaritan woman coming to faith in Messiah as she is confronted with her sin and the reality of who Jesus is. And that is certainty at the top layer of the story.

But the details provided in this passage are important too and may reveal some other purposes of spiritual significance that the Lord had in mind during his visit to this small community. There are some things at least worth some consideration and further research.

Read John 4:1-42 just to get the full picture of this very interesting story. Over the next few posts, I’ll offer some things that might be worth considering.

Location Is Important

Note the specific details given in verses 4-6.

⁴ And He had to pass through Samaria. ⁵ So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; ⁶ and Jacob’s well was there.

John 4:4-6

Note the very specific details:

• The location is in Samaria.
• The town is called Sychar in the New Testament, otherwise known as Shechem in the Old testament. Today, the town is called Nablus, a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank.
• This is a parcel of ground that Jacob gave to Joseph.
• Jacob’s well was there.

This location is a spiritual nexus, a point of biblical connection, a place of great spiritual significance in biblical history. Consider the following facts and history of this small piece of real estate:

• Shechem (Sychar in the New Testament) mentioned 58 times in the Bible
• God first appeared to Abraham with the promise he would inherit the land, the borders of which He Himself defined.
• Abraham built an altar on Mt Ebal.
• Jacob lived there and dug the well which is about 120 feet deep. The location has been well documented.  Justin Martyr, who lived in AD 100 time-frame in Shechem, confirms the location.
• Sychar is within the territory carved out by Joshua for the tribe of Manasseh after the Hebrew exiles entered into the promised land. This territory is roughly the same as what would later become known as Samaria.
• Joseph’s tomb is in Shechem
• Joshua read the law of Moses between Mt Ebal and Mt Gerizim, the Mount of curse and the Mount of blessing
• The Ark of the Covenant sat in this very place.
• Joshua’s monument stone was set up here to commemorate the Covenant made at that time. Joshua also built an altar on Mt Ebal which has been recently discovered.
• It was right here in Shechem that Israel was divided into the two kingdoms (1 Kings 12) as decreed by the Lord. Shechem became the capital of the northern tribes under Jeroboam. This is greatly significant and ties directly to the Ezekiel prophecy and likely why Jesus picked this location.
• A small group of Israelis stayed in the land when Israel was deported to Assyria about 722 BC. The people intermarried with the Assyrian people and were thus despised by the Jews.
• The Samaritans built their own temple on Mt Gerizim which was later destroyed by a Jewish king in 128 BC. The Samaritans followed only the Torah (perhaps understandable given that this is where Joshua read it and established the Covenant).

If you’d like a visual of the history of Shechem, I’d recommend the video which has been helpful to me: The history of Shechem.

Its also important to understand the Samaritans as a people and their history with the Jews before we can fully grasp the deep significance of this passage. Who were they? Why were they part of the mission of Jesus? What was that mission with respect to the Samaritans? Coming soon…