Many Samaritans Believe

Many Samaritans Believe, John 4:39-42

John 4:39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”

Commentary

We’ve been really focused on Samaria for a few weeks, so I thought it would be helpful to sum up some of the region’s history in this last study of this scene in Sychar.

~875 B.C. – Even though the city of Samaria was built by Jews (1 Kings 16:24), the city and surrounding region quickly became known for its idolatry (Is. 8:4; Jer. 23:13; Hos. 7:1-7; Mic. 1:6-7). “Archaeologists have unearthed nearly 500 fragments of ivory plaques and inlaid wood portraying Egyptian and Syro-Phoenician gods and goddesses (compare 1 Kings 22:39; Amos 6:4)” (The Word in Life Study Bible pg. 625).

722 B.C. – After a 3-year siege, the northern kingdom of Samaria fell to the Assyrians, and, as was typical for many superpower nations at the time, the king of Assyria deported 27,290 Hebrews (this number is from Assyrian inscriptions) to other Assyrian-held territories, such as Nineveh, Halah, Gozan, and Media (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol 2 pg. 424). These were mostly upper-class citizens and were scattered in order to prevent them from being able to mobilize a rebellion. Meanwhile, citizens of other Assyrian territories, such as Babylon, Elam, and Syria, were brought in to promote loyalty to the Assyrian king, Sargon II, with the secondary effect of religious, racial, and cultural intermarriage (The Word in Life Study Bible pg. 672).

587 B.C. The southern kingdom of Judah had also fallen to the Assyrians, and its people were likewise scattered among Gentile territories.

538 B.C. A small group of southern Jews was allowed to return and rebuild Jerusalem. This was vehemently opposed by the new mixed population of the northern kingdom in Samaria, and their opposition fueled the racial division between the full-blooded, monotheistic southern Jews and their idol-worshipping, intermarried northern cousins. Once the temple in Jerusalem was built, the Samaritans refused to worship there (The Word in Life Study Bible pg. 672).

400 B.C. Samaritans built their own temple on Mount Gerizim, and this worship site was condemned by Jerusalem authorities.

167-166 B.C. Samaritans may have rededicated their temple to the Greek god Zeus, based on political pressure from Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes, in an effort to buy some peace.

128 B.C. Jewish king John Hyrcanus burned down the Gerizim temple.

63 B.C. The Roman general Pompey invaded Jewish territory, and Samaritans sided with Pompey against the southern Jews.

37 B.C. Herod the Great was installed by Rome to govern the area, and he received support from Samaritans. As a result, he chose the city of Samaria as a safe home for his mother and children. He also “depopulated Judea by resettling Jews in new or rebuilt cities in Samaria and Galilee” (The Word in Life Study Bible pg. 1710). He rebuilt the city of Samaria and showed considerable favoritism toward it, which continued to foster hatred from the southern Jews.

A.D. 25 By Jesus’s day, Jews wouldn’t even pass through Samaria, even when it was the most direct route. This practice was well-known by both Jews and Samaritans, which made Jesus’s sojourn there so remarkable to both the disciples and the Samaritan people.

Back to the study at hand: the Samaritans had not been exposed to Jewish teaching for a long time, and, despite their partially pagan roots, they were still waiting for a Messiah and were still studying Jewish texts. When Jesus told His disciples that the people were ripe for harvest, He knew that the truth spoken in love would fill the void in their hearts that had resulted from years of neglect. The people so readily accepted the gospel message that they begged Jesus to stay with them, which He did for two days. These two days would have been really precious for Him because of the brevity of His time on earth, so it was somewhat surprising to me that He agreed to their request. However, in looking back at John 4:24, when Jesus explains that worship involves spirit and truth, it makes sense that Jesus would want to complement the initial zeal of the Samaritans with an abiding truth that would supersede the religious views they had created over time. Additionally, God seems to hold a special place for the Samaritans, as evidenced by Jesus’s commission to His disciples in Acts 1:8 to take the gospel message to Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, then the ends of the earth. The fact He names Samaria, out of the three places He mentions, is indicative of its importance.

The theme of evangelism is especially important to explore in the context of this scene in Sychar, where we see an example of evangelism in its purest form. The woman at the well has a personal experience, and she enthusiastically shares that experience with others, inviting them to join in her joy. Through her witness, the others become interested, and her testimony begins to sow the seeds of belief. The others, as they try and test this revelation for themselves, have their own individual experiences, which lead to true personal belief and allegiance. Though the text doesn’t say so, they undoubtedly continued this trend, as they shared their experiences with their children and further evangelized about Christ, creating a generational effect from Jesus’s two-day visit. I read an inspirational book called Chase the Lion, by Mark Batterson, and he spends a lot of time focusing on that exponential or generational effect of each person’s legacy. Evangelism starts small, but the ripple effects can be profoundly far-reaching.

Evangelism isn’t exclusive to the New Testament, either. God’s message seems to always have been crafted to reach the ends of the earth. In Deuteronomy 28:64, the Lord says He will scatter the Jews among all nations if they do not observe the law. When I was studying the history of the Assyrian conquest, it seemed clear this was a fulfillment of God’s oath. I was interested, in this context, to run across the city of Nineveh, which I of course recognized from the story of Jonah. The most frequently accepted date for the authorship of the book of Jonah is 450 B.C. (The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Vol 3 pg. 676), a little less than 300 years after Jews had been transplanted there. I was struck by the similarity in effectiveness of Jonah’s message in Nineveh, as well as Jesus’s message in Samaria. They both went into a city, and within a matter of days, found the people repentant and committed to true worship. I wonder if it helped that those seeds of Judaism had been planted so long before the arrival of either of these prophets. Is it possible that, while God was punishing the Jews by scattering them among Ninevites and Samaritans, He was also working the situation to His glory for the ultimate redemption of the Gentiles in these cities?

See the next post here https://onthepath.online/2019/08/09/arrival-in-galilee/

Scripture Reference

Verse 39

Matthew 10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go onto the road of the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans.

John 4:5 So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

John 4:8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

John 4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

John 4:30 So they left the town and made their way toward Jesus.

John 4:38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the hard work, and now you have taken up their labor.”

Verse 40

Acts 8:8 So there was great joy in that city.

Verse 42

Matthew 1:21 She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”

Luke 2:11 Today in the City of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord!

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Acts 5:31 God exalted Him to His right hand as Prince and Savior, in order to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

Acts 13:23 From the descendants of this man, God has brought to Israel the Savior Jesus, as He promised.

1 Timothy 4:10 To this end we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.

1 John 2:2 He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.

Verse 43

John 4:44 Now He Himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

Commentary

1 Kings 16:24 He bought the hill Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver; and he built on the hill, and named the city which he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill.

Is. 8:4 for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

Jer. 23:13 “Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.

Hos. 7:1 When I would heal Israel, The iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, And the evil deeds of Samaria, For they deal falsely; The thief enters in, Bandits raid outside, 2 And they do not consider in their hearts That I remember all their wickedness. Now their deeds are all around them; They are before My face. 3 With their wickedness they make the king glad, And the princes with their lies. 4 They are all adulterers, Like an oven heated by the baker Who ceases to stir up the fire From the kneading of the dough until it is leavened. 5 On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine; He stretched out his hand with scoffers, 6 For their hearts are like an oven As they approach their plotting; Their anger smolders all night, In the morning it burns like a flaming fire. 7 All of them are hot like an oven, And they consume their rulers; All their kings have fallen. None of them calls on Me.

Mic. 1:6 For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country, Planting places for a vineyard. I will pour her stones down into the valley And will lay bare her foundations. 7 All of her idols will be smashed, All of her earnings will be burned with fire And all of her images I will make desolate, For she collected them from a harlot’s earnings, And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.

1 Kings 22:39 Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did and the ivory house which he built and all the cities which he built, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Amos 6:4 Those who recline on beds of ivory And sprawl on their couches, And eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall,

John 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

Acts 1:8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.