Aaron Hahn here on Substack has been working through John and noting John’s emphases on the light v. dark and on gender. Some of his blogs are a good parallel to yours here.
Last summer my pastor, who has been preaching through the book of John, parroted the traditional preacher interpretation of the woman at the well in John 4 (time of day as you mention here, 5 husbands means sexually promiscuous, etc.). I then sent him an article from Lynn Cohick from Christianity Today (c. 2015) on historical info on divorce at the time of the Samaritan woman, a blog from Scot McKnight defending the Samaritan woman (Substack c. 2 yrs ago), and a podcast with Caryn Reeder, author of The Samaritan Woman’s Story: Reconsidering John 4 After #ChurchToo. And my pastor’s response was amazing: the next Sunday he revised his interpretation of the woman and quoted from the Lynn Cohick article. (I go to a medium-sized church of about 900 people.)
Thank you for zeroing in on interpretations of events in the Bible that pastors (who often just parrot what other pastors have said) get wrong.
That's fantastic - both that your pastor was willing to seriously engage with what you sent him and re-think his approach, and that he was willing to, in effect, reverse himself to the entire congregation. Sounds like you have a good pastor and a good community!
This is a great article and I await Part 2 happily! I'm trying to retrain myself to think through things differently as well, and hopefully my Sunday School class will benefit. ♥️
I know! My pastor gained 1000 respect points from me for listening and for revising his presentation of the woman at the well in front of the whole congregation! He’s a pretty level-headed man.
I have a hard time with this as I think to some extent, the old interpretation of the passage resonated with me because of the fact that Jesus went out of his way to talk to the outcast. I think of myself as someone of an outcast, so in a lot of ways, from that interpretation I can see how God shows radical love to those who may not be shown a whole lot of love in the first place. That's at least how I initially thought of it.
The helpful Gospel reference here is to the story of the Good Samaritan. Jews generally thought very negatively about Samaritans. Jesus is showing the disciples and His opponents that redemption, reconciliation and salvation have come for everyone, not just the people of Israel -- even the Roman occupiers! Many of the people to whom Jesus showed love were social outcasts in that day. Jesus did go out of His way to restore outcasts. And He loves you, Cade, created in God's image and He took the nails for you, for us all.
Thanks for your post. I’ve been chewing on this particular encounter for a few weeks now myself…
I’m sure, I or you, we, have been in the presence of someone who actually caused us to contract inside, to feel deeply uncomfortable, to perhaps judge the person, to be disconnected from them as another human. What I find deeply attractive is Jesus seeks this woman out, He is fully engaged, fully human, fully Himself with this woman. He exposes her with the sole intention of inviting her into His life.
Jesus tells her about her past marriages and present non married relationship not in condemnation but to heighten her understanding. And draw her towards understanding who He is. That He is speaking with her as a Samaritan woman and was alone with her was a major social issue in that day. The late Rev. Dr. Kenneth Bailey wrote an excellent chapter on this episode in his book Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes.
Given divorces driven by men and deaths earlier in that time, I've preached her as the wise woman of Sychar. She experienced sorrows and losses, perhaps, but persevered and encouraged others. Maybe she was getting water for another family in a pinch. This would explain why the whole village listens to her witness to her personal experience. Here is a woman the whole village knows and respects. So they have to go check Jesus out, not check her out. Love the traditions about the ministry and martyrdom of her and her sons.
I've been enjoying your last couple of articles - they've made me think about my assumptions. I'll second what someone said about Lynn Cohick - I heard her speak on the Samaritan Woman once and it was enlightening.
I like the comparison to Zipporah and Rachel - very Rabbinic in perspective. I would suggest that the idea that going to the well by herself in the middle of the day is odd may not only be based on the one source you sited (Eickelman). Some of it could be based on observation of various populations in the region, as well as personal experience. Shechem in the middle of the day in summer is HOT and drawing water is hard work. It would make sense to try to do it morning or evening - and with friends to share the load - if possible. So the fact that these women are alone and getting water at an inconvenient time - I think we're supposed to ask why. But you're right that we want to be careful about what we assume to be the reason.
Oh, perhaps I worded that one wrong - That one shows up in a few places I looked (I think the common source is Keener, who cites it) but I actually found a lot of anthropological studies on ATLA about water drawing. I perhaps should have included this but I was trying to keep this short - a few African scholars have actually written articles that midday water drawing is apparently common in Nigeria!
So yes, there are definitely practical reasons to favor going out at certain times in some areas, and especially when the water source is at some distance (you see this a lot with rivers where the cleanest or most accessible portion has changed over time) going in groups makes sense. But what I tried to argue here is that this may not be what is envisioned.
Totally understand trying to keep things short - interesting about Nigeria! I wonder why it's common there - and if that is in fact an unusual practice, or more normal than I would expect. I know in Israel it does typically cool off considerably around 4-5pm most days, as the breeze blows in off the sea. Maybe time of day doesn't make as big of a difference in Nigeria, or parts of Nigeria? Not sure.
This story is rich and has many connections with other scripture passages. I believe it is a story of redemption of Dinah, who was raped at Shechem. Dinah virtually disappears from scripture but is redeemed by Jesus encounter with the Samaritan woman.
It pains me that the immoral interpretation of this woman has been entrenched in male bias for millennia. I appreciate your detailed analysis and look forward to more. With the symbolism of “hour” in John, the mention of the sixth hour (noon, halfway through the day) doesn’t just offer a contrast to Nicodemus, it also might signify a symbolic halfway midpoint. Jesus later says there are 12 hours in a day (11:9). And in 4:23 he says “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” Maybe the sixth hour is a sort of already/not yet in Jesus’ earthly ministry. Probably less popular in Protestant hermeneutics, but it makes much more sense to me to fit this sixth hour reference into John’s overall preference for symbolism and multiple layers of meaning. On that note, another reason I reject the adultery view is the likely, imho, allusions between the Samaritan woman and Eve: https://onceaweek.substack.com/p/woman-redeemed-and-commissioned?r=16589c&utm_medium=ios
Aaron Hahn here on Substack has been working through John and noting John’s emphases on the light v. dark and on gender. Some of his blogs are a good parallel to yours here.
Last summer my pastor, who has been preaching through the book of John, parroted the traditional preacher interpretation of the woman at the well in John 4 (time of day as you mention here, 5 husbands means sexually promiscuous, etc.). I then sent him an article from Lynn Cohick from Christianity Today (c. 2015) on historical info on divorce at the time of the Samaritan woman, a blog from Scot McKnight defending the Samaritan woman (Substack c. 2 yrs ago), and a podcast with Caryn Reeder, author of The Samaritan Woman’s Story: Reconsidering John 4 After #ChurchToo. And my pastor’s response was amazing: the next Sunday he revised his interpretation of the woman and quoted from the Lynn Cohick article. (I go to a medium-sized church of about 900 people.)
Thank you for zeroing in on interpretations of events in the Bible that pastors (who often just parrot what other pastors have said) get wrong.
That's fantastic - both that your pastor was willing to seriously engage with what you sent him and re-think his approach, and that he was willing to, in effect, reverse himself to the entire congregation. Sounds like you have a good pastor and a good community!
This is a great article and I await Part 2 happily! I'm trying to retrain myself to think through things differently as well, and hopefully my Sunday School class will benefit. ♥️
I know! My pastor gained 1000 respect points from me for listening and for revising his presentation of the woman at the well in front of the whole congregation! He’s a pretty level-headed man.
I have a hard time with this as I think to some extent, the old interpretation of the passage resonated with me because of the fact that Jesus went out of his way to talk to the outcast. I think of myself as someone of an outcast, so in a lot of ways, from that interpretation I can see how God shows radical love to those who may not be shown a whole lot of love in the first place. That's at least how I initially thought of it.
The helpful Gospel reference here is to the story of the Good Samaritan. Jews generally thought very negatively about Samaritans. Jesus is showing the disciples and His opponents that redemption, reconciliation and salvation have come for everyone, not just the people of Israel -- even the Roman occupiers! Many of the people to whom Jesus showed love were social outcasts in that day. Jesus did go out of His way to restore outcasts. And He loves you, Cade, created in God's image and He took the nails for you, for us all.
Thanks for your post. I’ve been chewing on this particular encounter for a few weeks now myself…
I’m sure, I or you, we, have been in the presence of someone who actually caused us to contract inside, to feel deeply uncomfortable, to perhaps judge the person, to be disconnected from them as another human. What I find deeply attractive is Jesus seeks this woman out, He is fully engaged, fully human, fully Himself with this woman. He exposes her with the sole intention of inviting her into His life.
Is there a part 2 to this?
Jesus tells her about her past marriages and present non married relationship not in condemnation but to heighten her understanding. And draw her towards understanding who He is. That He is speaking with her as a Samaritan woman and was alone with her was a major social issue in that day. The late Rev. Dr. Kenneth Bailey wrote an excellent chapter on this episode in his book Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes.
Given divorces driven by men and deaths earlier in that time, I've preached her as the wise woman of Sychar. She experienced sorrows and losses, perhaps, but persevered and encouraged others. Maybe she was getting water for another family in a pinch. This would explain why the whole village listens to her witness to her personal experience. Here is a woman the whole village knows and respects. So they have to go check Jesus out, not check her out. Love the traditions about the ministry and martyrdom of her and her sons.
I thought it was the Roman day that started at sunrise and the Jewish day started at sunset?
I've been enjoying your last couple of articles - they've made me think about my assumptions. I'll second what someone said about Lynn Cohick - I heard her speak on the Samaritan Woman once and it was enlightening.
I like the comparison to Zipporah and Rachel - very Rabbinic in perspective. I would suggest that the idea that going to the well by herself in the middle of the day is odd may not only be based on the one source you sited (Eickelman). Some of it could be based on observation of various populations in the region, as well as personal experience. Shechem in the middle of the day in summer is HOT and drawing water is hard work. It would make sense to try to do it morning or evening - and with friends to share the load - if possible. So the fact that these women are alone and getting water at an inconvenient time - I think we're supposed to ask why. But you're right that we want to be careful about what we assume to be the reason.
Oh, perhaps I worded that one wrong - That one shows up in a few places I looked (I think the common source is Keener, who cites it) but I actually found a lot of anthropological studies on ATLA about water drawing. I perhaps should have included this but I was trying to keep this short - a few African scholars have actually written articles that midday water drawing is apparently common in Nigeria!
So yes, there are definitely practical reasons to favor going out at certain times in some areas, and especially when the water source is at some distance (you see this a lot with rivers where the cleanest or most accessible portion has changed over time) going in groups makes sense. But what I tried to argue here is that this may not be what is envisioned.
Totally understand trying to keep things short - interesting about Nigeria! I wonder why it's common there - and if that is in fact an unusual practice, or more normal than I would expect. I know in Israel it does typically cool off considerably around 4-5pm most days, as the breeze blows in off the sea. Maybe time of day doesn't make as big of a difference in Nigeria, or parts of Nigeria? Not sure.
This story is rich and has many connections with other scripture passages. I believe it is a story of redemption of Dinah, who was raped at Shechem. Dinah virtually disappears from scripture but is redeemed by Jesus encounter with the Samaritan woman.
I’ve really been enjoying your posts, including this one!
It pains me that the immoral interpretation of this woman has been entrenched in male bias for millennia. I appreciate your detailed analysis and look forward to more. With the symbolism of “hour” in John, the mention of the sixth hour (noon, halfway through the day) doesn’t just offer a contrast to Nicodemus, it also might signify a symbolic halfway midpoint. Jesus later says there are 12 hours in a day (11:9). And in 4:23 he says “the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” Maybe the sixth hour is a sort of already/not yet in Jesus’ earthly ministry. Probably less popular in Protestant hermeneutics, but it makes much more sense to me to fit this sixth hour reference into John’s overall preference for symbolism and multiple layers of meaning. On that note, another reason I reject the adultery view is the likely, imho, allusions between the Samaritan woman and Eve: https://onceaweek.substack.com/p/woman-redeemed-and-commissioned?r=16589c&utm_medium=ios