Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-04-08
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REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
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REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
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THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA.
The life of our Saviour was full of Incl
dents. These are narrated with marvellous
simplicity and are both interesting and in
structive. In the early part of his public
labors he was at one time passing from Je-
rusalem into the northern division OF the
land of Palestine, which was called Gallllee.
Between Judea, in the south, and Gallilee,
in the north, Samaria lay. In Samaria
there was a city which was formerly called
Shechem or Sichen, but at the time of our
Saviour it bore the name of Sychar. The
site occupied by Sychar had been the scene
of some remarkable events. 1t was at this
place that God first appeared to Abraham,
and promised to give the land of Canaan to
his seed. 1t was at this place that Jacob
dwelt when his only daughter, Dinah, was
disgraced by Shechem, the son of Hamor.
1t was in Shechem that the brethren of Jo-
seph were feeding their fathers flock, when
his father sent him to them to learn how
they did. 1t was in Shechem, or Sychar,
that the bones of Joseph were inferred.
Perhaps no other place in the land of Ca
naan, after Jerusalem, is so notedon account
of the remarkable events which occurred
there as Shechem. The last, however, is
the most remarkable of all. Near Sychar
was the parcel of land which Jacob gave his
son Joseph, and a we'll known as Jacobs
well, because, probably, it had been dug by
Tooph Thic u,an NO irfor from tho no FRA.
tive, was not in the city of Sychar, but how
far distant from it we can only conjecture.
When Jesus reached this we'll he was
"wearied with his journey,' and sat down
to rest. His disciples went into the city to
buy a supply of food. The fact that our Sa-
viour became wearied with the journey and
the disciples went into the city, nothing
being said about their being weary, suggests
the idea that our Saviour was not only hu-
man as we'll as divine, but that his physical
endurance wa not equal to that Of his dis
ciples. Our Saviour was the Son of God,
but he was also the son of man, and physic-
ally q feebleman. This is confirmed by the
fact that he was unable to carry the cross on
which he was cruciied.
While waiting for the return of his dis
ciples, and at the same time resting, a wo-
man came from the city for the purpose of
obtaining a supply of water. We are not
told the name of the woman. She is simply
called a woman of Samaria. Since the in
habitants of Samaria were a mixed race Of
Jews and foreigners, mostly from Babylon,
they were regarded by the pure Jews as lit
tie, if any better than the Gentiles. Such
being the case, the Jews had no dealings
with the Samaritans, butlooked upon them
with scorn and contempt. Thirsty, no
doubt, as we'll as weary, our Saviour asked
the woman Ito give him to drink" From
this, we infer that the we'll was not provided
with permanent arrangement for drawing
water. Each individual using it provided
themselves with an apparatus, of some kind
for drawing water. No sooner had our Sa-
viour asked the woman "to give him to
drink" than she, astonished, asked him
how he, being a Jew, deigned to ask her,
being a woman of Samaria, to give him
even a drink of water. There is an appa-
rent want of courtesy in the question of the
woman, but it is only apparent. The re-
Election is upon the Jews. For centuries the
pure Jews had been accustomed to treat the
Samaritans as worthless and vile, and the
woman was astonished that our Saviour
asked the favor of ever a drink OF water Of
her. She knew that the Saviour was a pure
Jew, either from his dress or from his fea-
lures, or from his language, or most proba-
bly,, from all these. TO the inquiry of the
woman, our Saviour replied that if she
knew the gift of God, and who it was that
asked her for a drink of water, she would
ask a blessing of him, and he would give
her living water. Not understanding this,
the woman replied that circumstance as he
was, this vas an impossibility. He had,
she said, nothing to draw with and the we'll
was deep. Not knowing the Saviour and
thinking that he claimed to be what he was
not, she asked him if he wa greater than
Jacob. This question Jesus did notansWer,
but giving a more spiritual turn to the con-
versation, said that the water of Jacobs
we'll would quench thirst only temporarily,
but the water which he would give those
who asked for it, would be a we'll of water
springing up into eternal life. The woman,
not compromising the Saviour's meaning,
asked him to give her that water, at the
same time stating her reasons for desiring it.
These were, that she would no more thirst,
and have no longer need to come away from
the city to Jacobs we'll to draw water.
Most probably the we'll was at a considera-
BILE distance from the city and the carrying
of water to supply the demands of her
household was a very laborious task. The
woman, as was natural, was anxious to get
rid of this drudgery.
We are not positively told that the wo-
man gave our Saviour a drink of water.
The probability, however, is that she did,
and although she spoke very freely concern
ing the dislike cherished by the Jews toward
the Samaritans, she gave the water freely.
Up to this time. no impression for good
was made upon the mind of the woman.
Our Saviour had told her that he was able
to bestow upon her a great blessing, but
while he meanta spiritual blessing, the wo-
man regarded it as including nothing more
than a temporal advantage. She looked
upon the blessing promised by the Saviour
as one greatly to be desired, still she saw
nothing spiritual init. So far as she could
see. it consisted in nothing else than taking