John 4:15

The Lord stirred up the woman to consent; here now to the woman consenting and asking he sets forth the word of faith for believing. Because the woman, even though she had been stirred up, was nevertheless not yet illuminated, the Lord does not immediately …

Then when he says, The woman said, he states her request for the gift. First, her understanding of the gift is noted. Secondly, the woman is found guilty (v 17). As was said, the way to obtain this gift is by prayer and request. And …

What disposition does the woman show at this point? Although not yet a lofty one, for she thinks the discussion is about physical water, nevertheless she does reveal some forward progress. Before, she was perplexed and said, "Where do You have living water?" But now, …

The woman saith unto him, Sir,.... See Gill on Joh 4:11; give me this water, that I thirst not. The Syriac and Persic versions add, "again": neither come hither; the Ethiopic version adds here, "again"; to draw.

This woman's meeting with Christ at the well may remind us of the stories of Rebekah, Rachel, and Jethro's daughter, who all met with husbands, good husbands, no worse than Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, when they came to the wells for water. Thirdly, How the preventing grace of God sometimes brings people unexpectedly under the means of conversion and salvation.

Even those that are weak and ignorant may yet have some faint and fluctuating desires towards Christ and his gifts, and some good wishes of grace and glory. Carnal hearts, in their best wishes, look no higher than carnal ends. "Give it to me," saith she, "not that I may have everlasting life" (which Christ proposed), "but that I come not hither to draw. " 2.

give me this water, &c.--This is not obtuseness--that is giving way--it expresses a wondering desire after she scarce knew what from this mysterious Stranger.

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Conversation With a Samaritan Woman But he had to pass through Samaria. Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me some water to drink." (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.)

Conversation With a Samaritan Woman But he had to pass through Samaria. Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me some water to drink." (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.) So the Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you—a Jew—ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?" (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman said to him, "you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this living water? Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock." Jesus replied, "Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water." He said to her, "Go call your husband and come back here." The woman replied, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!" The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet.

You will remember that our Savior had been speaking to the woman of Samaria concerning living water. He had endeavored to catch her attention by using a metaphor to her work and her position. Water was uppermost in her thoughts and Jesus sanctified the element to His own gracious end. Sitting at the well's mouth, I think I can see His earnest face and note the woman's wondering eyes while He talked to her as she had never been spoken to before concerning water which caused a man never to thirst again.

You will remember that our Savior had been speaking to the woman of Samaria concerning living water. He had endeavored to catch her attention by using a metaphor to her work and her position. Water was uppermost in her thoughts and Jesus sanctified the element to His own gracious end. Sitting at the well's mouth, I think I can see His earnest face and note the woman's wondering eyes while He talked to her as she had never been spoken to before concerning water which caused a man never to thirst again. At first the woman raised questions: the skeptical part of her nature took its turn and quibbled, and carped, and argued. "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep," and so on. Do you not see all the elements of the infidel in her? But she is in good hands, and soon she has passed from the period of questioning into that of petitioning, and she cries this time, "Sir, give me this water." She was still, I am afraid, very ignorant. She did not even understand her own petition. That is clear from the words which follow the text, "That I thirst not, neither come here to draw." She was giving a material meaning to a spiritual utterance. She was thinking of the water that could moisten her lips, when Christ was speaking of that Living Water, His own Grace and love which touches the heart, and the heart only. Her eyes were dark but her face was turned the right way. And, best of all, Jesus was there, who can lead the blind in a way which they know not. It will be all well with her—you may leave her alone and think of yourselves. I hope I am now conversing with some here who have gotten clear of this woman's ignorance and have passed away also, as she did, from the period of questions. You know best who you are and where you are, but I hope you are desirous to partake of the Divine Grace which saves. You have got away from raising difficulties.

Give me this water - She did not as yet comprehend our Lord’s meaning; but her curiosity was much excited, and this was the design of our Lord, that he might have her mind properly prepared to receive the great truths which he was about to announce.

The woman said ... - It may seem strange that the woman did not yet understand him, but it shows how slow sinners are to understand the doctrines of religion.

In John 4, Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman is itself a Purim-style reversal the rejected becomes chosen, the overlooked becomes entrusted, and the outsider becomes the first to hear a clear declaration of Messiah.