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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Had Woman at Well Been Married 5 Times? | John 4:18 | Emmaus | 79415 | ||
scparham, Answer Part 2 " Jews knew they preserved the worship of the true God at the Temple, but tended to forget that Samaritans had received this promise from the prophets. Ethnic and religious pride got the upper hand in Judah, and so the Jews (i.e. descendents of the southern kingdom of Judah) had nothing to do with the apostate "half-breed" Samaritans, as John notes (v. 9). The Samaritan woman knows it too. And she knows why. That is why, when Jesus tells her to go call her husband, she gets the double message. He not only is aware of her serial marriages, he is also making a sort of spiritual pun to refer to the five "husbands" (baals) of the Samaritans and making clear that their worship of Yahweh is not the worship Moses commanded. That is why the woman immediately replies, "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship" (v. 20). Jesus' reply to this is related to his earlier remark that "he whom you now have is not your husband" (v. 18). At the shallowest level, this can be taken (truly) to refer to the man she is living with at present. But at its deepest level, it refers to Jesus himself. For he is the God whom the Samaritans have failed to worship. He is the "husband" Samaria does not have because they have "married" the five baals of Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sephar-vaim. He is now here to bring at last the water of life that Samaria needs: the gift of the Holy Spirit which is promised, not merely to those who worship in Jerusalem, but to "all flesh" (Joel 2:28-32). He is here to prepare his Bride by baptism in living water, to "sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:26-27). This nuptial theme continues into the next scene, which, notably, takes place in Cana, where the Wedding Feast in John 2 occurred. The sign of healing Jesus performs shows that the gentile official, like the Samaritan Woman, is welcome at the Messianic Wedding Banquet along with Israel. Interestingly, this is precisely the moral Jesus draws in the parallel account of this incident, related in Matthew 8:5-13." from: Catholic Scripture Study www.catholicexchange.com |
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2 | Had Woman at Well Been Married 5 Times? | John 4:18 | Ray | 80982 | ||
Hi Emmaus, That was an interesting quote, especially about the "husbands". The post led me to compare Matthew 8:5-13 with John 4:46-54. The writer of your quote said that they were "parallel accounts". Actually one concerned a centurian and his slave and the other was about a royal official and his son. The connection I saw in the stories was Matthew 8:7 and John 4:47. Jesus said that He would come and heal the servant, but the centurian said, "just say the word". The passage in John had the official requesting Jesus to come down and heal his son. But Jesus just said the word. And the official believed the word that Jesus spoke to him. The centurion in Matthew said, "For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, 'Go!' and he goes, and to another, 'Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this!' and he does it'." Jesus then said of the centurion, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel." And that is great faith is it not? That same faith was shown by the royal official as well, for he believed the word Jesus had spoken. I believe that the faith that Jesus was pleased with as well, was the faith "that Thou didst send Me". Just as the centurion can send his messengers and get the job done through them, Jesus can send His word for the official, and God can send His Son for us. John 17:8, "for the words which Thou gavest Me (I) have given to them; and they received them, and truly understood that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that Thou didst send Me." John 17:3, "And this is eternal life, that they may know Thee, the only true (God), and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." From the heart, Ray |
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