This question takes us back to a location we visited in a previous post:

https://www.minimannamoments.com/well-well-now-eye-see/

When Jesus/Yeshua was tired and thirsty and asked for a drink from a specific well.

John 4:5-6 tells us this well was named after

Jacob

יַעֲקֹב

Ya‘aqōv 

(aka bir/beer Ya’qub),

and located in a city in Samaria called:

Shechem – שכם – shekem, or Sychar.

Suchar soo-khar’ of Hebrew origin (7941); Sychar

 In Israeli, the name Sychar means -. End

Strong’s Hebrew: 7927. שְׁכֶם (Shekem) — “ridge,” a district …

Strong’s Greek: 4965. Συχάρ (Suchar) — Sychar, a city in Samaria

Sychar. (ssi’ kahr) Place name intended to note drunkard or falsehood, though perhaps originally derived from Shechem.

So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6. and Jacob’s well was there. 

Sychar liar or drunkard (see Isaiah 28:1 Isaiah 28:7 ), has been from the time of the Crusaders usually identified with Sychem or Shechem ( John 4:5 ). It has now, however, as the result of recent explorations, been identified with ‘Askar, a small Samaritan town on the southern base of Ebal, about a mile to the north of Jacob’s well.

Jacob’s well at the foot of Mt. Ebal and it is Samaria. John 4:20

The name Shechem is identical to the noun שכם ( shekem ), meaning back or shoulder: Excerpted from: Abarim Publications’ Biblical Dictionary. שכם. The important noun שכם ( shekem) means shoulder, and a person’s shoulder was considered:

the seat of their burdens,

whether physical or metaphorical.

(This is probably the root of our idiom of: shouldering the burden or, the burden is on our shoulders?)

Shechem /ˈʃɛkəm/, also spelled Sichem, was a Canaanite city mentioned in the Amarna letters, and is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the first capital of the Kingdom of Israel!

According to Joshua 21:20-21 it was located in the tribal territory given to the tribe of Ephraim.

Traditionally associated with Nablus, it is now identified with the nearby site of Tell Balata in Balata al-Balad in the West Bank.

The Significance of Shechem.

As just mentioned, in Hebrew shechem means shoulder, an apt description of the town’s location in the narrow valley between Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal, approximately 40 miles (65 km.) north of Jerusalem.

Today it is known as Nablus.

This location is significant because Shechem’s first steps on the pages of Scripture was when Abram enters the land of Canaan from Ur, across the Fertile Crescent; Shechem was the first city to which Abram came. Genesis 12:6–8, says that Abram reached the great tree of Moreh, at Shechem and offered sacrifice nearby. Genesis, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges hallow Shechem over all other cities of the land of Israel.

The historical background is key to answering our initial question because Shekem /Shechem/ Sychar was the very same location that other notable events took place:

In Genesis 12, Abraham offered a sacrifice to God in this area. Later, Jacob built a well nearby that is mentioned a number of times in the Bible.

Shortly after the nation divided, 1 Kings 12:1 tells us that capital city of the northern nation was briefly set up at Shechem. 

And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king. – 1 Kings 12:1

Joshua 24:32: And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph.

Shechem was:

Dwelt in by Abraham and Jacob.

Abraham was promised the land.

 Jacob buys a plot of land and settles here with his family.

Jacob’s sons are tending the sheep here before Joseph finds them in Dothan.

Genesis 37:12 – And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem.

The covenant is confirmed during the Conquest.

The city is set aside as a levitical city and a city of refuge.

Joseph is buried here.

The ten tribes reject Rehoboam.

Genesis 12:6 – And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite [was] then in the land.
Genesis 33:18 – And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which [is] in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.

Here also Jacob dug a well for his many herds. This well is still there today. 

While Jacob’s family lived in Shechem, Jacob’s daughter, Dinah, was raped by a man named Shechem, the son of the ruler, Hamor. Jacob’s two sons, Levi and Simeon, made a deceptive pact with the males of the city and slaughtered them all in revenge of Dinah.

Years later, Jacob sent his 17 year-old son, Joseph, from Hebron to check on his brothers as they kept the flocks in Shechem. (Gen 37:12-14).

After Joseph arrived, having undoubtedly traveled up the Ridge Route, he discovered his brothers had moved on to the lush area of Dothan; so he went to find them (Gen 37:15-17). His brothers, filled with hatred, sold Joseph to some Ishmaelite traders who, coming through the Dothan pass, were headed for Egypt along the Via Maris. God used this sad turn of events to eventually take the entire family of Israel to Egypt, protecting and multiplying them.

Joseph’s last memories of Israel, before his brothers sold him, was of Shechem and Dothan.

He believed that God would one day return the nation to Canaan, and so he gave the command for his bones to be carried back with them and buried there (Gen 50:25).

It was a city of refuge:
Joshua 20:7 – And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which [is] Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.

A Levitical city
Joshua 21:21 – For they gave them Shechem with her suburbs in mount Ephraim, [to be] a city of refuge for the slayer; and Gezer with her suburbs, And there on Mount Ebal, Joshua built an altar to God, and on a pillar of stones he wrote a copy of the law (Josh. 8:30-35).

Middle Bronze Gate

Part of the city’s fortifications throughout the second millennium, this gate is typical for the Middle Bronze period with three piers and two chambers.  Only the stone foundations remain.

This gate most likely was in use in the time of Jacob and certainly was the main gate of the city in the days of Abimelech (Judg 9).

Middle Bronze Wall

Vulnerable by location, Shechem was strongly fortified from its earliest history.  This wall was built of Cyclopean stones and continued in use through the Late Bronze Age without significant changes.

In the background, Mount Gerizim was the location of the Samaritan temple in the 4th–2nd centuries BC.

For a moment lets focus on Samaria which is where the Samaritans lived,

Shomronim/səˈmærɪtənz  – שַמֶרִים‎, in Hebrew.

It is a region north of Jerusalem. In Jesus’ day, the Jewish people of Galilee and Judea shunned the Samaritans, viewing them as a mixed race who practiced an impure, half-pagan religion. Samaritans, as a people distinct from the Jews, are first mentioned in the Bible during the time of Nehemiah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity ( Ezra 4:17; Nehemiah 2:10 ).

Shamerim: 

שַמֶרִים‎,

Guardians/Keepers/Watchers (of the Torah)

Ancestrally, Samaritans claim descent from the tribe of Ephraim and tribe of Manasseh (two sons of Joseph) as well as from the Levites who have links to ancient Samaria (now constituting the majority of the territory known as the West Bank) from the period of their entry into Canaan.

The Samaritans believe that Mount Gerizim was the original Holy Place of Israel from the time that Joshua conquered Canaan. The major issue between Jews and Samaritans has always been the location of the Chosen Place to worship God: The Temple Mount of Moriah in Jerusalem according to Judaism or Mount Gerizim according to Samaritanism.

According to Josephus and 2 Kings 17 Samaritans are descendants of the Israelites who mixed with people deported to their country by Assyria. This fits with the Assyrian pattern of conquest. The Samaritans also claim to be descendants of Israelites who remained in the Northern Kingdom, that is Israel, during the Babylonian Captivity. Their exact history is still disputed, but modern DNA testing in 2004 does support they are descended from Israelites with Assyrians and other nationalities as well.

They survived through the time of Jesus/Yeshua, and even, in limited numbers, to the present day. The Bible mentions plenty of stories about Samaritans, and the hatred between Jews and Samaritans features prominently in the Gospels. By the time Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, near Shechem, the racial hatred between Jews and Samaritans was paramount. . And the ensuing argument about the true place of worship—Gerizim or Jerusalem—was in full force (John 4:20).

Here it is pertinent to remind ourselves that in John 8:48 it is recorded that they call Yeshua/Jesus a Samaritan, and say He has a demon. He has been accused of having a demon before, but being called a Samaritan is a new charge…

Calling a Jew, Samaritan, was a racist insult ( 2 Kings 17).

However the more serious sin the Jews committed against Jesus/Yeshua was blasphemously telling the Holy God that He has a demon. (John 8:48).

Jesus/Yeshua has made clear He is the Son of God – that He is God. Jesus/Yeshua has so thoroughly answered their arguments the only tools left to them are name calling and violence.

The Jews of Yeshua/Jesus’ day were well crafted to attack Him with malicious hypocrisy to justify their envy of His popularity and to answer the undeniable proof of His miracles.

The Jews replied to Yeshua/Jesus, “Aren’t we right when we say that you’re a Samaritan and that you’re possessed by a demon?” New American Standard 1977

The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” KJV. 

It was an expression of insolence, contempt and scorn, a critical accusation, showing their disapproval of Him.

He denies the latter accusation, but does not deny the former that seems to be meant to accuse him of not having Jewish beliefs.

Although Yeshua/Jesus forbade the Twelve to go into any city of the Samaritans ( Matthew 10:5 ), the parable of the Good Samaritan shows that His love overleaped the boundaries of national hatred ( Luke 10:30 ; compare Luke 17:16 ; John 4:9 )

Jesus/Yeshua had a different attitude toward Samaritans than most Jews. He didn’t hold them in contempt; instead, he reached out to them.

Recall the account when Jesus/Yeshua healed ten lepers, of whom only ONE returned to praise God, and he was a SAMARITAN. 

When a Samaritan village refused to welcome Him, He didn’t allow His disciples to order its destruction. Messiah also told His apostles that they would receive power when the Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit would come upon them and that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. – John 4:5-6

In the Gospel of John, Jesus asks a Samaritan woman of Sychar for water from Jacob’s Well, and after spending two days telling her townsfolk/Samaritans all things as the woman expected the Messiah to do, and presumably repeating the Good News that He was the Messiah, many Samaritans became followers of Yeshua/Jesus.

He accepts without comment the woman’s assertion that she and her people are Israelites, descendants of Jacob. During this encounter she says that the mountain was the center of their worship. This is why the woman says our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and you say Jerusalem is where men should worship. 

John 4:20 – Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

She poses the question to Yeshua/Jesus when she realizes that He is the Messiah and He affirms the Jewish position, saying “You (that is, the Samaritans) worship what you do not know” Jesus/Yeshua then tells her a time is coming when people will worship in spirit and truth rather in some particular place and this is the manner people should worship God. He also said, “You worship you know not what; we know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.”

Highlighting the physical location (see various photos and maps included), the city lay between 2 mountains and Jacobs well was at the base of one of them.

The 2 mountains named Gerizim and Ebal and Sychar/Shechem lay between them in the valley below:

גְּרִזִים

Mt. Gerizim Hebrew Har Gerizim,

Heb. הַר גְּרִזִּים), 

Strong’s Hebrew: 1630. גְּרִזִים (Gerizim) 

Plural of an unused noun from garaz(compare Gizriy), cut up (i.e. Rocky); Gerizim, a mountain of Palestine 

Arabic Jabal Al-Ṭūr,

Mt. Gerizim, the modern Jebel et-Tur,

עֵיבָל

Mt. Ebal har `ebhal;

Hebrew: הר עיבל ‎ Har ‘Eival)

Strong’s Hebrew: 5858. עֵיבָל (Eybal) — Ebal

Perhaps from an unused root probably meaning to be bald; bare; Ebal, a mountain of Palestine — Ebal.

Arabic el-Iclamiyeh

modern Jebel Eslamiyeh

These 2 mountains, located about 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Jerusalem, face each other with the modern city of Nablus on a very narrow piece of land between them.

Shechem is the ancient name with which we are familiar in the Bible. Nablus is approximately 550 meters (~1800 feet) above sea level and the mountains each rise over 300 meters (1000 feet) on either side. As the Israelites sat on these mountains to listen to Joshua, it would have been very easy for them to look across the valley at their fellow family members on the other side. 

This same area is the same location as the Biblical city of Shechem. Jewish tradition holds that the original meaning of the word is saddle, which gives an indication of what it looks like.

Between Gerazim and Ebal are streams of living water which flowed out of Jacobs well located at the foot of Mt Ebal.

Here we need to remember the underlying significance of this conversation because there is an act of intolerance here, which may not be immediately obvious.

It is not altogether in the question, “How can you a Jew ask me a Samaritan for a drink”, even though we are informed that Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

It is in the statement, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get living water?”

It helps to picture the scene because she must have been eyeing this strange man carefully.

First, she probably hadn’t expected or wanted to meet anybody when she came to the well; and certainly didn’t expect to find a Jewish man – nor did she expect him to speak to her.

Generally Jews would not enter Samaria and even if a Jew did, he would avoid as much contact with the people there as possible. Speaking to a lone woman would be suspect and might even be dangerous, yet this Jewish man not only has the audacity to speak to this woman, he asks her for a drink when he has no vessel to get the water or to drink from.

It may seem a simple request and a simple act of kindness to hand a thirsty person your vessel, but it would NOT have been for this woman. It would actually have been intolerable to consider it.

Why?

Because if a Jew touched her vessel, it would have been considered unclean and she would have to destroy it. (Probably if a Samaritan touched anything belonging to a Jew it would have suffered the same fate.)

This Jewish man had to know that, and certainly if the roles had been reversed would have viewed it the same way. She must have been surprised he would not only ask her for a drink, but also then offer one to her.

What was she thinking?

If He could give her a drink, why was He asking her for one? And where would He get it, did He know of another well nearby. Perhaps He thought He could draw it somehow from Jacob’s Well?

The well is about 130 feet deep: 

The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water? John 4:11-12

His term

living water

would NOT have seemed unusual to her.

Why?

Wells had two water supply sources. (Collecting rainwater would have been done with a cistern.) Well water would come from an underground spring or an underground stream.

A stream fed Jacob’s Well.

Wells of this nature,

because the stream is moving,

were referred to as

living water.

Because of this, the woman did not see anything unusual in the use of this term, so she asks Him to give her this water not just because she won’t get physically thirsty again, but so she doesn’t have to trudge to the well and carry the water home again. She doesn’t understand He is talking about something beyond physical water until later in the conversation.

She asks for this living water and He tells her to go get her husband, imagine the shock she must have felt when He answered that she was living with a man who she wasn’t married to and had had 5 husbands. Little wonder she thought He was a prophet.

Her responses were perhaps rather defensive, yet she knows a Messiah is to come and He will explain all things.

We should take note of Jesus/Yeshua’s whole approach to this woman. He asked her for something yet when she declined, He did not get angry or upset with her, but in such a way to raise her curiosity He offered her something in its place.

Instead of addressing her question about His offer directly He asked her to do something, which caused her to face her own sin. However in this conversation He did not accuse or berate her about what she had done. He didn’t engage in attacking her religious belief or get into any argument, but gave her new information further raising her curiosity which led her to continue the conversation. Then after she admits to believing in a coming Messiah, she says this ONE will tell us all things.

Jesus/Yeshua says, I am He, and it probably hit her at that moment that He had indeed told her things He could not have known about her. Jesus/Yeshua had found this woman and having drawn her to Himself, finally revealed who He was and she believed.

Just after the disciples arrive at the Well, the woman quickly leaves. She had come to get water, but she forgets her water jar. Now she isn’t concerned with physical water because she has found  THE Living Water and can’t wait to tell others.

The disciples never ask what this was all about. They had gone to fetch food and now their only concern is eating. They urge Jesus/Yeshua to join them and eat.

He gives them another one of those strange answers:

I have meat to eat that you know not of.

What did He mean? In the following verse John 4:34 He qualifies His statement..

This is our meat also… to do the will of our Heavenly Father, so as we follow Yeshua/Jesus pattern, this is the meat and drink that means we will never again be hungry or thirsty – (spiritually). As food is pleasant, and delightful, and refreshing to our bodies, so doing the will of God was as delightful and refreshing to the soul of Messiah: He took as much pleasure in it, as someone hungry does in eating and drinking.

Was He also saying.. do you see? Are you looking for the harvest somewhere else in familiar fields which is not yet ready?

Or do you see the harvest is ready and ripe, right in front of you?

Do you see this woman, who you looked right past with contempt, she had been sown with seeds of hope and was ready for the reaping? Someone had sowed HOPE/TIKVEH, in these people, but it wasn’t you, however, here is the opportunity to reap what has been sowed and you should rejoice in it.

Open your eyes and see what is before you, not what is far away.

Now is the time to gather fruit to salvation. 

click link below for more on Tikveh/Hope:

https://www.minimannamoments.com/the-secret-of-the-ogehn-of-tiqvah/

The woman had believed and ran back to town to tell everyone. She urged them to come to Messiah and to see and experience what she had seen and experienced.

The people listened to her and they went out to the well to see Yeshua/Jesus. This is the first act of witnessing by a new believer recorded in the gospels.

The local people knew this woman and they knew her past. They sensed something had changed about her and as a result many came to believe in Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah even asking Him to remain with them. Recall, these are Samaritans and Yeshua/Jesus and His Disciples are Jewish men so in a sense they are enemies. 

He stayed 2 days talking with them and they accepted Him as the Messiah they were looking for. Notice what they said:

Now we believe, not because of your saying for we have heard him ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. 

The woman did not save these Samaritans, she simply brought them the message; she became the sower and Yeshua/Jesus reaped the harvest. Again He was setting His Disciples an example, to make haste and sow the word. Do not concern yourself with the reaping, Holy Spirit will take care of that. We are to remember what is in John 4 and said in Romans 10:11-15. because as His Disciples this example is for us also.

In reality, springs of spiritual truth lie deep within us, not on the high grounds of morality.

The kingdom of The Heavens is within you.

Truth lies not so much in our many doctrines but rather in the

Living Waters

of Messiah.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father (John 4:21-22).

“God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24-25).”  

Our walk towards Yeshua/Jesus, takes us to the well…the ONE springing up to eternal life. 

One must enter in to Messiah to reach the well ….but it is in the depths of the well itself where the actual Living Water is found… for Messiah is the deep which calls unto deep.

“Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me”  Psalm 42:7,

believers often use this phrase most often to refer to a deep, personal experience of the Lord ministering to them — from the depths of God’s heart to the depths of their own.

and Psalm 130:1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. This phrase “deep calls unto deep”

consists of communication through prayer, from deep within the heart/mind of a man appealing to the deep recesses (a secluded or secret place) of the heart/mind of his God in a time of dire need and possibly suffering at the hands of enemies. 

We looked at this in the post 

and this is the very same location where John 4 took place and brings into perspective verses 7 and 10. The well of Jacob that gave life giving water to all the inhabitants of the land and it was why she referred to it in v 20 as being the place where our fathers worshipped on this mountain.

This is Mt Ebal – the place they understood where it was necessary to worship v.20 and then Yeshua/Jesus says

the time is coming verse 23 AND NOW IS when neither Mt. Ebal nor Jerusalem would be the location to worship the father.

He revealed Himself plainly to her and she knew Mashiach was to come then from her sharing her good news – many believed 4:39

Jesus/Yeshua used the parable of the good Samaritan and we may now have a little more insight and understanding of who the Samaritan was and what he believed.

Jesus/Yeshua was offering Himself as the living water and revealing His connection to the well. – This was why it was so significant to her and why she abandoned her container and ran to the town.  Shechem had a rich history with the Father, the scriptures say that many believed after her testimony because they were also looking for Messiah.

The location was so significant for the reason that it was where Joshua, a type of Mashiach, had brought the children of Israel to reaffirm their covenant in the promised land that Moses made with God for the Israelites on Sinai…….

Continued in part 2… meanwhile..

The story of The Samaritan woman should serve to remind us of one of the most important truths that even though the Lord can reach us in the most ordinary places – there is nothing ordinary about a life changing encounter with Jesus/Yeshua. We seldom see the kind of response shown by the Samaritan woman when finally she realized she had met the Messiah, the One who was to come.

Sadly many fail to be amazed by Him anymore and Messiah’s miraculous ways have become just every day events.. Is that because we’re still questioning whether this is the Messiah when we hear of miracle testimonies? Maybe it is because we’re not asking with the same convincing hope/tikvah that she had.

Perhaps in some way we have a doubting heart. Is it because we have not yet had that life changing experience ourselves?

This woman of Samaria was transformed because she met the man who told her everything she did.

Jesus/Yeshua was able to reach her in a way no one else could. Seeing in her, things no one else could see.

The message for us today as His disciples is that we need to eagerly get hold of our water jars and head for the well.

That well of living water springing up to eternal life, which can only be found in Messiah.

As we do,

we need to be expectant

that our containers will be too small to hold what will be waiting for us when we get there…

we must run to the well but not with the hope that we will drink… but that we will be filled and will never be thirsty again..

Mishpachah, if this bears witness with our hearts pray this prayer today:

Father I am running to the well today.. I have been waiting for you to come and I’m thirsty. Heavenly father remove all doubt and fear from my heart that I may know the one who knows me and all I have done. I praise you Father for from you alone flow those wellsprings of eternal life.. please fill me once and for all, that I maybe return from the well of Your presence with so much more than my jar could ever hold… in Jesus/Yeshuas Name..

Shalom, Shalom to all Mishpachah – family.

Please don’t leave this page until you have the assurance that you are filled with His Living Water and are sealed to the day of redemption by the Blood of Messiah Jesus/Yeshua.
Not sure ..you can be…
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute, SAY IT RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.