A Reassessment of the Woman at the Well in John 4 in Light of the Samaritan Context

Abstract

Studies on the Samaritan woman of John 4 are marred at two points: (1) inattention to differences between the beliefs, customs and laws of Samaritans and Jews; (2) misapplication of Jewish rabbinic laws to Samaritans. When these two points are corrected, an alternative portrait of the Samaritan woman emerges. In the Samaritan context her actions and words in public, with men, are not extraordinary. The Samaritans' reception of her testimony to Jesus is not surprising, and even under Jewish laws she would not have been an intrinsically incompetent witness. Readers of John's Gospel, both Samaritan and Jewish, could respond to her testimony in the same way as did the people of Sychar, that is, by coming out to meet Jesus for themselves.