Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 4:20

Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

20. Convinced that He can read her life she shrinks from inspection and hastily turns the conversation from herself. In seeking a new subject she naturally catches at one of absorbing interest to every Samaritan. Mount Gerizim shorn of its temple suggests the great national religious question ever in dispute between them and the Jews. Here was One who could give an authoritative answer about it; she will ask Him. To urge that such a woman would care nothing about the matter is unsound reasoning. Are irreligious people never keen about religious questions now-a-days? Does an immoral life destroy all interest in Romanism, Ritualism, and the like?

in this mountain ] Gerizim; her not naming it is very lifelike. The Samaritans contended that here Abraham offered up Isaac, and afterwards met Melchisedek. The former is more credible than the latter. A certain Manasseh, a man of priestly family, married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite (Neh 13:28), and was thereupon expelled from Jerusalem. He fled to Samaria and helped Sanballat to set up a rival worship on Gerizim. It is uncertain whether the temple on Gerizim was built then (about b. c. 410) or a century later; but it was destroyed by John Hyrcanus b. c. 130, after it had stood 200 years or more. Yet the Samaritans in no way receded from their claims, but continue their worship on Gerizim to the present day.

ye say ] Unconsciously she admits that One, whom she has just confessed to be a Prophet, is against her in the controversy. Comp. Deu 12:13.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Our fathers – The Samaritans; perhaps also meaning to intimate that the patriarchs had done it also. See Gen 12:6; Gen 33:20.

Worshipped – Had a place of worship.

In this mountain – Mount Gerizim, only a little way from Sychar. On this mountain they had built a temple somewhat similar to the one in Jerusalem. This was one of the main subjects of controversy between them and the Jews. The old Samaritan Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, has the word Gerizim instead of Ebal in Deu 27:4. On this account, as well as because the patriarchs are mentioned as having worshipped in Shechem, they supposed that that was the proper place on which to erect the temple.

Ye say – Ye Jews.

In Jerusalem – The place where the temple was built. This was built in accordance with the promise and command of God, Deu 12:5, Deu 12:11. In building this, David and Solomon were under the divine direction, 2Sa 7:2-3, 2Sa 7:13; 1Ki 5:5, 1Ki 5:12; 1Ki 8:15-22. As it was contemplated in the law of Moses that there should be but one place to offer sacrifice and to hold the great feasts, so it followed that the Samaritans were in error in supposing that their temple was the place. Accordingly, our Saviour decided in favor of the Jews, yet in such a manner as to show the woman that the question was of much less consequence than they supposed it to be.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Joh 4:20-29

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain

The advent of Christ in relation to the heathen

This is the first mission to the heathen.

I. Our Lords MISSIONARY METHOD. He tries to excite in the woman a longing for something higher than the life she was living. In order to do this He touches her conscience and lays His finger on her sin. She, seeing that she is in the presence of a prophet, embraces the opportunity of getting settled a long-standing controversy. In His reply, our Lord does not pretend that there is no difference when there is, but teaches that the difference is to pass away in the light of a higher truth which embraces both sides. The Jews knew what they worshipped, as the Samaritan and the heathen do not. Salvation was of the Jews, and not of the Samaritan or heathen.

II. Our Lords MISSIONARY DOCTRINE. The offering of a mans whole self to God, and not the substitution of anything in its place. But man can only offer himself, i.e., worship in spirit, by being re-born of the Holy Spirit; can only worship in truth by being united to Him who is the Truth. Man can therefore worship the Father in spirit and in truth by the offering of his whole self in union with the Eternal Son and by being filled with the Eternal Spirit.

III. Our Lords AUDIENCE REPRESENTS THE HEATHEN WORLD.

1. In her separation. She is outside She kingdom of God and the chosen race.

2. In her unconscious thirst for God–the living water.

3. In her sin.

4. In her blind worship of the unknown God.

IV. THE REVELATION OF WEAK POINTS IN MODERN MISSIONS.

1. There is too much vagueness in modern Christianity as to whom and what we worship–no clear grasp of the incarnation and regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Our Lords We know what we worship much wanted.

2. There is too much feeling that Christianity is a thing of European civilization, and not universal.

3. It was the despised Samaritans, and not the favoured Jews, nor even the apostles, who were the first to find out that Christ was tim Saviour of the world.

V. Our Lords VINDICATION OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS in the declaration that the Father seeketh worship. He knew that man cannot find satisfaction save in Him. (Canon Vernon Hutton.)

Human curiosity and Divine mystery

1. According to the Grecian sage, all knowledge commences with wonder or curiosity. Without this knowledge would never have taken the strides it has. But it is not always those objects which most excite our curiosity that we are most capable of becoming acquainted with. This is true with the objects of nature, the sun, e.g., but much more with that sublimest of all objects, the unseen God. And because He shrouds Himself round with a veil of mystery, all the more our hearts desire to know something about Him. And yet who can by searching find out God? And then we have to reflect upon the errors into which men have fallen in their attempt to make the discovery, their attempt to satisfy their desire by a substitute of their own imagination, which ended in leaving the desire unsatisfied and the object still unknown.

2. But just as the art of optics was required to enable men of science to make progress in their knowledge of the sun, so it was necessary, before men could be acquainted with God, that He should be brought within the region of human observation. Lord, show us the Father! was the cry of humanity. He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father was the response.

3. This woman was a subject of spiritual curiosity, and desired to know something of God. She identified herself with a religion which, however, instead of leading her to God, only supplied a substitute for Him. Ye worship ye know not what. She knew what many a man of the nineteenth century knows to his cost, that this was true. As at Athens so at Gerizim there was an altar to the unknown God.

4. What was wanting at Gerizim? Two elements conspicuous in the creed of the Jew–a system of ritual in the temple worship, with all its symbolic teaching, and the utterances of the prophets. These two elements were closely connected with the promise as to the seed of the woman, with the person and work of the Messiah, with Gods attitude towards guilt in laying the iniquity of us all on the head of His guiltless Son. Thus the Jew was able to form such an ideal of the character of God as was impossible to the Samaritans. So the former knew what He worshipped. Is not agnosticism the inevitable result of not receiving or of rejecting the revelation of God through Christ in the present day?

5. This agnosticism is not to be wondered at even with our clearer light. God is defined as an infinite Spirit–two splendid negations. When the woman heard Christs declaration of the nature of God, she immediately fell back on another thought–the Messiah. Trace the progress of this spiritual growth–the awakening of a vague thirst; the definite conviction of sin; the desire to worship truly; the conviction of the coming of a perfect teacher; Christs disclosure of His Messiahship; His glad communication; the conviction on her word and by personal experience, of the Samaritans that Christ was the Saviour of the world. (W. M. H. Aitken, M. A.)

The Church of the future

I. This Church is to be looked for NOT IN THE PREVALENCE OF ANY SINGLE FORM OF WORSHIP OR IN ANY PHILOSOPHICAL CREED, though both of these will go along subordinately as working forces, BUT IN THE CONDITION OF THE HUMAN RACE. There will never be a time in which it will not be necessary to compass education by definite institutions. But these are only instruments. So in the course of religion this or that sect is only a kitchen where the loaf is prepared; and the loaf is mankind. And yet we have just the same exclusive and conceited views of our particular sect as the Jews had of theirs. But local churches are but streams flowing into the ocean until the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The smallest rill is of use; the navigable river is invaluable; but none of them, not even the Amazon, is the ocean. And when the whole human family are gathered into one substantial brotherhood, living as sons of God, the Divine influence circling the whole, that will be the Church of the future.

II. In that great Church MEN WILL EMPLOY EDUCATING, INSTITUTIONS AND DOCTRINAL FORMS; but such things will fall out of their present idolatrous position, and become merely relative and subordinate. Of course it will have a creed. What is a man who has no beliefs? But the form of creeds will be changed while the substance will remain. Belief, existence, and authority of a personal God will never die out, but will come forth in clearer light. So with the moral government of God, the influence of the Holy Spirit, the sinfulness, yet salvability, and destiny of man, and the vicarious suffering of Jesus.

III. IN THIS CHURCH ORDINANCES WILL BE HINTS, HELPS, BUT NEVER AUTHORITIES. They are like childs, clothes which are necessary for the child, but are not the child; like school books, useful helps but not yokes. Men make idols and middle walls of ordinances: whereas their only use is to produce good fruit.

IV. In this Church NOT ONLY MAY WE EXPECT GREAT LIGHT ON SCRIPTURE, BUT A RECONCILIATION BETWEEN REVEALED AND SCIENTIFIC TRUTH SO THAT THEY WILL CO-OPERATE AS FACTS OF A COMMON REVELATION. The distinction between secular and religious, revealed and natural, will be much narrowed if not entirely done away. All truth will be sacred. Nature and religion will stand upon a common level, not by lowering religion, but by lifting up our conceptions of nature. (H. W. Beecher.)

The old worship and the new

I. Consider HOW THE DESCRIPTION OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP HERE GIVEN SHOULD AFFECT THE EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF OUR WORSHIP.

1. Nothing can be more unphilosophical than to appeal to any Jewish precedent without inquiring whether the ancient institutions rested on permanent principles or were merely temporary.

2. When God commanded His people to construct a sanctuary that He might dwell among them it was to impress the truth that He was a God nigh at hand and not afar off, and by restricting ceremonial worship to that spot to emphasize the fact of the Divine unity.

3. Great then as were the gains of such a sanctuary yet the arrangement was not without its perils.

(1) Good men away from the temple felt as though banished from God.

(2) The tendency was to regard Jehovah as a God of the Jews, not of the Gentiles. Thus the spirituality and infinity of God was obscured by His special presence in the temple. As, therefore, it was expedient for Christ bodily to go away to manifest an universal spiritual presence; so it eventually became expedient that God should be no more thought of as dwelling in a temple made with hands.

4. It is contrary to the whole genius of Christianity to suppose that God is nearer to us in one spot than another, or that He confers special sanctity on material structures. The temple was a sign of Gods willingness to listen to human worship, and was the visible embodiment of the Divine promise; a Church is the visible embodiment of human faith. The two ideas essentially differ.

5. The design of the temple structure was symbolical throughout. There was a local manifestation of God, and therefore a most holy place. God was approached by a ritual which only priests could perform. And if we believed in Christs presence in the consecrated bread there ought to be an altar; and if ministers are priests a chancel devoted to their use. But Christ, on the contrary, is in regenerated souls. If any part of a church is sacred every part is so. Every part is altar, for Christians are the body of Christ; every part is chancel, for Christians are a royal priesthood; every part is holy of holies, because the glory Thou hast given Me I have given them.

6. But should not the structure of our buildings indicate their sacred purpose? Yes. I may be led to the choice of a certain order of architecture to indicate what it is; but in the interior I should be guided by the fact that Christians are to assemble there to be instructed and to worship. If it is convenient to have transepts, have them, but not to symbolize the Cross; and to diminish the convenience of the building by placing the chancel out of line with the nave to indicate the inclination of Christs crucified body is to ignore the chief end for which it was erected. Have a tower and side aisles, if convenient, but not to remind us of the Trinity.

7. The same principles should determine the order of service. Everything should be made subordinate to the spirituality, intelligence, and reality of worship. The Jewish service was instructive and symbolic rather than aesthetic; and in discussing the questions of a liturgy versus free prayer, we have to ask, not what is most imposing, trot what is most useful to devotion. The same with Psalmody.

II. THE SPECIAL PROVISION FOR A TRUE AND SPIRITUAL WORSHIP IN THE DISPENSATION UNDER WHICH WE LIVE.

1. God is revealed to us in His moral and spiritual attributes as He never was before Christ. We preserve the whole wealth of previous revelations; but the moral perfections have been revealed in a new and higher way, in the life of Christ, which renders possible a higher form of spiritual worship.

2. The Holy Ghost has a more intimate union with those who serve God., and exerts a mightier power over their spiritual life. He was indeed operant in Old Testament times–but nowhere do we meet with such disclosures as in the Epistles. There is possible, therefore, to us an energy and depth of spiritual life to which they could not attain. It follows, then, that we may have a more spiritual worship because all our spiritual affections may be inspired with a fuller life and nobler vigour.

3. A nearer and truer approach to God is granted under the new dispensation than under the old. The truth liberated from all merely symbolical circumstances. At the Ascension these passed away and the realities were revealed. We stand in the real Holy of Holies, of which that of the Temple was a shadow. In conclusion, notice the greatness of the obligation which our Lords words impose on the Church.

That Church exists for a threefold purpose:

1. To make known to man the love of God in Christ.

2. To increase the knowledge of Gods character and will among those who know Him, and to train them, body, soul, and spirit, to the keeping of His commandments.

3. To maintain from age to age a true and spiritual worship. To fulfil the last in this restless age is no easy task, but one of the most solemn obligation. (R. W. Dale, LL. D.)

Christian worship

I. NEGATIVELY CONSIDERED.

1. It is not sectarian. Sectarianism is not denominationalism, but spiritual monopoly. The former may be justifiable, but never the latter. Party distinctions as such are of no importance in the sight of God. God is no respecter of persons, and all persons have a right to worship Him according to their conscience.

2. It is not local. Here both Jews and Samaritans were in error. In the former case Deu 12:5; Deu 12:7 was perverted, and the command to sacrifice at a given place interpreted to invest that place with a special sanctity apart from the character of the worshipper. The same feeling prevails amongst Hindoos and Mohammedans; how passing strange that it should ever have prevailed among Christians.

3. It is not external. Music, vestments, and ceremonies may, and often do, excite the emotions which will be produced by any other pageant, and which are totally disconnected with devotion.

II. POSITIVELY CONSIDERED.

1. It is spiritual. Lip homage is offensive to man much more to God. When local and external worship was in full operation something more was necessary to acceptance (1Ki 8:27). In one respect this worship was independent of the moral character of the worshipper. But no typical character belongs to Christian worship, and without devout feelings it is worse than useless.

2. It is filial. Terror is the predominating spirit of idolatry. Its ceremonies are therefore deprecatory and often cruel. Awe was the predominating spirit of Jewish worship. Christianity merges the sterner attributes of the Divine character into those more attractive. God is a Father, and to worship Him truly is to offer the affection of sons.

3. It is universal. Non-restricted

(1) To buildings–upper rooms, prisons, barns, as well as cathedrals, etc.

(2) Persons–rich and poor meet together.

Conclusion: In the exercises of Gods house avoid

(1) a superstitious spirit either as regards the special sanctity of the place or the magical efficacy of ordinances.

(2) A formal spirit. Bodily exercise profitest little.

(3) A bigoted spirit. A church is Gods house, and all its privileges should be open to all His people, due care being taken to exclude only the ungodly.

(4) A slavish spirit. The joy of the Lord is your strength for worship. (R. Brodie, M. A.)

Spiritual worship

I. ERRORS WHICH HAVE INTERFERED WITH THE PURITY OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP.

1. That which arises from a tendency to localize God. Where? asked the woman. Nowhere in particular–everywhere, said Christ. We see this tendency among

(1) The heathen, who confine a god to a district.

(2) The uneducated in their notion of a cemetery.

(3) The more refined, in the mystery which they attach to church, altar, sacrament.

What is sanctity of place? It belongs to the law of association. Worship, e.g., in a festive room would suggest notions uncongenial with devotion. Hence the use of consecration, sitting apart. This view said to be dangerous and unsettling. But

(a) Consider the shock this woman received; all her little religion had clung to Gerizim and was shattered at a blow.

(b) We are only concerned with the truth, and Gods truth cannot be dangerous. The fact is, the Church is holy if a holy congregation be in it; if not, it is bricks and mortar. The holiest place is not where architecture and music yield their spell, but perhaps a wretched pallet on which one of Christs humblest ones is dying.

2. That which arises from the idea that forms are immutable–Our fathers worshipped, etc. A form is the shape in which an age expresses a feeling. The sprat of religion remains but the expression alters.

3. That which arises from ignorance, Ye worship ye know not what. The feeling of devoutness is inherent. But the question is, what we worship. To many there are three deities

(1) The heathen bent before power–God in the whirlwind, etc. This is ignorance.

(2) The philosopher is above this. He bows before wisdom. Science tells him of electricity, etc. He looks down on warm devoutness, and admires mind in nature. He calls it rational religion. Ignorance also.

(3) The spiritual man bows before goodness. The true worshippers worship the Father. We know what we worship.

4. That which mistakes the nature of reverence. The woman had reverence; veneration for antiquity–the mountain, the prophet. But what was her life? Reverence, etc., are a class of feelings which belong to the imagination and are neither good nor bad. Some men are constitutionally so framed that they do not thrill at painted windows, but adore God, and love Christ, and admire goodness and hate evil. They have bowed their souls before justice, mercy, truth, and therefore stand erect before everything else that the world calls sublime.

II. TRUE CHARACTER OF SPIRITUAL WORSHIP.

1. A right appreciation of Gods character

(1) as a Spirit. The mind and pervading life of the universe. In this, however, only a God for the intellect, not for the heart.

(2) As a father–a word uniting

(1) Tenderness with reverence.

(2) Discipline with kindness.

2. Spiritual character. In Spirit and in truth. Holy character a kind of worship. Before a material God a material knee would have to bow; before a spiritual God nothing but prostration of spirit acceptable. Application;

1. Christ came to sweep away everything that prevented immediate contact with God.

2. Scripture insists on truth of character. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

The true worship of God

I. IS NOT RESTRICTED TO LOCALITIES.

1. Before the Advent it was The Pentateuch, to which Jews and Samaritans appealed, decided this without naming the locality (Exo 30:24; Deu 12:5; Deu 21:11; Deu 16:6; Deu 26:2; Deu 31:11). In selecting Jerusalem the Jews believed themselves to be under Divine guidance (Psa 132:13; 2Ch 7:17; Isa 56:7; Zec 14:17). The Samaritans finding no mention of Jerusalem, but observing the prominence given to Gerizim (Deu 11:29; Deu 27:12; Jos 8:33), built aTemple there. Christ, however, waived the controversy, and announced a new era emancipating the spirit of worship from place and form.

2. Since Pentecost it cannot be so restricted.

(1) Men, like the Jews, still cling to localities, notwithstanding the clear lesson of destruction of the Temple.

(2) Isaiah had a glimpse of this truth (56:1).

(3) Christ formally established it (Mat 18:20; Mat 28:20). It became possible (Act 2:17).

II. LIES IN THE LINE OF GODS GRACIOUS REVELATIONS (verse 22).

1. It had been so with the Jews. Accepting the prophets, they had a more accurate idea of God. Gods gracious purposes had developed along the line of Jewish history.

2. It must continue to be so with the Christian. Having manifested himself in Christ, any worship that ignores this must be unacceptable Col 2:23). It must also accept the subsequent revelations of the Spirit.

III. ACCORDS WITH THE BEING AND ESSENCE OF GOD HIMSELF (verses 23, 24).

1. Spiritual, since God is Spirit. Not a Spirit, one among many, nor impersonal because the article is wanting, but absolute Being; hence worship must ascend from the innermost personality.

2. True, since God is this Truth.

3. Filial, since God is the Father (Mat 5:45; Mat 6:9; Rom 7:15; Gal 4:6).

Lessons:

1. Controversies mostly settle themselves when left to time.

2. Questions about the externals of worship do not belong to its essence.

3. Christian freedom is not the same thing as will worship.

4. The characteristics of Christian worship fit it to be universal.

5. In these lie the prophecy of its triumph.

6. The Founder of such worship requires no surer witness to His supreme Divinity. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain

Not where, but how is the main thing

Dr. Guthrie tells of a poor woman who dwelt in one of the darkest and most wretched quarters of Edinburgh. Away from her native home, and without one earthly friend, she had floated there, a stranger in a strange land, to sink into the most abject poverty; her condition but one degree better than our Saviours–in common with the fox, she had a hole to lay her head in. Yet, although poor and outwardly wretched, she was a child of God, one of the jewels which, if sought for, we should sometimes find in dust-heaps. With a bashfulness not unnatural, she had shrunk from exposing her poverty to the stare of well-robed congregations, resorting on Sabbath-days to the well–appropiate place–where a pious man was wont to preach to ragged outcasts, crying in the name of Jesus, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink. In ignorance of this, and supposing that she was living, like the mass around her, in careless neglect of her soul, Dr. Guthrie begun to warn her; but she interrupted him, and, drawing herself up with an air of humble dignity, and half offended, said, Sir, I worship at the well, and am sure that if we are true believers in Jesus, and love him, and try to follow Him, we shall never be asked at the Judgment-day, Where did you worship? (Clerical Library.)

How to worship God

1. Is He a Saviour? Then we should come to Him as sinners; for sinners only need a Saviour. All others will be rejected. There can be no acceptable worship until we are convinced of sin, and humbled on account of it.

2. Is God a Father? Then we should worship Him as children.

3. Is He a Spirit? Then, We must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Whether as a Saviour, a Father, or the Great God, He will accept only the worship of the mind, the heart, the understanding. An idol god might be satisfied with the bended knee and uplifted hand, but our God looks on the heart. (Dean Close.)

This mountain

The Samaritans now believe what in all likelihood they believed in our Saviours time, about mount Gerizim. It is for them the holy mountain of the world; on its summit was the seat of Paradise; from its dust Adam was formed; and the spot is still pointed out where he reared his first altar; the place, too, where Seth did the same. Gerizim is the Ararat of Scripture, on which the ark rested (Gen 8:4); which the waters of the flood never overflowed; and which thus no dead thing borne by those waters had defiled. They point out, further, the exact spot on which Noah reared an altar when the flood had subsided (Gen 8:20); and its seven steps on each of which he offered a burnt-offering. The altar, too, is to this day standing on which Abraham had bound his son, and the spot known where the ram was caught. At the summit is Bethel (Gen 28:12; Gen 28:19). There is a good deal more in the same fashion. That poor woman, who may have accepted all this with implicit faith, would have had warrant for more than her boast if only a small part of it had been true. (Archbishop Trench.)

Mount Gerizim

The Patriarch Jacob had offered sacrifice at Sychar, or Shechem (Gen 33:20). From Mount Gerizim the six tribes had solemnly pronounced the blessings that should be on those who kept the Ten Commandments (Deu 27:12). At Shechem, Joshua before his death, had recounted to the assembled Israelites Gods merciful dealings with them (Jos 24:1-33). A temple, if not then standing, had formerly stood on Mount Gerizim. All this might seem to convey a kind of right and legality to the worship offered there. But God had chosen one place for His worship, one place only for sacrifices to be offered to Him Deu 12:13). This place was Jerusalem. Neither length of time, nor the eminence of the worshippers, could invest any other place with the right, which God had given to Jerusalem alone. (F. I.Dunwell, B. A.)

Veneration for places of ancient worship

The reverence of this woman for the place where her father worshipped is common to men of every country and every creed. When surrounded by revered walls consecrated by the confessions and thanksgivings of many generations, a solemn awe steals over the heart, which the most gorgeous cathedral, fresh from the hands of the architect, fails to inspire. Nor is this impression produced merely by the-pathetic beauty which clings to noble and stately structures in their decay. We are affected, not because the broken columns and the crumbling tracery, grey with long exposure and covered with the kindly growth of ivy, have a loveliness to the eye far surpassing that which the ancient builders looked upon; the rudest, meanest building, the open moor, the mountain side, if our fathers worshipped there, stir the deepest and most sacred emotions of human nature. To this day the miserable remnant of the Samaritans cling with indestructible affection to their ancient mountain; and among the Jewish people the passion has not been exhausted by the centuries of suffering, shame, and despair. Week by week men and women and little children sit down in the dust outside the walls of the Mosque, which stands where the Temple once stood, and utter loud and grievous wailings over the fall of their beautiful sanctuary, and pray for its restoration. (R. W. Dale, D. D.)

Traditional religion

Custom, as it is commonly said, is a second nature; and men cannot easily leave that which they have long used themselves to; and they will not easily leave that which they have seen and known to be used by their predecessors. The Ephraimites, in the Book of Judges, that had been brought up to say Sibboleth all their life, cannot say Shibboleth to save their life; but they perish, two-and-forty thousand This, the more is the pity, is the religion of too many thousands in this land and time; men and women are too commonly and generally pinned in religion, and in practice of religious things, upon the customs and usages of ancient days, and they are loth to be parted from them. The woman of Sychar was zealous for the temple upon mount Gerizim; but the best reason she can give for that is that her fathers worshipped there. (J. Lightfoot, D. D.)

The breadth of Spiritual religion

The more spiritual is a mans religion the more expansive and broad it always is. A stream may leave its deposits in the pool it flows through, but the stream itself hurries on to other pools in the thick woods. And so Gods gifts a soul may selfishly appropriate. But God Himself the more truly a soul possess Him, the more truly it will long and try to share Him. (Phillips Brooks, D. D.)

The vanity of religious controversy

What was it to her, living in sin, whether Jerusalem or Samaria was the more acceptable place for worship? She could not worship acceptably in either of them. How easily every one sees, in her case, that she had no business with these curious questions; that the one thing for her to do was, as Christ had told her her sin, to desire Him to tell her how she might escape the punishment due to it. And yet her fault is far from being uncommon. There are many who are living in the known breach of Gods plainest commandments, who yet will pay some attention to religion; but then it must not be a personal thing; it must not be admitted into their conscience, and allowed to interfere with their vices. These it is not convenient for them to part with. They will lie and defraud, or drink to excess, or live in the lust of uncleanness, or in a covetous and worldly spirit; these things they do, and will do. They ask not therefore any religious questions which come close to their conscience; but they inquire what form of worship is most scriptural, what mode of preaching to be preferred; whether churchmen or dissenters come nearest to the primitive standard of church government; or what denomination is best. What is it to you which denomination of Christians is the best? Let which will be best, you are wrong, and in the road to hell, even though you should belong to the purest society in the world. There is one question only which concerns you at present; and this it behoves every one of you to put with all earnestness, and without delay–What shall I do to be saved? (J. Fawcett, M. A.)

Ye say.

Religion is not a hear-say, a presumtion, a supposition; it is not a customary pretension and profession; it is not an affection of any mode; it is not a piety of any particular fancy, consisting in some pathetic devotions, vehement expressions, bodily severities, affected anomalies, and aversions from the innocent usage of others; but it consisteth in a profound humility and an universal charity (Mat 5:1-11). (Dr. Whichcote.)

Christianity non-centralized

In the days of the apostles, the Church Catholic had no local centre. Jerusalem was destroyed for this, I believe, among other special reasons, that it might not become such. Christianity was designed for every land alike; it was gifted with power to make every city a Jerusalem, a habitation of peace, a city of God; and every man, of every tribe, a citizen of the Zion above (Deu 34:6). (J. Boyd.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 20. Worshipped in this mountain] Probably pointing to Mount Gerizim, at the foot of which Sychar was situated. The patriarchs had worshipped here – Jacob builded an altar on this mountain, and worshiped the true God: see Ge 22:2; Ge 33:20. Thus she could say, Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. On this mountain Sanballat had built them a temple, about 332 years before our Lord’s incarnation. See Joseph. Antiq. xi. c. viii. s. 4, and 2 Macc. 6:2.

Many heathens considered particular places as having a peculiar sanctity or fitness, for the worship of their deities, beyond others. Such places abound in Hindostan; and in them they think men ought to worship.

In the Hebrew Pentateuch, De 27:4, c., where the Israelites are commanded to build an altar on mount EBAL, and offer sacrifices, &c., the Samaritan Pentateuch has GERIZIM instead of Ebal and Dr. Kennicott strongly contends, Dissert. vol. ii. p. 20, &c., that Gerizim is the genuine reading: but our blessed Lord, by the following answer, shows that the place was a matter of little importance, as the Divine worship was no longer to be confined to either: Joh 4:21. See Clarke on De 27:4.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; the mount Gerizim, which was an exceeding high mountain, and near unto Sichem. Jacob made an altar thereabouts, which he called El-elohe-Israel, Gen 33:20. Some say that it was upon this, mountain that Abraham should have offered up Isaac, Gen 22:1-18, but that had another name. Certain it is, that from that mountain Moses pronounced the blessings, Deu 27:12. But it is very probable that the woman had respect to none of these, but to the common usage of the Samaritans, to worship in a temple built upon this mountain, in opposition to that at Jerusalem: the story of which will be very proper here to relate, for the full understanding of this text. Sanballat was governor of Samaria, constituted by Darius; of this Sanballat we read in Nehemiah, who tells us that one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to this Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me, Neh 13:28. This son-in-laws name (as Josephus tells us) was Manasses. He was driven out of Jerusalem upon the account of the covenant made, Ezr 10:3, that those who had married strange wives would turn them away. The sacred story here leaving us, we must supply it out of Josephus, who (Antiq. 1. 11. cap. 8.) tells us, that he being thus driven from the sacrifice, applied himself to Sanballat, and would have put his wife away, who was Sanballats daughter; but Sanballat promised him, that if he would keep his daughter as his wife, he would not only continue him in the priesthood, but make him a high priest, and build him a temple like that at Jerusalem, upon Mount Gerizim, with the leave of Darius; upon this Manasses staid with Sanballat, and there also resorted many to him whom Nehemiah had turned out of the priesthood at Jerusalem for marrying strange wives. Sanballat was very near losing his opportunity through the favour of Darius, by the conquest of Darius by Alexander the Great. But it was regained by his brother Jadduss stubbornness, who was high priest in Jerusalem, and refused to own the new conqueror; which advantage Sanballat took, and offered Alexander the surrender of all places in his trust to him; and being by that means ingratiated with Alexander the Great, he thereby obtained leave of him to build a temple in Mount Gerizim, where his son-in-law Manasses should be the high priest, promising Alexander that by this means the force of the Jews would be broken, so as there would be no danger of their conspiring. Accordingly he presently built this temple, and soon after died, leaving his son-in-law Manasses, brother to Jaddus the high priest in Jerusalem, high priest in this new temple, which afterwards proved an asylum or sanctuary for any who were accused amongst the Jews at Jerusalem. Thus these two temples stood for about two hundred and twenty years; then Hircanus, a high priest of the Jews at Jerusalem, destroyed it; but still they looked upon the ground as holy, and came thither to perform their devotions. With reference to this superstitious practice, the woman of Samaria saith, Our fathers worshipped (that is, have used time out of mind to worship) in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship; and the Jews hold, that none might worship God by sacrifice any where but at Jerusalem, according to the law, Deu 12:14,26.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain,…. Mount Gerizim, which was just by, and within sight; so that the woman could point to it; it was so near to Shechem, or Sychar, that Jotham’s voice was heard from the top of it thither, Jud 9:6. By the “fathers”, this woman claims as theirs, are meant, not the immediate ancestors of the Samaritans, or those only of some few generations past; but the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose descendants they would be thought to be; and they improved every instance of their worshipping in these parts, in favour of this mountain, being a sacred place. And Abraham did indeed build an altar to the Lord, in the plain of Moreh, Ge 12:6 and which the Jews themselves z own, is the same with Sichem; but their tradition which Theophylact reports, that Isaac was offered upon the Mount of Gerizim, is entirely false: Jacob, it is true, came to Shalem, a city of Shechem; and upon this very spot of ground, the parcel of a field, he bought of the children of Hammor, and gave to his son Joseph, he built an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel,

Ge 33:18. And also upon this very mountain, the tribe of Joseph, with others stood, when they were come over Jordan, and blessed the people; all which circumstances, the Samaritans failed not to make use of in vindication of themselves, and their worship in this mountain; and which this woman might be acquainted with, and might refer unto: but as for any temple, or place of worship on this mount, there was none till of late years, even after the second temple was built. The occasion of it, as Josephus a relates, was this; Manasseh, brother to Jaddua the high priest, having married Nicasso, daughter of Sanballat, governor of Samaria, was on that account driven from the priesthood; he fled to his father-in-law, and related the case to him, expressing great love to his daughter, and yet a regard to his office; upon which Sanballat proposed to build him a temple on Mount Gerizim, for which he did not doubt of obtaining leave of Darius the Persian monarch, and make him an high priest. Darius being overcome by Alexander the Great, Sanballat made his court to him, and petitioned him for the building of this temple, who granted him his request; and accordingly he built one, and Manasseh became the high priest; and many of the profligate Jews, that had married strange wives, or violated the sabbath, or had eaten forbidden meat, came over and joined him. This temple, we are told b, was built about forty years after the second temple at Jerusalem: and stood two hundred years, and then was destroyed by Jochanan, the son of Simeon, the son of Mattathiah, who was called Hyrcanus, and so says Josephus c; it might now be rebuilt: however, this did not put a stop to worship in this place, about which there were great contentions, between the Jews and the Samaritans; of which we have some instances, in the writings of the former: it is said d, that

“R. Jonathan went to pray in Jerusalem, and passed by that mountain (the gloss says, Mount Gerizim), and a certain Samaritan saw him, and said to him, whither art thou going? he replied, that he was going to pray at Jerusalem; he said to him, is it not better for thee to pray in this blessed mountain, and not in that dunghill house? he replied, why is it blessed? he answered, because it was not overflowed by the waters of the flood; the thing was hid from the eyes of R. Jonathan, and he could not return an answer.”

This story is told elsewhere e, with a little variation, and more plainly as to the place, thus;

“it happened to R. Jonathan, that he went to Neapolis, of the Cuthites, or Samaritans, (i.e. to Sichem, for Sichem is now called Naplous,) and he was riding upon an ass, and an herdsman with him; a certain, Samaritan joined himself to them: when they came to Mount Gerizim, the Samaritan said to R. Jonathan, how came it to pass that we are come to this holy mountain? R. Jonathan replied, whence comes it to be holy? the Samaritan answered him, because it was not hurt by the waters of the flood.”

Much the same story is told of R. Ishmael bar R. Jose f. It is to be observed in this account, that the Samaritans call this mountain the holy mountain, they imagined there was something sacred in it; and the blessed mountain, or the mountain of blessing; no doubt, because the blessings were pronounced upon it; though a very poor reason is given by them in the above passages. And they not only urged the above instances of the worship or the patriarchs at, or about this place, which this woman refers to; but even falsified a passage in the Pentateuch, as is generally thought, in favour of this mount; for in De 27:4, instead of Mount Ebal, in the Samaritan Pentateuch Mount Gerizim is inserted. So stood the ease on one side of the question; on the other hand, the Jews pleaded for the temple at Jerusalem.

And ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship; that is, in the temple, there; who urged, and very rightly, that God had chosen that place to put his name, and fix his worship there; and had ordered them to come thither, and bring their offerings and sacrifices, and to keep their passover and other feasts; see De 12:5. This was built by Solomon, according to the command and direction of God, some hundreds of years before Mount Gerizim was made use of for religious worship; and they had not only these things to plead, but also the worship which was here given to God in this place before the temple was built upon it, which they failed not to do. So the Targumist on 2Ch 3:1 enlarges on this head;

“and Solomon began to build the sanctuary of the Lord in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, in the place where Abraham worshipped and prayed in the name of the Lord:

, “this place is the land of worship”; for there all generations worshipped before the Lord; and there Abraham offered up his son Isaac, for a burnt offering, and the word of the Lord delivered him, and a ram was appointed in his stead; there Jacob prayed when he fled from Esau his brother; there the angel of the Lord appeared to David, when he disposed the sacrifice in the place he bought of Ornan, in the floor of Ornan the Jebusite.”

And since, now there were so many things to be said on each side of the question, this woman desires, that seeing Christ was a prophet, he would be pleased to give her his sense of the matter, and inform her which was the right place of worship.

z Misna Sota, c. 7. sect. 5. T. Bab. Sota, fol. 33. 2. a Antiqu. l. 12. c. 1. Vid. Juchasin, fol. 14. 2. b Juchasin, fol. 14. 2. & 15. 1. c Antiqu. l. 13. c. 17. d Bereshit Rabba, sect. 32. fol. 27. 4. & Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 16. 3. e Debarim Rabba, sect. 3. fol. 238. 2. f Bereshit Rabba, sect. 81. fol. 71. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

In this mountain ( ). Jacob’s Well is at the foot of Mount Gerizim toward which she pointed. Sanballat erected a temple on this mountain which was destroyed by John Hyrcanus B.C. 129. Abraham (Ge 12:7) and Jacob (Ge 33:20) set up altars at Shechem. On Gerizim were proclaimed the blessings recorded in De 28. The Samaritan Pentateuch records an altar set up on Gerizim that is on Ebal (over 200 feet higher than Gerizim) in the Hebrew (De 27:4). The Samaritans held that Abraham offered up Isaac on Gerizim. The Samaritans kept up this worship on this mountain and a handful do it still.

And ye say ( ). Emphasis on (ye). Ye Jews.

Ought to worship ( ). “Must worship,” as of necessity (). The woman felt that by raising this theological wrangle she would turn the attention of Jesus away from herself and perhaps get some light on the famous controversy. in John is always worship, not just respect.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Our fathers. Probably meaning the ancestors of the Samaritans, as far back as the building of the temple on Mount Gerizim in the time of Nehemiah. This temple had been destroyed by John Hyrcanus, 129 B. C., but the place remained holy, and to this day the Samaritans yearly celebrate there the feast of the Passover. See the graphic description of Dean Stanley, who was present at the celebration (” Jewish Church, ” vol. 1, Appendix 3).

This mountain. Gerizim, at the foot of which lies the well. Here, according to the Samaritan tradition, Abraham sacrificed Isaac, and met Melchisedek. By some convulsion of nature, the central range of mountains running north and south, was cleft open to its base at right angles to its own line of extension, and the deep fissure thus made is the vale of Nablus, as it appears to one coming up the plain of El Mukhna from Jerusalem. The valley is at least eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, and the mountains on either hand tower to an elevation of about one thousand feet more. Mount Ebal is on the north, Gerizim on the south, and the city between. Near the eastern end the vale is not more than sixty rods wide; and there, I suppose, the tribes assembled to hear the “blessings and cursings” read by the Levites (Deuteronomy 27, 28). The panorama seen from the top of Gerizim is about the most extensive and imposing in all Palestine. The summit is a small level plateau. In the midst of the southern end is a sloping rock, said by the Samaritans to be the site of the altar of their temple, and on approaching which they remove their shoes. At the eastern edge of the plateau, a small cavity in the rock is shown as the place on which Abraham offered up Isaac. Ebal is three thousand and seventy – nine feet above the sea – level, and more than two hundred and thirty feet higher than Gerizim. 24 Ought to worship [] . Better, must worship. She puts it as a divine obligation. It is the only true holy place. Compare ver. 24.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain;- (hoi pateras hemon en to orei touto prosekunesan) “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain,” Mt. Gerizim, right here where we are standing, as described, Deu 27:12-13, right here in Samaria, where Abraham built his first altar in the land, Gen 12:6-7; and Jacob did the same 200 years later, Gen 33:18-20. Note her sudden switch from personal matters of sin, guilt, and defilement to the piety of her family lineage, followed by an attempt to put Jesus on defense, over a matter of where God should be worshipped.

2) “And ye say, that in Jerusalem,” (kai humeis legete hoti en lerosolumois) “And you all say that in Jerusalem,” in Judea some 35 miles southward; This is an evasion ploy, a conflict ploy, resorted to by the Samaritan woman, when confronted by her own sinful manner of life. And it was in Jerusalem that God chose for Israel to come for worship as a national worship center, Deu 12:5; 1Ki 8:1 to 1Ki 9:3.

3) “Is the place where men ought to worship.” (estin ho topos hopou proskunein dei) “Is located the place where it behooves one to worship;- She resorted to “our church,” ploy, the issues of prevalent national prejudices, religious ceremonies, and worship places, to avoid the piercing conviction of guilt and shame of sin that Jesus had brought to her heart, 2Ch 6:6-7; 2Ch 12:15-16.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

20. Our fathers. It is a mistaken opinion which some hold, that the woman, finding the reproof to be disagreeable and hateful, cunningly changes the subject. On the contrary, she passes from what is particular to what is general, and, having been informed of her sin, wishes to be generally instructed concerning the pure worship of God. She takes a proper and regular course, when she consults a Prophet, that she may not fall into a mistake in the worship of God. It is as if she inquired at God himself in what manner he chooses to be worshipped; for nothing is more wicked than to contrive various modes of worship without the authority of the word of God.

It is well known that there was a constant dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans about the true rule of worshipping God. Although the Cutheans and other foreigners, who had been brought into Samaria, when the ten tribes were led into captivity, were constrained by the plagues and punishments of God (78) to adopt the ceremonies of the Law, and to profess the worship of the God of Israel, (as we read, 2Kg 17:27😉 yet the religion which they had was imperfect and corrupted in many ways; which the Jews could not all endure. But the dispute was still more inflamed after that Manasseh, son of the high priest John, and brother of Jaddus, had built the temple on mount Gerizzim, when Darius, the last king of the Persians, held the government of Judea by the hand of Sanballat, whom he had placed there as his lieutenant. For Manasseh, having married a daughter of the governor, that he might not be inferior to his brother, made himself a priest there, and procured for himself by bribes as many apostles as he could, as Josephus relates, (Ant. 11:7:2, and 8:2.)

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain. The Samaritans at that time did, as we learn from the words of the woman, what is customary with those who have revolted from true godliness, to seek to shield themselves by the examples of the Fathers. It is certain that this was not the reason which induced them to offer sacrifices there, but after that they had framed a false and perverse worship, obstinacy followed, which was ingenious in contriving excuses. I acknowledge, indeed, that unsteady and thoughtless men are sometimes excited by foolish zeal, as if they had been bitten by a gad-fly, so that when they learn that any thing has been done by the Saints, they instantly seize on the example without any exercise of judgment.

A second fault is still more common, that they borrow the deeds of the Fathers as a cloak to their errors, — and this may be easily seen in Popery. But as this passage is a remarkable proof how absurdly they act who, disregarding the command of God, conform to the examples of the Fathers, we ought to observe in how many ways the world commonly sins in this respect. For it frequently happens that the majority, without discrimination, follow those persons as Fathers who are least of all entitled to be accounted Fathers. Thus in the present day we perceive that the Papists, while with open mouth they declaim about the Fathers, allow no place for Prophets and Apostles, but, when they have mentioned a few persons who deserve to be honored, collect a vast group of men like themselves, or at least come down to more corrupt ages in which, though there did not yet prevail so gross a barbarism as now exists, yet religion and the purity of doctrine had greatly declined. We ought, therefore, carefully to attend to the distinction, that none may be reckoned Fathers but those who were manifestly the sons of God; and who also, by the eminence of their piety, were entitled to this honorable rank. Frequently, too, we err in this respect, that by the actions of the Fathers we rashly lay down a common law; for the multitude do not imagine that they confer sufficient honor on the Fathers, if they do not exclude them from the ordinary rank of men. Thus, when we do not remember that they were fallible men, we indiscriminately mingle their vices with their virtues. Hence arises the worst confusion in the conduct of life; for while all the actions of men ought to be tried by the rule of the Law, we subject the balance to those things which ought to be weighed by it; and, in short, where so much importance is attached to the imitation of the Fathers, the world thinks that there can be no danger in sinning after their example.

A third fault is — a false, and ill-regulated, or thoughtless imitation; (79) that is, when we, though not endued with the same spirit, or authorized by the same command, plead as our example what any of the Fathers did; as for instance, if any private individual resolved to revenge the injuries done to brethren, because Moses did this, (Exo 2:12😉 or if any one were to put fornicators to death, because this was done by Phinehas, (Num 25:7.) That savage fury in slaying their own children originated, as many think, in the wish of the Jews to be like their father Abraham, as if the command, Offer up thy son Isaac, (Gen 22:2,) were a general command, and not rather a remarkable trial of a single man. Such a false imitation ( κακοζηλία) is generally produced by pride and excessive confidence, when men claim more for themselves than they have a right to do; and when each person does not measure himself by his own standard. Yet none of these are true imitators of the Fathers, most of them are apes. That a considerable portion of ancient monachism flowed from the same source will be acknowledged by those who shall carefully examine the writings of the ancients. And, therefore, unless we choose to err of our own accord, we ought always to see what spirit each person has received, what his calling requires, what is suitable to his condition, and what he is commanded to do.

Closely allied to this third fault is another, namely, the confounding of times, when men, devoting their whole attention to the examples of the Fathers, do not consider that the Lord has since enjoined a different rule of conduct, which they ought to follow. (80) To this ignorance ought to be ascribed that huge mass of ceremonies by which the Church has been buried under Popery. Immediately after the commencement of the Christian Church, it began to err in this respect, because a foolish affectation of copying Jewish ceremonies had an undue influence. The Jews had their sacrifices; and that Christians might not be inferior to them in splendor, the ceremony of sacrificing Christ was invented: as if the condition of the Christian Church would be worse when there would be an end of all those shadows by which the brightness of Christ might be obscured. But afterwards this fury broke out more forcibly, and spread beyond all bounds.

That we may not fall into this error, we ought always to be attentive to the present rule. Formerly incense, candles, holy garments, an altar, vessels, and ceremonies of this nature, pleased God; and the reason was, that nothing is more precious or acceptable to Him than obedience. Now, since the coming of Christ, matters are entirely changed. We ought, therefore, to consider what he enjoins on us under the Gospel, that we may not follow at random what the Fathers observed under the Law; for what was at that time a holy observation of the worship of God would now be a shocking sacrilege.

The Samaritans were led astray by not considering, in the example of Jacob, how widely it differed from the condition of their own time. The Patriarchs were permitted to erect altars everywhere, because the place had not yet been fixed which the Lord afterwards selected; but from the time that God ordered the temple to be built on mount Zion, the freedom which they formerly enjoyed ceased. For this reason Moses said,

Hereafter you shall not do every one what appears right in his own eyes, but only what I command you, (Deu 12:8😉

for, from the time that the Lord gave the Law, he restricted the true worship of himself to the requirements of that Law, though formerly a greater degree of liberty was enjoyed. A similar pretense was offered by those who worshipped in Bethel; for there Jacob had offered a solemn sacrifice to God, but after that the Lord had fixed the place of sacrifice at Jerusalem, it was no longer Bethel, the house of God, but Bethaven, the house of wickedness.

We now see what was the state of the question. The Samaritans had the example of the Fathers for their rule: the Jews rested on the commandment of God. This woman, though hitherto she had followed the custom of her nation, was not altogether satisfied with it. By worship we are to understand here not any kind of worship, (for daily prayers might be offered in any place,) but that which was joined with sacrifices, and which constituted a public and solemn profession of religion.

(78) “ Par les playes et punitions de Dieu.”

(79) “ Une fausse imitation, et mal reiglee, ou inconsideree.”

(80) “ A depuis ordonne et commande une autre conduite et maniere de faire, qu’ils ont a suyvre.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(20) Our fathers worshipped.She gives a sudden turn to the conversation. It is not that the question of worship is the all-engrossing problem of her mind, for which she seeks solution at this prophets hands. Such questions hardly came then within the circle of a Samaritan womans thoughts, and this womans life had not been such as to make her an exception to the rule; but the heart, quivering before the eye that reads it as it never before had read itself, shrinks from the light that is let in upon it. She will speak of anything rather than of self. There is the mountain overhanging them, the theme of many a discussion between Samaritan and Jew; she will ask the prophet to decide that question.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

20. Our fathers worshipped It is a great mistake to suppose that she now, by “a womanly dexterity,” changes the discussion to avoid a disagreeable topic. Thou art a prophet, are her thoughts; and if a prophet truly sent from God, thou canst solve this great question between Moriah and Gerizim, of which I, with all Samaritans, have heard from our childhood up. Is salvation of the Jews or of the Samaritans? No expression of deep penitent emotion is indeed recorded; but her testimony in Joh 4:29, and her intense action, 28-30, are full proof that the words of this verse are an earnest inquiry, Is salvation from Samaria or from the Jews ?

In this mountain Pointing doubtless to Gerizim, rising in grandeur before them, and crowned with its ancient temple.

Ye say Here is then the great debate between Our fathers and Ye say; between this mountain and Jerusalem. But if even in this age, when prophecy has long ceased, a true prophet has appeared, then we may get at last some light. Jesus will show her (next verse) that the great debate is coming to an end. Neither Gerizim nor Moriah is the place.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Joh 4:20. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; Whom the woman meant by the appellation offathers, is a point much disputed: they who think that she meant the Ephraimites, from whom the Samaritans pretended their descent, hold that the mountain on which they worshipped was mount Ephraim, wherewas Shiloh, the seat of the tabernacle for several years. Another account, more generally adopted, is to this effect: Sanballat, by the permission of Alexander the Great, had built a temple upon mount Gerizim, for Manasseh his son-in-law, who, for marrying Sanballat’s daughter, was expelled from the priesthood, and from Jerusalem. See Neh 13:28. This was the place where theSamaritans used to worship, in opposition to Jerusalem; and it was so near Sichem, the scene of this history, that a man’s voice might be heard from one to the other; Jdg 9:7. Now as Gerizim was the mount which the woman meant, it will easily appear whom she meant by the fathers who worshipped there. Itis generally known and acknowledged, that the Samaritans, though a mixture of Jews and foreigners,pretended to derive their origin from the patriarchs, especially from Abraham, Jacob, &c. Now it appears from scripture, that Abraham and Jacob erected altars in this place, where also the blessings were pronounced in the time of Joshua; and it is probable, likewise, that it had been a place consecrated to religious worship by the inhabitants of Sichem. See Gen 12:6-7; Gen 33:18; Gen 33:20. Deu 11:29. Jos 8:33.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

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

Ver. 20. Our fathers, &c. ] No sooner doth she acknowledge him a prophet, but she seeks to be satisfied in a case of conscience. Proh stuporem nostrum! Woe to our dulness!

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

20. ] Mount Gerizim, on which once stood the national temple of the Samaritan race. In Neh 13:28 we read that the grandson of the high-priest Eliashib was banished by Nehemiah because he was son-in-law to Sanballat, the Persian satrap of Samaria. Him Sanballat not only received, but (Jos. Antt. xi. 8. 2 4) made him high-priest of a temple which he built on Mount Gerizim. Josephus makes this appointment sanctioned by Alexander, when at Tyre; but the chronology is certainly not accurate, for between Sanballat and Alexander is a difference of nearly a century. This temple was destroyed 200 years after by John Hyrcanus (B.C. 129), see Jos. Antt. xiii. 9. 1; but the Samaritans still used it as a place of prayer and sacrifice, and to this day the few Samaritans resident in Nablus (Sychem) call it the holy mountain, and turn their faces to it in prayer.

They defended their practice by Deu 27:4 , where our reading and the Hebr. and LXX is Ebal, but that of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Gerizim (probably an alteration): also by Gen 12:6-7 ; Gen 13:4 ; Gen 33:18 ; Gen 33:20 ; Deu 11:26 ff.

Our fathers most likely mean not the patriarchs , but the ancestors of the then Samaritans.

] The definite place spoken of Deu 12:5 .

She pauses, having suggested, rather than asked, a question, seeming to imply, ‘Before I can receive this gift of God, it must be decided, where I can acceptably pray for it;’ and she leaves it for Him whom she now recognizes as a prophet, to resolve this doubt.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Joh 4:20 . . Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, Gerizim, at whose base we are standing, etc. On Gerizim were proclaimed the blessings recorded Deu 28 . Sanballat erected on it a rival temple (but see the Bible Dict. and Josephus) which was rased by John Hyrcanus, B.C. 129. A broad flat surface of rock on the top of Gerizim is still held sacred by the few Samaritans who now represent the old race and customs. Especially consult G. A. Smith’s Hist. Geog. , p. 334, who shows that Shechem is the natural centre of Palestine, and adds: “It was by this natural capital of the Holy Land, from which the outgoings to the world are so many and so open, that the religion of Israel rose once for all above every geographical limit, and the charter of a universal worship was given”. may either mean that the place of worship, the temple, is in Jerusalem, or that Jerusalem is itself the place more probably the latter.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

worshipped. App-137.

this mountain. Gerizim. The well was at its foot. (See Deu 27:12.)

men ought = it is necessary.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

20.] -Mount Gerizim, on which once stood the national temple of the Samaritan race. In Neh 13:28 we read that the grandson of the high-priest Eliashib was banished by Nehemiah because he was son-in-law to Sanballat, the Persian satrap of Samaria. Him Sanballat not only received, but (Jos. Antt. xi. 8. 2-4) made him high-priest of a temple which he built on Mount Gerizim. Josephus makes this appointment sanctioned by Alexander, when at Tyre;-but the chronology is certainly not accurate, for between Sanballat and Alexander is a difference of nearly a century. This temple was destroyed 200 years after by John Hyrcanus (B.C. 129), see Jos. Antt. xiii. 9. 1; but the Samaritans still used it as a place of prayer and sacrifice, and to this day the few Samaritans resident in Nablus (Sychem) call it the holy mountain, and turn their faces to it in prayer.

They defended their practice by Deu 27:4, where our reading and the Hebr. and LXX is Ebal, but that of the Samaritan Pentateuch, Gerizim (probably an alteration): also by Gen 12:6-7; Gen 13:4; Gen 33:18; Gen 33:20; Deu 11:26 ff.

Our fathers most likely mean not the patriarchs, but the ancestors of the then Samaritans.

] The definite place spoken of Deu 12:5.

She pauses, having suggested, rather than asked, a question,-seeming to imply, Before I can receive this gift of God, it must be decided, where I can acceptably pray for it; and she leaves it for Him whom she now recognizes as a prophet, to resolve this doubt.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Joh 4:20. , our fathers) The woman forthwith brings forward on this occasion a difficulty, which she seems to have felt somewhile before on a religious point, and is eagerly desirous to be instructed by the prophet. The Lord meets such minds [with light and encouragement]. A desultory question is not always to be censured. By our fathers, the woman means not merely nearer ancestors, but even the patriarchs. For even against the Jews themselves the Samaritans relied on antiquity. Again in their turn the Jews were wont to appeal to the Fathers, ch. Joh 6:31, our Fathers did eat manna in the desert.-, in this) The woman [in saying this] was pointing to Mount Gerizim.-, adored [worshipped]) The whole of religion can be reduced to adoration.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Joh 4:20

Joh 4:20

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain;-Our fathers were the ten tribes that broke away from the house of David under the lead of Jeroboam. These Samaritans claimed these as their fathers, although they were a mixed race descended from them. Jeroboam set up two altars and made

two calves-one in Bethel, the other in Dan. Mount Gerizim is the mount here spoken of.

and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.-That he was a prophet and a Jew brought to her mind at once the difference between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews had persistently charged the Samaritans with forsaking God in leaving Jerusalem and the temple in which God had recorded his name and where he promised to meet his people at the mercy seat, and had made a calf at Bethel and met to worship at Mount Gerizim instead of Jerusalem. Moses says, But unto the place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come. (Deu 12:5). He selected Jerusalem. Solomon built the temple, and God promised there to meet his children. Jehovah said unto him [Solomon], I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. (1Ki 9:3). From this time forward to go elsewhere to worship than to Jerusalem was to forsake God. So the prophets taught and the woman refers to this teaching.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

fathers: Gen 12:6, Gen 12:7, Gen 33:18-20, Deu 27:12, Jos 8:33-35, Jdg 9:6, Jdg 9:7, 2Ki 17:26-33

and ye: Deu 12:5-11, 1Ki 9:3, 1Ch 21:26, 1Ch 22:1, 2Ch 6:6, 2Ch 7:12, 2Ch 7:16, Psa 78:68, Psa 87:1, Psa 87:2, Psa 132:13

Reciprocal: Exo 20:24 – in all places Deu 12:11 – a place Isa 66:1 – where is the house Jer 3:16 – The ark Mat 10:5 – of the Samaritans 1Co 10:1 – our

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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When the woman concluded that Jesus was a Jewish prophet, she also believed he would be informed in all the matters pertaining to the history and religious teaching of the Jews, which explains her remarks in this verse. Our fathers means the early ancestors of the Samaritan race and nation. The mountain referred to by the woman was Gerizim, about 25 or 30 miles north of Jerusalem. Smith’s Bible Dictionary says, “Gerizim was the site of the Samaritan temple, which was built there after the captivity, in rivalry with the temple at Jerusalem.” In the article “Samaritans,” the same Bible Dictionary says the following: “The animosity of the Samaritans became more intense than ever. They are said to have done everything in their power to annoy the Jews. Their own temple on Gerizim they considered to be much superior to that at Jerusalem. Toward the mountain, even after the temple on it had fallen, wherever they were they directed their worship. . . . The law (i. e. the five books of Moses) was their sole code; for they rejected every other book in the Jewish canon” [accepted list of books]. This information from the authentic work of reference, explains the woman’s reference to the two places of worship, and what the Samaritan “fathers,” and the Jewish prophets (of whom she thought Jesus to be one) said about them.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

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

[Worshipped in this mountain.] The story of that Temple on Gerizim, out of Josephus and others, is very well known. It was built in emulation and envy to that at Jerusalem, as of old were Dan and Bethel. Hence that irreconcilable hatred between the two nations, and the apostasy of divers Jews. The Samaritans attributed a certain holiness to the mountain, even after the Temple had been destroyed; but for what reason, they themselves could not well tell. However, for the defence of it, the Samaritan text hath notoriously falsified the words of Moses in Deu 27:4; for whereas the Hebrew hath it, “Ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal “; the Samaritan text and version hath it in mount Gerizim; as I have elsewhere observed.

“R. Jochanan going to Jerusalem to pray, he passed by that mountain [Gerizim]. A certain Samaritan seeing him, asked him, ‘Whither goest thou?’ ‘I am,’ saith he, ‘going to Jerusalem to pray.’ To whom the Samaritan, ‘Were it not better for thee to pray in this holy mountain, than in that cursed house?’ ‘Whence comes this mountain to be so holy?’ saith he: ‘Because (saith the other) it was not overflown by the waters of the deluge.’ ” A doughty reason indeed!

“R. Ismael, the son of R. Joseph, going to Jerusalem to pray, passed by that mountain. A certain Samaritan meeting him, asks, ‘Where art thou going?’ ‘I am going,’ saith he, ‘to Jerusalem, to pray.’ Saith the other, ‘Were it not better for thee to pray in this blessed mountain, than in that cursed place?’ Saith the R., ‘I will tell you what you are like; you are like a dog greedy after carrion: so you when you know that idols are hid under this mountain, as it is said, And Jacob hid them; you are acted with a greedy desire after them.’ They said amongst themselves, ‘Seeing he knows there are idols hidden in this mountain, he will come in the night and steal them away.’ And they consulted together to have killed him, but he, getting up in the night, stole away.”

Somewhat akin to this Temple on Gerizim was that built by Onias in Egypt, the story of which you have in Josephus, and the description of it. Of this Temple also the Gemarists discourse, from whom we will borrow a few things.

“Simeon the just dying, said, ‘Onias my son shall minister in my stead.’ For this, his brother Shimei, being older than he by two years and a half, grew very envious. He saith to his brother, ‘Come hither, and I will teach thee the rule and way of ministering.’ So he puts him on a leathern garment and girds him, and then setting him by the altar, cries out to his brethren the priests, ‘See here what this man hath vowed, and does accordingly perform to his wife, viz., that whenever he ministered in the high priesthood, he would put on her stomacher [pectorale], and be girt about with her girdle.’ ” The Gloss upon the place saith the leathern garment; but Aruch, from Avodah Zarah; saith the stomacher of the heart. What the word in this place should mean is plain enough from the story itself. Shimei, that he might render his brother both ridiculous and odious to the rest of the priests, persuades him to perform his services with his wife’s stomacher, instead of the breastplate of the high priest, and her girdle, instead of that curious one they were wont to be girt with, etc.

The story goes on: “His brethren the priests, upon this, contrive his death; but he, escaping their hands, fled into Alexandria of Egypt; and there building an altar, offered idolatrous sacrifices upon it. These are the words of Meir: but R. Judah tells him the thing was not so: for Onias did not own his brother Shimei to be two years and a half older than himself; but envying him, told him, ‘Come, and I will teach thee the rule and method of thy ministry.’ ” And so, as R. Judah relates the matter, the tables are turned, the whole scene altered; so that Onias persuades his brother Shimei to put on his wife’s stomacher, and gird himself with her girdle; and for that reason the priests do plot the death of Shimei. “But when he had declared the whole matter as it was indeed, then they designed to kill Onias. He therefore flying into Alexandria in Egypt, builds there an altar, and offered sacrifices upon it to the name of the Lord, according as it is said, In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt.”

And now it is at the reader’s choice to determine which of these two Temples, that in Egypt, or this upon Gerizim, is built upon the best foundation; the one, by a fugitive priest, under pretence of a divine prophecy; the other, by a fugitive priest too, under pretence that that mount was the mount upon which the blessings had been pronounced. Let the Jews speak for themselves, whether they believed that Onias, with pure regard to that prophecy, did build his Temple in Egypt; and let every wise man laugh at those that do thus persuade themselves. However, this is certain, they had universally much more favourable thoughts of that in Egypt than of this upon mount Gerizim. Hence that passage in the place before quoted: “If any one say, ‘I devote a whole burnt offering,’ let him offer it in the Temple at Jerusalem; for if he offer it in the Temple of Onias, he doth not perform his vow. But if any one say, ‘I devote a whole burnt offering for the Temple of Onias, though he ought to offer it in the Temple at Jerusalem, yet if he offer it in the Temple of Onias, he acquits himself.’ R. Simeon saith, It is no burnt offering. Moreover, if any one shall say, ‘I vow myself to be a Nazarite,’ let him shave himself in the Temple at Jerusalem; for if he be shaven in the Temple of Onias, he doth not perform his vow. But if he should say, ‘I vow myself a Nazarite, so that I may be shaven in the Temple of Onias,’ and he do shave himself there, he is a Nazarite.”

[And ye say, that in Jerusalem, etc.] what! did not the Samaritans themselves confess that Jerusalem was the place appointed by God himself for his worship? No doubt they could not be ignorant of the Temple which Solomon had built; nor did they believe but that from the times of David and Solomon God had fixed his name and residence at Jerusalem. And as to their preferring their Temple on Gerizim before that in Jerusalem notwithstanding all this, it is probable their boldness and emulation might take its rise from hence, viz., they saw the second Temple falling so short of its ancient and primitive glory; they observed that the divine presence over the ark, the ark itself, the cherubims, the Urim and Thummim, the spirit of prophecy, etc., were no more in that place.

Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Joh 4:20. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men must worship. This mountain is of course Gerizim, near the foot of which they were standing. With this mountain was connected, as she believed, all the religious history of her nation; for in the very Scriptures which the Samaritans possessed (the Pentateuch) the name of Gerizim had been inserted in the place of the holy city of the Jews. She could point to the sacred spot on which their temple had stood, then and in all succeeding ages up to our own time pre-eminently holy ground. Her question was not prompted by mere curiosity or an interest in the settlement of an ancient controversy. It was a question of life and death to her. The claim of the Jews was exclusive. Not only ought men to worship in Jerusalem, but that was the place where men must worship,the only true holy place. One cannot but think that their confident and consistent maintenance of this first principle had long disturbed her mind; and when she saw in the Stranger one who could declare Gods will, she eagerly sought for the resolution of her doubt. As long as she knew not with certainty where was Gods true altar, she had no means of satisfying her religious wants. That her national pride had not stifled every hesitation on such a point as this plainly attests her earnestness: it is no ordinary candour that can look on the supremacy of Gerizim or Jerusalem as an open question. Her words imply a willingness to accept the revelation of the truth, whatever it may be, if only she can learn where with acceptance she may appear before God.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 20

In this mountain; Mount Gerizim. It is interesting, though melancholy, to see how entirely all the great spiritualities of religion are thrown out of her view, by the prominence of this question of her sect,–mere question of ritual.–To worship; referring to public national worship.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

4:20 {3} Our fathers worshipped in this {f} mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

(3) All the religion of superstitious people stands for the most part upon two pillars, but very weak, that is to say, upon the perverted examples of the fathers, and a foolish opinion of outward things: and to refute such errors we have to turn to the word and nature of God.

(f) The name of this mountain is Gerizim, upon which Sanabaletta the Cuthite built a temple with the permission of Alexander of Macedonia, after the victory of Issica: and he made high priest there Manasses his son in law; Josephus, book 11.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

Being a woman of the world she had probably learned that many "religious people" enjoy discussing controversial theological issues. She took the opportunity to divert the conversation, which was becoming uncomfortably convicting, hoping that Jesus would follow her new subject. She must have thought that surely he could not resist the temptation to argue Jewish supremacy in the age-old Samaritan Jewish debate. Moreover since Jesus appeared to have supernatural insight perhaps she could get the true answer to this ancient dilemma from Him.

"There are some people who cannot engage in a religious conversation with a person of a different persuasion without bringing up the points on which they differ." [Note: Bruce, p. 108.]

Perhaps this woman was such a person.

Part of the old controversy involved the proper place of worship. In Deu 12:5 God had said that His people were to seek the place that He would choose among their tribes where He would dwell among them. The Jews, accepting all the Old Testament as authoritative, saw God doing this later when He commanded David to build the temple in Jerusalem (2Sa 7:13; 1Ki 11:13; 1Ki 14:21; 2Ch 6:6; 2Ch 12:13). The Samaritans, who acknowledged only the authority of the Pentateuch, believed that Mount Gerizim near Shechem was the place that God had appointed. They based this belief on the fact that God had told the Israelites to worship Him on Mt. Gerizim after they entered the Promised Land (Deu 11:29-30; Deu 27:2-7; Deu 27:12). Shechem had long associations as a place where God had met with His people. It was where God first revealed Himself to Abraham and where Abraham first built an altar after entering the Promised Land (Gen 12:6-7). It was also where Jacob had chosen to live and had buried his idols after returning from Paddan-aram (Gen 33:18-20; Gen 35:4). [Note: For more information on Samaritan thought, see R. J. Coggins, Samaritans and Jews: The Origins of Samaritanism Reconsidered; and J. Macdonald, The Theology of the Samaritans.]

"They [the Samaritans] had a tradition that Abraham’s offering of Isaac took place on this mountain and they held that it was here that Abraham met Melchizedek. In fact, most of the blessed events in the time of the patriarchs seem to have been linked with Gerizim!" [Note: Morris, p. 237.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)