Then said the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
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Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
The woman therefore saith, &c. Therefore in Greek and Hebrew often merely marks the beginning of a sentence. Here, however, it denotes an inference from the preceding question of Christ.
Jesus had asked the woman for water; the woman therefore replied to His question, How is it, &c. The woman recognised Jesus to be a Jew from His dress and speech, which Christ, out of good feeling to His country, accommodated to that of his fellow-countrymen.
For the Jews, &c, i.e, have no intercourse, do not use the same bed, or cup, or vessel, as though they were impure and abominable on account of their schism. These words may be either those of the Evangelist, or of the Samaritan woman. In either case they are very appropriate. Learn from this example how we ought to shun the friendship, looks, and conversation of heretics; for "their speech doth eat as doth a cancer," saith S. Paul.
And whence did she suppose Him to be a Jew? From His dress, perhaps, and from His dialect. Observe, I pray you, how considerate the woman was. If there was need of caution, Jesus needed it, not she. For she does not say, The Samaritans have no dealings with the Jews, but, The Jews do not admit the Samaritans. Yet still, although free herself from blame, when she supposed that another was falling into it she would not even so hold her peace, but corrected, as she thought, what was done unlawfully. Perhaps some one may ask how it was that Jesus asked drink of her, when the law did not permit it. If it be answered that it was because He knew beforehand that she would not give it, then for this very reason He ought not to have asked. What then can we say? That the rejecting such observances as these was now a matter of indifference to Him; for He who induced others to do them away, would much more Himself pass them by. Not that which goes in, says He, defiles a man, but that which goes o...
Forefather, who was honourably entertained, in the delightful abode of Paradise, despised Thy divine and saving commandment, and was judged unworthy of that life-giving place, and mingling his seed with the bastard off-shoots of sin, he rendered it very weak;-but Thou, O Lord, of Thine own self, and of Thine ineffable love toward the creature of Thine hands, hast confirmed Thy mercy toward us, and, pitying our estrangement from Thee, hast moved Thyself at the sight of our degradation
Perhaps by His appearance, dress, manner, and speech, the Samaritan woman judged the Lord to be a Jew, which is why she says to Him, How is it that Thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me? See how circumspect she is. If there were need of caution, the Lord needed it, not her. For it was not that the Samaritans had no dealings with the Jews, but, as she says, that the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. None the less, the woman did not keep silent, but out of her concern that the Lord was doing something unlawful for Him to do, she attempted to correct Him. The Lord does not show Who He is until the woman's virtue, prudence, and conscientiousness have first been revealed. Then He begins to speak to her of more profound things. If thou knewest, He says, the gift of God, which means, if you knew what eternal and incorruptible things God gives, and if you also knew that I am God, Who is able to give you these things, you would have asked for and received living water. The Lord calls t...
