Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - John 4:10 - 4:10
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Answered and said (apekrithē kai eipen). As often (redundant) in John. The first aorist passive (apekrithē) is deponent, no longer passive in sense.
If thou knewest (ei ēideis). Condition of second class, determined as unfulfilled, ei and past perfect ēideis (used as imperfect) in condition and an and aorist active indicative in conclusion (an ēitēsas kai an edōken, note repetition of an, not always done).
The gift of God (tēn dōrean tou theou). Naturally the gift mentioned in Joh 3:16 (Westcott), the inexpressible gift (2Co 9:15). Some take it to refer to the living water below, but that is another allusion (metaphor) to Joh 3:16. See Eph 4:7 for Paul’s use of both charis and dōrea (from didōmi, to give).
Who it is (tis estin). She only knew that he was a Jew. This Messianic self-consciousness of Jesus is plain in John, but it is early in the Synoptics also.
Living water (hudōr zōn). Running water like a spring or well supplied by springs. This Jacob’s Well was filled by water from rains percolating through, a sort of cistern, good water, but not equal to a real spring which was always preferred (Gen 26:19; Lev 14:5; Num 19:17). Jesus, of course, is symbolically referring to himself as the Living Water though he does not say it in plain words as he does about the Living Bread (Joh 6:51). The phrase “the fountain of life” occurs in Pro 13:14. Jesus supplies the water of life (Joh 7:39). Cf. Rev 7:17; Rev 22:1.