{"id":2731,"date":"2021-05-14T10:00:30","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T18:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=2731"},"modified":"2021-05-14T10:02:17","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T18:02:17","slug":"2731","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=2731","title":{"rendered":"Devotion John 4:1-16 All Remembered, All Pursued Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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John 4:1-16\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John\u2014\u00a02\u00a0although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.\u00a03\u00a0So he left Judea\u00a0and went back once more to Galilee.\u00a0 4\u00a0Now he had to go through Samaria.\u00a05\u00a0So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph.\u00a06\u00a0Jacob\u2019s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.\u00a0 7\u00a0When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her,\u00a0\u201cWill you give me a drink?\u201d\u00a08\u00a0(His disciples had gone into the town\u00a0to buy food.)\u00a0 9\u00a0The Samaritan woman said to him, \u201cYou are a Jew and I am a Samaritan\u00a0woman. How can you ask me for a drink?\u201d (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)\u00a0 10\u00a0Jesus answered her,\u00a0\u201cIf you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.\u201d\u00a0 11\u00a0\u201cSir,\u201d the woman said, \u201cyou have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?\u00a012\u00a0Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well\u00a0and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?\u201d\u00a0 13\u00a0Jesus answered,\u00a0\u201cEveryone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,\u00a014\u00a0but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.\u00a0Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water\u00a0welling up to eternal life.\u201d\u00a0 15\u00a0The woman said to him, \u201cSir, give me this water so that I won\u2019t get thirsty\u00a0and have to keep coming here to draw water.\u201d\u00a0 16\u00a0He told her,\u00a0\u201cGo, call your husband and come back.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

What is it that was between the Jews and the Samaritans?\u00a0\u00a0After all we can see that Samaria is in the middle of Israel between Judea and Galilee.\u00a0\u00a0They are all of the same country, shouldn\u2019t they love each other?<\/div>\n
\"Israel<\/a><\/div>\n
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\u00a0What we most often hear is that the Jews detested the Samaritans and considered them impure.\u00a0 Impure because they had intermarried with non-Jews which was a violation of God\u2019s command.\u00a0 (Deuteronomy 7:3<\/b>)\u00a0 We understand that the Lord had very good reason for not condoning intermarriage.\u00a0 We also understand that the command carries on in our time, not by race or ethnicity, but still does by faith.\u00a0 (2 Corinthians 6:14<\/b>)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

To God what is most important is our eternal life.\u00a0\u00a0He knows that we can allow the affairs of this life to blind us to what is most important, and that is our relationship with God.\u00a0\u00a0He knew that the Jews intermarrying with others would very likely bring idolatry and false doctrine into their lives.\u00a0\u00a0Since their relationship with Him (and that means their eternal salvation), the Lord was protecting the Jews.\u00a0\u00a0The same way He is protecting His children today.\u00a0\u00a0We ought not be quick to condemn the Samaritans since don\u2019t we also disobey the Lord\u2019s command to not intermarry with non-believers?\u00a0\u00a0It is not a rarity among those who are called by His name, but rather an all too common error.\u00a0\u00a0Even single parents who are believers can set bad examples of this.\u00a0\u00a0Praise God who forgives us.\u00a0\u00a0Yet we must remember that God has no need to forgive something that is not a sin.\u00a0\u00a0We wonder why our children are drawn away from the Lord while we pay for their weddings to non-believers and send them to schools that tear away at their faith.\u00a0\u00a0Okay, I know what is written may bother some who will confirm that other people\u2019s kids sin while they excuse the sins of their own kids.\u00a0\u00a0Yet too, too often those who do such things then accuse God of bringing suffering after they do not follow His rules.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s not excuse sin (after all sin is an offence to our loving and good God) and should we sin, let\u2019s quickly repent, ask for fd try to not repeat our sins.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s love God more than anything or anyone else.\u00a0\u00a0Being right with God is better than any other blessing.<\/p>\n

Concerning the intermarriages of the Samaritans, much of this was because ruling Assyria forced it upon the captive northern kingdom of Israel.\u00a0\u00a0Their marriages were often forced upon them by the reigning government and that brought about what the Lord wanted to protect them from, idol worship and false Gods.\u00a0\u00a0When God says \u201cdon\u2019t\u201d to us it is for our benefit.\u00a0\u00a0Like a parent teaching a young child not to play in the street, it is for the child\u2019s protection.\u00a0\u00a0So the \u201cdon\u2019ts\u201d and \u201cdo\u2019s\u201d from God to us are for our protection, physical and importantly, spiritual.<\/p>\n

During the Babylonian captivity when Nehemiah and Ezra were used by God to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem the Samaritans opposed their efforts.\u00a0\u00a0Things may have been different if they sided with the efforts to rebuild the temple.\u00a0\u00a0The books of Ezra and Nehemiah report on the rebuilding of the temple.\u00a0\u00a0This is also documented from period documents called the Elephantine Papyri.\u00a0\u00a0Attached is a copy of one of these documents from about 407 BC.<\/div>\n
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\"Elephantine<\/a><\/div>\n
A further schism between the Jews and Samaritans is that that the Samaritans only used the Torah and not what we would call the full Old Testament that includes the prophets.\u00a0 Also there is evidence that a sect of the Samaritans were polytheistic.\u00a0 Definitely in defiance of the third of the ten commandments (Exodus 20:3<\/b>) and of what was sacrosanct to the Jews that \u201cGod is one\u201d and there is no other. \u00a0(Deuteronomy 4:3<\/b>)<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Furthering the animosity between these two peoples was that the Jews insisted the legitimacy of the temple in Jerusalem while the Samaritans had built a temple on Mt. Gerazin where they claimed was the location for true worship of God.\u00a0\u00a0We see evidence of this in\u00a0John 4:20<\/b>.<\/div>\n
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\"Mt.<\/a><\/div>\n

Though mostly all Jews looked down upon the Samaritans (who returned the animosity back to the Jew) Jesus showed that He had come to also be their Savior, which was surprising to His disciples and a point of contention to the Jews.\u00a0 In\u00a0John 4:21-24\u00a0<\/b>Jesus taught the Samaritan woman at the well that the Samaritan do not understand the truth but the Jews did. (Remember they did not hold to the whole truth of God.)\u00a0 But then He said to her\u00a0\u201cYet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.\u00a024<\/a>God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0In saying this He was revealing that a whole new truth was being revealed through Him as was foretold in\u00a0Ezekiel 36:26-27<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0Joel 2:28<\/b>.\u00a0 God will give them a new heart that loves and serves Him.\u00a0 The way of worshipping God has moved from following external laws to being guided by the Holy Spirit that lives within.\u00a0 Jesus moved us from a relationship struggling to obey rules to a place where God within us allows us to live out His will from a changed heart within.\u00a0 Barriers between God and man and between man and man are torn down and peace shall be between God and us and between us with each other.\u00a0 Praise God!\u00a0 Peace begins with Jesus. (Isaiah 9:6<\/b>)\u00a0 His peace is simple to have.\u00a0 Love God, through Jesus, with all that are and love each other.\u00a0 Praise God who, for all, fully made the way!\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will Hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has\u00a0shown you, Oh man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; and what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of you, but\u00a0to do justly, to love\u00a0mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.<\/i><\/p>\n

Numbers 6:24-26<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0bless you and keep you; 25\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0make His face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26\u00a0The\u00a0Lord\u00a0turn His face\u00a0toward you and give you peace.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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John 4:1-16\u00a0–\u00a0Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John\u2014\u00a02\u00a0although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples.\u00a03\u00a0So he left Judea\u00a0and went back once more to Galilee.\u00a0 4\u00a0Now he had to go through Samaria.\u00a05\u00a0So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[129,1872,2257,705,103,2551,100,94,1874,17],"class_list":["post-2731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspirations","tag-corinthians","tag-deuteronomy","tag-exodus","tag-ezekiel","tag-isaiah","tag-joes","tag-john","tag-micah","tag-numbers","tag-psalm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2731"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2736,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions\/2736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}