John 4:5,6 So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar

So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

(5) So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.  Jesus came to Sychar, which was called Shechem in Old Testament times.  This was the place where Dinah was defiled after Jacob had brought his children back into the land after his service to Laban in Padan Aram. Shechem lies in the valley between Mt. Ebal and Mt. Gerizim; these mountains would later (during the time of Joshua ) become the two mountains from which the Children of Israel would declare the blessings and cursings prescribed by Moses.  Today Sychar is the modern city of Nablus.  Review the Biblical ruins of Shechem at:

 http://www.bibleplaces.com/shechem.htm





Mount Gerizim, left - Shechem, center - Mount Ebal, right - tb070507660-bibleplaces

Nablus 2013 showing ancient walls (Shechem/Sychar)

The Old Testament does not tell us the location of the particular plot of ground given by Jacob (Israel) to Joseph.  The Scriptures do inform us that Manasseh and Ephraim were the heirs of Joseph's portion in the division of Canaan among the Twelve Tribes.  Shechem lies on the border between the two parcels given to Joseph's sons.

 

The only reference to a specific plot of land is found in Genesis 48.  Then Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.  Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow." - Genesis 48:21,22



Shechem in the land given to Joseph

(6a) Now Jacob’s well was there.  Genesis 33 documents Jacob's purchase of this site from the city's namesake.  Then Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan Aram; and he pitched his tent before the city. And he bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred pieces of money. - Genesis 33:18,19

For more than two thousand years a particular well at the base of Mt. Gerizim has been identified as Jacob's Well.  The Church Father Jerome mentioned, in the fourth century, that a Christian church had been built over the site of the well.  This first church was destroyed by the sixth century, and a Byzantine style church was then built by Justinian to replace it.  The second church was also destroyed prior to the crusaders' occupation of Nablus in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.  In 1175 A.D. a crusader church was built over the well, which was destroyed only a decade later - most likely due to Saladin's campaign.

At the onset of the Zionist Movement, artist David Roberts visited the Holy Land and sketched the well with Mts. Gerizim and Ebal in the background.

Jacobs Well at Shechem April 17th 1839 - David Roberts

Jacob's Well c. 1900-1920 - View looking towards Mt. Gerazim - Library of Congress



Jacob's Well  Nablaus-Shechem c. 1900-1920 -- Library of Congress collection

Around the 1930's another Christian Church was built over Jacob's well, which is still in use today.





Jacob's_Well_1934

(6b) Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well.  It was about the sixth hour.  Jesus arrived at Sychar around noon.  Sychar was roughly 40 miles away from Aenon.  This distance indicates that Jesus would have reached Sychar on the second day of His journey if He had traveled at a brisk pace.  This conclusion is also in keeping with the premise that His presence was needed in the area of Galilee, warranting such urgency that He would travel through Samaria - rather than taking the Jew's preferred route along the Jordan River Valley.

 

John's Gospel primarily focuses on the deity of Christ.  But the fact that Jesus was wearied from the journey reminds us of the humanity of Christ.  As God incarnate, Jesus experienced the natural restrictions and limitations of the human body.  This exposure to the natural state was, no doubt, for our benefit; so that we might comprehend that when Jesus was scourged, beaten, disfigured, and crucified He felt every blow; that He felt every hair being ripped from His beard - every stripe from the whip, every blow with the rod, each nail in his hands and feet; and the sensation of being pulled apart on the cross, as David foretold in the 22nd Psalm.

 

I am poured out like water,
And all My bones are out of joint;
My heart is like wax;
It has melted within Me.

My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
And My tongue clings to My jaws;
You have brought Me to the dust of death. - Psalms 22:14,15

 

How else could we grasp that the horrible debt for all of our sins has been paid in full, unless the punishment that was due for the sins of man-kind was poured out on a kind-of-man?  Upon the God-man, Christ Jesus.  For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. - Hebrews 4:15

John 4:1-4 He needed to go through Samaria

Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  But He needed to go through Samaria.

(1) Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John  We were told in the 25th and 26th verses of John Chapter Three that John's disciples were speaking with the Jews about purification.  At that time they announced to the Baptist, "Behold, He[Jesus] is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"  We do not know whether Jesus learned this information from John, his disciples, or the Jews who had come to question John about his baptism.  But certainly Jesus may have been aware of their knowledge simply due to His omniscience as the Son of God who knows all things.

(2) (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples)   We are given no direct explanation as to why Jesus did not baptize, but it is supposed that He did not want to honor any individual by such an exclusive privilege, which might lead to the formation of an exalted and separate group.  The first-century church at Corinth exemplified this negative human potential which the Master wisely averted by His reservation from performing the baptisms Himself.

 

For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.  Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ."  Is Christ divided?  Was Paul crucified for you?  Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?  I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. - 1st Corinthians 1:11-15

(3) He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.  At the close of the previous chapter, John had recorded Jesus' location as the area of Aenon near Salim.  The most direct route back to the Sea of Galilee would have been to follow the Jordan River.  However, the fastest route to the area of Nazareth would have been to travel through the mountain pass to Shechem, and then to proceed along the eastern edge of the interior mountain ridge to Nazareth.

 

Aenon to Shechem - Base map from Moody Atlas of Bible Lands

(4) But He needed to go through Samaria.   Due to the traditional animosity between the Jews and the Samaritans, it is reasonable to conclude that Jesus needed to return to the proximity of His hometown; and, that timeliness was of some importance.  A basic knowledge of the history of Samaria is necessary to fully understand the narrative of the following verses.  The excerpt below will suffice.  Click the link for a broader discussion from the Pulpit Commentary.

 

[The antagonism commenced then was deepened into a deadly rivalry by the erection of a temple to Jehovah on Mount Gerizim ( B.C. 409), and by Manasseh, brother of the high priest of Judah, being driven from Jerusalem by his refusal to renounce Sanballat's daughter, and by his becoming high priest of the heretical temple. This temple on Gerizim, in close proximity with the site of Shechem, the abode of the first patriarchs, gave dignity and solidity to some of their traditions and claims; and the modifications they had introduced into the text of the Pentateuch in their celebrated version of it helped to aggravate the schism between the two peoples. The district of country was held during the quarrels of the Ptolemies and Seleucidae alternately by both. Samaritan hatred of the Jews led them to purchase peace during the cruel oppression of Judah under Antiochus Epiphanes, by dedicating their temple to Zeus (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 12:05, 5), and again by siding with the Syrians against the Maccabees. Their temple was destroyed by John Hyrcanus, B.C. 130, and its ruins only were visible in the time of Christ. The city of Sebaste was built by Herod, on the site of the city of Samaria, and Flavia Neapolis, now called Nablous, was erected on the site or close neighbourhood of the ancient Shechem. There were mutual recriminations between Jews and Samaritans, which led to strained relations and fierce condemnation, and yet, strange to say, the rabbis did not treat the land as "unclean" (Edersheim, 'Life of Jesus the Messiah,' bk. 3, 100, 7), and consequently the disciples were not precluded from purchasing articles of food from the Samaritan village. They were the "foolish people," "abhorred" of devout Jews (Ecclus. 50, 25, 26); and Rabbi Chuda treated them as heathens, yet Simon ben Gamaliel regarded them as Israelites, and the 'Mishnah' shows that in many of their customs they resembled the Jews.] - Pulpit Commentary