John 4:3-15, The Living Water will spring up into everlasting life.

Jesus was going to Galilee through Samaria

In the last session we saw that Jesus was giving water baptism to people, including to his disciples. When Pharisees came to know about it, Jesus didn't stop it, but baptized people by his disciples. Then, he left Judaea to go to Galilee. "John 4:3 He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. 4 And he must needs go through Samaria. 5 Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph." Samaria was not a village or town by itself, and it was like a small state or a big town that contains a few more villages within. So, the surrounding small towns also called as Samaria. Jerusalem was the capital of the kingdom of Israel. When King Solomon died, his son Rehoboam became king. At his time the kingdom was split into two. God took ten tribes and gave them to another man called Jeroboam. They kept the name 'kingdom of Israel'; but, Samaria became their capital. Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, got only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. They kept the capital at Jerusalem, but the name became kingdom of Judah. However, at the time of Jesus, both kingdoms were gone, and Romans were ruling them. King Herod was under Caesar, taking care of a few affairs of the Jews. Samaria was between Judaea and Galilee, so people pass through Samaria, in order to go from one place to the other. Jesus was passing through Samaria, on his way to Galilee. There he went into the village Sychar, there was a property that Jacob has given to Joseph, and Jacob's well was in that piece of land. "6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. 8 (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)" Jesus went to the well, being tired because of the journey, sat by the well. It was midday, 12 O'clock. His disciple went to get lunch, and he was alone. "7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink." A woman came to draw water, and Jesus asked her to give some water to drink.

Were the Samaritans the part of the Kingdom of Israel.

She was a big mouth lady and there was a conversations about Samaritans and Jews. So, let us see who the Samaritans were at the time of Jesus. We just saw that Samaria was the capital of the kingdom of Israel, and they were 10 tribes of Israel. Why do they have no connections with the Jews now? They are supposed to be the children of Jacob! Let us look at the bible history. The people of Israel became ungodly. God repeatedly warned them, but they did not listen. They worshipped heathen gods, walked in the statutes of the heathen, committed secret sins, built high places in all their cities for strange gods, showed incense to their idols, sacrificed their own children to them, and so on. The list of their sins are in 2 Kings 17:7-22. It is a long list. Because of the unstopping continued sins of Israel, God gave them up to Assyria. "2 Kings 17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, (king of Israel) the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor by the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 20 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. 23 Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day." So, Israel was taken, and they were relocated in a few towns in Assyria. After that, there is no record to say that they came back to Israel. So, apparently those ten tribes are lost. Present day Israelis are just Jews, which belong to the kingdom of Judah, who were of Judah and Benjamin, who came back from the exile of the kingdom of Judah, but not from the kingdom of Israel. All Israelis were removed from Samaria. No more descendents of Abraham were left there. "24 And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. (So, Assyrians became the occupants of Samaria) 25 And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they feared not the LORD: therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which slew some of them. "In verses 26 & 27 they reported this to Assyrian king and he told them to teach the way of God to them, so that they may worship the God of Abraham and the lions will not kill them anymore. "28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD." So, the Assyrians have learned to worship the God of Abraham also. But, they never left other gods. So, Samaritans were not Jews, but they were Assyrians worshiping the God of Israel. Jesus also referred them as Gentiles. So, Samaria became a Gentile city, but they worshiped God of Israel.