Since Jacob’s well was thereJacob's well is a significant historical and geographical landmark in the region of Samaria, near the town of Sychar. It is traditionally associated with the patriarch Jacob, who is said to have dug the well. This location holds deep historical and religious significance for both Jews and Samaritans, as it connects to the patriarchal narratives found in Genesis. The well symbolizes God's provision and faithfulness to His people. It is a tangible link to the past, reminding the people of God's covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The well's presence in this narrative sets the stage for Jesus' interaction with the Samaritan woman, highlighting the continuity of God's work from the Old Testament to the New Testament.
Jesus, weary from His journey
This phrase emphasizes the humanity of Jesus, who, though fully divine, experienced physical limitations and fatigue. His weariness underscores the reality of the Incarnation, where the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). It also reflects the humility of Christ, who willingly subjected Himself to human experiences and limitations. This moment of weariness serves as a reminder of Jesus' empathy and understanding of human struggles, as He experienced them firsthand. It also foreshadows His ultimate sacrifice, where He would endure suffering and exhaustion on the cross for the salvation of humanity.
sat down by the well
Jesus sitting by the well is a deliberate act that sets the stage for His encounter with the Samaritan woman. In the cultural context of the time, wells were common gathering places, especially for women who came to draw water. By sitting at the well, Jesus positions Himself in a place where He can engage with the local community, breaking social norms and barriers. This act demonstrates His intentional outreach to those marginalized by society, such as the Samaritans, who were often despised by the Jews. It also symbolizes Jesus as the source of living water, offering spiritual refreshment and eternal life to all who come to Him.
It was about the sixth hour
The sixth hour, according to Jewish timekeeping, corresponds to around noon. This detail is significant because it was unusual for women to draw water at this time due to the heat of the day. The Samaritan woman's presence at the well during this hour suggests she may have been avoiding the other women of the town, possibly due to her social status or personal circumstances. This timing highlights the divine appointment of Jesus' encounter with her, as He reaches out to someone who is isolated and in need of His message of grace and truth. The sixth hour also connects to other significant events in the Gospel of John, such as the crucifixion, where Jesus' sacrifice brings about the ultimate fulfillment of His mission to offer living water to all.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
JesusThe central figure of the New Testament, the Son of God, who is both fully divine and fully human. In this passage, His humanity is emphasized as He experiences physical weariness.
2.
Jacob's WellA significant historical and spiritual site, associated with the patriarch Jacob. It symbolizes God's provision and faithfulness to His people.
3.
SamariaThe region where this event takes place, known for its historical tensions between Jews and Samaritans. This setting highlights Jesus' breaking of social and cultural barriers.
4.
The Sixth HourRefers to noon, a time when the sun is at its peak, emphasizing the physical exhaustion Jesus felt from His journey.
Teaching Points
The Humanity of JesusJesus' weariness reminds us of His full humanity. He understands our physical limitations and struggles, offering us comfort and empathy.
Breaking Cultural BarriersJesus' presence in Samaria and His interaction with the Samaritan woman (later in the chapter) demonstrate His mission to reach all people, regardless of cultural or ethnic divisions.
The Significance of Sacred PlacesJacob's Well serves as a reminder of God's faithfulness and provision throughout generations. It encourages us to reflect on the spiritual heritage and promises we have in Christ.
The Importance of RestJesus' decision to rest by the well underscores the importance of taking time to rest and recharge, even in the midst of ministry and service.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of John 4:6?
2.How does Jesus' weariness in John 4:6 demonstrate His humanity and relatability?
3.What can we learn from Jesus resting by Jacob's well in John 4:6?
4.How does John 4:6 connect to other instances of Jesus' physical needs?
5.How can we apply Jesus' example of rest in our busy lives?
6.What does Jesus' choice to rest teach us about balancing work and rest?
7.Why was Jesus weary in John 4:6 if He is divine?
8.What does Jacob's well symbolize in John 4:6?
9.How does John 4:6 reflect Jesus' humanity?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from John 4?
11.How can we verify the historical or archaeological existence of Jacob’s well mentioned in John 4:6?
12.Why is the Samaritan woman unnamed, leaving no external historical record to corroborate the event in John 4?
13.What does the Bible say about fatigue?
14.How can we find strength in weakness through Christ?What Does John 4:6 Mean
Since Jacob’s well was there• The mention of Jacob roots the scene in Israel’s sacred history, reminding readers that God’s covenant faithfulness spans generations (Genesis 33:19–20;John 4:12).
• By recording a specific landmark, Scripture underlines its own historical reliability. The well is not metaphorical; it is a literal place that can be located, affirming that the gospel events unfolded in real geography.
• Jacob dug wells for both physical survival and future inheritance (Genesis 26:18; 49:24). In the same space, Jesus will soon offer “living water” that satisfies eternally (John 4:14), fulfilling what the patriarchs foreshadowed.
Jesus, weary from His journey• “Weary” displays the genuine humanity of the incarnate Son. Though fully God, He “shared in our humanity” (Hebrews 2:14) and “was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
• His fatigue reveals the servant heart prophesied inIsaiah 53:3 and modeled inPhilippians 2:7, “but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.”
• Because Jesus knows exhaustion firsthand, He is a compassionate High Priest who understands every strain we carry (Matthew 11:28–29).
Sat down by the well• Sitting signals purposeful pause. The Shepherd stops at the very place where thirsty people come, illustratingLuke 19:10, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
• Wells were social centers. By choosing this seat, Jesus places Himself within easy reach of the outcast woman who soon arrives (John 4:7).
• The posture pictures availability: “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20). Anyone may approach Him without barrier.
It was about the sixth hour• The sixth hour (noon) is the heat of the day. A woman drawing water then suggests avoidance of crowds, yet Jesus is already there, proving divine appointment over human timetables (Proverbs 16:9).
• Noon in John’s Gospel also foreshadows the cross; at “about the sixth hour” Pilate presented Jesus, “Behold your King!” (John 19:14). The One who asks for water will soon pour out His blood.
• High noon’s brightness contrasts with the moral darkness Jesus dissolves: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness” (John 8:12).
summaryJohn 4:6 weaves place, humanity, purpose, and timing into a single verse. Jacob’s well grounds the story in covenant history; Jesus’ weariness reveals His true humanity; His decision to sit manifests intentional grace toward the thirsty soul; the sixth-hour setting highlights a divinely scheduled encounter in the full light of day. Together these details show a Savior who steps into real space and time to meet real people with real needs, offering living water that only He can give.
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Jacob's well is one of the few spots about the position of which all travellers are agreed. Jesus, passing from south to west would pass up the valley of
Mochna until the road turns sharp to the west, to enter the valley of Sichem between Ebal and Gerizim. Here is Jacob's field, and in the field is Jacob's well. It is dug in the rock, and is about 9 feet in diameter. The older travellers described it as more than 100 feet deep, and with several feet of water. Modern travellers have generally found it dry. Wilson describes it, in 1843, as only 75 feet deep.
Sat thus on the well.--Better,was sitting thus at the well. The words are one of the instances of exact knowledge which meet us in this Gospel. The tense is the descriptive imperfect. He was thus sitting when the woman came. He thus recalls the picture as it was impressed and remained fixed in the writer's mind. He saw Him, wearied by the noontide journey, sitting thus by the well, while they went on to the city to procure food. The reality of this fatigue, as one of the instances witnessing to the reality of His human nature, is important.
About the sixth hour--i.e., as elsewhere in St. John, following the ordinary mode of counting, about 12 o'clock. (Comp. Note onJohn 1:39.) It is contended, on the other hand, that this was not the usual time for women to resort to the wells to draw water, but the narrative perhaps implies an unusual hour, as it speaks of only one woman there.
Verse 6. -
Now Jacob's well wasthere; more literally,
now there was a spring there, Jacob's. The word generally translated "well" is
φρέαρ, the representative of
בְּאֵר,
puteus; but
πηγή, the word here used, corresponds with
עַיִן,
fons. In vers. 11, 12 the word
φρέαρ is used of the same place. To the present day this indubitable site goes by both names. This district abounds in springs (
Deuteronomy 8:7), and the digging of this deep well was a work of supererogation, such as might be performed by a stranger in the land. The well is indeed fed by fountains of water in the neighbourhood. It has been known as Jacob's well by a continuous tradition, and is situated in the plain of Mukhhan, under the rough sides of Gerizim, just beyond the spot where the plain is entered almost at right angles by the eastern end of the vale of Shechem. The latter vale is constituted by the two mountain ridges of Gerizim on the south and Ebal on the north. Nablous, or Shechem, is not visible from the well of Sychar, being hidden by the spur of Gerizim from view, and higher up the valley of Shechem are the present ruins of Sebastich or Samaria proper. Dean Stanley said it was one of the most beautiful spots in Palestine. Sychar lies half a mile to the north of the traditional well. The well, two hundred years ago, was declared by Maundrell to be a hundred and five feet deep, and built of solid masonry. In 1866 Lieutenant Anderson found it seventy-five feet deep, and quite dry. It is nine or ten feet in diameter; and it is one of the most indubitable spots where we may feel certain that the feet of the blessed Lord have trod. Efforts are now being made by the Palestine Exploration Society to protect and restore the well.
Jesustherefore, being wearied (
κοπιάω is "to labour unto weariness," from
κόπος, exhausting toil)
with his journey. A long, exhausting march told upon him, and he felt the weakness of our humanity. Thoma suggests that, because the woman that Jacob found at the well was Rachel, the mother of Joseph, the Samaritans' special patriarch, and because Leah was the mother of Levi and Judah, and her name means "wearied," so Jesus is represented as weary with his journey unto the home of Rachel! It is far more important to notice that the author of this Gospel, whose main idea was that Jesus is "the only begotten Son of the Father," "the Word made flesh," yet impresses upon us continually his realization of the full humanity, the definite, concrete human existence of Jesus. His life was no phantasm of the imagination, no mere docetic manifestation, as the Tubingen school attribute to the Johannine Christ, but veritable man. This Gospel alone records his presence and miracle at Cana, his travel-worn sympathy with our weakness, his making clay with spittle, his weeping over the grave of a friend, his thirst upon the cross, the blood that issued from his wounded side, and the obvious physical reality of his risen body, and thus furnishes the Church with the grounds on which the apostle maintained his Divine humanity.
Jesuswas seated thus - or,
sat thus;
i.e. wearied, exhausted -
on the well; or on the low parapet of the well, which protected its mouth, he sat there comparatively, if not quite, alone. The position of the word "thus" after "sat" would, in classic Greek, make the
οὕτως mean "simply, without other preoccupation;" but there is no logical reason to deprive the
οὕτως of its full meaning (Hengstenberg). The Lord, taking his seat by this memorable spot, rich in varied associations, becomes at once a type of the richer and diviner supply of life which he is able and ready to dispense to mankind. The weariness and waiting of the Lord at the well was a sublime hint of the exhaustless supply of grace which was ever flowing from the broken heart of the Son of God.
It wasabout the sixth hour. The author is remarkable for his repeated mention of the hours at which some of the most memorable crises of his life took place, and thus gives a vivid impression of reality and of the presence of the eyewitness. He must himself have waited by the side of the Lord, and overheard the conversation which followed, just as he did the conversation with Nicodemus. Great difference of opinion prevails as to his method of computing time;
i.e. whether he adopted the Jewish computation, from sunrise to sunset into twelve variable hours, or the Roman method of computation, from midnight to midday, from noon to midnight, into twelve hours of equal length. Some difficulties are reduced by the latter hypothesis (see M'Clellan and Westcott, 'Additional Notes to
John 19;' Edersheim,
l.c., 1:405; Moulton,
in loco; Townson, 'Discourses of the Four Gospels,' p. 215). The hour referred to would then be
about six o'clock in the evening, the very time when purchases would be made, and when women are in the habit of drawing water. The difficulty that presents itself is the brevity of the time remaining for all that happens as described in vers. 27-38, broad daylight being almost presupposed in ver. 35. Still, if "about the sixth hour" was five o'clock, even in January there would be possible time for the conversation, for the return of the disciples, and also for the approach of the Samaritans; though it must be remembered that twilight in Palestine is very brief, and that the whole narrative suggests the idea of leisure rather than hurried converse. If the Roman method of interpretation were adopted, the sixth hour
might mean six o'clock in the morning, which was the hour intended, if the Roman computation
must be supposed in
John 19:14. This suggestion has further difficulties. The weariness of the Lord at that early hour would imply a long journey before daybreak, which is extremely improbable (see
John 11:9). Besides, though Townson and M'Clellan lay emphasis on this Roman computation of time in Asia Minor, and advance some proof of it, yet some of their authorities are far from proving it. Luthardt says we have no right to suppose that John would deviate from the current Jewish computation. "About the sixth hour" would therefore mean "about noon," the very time when it is so common to rest after a morning journey. Lucke, Meyer, Hengstenberg, Godet, Lange, Schaff, Geikie, Watkins, all press the same interpretation of the words. Lucke justly says that there is no hint of the Lord and his disciples intending to remain by the well, but to pursue their journey after rest and food. This is inconsistent with the idea of an evening halt.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Greek
Sinceδὲ(de)Conjunction
Strong's 1161:A primary particle; but, and, etc.Jacob’sἸακώβ(Iakōb)Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2384:Of Hebrew origin; Jacob, the progenitor of the Israelites.wellπηγὴ(pēgē)Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 4077:A fountain, spring, well, issue, flow. Probably from pegnumi; a fount, i.e. Source or supply.wasἦν(ēn)Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510:I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.there,ἐκεῖ(ekei)Adverb
Strong's 1563:(a) there, yonder, in that place, (b) thither, there. Of uncertain affinity; there; by extension, thither.Jesus,Ἰησοῦς(Iēsous)Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2424:Of Hebrew origin; Jesus, the name of our Lord and two other Israelites.wearyκεκοπιακὼς(kekopiakōs)Verb - Perfect Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2872:From a derivative of kopos; to feel fatigue; by implication, to work hard.fromἐκ(ek)Preposition
Strong's 1537:From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.[His]τῆς(tēs)Article - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.journey,ὁδοιπορίας(hodoiporias)Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3597:A journey, journeying, travel. From the same as hodoiporeo; travel.sat downἐκαθέζετο(ekathezeto)Verb - Imperfect Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 2516:To be sitting, sit down, be seated. From kata and the base of hedraios; to sit down.byἐπὶ(epi)Preposition
Strong's 1909:On, to, against, on the basis of, at.theτῇ(tē)Article - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588:The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.well.πηγῇ(pēgē)Noun - Dative Feminine Singular
Strong's 4077:A fountain, spring, well, issue, flow. Probably from pegnumi; a fount, i.e. Source or supply.It wasἦν(ēn)Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510:I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.aboutὡς(hōs)Adverb
Strong's 5613:Probably adverb of comparative from hos; which how, i.e. In that manner.[the] sixthἕκτη(hektē)Adjective - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1623:Sixth. Ordinal from hex; sixth.hour.ὥρα(hōra)Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 5610:Apparently a primary word; an 'hour'.
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NT Gospels: John 4:6 Jacob's well was there (Jhn Jo Jn) 
