THE KING’S BUSINESS
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spirit of the worship that is offered ; but to her mind the first and most im portant question’of all was where to worship. To à Samaritan no possible question could appear more worthy of the décision of a real prophet than the -settlement of the true religious center, the place of places to worship. -, By “our fathers” she referred to her ancestors from the'time'of the erec tion of the Samaritan Temple, and-per haps to the patriarchs,- whom the Sam aritans claimed as their ;ancestors and their religious authority (cf. v. 12), the Samaritans having a Pentateuch of their own. ’ By “this mountain” she referred to Mt. Gerizim at the foot of which the well’at which; they were standing lies.- According to the Sam? aritan tradition it- was‘on-this moun tain that Abraham- offered up Isaac and that here he met Melchizedec. In the history of Israël,- Mt. Gerizim' had sacred memories connected with it ; for it was'uport'this mountain that six, tribes stood after the'crossing of thte; Jordan to bless the people JDeut. 27 : 12) and the Samaritan ¿Pentateuch changed Deuteronomy '27 :4- so that' Mt, Ebal read Mt. Gerizim as the place on which the altar of plaistéred stones was built after the crossing Of. the Jordan. ' Instead of Calling the mountàin by name, the Woman pointed: to it, and here,again is one of th'e little touches of life ' which abound in the Gospel of-John,‘showing that the Story could not have been made up, but is a record of events as they actually oc curred. There is a striking passage in an ancient Jewish book that shows how intense was the feeling between JeW and Samaritan over the question' of whether Jerusalem or Gerizim was the place to worship. It -reads, “Rabbi- Jochanan going to Jerusalem to pray-, passed by (Gerizim).’’ A certain’Sam aritan seeing him*asked him, -Whither ; Î-CJôncÎùdëd on P ag e 4Î8
in both cases it was the same om niscience, and in this display of omni science, the one saw Jesus as “the Son of God,” the other as a “prophet in deed.” The Greek word translated “per ceive” is a very strong word, it means primarily to look at a thing with in terest, and for the purpose of inspect ing it, and Carries with it oftentimes the thought of the careful observation of details; so the woman speaks not merely of a passing impression that He was a prophet, but of a caretimv formed conviction. She saw that her whole life was open to His eyes, and that could only be because He had the Divine gift of looking into the heart and seeing things as God saw them. The emphasis in the words “Thou art a prophet” is on the word “proph et.” The woman’s words rendered in their order would be, “I clearly see that PROPHET art thou.” There is also an emphasis upon the personal pronoun, not because of the order of the words, but because of the insertion of the emphatic pronoun. V. 20. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, mat ih Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Seemingly the' woman had a two fold purpose in these words. First of all, like many-art inquirer', she desired to turn attention from the unpleasant subject of her own sin to- the theolog ical question, but this can hardly have been hen sole reason. There was a deeper reason: there was a question; that had divided Samaritan and Jew* for centuries, now an undoubted prophet has appeared and she can have' this verted-and to her mind'all-import'-' ant question settled, Where'is the true place to worship, Md. Gerizim of Je rusalem ? Before the Lord is through with her. she will find it is not a. ques tion of places, but of the character and'
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