John 4:10 Commentary and Bible Study

Does he smile as he gives her this answer? ‘Oh woman, if you knew who it was you were speaking to.’ He speaks to arouse her curiosity. Christ himself is that gift, and if she only knew how great was the one standing in front of her and what he had to give her, she would have asked. But she is not going to respond to this – ‘Well who are you then?’Then he utters this riddle; he is going to open her mind slowly. ‘Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.’ This is a riddle which has two possible meanings – living water, moving water, spring water. This was not just a well that gathered water from the water table from the ground. This was a well that happened to hit upon a spring. And the water at the very bottom of the well – it was very deep. It is known today. It is 100 feet deep, dug through solid limestone – but the water at the bottom of the well is alive; it is spring water; there is some action down there, some life. Living water could refer to that. But it could be entirely symbolic, and of course it is, and the Lord says, ‘He would have given thee living water.’ He is speaking mysteriously of spiritual life and spiritual power and spiritual blessing. But this dear lady is so materialistic in her outlook, and so unconscious of anything spiritual, and not attuned to anything of that kind, that she does not understand that side of the riddle. Her response to him assumes there is no riddle; he can only be referring to spring water at the very bottom of the well.