Would you go to South America and read everything you could in Spanish about the Chinese culture to properly understand how Chinese society works? How about going to China and reading Chinese to properly learn about the Italian culture? If you want to properly understand the Israeli culture, the Jewish Bible with its origins, you have to go beyond English!
The whole New Testament was written by Jews, from Israel, influenced by Jewish culture, learning and history. When you read the Gospels from that lens it’s like reading a book that is alive, in full color with 3D glasses!
Do you remember the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, in John chapter four, who had five husbands and the one she was with was not even her husband? How is she perceived? She is seen as some immoral, loose and irreputable person. The truth be told, she is actually one of the most righteous women of the whole New Testament! She is truthful, she has spiritual discernment knowing that Yeshua is a prophet, she worships God, she knows the Messiah is coming and she has credibility with the people. Her doctrine may be a little messed up but who has it all together anyway.
Let’s look at the setting. It is high noon, it is hot and Yeshua, being tired, sits down by a well. When the Samaritan woman comes by to draw water, He asks her for a drink. She inquires as to why He had asked her for a drink when the Jews have nothing ever to do with Samaritans. From the story we know that Shechem is the city where Joseph is buried, the one who was totally rejected by his family. The first question tells us this story is all about being rejected. We know that Yeshua knows all about being rejected!
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Women have no rights in Middle Eastern Arab countries especially 2,000 years ago. A woman could not get a job, she could not get a divorce as she was stuck, and if she didn’t have a husband, father, brother, son, uncle or friend she was on the streets! We also have to understand that If she had been committing adultery she would have been stoned after the first husband!! So, what is actually going on? The fact that she had had five husbands means she has been dumped or given divorce papers five times. Talk about being rejected!
Back in the day, a brother is supposed to marry his brothers’ wife if his brother dies and has no kids. The man she is living with only wants to protect her and keep her off the streets, but even he doesn’t want to marry her. The real question is why was she given divorce papers five times, being rejected by five men? Why does she not want to be at the well in the cool morning when all the other women are there? She feels rejected by the other women as well! She is also shocked in verse 11, stating that Yeshua doesn’t even have a cup to draw with! He is even willing to drink out of her cup when she is considered unclean!
Yeshua is breaking down all the barriers in letting her know how accepted she is. When Yeshua tells her the Living Water that He has to give her she will never thirst again. She tells Him to give her some of that water because she never wants to come back to that place again because it always reminds her of how rejected she is! When Yeshua tells her that He is that prophesied Messiah to come, she leaves in such a hurry she even forgot her waterpot. The problem with that poor woman was she could not get pregnant! It’s all about an heir! She doesn’t want to listen to all the gossip from the women every morning, being harassed the same way Hagar treated Sarah and how Hannah was afflicted by her adversary before Samuel was born. Here she is rejected by the Jews, rejected by men, rejected by women and felt rejected by God as well.
Then we find in verse 35 that Messiah asks the question “Is there not four months before the harvest?” This tells us that this event is happening in the third biblical month of Sivan which is during Shavuot/Pentecost, which is the time of the wheat harvest and the next harvest is four months away in the seventh month, Tishrei, which is the fruit harvest. When He then tells the disciples to lift up their eyes and to look at the fields, for they are white unto harvest, He is not talking about the crop! He is talking about all the Samaritans who are walking in the field toward them who are about to be harvested into the Kingdom! To this day, for over 2,000 years Samaritans are always dressed in white garments!
Yeshua gives this woman one of the greatest honors ever in history! The very first record of anyone ever taking the Gospel to the nations is a barren woman, who was not even Jewish!
If you want to know more about the Hebraic/Jewish roots of the entire New Testament making it come alive for your family or friends, go to www.esm.us
Pastor Mark Biltz is the founder of El Shaddai Ministries, and every weekend livestreams his messages to over 200 cities in twenty nations. He has spoken in over 20 nations and authored several best-selling books such as “Decoding the Antichrist” and “Decoding Jeremiah.”
