Oh,, I thought you said at the Bottom of your Very First Post , that
"The woman at the well shouldn’t even be talking to Jesus—a Jewish rabbi and a man. Men and women who weren’t married or related weren’t allowed to be alone together, especially outside of town."
Okay, I need to clarify a few things. The sentence in question from my first comment was taken from the source I gave. This sentence needs some further clarification.
Generally-speaking, talking to women in public was not uncommon, especially in market places or at public wells. The main goal was to not leave open the possibility of impropriety. Rabbis tended to avoid women so as not to be accused of anything inappropriate, or be shown to be spending more time with women than with their religious studies.
In this particular case, the focus was on the fact that she was a Samaritan. Samaritans were a mixed-race.
Grok was able to sum this up better than I:
"The Bible does not provide a detailed genealogical lineage for the Samaritans as a group. Instead, it presents their emergence as a mixed population resulting from historical events:
The northern kingdom of Israel (comprising 10 tribes, primarily descendants of Jacob/Israel through his sons, especially the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh—sons of Joseph—who dominated the region) was conquered by Assyria.
Most Israelites were deported (2 Kings 17:6).
The Assyrian king repopulated the area (called Samaria after its capital) with foreigners from various regions: Babylon, Cuthah (or Cutha), Avva (or Ava), Hamath, and Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17:24).
These imported peoples intermarried with any remaining Israelites who had not been exiled, forming the population later known as Samaritans (2 Kings 17:29–41 describes their syncretistic religion, blending worship of Yahweh with their former pagan gods).From the biblical (particularly southern/Judean) perspective, the Samaritans were thus a mixed group—partly descended from the original Israelite inhabitants of the northern tribes (especially Ephraim and Manasseh), but significantly incorporating non-Israelite ancestry from Mesopotamian and other foreign peoples. This mixed heritage contributed to the deep animosity between Jews (from the southern kingdom of Judah) and Samaritans seen in later books like Ezra, Nehemiah, and the New Testament."
The problem was, this mixed race not only worshiped God, but also maintained their worship of pagan gods, which goes against the first of the Ten Commandments:
You shall have no other gods before me.
This is one reason the Samaritans were scorned by the Jews.
So, in a nutshell, she would have been considered "unclean" by a Jew due to worshipping these foreign gods and would have been avoided by most Jews. Jesus wasn't like most Jews, so he talked to her and tested her faith. She made the valid point that even dogs are allowed the scraps from the Master's table. The woman went back and reported her encounter with Jesus, thus spreading the Good News and testifying to the others. Jesus came to save all people, not just the Jews.
Oh,, I thought you said at the Bottom of your Very First Post , that
"The woman at the well shouldn’t even be talking to Jesus—a Jewish rabbi and a man. Men and women who weren’t married or related weren’t allowed to be alone together, especially outside of town."
Thats the only reason I asked, genuinely.
Okay, I need to clarify a few things. The sentence in question from my first comment was taken from the source I gave. This sentence needs some further clarification.
Generally-speaking, talking to women in public was not uncommon, especially in market places or at public wells. The main goal was to not leave open the possibility of impropriety. Rabbis tended to avoid women so as not to be accused of anything inappropriate, or be shown to be spending more time with women than with their religious studies.
In this particular case, the focus was on the fact that she was a Samaritan. Samaritans were a mixed-race.
Grok was able to sum this up better than I:
"The Bible does not provide a detailed genealogical lineage for the Samaritans as a group. Instead, it presents their emergence as a mixed population resulting from historical events:
The northern kingdom of Israel (comprising 10 tribes, primarily descendants of Jacob/Israel through his sons, especially the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh—sons of Joseph—who dominated the region) was conquered by Assyria.
Most Israelites were deported (2 Kings 17:6).
The Assyrian king repopulated the area (called Samaria after its capital) with foreigners from various regions: Babylon, Cuthah (or Cutha), Avva (or Ava), Hamath, and Sepharvaim (2 Kings 17:24).
These imported peoples intermarried with any remaining Israelites who had not been exiled, forming the population later known as Samaritans (2 Kings 17:29–41 describes their syncretistic religion, blending worship of Yahweh with their former pagan gods).From the biblical (particularly southern/Judean) perspective, the Samaritans were thus a mixed group—partly descended from the original Israelite inhabitants of the northern tribes (especially Ephraim and Manasseh), but significantly incorporating non-Israelite ancestry from Mesopotamian and other foreign peoples. This mixed heritage contributed to the deep animosity between Jews (from the southern kingdom of Judah) and Samaritans seen in later books like Ezra, Nehemiah, and the New Testament."
The problem was, this mixed race not only worshiped God, but also maintained their worship of pagan gods, which goes against the first of the Ten Commandments:
This is one reason the Samaritans were scorned by the Jews.
So, in a nutshell, she would have been considered "unclean" by a Jew due to worshipping these foreign gods and would have been avoided by most Jews. Jesus wasn't like most Jews, so he talked to her and tested her faith. She made the valid point that even dogs are allowed the scraps from the Master's table. The woman went back and reported her encounter with Jesus, thus spreading the Good News and testifying to the others. Jesus came to save all people, not just the Jews.
Thank you so much for you reply and learning me something 😊 🤗
Christ truly is King 🙏
You're welcome, fren.