Near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph” (Joh 4:5).1
This short line, woven as a small thread into the mosaic masterpiece of John’s Gospel, is not just a minor detail given to segue the narrative from Judea to Samaria. Nor is it only pointing out the place where this weary group of travelers would find refreshment. No, this clause is specifically designed to get us to stop and consider something. In fact, at this point the writer is insisting that we look backward before we step forward. John is providing us with a lens to see more clearly the lessons in the Lord’s interaction with the Samaritans. That lens is the character and life of the 11th son of Jacob, Joseph.
So many devotional and practical teachings have been drawn from Jacob’s spring that one might hesitate to take up the passage for fear of going to the well once too often. But just as Shechem’s fountain has continually bubbled water from Jacob’s time until today,2 this divine display of grace delivers spiritual refreshment time and time again. This short series sets out to prove that considering Joseph adds even more depth to Sychar’s well. All articles aim to get us to think outside the box (but inside the Bible), enhancing our appreciation for the Scriptures’ delightful, dovetailed details.
In this article, we focus on location. For many preachers, the most significant geography in the chapter is the region. Sermons have emphasized the nature of the Samaritan culture and their strained relationship with the Jews. In the big picture, Samaria’s genetic impurity and religious impiety highlight the compassionate character of our Lord as He extends an olive branch to the outcasts. But remember, verse 5 gets more specific. By narrowing the Samaritan province down to the surveyor’s pin, John takes us to a particular plot of land, full of history and meaning.
Shechem played a significant role in Joseph’s formative years. During Jacob’s first Bethel experience, as he left home, he had definite dealings with God. In an Abraham-like blessing, God promised that Jacob would have a large posterity and that Canaan would be their possession. Jacob then vowed to the Lord that he would return to worship in that same place, the one he called the house of God (Gen 28:19-22). He also promised to give God one-tenth of all that God would bless him with. That vow, however, was contingent upon God preserving Jacob in his travels, “so that I come again to my father’s house in peace” (Gen 28:21).
Throughout Jacob’s tumultuous episode in Padan-Aram, the Lord proved faithful in preserving and materially prospering him, leading into chapter 33 (v18), where we are explicitly told that the Lord fulfilled His promise and brought Jacob back in peace (RV). But in an apparent act of compromise, Jacob stops short of fulfilling his vow. Was it the family idols holding him back? Or was it the hesitancy to part with so much money in tithing from his God-given wealth? Either way, he decided to buy a field near Shechem that would one day become a part of Joseph’s inheritance (48:22). But sadly, as he pitched his tent toward the city that would become known as Sychar, he was about to experience a period of heartbreaking family trials.
Joseph was an impressionable young lad at the time of the family drama of Dinah’s defilement (Gen 34). The daughter of Jacob left her home that day on an innocent trip to see what the daughters of the land were like, and instead she met a man who humiliated, degraded and assaulted her. A pure young lady who called Jacob her father went out in Shechem and met a man who defiled her.
Remember, the Samaritan woman in John 4 also called Jacob her father (Joh 4:12). But she was far from innocent. Her history was full of immoral activity. Here, a guilty daughter of Jacob goes out on a simple errand and meets a man of moral character. This Man was a giver, not a taker. This Man was a cleanser, not a defiler. This Man was different.
But the humbling of Dinah wasn’t the only traumatic event that took place that week. Within three days, Simeon and Levi were in the city, killing every male. Under the guise of religious purity, they deceived the men of the town into compromising their strength, making them ripe victims for revenge and murder. Before leaving for Bethel, Jacob summarized the effect of their conduct: “Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land” (Gen 34:30). Their behaviour was a poor representation of their father, causing the people of the land to view him as cruel and vengeful. In Shechem, the father’s reputation was damaged by their self-serving actions done in the name of Jehovah-serving religion (49:5-7).
Jacob would eventually settle in Hebron, where his family continued their shepherding lifestyle, moving from pasture to pasture, protecting and growing their flocks. It’s at this point in the book of Genesis that Joseph becomes the main character. After being marked out as the heir with the coat of many colours and receiving the word of the Lord concerning a future glory, there comes a time when his father sees fit to send him to his brethren. From the vale of Hebron, the father sends the son. While in the long view, Joseph would eventually become the saviour of the whole world, his first stop in that journey would be Shechem.
As this unique son persisted in his mission, the response of the hostile brothers would be to spurn him, strip him and sell him. But before that, in Shechem, he was received by a man who helped him on his way. We wonder what the Shechemite was thinking as he saw one of the sons of Jacob coming toward him. Had he come to continue the pattern of destruction his brothers had started? Was Jacob sending him to solidify his reputation as a violent vengeance-seeking father? No, this son wasn’t a self-driven avenger feigning religious piety and bringing dishonour upon the family name. This son was sent by his father as an accurate and faithful representative. This son was wise. This son was caring. This son was different.
It’s easy to see the parallel between Jacob’s shameful sons and the Jewish leaders in the day of the Lord Jesus. In the name of religious purity, they had lost sight of the “weightier matters” and were treating the people on the fringes as despicable and disposable. Their “jots and tittles” were in place, but grace and mercy were nowhere to be found; consequently, instead of representing Jehovah in His true character, these hypocrites had caused the reputation of the Lord to “stink among the inhabitants of the land.” The woman at the well, one of these outcasts, was aware of the Jews’ attitude toward her people and was shocked that a Jewish man would have any interactions with her.
These same leaders were unknowingly imitating the attitude of Joseph’s brethren, but not just toward outsiders; they were also hostile toward our heavenly Joseph. This faithful Son, sent from the Father, would eventually be rejected by the hypocrites and delivered up to the Gentiles. But before ultimately accomplishing the world’s salvation in Jerusalem, He makes this stop at Shechem and is received by the men of the city (Joh 4:39-40)!
We’re starting to see the parallels and significance, aren’t we? Instead of a son who came damaging the reputation of His father with harsh religious hypocrisy, the Lord Jesus is a Son declaring the true character of His Father in fullness and accuracy (Joh 1:18). This Son was full of grace. This Son was full of truth. This Son was different.
Of course, the history of our location provides a perfect place for the Lord Jesus to teach about true spiritual worship. Mount Gerizim served as a fitting backdrop for the woman to boast in her religious heritage. There had been true worshippers. Abram built his first altar near this site in response to Jehovah’s covenant (Gen 12:7). Jacob would then bury the family’s idols in that place as necessary preparation for worship in Bethel (35:4). And Joshua would later set up a stone as a witness to the renewed commitment of the Israelites to set aside all other gods and worship the Lord (Jos 24:27). But the quality of Samaritan worship had waned over the years, for Gerizim, through Assyrian conquest and the assimilation of pagan religion, had become anything but a true place of worship. Joshua’s mount of blessings had become a cursed snare of religious compromise. The Lord Jesus will lead this woman from Gerizim into the heavenlies as He clarifies the qualities God values in worshippers.
But more to our point, the foot of this mountain is meaningful as both a graveyard and a vineyard. Future sections of our Sychar study will consider that the conversation at the well takes place only a few hundred yards from the mummified, buried remains of Joseph (Jos 24:32). We will also recall the words of Israel on his deathbed as he depicted Joseph as a vine planted by a well, with branches of blessing going beyond boundaries (Gen 49:22). In that way, Bones and Boughs will frame our thoughts as we continue to see Joseph in John 4.
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV unless otherwise noted.
2 D.A. Carson, The Gospel According to John: Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1991), 217.
