Charles Ellicott Commentary John 4:27

"And upon this came his disciples; and they marvelled that he was speaking with a woman; yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why speakest thou with her?" — John 4:27 (ASV)

With the woman.—Better, probably, with a woman. They are surprised, not at His talking with a Samaritan, but at His talking in public with a woman, which was directly contrary to the Rabbinic precepts. The words of the Law were to be burnt rather than taught to a woman. A man should not speak in public to his own wife.

They would like to ask Him, as He asked some of them (John 1:38), what He sought to learn from her, or else to know what truth He would teach her (compare “speakest” with “I that speak,” in the last verse); but there is already a sense of the reverence due to Him, which checks the question as it rises to the lip.