Verse of the Day
Author Spotlight
Loading featured author...
Report Issue
See a formatting issue or error?
Let us know →
Verse Takeaways
1
Tradition vs. Truth
The woman challenges Jesus by appealing to her ancestor, Jacob, and the well he provided. Commentators explain this shows a common human tendency to elevate tradition and heritage to a point where it can become a barrier to recognizing a new and greater work of God. We are cautioned not to let reverence for past figures, however great, obscure the supreme glory and authority of Christ.
See 3 Verse Takeaways
Book Overview
John
Author
Audience
Composition
Teaching Highlights
Outline
+ 5 more
See Overview
Commentaries
13
Albert Barnes
On John 4:12
18th Century
Theologian
Art thou greater? Are you wiser, or better able to find water, than Jacob was? It seems that she supposed he meant he could direct her to …
AT Robertson
On John 4:12
Art thou (Μη συ ε). Expecting a negative answer.
Greater than our father Jacob (μειζων ε του πατρος ημων Ι…
Charles Ellicott
On John 4:12
19th Century
Bishop
Are you greater . . .?—Again, the pronoun is the emphatic word: “You surely are not greater.” Their impl…
Go Ad-Free
Go ad-free and create your own bookmark library
Charles Spurgeon
On John 4:12–14
19th Century
Preacher
Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Jes…
Expositor's Bible Commentary
On John 4:12
The woman’s reference to “our father Jacob” was perhaps designed to bolster the importance of the Samaritans in the eyes of a Jewish rabbi. She was…
John Calvin
On John 4:12
16th Century
Theologian
Art thou greater than our father Jacob? She proceeds to charge him with arrogance for exalting himself above the holy patriarch Jacob.…
John Gill
On John 4:12
17th Century
Pastor
Are you greater than our father Jacob
A person of greater worth and character than he, who was content to drink of t…
Matthew Henry
On John 4:4–26
17th Century
Minister
There was great hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews. Christ's road from Judea to Galilee lay through Samaria. We should not go into places o…