Lord
Jesus Met Two Women – Opposite Reactions
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3: 16-17)
One of the most important lessons that we learn during
our Bible study is how to read the words of our Lord Jesus. We need to know and
understand not only the meaning of His words, but also the context. One good example of this concept is found in
the Book of Matthew, Chapter Ten.
In the previous Chapter Nine, it was noted:
“And Jesus went about all the cities and villages , teaching
in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every
sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He
was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered
abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith He unto His disciples, ‘The
harvest is truly plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the
Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest’.”
(Matthew 9: 35-38)
Now in Chapter Ten, Scripture notes that when He had
called unto Him His twelve disciples, “He gave them power against unclean
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of
disease.” (Verse One). After giving the names of the Disciples, the Scripture
then reveals (in Verse Five) one of the more controversial statements made by
the Lord, saying:
“These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded
them , saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of
the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
(Verses 5 – 7) (Emphasis added.) A number of Christians mistakenly believed that
from the beginning of the New Testament and the Lord’s Earthly Ministry, He
came to save all mankind. Of course in
His foreknowledge He knew the ultimate outcome. However, this command to His
Disciples shows that His focus was on fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant for
Israel first… (https://www.gotquestions.org/Abrahamic-covenant.html),
with His focus on the Gospel of the Kingdom. (https://doctrine.org/the-gospel-of-the-kingdom )
With that background, in this blog post I’d like to look into
why the Lord commanded His Disciples to shun both the Gentiles and the Samaritans.
And then, if both were to be excluded from His blessings…why did He react so
totally differently when He separately met two women, one woman representing each
of those groups that He had commanded must be avoided. Specifically I’m
referring to women commonly referred to in our Bible as the “Samaritan woman He
met at the well” (John 4: 1-42); and the “Canaanite woman” who came to Him
seeking healing for her daughter. (Matthew 15: 21-28) First, let’s look at how God’s Chosen People had
come to look at the groups they represented.
The Samaritans:
Rather than generating a new narrative to describe the
Samaritans, I’d like to provide excerpts from another author (Alyssa Roat) whose
research I’ve found to be most helpful. The
entire article can be found at the following website: https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/the-samaritans-hope-from-the-history-of-a-hated-people.html
She wrote:
“To explain the origins of the Samaritans, we must go back
to the days of the kings. After King Solomon ruled over the Israelites – God’s
people – the unwise actions of his son Rehoboam in the tenth century BC
led to a schism in which the kingdom was split into the northern kingdom of
Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah, each with its own king.” “Samaria as
a city was the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel.”
“Both kingdoms devolved into corruption
and sin, despite repeated warnings from prophets sent by God. Thus, God warned,
they would be overtaken by conquerors. The northern kingdom fared worse than
the southern kingdom, with a long line of wicked rulers. It didn’t help that
the temple, where God’s people were to worship, was located in the southern
kingdom.
In 721 B.C., the northern kingdom of
Israel fell to the Assyrians. Many of the people of Israel were led off to
Assyria as captives, but some remained in the land and intermarried with
foreigners planted there by the Assyrians. These half-Jewish, half-Gentile
people became known as the Samaritans.” (Emphasis added)
“The Samaritans, being a mix of
already spiritually corrupt Israelites and pagan foreigners, created a religion
for themselves that the Jews considered heresy. (Underlining added)
They established as their center of
worship a temple on Mount Gerizim, [(miles North of Jerusalem), (Added by this
author)], claiming it was where Moses had originally intended for the
Israelites to worship. They had their own unique version of the five books
written by Moses, the Pentateuch, but rejected the writings of the prophets and
Jewish traditions. The Samaritans saw themselves as the true descendants of
Israel and preservers of the true religion, while considering the Jerusalem
temple and Levitical priesthood illegitimate.
When Jews returned to rebuild
Jerusalem (after their 70 years of slavery to the Assyrians and Babylon up to
the Persians), they were opposed by Samaritans. This led to further ill-will as
the two sects were established in the land in opposition to one another.
To the Jews, a Samaritan was more
revolting than a Gentile (pagan); Samaritans were half-breeds who defiled the
true religion.”
Now with that background, it is apparent
that the hatred that existed between the Jews and the Samaritans would not be
short-lived. By the time of the coming of the Lord Jesus, those feelings had
not eased.
Even so, the Scripture reports in the
Book of John, Chapter Four, that it was the Lord Jesus who made the overture to
reconcile the Samaritans to Himself under the Gospel of the Kingdom. While the
common practice of that time was for Jews to bypass the territory inhabited by
the Samaritans, the Lord and His Disciples “left Judea and departed again into
Galilee. And He must needs go through Samaria.” (Verses three and
four) If you haven’t already done so, I strongly recommend that you read about
the Lord’s encounter with the Samaritan woman he met at the well there and the
profound impact their conversation had on many others. (John 4: 1-43). The Lord’s
presence in Samaria for two days prepared many of the inhabitants for the
subsequent visits by His disciples Philip, and later Peter and John. Their visits
came after His death, burial, resurrection and Ascension. Further, their preaching
the Gospel of the Kingdom led to the salvation of many more Samaritans. (Acts
8: 1-17, 25)
The Gentiles:
The background for Israel’s visceral negative reactions
towards Gentiles cannot be traced to any particular event of commission or
omission by the Gentiles as a homogeneous group. If anything, the behaviors and reactions of
both groups go back to the Garden of Eden. After man failed the three
temptations of Satan, specifically “the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and
the pride of life” (1 John 2: 15-16), and inherited the resultant sin-nature, the
hostile reactions that followed could almost be seen as “predictable”. That would apply to people as individuals, as
well as to groups of people who selectively identified with others based on any
number of characteristics, such as gender, age, family of origin / nationality
/ ethnicity, culture, dominant language, proximity of residence / neighborhood,
or religion.
Our Bible describes many such groups of people, but the
ones which are critical to this discussion relate specifically to the Nation of
Israel and those with whom they interacted before the Lord’s Advent. Apparently
Satan’s temptation of the “pride of life” influenced the attitudes of the
people of Israel after they recognized that God had made them “His Chosen
People”. They had “power”. Over time, the arrogance of having been regarded as “special”
by none less than God Himself grew into outright contempt for those who “didn’t
even know the true God Jehovah” (my words). Further, as a group, the Gentiles
did not regard or practice the laws of moral, personal (cleanliness, etc.), ethical
or other behavior that had been entrusted to Israel by God for them to serve as
examples. (Exodus 19: 1-6; Romans 3: 1-3); https://www.biblequestions.org/bqar659.html
; https://www.gotquestions.org/pride-of-life.html
That was Israel’s mindset when the Lord
Jesus was beginning His Earthly Ministry. https://christianquestions.com/bible-questions/why-did-jesus-refer-to-gentiles-as-dogs/
Even so, in His Omniscience, the Lord Jesus knew His Ministry
was to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant given to Israel, and the Old Testament
prophecies. He was aware of the suffering that awaited Him (torture, Crucifixion,
death and burial) (Isaiah Chapter 53, and others) so that He could redeem all
mankind from their death penalty because of our sins. After His Resurrection
and Ascension, He could continue to have His disciples focus on the salvation
of Israel. (Acts Chapters One through Seven) Further, then He would be able to initiate
His Ministry to the Gentile world through the Apostle Saul / Paul. (Acts
Chapters Nine and beyond)
Resolution:
By demonstrating indifference, even immediate rejection
of the Gentile Canaanite woman who sought His healing for her daughter, the
Lord was able to confirm the limits of His Ministry to Israel. Then, as she
persisted, He conceded and granted her request, In that manner He was able to teach us a lesson about the power of faith in
God, even in the face of an apparent rejection of our request.
Two women. One Samaritan, one Gentile. Opposite reactions to each from the Lord. Both
outcomes were blessings. That is the love of our God and Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr. W. A. (Bill) Robinson
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