Jeremiah 2

“Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? (but they were not gods!)  Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols. Be horrified at this, heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled. This is the Lord’s declaration. For My people have committed a double evil: they abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.” Jeremiah 2:11-13 (HCSB)

The Samaritans were “half-breeds”: part Jewish and part Gentile. When Israel returned (from their 70-year exile), the Samarians were not considered “Jewish,” and they were prohibited from worship at the Temple. Why? They were the living proof of Israel’s past apostasy. That is why the Jews hated them. The Samaritans were a constant reminder of Israel’s national sin of inter-marrying, which led to their idolatry. Today’s chapter is very similar to the first half of John, chapter 4: The Samaritan Woman at The Well. Compare Jeremiah’s (above) “living water” with Jesus’ use of the same imagery.  

“A woman from Samaria came to draw water. ‘Give Me a drink,’ Jesus said to her, for His disciples had gone into town to buy food. ‘How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ she asked Him. ‘For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.’ Jesus answered, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you, “Give Me a drink,” you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.’” John 4:7-10 (HCSB)

Furthermore, consider Jeremiah’s imagery of “virgin-turned-harlot” Israel in relation to Jesus’ revelation of the Samaritan woman’s five husbands...the same number of nations who had controlled Israel between Jeremiah and Jesus.

“Can a young woman forget her jewelry or a bride her sash? Yet My people have forgotten me for countless days. How skillfully you pursue love; you also teach evil women your ways.” Jeremiah 2:32-33 (HCSB)

“‘Go call your husband,’ He told her, ‘and come back here.’  ‘I don’t have a husband,’ she answered. ‘You have correctly said, “I don’t have a husband.”’ Jesus said. ‘For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.’”  John 4:16-17 (ESV)

Jesus and this woman have a verbal exchange (John 4:19-24) about the Samaritan forefathers’ digging the well and commanding them to worship on a mountain other than Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. But Jesus tells her how, in the future, it won’t matter what mountain people worship on. Rather, they should worship in “spirit and in truth .”When we place our faith and trust in Jesus at the moment of salvation, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit, whose ministry is to reveal the Word of God. Literally, we worship Him in “Spirit and Truth” when we read His Word, enabled by His Spirit, who reveals more and more of God to us each day.

“The woman said to Him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us?’  ‘I Am He,’ Jesus told her, ‘the One you are speaking of.’” John 4:25-26 (HCSB)