This verse got me thinking. Here was a lady obviously a beautiful and hardworking maiden. I believe she was hardworking because she was filling her water pots and had to travel a long walking distance to the well.
She seemed polite and respectful because as a Samaritan she could have ignored Jesus and continued drawing water from the well, at that time the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. But she didn't and got into an interesting dialog.
I thought of the fact that in those days even the Jews rabbi's (teachers) did not speak to Jewish women and here was Jesus talking to this Samaritan woman.Jn 4:27 Even His disciples marvelled that he talked to a woman.
From the story we know that he asked her to go and bring her husband and she said she had none but yet Jesus goes on to say your right to say that you don't have a husband, the one you are staying with is not your husband. He could have stopped here but He goes on to say "Woman you've had five husbands."
I re-read these verse over and over again to be sure i didn't miss out a word which could help explain, how this lady had 5 husbands. Did she get married 5 times and why wasn't she married to the sixth one?
I don't believe this woman's experience is different from what we see happening in the world today. Some ladies have had 10 or more husbands but yet have never had a wedding ceremony were a vow was exchanged or even a ring but yet in God's eyes they have been married over 10 times while in their eyes they feel they have never been married.
It really all boils down to this when is one regarded as my husband and our response today will be when we are married. So what is marriage? Is it when vows are exchanged and two people make a commitment to each other in the presence of God and man or is it when the marriage is consumated?
By law if a marriage isn't consummated it can be annulled . Both parties will be seen as having never married. But when it is, both parties need to file for a divorce.
Genesis 2:24
Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [Amplified bible]
From the above scripture Marriage is all of the above. The man leaves his family and the wedding ceremony can be an active demonstration of this transition and i believe the union of the man to his wife goes beyond the exchange of vows and/or ring. There is an emphasis on the word "unite and cleave" so they both become one flesh. To become one flesh there has to be some form of exchange not just in the physical but also in the spiritual. The consummation of the marriage is what unites and fuses a man to his wife.
This leads right back to my original question the woman and her 5 previous husbands this lady had a sexual relationship with all these men and as a result of the exchange process, these men were registered by God in her records as having being married to her.
Despite her previous relationships this woman was still seeking and searching for something. She wasn't even satisfied with the present relationship she was in there was a deep longing desire an insatiable thirst within her. We have all been created with a deep desire and thirst within us for a deep passion, love, friendship etc but these desires can never be satisfied with love from a man/woman, it can never been satisfied with great wealth or fame. This longing can only be satisfied by God. This is what Jesus offered this lady.
13 Jesus replied,
