Jacob bought a piece of ground, and erected to the Almighty his first altar.* Hither he sent his sons to find pasturage for their flocks, and here Joseph sought them, though in vain. Here, complying with the command of Moses, Joshua, gathering the people of Israel after the conquest of Canaan, rehearsed to them the law, reminded them of its blessings and its curses, pointed to the mountains as everlasting reminders of both, and built an altar of unhewn stone, covered with plaster and inscribed with the law; then bade them farewell, and lay down to die.§ And here, after their long pilgrimage in the wilderness was ended, the Israelites brought the bones of Joseph, and buried them in land that belonged to his father Jacob.|| Among the traditions which invested this spot with peculiar romantic interest was one that Jacob had dug a well in his own land, near the site of the city of Shechem. The well remains, and is pointed out to the traveler to the present day.

All these sacred associations were, however, more than neutralized to the Jew by the subsequent history of the place. Nearly a thousand years before the commencement of the Christian era the ten tribes had seceded from the Jewish na-* tion, and, by dividing, had deprived it of its power, and rendered it an easy prey to subsequent conquerors. Politically, the destruction of the Jewish Commonwealth may be traced to the successful secession of Israel under Jeroboam. A wily and unprincipled politician, he perceived that a united Church would be very apt to reunite a dissevered people. By monarchical decrees, therefore, he rescinded the provision of the law requiring all the males to go thrice a year to Jerusalem, established a new and idolatrous worship in place of the Temple service, and organized a new priesthood to conduct it. From his day, Israel, deprived of the law and the Temple, steadily but rapidly degenerated. The throne which Jeroboam established was occupied by a succession of des

* Gen. xxxiii., 18-20. + Gen. xxxvii., 12. § Josh. viii., 30-35; xxiv., 1-25.

Deut. xxvii., 4, 8.
Josh. xxiv., 32.

pots, among whom Ahab, of infamous memory, and Jezebel, his yet more infamous wife, possess a bad pre-eminence.*

At length, as explained in a previous chapter, Israel was carried away captive by the Assyrians, and the land was partially repopulated by colonies from the land of its conquerors. Suffering, as all new colonies do, from the hazards of an unknown country; believing, in the spirit of the age, that it was necessary to propitiate the favor of the gods of the land they occupied, they invoked the aid of Jewish priests, some of whom were accordingly sent to marry the religion of Moses to that of Assyria, the worship of Jehovah to that of Baal.

A nation of time-servers, the Samaritans thenceforth availed themselves of their double origin. When, in the mutations of war, Judaism was in the ascendency, they claimed to be Jews; when it was in disfavor, they asserted that they were heathen. In the rebuilding of Jerusalem refused a part,t and frustrated in their attempt to prevent its completion, they constructed on Mount Gerizim a rival temple to that on Mount Moriah. Shechem became the rival of Jerusalem, and Samaria the Texas of Palestine, where all violators of Jewish law found an easy refuge from offended justice.§ Hence political animosity, religious rancor, race prejudice, and personal scorn for a really degenerate race, combined to constitute a hate the bitterness of which time has done nothing to allay. To the present day Jew and Samaritan will have no dealings with each other. Of these Samaritans, one hundred and fifty, still worshiping in a little synagogue at the foot of Mount Gerizim, are all that are left-"the oldest and the smallest sect in the world."||

It was the month of December. The farmers were just

*For the history of this secession and its + Ezra iv., 2-5. ‡ Neh. iv., 1-6.

consequences, see 1 Kings xii.
§ Josephus, Ant., xi., 8, § 6.

|| Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, ch. v., p. 236.

So Ellicott and Andrews. At the same time, there is some uncertainty whether Christ's statement, "Say not ye, There are four months, and then cometh harvest?" is significant of the season, or is a quotation of a proverbial expression. See Alford, in loco.

putting in the plow or casting the seed into the open furrows. The fruits of the fall had been gathered, the trees were bare of leaves, when Jesus, with a few companions, bidding farewell to John, whom he was never to see again, traveled the road which, leading over the hill-country from Jerusalem to Galilee, passes through the heart of Samaria, by its capital and chief city. About noon he reached Jacob's well. Wearied with the walk, he sat down to rest, while his disciples went into the neighboring city to replenish their scanty stock of provision.

The well of Palestine was and still is a romantic and sacred spot. It constituted a valuable property. It was often a subject of fierce contention. In times of war, even among the barbarous tribes of the East, to destroy a well was a violation of the laws of war. When near a town, it afforded a gathering-place for the inhabitants, who came to draw usually in the cool of the evening. In this respect it was to the Jewish town what a post-office is to a New England villagea sort of social centre. These wells were often deep. Sometimes a bucket and sweep were attached; sometimes a flight of steps led down within the well, which was large, to the surface of the water. The latter was the case in Jacob's well.

While Jesus was sitting here, a woman came out from the city to draw water. This was part of her domestic duties. The hour was unusual. But she was a woman of known evil character. The divorce laws of Samaria were wofully lax. She had left one husband after another, and was now living with a paramour, without even the poor forms of Samaritan law to shield her from reproach. Perhaps she desired to escape the observation of the multitude that flocked to the well at evening.

Jesus's attempt to enter into conversation with her she at first repels. His simple request for water she scornfully refuses. "How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria ?" His offer of spiritual life un