‘Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him, will never thirst, for the water that I will give him will become in him a well (pege as in John 4:6) of water springing up producing eternal life”.'
Jesus made clear that He was in fact greater than Jacob. The water that He was offering was not of temporary satisfaction like the water of this well, but was permanent and constantly self-renewing. That is because the one who drank of it would receive within himself an inner source of water, a spring of water resulting in eternal life. It is deeply significant that Jesus was at this stage offering spiritual life, the life of the age to come, to a Samaritan, without requiring conversion to Judaism. He recognised the valid worship of the Samaritans and knew no barriers in His offer of salvation to them, even though it would still be a problem for His followers for some time to come.
‘Springing up' - ‘allomenou. The verb is nowhere else used in Scripture of water bubbling up but its equivalent is so used in other literature. Its literal meaning is ‘leaping up, leaping on'. It is used in the Septuagint (LXX) of the Holy Spirit ‘leaping on' men (Judges 14:6; Judges 14:19; Jdg 15:14; 1 Samuel 10:6; 1 Samuel 10:10) but it can be used figuratively of the quick movement of inanimate things as here. The combined use is especially significant here in view of the fact that the water symbolises the Spirit.