John 4:21 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Woman, believe me, &c.— To understand the force of our Lord's reply, it will be necessary to recur to the origin of this dispute between the two nations. We shall first premise that Christ waves the decision of the question put to him by the woman, and with good reason; for he was about to destroy all local worship, by introducing a religion suited to all climates, and to be observed in all nations of the world. To talk then of the preference of this or that mountain, or to decide the point in favour of either, would have been inconsistent with his doctrine. This premised, we observe, that at the time of the migration of the Hebrews from Egypt, the whole world was sunk into idolatry; they alone were blessed with the knowledge of the true God; yet even they were perpetually relapsing into the absurdities of idol worship. Hence that load of peculiar ceremonies was imposed upon them; tending particularly, amongst other wise purposes, to the keeping them pure from idolatry, to the separating them from the worship of the Pagan nations which surrounded them, and to the confirming them in that of the true God: to this end the temple was built, and the worship established at Jerusalem. Hither the whole nation was obliged to resort at stated times, to prevent their relapse into idolatry. The Samaritans, who had divided from the Jews, had built a temple, partly for the same ends, on mount Gerizim, where theyperiodically performed the ceremonies enjoined by the law. These ceremonies, and this separation of Jews from Gentiles, were designed by Providence to be continued till the coming of Christ, when a glorious change was to take place. The world was prepared by higher degrees of knowledge for the reception of the gospel. This was the hour appointed for the sun of righteousness to arise: now was to be done away every circumstance and ceremony tending to keep up the former separation; nothing was to be established, save what conduced to a general union of mankind; and the peculiar, the local, and periodical worship of Jerusalem, was to be swallowed up in that more spiritual dispensation, which was designed to produce universal peace and love. In this view, we have only to read over the passage before us, to discover at once its meaning and propriety.