31:8 'Zur' was the father of the woman slain by Phinehas.(25:15)

Before Moses died, God asked him to organise the battle against the Midianites. This was probably a very hard thing for Moses, because he had married Zipporah, the daughter of the priest of Midian.   He had also lived in their land for 40 years.  But Midian was a descendant of Abraham's wife Keturah (Gen 25:2), and therefore would never be a part of God's blessing on Israel.  Moses did not go to the battle,
but stayed in the camp with Eleazar the priest.

31         That the husband can disannul the vow of the wife means that we cannot make promises which are contrary to the will of the Father – our ‘husband’ requires that we obey God. This, of course, means that we should know what our Father and His son will approve just as a  wife in Israel would not willingly make a vow against the wishes of her husband.

31:19  The battle was at God’s instruction so it was inevitable that there would be people who had killed Midianites. So why were they still deemed ceremonially unclean? The reason is that even though the battle was of God the children of Israel had to suffer the consequences of their actions. The command from God to kill did not remove from Israel the requirements of obeying the requirements of the law.

31:4 In calling for 1,000 from each of the tribes Israel did not use its whole army against Midian. Only a small proportion of the men of war were used. This was to show that the victory was God’s, not Israel’s.

31:6 Phinehas stayed the plague which was a consequence of the Midianite corruption. Now he leads the battle against Midian, not as a man of war but as priest of God. Marking the point that it was a religious battle in that it was a consequence of immoral behaviour

The people God wants to bless are not the scrooges of this world, they are the generous, helpful, and those who fill a need when they see it. It does not necessarily mean that if we give everything away God will make us instantly rich. He hasn’t promised riches – he has promised a blessing. He has said that he will provide for our needs and that if we give "it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6 v 38)

So let’s be generous and give to those in need. The blessing of God is much greater than any blessing we could ever save for ourselves.

22:28 The oppression ‘in the gate’ is in matters of judgment. The gate was the place of judgment in Biblical times. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom – Gen 19:1- as a judge – Gen 19:9

22:4 In this world ‘humility’ is not seen to tend towards ‘riches’. In reality the humility that God seeks, though not tending to worldly riches, will bring eternal riches. We need to be careful not to confuse the world’s way of thinking with the Divine mind.

22:6,15 These two verses which speak of instruction of a child actually have a spiritual application for us. When we are ‘children’ in spiritual things – just after baptism – require careful training. That training is, in part at least, through God’s chastening. If we are ‘trained’ well when young in Christ we will maintain our faith. It is a matter of building solid foundation in our faith. Not simply in the things that we believe but in the things that we do. For example if we have not developed good habits of Bible readings or attending meeting when we are young it is unlikely that such traits will develop when we are ‘old’.

22:8 We are into ‘sowing’ again. We came across ‘sowing in Prov 6:14,19,28 and it always the wicked who do the sowing in these passages. Apt because the seed is sown but the consequences are often not seen for some time but by then the growth is so great it is impossible, or very difficult, to remove the problem that has been sown.

22:1  Whilst a ‘good name’ is to be ‘chosen’ we do not do the choosing. It is our lifestyle which determines what sort of ‘name’ we have.

4:1       We wonder how the Pharisees ‘heard’ what Jesus had been doing. Maybe Nicodemus learnt that when he met with Jesus as recorded in chapter 3.

4:3 In John 2:13 Jesus is seen going to Jerusalem. Here we see Jesus returning to Galilee. The meeting with Nicodemus must, therefore, have taken place in Jerusalem. Jesus had gone to Jerusalem and the religious leaders had taken the opportunity to check out this new preacher.

4:1    Jesus’ reaction to the fact that it became known that John had baptized more people than himself  is characteristic of Jesus. He never wanted to draw attention to himself We see in his miracles how often he commanded the one healed not to publicise what had been done for them. Jesus wanted people to follow him because of his message, not his miracles.

4:4 The comment ‘he must needs go through Samaria’ requires some thought. The easiest route from Jerusalem to Galilee is down towards Jericho and then north along the Jordan valley. It is a level easy route. However to go from Jerusalem to Galilee via Samaria is a more demanding route along through the hills. So the necessity was not ease of travel. There was work to do. There was a woman there in need of the gospel. How often do we take the arduous route to preach the gospel rather than making life easy for yourselves?

GOD - The Father and creator of all things

God must be worshipped in spirit and in truth - therefore our basic understanding of God (and His word) must not be in error - John 4:24. God dwells in heaven with no God beside Him - Psa 115:3,16; Matt 6:9; Deut 10:14; Deut 6:4; Isa 44:6-8; Isa 45:5; Mark 12:29-32; 1Cor 8:6; Eph 4:6.  God was/is eternal, is immortal (can't die), can't be seen by men, is unchanging - Psa 90:2; 1Tim 6:13-16; 1Tim 1:17; James 1:17; Mal 3:6. God is all-powerful - Rev 19:6 (KJV); Jer 10:10-13; Luke 1:35; Acts 1:8; Luke 24:49. God is all-knowing - Isa 46:9-10; Jer 1:5-7; Acts 15:18 (KJV). God is present everywhere - Psa 139:7-12; Jer 23:23-24; 2Chron 16:9.  God is loving and merciful - Lam 3:22-23; Eze 33:11; 2Pet 3:9; Mic 7:18-20.

V.2 If this statement is true, then John 3:22 must mean that the disciples baptized under the direction of Jesus.  Then, Jesus would be credited for the acts performed.

Vs.3,4 For Jesus to reach Galilee from Judea he had no choice but to pass through Samaria (a three-day journey according to Josephus) (Luke 17:11).  Samaria was situated immediately north of Judea; Galilee was situated immediately north of Samaria.

V.9 In Jews’ minds, the Samaritans were not, as it were: scraping the bottom of the barrel; they were: scraping the underneath.

To understand the Jews’ extremely low opinion of the Samaritans, you have to trace the Samaritans’ beginning.  In Nehemiah’s time - this was during the 6^th. Century B.C. - Jerusalem was being rebuilt after the exile to Babylon.  There had been intermarriage of some remnant Jews with non-Jews and there had been extensive worship of foreign gods. This group lived in Samaria and became known as the Samaritans. They hindered Nehemiah and the restoration of Jerusalem. 

The returning Jews' deep hatred and mistrust of these idolatrous half-Jews, at this time, passed down through the ages to form the backdrop to Christ's dealing with the Samaritan woman and his parable of the Good Samaritan

Vs.25,26,42 Cornelius is considered the first Gentile convert to Christ (Acts 11:13,14). And so he was in the apostolic era. But, could not this Samaritan woman actually be the first? Then, there were other Samaritans (vs.39,41).  

The reunification of Israel and Judah

During the reign of David and Solomon the kingdom of Israel had been united. Yet this unity had been hard to win, and even harder to maintain. The northern kingdom, later to come under the general name of Samaria, had no natural affinity with the kingly line. The kingly line was of Judah, whereas the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (Joseph) felt the leadership of Israel ought to come from them as the favourite of Jacob.

In this chapter of John we have the issue between these two camps tackled head on. Notice how specific the location is (v5). This was the plot of land Jacob bought legally to live on (Gen 33:18-20), and passed on by inheritance to Ephraim and Mannaseh in Gen 48:22. It was just outside Shechem. The sons of Jacob then took the city of Shechem by force and plundered it (Gen 34). Notice that they killed all the men but kept all the women alive for themselves, so many of their descendants would be half Shechemite. At the break up of the joint kingdom, Jereboam built up Shechem again and instituted a rival form of worship to that of the Jews (1Kin 12). Hence Jesus' statement "salvation is of the Jews" (v20-22).

Now notice how Jesus sets about to heal the rift of generations. He makes the effort to go through the foreign area of Samaria, rather than passing by it on the road to Jericho (see Peter's 2009 comment). He asks for help. He engages a woman in conversation. He shows he is willing to be associated with her and her people. (Bear in mind this is the King of Israel, and also declares himself to be the Messiah v25-26)). He then shows the Samaritan woman that she needn't go up to Jerusalem to worship, but that worship is now acceptable "in spirit and truth", in other words wherever you are. And most wonderfully of all, he tells her that "God is seeking such (as her) to worship Him". No wonder his gospel was accepted with open arms (v39-42).

4:40-43 Jesus was on his way to Galilee. Doubtless there was a reason for going to Galilee. However, because of the request from the Samaritans he changed his plans and remained with them two days before continuing on his planned journey./ Are we willing to change our plans to accommodate unforeseen opportunities or are we so self centred that we will not change our own plans for the benefits of others?