John 4:1-42 | What's the connection?

There are two major connections I want to draw attention to: the comparison between this narrative and what happens with Nicodemus in chapter 3, and the types and shadows found in Genesis 24 that this passage heavily alludes too.

If we compare John 3 and John 4, there is a certain kind of irony found. This unnamed, unimportant woman in Samaria with a shadowed past and moral ambiguity comes to greater understanding and belief concerning Jesus than the highly important and well known figure, Nicodemus, who is described as "the teacher of Israel". Both had a moment of a lack of understanding concerning what Jesus was saying as they were too caught up in the natural, but the woman at the well came around quickly to belief. We see that Jesus was not concerned with convincing the high minds of the day. Nicodemus had to search out Jesus. Jesus placed Himself at the well where He encountered the woman. As one could imagine, this would not have narrated well to the original audience. Nevertheless, it highlights an important thing concerning Jesus. He operated outside of the common trend of favoritism. There is no partiality.

Looking then to the passage that John 4 heavily alludes to, let us take a look at some interesting comparisons to Genesis 24. For the sake of brevity and because I find it is more well stated than I can put it, I will share this excerpt out of Craig Keener's commentary on John.

"Allusions to the cross-gender well scenes of Gen 24, and secondarily to Gen 29 and Exod 2, are difficult to miss. That Jesus meets the woman at “Jacob’s well” (4:6) plainly alludes to a different well in Mesopotamia where Jacob met the future matriarch Rachel and provided water for her (Gen 29:10), as Jesus provides this Samaritan woman living water. But this Jacob scene in Gen 29 recapitulates in some measure the scene in Gen 24, in which Abraham’s steward finds a wife for Isaac. Thus we find several formal parallels with Gen 24, where a man who is journeying meets a woman in her homeland when she comes for water; after she runs home, others who know her (Gen 24:28–29; John 4:30) come out to meet him and invite him to stay (Gen 24:30–32; John 4:40). Further, she went to the fountain and filled her pitcher (Gen 24:16); the man asked her for a drink (Gen 24:17); like Jesus, the steward refused to eat until his mission was accomplished (Gen 24:33; John 4:31–34). The passages also have a number of words in common, largely due to the overlap of topics (γυνή; πηγή; ἐκπορεύομαι; ἀντλῆσαι; ὕδωρ; ὑδρία; μένειν). The allusion to the finding of matriarchs for Israel may invite the reader to contemplate the ultimate identity of this Samaritan woman whom God is seeking, not on the basis of her past but on the basis of God’s calling: she will become foundational to a new community of faith and obedience (4:39)."

An important matter to note through these types, shadows, and allusions is that they continuously highlight how Jesus is greater than the former. Jesus' water is better than Jacob's. Jesus' pursuit is greater than Isaac's. Jesus offers a greater salvation than what was given to Israel prior.

What connections are you seeing?