[Benny Hicks]

I have a kinda random question. I was reading through John, and something about the passage about Jesus and the woman at the well caught my attention.

John 4:16-30
¹⁶He said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." ¹⁷The woman answered and said, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You have well said, 'I have no husband'; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly." ... ²⁷And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He had been speaking with a woman; yet no one said, "What do You seek?" or, "Why do You speak with her?" ²⁸So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city, and said to the men, ²⁹"Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?" ³⁰They went out of the city, and were coming to Him. (NAS)

Now, what I found odd is that the woman ran off and told the men in the city that Jesus had told her everything she had done, when this is obviously not the case. Perhaps she meant all the things she had done that were against the Law, or maybe she was somewhat prone to exaggeration. I was just curious as to what thoughts you all might have about this passage.

Ben

[Lyle]

Probably just the things mentioned, about the men and all... She most likely would have been known for such activities... But it's just me speculating. I don't think it's literally everything, though He could have.

[EleventhHour]

I've read that or heard it read many times, and I've always thought she was just talking about the things mentioned in the passage, the multiple marriages.

I also have thought he might have had a few other things to say in the same vein, meaning her transgressions, or even good she might have done, but I really never thought it meant how many times she combed her hair or baked bread in her entire life.

[Wheatmeister]

I don't think she was exaggerating, per se. But remember, this woman was probably at the well in the middle(the heat) of the day, because she had been shunned for her sexual sins. The rest of the women in the town probably went to the well as close to sundown as possible to avoid such heat. For her to go back to the town and say, "This man told me everything I have done," given those circumstances, I'm sure the men of the town would have known exactly what she was talking about.