Note 1 at Joh 4:4: According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, going through Samaria would shorten Jesus' journey to three days (The Life of Josephus, Section 52).

Note 2 at Joh 4:4: Originally, Samaria was a city in the hill country of Ephraim. It was located on a hill forty-two miles north of Jerusalem, six miles northwest of Shechem, and nineteen miles east of the Mediterranean. It was founded by Omri, who was a very wicked king of Israel (1Ki 16:25-26). Omri bought the hill, Samaria, from Shemer for approximately $3,800 and named the city that he built on that site "Samaria" after the name of Shemer, the previous owner (1Ki 16:24). This city became the capital of Israel until the carrying away of the northern tribes into captivity.

The city of Samaria figured prominently in Old Testament history, being mentioned about one hundred times. King Ahab built a temple and an altar to Baal at Samaria (1Ki 16:32), and at least 400 prophets of Baal ate at his table (1Ki 18:19).

The city was captured by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. (2Ki 17:5-18), and during the Assyrian captivity, the name Samaria came to be used to denote the whole region between Galilee and Judea. According to Assyrian accounts, 27,280 Israelites were taken into captivity (2Ki 17:6). The king of Assyria sent colonists to dwell in the land, and they began to intermarry with the Jewish remnant that was left in Samaria (2Ki 17:24). Because of their pagan practices, the Lord began to judge this mixed multitude by sending lions among them (2Ki 17:25). The king of Assyria responded by sending one of the exiled Jewish priests back to Samaria to teach the people the manner of the God of the Jews (2Ki 17:26-28). This did not stop the colonists from worshiping their pagan gods though (2Ki 17:29-41). They simply incorporated their pagan rituals into the Jewish religion. The result was a very corrupt form of Judaism.

When the devout Jews were allowed to come back to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem, they refused to allow the Samaritans to help them, because they had corrupted themselves (Ezr 4:1-3). The Samaritans had corrupted the Hebrew bloodline as well as perverted the Jewish worship.

This split between the Samaritans and the Jews widened until the days of Jesus' ministry. Devout Jews would not associate with or even talk to Samaritans (Joh 4:9 and 27). The Samaritans had erected their own temple on Mount Gerizim (Joh 4:20-21) to which this woman at Jacob's well referred. Joh 4:25 does show that the Samaritans shared with the Jews a belief in a coming Messiah (see note 1 at Lu 9:53).