=5. A city of Samaria called Sychar.= The prevalent opinion is that Sychar is a corruption of the name Shechem, that it means _drunken_, and that this slight change was given by the Jews to the rival capital in derision, and in possible allusion to Isaiah 28:1. If this be so, it must have become current at this time; for we can hardly believe that John would otherwise embody a mere term of derision in the Evangelical narrative. Dr. Thomson (_Land and Book_, ii:206, following Hug, Luthardt, and Ewald) identifies the ancient Sychar with a village about half a mile north of the supposed site of Jacob’s well, called Aschar; and as the corruption of Shechem into Sychar is a mere hypothesis, framed to account for the use of the word here, Dr. Thomson’s opinion appears to me the more probable. Shechem was two miles distant from Jacob’s well, and apparently was abundantly supplied with water. [Illustration: JACOB’S WELL.] 6 Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with _his_ journey, sat thus on the well: _and_ it was about the sixth hour. =6. Now Jacob’s spring was there.= There are two Greek words translated _well_ in this narrative: the first means a spring or fountain, _i. e._, water-source; the second a well or cistern, _i. e._, a water-chamber. The first (πηγή) is used here, indicating that the well was fed internally by springs, not externally by rain. A well, now dry and deserted, answering to all the conditions of the narrative here, is designated by an ancient tradition as the one here described; and the case is one of the very few in Palestine in which tradition appears to be trustworthy. It is accepted even by Dr. Robinson. The purchase of the ground by Jacob is described in Gen. 33:18-20, but for the digging of the well there is no other authority than tradition, unless Gen. 49:22 is an allusion to it. Whether Jacob himself dug it, or whether his name was subsequently given to it by tradition is not known, nor does the reference here determine that question; it only designates the well by its customary name. Why he should have dug a well at all has been made matter of question, since the whole valley abounds with water. To this question Dr. Thomson replies: “The well is a very _positive_ fact, and it must have been dug by somebody, notwithstanding this abundance of fountains, and why not by Jacob?” And he suggests that these fountains may have been already appropriated by the native population. The site of the well is in the valley between Mts. Gerizim and Ebal. For a striking description of this valley, see Van der Velde. The historical associations connected with the site were many and sacred. There the Lord first appeared to Abraham (Gen. 12:6, 7); Jacob built his first altar (Gen. 33:18-20); Joseph sought his brethren in vain (Gen. 37:12); Joshua rehearsed the law, with its blessings and cursings, and amidst the loud amens of the assembled people (Josh. 8:30-35;