When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, (Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,) He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 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. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.) then said the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Mishpochah (Family), during this week you will note a very different look to the Torah Bites. For one week we suspend the regular readings and look at a few other topics whilst at the same time perhaps, learn a little about Passover, which is probably THE most celebrated Jewish feast day known to the Gentile world outside of Chanukah that occurs on the calendar usually near the Christmas festivities in December. In any event, our focus for the moment is the spring feast of Passover. The whole story of the events leading up to and including Passover are found in the chapters twelve to fifteen of Exodus. Each year the story of Israel’s last night in Egypt is retold in high fashion at a special gathering and meal called Seder. This year Seder in Surfside is on Monday evening. My husband and I will travel to Toronto on Wednesday to attend Seder with the City of David Messianic Jewish synagogue at Rondo Banquet hall that evening. This is particularly exciting for me since it is the one night of the whole year in which I partake of true Middle Eastern cuisine.

Now you might be wondering what our reading today has to do with Passover. Then I would ask you this question. Didn’t it ever make you wonder what it was that caused the hatred between Jews and Samaritans? We spoke earlier this week of things which we had learned as babes In Messiah that we had never really questioned or understood the why of it. For nigh on thirty years I would read this passage from John chapter four and also might hear a few sermons on the parable of the Jew and the Samaritan and never in all that time, did I desire to get into the reason for all that hatred between the two groups! One Sunday a sermon about the Messiah not just providing the living water, but actually being the living water spurred me into a week long search for the reason why. It took me about a week because I was doing it in the little times that my grandson went for his morning and afternoon naps. It was a very opportunistic time as I look back on it, for now the little ankle-biter won’t even lay down for one nap in the afternoon most days. Well, this week, we shall find out all we ever wanted to know about the Jew-Samaritan feud but were hesitant to ask.

By the time Messiah walked the earth, this was a very old feud, and there might have even been enough time that passed where the reasons for it were even unclear to many Jews and Samaritans, although I would imagine that most religiously attentive Jews or Samaritans might be aware. In order to make that discovery we need to go far back in the history of Israel to the days of the books of the Kings. Why was there such a schism between the Jews and Samaritans anyway?

It was a church and national division occurring in 1 Kings and it was due to the backsliding of Solomon, son of David. In chapter eleven of 1 Kings we see the religious fervor of Solomon decline and eventually become squelched altogether. This was largely due to Solomon’s preoccupation with women.

"But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave to these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father." 1 Kings 1:1-4 (KJV)

The remainder of the eleventh chapter of Kings outlines how Solomon began to worship the other gods Ashtoreth and Milcom aka Molech and sadly, God’s disappointment over him. After warnings, Solomon was still not changing his ways. Solomon’s addiction to women and "being in love" brought him down to humoring these pagan wives by building them pagan places of worship. Eventually, Solomon himself was offering sacrifices to these same pagan gods. It appears that he still made nominal sacrifices to the Creator, but that was what they were, "nominal". He worshipped the God who brought Israel out of Egyptian bondage, but he himself was in bondage to the sensual world of women.

"And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice…And the Lord stirred up an adversary …And God stirred him up another adversary…"

Tomorrow we see the plot thicken even more and will come closer to the truth behind the centuries old dissent between Jews and Samaritans.