The Spiritual Ignorance of the Samaritans
John 4:22-23
You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.…


The assertion of this, as the great calamity of the Samaritan — that he knew not what he worshipped — is abundantly borne out by history. It was in all times a country of superstition, the early home of Baal worshippers, the later home of enchanters and fanatics, and of sects putting forward pretensions to all kind of spiritual powers. The Jew, on the contrary, clung to a distinct object of adoration. He was a protestant against the worship of spiritual fantasies. This poor shadow showed what the substance was which the Jew had inherited, and which was his distinction among all nations. Salvation was to go forth from his land. And salvation, so our Lord teaches us, consists in knowing what we worship; for that knowledge saves men from slavery to the world's idols, and to the idols of their own hearts, which is their great curse and misery.

(F. D. Maurice, M. A.)



Parallel Verses
KJV: Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

WEB: You worship that which you don't know. We worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews.




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