Now Jacob's well was there
So called, either because it was dug by him; or because he and his family made use of it, when in those parts, as in ( John 4:12 ) , though no mention is made of it elsewhere, unless any reference is had to it in the blessing of Joseph, to whom this place belonged, ( Genesis 49:22 ) , as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, or in ( Deuteronomy 33:28 ) , as Grotius suggests: in the Talmud F6 there is mention made, of (rkwo Nye) , "the fountain of Sochar"; and may not improperly be rendered, "the well of Sychar": but whether the same with this, is not certain; that appears to be a great way from Jerusalem, as this also was, even forty miles:
Jesus therefore being wearied with his journey;
having travelled on foot, from Judea thither; and he having a body like to ours, subject to weariness, and which proves the truth and reality of it, was greatly fatigued; having very probably travelled all that morning, if not a day, or days before:
sat thus on the well;
or by it; by the side of it, upon the brink of it, as Nonnus paraphrases it, upon the bare ground. The Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions, leave out "thus"; and the Ethiopic version reads it, "there"; but it is rightly retained, and is emphatical; and signifies, that he sat like a weary person, glad to set himself down any where; and not caring how, or where, he sat to rest his weary limbs:
and it was about the sixth hour;
about twelve o'clock at noon. The Ethiopic version adds by way of explanation, and "it was then noon"; and all the Oriental versions omit (wsei) , "about"; rendering it, "it was the sixth hour": and now Christ had been travelling all the morning, and it was a time of day to take some refreshment, which as yet he had not, the disciples being gone to buy food; and a time of day also, when the sun if out, and has any strength, beats with its greatest vehemence; and all which considered, it is no wonder that he should be weary, faint, and thirsty.