the Samaritan woman

9 The Samaritan woman replied: "How! You, who are Jewish, you ask me to drink, that I am a Samaritan? ». The Jews, in effect, did not deal with the Samaritans.

For the Jews of the time, the Samaritans were a hybrid race between Israelites and pagans, so disgusting that a strict Jew avoided approaching that country. Jesus, being a religious Jew, was supposed to go around Samaria if he wanted to go from Judea to Galilee; He should not have even been there to meet this Samaritan woman.

On the other hand, always according to the customs of the time, women were going to draw water early in the morning or when the afternoon had cooled and always in a group. That the Samaritan woman was in the well at noon and alone, suggests that she did not have a good reputation among the women of her town.

Finally, social rules also did not allow men to talk to unknown women, especially if their husband was not present, or to women with men who were not their relatives. More than a slight annoyance, the surprise of the Samaritan woman before the words of this Jewish man must have been enormous.