Jews and Samaritans hated each other. Their quarrel dated to the fall of the northern kingdom in 722 BC. The victorious Assyrians deported twenty thousand Israelites and replaced them with settlers from Babylon, Syria and other nations. These foreigners introduced pagan idols and intermarried with the Hebrews creating an ethnically mixed population.
When the Jews of Judah returned from the Babylonian captivity, they meet resistance from the Samaritans as they tried to rebuild the temple, Jerusalem, and the rest of their society. They looked down on their northern cousins because of their mixed marriages and idolatrous practices. Soon permanent walls of bitterness had been erected by both sides. By Jesus' day, the hostilities were so severe that the woman at the well was astonished that Jesus would even speak with her.
Palestine is only 120 miles long from north to south. In Jesus time there were three divisions of territory. In the north lay Galilee, in the south Judaea, and in between Samaria. Many times the Jews would avoid Samaria by crossing the Jordan river and traveling along the eastern side of the river. But Jesus takes the quickest route right through Samaria, and encounters this woman at the well.
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