4:20
The woman is trying to deflect discussion away from herself, so she raises one of the main theological disputes between the Jews and the Samaritans. Alternatively she may be raising the issue because she is genuinely interested in the answer. In Deut 14:5 it says
“But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go;”
The Jews, who accepted all of the Old Testament, took this place to be Jerusalem. The Samaritans took a different position. There argument was that “the place the Lord your God will choose” meant they should search the Pentateuch, and on this basis had concluded that Mount Gerazim, or nearby, was the place that God wanted to be worshipped. You can see a more detailed discussion in Carson.
4:21
Jesus took things in a completely different direction. They were both wrong! Both Jerusalem and Mount Gerazim were the key to acceptable worship of God. Note that the next verse will show that Jesus is not saying Jerusalem and the Jews were of no importance, but the Jews and Samaritans had both missed the key point. A time was coming when the dispute between the Jews and Samaritans would be of no consequence whatsoever.
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