This is again the second sign that Jesus did, having come out of Judea into Galilee.
4. The disciples are obliged to go to the city to buy victuals, John 4:8, and Jesus was left alone. Even this circumstance was not only favourable to the conversion of the Samaritan woman, but even essentially necessary, as, without it, she could not have had that opportunity of conversing freely with our Lord; nor would it have been proper for him to have made that discovery of himself, in their presence, which we find he did during their absence. See the note on John 4:26.