A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
A woman of Samaria ...  The tragic story of the Samaritans and the contempt in which that unfortunate people were held by the Jews endow this incident with the deepest interest.  Following the capture of the ten northern tribes by Shalmaneser (722 B:C.), the cities and villages of Samaria were totally depopulated and left to the wild beasts.  Not wishing to let the land lie idle, the king of Assyria repopulated the area with people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avah, Hamath, and Sepharvaim.  Of course, they brought their old idol worship with them; but they were introduced to the Jewish Scriptures in the following manner: the people were troubled by the marauding wild beasts, and the king of Assyria decided that the trouble might have been due to the new settlers having neglected the "god of the land."  So he dispatched one of the captive priests of Israel to enlighten the people; and thus the Samaritans came into possession of the Pentateuch, the only part of the Hebrew Bible which they accepted.  They set up a system of religion based partially upon the Pentateuch, but containing also a number of foreign elements.