Sychar

Sychar (possibly meaning: liar or drunkard — a derogatory punning form of Shechem or Samaria in prophetic literature, Isa. 28:1, 7) was the Samaritan town near which Jacob's Well was located, where Jesus's conversation with the Samaritan woman took place (John 4:5). From the time of the Crusaders Sychar was identified with ancient Shechem, but modern scholarship and archaeology generally locate it at the village of Askar on the northern slope of Mount Ebal, about half a mile from Jacob's Well. Others maintain the traditional identification with the site near Tell Balata.

The theological significance of the location is immense: Jacob had given the ground to Joseph (Gen. 48:22; John 4:5), and the well itself was associated with the patriarch's provision for his flocks. Jesus's offer of "living water" (John 4:10–14) at this ancestral well, and his declaration that "salvation is of the Jews" yet extends to all who worship in spirit and truth (John 4:22–24), marks the passage as one of the New Testament's most theologically dense encounters.