A Deeper Look at John 4. 39-42

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.” John 4 ( NIV )

While we discoursed about this in my previous post, there are a few things we can discuss. 

The Samaritan people could have had a better understanding of what the Messiah would do upon His arrival. They did only believe in the first five books, the Tanach, written by Moses, but still, there are hints throughout the Word as to the Messiah. The Pharisees and Saducees expected the Messiah to come in vindication of the Jewish people. ( Mack )
This can make some sense when we look at the time. Consider the way the world was. The Roman government had learned that it was best to let the various people keep their native gods, for nothing stirs up the populous so much as insisting they worship so and so god. Therefore, at the time of 1 AD, there was a wide range of peoples, a wide range of religions, political intrigue and violence, sin and wonder filled the countryside, and the leadership of the "wrong line" through Herod, a descendent of Esau. The people all wanted a King David to show up and put Israel in the place of high power it had been when he had been king. Anything to get out from under the oppression of taxes (and dishonest tax collectors who asked for more funds than they really needed to, and kept the extra). As we have learned already, there had been 400 years of silence on the part of God prophetically, and the people were groaning again under near slavery. (Obviously God had some dealings with people, for Simeon and Anna in Matthew had been given promises, so He was not totally silent) ( MD Harris Institute )

With the interest that the people of Sychar piqued, they asked Christ to stay with them, which He did for two days. I can only imagine that the days were spent in listening and questioning. They believed what He said, and saw that He was the Savior of all--and it can only be that the entire town was changed, as those who find Christ now are so different than what they were before, often enough to make old friends comment on it.