One of the most undervalued personages in the Bible is the Samaritan woman at the well, criticized by commentators as an outcast and/or a prostitute, both unsubstantiated judgments. It is possible that her five previous marriages ended by death or by divorce, and divorce at the time was initiated by the husband, meaning this woman could have been rejected up to five times. Following Christ's meeting with Nicodemus in the previous chapter, the woman at the well was Christ's first testimony to the Gentiles. The practice of a Jew traveling through Samaria breaks taboos in practice at the time of this incident, namely a Jewish man having a lengthy, serious conversation with a woman, as well as a Jew speaking to a Samaritan, a group of people the Jews despised. John obviously considered the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the well significant, with the woman serving as the first Gentile convert and the first evangelist to her fellow Samaritans, who clearly did not consider her an outcast or immoral woman but followed her out to meet with Jesus. Recognizing the I AM, they realized that Christ was not just Messiah to the Jews, but to everyone.