These are questions the disciples thought but did not say. They "marvelled that he talked with the woman" (John 4:27). Gill explains that by Jewish rules it was not thought "decent, right, and proper, nor indeed lawful" to hold a long conversation with a woman, and Barnes adds that the Jews had no contact with the Samaritans. The first question would ask what Jesus wanted from her; the second, why He was speaking with her at all. Barnes says they had such reverence for Him "that they did not dare to ask him the reason of his conduct, or even to appear to reprove him."

Because "no man said" these questions aloud, Jesus gave no direct answer to them. The text answers them another way. The woman left her waterpot and told her city, "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" (John 4:28-29). Many Samaritans believed (John 4:39). What Jesus was seeking became clear when He told the disciples, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me" (John 4:34).

The KJV says the disciples marvelled that He talked with "the woman," but the Greek has no article: meta gynaikos, "with a woman." That is why the ESV reads "with a woman." Their surprise was not only about who she was but that He was talking with a woman at all.

Gill says that "according to the Jewish canons" a teacher was not to hold long conversation with a woman. Barnes adds that she was also a Samaritan, and the Jews had no contact with Samaritans (John 4:9).

This verse shows the disciples learning to trust Jesus when they did not understand Him. Their silence was not indifference. Matthew Henry says, "Yet they knew it was for some good reason, and for some good end." Gill calls it a sign of "the reverence the disciples had for Christ."

The unasked questions also show how far Jesus' mercy reached. The very conversation that surprised them led many Samaritans of that city to hear Him and confess Him as "the Saviour of the world" (John 4:39-42). What looked improper to them was the Father's work being done (John 4:34-35).