Rebekah is the first.
Rachel is next in Genesis 29.
Ziporrah is the third in Exodus 2.
Each encounter ends in marriage.
When John 4 describes the Samaritan woman at the well, there’s a tension we’re supposed to notice: she has been married FIVE times already, and it never worked out. This is brought out as glaring contrast to the joyful well-side encounters of the past. The circumstances with her past husbands are heartbreaking.
But then John describes a closeness that was inappropriate for the encounter unless Jesus and this woman were married. The disciples are shocked.
Perhaps that’s the entire point of this “woman at the well” story: What Jesus offered her is a closeness that we only find in marriage. He offers Living Water: a promise of forever.