While studying the life of Abraham, I was drawn to the fact that wells were springs of life and provision. Hagar was the mother of Ishmael, who was born to Abraham when Sarah became impatient for a child and gave her servant to Abraham to conceive a baby. Sarah and Hagar quarrelled before and after Isaac was born to Sarah. Twice Hagar ran away into the desert where she thought she and the boy would die of heat and thirst. Both times God provided a well of water for Hagar and Ishamel to survive. (Gen. 16:14 + Gen. 21:19) Hagar named God ”El Roi” which means ”The God who sees me.”
Later Abraham settled in Beersheba and dug a well there which his son Isaac also used during periods of famine. Excavator Edward Robinson visited the site in 1838 and wrote about the wells in Beersheba – ”The water in both wells is pure and sweet, and in great abundance…”
In the Bible, a well was more than just water. It was the symbol of a thriving community, a meeting place, a place where one could be refreshed and restored, a place where one could have communion with others and perhaps even find a respectable spouse. Abraham’s servant met Isaac’s future wife at a well in Nahor when Abraham sent the man to find a wife for Isaac among their own clan. Jacob (Isaac’s son) met Rachel at a well where she came to water her father Laban’s flock of sheep (Gen. 29:1-11). Moses, too, met his future wife, Zipporah, at a well when she came with her sisters to water their father’s flock (Ex. 2:15-22).
One of the most important well stories is where Jesus met a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and asked her for a drink of water. She was surprised because Jews and Samaritans did not communicate with one another. But ”Jesus replied, ”Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” (John 4:13–14, NLT)
Joseph and Jeremiah were both thrown into dry wells where they suffered greatly before they were freed. What kind of well do you find yourself in right now? There is a well, a fountain of love, where Jesus wants to meet us through the presence of the Holy Spirit. How thirsty are you for Jesus Christ’s water which is also ”pure and sweet and in great abundance.” It is this water which we need to long for and ask for. Once we receive it, it multiplies and gracefully flows in and out of us, becoming a sweet fragrance which provides blessings for others as well.
Precious Abba Father, thank You that You provide the living waters our hearts and souls and spirits long for. Please give me these Living waters that never end, but which give pure, sweet and great abundant life. I come to You and accept this gift of life which can flow like a river of constant satisfaction through and out of me. I hunger and thirst for more of You!
Myrtle Turunen