THE mention of the well brings up the memory of some of the sweetest of the Old Testament stories, and some of the most gracious words of our Lord when He was on this earth. We can never forget Him, when wearied with His journey, sitting at the side of Jacob’s Well, the cool waters down deep below, and though He had made them and bidden them flow, refreshing hundreds, yet sitting thirsty Himself, and asking of a stranger a draft.
Many a strife arose in olden times for the well and its waters, as we read in the Old Testament. Moses stood up and helped the daughters of Jethro when the shepherds would first possess the water for their flocks. Isaac’s servants and the Philistines strove about the wells; and from St. Paul’s day to this, the gospel, which is water of life to our souls, is too often made an occasion of strife by the shepherds of Christ.
But worse than the strife of the shepherds was the act of the Philistines, who stopped the wells which Abraham had dug, and wild “filled them with earth.” They purposed that those waters which “the father of the faithful” had reached, should no more refresh flocks, nor be a blessing where his tents had been pitched. Thus do the Philistines still, for they who are enemies to God’s gospel try to stop the wells of His truth, and to fill them with earth, so that longing and thirst) souls shall not have whereof to drink.
Now we read that when the king of the Philistines said unto Isaac, “Go from us!” he “departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.” And dwelling in Gerar, what does the Spirit of God record that Isaac did? It is a word full of significance to all the children of faithful Abraham, as to their homes. Dwell where we may, we all do wisely to give heed thereto — “And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father... and he called their names after the names his father had called them.” God grant that every Christian child of Christian parents — who in their day dug wells, and which wells at the dead of the Christian parents had been filled up — may dig again these wells, and call them after the names by which their parents called them.
How lovely are the names of some of these — as we read, “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation” — and from these fresh, cool waters of God’s grace, of which we heard in our youth by the names of the wells of peace, of rest, of life, we will clear away the earth and the earthly things that have closed them up, and as we see and drink again of their living waters we will call them once more by the names which our parents called them. Shall it not be so, young men and women — you whose parents drank for their own souls of peace, and rest, and life, and who presented these waters to you These waters are new and fresh to us to-day, though old and fresh yesterday. The gospel of God’s grace is ever new, but ever what it always was.
But while we must lay firm hold and never part with the grand old truths of God’s word, of which the world would indeed rob us, we may learn a further lesson from the patriarch Isaac. Having opened up the old wells, his servants digged in the valley, and found there a new well. On Isaac’s servants was the toil of the digging — to them the joy of the finding of the springing water—but, lo! the Philistines came and strove, saying, “The water is ours.” Then Isaac digged again, and again the jealous Philistines strove for the reward of his labor, when he moved off from them, and once more he “digged another well,” and there the Philistines let him alone. “Now,” said he, “the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
Where the Christian digs, prays, and labors over God’s word he shall surely find the springing water; but if such labors lend the herdmen of other flocks an occasion for strife, then, like Isaac, go further, Christian, and dig again. It is a pity indeed that many of God’s servants do not see the wisdom of Isaac, or, if they perceive his wisdom, that they fail to follow his ways. St. Paul was a great well-digger: he would never boast himself in another man’s line of things made ready to his hand, but toiled himself in fresh fields. It is a most happy word as to service when we can peacefully say, “The Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land” — a great secret of success, too, for no work for God prospers when the herd-men strive.
A man who can dig one well, and who finds God giving him water, can dig another. And better dig three, as did Isaac, than strive over the gospel. Let us aim to make the gospel known, and to make God’s children joyful. But far be it from us to strive over the springing waters, for they be God’s gifts to us. So dig and call the well Esek, that is Strife, or Contention; and dig again, and call the next well Sitnah, that is, Accusation, or Hatred — indeed from this word we have the name of Satan! Stay not there; remove, and a third time dig, and call the name of it Rehoboth, that is, Room, and there tarry.
But we return to the story of Jacob’s Well, for our Lord spoke blessed words of living water there.
The woman of Samaria came in the heat of the day to obtain the water from Jacob’s Well. She had to walk from the town to draw up the water to fill her water pot, and to carry it home. But soon the store thus labored for would be spent, and then the next day would see like labor for a fresh supply. “Living water”— bubbling-up, springing water I What could it mean? “Sir, from whence hast Thou that living water?” she said to the Lord, who, a stranger to her, had asked her, “Give Me to drink.” Have not we, too, as she, been astonished at His words, and maybe asked the same question of Him in our hearts — “Whence hast Thou that living water?” This living water is not of earth; it cannot be reached by digging. It is the gift of God, for “the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” It becomes ours solely of grace.
“If thou knewest the gift of God.” Oh I if thou knewest, poor toiler after earth’s pleasure, surely thou wouldst toil no more, but wouldst ask. If thou knewest “who it is that saith to thee,” said the Lord to the woman of Samaria. She for a few sentences fenced this question, but at last she asked of Him, “Sir, give me this water?”
Shortly after, she was found.in the streets of her city inviting sinners like herself to seek and to find Jesus. And they testified to her, and to us, “Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world.”
Reader, do you know Him thus? Jesus is indeed the Saviour of the world. He died to save. He lives to bless. He gives the living water still. Those who drink of the water that He gives “shall never thirst,” for His words are true, “The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well (or fountain) of water, springing up into everlasting life.” No need to go outside the house to draw, with such a fountain within our souls. No fear that the supply shall exhaust itself, for the water which He gives springs up into everlasting life.
Do we wonder that the woman left her water pot by Jacob’s Well when the Lord put within her a fountain of living water? Do we wonder that true Christians leave their water pots — their old pleasures and amusements? They leave the old because of the joy of the new. Drink, and you shall thirst not.