I Stand Here By the Well of Water

When the servant of Abraham traveled to Nahor to find a wife for Isaac, he stopped at the well close to the city. We read, “And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.” It was there that he asked the Lord for a particular sign to help him fulfill his mission: “And he said, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac” (Genesis 24:12-14). He waited faithfully by the well, and the Lord answered his request by sending Rachel there. She performed the actions he had requested, and he knew that the Lord had blessed him. Surely there is great symbolism in the fact that this happened by the well of water—the covenant was fulfilled at the well, just as our first covenant of baptism happens at the water. And I love the declaration of the servant of Abraham, “I stand here by the well of water.” We too should symbolically stand by the well of water, both in staying true to the covenant we have made at baptism and in remaining faithful to Him who is the Living Water. The Savior would later declare, also at a well in this region, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).

               The power of wells is also seen in the story of Hagar. When Hagar first fled from Sarah in fear, she went to a well: “And the angel of the Lord found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.” It was there that she “called the name of the Lord that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me? Wherefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered” (Gensis 16:9, 13-14). She found strength in the Lord at the well, and returned to Abraham and Sarah. Much later when Hagar was cast out with Ishmael she again found support at a well. She thought she and her son would die: “And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice, and wept.” It was at this point that an angel came to save them, and “God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink” (Genesis 21:15-16, 19). Their lives were spared because of the water of a well. Hagar found the Lord both times at the well, just as we can find Him at figurative wells where we can hear the voice of the Lord.

               After Abraham died, Isaac spent much energy securing wells for his people. We read, “For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.” So Isaac “digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father;” It is perhaps symbolic that he couldn’t rely on the wells of his father; he needed his own just as we each need to find our own source of spiritual strength through Jesus Christ. We cannot rely solely on another. The story continues, “And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth.” They had to “strive” for water, just as we must labor diligently to find living water and bind ourselves to the Savior. Isaac then went to Beer-sheba, and “he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the Lord, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well…. And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water” (Genesis 26:15, 18-22, 25, 32). I love their declaration: “We have found water.” We too have found living water in the gospel of Jesus Christ and its covenants and ordinances. We must never stop seeking to be strengthened at our figurative well where we can have “water springing up unto everlasting life.” Like Abraham’s servant we can declare “I stand here by the well of water” and never move from it.