Wells show up all over Scripture…and it’s never just about getting water.
Wells are where people meet, where things change, where realizations happen… and sometimes where the story takes a turn.
Rebekah at the Well (Genesis 24)
- Rebekah – the woman who would become Isaac’s wife
- Abraham’s servant arrives at the well with one job – to find Isaac a wife
- Rebekah comes to the well to simply draw water
- The answer to the servant’s prayer happens in real time
- Isaac’s future is set in motion at the well
Moses at the Well (Exodus 2)
- Moses, escaping Pharoah rests at a well
- He encounters Jethro’s daughters at the well
- Shepherds push them aside, but Moses intervenes and helps them
- Jethro sends his daughters back to the well to offer food and shelter
- Moses eventually marries one of Jethro’s daughters
- His life in Midian begins here
Beer-sheba – Wells of Abraham & Isaac (Genesis 21, 26)
- Abraham’s servants dig a well; Abimelech’s people dispute it; Abraham secures the well after confronting Abimelech
- A covenant is reached, and the well becomes a marker of agreement and peace.
- (Securing a well is basically staking a claim to the land around it)
- Isaac later returns and re-digs the same wells
* He digs a well and names it Esek (“dispute”) – the locals claim it
* He digs a well and names it Sitnah (“opposition”) – same problem
* He digs a well and names it Rehoboth – and the locals finally leave him alone - With Isaac, the promise of land begins to take shape
* Genesis 12:7 – “To your offspring I will give this land.”
* Genesis 13:15 – “All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever.”
Hagar’s Well – Beer-lahai-roi (Genesis 16)
- After Sarai mistreats her, Hagar flees into the wilderness
- She stops by a spring on the way to Shur
- The Angel of the Lord finds her there
- She is seen, spoken to, and given a promise that she her descendants will be too numerous to count
- She names the place Beer-lahai-roi, “The God who sees me”
Jacob’s Well – Jesus and the Samaritan Woman (John 4)
- Tired from the journey, Jesus stops at Jacob’s well in Samaria
- A woman comes to draw water, and He asks her for a drink
- The conversation shifts to “living water” and becomes personal
- She recognizes something different about Him
- She leaves her water jar and goes back to town, urging others to “Come, see a man…”
Well…how do you think you will do on the quiz? Grab your bucket and take a draw!