A Well of a Tale

By Amie May

Arriving at a well (Gen 29), Jacob sees and talks with some men that he soon finds out know his uncle, Laban. They exchange small talk and then Jacob says, "Behold, the day is still high; it is not time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and go feed them." The men answer, "We are not able until all the flocks are gathered and they roll the stone from the mouth of the well; then we water the sheep."

Rachel (Laban's daughter) then arrives with Laban's sheep, feeding them. When Jacob saw her, he rolled the stone away from the well and watered those sheep - before all of the flocks had been gathered.

Continuing in the story, as Jacob watered the sheep, he would breed the sheep and take the strong of the offspring for himself, until seemingly all of the offspring were his. The sons of Laban said, "Jacob has taken away all that was to our father, and from that which was to our father he has gotten all this wealth." Laban did not look upon Jacob as he had before, and God tells Jacob to return to the land of his fathers. There, God would be with him.

Jacob calls for his now wives, Leah and Rachal, to come to the field, to his flocks. He explained to them that he served their father with all of his power, yet Laban cheated him, changing his wages ten times. God did not allow Laban to do him wrongly. If Laban said that the speckled sheep would be his wages, then all of the flocks bore speckled offspring. If Laban said that all of the striped sheep were his wages, the flocks bore striped.

God said to Jacob in a dream, "Jacob! Lift up your eyes and see all the rams leaping on the flock; they are striped, speckled and spotted. For I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God of Bethel, there where you anointed the pillar, where you vowed a vow to Me. Now rise up; go out of this land and go back to the land of your kindred."

Leah and Rachel then said, "Is there yet to us a portion and an inheritance in the house of our father? Are we not counted strangers by him. For he has sold us, and selling he has sold us for silver. For all the wealth which God has taken from our father, it is for us and for our sons. And now all that which God has said to you, do."

All of the sheep were given to Jacob by God, but the house of Laban would not be without inheritance. The offspring of his house would be blessed through his daughters. They then had a portion of Jacob's inheritance.

Jesus and the Samaritans

A woman came to the well where Jesus sat, to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me some to drink". She answered him saying, "How do You, being a Jew, ask to drink from me, I being a Samaritan woman? For Jews do not deal with Samaritans."

Jesus tells her that if she knew the gift of God, and the one who is asking for the drink, she would have asked him and he would give her "living water". Observing she said, "Sir, You have no vessel, and the well is deep. From where then do You have living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob who gave us the well, and he and his sons and his livestock drank out of it?"

She was a Samaritan, yet included herself as being given the well. She seems to recognize that any inheritance will have come through Jacob.

Jesus answered her saying, "Everyone drinking of this water will thirst again; but whoever may drink of the water which I will give him will not thirst, never! But the water which I will give to him will become a fountain of water in him, springing up into everlasting life." to which she replies, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."

Jesus tells her to bring her husband to him, and she tells Jesus that she has no husband. Jesus says that she answered rightly in that she did have five husbands, but the one that she was with was not her husband. Having this intimate knowledge of her she says to him, "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where it is necessary to worship."

The Samaritans claimed that their worship was the true religion of the ancient Israelites. The Jews, of course, claimed otherwise. Jesus answered, "Woman, believe Me that an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem."

That hour was coming and was even "at hand", when all would worship God in truth and in spirit. Yes, the Savior of the Samaritans had come, though they worshipped a God that they did not know. Salvation would be of the Jews.

Jesus came for the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24), yet the Samaritans would blessed through Israel (aka "Jacob"), receiving its' inheritance just as the house of Laban was.

Recognizing that the woman says, "I know that Messiah is coming, the One called Christ. When that One comes, He will announce to us all things."

Jesus said to her, "I AM! the One speaking to you."

Time-out for a parable

As the Samaritan woman is off declaring what she believes (that Jesus is the awaited Messiah), the disciples offer Jesus some food. He tells them that he had food to eat which they did not know. Then the disciples seemingly perplexed say to one another, "No one brought him anything to eat, did they?" Jesus replies, "My food is that I should do the will of Him who sent Me, and that I may finish His work."

Food is a life-substaining thing. Without it, we die. Jesus says that his finishing the work of God is what would substain his life.

Jesus asks, "Do you not say, It is yet four months and the harvest comes?" The disciples could forecast by the look of the crops, when harvest would be. They could tell when they would gather their literal sustenance. Jesus, talking about "his food" also says, "Behold, I say to you, Lift up your eyes and behold the fields, for they are already white to harvest."

He continues, "And the one reaping receives reward, and gathers fruit to everlasting life, so that both the one sowing and the one reaping may rejoice together. For in this the word is true, that another is the one sowing, and another the one reaping. I sent you to reap what you have not labored over. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

Those who reaped ate from the crops, just as the ones who sowed the crops did. They both partook in that which substained their lives. One received it, and the other worked for it.

Jesus tells the disciples that they are receiving what others had worked for -- just after saying that He would be doing the work.

Once again, people are gaining life in the inheritance of another. Because Jesus had life, so would the disciples; and so would the Samaritans.

In conclusion

Many Samaritans believed that Jesus was Messiah because of what the woman had told them, and many more believed through "His Word". Through the declaration of His ability (to know intimate things about her), some believed. Through, "His Word", many more recognized Him.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)

Simon Peter declared Jesus to be the Son of the living God, the Messiah, in Matthew 16:16 and Jesus answered saying, "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, but My Father in Heaven."

Yes, the Word had revealed it to Simon Peter, and revealed to the Samaritans as well that Jesus was "Savior of the world, the Christ."

By His work, those of Israel (aka "Jacob") would receive life, and through their inheritance of life, the rest of the world would be blessed in flourishing in it.

By rolling away the stone for a single flock, even a single sheep, the world would receive the living water.