Bible Studies

The Wells of Two Nations

by Terry Barlow
07/21/14
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   The woman at the well in John chapter 4 remarks to Jesus that the well is deep and that Jacob himself, and his sons and livestock had drunk from that very well thousands of years before. She, the Samaritan woman, was concerned that Jesus had no bucket. As we established in the “Drawing Well Water” article,  it was “with joy” (Isaiah 12 v. 3) that Jesus drew water, joy was his bucket and his joy was deep so he could descend any well or into any circumstance with joy and peace intact. “Joy is peace dancing” it has been said. But imagine the wonder of drinking from the very well that sustained Jacob and his twelve sons, his livestock and therefore the twelve tribes and the very nation of Israel. That very well was in a real sense the source and fount of the nation of Israel. Jesus had a keen sense of history and the significance of things, as when he strolled in the Portico of Solomon, the last standing portion of the glorious temple of Solomon.  He had probably gone there to appreciate and assimilate the heritage of that place.  But Jesus was telling the woman that the water he would give from a well of living water would sustain a new nation, built not upon 12 tribes so much as on 12 apostles that were already beginning to taste of this well, brimming up into eternal life. This new nation was a holy nation and a royal priesthood as Peter would later write, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and empowered to do what ancient Israel had failed to do fully, and that is to be a light to the nations and to bring salvation to all the world, demonstrating it undeniably for all who had eyes to see.