Title: Digging Wells Text: John 4:5-29
Intro: Over in Israel you can still find some of those ancient wells that were used by the patriarchs. In John 4 we see an ancient well that Jacob dug.
We are fairly sure that they have the right well marked as Jacob’s.
The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts comments, “The Old Testament is silent as to when or why Jacob dug this well. It lies on the southern side of the valley of Shechem, where it opens upon the plain of Moreh (now called el-Mukhnah), about a hundred yards south of the foot of Mt. Gerizim. It is one of the few Biblical sites about which there is no dispute, and probably the only place on earth where one can draw a circle of a few feet, and say confidently that the feet of Christ have stood within the circumference.”
Vs. 6 Notice “wearied” Jesus had a body that (like ours) needed rest. Jesus chose an ancient well, most likely dug by Jacob’s twelve sons. Now let’s look at some things concerning Jacob’s well.
I. God made use of that old well.
Jesus can use the old wells. In our outline this represents human works we get involved in. You never know when you works will be used by God. In this same chapter Jesus told his disciples to look on the fields that were spoiling needing to be harvested and he told them that they would enter into other men’s labors. Was he referring to entering into Jacob’s labors as Jesus said in John 4:38 “I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours”. Jacob labored hard for a well which Jesus would drink from while witnessing to the Samaritian woman.
The Peoples New Testament Commentary says, “At the foot of the mountain, east of the well, there extends, for miles, a very fertile plain, whose harvests may have suggested the image in John 4:35.”
A. Jesus both drank from and sat on Jacob’s well.
B. The Samaritan woman made use of Jacob’s well. Vs.7
She made use of this well that was still in use over seventeen centuries after Jacob dug it.
The works of God are lasting. This well was used by God to comfort the weary.
This work was a work that did not discriminate. The Samaritans used it often. Jacob probably never thought that this well would be used by both a poor peasant woman and the chosen Messiah on the same day. Jacob more than likely dug it following his wrestling and humbling and more than likely dedicated it to God in prayer.
Now, God has use for it. God used that old well for the place to record the first dialogue with a woman on the great subject of Salvation.
We should hope that God uses our works (dug wells) to speak to people as well.
C. The disciples most probably drank from this well. Vs. 8
Our works need not only minister to the lost and to the Lord Jesus, but we should be refreshing the weary saints as well.
Jacob’s well was used by the hungry disciples who also got thirsty. I’m sure they drank from the well both before they got meat and after they after they returned. Vs 27-28
D. The Samaritans no doubt used this well. Vs. 9,12
In Vs.12 the Samaritan woman said, “our father Jacob which gave us this well.” She made use of this well. She felt it was part hers.
We need to commit our works to reach beyond cultural and international prejudices and barriers so long as they have a well to drink from that stays pure. This speaks of the mission to bring the water of the Word to mission fields around the world. Revelation 22:17 Every kindred, tribe and nation.
II. God had a purpose for the depth of the well. Vs. 11
“the well is deep”
It may have seemed futile but Jacob did not stop with a shallow well. Sometimes the work of God is laborious. It’s long hours and hard work may not seem worth the effort. But God sometimes leads us to places where we must dig deep before the reward comes.
Galatians 6:9: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
A. The depth of the well made it more appreciated by Jacob and his family. Vs.12
Notice: It seems it was dug to keep Jacob’s family separated from unbelievers.
Proverbs 5:15 “ Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.”
The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts notes, “As the neighborhood abounds in springs, the well would hardly have been dug save by one who wished to be independent of his neighbors–as Jacob did.” ”The top of the well is arched over like a cistern, and a round opening is left about twenty inches in diameter. On this arch or curbing Jesus sat.”
God had purpose for Jacob and his family digging this well. It is of great benefit for you and your family to do God’s work together.
God has a purpose when the well is deep,
The way is hard; the rocks are steep.
The water is sweeter and memories so sweet,
When from hard labors you begin as a family to reap.
There is nothing wrong with partaking of the benefits of God’s works.
B. The depth of the well made it stronger and last longer.
Jacob dug a deep well he knew people would drink from for generations. Vs. 12, “our father Jacob, which gave us the well”
The Peoples New Testament Commentary says, “It is still seen by the traveler, cut through the solid rock, between eight and nine feet in diameter, and about seventy-five feet deep, though partly filled with rubbish.
C. The depth of the well made it available when other wells ran dry.
Notice: It was deeper in the past.
The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts comments, “Maundrell, who visited it in 1697, said that it was one hundred five feet deep, and had in it fifteen feet of water. But travelers have thrown stones into it to sound its depth, until at present it is only sixty-six feet deep, and has no water in it except in very wet winters. It is seven and half feet in diameter, and is walled with masonry to a depth of about ten feet, below which it is cut through the solid rock. It lies four hundred yards nearly due south from Joseph’s tomb.”
Jacob also knew that this well would sustain him and his personal family. Vs. 12, “and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?”
We need to remember when God saves a person, God includes the children in the opportunity to partake of this well. When families serve God together doing the work of God, there is nothing wrong with being sustained by that well. As others receive the Word and the encouragement, God encourages the worker, Jacob drank and his children drank.
D. The depth of the well made others realize the sacrifice paid for the well.
Notice: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament concerning Jacob’s well. “There is still a well a few miles to the east of Nablus, which is said by the people there to be the same. The Rev. Eli Smith, missionary to Syria, stated to me that he had visited this well. It is about 100 feet deep and is cut through solid rock of limestone. The well is now dry, probably from having been partly filled with rubbish, or perhaps because the water has been diverted by earthquakes. The well is covered with a large stone, which has a hole in the centre large enough to admit a man. It is at the foot of Mount Gerizim, and has a plain on the east.”
Notice: A. T. Robertson’s Word Pictures says, ”It is really a cistern 100 feet deep”
The depth of the well is important because people realize the sacrifice paid by others and it provokes them also as they draw the bucket up with a long rope. They realize the sacrifice and the sustenance God gives by deep wells. Vs. 11, “draw” “well is deep”
III. Notice, God used this well when Jacob was long gone.
Our works have far greater impact when they are in the work of God than in the world. It had been over seventeen hundred years since Jacob dug that well. As far as I know it is still there today being used.
Jacob drank at that well,
His children drank there too.
Jesus drank there,
the Samaritan woman filled her pot,
Jesus’ disciples probably drank from it,
And as far as I know people are still drinking from it today.
IV. God is still using this well to illustrate Salvation’s truths today.
Vs. 13, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:”
Vs. 14, “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.”
God made a memorial for Jacob by this deep well and it is not forgotten. This well is still the very place where Jesus shared the first Gospel message to a woman, and were he won his first sinner to himself that we know of.
Lastly, in closing, notice, “Her waterpot” Vs, 20
Though God has use for deep wells he also has use for little water pots.
Little water pots can be used greatly. It was from this sinner’s water pot that Jesus was also satisfied and very possibly his disciples. Vs. 31 With meat they needed water and a pot was there.
I believe that the Samaritan woman left the water pot on purpose. She probably knew that the disciples needed to borrow it when they came back from getting meat, and she planned to come back with the city anyway. This woman had news to tell and didn’t want to be hindered by a weight that so easily beset her. She had water to drink that they knew not of.
Are you building a well? Well, stop and take a drink!
Do you have a water pot? Maybe you ought to just leave it at the well. Lots of thirsty people out there!
Mark J. Bach
Missionary to Remote Regions.
Alaska/Canada
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