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Gen. 29:1
"Then Jacob went on his journey, and came
into the land of the people of the east. 2
And he looked, and behold a well in the
field, and, lo, there were three flocks of
sheep lying by it; for out of that well they
watered the flocks: and a great stone was
upon the well's mouth. 3 And thither were
all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the
stone from the well's mouth, and watered the
sheep, and put the stone again upon the
well's mouth in his place."
As Jacob
continued on his journey he had God's
covenant promises resonating in his heart
and was no doubt comforted by them.
When he came to the land of the people of
the east, he came to a well of water.
Wells in that day were very important for
the livelihood of the people and of the
animals of those countries. This is
still true in some countries today.
Man and animals cannot survive very long
without water. Water is essential to
the maintenance of life. Wells,
therefore, became gathering places for the
shepherds and their flocks. Also, the
women went out to draw water out of the
wells for their families to drink, to cook,
and to wash clothes. The wells, for
many people, were social gathering places.
The wells, in
the scriptures, are often used to teach us
spiritual lessons. For instance, when
the children of Israel came into the
wilderness from Egypt, they came to Elim,
where there were twelve wells of water and
seventy palm trees. It just so
happened that the nation of Israel had
twelve princes and seventy elders to govern
the people. This parallels the twelve
apostles and seventy elders the Lord used in
the establishment of the New Testament
church.
Often, oaths
or covenants were made in the proximity of
wells. The wells were often named
after the oath or covenant. The bible
speaks of drawing water from the wells of
salvation. Our souls are watered by
the gospel of Jesus Christ that tells us of
the covenant of redemption and the work of
Christ under the covenant of redemption to
redeem us from our sins and give us a hope
of heaven's glory world.
Since, all
scripture is given by inspiration of God and
is profitable…, then the above passage
concerning a well must also be profitable to
learn about as well. The well was in a
field. Now that is not surprising, but
it is also significant, because the "field"
is often used as a parallel to the "world"
in which we live. We have a spiritual
well for God's born-again children in this
wicked world in which we live. In John
chapter 4, the Lord spoke to the Samaritan
woman at the well. He told her in John
4:10: "Jesus answered and said unto her, If
thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is
that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou
wouldest have asked of him, and he would
have given thee living water." He also
told the woman in v. 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."
Christ is that well from which we drink
spiritual water springing up into
everlasting life. Moreover, Christ is
in us, the hope of glory.
There were
three flocks of sheep by the well that Jacob
came upon. Likewise, we can see that
God has a people among the Hamites, the
Shemites, and the Japhethites. Another
way of looking at this is that God had a
people under the law covenant, he has a
people under the grace covenant, and he has
a people embraced in the covenant of
redemption.
"And a great
stone was upon the well's mouth." This
great stone had to be removed to enable the
flocks to drink. Jesus was buried in
Joseph's new tomb. There was a great
stone rolled across the front of the
sepulcher. It took several men to roll
the stone over the opening, yet, a mighty
angel rolled the stone away. We feast
on the spiritual waters of knowing that
Christ rose victorious over death, hell, and
the grave, having delivered us from our
sins. Now, we know that Jesus could
have come out of that grave without the
stone being rolled away. However, the
stone was rolled away that man may look upon
the empty tomb.
"And thither
were all the flocks gathered: and they
rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and
watered the sheep…" Truly, all of
God's elect are gathered around the work of
redemption manifest by the empty tomb,
signifying the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead.
Gen. 29:4-8 God's Providence in
guiding Jacob
Gen. 29:4 "And
Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence be
ye? And they said, Of Haran are we. 5 And he
said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of
Nahor? And they said, We know him. 6 And he
said unto them, Is he well? And they said,
He is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter
cometh with the sheep. 7 And he said, Lo, it
is yet high day, neither is it time that the
cattle should be gathered together: water ye
the sheep, and go and feed them. 8 And they
said, We cannot, until all the flocks be
gathered together, and till they roll the
stone from the well's mouth; then we water
the sheep."
In the above
passage we see the providence of God leading
Jacob to the place and people he was to go
to. Jacob's father and mother had told
him to go to Haran and find a wife among the
daughters of Laban. Laban, of course,
was Rebekah's brother. Jacob's lot was
to come upon a well where men and flocks
were gathered together. When he
inquired of where they were from, he was
told they were from Haran. When he
inquired if they knew Laban the son of Nahor,
they said "We know him." It just so
happened that the youngest daughter of Laban
came out with the sheep at that time.
These are a lot of coincidences. Yet
God often works in the lives of others to
arrange coincidences to accomplish his
purpose.
"And he said,
Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time
that the cattle should be gathered together:
water ye the sheep, and go and feed them.
And they said, We cannot, until all the
flocks be gathered together, and till they
roll the stone from the well's mouth; then
we water the sheep." When Jacob asked
the men to water the sheep the men told him
that they could not until all the flocks
were gathered together and "they" roll the
stone from the well's mouth. This
suggests that the stone over the well was a
very large stone and required multiple men
to roll it away. |
