Last week we took a fresh look at Jesus’ meeting a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and while some of what we looked at may have been surprising we didn’t look at the central message of Jesus. Jesus said he could give her living water, and that whoever drank of it would never thirst again. This is the first time Jesus uses this metaphor (John 4), and from the second use (John 7) we know that the living water he is referring to is the Holy Spirit. Where did this idea of “living water” come from? Would you believe the well?

It’s true every time you talk real estate, what matters most is location, location and location. In the case of the story of the woman at the well it couldn’t be more true. That is why John tells us at the start of the story that “he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well.” Surprisingly, the well is one of the central figures in this passage and the reason for Jesus’ illustration.

The city of Sychar where Jacob’s well resides is located in southern Samaria, roughly 150 miles north of the valley of Gerar but still inside the territory that God gave to Abraham. One of the first thing an agricultural community does in a new land is dig wells. Abraham had several dug, as did Isaac and then Jacob. Jacob’s well was far to the north, but is related by family to another well in the south originally dug by Abraham and around which “living water” was offered.

In Genesis 26 we read an amazing story about one of Abraham’s well. After being blessed by God with wealth and power the Philistines in the area asked Abraham to leave. He did so, moving deeper into his land. The Philistines then filled the wells in the area so it could not be inhabited again. Isaac returned to this land and dug out the wells, called them “after the names by which his father had called them”. A great many other wells were dug and their source was likely an underwater stream for the wells contained Mayim Hayim. In English, the passage correctly translates the Hebrew words Mayim Hayim as “running water”, but there is another meaning, a deeper meaning in the original language. These Hebrew words can also mean “water of life” or “living water”.

While interesting, what does that mean in the book of John? Whenever these words are used in other Jewish literature (the Tanach) or by the Old Testament prophets, or by Jesus in the New, they always refer to the living water that satisfies our spiritual thirst. So what is this “living water”? In John chapter four Jesus tells the Samaritan woman he could give her living water, so it must be something other than himself. In John chapter 7 we read:

On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’” (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

So we see that the history of Jacob’s well in Samaria played a prophetic role throughout history, pointing to the age in which we live today. Only the Creator and author of history could see the meaning of Jacob’s well, connecting its history to then modern times and reinforcing his claim to be the Messiah.