(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)
Looking
back on the story of Jacob meeting Rachel at the well, we can see so much
symbolism in the second glance. In the simple country setting of the field we
began to see so much of the things that represent a vivid picture of God's plan for the future and how He will be carrying out the promises of the covenant with Abraham.
All the
world players are gathered around the well.
The field
represents the world.
The
first thing that Jacob sees are three shepherds with three flocks that are
waiting to be watered. He wonders why
they are wasting so much grazing time just resting beside the well instead of
watering the flocks and moving on to greener pastures.
The sun is high in the sky, it must be at
least noon, and the shepherds sit together discussing anything and everything
among themselves at this well that remains covered.
Flocks usually
represent religious people groups and their shepherds are usually their
leaders. They could also represent
nations with their leaders. I have come
to consider the possibility of these three flocks representing the scribes, the
Pharisees and the Sanhedrin that governed them.
These were all people who were waiting on a King Messiah, someone who
would come along and rescue them and provide for their flocks and make their
lives easy and untouchable.
These
shepherds were waiting on the owner of the well to come and open the well so
that their sheep could drink of the water.
They were too greedy and too lazy to put forth the money and the effort
to dig their own well. They felt they
were entitled simply because they were born in the land. They went through the polite motions and courteous
manners with their waiting, but behind that false front they felt they had all
the power and were just using the owner of the well because he cooperated so
easily with what they needed. The Scribes
and Pharisees were much the same. They
never dug their own wells (or used their own original thoughts) but used the
messages received from the scriptures to expound their own man made-laws and
get their own way in every situation (in the name of God). They used this in a greedy way that called
attention to their own superiority and importance. These men had not dug the well or tended to
the well, but because they were native to the land, they considered themselves
important enough to use the well. In
other words, they prayed off of the true labor of Rachel’s family and elevated
themselves to be more important in a false way.
There
is the well that represents The Kingdom of God.
The well provides for the people sending nourishment out to the dry
parched land and making it flourish with crops and livestock. The people of the land want for nothing and
are blessed because of the well being there.
The
water of the well so vividly represents God’s Holy Spirit. The
well is filled with spring fed water that is pure and clean and it brings life
to all the people in the land. The prophet Isaiah spoke of such waters when
he proclaimed: “Therefore with joy shall
ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3) It was the water that saved them, without it
they would die. Rachel too represents the Holy Spirit, in that the people could not draw without her presence being their first.
The
well was protected by a large stone. It
was a stone large enough to be used as a cornerstone for a building. Usually it took three men to remove this
heavy stone. The stone being so heavy
and so hard to move was why it was used for protection. With this stone on top of the well only those
who are designated to have the water can actually receive the water. Those who belong to Christ receive The Holy
Spirit. God would never give His power
to an evil leader who did not know God’s ways.
Anyone who sincerely desires to come into the Kingdom of God may come,
just as all the people of the land were offered to draw from the water of
Rachel’s well; but, you must have permission first from the One who owns the
well. You must know Him and have spoken
with Him and He must have granted you the right to drink and water your flocks
at the well.
So it
was that the men who were too lazy to dig their own wells stood talking and
discussing until the generous Rachel came with her flock and had her men to remove
the stone and open the provision of the well.
These
other flocks and Rachel did have one thing in common. They all claimed to know the God of Abraham
and they all wanted to draw water for their flocks from the wells that the family
of Abraham had provided and preserved.
What
are all three of these flocks waiting for?
For the stone to be rolled away!
When
Jesus rose from the grave in resurrection after his crucifixion the stone had
to be rolled away! At that point the
people were ready to receive the nourishment and salvation that they had been
waiting for. It was the first step to
drinking the waters of everlasting life.
They no longer had to wait, the stone had been rolled away, God’s people
had been served first, and they were able to receive the refreshing and life
giving power of the water of God’s Holy Spirit, just as the nourishment from
this well provided life and sustained the three flocks of sheep waiting with
their shepherds to drink after Rachel’s sheep had been filled.
SOME of these sheep were changed when they drank the pure clean water from the well. SOME of the leaders changed too. The water seemed to make one think different thoughts and it drew them closer to finding The One True God of Heaven and Earth, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The false messiahs did not compare to The Good Shepherd. The true sheep heard His voice and followed Him.
Notice
that it usually took three strong men to move the stone, but when Rachel came
to the well Jacob found enough strength to move the stone all by himself. Jacob here represents the resurrected power
of Jesus Christ and any man filled with this same power from God’s Holy
Spirit. The impossible becomes possible. Men are strengthened beyond reason and logic
when God’s Spirit and Power is working in their lives. Jacob had just been blessed of God. His strength at this time was unbelievably strong from the energy of how his spirit had been strengthened and
encouraged by God. The same thing happened to Jesus in The Garden of Gethsemane just before He went to the cross. God gave him strength to bear the unbearable.
This
also points to the fact that the One who came to save us, Jesus Christ, came
directly from the bloodline of Jacob’s ancestors. Jacob’s people provided the carefully planned
DNA that made it possible for man and God to be connected again. It was a great moment in history when Jacob
rolled away that stone for the woman that he loved! We see a brilliant representation of Christ
coming for His Bride and providing nourishment from a well in which she will
never thirst again.
For
these sheep to drink from the well the shepherds had to wait on Rachel. She is so symbolic of God’s Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples to go to Jerusalem
and wait for the gift that God would send, a comforter that would remain with
them as he tended to business in heaven.
This was so similar to Jacob
being told to go to his father’s family and find a wife. In the moment that Jacob’s eyes met Rachel’s
eyes a million things of the Kingdom of God came together and were set in
motion.
Jacob
found Rachel at the well. Many years
later we see Jesus Christ talking to a Samaritan woman at a well. This Samaritan woman is so symbolic of those
in God’s church that come to Jesus in their sin and shame to drink the water
from which they will never thirst again. Christ seeks the face of His Bride beside a deep well. He finds them at the well and pours out His Spirit to them. They are changed, washed clean, invigorated and filled up. They are ready to go, just as this Samaritan woman did, to tell the good news of the Gospel to
everyone that they meet.
My friends, beware of the fact that God is
in the small things, even the things of a typical a country field.
He is in the everyday things, such as
shepherds tending their flocks on a lonely hillside.
He is protecting, arriving and saving in
every moment of every day of every person’s life.
Open your eyes to what God is saying and
doing. He is telling you the story above
all stories with the best and happiest ending.
Listen for His voice.
Look for
His coming.
See the lessons of the tasks
of everyday life that God speaks into.
Find the places where God and men collide and abide there.
These are the special pastures in which you
must feed. You will find water from
whence you will never thirst again and your soul will rest and be forever
satisfied.
