Leaving Abraham, this
study moves on to the next of Israel’s patriarchs, whose story will be part of
the grand tale told by Israel about itself, and comes face to face with Isaac.
Not only is his wife discovered in connection with a well, but Isaac has his
own well dealings. Not surprisingly, since his life mimics that of his
father in a number of ways (movements based on famine, deceptions about his
wife, growing wealthy based on these deceptions, a wife that was initially
childless, etc…), it is discovered that Isaac, like his father, is involved in
disputes concerning wells.
There is no need to
retrace the exact course of the disputation found in the twenty-sixth chapter
of Genesis, as it shall suffice to say that it looks quite similar to that
which was experienced by Abraham. Surely these disputes play into and
informs the historic sensibilities that must be brought to any attempt to enter
into the mindset of Jesus and that of the Samaritan woman when they engage in a
partially disputative conversation at the well.
This may prove to be
especially so when considering what took place once Isaac was able to dig a
well over which there was no dispute. Isaac’s response to the digging of
this undisputed well was “now the Lord has made room for us, and we will
prosper in the land” (26:22b). “From
there Isaac went up to Beer Sheba. The Lord appeared to him that night
and said, ‘I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I
am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake
of My servant Abraham.’ Then Isaac built an altar there and worshiped the
Lord” (26:23-25a). This is rounded out in a not unexpected way, as the
story goes on to say that “He pitched his tent there, and his servants dug a
well” (26:25b).
Here, a well
(actually two wells) is connected with a place of worship, prompting thoughts
of worship and the act of worship itself. Of course, hearkening back to
yet another connection to his father, one must consider that Beer Sheba is also
the place that Abraham dug a well and the place at which he made the treaty
with Abimelech (Isaac also deals with an Abimelech) following the initial
disputes about a well. So naturally, Isaac’s venturing to that place is
an explicit reminder of Abraham’s story (as is much of Isaac’s story in and of
itself), and by extension the Creator God’s covenant with Abraham. So
perhaps one should not think of wells, especially in Scripture, without also
retaining the idea of the Creator God’s covenant and His covenant faithfulness
to go along with it?
Staying with Abraham,
it is recorded that he “planted a tamarisk tree in Beer Sheba” (21:33a), which
was the place that he dug the well, and “There he worshiped the Lord, the
eternal God” (21:33b). Why go back to Abraham after having moved on to
Isaac? Why mention the covenant that was begun with Abraham, which would
be extended to Isaac, to Jacob/Israel, and then on to the nation of Israel?
Why speak here of worship? Because it attunes an observer to the words of
the Samaritan woman, as she responds to Jesus. “The woman said to Him,
‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this
mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in
Jerusalem” (4:19-20). Here is a well, a dispute, and talk of worship,
which accords nicely with the well stories that participate in shaping and
defining the collective mindset of the people of Israel.
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