“Then cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there.... The woman saith unto Him,... Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?” (John 4:5-6, 11-12).
We frequently connect Jacob in our thoughts with the results of failure and lack of faith in a believer’s life; all too often he is a true though humbling picture of ourselves. However, the above passage, while providing wonderful encouragement for each believer, contains special comfort for fathers who at times, disheartened by their failures and lack of faith, may be tempted to give up the great responsibility they have for the spiritual nurturing of their families. Jacob’s actions, founded on his faith, shine out here with a morally-bright luster, and they are full of instructive encouragement.
In spite of all his faithless scheming, Jacob provided for his beloved son that which had sustained him in his own path of faith. He gave Joseph a parcel of ground which he had purchased in order to preserve his family in separation from the worldly influences of his brother Esau (Gen. 33:12-20). “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children” (Prov. 13:22). But separation, in itself a vital thing, could not sustain Jacob or his family if that parcel of ground contained no well of water (“fountain,” JND). If, however, the well was to be of value to Jacob’s family as a source of refreshment, it must first serve as a refreshment to him. The Samaritan woman may have wrongly claimed title to this well “our father Jacob, which gave us the well.” But she is morally right in giving testimony that the well was provided by the heart of a father, and that father drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle. Oh that we who are fathers may desire to provide for our beloved children and our “cattle” a well of living water for their preservation and nourishment!
The moral order mentioned in our verse is beautiful: he drinks, then his children drink, and then his affairs are sustained. It must be so with fathers today who seek to give spiritual refreshment to their families. Seeking to sustain the family and ordering the natural affairs of life (the cattle) according to spiritual principles will carry little moral power if fathers are not drinking from the well first for themselves.
What is that well from which Jacob drank and from which we should draw our refreshment? It is Christ. This is beautifully shown when the blessed Lord Jesus, the true well of living water, identified Himself with Jacob’s well by sitting “thus on the well” (John 4:6). He is the wonderful “fountain” that Jacob enjoyed by faith and which, by faith, he passed on for the blessing of his children’s children. May each one who bears the blessed and solemn responsibility of being a father (in the family or the assembly) drink deeply at that Well in order to nourish themselves and those for whom they are responsible.
“If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink” (John 7:37).
Ed.