BIBLICAL SYMBOLS - WELL

A well that supplies water is one of the gifts of nature that is given by God; but there is also the effort of man to make a well in the right spot. From ancient time people recognized the power of  God too working at the bottom of the well, that is through the supplies of springs, That was not easily explainable except that God's hand was there. That's why they attributed a spiritual meaning to it. Often God used the well as a sign of his grace and symbol of his caring presence. This was very evident in the history of the Israelites, who had a nomadic life and finally got a land of their own that lacked this precious commodity called water.

Well as a human survival symbol

Water was from the beginning a bone of contention for Abraham and his posterity. The first instance of such a quarrel recorded in the Bible is concerning Abraham and Abimelech of the Philistines, " Abraham, however,reproached Abimelech about a well that Abimelech's men had seized by force" (Gen.21:25). In fact, Abraham had to make a pact with him as the Bible says, "Then Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech and the two made a pact" (Gen. 21:27). It was so important that Abraham also named the place, "This is why the place is called Beer-sheba; the two took an oath there "(Gen. 21:31).The name Beer-sheba has a rich meaning according to the commentary given in the New American Bible, "Beer-sheba: the Hebrew name really means, 'the well of the seven' , i.e., the place where there are seven wells,alluded to in the episode of the seven ewe lambs, Genesis 21:28-30; but it can also be enterpreted to mean 'the well of the earth' ".

From Abraham the fight for water continued into the next generations; that was when Isaac was in a part of Gear called Wadi Gerar. The Philistines, out of jealousy came and polluted the water of his wells that he had inherited from Abraham, "The Philistines had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells that his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham" (Gen.26:15). He had to clean up those wells with much difficulty; later he dug other wells which the Philistines claimed to be their own, the only exception being one he dug and named Rehoboth (Gen. 26:22). Finally Isaac returns to Beersheba to have peace. So the water issue or the well issue has been a burning issue from ancient times.