“By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones.” (Heb 11:22, NKJV)
A last aspect concerning the fountain which we should point out, is that in Hebrew the word can also be used to mean eye, which in the light of Isa 29:10 can be linked to the prophets, who are called the eyes. A fountain is thus also the prophetic calling over a person’s life, that which has been called out over him or her. The term redemptive purpose is particularly apt here. Renn’s Expository Dictionary of Bible Words explains the terms fountain as “a symbolic reference to one who is in intimate relationship with his God”. He also refers to it as “the visionary symbolic source of eternal life”.
Back to the woman at the fountain in John 4. We had to first digress slightly, examining the word fountain in greater detail, before we could go on with our discussion. We have by now come to know John was a literary stylist who includes all detail he uses for a specific reason. The story in John 4 goes like this – “But he needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there.” (John 4:4-6a).
The well of Jacob – readers of these teachings should by now know that there are often much hidden in the descriptive landscape of the Bible. There is more than meets the eye! Notice the details – what is here illuminated are the prophetic promises which God had made to Jacob, the original father. Jesus comes to sit at his ancient father’s fountain of redemptive purpose, one could say. And remember – Jacob gave birth to Israel, after He had struggled with God for a new identity. This fountain is thus central as a place where God makes promises to Israel!
In Gen 48:22 we are told of Jacob’s death and how this specific piece of land is then given to Joseph. This portion of inheritance borders on the other piece of land which Jacob had bought in Shechem (later Sychar) (according to Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible).
This remarkable place was also, coincidentally J, the place where Abram stopped the first time on his way to Haran of Canaan (Gen 12:5). It was also the place where God first appeared to the patriarch, making promises to his descendants (Gen 12:7). And it is the place where Abram built an altar for the Lord God (Gen 13:18). This fountain has a history!
With the death of Joseph we read of a very interesting event – “Then Jesus took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, ‘God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.’” (Gen 50:25). In Ex 13:19-20 the story continues – “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, ‘God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.’” And in Jos 24:32 we find that Joshua prophetically fulfils this assignment – “The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph.”
The woman at the well is sitting at the most historic well of history, ready to hear the most important revelation and fulfilment of the promises of God to Israel.
- Sela: What does the bones of Joseph that are buried here symbolise?
- Read: Ex 11-13
- Examine how this has been fulfilled: Ex 12:5-6 and 15 (tip: 1 Cor 5:7). Charle_Barkey@winners.ca
