John now adds a second bit of information. Not only is this the town where a plot of
land given by Jacob to his son Joseph can still be identified, it is also a
place where that very same patriarch actually dug a well that has been in
continual use to that very special day.
I guess that is more than a bit significant. After all, on a hot day, as most likely it is
in the heart of arid Palestine, having a place to quench your thirst is a very
good thing. To think that a well dug up
by Jacob hundreds of years before still provides a place for people to come and
quench their thirsts is pretty amazing.
On this particular day One, who according to the narrative by John, “was
in the beginning with God” and as such precedes even Jacob who established the
well, now finds a place nearby to sit and wait out the hot noonday sun like an
ordinary man.
Oh yes, it is noon.
People didn’t use to go to the well in the middle of the day. Most people, women usually, came out to gather
water for the day in their earthen jars early in the day, before the sun became
overbearing. Today Jesus sits and waits
patiently. The disciples are in
town. There is no one there but Jesus,
sitting in the hot sun, tired and undoubtedly thirsty, waiting next to a well
he chooses not to access on this particular occasion. There is something much more important that
his own thirst to be addressed today.
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