WHAT WILL YOU SAY AT THE WELL?

I grew up in a village in Lim Chu Kang in the early 1960s when piped water and electricity were non-existent in my house. In my early childhood years, I had only come into contact with rain water, water from the river or water from the well. I had no knowledge of running tap water until I was much older. When I had to take a bath, I would have to walk over to my uncle’s house a distance away to use the well at his property. The bathroom was a zinc-shed built around a well.  Water had to be drawn out of the well from a pail with a string attached to it. This well was an important part of my early life and my childhood memory.

Wells were and are still essential to the survival of many people and their livestock. In the Bible, wells were also mentioned several times.  We read of encounters of various people who had interactions with others which took place at wells. These people went to the well because they had to be there, either as a final destination or as a transit stop to an ultimate destination. They might have chosen when to go to the well, but they might not control who they would meet there and what would take place there.

Genesis 24 tells the account of how Abraham instructed his eldest servant to find a wife for his son, Isaac, from his relatives.  The Bible recorded how the servant stopped by a well at evening time and prayed to God for help to find a wife for his master’s son.  Soon, he met Rebekah at the well when she was there to draw water.  He then requested for water to drink from her.

The Bible recorded Rebekah’s response and actions for our learning in Genesis 24:18-20:

¹⁸ And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.

¹⁹ And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.

²⁰ And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.

Rebekah responded swiftly and kindly to Abraham’s servant’s request for water.  She then followed by voluntarily offering help to draw water for his camels to drink.  Rebekah’s kindness towards Abraham’s servant and her attention towards his camels made a great and positive impression on him.  Her kind actions matched those same attributes he was looking and praying for in the potential bride for Abraham’s son, Isaac.  Rebekah’s care and concern towards the servant, a total stranger, led the servant to investigate further into her family background which eventually resulted in Rebekah being chosen as the bride for Isaac.

This encounter at the well and how Rebekah responded at the well led to the important role which Rebekah played during a critical period of Isaac’s life. The Bible poignantly recorded in Genesis 24:67 that “And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.”

What has Rebekah’s encounter at the well and her response at the well to do with us?  What lessons may we learn from this encounter at the well? 

Rebekah was likely going about her usual day, doing her usual chores, commuting to her usual well, preparing to draw her usual buckets of water, running through in her mind her usual list of usual things to do after the chore of drawing water was done.  She might probably be looking forward to this usual chore being completed as smoothly as it  usually was.

Yet, a person had stopped her in her tracks and asked her for help.  This request came from a total stranger and would require a response from her.

Helping this stranger would mean a disruption to her plans, her routine, a delay to her completion of her chores for the rest of the day and taking time out of her schedule which she might not have to spare.  For Rebekah, this might likely mean that some of her chores might be backed up, be left undone or that she might have to do them by pushing back her usual bed time or by sacrificing some of her precious “me” time.

Yet Rebekah chose to respond with kindness and goodness towards this stranger, putting aside her own considerations.

As we live life, we also go to the usual ‘wells’ in our lives.  We go about our usual routines, go to our usual destinations at schools, at work, at supermarkets or hawker centres so as to carry out our usual activities.  As we go about the ‘wells’ in our lives, we will also surely meet the ‘Abraham’s servants’.  It may happen at any time of our day and at any stage of our lives.

Surely, these encounters may inconvenience us, require our effort, delay our schedule and derail our plans for that day.

What will we do then? How will we respond? 

Will we choose to respond with kindness and goodness as Rebekah did?

Will we be guided by Galatians 6:10 “So, then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith”?

May we remember that we, as Christians, are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10).

Let us, therefore, choose to respond as Rebekah did so as to “shine your light before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven” (Matthew 5:16).