Let's explore this fountain idea. We'll look at a few passages referring to fountains, wells, or springs -- in each case the same Hebrew word is used as that of our spring (ma `yan) of Leviticus 11.
The first couple occurrences of this word are simply references to physical water sources. For example, it shows up in the flood account ("the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up"), later in describing land boundaries (see Joshua 15:9, 18:15), and so on. However, in the writings of the prophets we begin to see fountains/wells used in spiritual metaphors. Notice how Isaiah 12 uses the word:
And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Similarly Joel prophecies that "a fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD" on the day of the LORD.
New Testament prophecy also anticipates drinking from "wells of salvation." The final scenes of Revelation include God declaring to the redeemed, "I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts."
Fountain. Salvation. Clearly connected.
How does Jesus figure into all this? To understand, we must look at a Jesus encounter. As we may expect, the setting is an old well.
Picking it up in John 4 we read:
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. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst."
Jesus both compares and contrasts Himself with Jacob's well. That well offers water; Jesus offers living water. He is the well of living water. A fountain, or spring, of life.
This is more than a nice sounding title. For starters, it is immediately legally significant. It means our Levitical clause (11:36) explains how Jesus wasn't in violation of the law by touching the untouchable and then acting unaffected. For He didn't become unclean. Springs don't.
It's also interesting to go back over our first stories thinking in fountain terms. For instance, recall when the woman in the midst of the crowd touched Jesus and she was healed. Jesus knew something had happened because He "perceived power going out" from Himself (Luke 8:46). That is, healing power flowed out of Him.
But Jesus' fountain identity is about far more than resolving legal questions or giving a new perspective on some otherwise familiar stories. For while these are good things to do, it falls short of addressing the heart questions we have: "What does this mean about Jesus, about me, about our relationship, today?" Good question -- it's the one planted on my heart too. It'll also be the topic of our next post.
// Continue to part 4.
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