This little study was motivated by our church name change from “Los Osos Christian Fellowship” to “The Well – Los Osos” . The enemy of our souls loves to lie to us in our times of great difficulty that there is no hope; that our sin or someone else’s is just too great. May the Lord continue to convince us of the unfathomable depths of resource we have in Him for every challenge and battle and difficulty and impossibility we will ever face, and may we ever know Him as the life giving Well, Fountain, Spring, and River.
No relevant occurrences of “Well” in Old Testament. In other words – all of them refer to a literal well.
“Well” in New Testament John 4:14 “But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” 4077 (this number and all subsequent 4 digit numbers refer to the Greek or Hebrew word in the New American Standard Concordance) pege (Greek word translated “well”) – a spring (of water); flow 1; fountain 1; spring 1; springs 5, well 3. Lord teach us to drink! And thank you that there is a level of intimacy with you that produces in us an ever flowing life of God.
No relevant occurrences of “wells” in either Old or New Testaments in the NASV.
“Fountain” in Old Testament Psalm 36:9 “For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light.” 4726 maqor from 6979; a spring, fountain; – flow (m)1, fountain 14, well 1. (most translations translate this as “fountain”)
Psalm 68:26 “Bless God in the congregations, Even the Lord, you who are of the fountain of Israel.” 4726 maqor (Most major translations translate this word “fountain”)
Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.” 4726 maqor (Most major translations translate this word “fountain”)
Jeremiah 17:13 “Oh Lord, the hope of Israel, All who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth will be written down, Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water, even the Lord.” 4726 maqor (Most major translations translate this word “fountain”)
Zechariah 13:1 “In that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.” 4726 maqor (Most major translations translate this word “fountain”)
No relevant occurences of “Fountains” in New Testament
“Spring” in Old Testament
Psalm 84:6 “Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; The early rain also covers it with blessing.” 4599 mayan or mayeno or mayanah [745d] from 5869; a spring; – fountain 2, fountains 2, spring 8, springs 11, My question in meditating on this passage is whether it merely spoke to the physical or was it using the occasional physical phenomena to point to the spiritual. Here is Dr. Allen Ross’s commentary on verses 5-7: “The Psalmist declared the blessedness (cf. v. 12; i.e., the joyous privileges and great benefits) of those who demonstrate their faith by going on pilgrimage (cf. Deut. 16:16) to appear in Jerusalem (Zion) before the Lord. On their pilgrimage they were strengthened by God’s blessings. The Valley of Baca was apparently a waterless place that became a place of springs. The rains would cover the arid valley with pools of water, a vivid picture of God’s blessings on the faithful pilgrims.” While we no longer are required to go on pilgrimage, the idea of a continuous flow of blessing and life is there.
Isaiah 58:11 – of man, not God, but similar concept and ultimately from or enabled by God – – “And the Lord will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.” 4161 motsa or motsa (English looks exactly the same, but Hebrew slightly different) [425d] from 3318; a place or act of going forth, issue, export, source, spring:
“Spring” in New Testament Revelation 21:6 “Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.” 4077 (see John 4:14 above) (appears to refer to believers in the New Heavens and the New Earth)
“Springs” in Old Testament Psalm 87:7 “Then those who sing as well as those who play the flute shall say, “All my springs of joy are in you.” 4599 (see Psalm 84:6 above)
Isaiah 12:3 “Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.” 4599 (K.J., NKJV., NIV., ESV., RSV, all translate “wells” instead of “springs”)
Isaiah 49:10 ?? literal or figurative?? “They will not hunger or thirst, Nor will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them And will guide them to springs of water.” 4002 mabbua [616a] from 5042; a spring (of water); springs 2, well 1
“Springs” in New Testament Revelation 7:17 “for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” 4077 spoken of believers who died in the great tribulation, and who then were translated to heaven
“River” in Old Testament Psalm 36:8 “They drink their fill of the abundance of Your house; And You give them to drink of the river of Your delights.”
Psalm 46:4 “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High.”
Isaiah 48:18 “If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.”
Isaiah 66:12 “For thus says the LORD, “Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; And you will be nursed, you will be carried on the hip and fondled on the knees.”
Ezekiel 47:5 “Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not ford, for the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be forded.”
Ezekiel 47:6 “He said to me “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he brought me back to the bank of the river.”
Ezekiel 47:7 “Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other.”
Ezekiel 47:9 “It will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very man fish, for these waters go there and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.”
Ezekiel 47:12 “By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leave for healing.”
“River” in New Testament Revelation 22:1 “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
Revelation 22:2 “In the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
No relevant occurrences of “Rivers” in the Old Testament
“Rivers” in the New Testament John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.”
• – some of these Hebrew words can be translated as “well”, “spring”, and “fountain” depending on the translator. • The idea with all three (along with “river” and “rivers”) is an unending, inexhaustible, ever flowing, unfathomable source of life, health, power, satisfaction, healing, cleansing, etc. • This study like so many of mine is not finished, but I trust it will point you in the right direction. All references from NASV unless noted otherwise
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