DIGGING AWAY THE DIRT TO ENJOY CHRIST AS THE WELL
The fourth occasion of the children of Israel’s drinking is recorded in Numbers 21:16-18. They came to a place called Beer, which means a well. When the children of Israel came to Beer, they came to a well. This is a type of Christ being a well in us. He is not only the cleft rock but also a well of water. The Lord Jesus tells us in John 4:14 that if we drink of Him, we will have a spring or a well of water within us. Christ is the rock outside of us, and He is the well within us. As the rock outside of us, He needs to be smitten. Regarding Christ as the well within us, we need to be dug. There is no need for Christ to be smitten again, but there is the need for us to be dug so that Christ as the well can spring up within our inward being. There is much dirt in our inward being blocking the flowing of Christ. All this dirt needs to be dug away.
Numbers 21:18 says, “The princes digged the well, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves.” The American Standard Version tells us that the nobles of the people dug the well “with the scepter, and with their staves” (v. 18). A scepter is a royal rod in the ruler’s hand related to authority. Psalm 23 indicates that the staff or staves are for guidance (v. 4). Thus, scepters are for authority, and staves are for guidance. We need to be dug under the Lord’s authority and according to His guidance.
The princes and nobles of the people would not normally be the ones to dig the well. The people of the lower class would do the digging. But Numbers 21 tells us that the princes and nobles of the people of God dug the well at Beer. If we are going to enjoy Christ as the well springing up all the time in the local churches, all the leading ones have to take the lead to dig away the dirt under the Lord’s authority and according to His guidance. Then we will have a well springing up with living water all the time in the churches because we have the digging by the princes and the nobles of the people with the scepter and the staves.
CALLING ON THE LORD TO DRINK THE LIVING WATER
The fifth occasion concerning the matter of drinking in the Old Testament is the occasion of Samson in Judges 15. The Spirit of the Lord had come upon Samson, enabling him to slay a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. Afterward, Samson was dying of thirst, so he called on the Lord (15:18) and “God clave a hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day” (v. 19). En-hakkore means the fount or the well of the caller. When we call on the name of the Lord, we drink the living water and we are revived. The portions of Scripture that we have covered in this chapter cover five occasions that provide us with a full picture of the matter of drinking in the Old Testament.
(The Crucial Revelation of Life in the Scriptures, Chapter 4, by Witness Lee)
