And erring widely from the meaning of Scripture, he says that “God gave
wells[672] also to the righteous.” Now he did not observe that the
righteous do not construct cisterns,[673] but dig wells, seeking to
discover the inherent ground and source of potable blessings,[674]
inasmuch as they receive in a figurative sense the commandment which
enjoins, “Drink waters from your own vessels, and from your own wells of
fresh water. Let not your water be poured out beyond your own fountain,
but let it pass into your own streets. Let it belong to you alone, and
let no alien partake with thee.”[675] Scripture frequently makes use of
the histories of real events, in order to present to view more important
truths, which are but obscurely intimated; and of this kind are the
narratives relating to the “wells,” and to the “marriages,” and to the
various acts of “sexual intercourse” recorded of righteous persons,
respecting which, however, it will be more seasonable to offer an
explanation in the exegetical writings referring to those very passages.
But that wells were constructed by righteous men in the land of the
Philistines, as related in the book of Genesis,[676] is manifest from
the wonderful wells which are shown at Ascalon, and which are deserving
of mention on account of their structure, so foreign and peculiar
compared with that of other wells. Moreover, that both young women[677]
and female servants are to be understood metaphorically, is not _our_
doctrine merely, but one which we have received from the beginning from
wise men, among whom a certain one said, when exhorting his hearers to
investigate the figurative meaning: “Tell me, ye that read the law, do
ye not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons; the
one by a bond maid, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the
bond woman was born after the flesh; but he of the free woman was by
promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants;
the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is
Agar.”[678] And a little after, “But Jerusalem which is above is free,
which is the mother of us all.” And any one who will take up the Epistle
to the Galatians may learn how the passages relating to the “marriages,”
and the intercourse with “the maid-servants,” have been allegorized; the
Scripture desiring us to imitate not the literal acts of those who did
these things, but (as the apostles of Jesus are accustomed to call them)
the spiritual.
Footnote 672:
φρέατα.
Footnote 673:
λάκκους.
Footnote 674:
τὴν ἐνυπάρχουσαν γῆν καὶ ἀρχὴν τῶν ποτίμων ἀγαθῶν. Boherellus
proposes: τὴν ἐνυπάρχουσαν πηγὴν καὶ ἀρχὴν τῶν ποτίμων ὑδάτων.
Footnote 675:
Cf. Prov. v. 15-17.
Footnote 676:
Cf. Gen. xxvi. 15.
Footnote 677:
νύμφας.
Footnote 678:
Cf. Gal. iv. 21-24.