WELLS AND SPRINGS (11)
[p. 195] WELLS AND SPRINGS (11)
Judges 15: 14 - 19; 2 Samuel 23: 13 - 17; Song of Songs 4: 12 - 15
JT It is thought that our subject should be linked up with these three well-known servants of God and types of Christ — Samson, David and Solomon. The link of the assembly with Samson is not so clear as it is with David and Solomon, but I think we shall see that the marital idea, as it stands related to him, reaches out to the assembly, though faintly; and that his ministry involves a type of the Lord’s supper in its intended freshness; and in relation to that, the well, or spring, at Lehi. The general idea in Samson is nazariteship; fully seen in Christ, but also seen in all those who are characteristically in the testimony by the Spirit. We can only understand his history by connecting him as a type with the governing or male side in the history of the assembly. It is in that connection that we can link on the marital side, which comes into view at once in his history, vague and obscure indeed; yet God intended to bring about his proposed marriage to do damage to the enemy. Chapter 13 brings in the weakness of the male side in the testimony, and yet it was there; the female side, in Manoah’s wife, representing the assembly in some sense, in its instinctive intelligence as to what transpired. Manoah scarcely understood, but was recognised, nevertheless.
What is immediately connected with the passage read, is the delivering up of Samson by his own people — that is, by Judah — to the Philistines; so that there we have a clear link with the beginning of christianity, in the betrayal of Christ by the Jews. Then deliverance by what is marked by freshness — the fresh jawbone — and then the Spirit supporting the position, typified in a spring.
CAM In connection with the marital side, would you say that such a verse as “Jealousy is cruel as Sheol”
[p. 196] Song of Songs 8: 6, would be seen in Samson’s attack on the Philistines, because his wife was given to another? She had pleased him well, according to chapter 14.
JT He clearly had the marital idea in mind, and God was in it. There was opposition to him in it, not only on the part of his father and mother, but on the part of the Philistines; but God acted against them through it. Although this woman never became his wife in the ordinary sense — God seems to have prevented that — yet the idea of marriage was there, and an idea by itself may be right, although for other reasons it may fail in application. David had the idea of building the house, which was right so far, but for certain reasons it could not be carried out.
JS Do we have a democratic spirit in judges? “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (chapter 21: 25).
JT Just so; but Samson is not marked by that. The facts of his birth and childhood are very significant. “And the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him. And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him at Mahaneh-Dan”, Judges 13: 24, 25. That is a good start, and we must link it on with the abstract idea of nazariteship, which ran through Samson’s life, and through which God greatly weakened the enemy’s power; that is, in the ultimate result. The general result of a ministry has to be taken into account. Samson generally was successful against the Philistines.
WFK Are the Philistines a type of certain elements in christendom which are opposed to Christ and the assembly?
JT They would seek to frustrate whatever is of God, however faint.
WFK The Philistines shouted (chapter 15: 14).
JT They were so against him; he was their enemy — characteristically so. A man is usually judged, as to his fundamentals by the company he keeps, by the [p. 197] people he likes or dislikes; and Samson is marked throughout as an inveterate enemy of the Philistines, as they, in their turn, were against him. You can usually tell where a brother is by noting his affiliations.
ANW The Philistines were ruling Israel during his time (chapter 14: 4). “And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years” (chapter 15: 20).
JT That is significantly stated in the section before us; that is, after he is refreshed through the well, or spring.
ABP Does Samson, as a type, fit historically into the dark ages when the idea of the assembly was vague?
JT Yes, but I think he fits in throughout, as a type, blessed of God. He grew, it is said; he was normal. It is nazariteship normally; damaged later, but still there. Abstractly, christendom has never been without the principle of nazariteship, and chapter 16 shows that it revives. It becomes dim, but revives in the regrowth of Samson’s hair. Life comes into evidence again, and he slays more in his death than in his life.
LES Nazariteship is really the test of recovery, and the end becomes morally equal to the beginning.
JT That is what I think it means; his hair began to grow, and that pointed to the end of the Philistine domination. He destroyed more in his death than in his life. I think if we look at it in that general way, we shall get help in seeing that the principle of nazariteship runs through. God sees to that. The Holy Spirit being here is the guarantee of it in however few it may be. It is there, and towards the end, it comes out in renewed power. The well is the secret of this. Samson was exhausted in the great effort against the Philistines, and he cried out and God answered. The spring is called ‘the caller’s spring’; that cry has been heard among the brethren for many years — expression of need for the power of the Spirit.
JTJr Is God’s thought seen in chapter 14, where it says Jehovah was seeking an occasion against the Philistines?
JT Yes. The remarkable riddle which he propounded drew them into it. He put them in a tight place so that they were reduced morally, as unable to answer the riddle. I think it is to bring out how God takes occasion to expose what is against Him; to bring up issues so as to expose them.
JS Is the little strength of Philadelphia over against the greatness of the Philistine strength?
JT Yes. Samson always had strength until he allowed his secret to be disclosed. So long as he retains his secret, he has power, no matter what else happens.
AR What is the difference between the power of nazariteship, as seen in the hair, and in the power of the Holy Spirit? The word ‘move’ as used in the end of chapter 13 is said to denote powerful emotion. “And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him”.
JT The two ideas go together. Nazariteship is the secret of power. You see its full freshness and power in that verse. The next thing is this desire of his; the marital desire brings God into the matter in a mysterious sort of way in order to bring about the defeat of the enemy. God is always against the enemy; however much he may be against God. God never fails to be against him, and uses mysterious methods of exposing him and defeating him.
JS Does the secret of our power lie in the indwelling of the Spirit?
JT Yes; but associated with nazariteship. Samson’s hair was not to be shorn and certain things were to be disallowed in his food, as stated in Numbers 6. Here it is said that his mother was not to eat of anything “that cometh of the vine, neither shall she drink wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean” (chapter 13: 14). Also, verse 5 says, “For lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head; for [p. 199] the boy shall be a Nazarite of God from the womb; and he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines”. Note that it says he shall begin to do it. The elimination of certain food is in mind in relation to nazariteship, and the growth of the hair is to mark one off as different from the world. His manhood is different. He does not develop manhood according to the flesh. It is an important matter for young people, because the world appeals to them and stimulates them. What stimulates naturally is to be eliminated from what you feed on spiritually, or mentally. Therefore the importance of young people keeping with God’s people and eating the right food.
GAT Would you help me on the thought of the Philistine woman here? You were saying we should keep with the right company.
JT Yes; those who are clean, according to the teaching of Leviticus 11. The Philistines are the opposite to that. They represent men that come into the profession without any godly exercise at all; without accepting the death of Christ. They are walking on natural lines; and this secret of nazariteship is necessary to overthrow them.
TM Would keeping the right company be exemplified in Daniel?
JT Yes; and the refusal to eat certain food, because, spiritually, food involves the company we keep. So that in the type in Leviticus, certain animals are eliminated because they allude to persons; persons, for instance, who do not chew the cud and have not a divided hoof; that is, their walk is not right; while they may come to the meetings, they do not assimilate the food. We are to choose our company, and the young people ought to be with the Lord’s people, instead of keeping worldly company. Nazariteship means that you are different from the world. The long hair means that you do not have their manhood, but manhood according to [p. 200] God.
AR John the baptist was a nazarite, but I suppose it is supremely seen in the Lord Jesus. No one understood Him well, not even His own mother.
JT Quite so; John the baptist was very remarkable in this respect. Of him the angel said, “He shall drink no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb”, Luke 1: 15. He was in the deserts, where the flesh would not be nourished, where its growth would be prevented. There is nothing in the desert to minister to the natural. One idea in nazariteship is that God helps us, by our environment, to maintain it; it is not only one desert but the deserts in the case of the Baptist. In contrast to the cities, he lived in the deserts.
I think we should look at the marital principle attached to Samson. It is seen vaguely, and even wrongly, as carried to consummation, yet God was in it initially and was thus against the enemy. It is somewhat low ground, but such as God can have part in in a limited way. If God is seeking an occasion against the enemy, then it is well to follow up the line and see how far God has part in it and how far He has not part in it. Discernment is needed.
CAM You were connecting the book of Judges with the last century. Do you not think that one feature of the revival then was that there was something precious in a marital way to be secured from the enemy’s camp? At least, that suggestion must have been there before what we know about the assembly now could come to light.
JT Yes; the Church of Ireland came into prominence, and the disestablishment of that Church caused deep sympathy in certain ones. Mr. Darby wrote about it as to the place that it had in his own affections. For the moment, God was acting against the enemy through it. It stood against Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholics were being converted in large numbers in those days, and the leading men in the Church of Ireland sought the Government’s support and the like; they imposed religious tests, and the conversions ceased; thus the enemy got the advantage; but primarily, the Church of Ireland had a place that God recognised, though vaguely. Up to the present day, one believes that the Church of England corresponds with Michal, the daughter of Saul. Saul would do damage to David through her and her sister Merab, but Michal, on one occasion, saved David in spite of that. She did not go very far, nor could God go very far with her. Later, she was disallowed altogether, but she saved David’s life, and it is said she loved him. I mention all this to indicate how certain things are taken on by God for a purpose, and to a point, and afterwards refused.
LES What you are saying would greatly help us in our local difficulties, or in universal matters, in discerning the current mind of God and His activities.
JT That is what you get here: “And Samson went down to Timnathah, and saw a woman in Timnathah of the daughters of the Philistines. And he went up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman” (verses 1, 2). That is all very good. Marriage was right, although he was linking on with a forbidden person. But God is a Man of war, and, knowing everything, would use this thought of Samson’s against the enemy. “And his father and his mother said to him, Is there no woman among the daughters of thy brethren, and among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the Philistines, the uncircumcised?” That was right, too, so far. “And Samson said to his father, Take her for me, for she pleases me well. And his father and his mother did not know that it was of Jehovah” (verses 3, 4). That is a matter to be understood; God was acting, and Samson’s father and mother, while moving on right principles as far as they understood, did not know all; they did not see the platform on which God was moving in the book of Judges; so that it goes on to say, “Jehovah ... was seeking an occasion against the [p. 202] Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel”. That is the point. The domination of the Philistines was dreadful, and God was going to attack in this mysterious way, and He succeeded. It is a question of the instrumentality that God took up at the time, and how far He could go. J.N.D. spoke of the Church of Ireland with peculiar regard at a certain time, and God used it against the enemy then. It was about to be set aside by the civil authorities as a national church and this would make its position more in accord with Christ as rejected. The marital thought was there, but very dimly; the true assembly had already come to light, and no one loyal to Christ, while valuing what was of Him in the system referred to, could identify himself with it.
AR What is the idea in the incident of the lion? “And he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion; and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the carcase of the lion, and honey; and he took it out in his hands, and went on, and ate as he went. And he came to his father and to his mother, and gave them, and they ate; but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion” (verses 8, 9) — as if it were still a mystery.
JT It is a remarkable thing that this peculiar figure of the death of Christ should come in here. God is surrounding Himself with facts that preserve the truth, and yet you can see, if you pursue the marital thought here too far, you get into error. The woman never became Samson’s permanent wife. God prevented that; but He got a blow at the Philistines. That is the thing to see. God is acting against them. Whenever He can get a blow at them He will take advantage of it. It is striking that, in David’s history, this is seen in connection with his marriage to Michal. Saul thought to do him harm, but his proposal involved an attack on the Philistines (1 Samuel 18: 22 - 30).
JS In what way do you bring in the Lord’s supper?
JT [p. 203] I was thinking of chapter 15 — the fresh jawbone: the death of Christ is seen there as the means of the overthrow of the enemy. In chapter 14 it is said, “Samson went down, and his father and his mother, to Timnathah; and they came to the vineyards of Timnathah. And behold, a young lion roared against him; and the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and he rent it as one rends a kid, and nothing was in his hand. And he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done” (verses 5, 6). Apparently they were not equal to it; they were running counter to what God was doing, although they had the best of intentions. He is working with God in the thing. “And he went down and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well”. (Now, these are beautiful expressions, if you have the right woman. Today, she exists and this is known. This is seen in Philadelphia.) “And he returned after a time to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion; and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the carcase of the lion, and honey”. That is a new principle. It is mutuality. And it marked the movement of one hundred years ago. The brethren began to meet together. That is mutuality. That is what God is bringing out. It is the means of the overthrow, in great measure, of clericalism. I have in mind what is suggested by the bees. They represent mutuality; life, too, but they are very active together. And so we have, “And behold, there was a swarm of bees in the carcase of the lion, and honey; and he took it out in his hands, and went on, and ate as he went” (verses 8, 9). There is something proceeding now; it is life out of death, but it is life in mutuality. The Lord says, “Have ye anything here to eat? And they gave him part of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb”, Luke 24: 41, 42. The honeycomb is the product of bees; a mutual product. That will overthrow these big men, because that is the idea. Samson did not completely overthrow them. It remained for David to do that, but Samson began to do [p. 204] it. He is doing it in this way. Brethren are mutual, and they have something to eat in their mutuality, and can give it to others. That is what Samson’s father and mother needed. They needed honey, the Messiah’s food; “Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good”, Isaiah 7: 15.
And then it goes on to say, “And he came to his father and to his mother, and gave them, and they ate; but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion” (verse 9). He would let them find out. It is going to be a riddle, and in the anti-type it has tested the whole of christendom. Who can tell what this is? “Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness” (verse 14). The Philistines could not answer that riddle. And Samson said later, that they could not have done so had they not ploughed with his heifer. His wife wept before him for the whole seven days to get this secret. The Philistines could never get it; they are only men, without the Spirit. But true christians have the Spirit, and He searches the depths of God; and it is said that christians know all things, having an unction from the Holy One (1 John 2: 20). The Lord, it is said, will give us understanding in all things. Thus christians have the means of understanding and need not be baffled by riddles.
LES Five words with the understanding are better than ten thousand in an unknown tongue (see 1 Corinthians 14: 19).
JT The apostle also says, “I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing also with the understanding”, 1 Corinthians 14: 15.
JTJr This incident brings out the true character of the Philistines; the murderous spirit that was in them. They would slay the woman, which they did later. Is that not at the bottom of the Philistine religious element?
JT [p. 205] Quite so. God allows that. She had served a purpose, and that is the end of it. Samson proceeded to further things that were incongruous, but there is a great principle established in chapter 14. It is a secret, and you have to find it out. The Philistines can only find things out by getting them from others. In order to get knowledge of the truth for their own purposes, they have to go to believers, because they cannot get it for themselves from God. They do not know the idea of the temple of God. I know people who would ask you to give them something new; and they would get books to give them something new to preach about. That is the position of the Philistines here. Samson’s wife became the discloser of the secret, and she obtained it on natural lines.
CAM “But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery”, 1 Corinthians 2: 7.
JT The apostle also speaks of the hidden wisdom, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory.
Rem He also says, “... communicating spiritual things by spiritual means”, 1 Corinthians 2: 13.
CHH The apostle would have the Colossians know the mystery.
JT Quite so; “in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge”, Colossians 2: 3. The angels desire to look into the all-various wisdom of God in the mystery.
WB-w The word explain is mentioned ten times in this chapter, Judges 14. Is it a question of opening up the thing, which they could not do?
JT Yes, they could not do it. Mr. Stoney used to say to those who claimed assembly status and did not have it, ‘Give me one page of notepaper on the church’. They could not do it, because one must have the Holy Spirit in a characteristic way to know the mystery.
WB-w Those who have the Spirit may understand.
JT That is the idea. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3: 16. So that if we make room for the Spirit of God, we shall know the truth.
ABP The apostle Paul, in speaking of things that it was not lawful for man to utter, did not imply that it was impossible for others to know them, did he?
JT His ministry would be influenced by the impressions he had, but apparently he did not use the words.
ABP What he said, however, would be a stimulus to others to find out something of those things.
JT Exactly; get into heavenly places. That is what I believe would be the impression.
Now chapter 15 brings out further thoughts entering into our subject. There is in it another piece of poetry,
“With the jawbone of an ass, a heap, two heaps,
With the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men”.
“And it came to pass when he had ended speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-Lehi” (verses 16, 17), meaning ‘hill of the jawbone’. That is what is intended to be kept in our minds. The jawbone was fresh. It is the death of Christ maintained in freshness, corresponding really with the Lord’s supper. The men of Judah delivered Samson over to the enemy, and then it says, “When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him. And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and the cords that were on his arms became as threads of flax that are burned with fire” (verse 14). All this would be overwhelming to the Philistines. What is all this? Samson is really an enigma because he is a nazarite. The secret of God was with him. It is a question of the elimination of natural stimulants. We have the secret of God by the Spirit. They never could understand it. Samson’s life is a hidden matter. The things of God are revealed by the Spirit, and as having the Spirit, believers have the mind of Christ. Paul says, so that real christians can understand. “And his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a fresh jawbone [p. 207] of an ass, and put forth his hand and took it, and slew with it a thousand men” (verse 15). It is not merely a new one but a fresh one. I suppose it means the death of the Lord Jesus maintained in freshness, and this by the Spirit. It is thus as fresh to faith as it was when He died. It is the same thing to faith — the freshness of that precious death of Jesus. The jawbone would mean that Samson had been assimilating. He was in the rock, the place of security, before it had happened, we are told. So that he would be assimilating the precious thoughts of Christ’s death. The jawbone in the sacrifices, belonged to the priests (Deuteronomy 18: 3). It is the means of chewing food properly. The appropriation and assimilation of Christ, as in John 6, enters into all this.
“And Samson said,
With the jawbone of an ass, a heap, two heaps,
With the jawbone of an ass have I slain a thousand men”.
That is in poetry, meaning victory too; the Spirit of God is acting on his mind and affections, so that he is putting the victory into beautiful words for us to retain.
Then he becomes exhausted, showing that he is a real man like ourselves in that sense. We do get exhausted, and thus need refreshment. And if the secrecy of nazariteship is to continue, and the power of God is to continue against the enemy, then there must be the spring, and God provides that. “And he was very thirsty, and called on Jehovah, and said, Thou hast given by the hand of thy servant this great deliverance, and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? And God clave the hollow rock which was in Lehi, and water came out of it. And he drank, and his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day” (verses 18, 19). En-hakkore means ‘the caller’s spring’. That Samson’s judgeship “in the days of the Philistines twenty years” is placed here in the history, would be to distinguish it by the great event of the jawbone and the spring — it enabled him to continue. The period of his service is also mentioned after his death, with no reference to the Philistines.
JS Is it the secret of assimilating here? We might come to a reading and get no good from it because we do not assimilate the food afforded.
JT That is right; and then there is the spring for refreshment, so as to continue in the power that belongs to nazariteship.
ABP Is that an added thought to the Spirit of Jehovah moving him inwardly?
JT Well, there is renewal, as Paul says, the “renewal of the Holy Spirit”. This continues. You realise it; the Spirit comes in in peculiar freshness and power in an emergency. It does not mean the christian would ever lose the presence of the Spirit, but he may lose the sense of it, and feel weak, and God refreshes him. It is the caller’s spring. You know where to go for support. “The Spirit joins also its help to our weakness”, Romans 8: 26.
GAT Had you any thought of his throwing the jawbone away?
JT I think it would be that you do not repeat that again. You do not use the same ministry word for word, as having taken on an historical character. If the word has taken on an historical character, it is finished. Others may use it in another way; but that is what is meant, I think. It goes with the idea of freshness in the jawbone. You still keep on masticating, and hence have fresh material in view of further ministry or conflict.
JS You would avoid stock sermons.
CHH Would there be any similarity in this to what we get in 2 Corinthians, where the apostle Paul defeats the Philistine element, and then he is refreshed in his [p. 209] spirit by the coming of Titus, after the victory over what was attacking the assembly at Corinth?
JT Just so; also, he says to Philemon, “The bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother”, (verse 7). But then it is God doing that here; the believer knowing where he can turn. The power of continuance is in the Spirit.
Ques The Bereans searched out the Scriptures. Does that enter into this matter of assimilation?
JT They would verify things. They did not swallow them without masticating them. The jawbone and the maw were given to the priest. The jawbone is for mastication, and the maw for digestion or assimilation. That is what marks the priest; “that he may stand to serve in the name of Jehovah, he and his sons continually”, Deuteronomy 18: 3 - 5.
WWM Would the putting aside of the jawbone correspond in thought with the manna which was not to be kept to the morning? It was to be fresh each morning.
JT That is the idea.
ABP We should not hesitate to use the same scripture time and time again, should we?
JT If we could not re-use Scripture, we would need more than one Bible.
ABP It would be terrible assumption for us to think that we had gotten all out of a scripture and could not use it again.
JT That would never do. The more you look into any given scripture, and use it, the more it yields.
AAT What did you have in mind about David and the well of Bethlehem?
JT That is the next thing. David comes into view now. He stands in relation to the marital matter. Abigail is an outstanding type of the assembly. It is important to keep that in mind. As to the associations at Bethlehem, and the wifely relation entering into it,
[p. 210] it is first mentioned in relation to Rachel, the first love of Jacob. Rachel died there; a most touching matter. So that evidently we are to think of the Lord Jesus here and certain reflections that He must have in regard to earlier events. What occasions of joy in the history of the assembly! And what occasions of sorrow, too! The ecclesiastical gospel is Matthew, and it begins with “Rachel weeping for her children” (chapter 2: 18).
ANW The Philistines again are in the way here; they still obstruct.
JT David defeats them wholly; he subdues them. These mighty men were used in this. But why should he be so concerned about that well? His boyhood, perhaps, centred in it, with its associations and affections; but then, in a wider way, Rachel’s sepulchre; her death at the birth of Benjamin, and his own ancestry from Boaz and Ruth down to Jesse resided there, whom Jehovah calls, “Jesse the Bethlehemite”. Later, Bethlehem is called “the city of David”. I think the Lord would bring before us what occasions the joy and sorrow of His heart. It is a question today as to whether there is anything to minister refreshment to Him from it. Can we stop to think of what sorrows and joys the Lord has experienced since Pentecost? Can we go back to the history of the assembly in Palestine, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Spain, France, and England? What experiences the Lord has had in all that history! Can we think with Him, and is there any little power to break through and secure for Him some refreshment? “Oh that one would give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is in the gate!” 2 Samuel 23: 15. How sorrowful it was that the garrison of the Philistines was there! But the well, peculiarly known to David, was there. Can anyone give him to drink of it now? Think of the sorrows in our own time through persons who have turned away! They are held by the Philistines. Can the Lord secure refreshment from them again?
[p. 211] CAH Would it have some answer in the revival under Ezra? Some wept when they remembered the glory of the first house.
JT Yes, that sort of thing. I often think of the Lord thus. How can He but remember the first love of Ephesus! He could never forget that. What times He had at Ephesus! Here David is thinking of this well. The Philistine garrison is there, and he wants to drink water out of that well, and he gets it through the devoted affection of the three mighty men.
LES “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eye a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh that I had in the wilderness a traveller’s lodging-place, that I might leave my people, and go away from them!” Jeremiah 9: 1, 2. That would be the idea, would it not?
JT Yes; it is very beautiful to link the weeping saints of the Old Testament with the weeping saints of the New and see them all centre in Christ. “And the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, which is in the gate, and took it, and brought it to David; however he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Jehovah. And he said, Be it far from me. Jehovah, that I should do this thing! is it not the blood of the men that went at the risk of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things did the three mighty men”, 2 Samuel 23: 16, 17. So that not only David — typically Christ — is refreshed, but God is refreshed. It is the passing on of great spiritual exploits in their fulness to God.