Wives at Wells and Water

Wives at Wells and Water

The associations in literature between fertility and water are ancient intuitive acknowledgments of our watery origins on earth and in our mothers’ wombs, and of the source of life upon which we continue to depend. Four scenes involving water, women, and marriage or childbirth are found in Genesis: 16:7–14; 21:8–21 (Hagar); 24:10–27 (Rebekah); and 29:1–12 (Rachel). In the latter two scenes, men from Abraham’s kin come to Mesopotamia to seek a wife from among his kin…