What Does II Samuel 23:15 Mean?

David expresses his longing: "And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!" The request is not a command but a yearning, a nostalgic desire for the water of home. The well by the gate of Bethlehem is the well of David's childhood, the place where the shepherd boy drew water after tending the sheep, and the longing for its water is the longing for the innocence and security that the well represents.

The well by the gate is a public well, the center of community life in an ancient town, and David's desire for its water is a desire for the communal life that the Philistine occupation has destroyed. The king who cannot drink from his own well is the king whose homeland has been taken from him, and the longing for the water is the emotional expression of the political reality: Bethlehem belongs to David by birth and anointing, but the enemy holds it by force.

The Lord Jesus offered living water to the woman at the well: "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst." The water that David longed for was the water of earthly nostalgia, but the water that Christ offers is the water of eternal life. The well that David could not reach Christ has opened to all, and the thirst that the Son of David expressed in the hold of Adullam is the thirst that the Son of God satisfies at the throne of grace.