Pocahontas and "The Well of the Living"

What a perplexing name!

"The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me." 

It sounds like it comes out of the Disney movie, "Pocahontas," like Grandmother Willow's sage advice, "Listen with your heart, you will understand."

This very well, though, became a critical one, permeating and weaving itself through the very history of our people. 

Ironically, it became the source of inspiration for Yishmael nemesis, Yitzhak. It was this very well that the angel revealed to Hagar which she used to save Yishmael, and then, when Yitzhak has gone to meditate in the field before meeting his beloved, Rivka, he comes from his dwelling place in the Negev, or South, and having just left that very well, "The Well of the Living One who Sees Me." 

It seems like it wasn't only Hagar that the angel saw, but also Yishmael, and also, the very vein of history coursing through the waters that emanated from the spring that fed the well. 

And then, finally, after Avraham passes away, the verse (Bereishit 25:11) states that Yitzhak lived with no other than, "The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me." 

It would seem to be that there's something about the name of this well that bespeaks predetermination, something about the future being seen in the here and now.  Interestingly, the verse states (Bereishit 16:14), "Therefore he called the well 'The Well of the Living One Who Sees Me,'" and we do not know who that "he" is. I would like to posit that the "he" is the angel himself, depicting the panoramic possibilities open to those who open their eyes. Nothing is set in stone, and Hashem is attuned and attentive to "all who seek Him in truth" (Ashrei Prayer), which is the very message that the angel has reflected here. Hashem is no more the God of Yitzhak than he is Yishmael; if either call out, truthfully, seeking the Abrahamic values on which life in this world is anchored, "charity and righteousness," then Hashem will be there to see and to hear. 

The very problem stems from the fact that Abraham's prayer, "If only Yishmael would walk before you," fell on deaf ears, the Ishmaelites themselves who did not heed the Abrahamic call to better the world through compassion and empathy, instead seeking dominion and domination.    

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