A well was a place to meet people. In the Bible we also see a pattern of a man meeting a girl at a well. Elements of this pattern include a travel to a foreign country, stopping at a well, meeting with a young woman, drinking or letting sheep drink, the girl hurrying home and telling her father what happened, inviting the stranger to dinner, and then engagement. This is the pattern in the story of Isaac and Rebekah (Genesis 24:1–67), Jacob and Rachel (Genesis 29:1–35), Moses and Zipporah. But each story is different. In Genesis 24:1–67 Isaac does not meet Rebekah, but the servant of Abraham meets her. In Genesis 29:1–35 Jacob helps Rachel by lifting the heavy stone and letting the sheep drink. In Exodus 2:1–25 Moses rescues the seven daughters of Reuel from shepherds driving them away.
These different scenes are not romantic stories about a young man finding a young woman, but about finding a woman from a God-fearing family to build God’s people (see Genesis 24:4; Genesis 28:1–2). Moses also finds a wife in a God-fearing family: Reuel is a priest (see Exodus 2:16). This stands in contrast to the marriage of Ishmael with an Egyptian woman (Genesis 21:21) and Esau with Hittite women (Genesis 26:34–35).
15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.