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| Mount of Olives, Jerusalem |
Living Water in Hebrew is מַֽיִם־חַיִּ֖ים mayim-ḥayyîm. The expression "Living Water" appears in both the Tenach and the New Testament. What is it?
To be a living water means constantly being in a state of refreshing, replenishing, and refilling.
In Hebrew culture, the term "living waters" described pure, flowing water untouched by human hands. Living water is naturally filtered through rock which removes impurities while leaving behind beneficial minerals like magnesium, calcium and bicarbonate. Magnesium plays many crucial roles in the body, such as supporting muscle and nerve function and energy production.
The prophet Zechariah described Jerusalem as a source of "living water," "half [flowing] east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter" (Zechariah 14:8). The city of Jerusalem was abundantly supplied with water by many conduits and subterranean channels.
Zechariah 14:4 prophesied "On that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward."
In Ezekiel 47, the prophet speaks of waters that heal and promote life. "...wherever the stream flows they shall be healed and live." (Verse 9) Ezekiel continues to describe waters with a special nature. In Verse 12 he says "the waters will emanate from the Sanctuary, and its fruit shall be for food and its leaves for a cure." These waters "will grow every tree for food; its leaf will not wither, neither will its fruit end; month after month its fruits will ripen." Surely these are living waters.
In Jeremiah 2:13 and 17:13, the prophet describes God as "the spring of living water," who has been forsaken by his chosen people Israel.
Water from the Rock sustained the children of Israel during The Exodus from Egypt. Water from the Rock of Miriam supplied living waters to millions of people and their livestock too.
At the end of their journey after Miriam died the Rock went dry and the people rumbled greatly. Adonai instructed Moses to speak to the Rock rather than to strike it as he had in the past along the way when water was needed.
Numbers 20:7-12 TLV
ADONAI spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff and gather the assembly, you and your brother Aaron. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give out its water. You will bring out water from the rock, and you will give the community something to drink, along with their livestock.” So Moses took the staff from before the presence of ADONAI, just as He had commanded him. Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock. He said, “Listen now, you rebels! Must we bring you water from this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with the staff. Water gushed out and the community and its livestock drank. But ADONAI said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in Me so as to esteem Me as holy in the eyes of Bnei-Yisrael, therefore you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given to them.”
Moses paid high price for his disobedience and lapse of faith.
Why did God want Moses to speak to the rock? Was He seeking a different means for a relationship? Was God seeking to display something to the people? Why did Moses strike the Rock in a deed that seemed to signify anger or perhaps fear that with his sister Miriam dead the Rock would not perform? Even Moses did not seem to understand. As it says in Deuteronomy 29:2-3 - "the great trials that your eyes saw, those great signs and wonders. But to this day ADONAI has not given you a heart to know, or eyes to see, or ears to hear."
Fortunately God's Everlasting Covenant with Abraham remained intact. Sustaining Waters flowed from the Rock and the Israelites continued on their path to the land that God showed and promised to Abraham.
In the New Testament, Yeshua claims to be the "Living Water." Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman saying, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
The Gosple of John, chapter 7 verse 37-38 Yeshua says,
"On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Yeshua stood up and cried out loudly, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, ‘out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”
Note: The "last day of the great Feast" is Shemini Atzeret. That is the day Hamas attacked Israel and massacred Jews.
The Jews would not have survived 40 years in a desert without Water from the Rock. There would have been no life in Jerusalem without מַֽיִם־חַיִּ֖ים mayim-ḥayyîm.
I shutter to think of our world today without faithful believers in Salvation (Yeshua). There are only about 15 million Jews against a world of 8 billion wanting to destroy us and Israel. For survival Jews and Israel are depending on the prayers and support of believers. The source of the living waters promises eternal life for all.
Am Yisrael Chai!
