Rivers of Living Water

Jewish men, including Jesus, were required to go to the temple in Jerusalem during three feasts each year: Passover, Shavuot (Pentecost), and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Booths).

Passover happens in the spring of the year. Shavuot (Pentecost) is 50 days after Passover. Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Booths) is in the fall.

John 7 tells us that Jesus went to Jerusalem during the Feast of Booths. This would have been the fall before Jesus was crucified a few months later during Passover. This chapter shows us how divided the people of Jerusalem were over Jesus. Vs. 12 tells us that some people said, “He is a good man.” Others said, “No, on the contrary, He leads the multitude astray.” As the time approached for Jesus’s death, the division over who Jesus was grew greater.

In Jerusalem during the feast, Jesus spent time teaching at the temple. Everyone who heard Him—even His enemies—were astounded at his teaching. They wondered how the man knew so much even though He didn’t have a formal religious education.

The feast of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Booths) was a time to remember the Exodus and the wandering of Israel in the wilderness. Part of this feast was to build temporary shelters and stay in them to memorialize the time when the Israelites had no permanent home. It was also a time to give thanks at the temple and rejoice that the harvest was over. The feast was a time of celebration and joy with burning torches, singing and dancing.

Part of the Feast of Booths included the water libation ceremony. Each day for seven days, after the daily sacrifice at the temple, crowds followed behind a priest carrying a golden pitcher as he made his way to the pool of Siloam, which was fed by the Gihon Spring. This spring was considered living water because it was supplied by a constant stream of fresh, moving water (water sitting in a cistern was not considered living water).

The priest filled the pitcher up with living water from Siloam and went back to the temple. For the first six days the priest circled around the alter (where animal sacrifices were laid) once, then poured the water into a bowl which drained into the bronze alter.

Crowds followed the priests each day to the pool and back to the temple. All the while they would wave branches and repeat part of Psalm 118:25:

“Hoshea Na (Save us, now),” repeated the crowd. (The English translation for Hoshea Na is Hosanna.)

The last day of the feast of Sukkot was called Hoshana Rabba (Great Hosanna). On that day, the priest with a golden pitcher filled with living water from Siloam walked around the alter seven times. Then poured the water into the bowl that drained into the alter of sacrifice. All the while the crowd would be repeating Hoshea Na (Save us, now).

The power of these words Hoshea Na has many layers.

Hoshea means salvation. (Na means now.)

A variant of the word Hoshea is the name Joshua—which means salvation.

A variant of the name Joshua is the name Yeshua—which means salvation.  (Yeshua is the Hebrew name of Jesus.)    

The name Jesus (Yeshua in Hebrew) means salvation just like the word Hoshea.

Now that we know what the crowd was chanting, imagine this scene with me on the last day of Sukkot, during the Great Hosanna. Jesus watches as the priest circles seven times, then pours the water out on the alter. And Jesus hears the words Hoshea Na (salvation, now).

Jesus was and is the fulfillment of every prophecy.

Jesus was and is the fulfillment of every feast of God.

Jesus was and is the fulfillment of “salvation, now” (Hoshea Na).

Perhaps it was at that very moment, after the priest poured out the living water on the altar of sacrifice that Jesus stood up and cried out:

“If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’”

The perfect statement at the perfect time by the perfect Son of God.

The crowd that day understood Jesus’s words. He was proclaiming that He was the Messiah. Only He could satisfy a thirsty soul. They also understood that He was fulfilling the prophet’s words from Joel 2:28, Isaiah 44:3, Isaiah 55:1, Isaiah 58:11. They understood that God had promised He would send His Holy Spirit like rivers of living water. The Holy Spirit would be like a river of living water that was alive and fresh and never ending. Jesus is promising all who believe in Him that they would receive the living water (Holy Spirit) after He was glorified.

And to make it clear that Jesus’s words meant the living water was the Holy Spirit, John spelled it out in John 7:39.

Still today, Jesus is crying out to the crowd:

“If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37-38

Carla Killough McClafferty