From Thirsting to Overflowing
Intro
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Background
In addition to the ceremonies originally prescribed at the institution of the Feast of Tabernacles {see Exodus 23:16 Pentecost (Feast of Harvest)}, were several others of a later date. Among these was the daily drawing of water from the pool of Siloam. Every daybreak of the seven days of the feast, a priest went to the pool of Siloam and filled with water a golden pitcher, containing about two and one-half pints. He was accompanied by a procession of the people and musicians. On returning to the temple, he was welcomed with three blasts from a trumpet, and, going to the west side of the great altar, he poured the water from the golden pitcher into a silver basin, which had holes in the bottom through which the water was carried off. This ceremony was accompanied with songs and shouts from the people and the sound of trumpets. It is supposed to have been designed to represent three distinct things: 1. A memorial of the water provided for their fathers in the desert. 2. A symbol of the forthcoming “latter rain.” 3. A representation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the coming of the Messiah. To this last, reference is made in verses 38 and 39, and it’s to this pouring out of water, or the Holy Spirit, that Jesus no doubt refers to in our text-verse.
A tradition grew up in the few centuries before Jesus that on the 7 days of the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles, a golden container filled with water from the pool of Siloam was carried in procession by the High-Priest back to the temple. As the procession came to the Water Gate on the S side of the inner temple court, 3 trumpet blasts were made to mark the joy of the occasion and the people recited Is 12:3, “you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.” At the temple, while onlookers watched, the priests would march around the altar with the water container while the temple choir sang the Hallel (Pss 113–118). The water was offered in sacrifice to God at the time of the morning sacrifice. The use of the water symbolized the blessing of adequate rainfall for crops. Jesus used this event as an object lesson and opportunity to make a very public invitation on the last day of the feast for His people to accept Him as the living water.
On each day of the feast there was a procession of priests to the pool of Siloam to draw water (m. Sukka 4:9). The priests returned to the temple, where the water was taken in procession once around the altar with the choir chanting Psalms 113–118, and then the water was poured out as a libation at the morning sacrifice. All-night revelry lead up to this morning libation. This was a time of joy so great that it was said, “He that never has seen the joy of the Beth he-She’ubah [water-drawing] has never in his life seen joy” (m. Sukka 5:1; cf. Deut 16:14–15; Jubilees 16:20, 25). This joy was associated with Isaiah 12:3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” On the seventh day of the festival the priests processed around the altar with the water not once but seven times (Bloch 1980:200; cf. Beasley-Murray 1987:113 for a more detailed description).