ARE YOU THIRSTY
Are you Thirsty?
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) 40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. 41 Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? 42 Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Beth-lehem, where David was? 43 So there was a division among the people because of him. 44 And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
The Feast of Tabernacles (or “Booths” or “Succoth”) began on the 15th day of the seventh month (see Lev 23:33–43). The autumn festival was a celebration of the harvest that also commemorated Israel’s years of wandering in the wilderness when they lived in temporary shelters. The people were to spend seven days living in sukkoth or “booths.”
It is also called the Feast of Ingathering, since it gathered the people together after the harvesting season and was the final pilgrim feast of Israel.
If anyone is thirsty A subtle appeal to imagery of messianic deliverance associated with the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus makes the point that He is the source of life—a claim that only God could make. This would have provoked His opponents, but it brought comfort to His followers.
A ritual of bringing water from the pool of Siloam and pouring it at the base of the altar was part of the daily festival celebration. This ritual memorialized the miracle of water from the rock in the wilderness (Num 20:2–13) and became symbolic of hope for messianic deliverance (Isa 12:3). The Festival of Tabernacles was associated with God providing rain (Zech 14:16–18), and Zech 14 was to be read on the first day of the feast (according to the rabbinic text Babylonian Talmud Megillah 31a). The seventh day of the festival, the last official day (Lev 23:34, 41–42), had a special water-pouring ritual and lights ceremony (according to the rabbinic text Mishnah Sukkah 4.9–10; 5.2–4). The festival came to be a celebration of God’s future restoration of Israel and the extension of salvation to the nations. Jesus’ invitation draws on those expectations of future ideal reality under the rule of the Messiah.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
And he that hath no money;
Come ye, buy, and eat;
Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread?
And your labour for that which satisfieth not?
Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good,
And let your soul delight itself in fatness.
And in that day thou shalt say,
O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me,
Thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
2 Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and not be afraid:
For the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song;
He also is become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters,
And the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.
It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take sthe water of life freely.