This post has
to do with both Hebraisms in modern scripture and Hebrew language metaphors
that Christ used to teach gospel doctrines during His ministry. As with
parables, the reason these metaphors were (and still are) so effective as
teaching tools is that spiritual truths can be packaged symbolically in common
elements of our daily experience.
One of these
metaphors is fresh water. Hebrew uses two main phrases for the term “fresh (as
opposed to salt) water”. The first phrase is the contemporary Hebrew
expression, while the second is the Biblical term.
מתוקים מים
(MY-eem meh-too-KEEM) – Literally, “sweet
waters”
חיים מים
(MY-eem KHY-eem) – Literally, “living
waters”
(Notice that
both Hebrew phrases use the pluralized form “waters” to describe a body or
source of water. The singular form מי, pronounced mey, is the Hebrew word for water as an element or in other
generic references.)
In Jeremiah
2:13 we find one example of this older Hebrew term for “fresh water”:
“For my people have committed two evils ; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” (Emphasis added)
כִּי-שְׁתַּיִם רָעוֹת, עָשָׂה עַמִּי:אֹתִי עָזְבוּ מְקוֹר מַיִם חַיִּים, לַחְצֹב לָהֶם בֹּארוֹת, בֹּארֹת נִשְׁבָּרִים, אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יָכִלוּ הַמָּיִם.
In the scriptures,
Christ’s words and doctrines are often associated with “living” or fresh water,
an analogy that would have resonated strongly with the people Christ taught in
the Middle East since fresh water was (and still is) a valued commodity in that
mostly arid region. Ironically, the Holy Land is surrounded by, or has within
its borders, many large bodies of water (the Mediterranean Sea, the Dead Sea,
the Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba, etc.), but all of them are briny except for one
– the Sea of Galilee. I think it’s interesting that this unique, immense source
of fresh (“living”) water is located in the region where the Savior was raised
and began His early ministry. The connection may be a simple coincidence, but
we find many links between the Lord’s life, His pure doctrines and references
to fresh water in the scriptures. Just as daily fluid intake is essential to
our physical survival, the “living waters” of Christ’s doctrinal teachings and His
love, represented by “the fountain of living (fresh) waters” in Lehi’s dream
(see 1 Nephi 11:25), sustain us spiritually day after day.
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| Sea of Galilee |
With the
exception of the Sea of Galilee, all other fresh water in the region had to be
extracted from wells or the river networks that flow within the borders of
Israel. In John, chapter 4 we read about Christ’s instructive encounter with
the woman of Samaria at a well. Verses 10-14 read:
“Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
How
appropriate that the Source of spiritual living water taught these
doctrines while sitting by a well!
To further
expand the analogy, the Lord often references “bitter fountains” in His teachings
given through Biblical prophets and His apostles. A “bitter fountain (spring,
source of water)” was one that had brackish (salt) water seeping into it, contaminating
what was previously fresh (“living”) water and effectively rendering it harmful and useless. The invasive salt water can represent false or tainted teachings
and practices that infiltrate and contaminate the pure, living
doctrines of Christ. (See Exodus 15:23-25 and James 3:11.)
