THE WATER POURING CEREMONY (HOSHANA RABA)
At one point during the Old Testament days the ancient People of God began a tradition which they called Water Drawing.
Back then, and even now; this Water Drawing part of the Feast of Tabernacles is typically carried out in the evenings.
DURNG FEAST OF TABERNACLES
As this day happened in Temple times of old; the Priests would receive the water drawn from the pool of Siloam in the evenings. They would keep this water to pour over the altar with wine every morning during the Feast of Tabernacles.
A PRAYER FOR RAIN
This “water pouring” served like a prayer for rain; so that the crops for the coming year would be abundant in the land.
Today it still serves as a prayer for abundance in the land, but we are praying more for “spiritual rain” than “physical rain.”
We want God to rain down His Holy Spirit to the earth in great abundance during the next year; so that there will be a great spiritual harvest for God’s Kingdom.
PRAYERS FOR HEALING FOR THE NATIONS
As we think of the Water Drawing Ceremony at our Feast of Tabernacles this year; we will be offering up many prayers for the healing of our nation, and all nations of the earth.
As each evening commenced, the shofars blasted the sound that meant the time was right. The water-bearers stood with the people waiting at The Water Gate. Then the water was drawn and taken to the Temple.
A TIME OF GREAT JOY
It was taken up to the Temple with songs of Psalms and praises. The Water Drawing was done with great joy.
The Prophet Isaiah wrote about this event. His words, found in Isaiah 23:3 were; “with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” As the people drew the water they were also praying for salvation.
This day is sometimes called Hoshana Raba which means “Great Salvation” in Hebrew.
The Talmud is so bold as to say if you have never experienced the water drawing ceremony; you have never truly experienced joy!
ANCIENT DISCRIPTION OF CEREMONY
Here is a passage from the Talmud describing The Water Ceremony in detail:
“He who has not seen the rejoicing at the place of the water-drawing has never seen rejoicing in his life.
At the conclusion of the first festival day of Tabernacles they descended to the court of the women where they had made a great enactment. There were there golden candlesticks with four golden bowls on the top of each of them and four ladders to each, and four youths drawn from the priestly stock in whose hands were held jars of oil… there was not a courtyard in Jerusalem that was not illumined by the light of the place of the water-drawing.
SINGING SONGS OF ASCENT
Men of piety and good deeds used to dance before them with lighted torches in their hands, and sing songs and praises. And Levites without number with harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets and other musical instruments were there upon the fifteen steps leading down from the court of the Israelites to the court of the women, corresponding to the fifteen songs of ascents in the psalms…” (Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sukkah 51a and 51b)
MESSIAH WITH LIVING WATER
This prayer ceremony was very common in the days that Jesus walked the earth. It is on this day that we hear of Jesus going to the Temple Mount and telling the people there that He could give them living water.
Here are the words of scripture from John 7:37-38 which record this fact:
On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them. (John 7:37-38)
SALVATION AND ETERNAL LIFE
We need to consider why Jesus went to the Temple and proclaimed this to the people there.
What exactly was happening?
Hint: This was like an open proposal from the KING OF KINGS to his Bride; The Church. He was saying; “Come and live with me and I will bring you Salvation and eternal life.”
To truly understand this further; we have to go all the way back to one of the stories found in Genesis.
A SIGN FROM GOD
In Genesis, Chapter 24, Abraham’s servant, Eliezer takes an oath to go back to Abraham’s home land and find a wife for Isaac (Abraham’s beloved son by Sarah.)
When Eliezer arrived in Nahor; the home of Abraham’s relatives; he prayed for God to give him a sign to let him know which one of the young maidens would be the right wife for Isaac. He asked God to let her be the one who offered to give him a drink and then also watered his camels.
Of course we all know the story and the fact that Rebekah came along and did exactly what Eliezer had requested of God that Isaac’s future bride would do.
MARRYING INTO THE GREAT FAMILY
This smart young girl married into The Great Family.
All of us have an invitation from Jesus to do the same thing!
Also; we need to consider yet another story found in the scriptures from the Book of John; Chapter 4 in The New Testament.
THE WOMAN AT THE WELL
This New Testament story is the story of the woman from Samaria who approached the town well during the 6th hour of the day and encountered Jesus, who asks her for a drink of water.
She is very surprised that a Jewish man would ask a woman from Samaria for a drink of water. Jews would normally not speak to a Samaritan, much less a Samaritan woman.
You see, in those times the Samaritans were the descendants of the ten lost tribes of Israel who had been conquered by the Assyrians and taken into captivity. The Assyrians took away their identity as a people by moving them away from their homeland and forcing them to intermingle with other nationalities the Assyrians were also holding captive.
A PICTURE OF THE NATIONS
Many scholars consider that, because of their intermarriages, the Samaritans are a good picture of all of the nations of the earth because so many nationalities had been mixed together in that one land.
This is definitely a picture of the Gentile nations; just as the example of Rebekah was definitely an example of the Jewish nations.
Jesus extends an invitation to all of these people groups.
Because they were of “mixed-blood” most Jewish men considered the Samaritans to be half-breeds, and thought this to be an insult to God and Israel as they were carefully warned not to marry outside of their own nationality. Jesus takes a completely different view.
LIVING WATER FOR ETERNAL LIFE
Despite the norm for most Jewish men; Jesus carries on a long conversation with this Samaritan woman and ends that conversation by telling her that He could give her the “living water” that leads to eternal life.
The woman was very surprised to find out that Jesus somehow knew that she had been married many times before, and was now living with another man who was not even her husband.
She ran all the way home, telling everyone that she had met a most astounding man at the well.
The people she talked to from her village were curious, and they came out to hear Jesus too. Jesus wound up staying with these people for two days. They were amazed at his wisdom and knowledge.
TWO WOMEN AT THE WELL
I love both of these stories.
You see; I’m truly a romantic at heart, and I have come to realize that both of these women at the well were receiving a marriage proposal. One was Gentile and one was Jewish. Jesus loved both women and offered them the living water that comes from the Salvation that He alone can give.
We have to see that Rebekah was accepting her role as Isaac’s bride by offering Eliezer a drink of water. (She didn’t know this; but it is true all the same.) This is a beautiful picture of the marriage of God to the nation of Israel.
The other woman at the well was offered a drink by Jesus; only this drink would lead to eternal life with him. This scene portrays a symbolic picture of Jesus coming for His Bride; the Church, which would be a mixture of both Jews and Gentile believers.
THE GOSPEL IN THE WATER STORIES
We know that Rebekah spent a lot of extra time and attention giving Eliezar’s ten camels a drink. It is very similar to how the Gospel has come to the nations through the stories of the People of Israel.
In comparison; as Jesus met the people in the woman from Samaria’s village; he also spent time and attention with them. This is how He gave the good news of The Gospel to the nations by bringing Salvation to us.
It must have been a refreshing time that these people spent with Jesus; perhaps like a long drink of pure clean water from the well.
We know and understand that Rebekah became Isaac’s beloved bride; and she represents Israel in the story of God’s marriage to Israel.
This other woman, the Samaritan woman, represents the nations of the world. John, Chapter 4 makes a solid point that The Messiah wants all nations to become a part of His Bride.
As Rebekah, a foreign woman was chosen to be the wife of Isaac; the nations of the world (foreigners also) have an opportunity to become part of The Bride of Christ. One does not replace the other; but both continue the long beautiful story of The Great Family of God.
We have seen that the use of water from a well plays an intriguing part in the process that will be used to draw the Bride of Christ from the nations of the world. We can see the symbolism that plays out here in the Water Drawing Ceremony that takes place at The Feast of Tabernacles.
Many people around the world choose to perform this ceremony while they are at the Feast. It was done every morning in the ancient days with a much larger celebration taking place on the last day of the feast. Some today choose to have such a service on this last day of the modern-times festivals.
This is a beautiful ceremony; if you have never seen one. Many incorporate sacred dancing and songs into the ceremony. The water and the wine are poured together and this reflects Salvation and Sanctification; the water being symbolic of God’s Holy Spirit, and the wine being symbolic of Christ’s blood that saves us. This perfect offering brings our hearts rejoicing before God Our Father, and it is almost like a renewing of wedding vows each year.
Now is the time for the Bride of Christ; from the mixed nations of the world, to prepare and to get ready for a future in God’s Kingdom. The Water Drawing Ceremony in the evening is the preparation of the next day’s time for a special offering at the alter of the Temple.
Today’s Temple is our own bodies who have God’s Holy Spirit living in them. These are our “temporary dwellings” that house God inside of us. As we walk this earth we carry God’s love inside our spirits; and our heart is now God’s altar.
When the water and the wine are poured out together at The Feast of Tabernacles; it is the perfect way of knowing God is going to answer our prayers and bring us to the place of new wine and abundance in the coming year.
It is said that sometimes the preparation for the ceremony does more for improving the individual celebrating than the actual doing of the ceremony itself. At the feast each year; we are preparing for what God has in store for our futures. Preparation of the hearts of the people is vitally important.
So at each Feast of Tabernacles we celebrate this future time in the Water Drawing.
The Book of Zechariah tells us more about the culmination of the story of The Woman At The Well; when it speaks of a time in the future:
Zechariah 4:16 Then all who survive from all the nations that came to attack Jerusalem will go up annually to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, and to observe the Feast of Shelters.
17 But if any of the nations anywhere on earth refuse to go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, they will get no rain. 18 If the Egyptians will not do so, they will get no rain—instead there will be the kind of plague that the Lord inflicts on any nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Shelters. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and of all nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Shelters.
20 On that day the bells of the horses will bear the inscription “Holy to the Lord.” The cooking pots in the Lord’s temple will be as holy as the bowls in front of the altar. 21 Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and Judah will become holy in the sight of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, so that all who offer sacrifices may come and use some of them to boil their sacrifices in them.
On that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. (Zachariah 14:16-21)
One day Christ will reign as King of Kings, and in that future time all of the nations will go up to keep The Feast of Tabernacles. Those who refuse will not receive the rain that they need for their crops to grow; but those who obey will receive God’s greatest blessings.
Our family has chosen to be near water this year. This living water needs to be coming from a spring; and we are told that the lake we are visiting is spring-fed; just like the Pool of Siloam was in the days of The Water Ceremony in Jerusalem.
The water will remind us of these precious stories that speak into our futures. We will probably rent a pontoon boat large enough to float the whole family around the lake.
As we look at the water around us and enjoy our time together upon the surface of the waters; we will definitely be remembering these days as well as looking forward to the future days that they point us to in love and hope.
MAY THE GLORY OF GOD RAIN DOWN ON YOU AS YOU ENJOY YOUR FEAST!