In Yerushalayim for Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) ~ Part 4
In our last post, we learned that People Ask If Yeshua is the Messiah, and the P’rushim Seek to Arrest Him. In this post, we will learn about Spiritual Drinks and more.
Spiritual Drinks
37 Now, on the last day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to Me and drinking! 38 Whoever puts his trust in Me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!” 39 (Now He said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in Him were to receive later – the Spirit had not yet been given because Yeshua had not yet been glorified.) [1]
On the festival’s last day, Hoshana Rabbah, literally, “on the last day, the great, of the festival.”. The seventh and last day of Sukkot was its climax. Throughout the seven days of the festival, a special cohen had carried water in a gold pitcher from the Pool of Shiloach (Siloam) to be poured into a basin at the foot of the altar by the Cohen HaGadol (the Great High Priest). It symbolized prayer for rain, which begins the next day on Sh’mini Atzeret. It also pointed toward the outpouring of the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) on the people of Isra’el.
It was in the midst of this water pouring, trumpet blasting, palm waving, psalm chanting, and ecstatic joy on the part of people seeking forgiveness – and in the presence of all 24 divisions of the priesthood (see Luke 1:5) – that Yeshua cried out in the Temple courts, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! Whoever trusts in me, as the Tanakh says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!“ His dramatic cry, supported by the full display of Temple ritual, was not misunderstood as vv. 40 – 43 below make abundantly clear.
More Division Among the Jews
40 On hearing His words, some people in the crowd said, “Surely this man is ‘the prophet’ “; 41 others said, “This is the Messiah.” But others said, “How can the Messiah come from the Galil? 42 Doesn’t the Tanakh say that the Messiah is from the seed of David and comes from Beit-Lechem, the village where David lived?” 43 So the people were divided because of Him. 44 Some wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid a hand on Him. [2]
But others said, “How can the Messiah come from the Galil? Doesn’t the Tanakh say that the Messiah is from the seed of David and comes from Beit-Lechem?” Yes, the Tanakh does say that (2 Samuel 7:12–13; Jeremiah 23:5–6; Micah 5:1(2)); Psalms 89:36–38(35–37), 132:11; 1 Chronicles 7:11, 14). Chapter 2 of Mattityahu explains how the Messiah could come from both Beit-Lechem in Y’hudah and Natzeret in the Galil: He was born in Beit-Lechem, taken to Egypt to escape the massacre of infants ordered by Herod, and by God’s command returned to Natzeret. Luke 2:1–7 further explains why a family from Natzeret happened to be in Beit-Lechem for Yeshua’s birth: the Romans ordered a census and required everyone to return to his own city for it. Doubters could have inquired and learned these things, but as is familiar with people whose minds are made up, they did not wish to be “confused by the facts.” So the people were divided because of Him. Yeshua the Messiah always divides people into two camps: those who are with Him and those who are not. The middle ground quickly disappears.
In our next post, we continue with our new series on Yeshua’s Journey to Yerushalayim for the Feast of Sukkot. In our next post, we learn that Nakdimon (Nicodemus) Counsels Caution and about the Women Caught in Adultery.
My Heart is for Israel 