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Water
Symbol of life
Water, humankind's most basic physical need, is widely used as a potent symbol of life. This is certainly the case throughout the Bible, where, in the first book, the Garden of Eden is watered by a river (Genesis 2:10), and in the last book, ‘the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal,' flows ‘from the throne of God' (Revelation 22:1-2).
In Psalms 23:2 David describes God in terms of a shepherd, who leads him ‘beside quiet waters', and in Psalms 1:1-3 a man who delights in God's laws is compared to ‘a tree planted by streams of water … whose leaf does not wither.'
Water is used as a symbol for the spiritual life which God gives. Throughout the book of Jeremiah, God accuses his people of two sins:
John's Gospel tells of an encounter Jesus has with a woman at a well in Samaria. He asks her for a drink of water, and tells her,
Later in the same gospel, Jesus makes a public declaration:
The writer follows this statement with an explanation of what the symbol of water used here stands for, ‘By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive' (John 7:37-39).
Punishment and danger
Water can also represent God's punishment, as can be seen in the story of the flood (Genesis 6:9-22 and Genesis 7:1-24), or danger, as can be seen, for instance, in Psalms 107:23-30 which paints a dramatic picture of danger at sea and of God's control of the elements:
Jesus' command over a storm on Lake Galilee, and his ability to walk on water, caused his disciples to worship him as the Son of God (Matthew 14:22-33). ‘Walking on water' has become a proverbial expression for doing the impossible.
Related Topics
Big ideas: Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, ‘Second Adam'; Noah and the flood; Baptism
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Active for 40 years, Jeremiah warns of coming disaster to an unrepentant Judah; he observes the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE and Jewish exile. Jeremiah contains the famous prophecy of a 'New Covenant' written on the heart (ch. 31).
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