In the sacred Scriptures, bread and water are commonly mentioned
as the chief supports of human life; and to provide a sufficient
quantity of water, to prepare it for use, and to deal it out to the
thirsty, are among the principal cares of an oriental householder. The
Moabites and Ammonites are reproached for not meeting the Israelites
with bread and water; that is, with proper refreshments, Deut. xxxiii,
4. Nabal says in an insulting manner to David’s messengers, “Shall I
then take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my
shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be?” 1 Sam.
xxv, 11. To furnish travellers with water is, even in present times,
reckoned of so great importance, that many of the eastern
philanthropists have been at considerable expense to procure them that
enjoyment. The nature of the climate, and the general aspect of the
oriental regions, require numerous fountains to excite and sustain the
languid powers of vegetation; and the sun, burning with intense heat in
a cloudless sky, demands for the fainting inhabitants the verdure,
shade, and coolness which vegetation produces. Hence fountains of living
water are met with in the towns and villages, in the fields and gardens,
and by the sides of the roads and of the beaten tracks on the mountains;
and a cup of cold water from these wells is no contemptible present.
“Fatigued with heat and thirst,” says Carne, “we came to a few cottages
in a palm wood, and stopped to drink of a fountain of delicious water.
In this northern climate no idea can be formed of the luxury of drinking
in Egypt: little appetite for food is felt; but when, after crossing the
burning sands, you reach the rich line of woods on the brink of the
Nile, and pluck the fresh limes, and, mixing their juice with Egyptian
sugar and the soft river water, drink repeated bowls of lemonade, you
feel that every other pleasure of the senses must yield to this. One
then perceives the beauty and force of those similes in Scripture, where
the sweetest emotions of the heart are compared to the assuaging of
thirst in a thirsty land.” In Arabia, equal attention is paid, by the
wealthy and benevolent, to the refreshment of the traveller. On one of
the mountains of Arabia, Niebuhr found three little reservoirs, which
are always kept full of fine water for the use of passengers. These
reservoirs, which are about two feet and a half square, and from five to
seven feet high, are round, or pointed at the top, of mason’s work,
having only a small opening in one of the sides, by which they pour
water into them. Sometimes he found, near these places of Arab
refreshment, a piece of a ground shell, or a little scoop of wood, for
lifting the water. The same attention to the comfort of travellers is
manifested in Egypt, where public buildings are set apart in some of
their cities, the business of whose inhabitants is to supply the
passengers with water free of expense. Some of these houses make a very
handsome appearance; and the persons appointed to wait on the passengers
are required to have some vessels of copper, curiously tinned and filled
with water, always ready on the window next the street. Some of the
Mohammedan villages in Palestine, not far from Nazareth, brought Mr.
Buckingham and his party bread and water, while on horseback, without
even being solicited to do so; and when they halted to accept it, both
compliments and blessings were mutually interchanged. “Here, as in every
other part of Nubia,” says Burckhardt, “the thirsty traveller finds, at
short distances, water jars placed by the road side under a low roof.
Every village pays a small monthly stipend to some person to fill these
jars in the morning, and again toward evening. The same custom prevails
in Upper Egypt, but on a larger scale: and there are caravanserais often
found near the wells which supply travellers with water.” In India the
Hindoos go sometimes a great way to fetch water, and then boil it, that
it may not be hurtful to travellers that are hot; and after this stand
from morning till night in some great road, where there is neither pit
nor rivulet, and offer it in honour of their gods, to be drunk by the
passengers. This necessary work of charity in these hot countries seems
to have been practised among the more pious and humane Jews; and our
Lord assures them, that if they do this in his name, they shall not lose
their reward. Hence a cup of water is a present in the east of great
value, though there are some other refreshments of a superior quality.
It is still the proper business of the females to supply the family with
water. From this drudgery, however, the married women are exempted,
unless when single women are wanting. The proper time for drawing water
in those burning climates is in the morning, or when the sun is going
down; then they go forth to perform that humble office adorned with
their trinkets, some of which are often of great value. Agreeably to
this custom Rebecca went instead of her mother to fetch water from the
well, and the servant of Abraham expected to meet an unmarried female
there who might prove a suitable match for his master’s son. In the East
Indies, the women also draw water at the public wells, as Rebecca did,
on that occasion, for travellers, their servants and their cattle; and
women of no mean rank literally illustrate the conduct of an unfortunate
princess in the Jewish history, by performing the services of a menial,
2 Sam. xiii, 8. The young women of Guzerat daily draw water from the
wells, and carry the jars upon the head; but those of high rank carry
them upon the shoulder. In the same way Rebecca carried her pitcher; and
probably for the same reason, because she was the daughter of an eastern
prince, Gen. xxiv, 45.
Water sometimes signifies the element of water, Gen. i, 10; and
metaphorically, trouble and afflictions, Psalm lxix, 1. In the language
of the prophets, waters often denote a great multitude of people, Isa.
viii, 7; Rev. xvii, 15. Water is put for children or posterity, Num.
xxiv, 7; Isa. xlviii, 1; for the clouds, Psalm civ, 3. Waters sometimes
stand for tears, Jer. ix, 1, 7; for the ordinances of the Gospel, Isa.
xii, 3; xxxv, 6, 7; lv, 1; John vii, 37, 38. “Stolen waters” denote
unlawful pleasures with strange women, Prov. ix, 17. The Israelites are
reproached with having forsaken the fountain of living water, to quench
their thirst at broken cisterns, Jer. ii, 13; that is, with having
quitted the worship of God for the worship of false and ridiculous
deities. Waters of Meribah, or the waters of strife, were so called
because of the quarrelling or contention and murmuring of the Israelites
against Moses and against God. When they came to Kadesh, and there
happened to be in want of water, they made a sedition against him and
his brother Aaron, Numbers xx, 1, &c. Upon this occasion Moses committed
that great sin with which God was so much displeased, that he deprived
him of the honour of introducing his people into the land of promise.
as the chief supports of human life; and to provide a sufficient
quantity of water, to prepare it for use, and to deal it out to the
thirsty, are among the principal cares of an oriental householder. The
Moabites and Ammonites are reproached for not meeting the Israelites
with bread and water; that is, with proper refreshments, Deut. xxxiii,
4. Nabal says in an insulting manner to David’s messengers, “Shall I
then take my bread and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my
shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be?” 1 Sam.
xxv, 11. To furnish travellers with water is, even in present times,
reckoned of so great importance, that many of the eastern
philanthropists have been at considerable expense to procure them that
enjoyment. The nature of the climate, and the general aspect of the
oriental regions, require numerous fountains to excite and sustain the
languid powers of vegetation; and the sun, burning with intense heat in
a cloudless sky, demands for the fainting inhabitants the verdure,
shade, and coolness which vegetation produces. Hence fountains of living
water are met with in the towns and villages, in the fields and gardens,
and by the sides of the roads and of the beaten tracks on the mountains;
and a cup of cold water from these wells is no contemptible present.
“Fatigued with heat and thirst,” says Carne, “we came to a few cottages
in a palm wood, and stopped to drink of a fountain of delicious water.
In this northern climate no idea can be formed of the luxury of drinking
in Egypt: little appetite for food is felt; but when, after crossing the
burning sands, you reach the rich line of woods on the brink of the
Nile, and pluck the fresh limes, and, mixing their juice with Egyptian
sugar and the soft river water, drink repeated bowls of lemonade, you
feel that every other pleasure of the senses must yield to this. One
then perceives the beauty and force of those similes in Scripture, where
the sweetest emotions of the heart are compared to the assuaging of
thirst in a thirsty land.” In Arabia, equal attention is paid, by the
wealthy and benevolent, to the refreshment of the traveller. On one of
the mountains of Arabia, Niebuhr found three little reservoirs, which
are always kept full of fine water for the use of passengers. These
reservoirs, which are about two feet and a half square, and from five to
seven feet high, are round, or pointed at the top, of mason’s work,
having only a small opening in one of the sides, by which they pour
water into them. Sometimes he found, near these places of Arab
refreshment, a piece of a ground shell, or a little scoop of wood, for
lifting the water. The same attention to the comfort of travellers is
manifested in Egypt, where public buildings are set apart in some of
their cities, the business of whose inhabitants is to supply the
passengers with water free of expense. Some of these houses make a very
handsome appearance; and the persons appointed to wait on the passengers
are required to have some vessels of copper, curiously tinned and filled
with water, always ready on the window next the street. Some of the
Mohammedan villages in Palestine, not far from Nazareth, brought Mr.
Buckingham and his party bread and water, while on horseback, without
even being solicited to do so; and when they halted to accept it, both
compliments and blessings were mutually interchanged. “Here, as in every
other part of Nubia,” says Burckhardt, “the thirsty traveller finds, at
short distances, water jars placed by the road side under a low roof.
Every village pays a small monthly stipend to some person to fill these
jars in the morning, and again toward evening. The same custom prevails
in Upper Egypt, but on a larger scale: and there are caravanserais often
found near the wells which supply travellers with water.” In India the
Hindoos go sometimes a great way to fetch water, and then boil it, that
it may not be hurtful to travellers that are hot; and after this stand
from morning till night in some great road, where there is neither pit
nor rivulet, and offer it in honour of their gods, to be drunk by the
passengers. This necessary work of charity in these hot countries seems
to have been practised among the more pious and humane Jews; and our
Lord assures them, that if they do this in his name, they shall not lose
their reward. Hence a cup of water is a present in the east of great
value, though there are some other refreshments of a superior quality.
It is still the proper business of the females to supply the family with
water. From this drudgery, however, the married women are exempted,
unless when single women are wanting. The proper time for drawing water
in those burning climates is in the morning, or when the sun is going
down; then they go forth to perform that humble office adorned with
their trinkets, some of which are often of great value. Agreeably to
this custom Rebecca went instead of her mother to fetch water from the
well, and the servant of Abraham expected to meet an unmarried female
there who might prove a suitable match for his master’s son. In the East
Indies, the women also draw water at the public wells, as Rebecca did,
on that occasion, for travellers, their servants and their cattle; and
women of no mean rank literally illustrate the conduct of an unfortunate
princess in the Jewish history, by performing the services of a menial,
2 Sam. xiii, 8. The young women of Guzerat daily draw water from the
wells, and carry the jars upon the head; but those of high rank carry
them upon the shoulder. In the same way Rebecca carried her pitcher; and
probably for the same reason, because she was the daughter of an eastern
prince, Gen. xxiv, 45.
Water sometimes signifies the element of water, Gen. i, 10; and
metaphorically, trouble and afflictions, Psalm lxix, 1. In the language
of the prophets, waters often denote a great multitude of people, Isa.
viii, 7; Rev. xvii, 15. Water is put for children or posterity, Num.
xxiv, 7; Isa. xlviii, 1; for the clouds, Psalm civ, 3. Waters sometimes
stand for tears, Jer. ix, 1, 7; for the ordinances of the Gospel, Isa.
xii, 3; xxxv, 6, 7; lv, 1; John vii, 37, 38. “Stolen waters” denote
unlawful pleasures with strange women, Prov. ix, 17. The Israelites are
reproached with having forsaken the fountain of living water, to quench
their thirst at broken cisterns, Jer. ii, 13; that is, with having
quitted the worship of God for the worship of false and ridiculous
deities. Waters of Meribah, or the waters of strife, were so called
because of the quarrelling or contention and murmuring of the Israelites
against Moses and against God. When they came to Kadesh, and there
happened to be in want of water, they made a sedition against him and
his brother Aaron, Numbers xx, 1, &c. Upon this occasion Moses committed
that great sin with which God was so much displeased, that he deprived
him of the honour of introducing his people into the land of promise.