5-'^, Lk 8^-"), or when rushing along in a torrent (2 S S-'", Rev 12"), or from its simply submerging the works of man (Ezk 2G'-- '").
'Water' is used for tears (Ps 119'", Jer 9''", La 1'* 3'*), and for the liquid that flowed along with the blood from the pierced side of Christ (Jn Iff"). The nature of the latter has been much discussed, and all attempts at ordinary physio- logical explanation seem doubtful. The commen- taries must be consulted for the various views that have been suggested. See also Medicine (vol. iii. p. 32G"). The substance Nephthak (which see) is called ' thick water ' (2 Mac l^"- ='• ^'- «»).
In the biblical cosmogony water held an im- portant place. There was a primitive waste of waters, which was divided into two portions by the firmament. The upper portion was the source of rain. The dry land rose out of the lower portion and was founded upon it. The Flood, in which both the waters above and those beneath were let loose (Gn 7"), was a catastrophe provided for by the very structure of the universe (2 P 3°-'). These and similar cosmological ideas appear in Job 268-"', Ps 33' 104'- «'• 148S Pr 30^ Is 40'^, Jth 9'= 16". While the heathen deified the waters as well as the other forces of nature (Wis 13°), the biblical conception consistently subordinates them to God. He controls the waters of the thunder- storm (2 S 22'2, Ps IS" 29' 77'«- ", Jer 10" 51'«). The division of the Red Sea is His work (Ps 78", Is 43'" 51'°). It is in obedience to Him that the water flows from the rock (Ps 114''). It is He who moves the sea (Am 5* 9"). The voice of God is comjiared to the sound of many waters (Ps 93*, Ezk iZ-. Cf. Rev V" 14- 19'^).
The metaphorical usages of water are numerous. The want of it is an emblem of spiritual need (Ps 42' 63', Am 8"), and its presence becomes, in some of the most beautiful poetry of Scripture, a figure for spirifiiril refreshment and blessing (Ps 23-, Is 30=» 32-' S.j"- '4118 4320 443 4910 551 sgii^ j^r 3P, Ezk 47'-", Jl 3'^ Zee W, 3n~i^, Rev 7"' 21" 22'- "). It rciiresents a blessing which may be neglected (Jer 2" 17" 18"). It suggests the gratefulness of good news (Pr 25^) ; and wisdom, as the drink of the soul, is compared to it (Sir 15'). Water sym- bolizes the means of morrd cleansing (Ezk 16*' ' 36^, Eph 5^, He 10-), with which we may connect the whole subject of Baptism, and also the con- ception of Christians as 'born of water' (Jn 3', I Jn 5°-*). Bitter drink is a metaphor for trouble (Ps 73'"), and water in its dangerous aspect is still more extensively so (Ps 18'" 32" 46' 66'" 69'-''-" 88", Is 432, La 3", Jon '2'). Enemies are spoken of under a similar figure (Ps 124* 144', Is 8' [Assyria] 17'" " [the nations] 28=- ", Jer 47'').
Various subordinate metaphors are deserving of notice. Water becomes a figure for instability of character (Gn 49*), for weakness and dissolution (Ps 22'* 58' 109", Ezk 7"), and for worthlessne-is (Wis 16^). Pride passes like a ship that leaves no track on the waters (Wis 5'°). The foam of water [or, perhaps better, a chip on a stream, cf. RVmJ is an emblem of extreme transiency (Hos 10'). To give earth and water is a token of submission (Jth '2"). In Sir IS"- " the choice between life and death is compared to that between fire and water. The wickedness of Jerusalem^ is likened to the water of a fountain (Jer 6'). Stolen water is an emblem for secret sin (Pr 9"), and the drinking of water is a figure for unlawful love (Sir 26'"). To drink the waters of a country is to conquer it (2 K 19"*, Is 37-^), or to seek alliance with it (Jer 2'"). The letting out of water has as its counterparts the beginning of strife (Pr 17'*), or the giving of liberty to a vncked woman (Sir 25"^). Apostate disciples are compared to waterless wells (2 P 2"), or cloiids (Jude '-). T/ic inconsistency of blessing and cursinf
WATEKSPOUTS
WAYilAKK
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is snggested by the impossibility of fresh and salt water coming from a fountain together (Ja 3'°'''). The salt in the sea corresponds to GocTs wrath against the heathen (Sir 39^). The smallness of a ■waterdrop compared with the sea is an image of the relation of time to eternity (Sir IS'"). Deep water is a figure for tvise counsel (Pr 18* 20^). Judgment and righteousness are likened to the waters of a mighty stream (Am 5"). The extent of tlie sea is niude to suggest the universal spread of God's glory (Is 11", Hab 2").
James Patrick. WATERSPOUTS. — Only Fa 42^ ' Deep calleth nnto deep at the noL-^e of thy waterspouts' (RVm ' cataracts'); Heb. 'ry-i "^'y) «TP t^r.n-^K cinn ; LXX
aov. The only other occurrence of the word ii:!f is in tlie very obscure pass-'ige 2 S 5*, so that its meaning is somewhat uncertain, although in late Hebrew it means a spout or pipe (cf. Job 38^ 'Who liath cleft a channel for the watertlood?' n^ja ijEB'^ J^?"?). The reference in Ps 42' is prob. to the numerous noisy waterfalls in a stream swollen by the melting of the snow (see Duhm, ad loc).