(2) As applied to the Risen Lord : Lk 24' tL ^rp-€LT€ TOV ^CivTo. fjL€Ta Twv vsKpCov ; the angels' ques- tion conveyed a reproof to the women who were come to the place where the dead was laid, bring- ing the spices which they had prepared : it was like asking them, ' Where is your faith ? ' Thej- had heard the announcement Christ made to the circle of His followers before leaving Galilee, that He would rise again the third day (vv.^- "). At the same time, the question was spoken sympa- thetically, and conveyed to them the first intima- tion of the astonishing truth, ovk f<XTi.v ude, dWd ■fjyep&ri. Here 6 fiii' simply implies that Jesus lives, and is not now to be sought in the place where the dead are, i.e. continues no longer tinder the power of death (cf. v.^ 0776X0)1' . . . ot Xeyovcnv avrbv ^^v). But as spoken at the empty sepulchre, it un- doubtedly has .something of the exaltation of meaning with which it was afterwards used by oiir Lord in His glorified .state (Rev V^ iyw dpn . . . 6 {Q,v ' the Living one,' RV). There is compre- hended in it the completeness of that triumph over death which was afterwards so richly unfolded to the mind of the Church by the Holy Spirit, as, for example, when St. Paul used the exultant lan- guage of Ro 6^- '", or spoke of Christ as a irvevfia ^iiioTToiovv (1 Co 15''^).
(3) As applied to Water and Bread in the Fourth
* 'O Thou Infinite, Amen,' was the form of prayer Tennyson used in times of trouble and sorrow (Memoir by his Son, i. 324). The language of the founder of the Gifiord Lectureship may also be recalled.
I
40
LIVING
LIVING
Gospel : Jn 4^"- ^^ uoojp fwi/ ; 7^ iroTa/xol voaros fdJiTos ; 6'^ eyu) eifii 6 apros 6 fu>v, — a. Jn 4}^- ^^. ' Living Avater ' is spring A\"ater, as contrasted with that collected in a well or cistern. It is the d'ti en of the OT (Gn 26^^ [see Driver's note], Lv W- «• ^'-^■\ Ca 415, jei- 213 1713^ Zee W ; also LXX Gn 211^, Nu 51^). The woman of Samaria was familiar with the expression, and her question was quite natural and appropriate, ' Art thou greater than our father Jacob ? ' ' Here is an ordinaiy man offering to supply better water, spring water, in the place where the patriarch Jacob had been obliged to content himself with building a cistern and drink- ing cistern water' (Wendt, St. John's Gospel, 124). The water in Jacob ■> Well (wh. see) is be- lieved to be due to ' percolation and rainfall ' (cf. Hastings' DB ii. 536, Encyc. Bihl. iv. 4829, Smith's DB'^ ii. 1503). Jer 21=* especially illustrates the difference between the spring or fountain, gushing forth with its unstinted and unfailing supply, 'over- flowing, ever-flowing,' and the cistern, so liable to be destroj'ed by cracking (Land and Book, 287), which at the best cannot afford a refreshing draught like that of the bubbling spring, and which cannot permanently retain the water collected in it. Christ does not call Himself ' the Living water,' as He calls Himself ' the Living bread.' What He means by ' the living water ' is the word of salvation which He jn-eaches (cf. vv.-*i- ^). This word. He saj's (v."), enters into the inner personal life, and becomes there a gushing spring, a peren- nial fountain (-mr/y) i'Saros), ' springing up into etei'nal life,' i.e. persisting to flow upwards till we reach our end of full communion with God. C. Wesley's ' Spring Thou up Avithin my heart. Rise to all eternity,' is quite in harmony with Israel's water-drawing song, in which the spring is addressed as a living being (Nu 21", cf. Encyc. Bihl. i. 515, iv. 4778).
b. Jn 7^. — ' Pouring out water before the Lord' was a i^rimitive ritual practice, of which the origin is uncertain. It was ' in all probability a survival from a time when water (in the desert) was con- sidered an article of value ' (Kautzsch in Hastings' DB, Ext. Vol. 620^). It is mentioned as a prayer- ottering, 1 S 7* ; as a thank - ottering, 2 S 23i®. There are no traces of it beyond the time of David (a reference to it in 1 K \%^ is not probable) ; but the practice of pouring out water as a drink-otter- ing continued to be observed, or was revived, in connexion with the Feast of Tabernacles. Every morning during the seven days of the feast water was drawn from the spring of Siloam in a golden pitcher, and was poured into a basin at the top of the altar [Encyc. Bibl. iv. 4213). The libation of water was probably a prayer-ottering for al^undant rain for the new seed-time (ih. iv. 4880, cf. iii. 3354). Rain was an emblem of Messianic blessings (2 S 23^ Ps 72«, cf. Hos &) ; and we may well be- lieve that the symbolical act of pouring out water gave occasion to our Lord's looking forward to the abundant showers with which He Avas soon to water the earth. — Further, this joyous festival brought to our Lord's mind the Rock at Horeb (Ex 17®, Nu 2911, cf. 1 Co 10^), and perhaps more especially those OT sayings in which it had been predicted that living water should flow out from Jerusalem, or from the House of the Lord (Ezk 471- 1^ Zee 148, Jl 318, cf. Ps 87^). What Avas the precise connecting link of thought betAveen these predictions and the phrase iK rrjs KoiXias avrov, it is difficult to say. But may it not be the case that, in our Lord's AaeAv, Avhat had been spoken concern- ing Jerusalem and the Temple Avas noAv to be ap- plied to the inner personal life of the believer, enriched by the entrance of His Avord, and reneAved by His Holy Spirit ? This .sanctified personal life Avas Avhat noAv ansAvered to the sanctuary from