John 7:37-39 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

In the last day, &c.— It is commonly supposed, that, while Jesus was thus discoursing in the temple on the last and great day of the feast, the water from Siloam was brought into the women's court of the temple with the usual solemnities, according to the directions of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, if we may believe the Jewish writers: part of this water they drank with loud acclamations, in commemorationofthemercy shewn to their fathers, who were relieved by the miracle of a great stream of water made to flow out of a rock, (see Psalms 78:20.) when the nation was ready to die with thirst in a sandy desart, where was neither river nor spring: and part of it they poured out as a drink-offering, which they accompanied with prayers to Almighty God for a plentiful rain to fall at the followingseed-time; the people in the mean time singing the passage, Isaiah 12:3. With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. The exposition of the Talmud, which asserts that this ceremony had reference to the pouring out of the Holy Ghost, shews the peculiar propriety of our Lord's address, and his application of this circumstance; for the Lord Jesus, whose custom it was to raise moral instructions from sensible occurrences, took this opportunity of inviting, in the most solemn and affectionatemanner, all who were in pursuit, whether of knowledge or happiness, to come unto him and drink, in allusion to the rite which they were then employed about. He probably stood upon an eminence, so as to be conspicuous, and spoke aloud, supplying the place of the trumpets used on these occasions; and by this address he taught them, that the effusion of the Holy Ghost, represented by their pouring out the water, was not to be expected from their rites and ceremonies, but from a belief in the doctrine which he preached: for that by coming to him and drinking, he meant believing on him, is manifest from the context, and from ch. John 6:35. Further to encourage them, our Lord promised them the gifts of his Spirit, which he represented under the image of a river flowing from their belly, to express the efficacy and perpetuity of these gifts, together with the divine pleasures which they produce, by quenching the desires of those who possess them, and fructifying others who come within their influence. See ch. John 4:14.Isaiah 55:1. The words of the 38th verse are not to be found literally in the scriptures of the Old Testament, but are to be understood, as Grotius observes, as a general reference to the several prophesies which refer to the effusion of the Spirit by the Messiah, under the similitude of pouring out water. See Isaiah 52:15; Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 58:11. Ezekiel 36:23-27. Joel 2:28. Zechariah 13:1; Zechariah 14:8. See also Numbers 24:7. The flowing of rivers of living water out of the believer's belly is an idea taken from receptacles placed round springs, out of which great quantities of water flow by pipes; and perhaps there may be some allusion here to the prominency of that capacious golden vale, from which the water at this festival was poured out in a large stream. This figure therefore represented the plenitude of spiritual gifts to be possessed by believers, and the happy effects which they should produce in the world. By the facultyof speaking all the different languages of the earth fluently, which wasthe first gift of the Spirit, qualifying the apostles and others to preach such doctrines of the gospel as the Spirit revealed to them, they were both watered themselves, and in a condition to water the Gentiles, not with small streams, but with large rivers of divine knowledge; and so the land, which till then had been barren, was from that time forth to beexceedingfruitfulinrighteousnessuntoGod.Accordinglythe evangelist adds by way of explication, But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. These peculiar gifts of illumination and utterance were not yet communicated to believers, being what they received on the day of Pentecost, to fit them for converting the world. Nevertheless, if the universality of the invitation and promise inclines the reader to think, that, on this occasion, our Lord had the ordinary influences of the Spirit also in his eye, the evangelist's remark, that the Holy Ghost was not yet given, will not exclude them; because even these might, at that time, be said not to have been given, as they had been given but sparingly, in comparison of the plentiful distribution which was to be made of them to all believers after Christ's ascension. Accordingly, the ordinary influences of the Spirit are often in scripture represented as the consequences and reward of faith; Galatians 3:14.Ephesians 1:12. And possibly in the words shall flow rivers of living water, our Lord might design a contrast to the stream which at this time was poured out of the golden vase. The quantity taken out of the waters of Siloam was such, as might be soon poured out and exhausted; but out of those believers on whom the Holy Ghost should come, rivers of living water should flow, whose effect and benefit should never cease as long as the world itself should endure. There had been some drops, as it were, of this Spirit, which had fallen upon some of the Jewish nation before; but those were no more to be compared with these rivers of water, than the waters of Siloam with the great river Euphrates. What was the spirit which Bezaleel had, when compared with that Spirit wherewith the apostles were inspired? What was that spirit of courage which was given to the judges, if compared with that which convinced the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment? What was that spirit of Moses, communicated to the seventy elders, compared with that of the SON OF GOD, which he has shed abroad in the hearts of his people? What was that spirit of prophesy, which inspired a few prophets, when compared with that pouring out of the Spirit upon all flesh upon and after the day of Pentecost? For these rivers of water, though they began their course at Jerusalem upon that day, as the fruit of the glorious and triumphant ascension of Jesus into heaven, yet they soon overflowed the Christian church in other parts of the world: the sound of that mighty rushing wind was soon heard in the most distant places, and the fiery tongues inflamed the hearts of many who never saw them. See Leviticus 23:36. Numbers 29:35.Acts 2:33.