So the end of last month, we met up for a short little debrief and had a few team changes. Team Brady is no longer. We lost Cara and Nikki but God honored a lot of prayers and gave me another guy for the team named Paul and another girl as well and her name is Sarah, both are a great addition to the team. With a third of the team changing we thought it might be good to get a new team name. I was praying into it and reading some info from Ray Vonderlaan, a scholarly christian who studies the jewish roots, and came across the term En Gedi, to which the rest of the blog is from his site.
EN GEDI
Barely one hundred feet from the desolate wilderness, the oasis of En
Gedi supports lush green growth. Nearby, a spring of water runs from a rock,
flowing down a cliff and creating the beautiful waterfall of En Gedi. Surrounding En Gedi, the Judean Wilderness is
a picture of dust and dryness. Caves are scattered amidst the rocks, and an
occasional tree or bush struggles from the ground. About one mile away, the
salty and still waters of the Dead Sea can be seen. Looking at this panorama, one can hardly
guess that a refreshing pool of water stands nearby. The oasis of En Gedi provides a cool refuge
from the wilderness. It has sustained jungle-like greenery for thousands of
years. David and his men traveled
through this area as they hid from Saul. No doubt they enjoyed a moment of rest
at En Gedi, taking long drinks from the pure water. For centuries, men and
women have soothed their thirst, watered their animals, and enjoyed the peace
of En Gedi during their wilderness travels.
LIVING WATER
En Gedi water represents the living waters mentioned frequently in the
Text. For Hebrew culture, the refreshing and pure waters of En Gedi created a
picture of God’s encouragement. As they
faced their battles in the Promised Land, God’s people grew weary of their
mission to be a holy people at the crossroads of the world. In the midst of
their troubles, many Israelites longed for the refreshment and strength of
God. One psalmist described his soul as
thirsting for God in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Ps. 63:1).
Another psalmist wrote, As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul
pants for you, O God (Ps. 42:1). The
Jews carried the concept of living water into their worship. Outside their
temple and synagogues, they built mikvehs ritual baths where they symbolically
cleansed their hearts before worship. Recognizing their need for God’s
cleansing, they used only living water flowing from nearby springs or rain
run-off which was not touched by human hands. Jesus, too, spoke of living water. One day, as he talked with a
Samaritan woman, he offered her living waters that would be even better than
the springs and rivers of the land: Jesus? water would become a spring inside
of her, ending all of her thirst.
DEAD WATER
Biblical writers made a distinction between living water and dead water.
While living waters flowed constantly, offering clean and cool refreshment,
cistern waters were dead-filled with muddy and stagnant water that had been
poured by human hands. The prophet
Jeremiah warned God’s people about the foolishness of forsaking God’s living
water. Through the prophet, God lamented about his people’s sin: They have
forsaken me, the spring of living water (3:13). What a vivid picture Jeremiah created with these words. By abandoning
God, the Israelites ignored something as cool and refreshing as the En Gedi waterfall. In their foolishness, the Israelites trusted
in their own strength. Rejecting God’s refreshment, they turned to dead waters,
trying to satisfy their thirst in pagan religions and their own selfish
plans. As Jeremiah pointed out, the
Israelites were trying to quench their thirst in broken cisterns. Later, as
they endured attacks and captivity, the Jewish people probably remembered
Jeremiah’s words. Their false gods and human plans had turned out to be dead
water indeed.
Tune in for part 2…coming soon
