Waters

WATERS. Great Waters, in the Language of the Prophets, often denote a great Multitude of People. Rev. xvii. 15. The waters which thou sawest, where the whore whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Waters of the Abyss. These are the Waters of the Sea, of Rivers, the Waters that lie concealed in the Cavities within the Bowels of the Earth. They are also called the Waters of the Deep, to distinguish them from the Waters of Heaven, the Clouds, the Rain, the Dew, which are called the upper Waters, separated from the lower by what is called the Firmament ;a that is to say, the Air, or Heaven. The Scripture says, that the Lord has put the Abysses in his Treasury, that he has given them Limits and Boundaries, which they cannot pass.

Waters of Contradiction. Moses tells us, Numb. xx. 2, 3, &c.that when the Israelites came to Kadesh, and there happened to be in want of Water, they made a Sedition against him and his Brother Aaron, saying to them, “ Would to God that we had died with “ our Brethren before the Lord. Why have “ you brought us out of Egypt into this “ Wilderness, where we can neither sow “ nor reap, and where we can plant neither Vines nor Fig-trees, nor Almondtrees, and where we cannot find so “ much as Water to drink?” When Moses and Aaron had dismissed the Multitude, they entered into the Tabernacle of the Lord, and prostrating themselves to the Earth, they cried to the Lord, and said, “ Lord, hear the Cries of this People, and open thy Treasury for them; “ give them a Fountain of living Water, “ that they may quench their Thirst, “ and cease to murmur against us!” Then the Lord said to Moses, “ Take thy Rod, “ and call the People together, thou and “ thy Brother Aaron, and speak to the “ Rock before you, and it shall give you “ Drink.”

Moses therefore took his Rod, and assembled the People before the Rock, and said to them, “ Hear, O ye Rebels and “ Infidels! Shall we be able to draw you “ Water out of this Rock?” Then Moses lifted up his Hand, and striking the Rock twice with his Rod, there came forth Water in abundance, so that all the People, and all their Cattle drank to their fill. At the same time the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “ Because you have not “ believed me, and because you have “ not sanctified me before the Children “ of Israel, you shall not bring this People into the Land that I have promised “ them.” These were the Waters of Contradiction, where the Children of Israel murmured against the Lord, and where he was sanctified in the midst of them. Instead of the Waters of Contradiction, the Hebrew reads, the Waters of Meribah, Waters of Quarrelling, of Contention, of Murmuring of the People against Moses and against God.

’Tis enquired, in what consisted the Sin of Moses committed on this Occasion, and which was so displeasing to God, that he deprived him of that Honour that was intended him, of introducing his People into the Land of Promise. The Psalmist tells us, that Moses was sowred, vexed, or troubled, at these Murmurs of the People, and expressed some Distrust by his Words, Irritaverunt Psal. cv. 32, 33.eum ad aquas contradictionis, & vexatus est Moyses propter eos, & distinxit labiis suis. He shewed some Doubt in the Promises of the Lord. God had absolutely promised him, that he should bring Water out of the Rock; Moses made some Scruple to believe it: Shall we be able to draw Water out of this Rock? He struck the Rock twice, and God had only bid him speak to it. He was afraid, that upon this Occasion, God being provoked with his People, should refuse to fulfil the Promises he had made. Anima eorum variavit in me, says the Prophet Zech. xi. 8.Zechariah; their Soul was fluctuating, wavering, and irresolute.

They did not sanctify the Lord, they did not pay that Honour that was due to him, by a strict, punctual, and faithful Obedience to his Words. They did not sanctify him before the people: They gave the People occasion to conceive too low an Idea of the Power and Goodness of God; they did an Injury, in some measure, to his Power, by shewing so little Confidence in it. Lastly, the Lord was sanctified in them; he caused his Justice and his Majesty to shine out upon them; he taught his People by them, and by the Punishment he took of them, in what manner he intended to be served and obeyed. And indeed, nothing is apter to strike an Awe and Terror in us, and to shew us how far God is jealous of his Glory, than the Punishment of Moses and Aaron, in an Affair that to us may appear of but small Importance.

Waters of Marah. See MARAH. Faithful Waters, Isai. xxxiii. 16. These are Waters that never fail, Spring-waters that corrupt not; and are opposed to lying Waters, Jerem. xv. 18. Thus a 1 Sam. ii. 35. 2 Sam. vii. 16.faithful House, is a House that will always subsist: Ædificabo ei domum fidelem, and fidelis erit domus tua. And in the same Sense, merces fidelis, a sure and certain Recompence. And again, I will fix him as a Nail in a faithful Place: Figam illum Isaiah xxii. 23.paxillum in loco fideli; in a Place that is strong and immoveable.

Living Waters, Spring-Waters, running Waters, in opposition to Waters¹ that stagnate in a Cistern or in a Lake, which are Dead Waters.

As in Scripture, Bread is put for all sort of Food or solid Nourishment, so Water is used for all sorts of Drink. The Moabites and Ammonites are reproached for not meeting the Israelites with Bread and Deut. xxiii. 4.Water; that is to say, with proper Refreshments. Nabal says in an insulting manner 1 Sam. xxv. 11.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? Jereboam’s false Prophet tells the 1 Kings xiii. 18.Prophet of the Lord, An Angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread and drink water.

Strange Waters, Stollen Waters, denote Prov. ix. 18.unlawful Pleasures with strange Women. The Israelites are reproached with having forsaken the Fountain of living Water, to quench their Thirst at broken Cisterns; Jerem. ii. 13.that is, with having quitted the Worship of God, for the Worship of false and ridiculous Deities.

Waters sometimes stand for Afflictions Lam. iii. 54. Psal. lxix. 1.and Misfortunes: Inundaverunt aquæ super caput meum. And the Psalmist, Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul. See also Psal. cxxiii. 4, 5, &c. Non me demergat tempestas aquæ, Psalm cxvii. 16.

Also Waters sometimes stand for Tears and Sweat: Quis dabit capiti meo aquas, Jerem. ix. 1.& oculis meis fontem lacrymarum? And, Per cuncta genua fluent aquæ, Ezek. xxi. 7. vii. 17.

Read this article in its place on the printed pages