John 7:37

John 7:37. And in the last day, the great day, of the feast. The feast of Tabernacles properly so called continued seven days. During (a part of) each day all the men of Israel dwelt in booths made with boughs of palm, willow, pine, and other trees. Day by day burnt-offerings and other sacrifices were presented in unusual profusion. Every morning, whilst the Israelites assembled in the temple-courts, one of the priests brought water drawn in golden urn from the pool of Siloam, and amidst the sounding of trumpets and other demonstrations of joy poured the water upon the altar. This rite is not mentioned in the Old Testament; but, as a commemoration of the miraculous supply of water in the wilderness, it was altogether in harmony with the general spirit of the festival. The chanting of the great Hallel (Psalms 113-118) celebrated the past; but (as we learn from the Talmud) the Jews also connected with the ceremony the words of Isaiah (John 12:3), ‘Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation,' and saw in it a type of the effusion of the Holy Spirit. On the evening of the first and (probably) of each following day the ‘rejoicing of the drawing of the water' was celebrated in the court of the women, with dancing, singing, and music; and lamps raised on four immense candelabra placed in the middle of the same court illumined both the temple and the city. On the seventh day the ordinary ceremonies of the feast came to an end. There was added, however, an eighth day (Numbers 29:35), a day of holy convocation on which no work might be done. This day did not strictly belong to the feast, but was ‘a feast by itself,' perhaps as closing (not only the feast of Tabernacles, but also) the whole series of festivals for the year: naturally, however, it became attached to the feast of Tabernacles in ordinary speech. Whether the ‘great day' so emphatically mentioned here was this eighth day or the seventh day of the feast is a point which has been much discussed, and on which we cannot arrive at certainty. On the whole it is most probable that the eighth day is referred to, the day of holy rest in which the feasts seemed to reach their culmination, and which retained the sacred associations of the festival just past, though the marks of special rejoicing had come to an end. This last day He to whom all the festivals of Israel pointed chose for the proclamation which showed the joy and hope of the feast of Tabernacles fulfilled in Himself.

Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any one thirst, let him come unto me and drink. The words ‘stood and cried' bring into relief the solemn earnestness of this declaration, which completed and perfected the teaching of Jesus at this feast. The occasion was given (if we are right in regarding the eighth as ‘the great day'), not by the ceremony observed, but by the blank left through the cessation of the familiar custom. The water had been poured upon the altar for seven days, reminding of past miracles of God's mercy and promises of yet richer grace: hopes had been raised, but not yet satisfied. When the ceremonies had reached their close, Jesus ‘stood and cried' to the multitudes that what they had hitherto looked for in vain they shall receive in Him. As in the synagogue of Nazareth He read from the book of Isaiah, and declared that the Scripture was that day fulfilled in their ears, so here He takes up familiar words of the same prophet (Isaiah 4:1), calling every one that thirsteth to come unto Him.