Water

(Gen. 1:6; 9:10, and elsewhere). How highly water — this most necessary gift for man’s life and well-being — was valued in antiquity by the Israelites is attested by Holy Scripture in many places. Placing water among the very first, most necessary things for man, Jesus the son of Sirach says: “The chief thing for life is water, and bread, and clothing, and a house that covers nakedness” (Sirach 29:21 [as given]). Living, fresh, spring water often represents an image of the all-vivifying blessing of God (Isa. 12:3).

Just as in the ritual washings of the Old Testament water served as an image of the moral purification of the Hebrews, so baptism in the New Testament serves as an image of the mysterious cleansing from sins and spiritual regeneration into a new, grace-filled life (John 3:5; Eph. 5:26, and elsewhere). Water, so necessary and beneficial in hot countries, sometimes becomes a dangerous and destructive element, when, during heavy and pouring rains, rushing down from mountain heights, it covers everything, and swollen rivers and streams overflow their banks and carry away and destroy everything (Ps. 18 [17]:16; Jer. 47:2; Isa. 43:2, and elsewhere); for this reason the expressions “to be in the depths of the waters” signifies to suffer; “the raging sea” signifies the unrest of the wicked, and so on. Just as water refreshes and revives the thirsty traveler, so our salvation is a pure source of living water.