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The verse quoted below seems to attach significance to the act of drawing water and pouring it before the Lord. This event repeats during the time of Elijah when the prophet commands the Children of Israel to pour water upon the altar before offering sacrifice.

In both these instances I see people gathering together for a season of prayer and fasting and returning to the Lord.

1 Samuel 7:6: And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.

1 Kings 18:34-36 (NASB) 34 And he said, “Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. 35 The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water.

What does it mean to draw water and pour it before the Lord?

Looking for Bible based answers.

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One Face
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2 Answers2

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According to a note in the Oxford Jewish Study Bible, "the ritual of pouring out water is mentioned nowhere else in the Bible." The further explanation is offered:

In the Second Temple period water was poured out on the festival of Sukkot, possibly as a request for rain. But here it is done as a request for remission of sins, just as are the prayer, fasting, and confession.

Rashi (Shlomo Yitzchaki), a medieval Jewish scholar, noted that the ancient Aramaic translation (Targum Jonathan, c. 1st c. BC) of 1 Samuel 7:6 differed from the Masoretic Text (c. 7th-10th c. AD):

And drew water, and poured: Jonathan renders: and they poured out their hearts in repentance, like water, before the Lord. And according to its simple meaning, it is merely a symbol of humility, i.e., they implied, we are like spilled water.

Other pre-Masoretic Text witnesses - Septuagint (2d/3d c. BC), Latin Vulgate (c. 3rd/4th c. AD), Peshitta (c. 5th c. AD), all point to the same literal text we find in the Masoretic Text:

And they were gathered together to Massephath, and they drew water, and poured it out upon the earth before the Lord. And they fasted on that day, and said, We have sinned before the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Massephath (LXX, Brenton).

And they gathered together to Masphath, and they drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and they fasted on that day, and they said there: We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Masphath (Douay-Rheims)

And they gathered togethre at Mizpeh, and drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpeh (Lamsa translation of the Peshitta).

In view of the above, I think that we can say that the drawing and pouring out of water described here was a unique event in the Old Testament that served as a symbol of humility, signifying, as the ancient Targum witness suggests, that the people poured out their hearts in repentance before the Lord.

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user33515
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In 2 Samuel 23:16 three fighting men burst into the Philistine camp and drew water from the well of Bethlehem.

I think: David realised that the three men had risked their lives to get this water and that obtaining this water was an act of worship to whoever needed it.

King David, though a King, did not want to be seen as an object of worship. David wanted God alone to be worshipped.

So David "would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord".

David had a relationship with the Lord: 2 Samuel 23:17 "he said, "Far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?" Therefore he would not drink it".

C. Stroud
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