Regarding John 7:38, my translation has always rendered it "As the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from His belly." The HIS speaking of Jesus Christ, the living water. Almost all other translations make it sound like this verse is talking about the believer, and in fact, the NRSV says the word 'believer,' even though that is not at all in the Greek.
This turns out to be important, since the only "as scripture has said" with reference to a fountain of living water, seems to be Jeremiah 17:13, which says that Yahweh is the fountain of living waters.
This is exciting now, as I learned from Messianic Rabbi Zev Porat, though I am surprised I never saw it myself, the following progression:
One day after Jesus declared himself the fountain of living waters, the Pharisees come to him with the woman caught in adultery. They ask him a question about the law, but Jesus keeps writing in the dirt. What was Jesus writing in the dirt?
Rabbi Porat says, he was writing their names in the dirt in fulfillment of Jeremiah 17:13:
"O Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all that forsake you shall be put to shame. They that turn away from me SHALL BE WRITTEN IN THE DIRT, because because they have forsaken Yahweh, the FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATERS.
For a more full treatment of this, see David Robert Palmer's blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment