Water in the Bible provides one of the most fundamental themes of Scripture.
Water is a connector between the start and the end of the Bible. It plays a major role from the first verses of Genesis to the last ones in the Book of Revelation.
So, you should give water in the Bible some extra attention!
But why is water so important theme in the Bible? And how can you be sure you have the correct interpretation?
In this article, we show the meaning of water in the Bible and how it ties into the overall Biblical narrative and key Christian traditions of the last 2000 years.
Contents
Water in the Biblical times
Water has always been and still is a crucial resource, providing economic and health benefits.
In Biblical times, controlling a water source brought significant advantages. This necessity drove ancient societies to create sophisticated water systems to transport and store water.
During wartime, especially during sieges, having a steady water supply was essential for survival. Many cities built protected tunnels and canals to ensure they had access to water. A notable example of such infrastructure is Hezekiah’s Tunnel in Jerusalem (2 Kings 20:20), which securely brought water into the city.
Water was a life-giver but also a corruptive element that could wreak havoc on a massive scale. To ancient Jewish people, water represented life but also unpredictability, chaos, danger, and death. The possible danger water could bring was kept at bay by relying on God.
Water divided land areas and nations and separated cultures from each other. A sea, a big lake, or a river would divide people into groups, leading to differences in customs and disputes. We see this in the Bible, for example, when the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and a half-tribe of Manasseh stayed on the east side of the Jordan River (Numbers 32), which later almost led to a war between the Israelites (Joshua 22:11-12).
Water divided people and cultures, and crossing a body of water was a transition from one way of living to another. The difference between the two cultures could be so drastic that adapting to the new way of living would require a total transformation, almost like you would have to die to the old self and be born again as a new creation.
As we study what water meant to ancient people and still means in modern times, we see that the symbolic meanings of water are embedded in the element itself. Water was and still is literally and symbolically life, death, and means of transition between these two states.
The earth was founded on water
The earth was founded on water (Psalm 24:2).
On Day 2 of the creation week, God separated the waters above and the waters below by creating a firmament between the waters (Genesis 1).
On day 3, God gathered the waters under the sky in one place so that dry land would appear (Genesis 1).
God set the earth, the place where people lived, between two waters, the heavenly waters above and the worldly waters below. Water functioned as a means of deliverance and punishment, sometimes both simultaneously. The waters above would give the blessing, and the waters below the punishment.
Read more: Why God flooded the world?
God planted the Garden of Eden after He created Adam as an example for Adam to follow with the rest of creation. God put Adam in the Garden and set a stream from above to water the Garden (Genesis 2:10). The stream divided in the Garden into four rivers that would water four different places on the earth.
From the first seven days of creation, we can highlight two things that emphasize how important the theme of water is in the Bible.
- When God created the heaven and the earth, the earth was only water. The dry land appeared later when “the waters under the sky gathered together.”
- Since the Garden of Eden was where God would meet man, it was arguably the most important place on earth for Adam and Eve. A stream from above watered and gave life to that place.
We see the earth was only deep, dark water before God started forming it. Once God formed the earth, it was full of life and meaning, and the life-giving water was a nicely flowing stream from above instead of a dark, mysterious, deep sea.
With the first two sections, we have set the stage for further study of the meaning of water in the Bible, which we will now look at in detail.
What does water represent in the Bible?
Symbolism doesn’t happen on its own. It has to be a part of a context. Thus, the same thing has many meanings depending on the context.
This is true also of water, which can represent
- The Holy Spirit
- Purification, washing
- Blessing
- God’s presence
- Life
- Chaos, danger, unpredictability
- Judgment
- Death
All the above can be divided into either life or death or transitioning to one or the other.
The presence of the Holy Spirit is life. God’s blessings are life. Washing of your sins is the transition towards life.
Chaos is death. The judgment that comes eventually when living in chaos long enough transitions one concretely to the realm of death.
The imagery is familiar to us from Genesis 1, in which the waters of God’s presence are separated from the waters of chaos and death.
On the one hand, the waters above bring the rain, the dew, the well-watered spring, the freshwater. They wash you clean of your sins and put you in Christ so that you become a fountain of living water whose “speech will condense as the dew, as the misty rain on the tender grass (Deuteronomy 32:2).”
On the other hand, the waters below are a place of instability, chaos, unpalatable bitter waters, and dark floodwaters that bring judgment and, with the judgment, death.
Water represents The Holy Spirit
In John 4:14 and 7:37-39, John, using Jesus’ words, tells us that water represents the Holy Spirit He gives to those who believe in Him. Wherever the Holy Spirit is, there God is present.
John 4:14
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
John 7:37-39
Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.
Thus, water becomes a symbol of God’s presence. Once a believer proclaims God’s name, he becomes a fountain of God’s presence, the living waters, as we see in Deuteronomy 32:1-3 below.
Deuteronomy 32:1-3
Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak.
Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
My doctrine will drop as the rain.
My speech will condense as the dew,
as the misty rain on the tender grass,
as the showers on the herb.
For I will proclaim Yahweh’s name.
Ascribe greatness to our God!
The idea of the waters above being God’s presence encompasses the whole Bible. The water of life is present for God’s people in blessings, but especially in the worship settings, as we see later. Once they drink from the water of life, they become fountains of the same water, offering it to the world.
The symbolism for this is seen when Israel came to Elim in Exodus 15 after being “baptized in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10:2) in Exodus 14. They encamped there by 12 springs of water, representing the 12 tribes of Israel, and 70 palm trees, representing the 70 nations of the world from Genesis 10, watered by the springs.
Water represents washing
Water baptism, linked to the washing of new believers, is foreshadowed in different ways in the Old Testament.
The water laver in front of the Tabernacle was used to wash the Levitical priests before their ministry in the Holy Place (Exodus 30, 40). This foreshadows water baptism in the New Covenant, where believers, a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), are washed in baptism for their ministry.
In 1 Peter 3:20-21, we learn that Noah’s flood symbolizes baptism, where Noah’s family and the whole creation are washed into a new life. So, the emerging in or crossing over a body of water symbolizes baptism in the Old Testament.
It’s not only a crossing over waters that represents baptism but also a sprinkling of water, as we see in Ezekiel 36:24-27. The waters above will cleanse you clean.
And so, washing with water represents a change, a transition, from death to life. We encounter the image repeated many times in the Old Testament, as seen in the next section.
Crossing of water in the Bible
In the famous parting of the Red Sea, God delivered Israel safely across the water, destroyed Pharaoh’s army that was closing in on the Israelites, and guided Israel to meet God at Mt Sinai.
The same waters that cleansed and gave birth to the nation of Israel drowned the evil Pharaoh and his army. The same simultaneous cleansing and judgment are seen in Noah’s Flood. In the same way, the Holy Spirit will give birth to God’s people and “convict the unbelievers of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).”
The pattern of crossing a body of water often repeats in the Bible.
- God delivered Noah across the Flood, and the Ark rested on a mountain (Genesis 8).
- Jacob crossed a river and encamped on a mountain (Genesis 31:21).
- God delivered Israel safely across the Red Sea (Exodus 14)
- Joshua led Israelites across the Jordan River to the Promised Land (Joshua 5).
- God delivered Jonah across the waters in a fish belly (Jonah).
As a body of water physically divides nations and cultures, the water crossing in the Old Testament’s exodus narratives separated God’s people from the old life, ushering them into a new reality.
Crossing a body of water is a symbol of baptism, which is why we see the Israelites and Jesus being baptized in the Jordan River (Matt 3:16-17) and Christians being baptized in the New Covenant (Matt 28:19).
Water in the Bible as chaos
In the beginning, God divided the waters above and the waters below. The waters above became the heavenly waters that reside on God’s throne, and the waters below, away from the presence of God, became the unpredictable world seas.
For the ancient Jewish people, large bodies of water represented danger and instability (Genesis 49:4), a place where you couldn’t live permanently, and a place of sea monsters.
Seas in the Bible symbolize unruly Gentile nations (Isaiah 17:12-13, Psalm 144:7), while Israel is a people of the (Promised) land. In the Old Testament, leaders of God’s people were farmers and herdsmen guiding Israel to the age of the Messiah. In the New Testament, they are mostly fishermen because of the shift from herding Israelites to fishing men from the Gentile seas.
When the seas rage enough, they create spiritual sea monsters, beasts. In Daniel 7, four beasts arise from the sea. The four beasts symbolize Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. All are Gentile empires. Revelation 17:15 also shows that the sea or waters represent foreign nations.
Revelation 17:15
He said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.”
On another note, the seas are a symbol of our passions that lead us and our nations to chaos, followed by God’s judgment and, ultimately, death.
God rules over the raging seas, as is famously depicted when Jesus walked on stormy waters. Peter could replicate this for a while but sank into the water when his faith weakened. Once Jesus took Peter back to the boat, the storm calmed, inspiring the disciples to see Jesus as the Son of God.
Water in the Bible’s worship settings
Let’s see next how water plays a significant role in every worship setting in the Bible.
Notice how in Eden, the water flowed freely from above, then after the Flood became scarce, only found in underground wells.
Once God came to dwell in the Tabernacle, we see that the water associated with worship moved from underground to above it and in the front of the Tabernacle. The water source becomes progressively larger until, in the end, the heavenly waters will be the only ones that are running in the City of God.
A stream came down from above from Eden to the Garden of Eden, divided into four rivers watering four different places representing the world (Genesis 2).
The flood waters purified the earth in Noah’s Flood. Noah’s ark rested on a mountain. He built an altar and offered a sacrifice (Genesis 8).
The patriarchs dug wells, planted trees in the wilderness, and called on the name of the Lord in these garden-oasis settings (Gen 12, 13, 22, 26, 33).
There was a water laver in front of the Tabernacle and a larger bronze sea in front of the Temple for priests to wash their hands and feet before entering the Holy Place.
Interestingly, there are no mentions of water lavers in the second temple. It also seems God’s glory didn’t dwell in the second temple as in the Tabernacle (Exodus 40) and in the first temple (2 Chronicles 7).
A river came from under the Temple threshold in Ezekiel’s visionary temple. The stream got deeper the further away from the Temple it was measured. (Ezekiel 47)
In the New Covenant, Christians are baptized with water, becoming fountains of the living water. Believers and Jesus, as the cornerstone, build up the church. (The pattern of Jesus as the bridegroom and church as the bride, meeting at a well is repeated several times in the Bible.)
In the New Jerusalem, a river of water of life flowing from the throne of God runs through the city. The river waters the Tree of Life, which grows on both sides of the river, rendering crossing over the river unnecessary.
Water in baptism
The Bible refers to Christian baptism as uniting and identifying ourselves with Christ’s death and resurrection (Romans 6:3-11). As we have seen in this article, water baptism is a participation in an old tradition of passing through the waters of death to a new life.
In different Christian traditions of water baptism, there are the two waters, the waters below and the waters above, present.
Some Christians are baptized by immersion into the water and coming back up, representing death in the chaotic waters and resurrection to a new life.
Some Christians are sprinkled or poured with water representing the waters above, the Holy Spirit, descending on the believer.