Weekly Sidra: Matot-Masei
Torah Portion: Bamidbar/ Numbers 30:2-36:13
Haftorah: Yermiyahu / Jeremiah: 2:4-28; 4:1-4:2

“For My people have done a twofold wrong: They have forsaken Me, the Fount of living waters, And hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, Which cannot even hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)

The human body is made up of over 70 per cent of water.  We can go without food for a long time, but we could not survive too long without water.

In our modern society we have no shortage of water.  We can get it from the tap, the hose or the store.  We also have a wide range of water from spring, bottled, flavoured and electrolyte waters.

However, just as our physical body needs water we also need spiritual water to survive.  Jeremiah was lamenting the fact that not only have we forsaken Hashem, but we have created our own broken vessels which cannot hold water.

There is a saying that all roads lead to Rome meaning that there are many paths to spiritual enlightenment.  However, that is not the case.  We know that there is only one Rolex watch or Rolls Royce car, Versace or I Phone.  So why would anyone settle for a cheap knockoff?

What our hearts crave is at root a yearning for a relationship with the God who created us, the God who gives purpose and meaning to life, the God who himself longs to be part of our lives, especially at those times when human love deserts and human kindness fails.

Yeshua knew physical thirst, and he saw around him the debilitating effects of spiritual dryness. He borrowed and personalized Jeremiah’s water metaphor this way, in an impromptu conversation with a woman he found taking water from a well:

Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life. — Yochanan / John 4:13, 14, NLT

But just like the hotly competitive beverage market, we see today a thriving spiritual marketplace full of alternative gods and competing revelations, all claiming to satisfy our parched spirits.

Anyone who has ever hiked in the mountains knows there are many fissures in the rock and many springs bubbling from the deep. Some flow for only a short distance before disappearing back underground, others become steady and dependable streams supporting both ancient oaks and thirsty wildlife.

In Yeshua alone is found that limitless spring of purest, living water that will satisfy our deepest thirst.  He is the Messiah who springs forth with HaShem’s living waters.