Every fall, pilgrims filled Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. A special ceremony, the “Rejoicing of the House of the Water drawing,” saw the high priest descend to the Pool of Siloam to draw a flask of water then carry it up in procession to the Temple.

Once a year, this water was poured out into one of two bowls attached to the altar—the other was for wine. A libation of joy for rain, harvest, and renewal. Yet this water-drawing ceremony was more than just a prayer for rain; it was a ritual with cosmic implications. The waters poured out were returning to the Gihon Spring (the location of enthronement for Israel’s kings) to testify that creation still answered to its Creator.

By Yeshua’s day, the rite had become the most joyful moment of the year: a symbol of divine blessing, the outpouring of both rain and the Spirit. Water represented Torah, the stream of wisdom by which the world is sustained. Ben Sira (from Wisdom literature) said of wisdom, “Those who drink me will thirst no more.” Wisdom, like water, nourishes the soul and flows out as the Spirit of God.

The Day of the Great Salvation

On this last and greatest day, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.” He was claiming to be the true source of living waters. This libation, along with the river that flows out from Ezekiel’s temple, and the Gihon that once watered Eden all converged in Him at this very moment.

Gihon means “to gush forth,” from the same root as gachon or “belly” in Leviticus 11:42, where the vav in gachon marks the center letter of the Torah. The rabbis said this is where wisdom and life flow from.

So, when Yeshua declared, “From within Him shall flow rivers of living water,” He was revealing Himself as the new Gihon, the wellspring of divine wisdom, Spirit, and renewal. The Feast of Tabernacles is celebrating the return of the glory that filled the Temple to now flowing through the One who is Wisdom embodied.

And where do we find perfect wisdom…In our Messiah Yeshua the anointed one!!