List of Passages for the Theme of Water in the Bible
We’re going to start the journey through biblical imagery with water.
Why? Practically, I’ve done some work on water in the Bible already. Also, it is a fascinating image, full of polarities, puzzling inconsistencies, and surprising plot twists as Scripture unfolds.
Water is all over the Bible—from the first page to the last and everywhere in between. The things that happen in the storyline of the image of water point straight to the heart of God and of the gospel many times over. Exploring this image will shed light on many curious moments in the Bible, weaving them into a coherent whole. Why does water come out of Jesus’ side when he dies? Why does Jonah offer himself to be thrown into the sea? Why do the disciples freak out when Jesus calms the storm (other than the obvious)? Why is there a river flowing from the temple doors in Ezekiel? Why is the tree in Psalm 1 planted by streams of water (plural) instead of just one stream? Why is the Tree of Life on both sides of the river in the New Jerusalem? What is with that strange digression in the middle of Genesis 2 where it talks about the river out of Eden that splits into four rivers?
Answers await. Let’s dive in. (Semi-accidental water puns will abound, be warned.)
Water in the Bible has dual meanings. It is blessing and curse, fearful and comforting, provision and judgment. Characters in the Bible suffer for the lack of it (Hagar, Israel in the wilderness) and for its overabundance (the Flood, Jonah). It is under God’s dominion and it is where the beasts come from (Daniel, Revelation) and where the sea monsters live (Genesis 1:20, Job.)
The way the image of water works in the Bible is of course a mirror of the way water works in life. It is deadly and it is necessary for life. We need it daily but both too much and too little of it can kill us.
That dual nature runs straight through the Bible and is rooted in the symbolic cosmology on page 1. Throughout the Bible, characters are finding transformation and salvation in bodies of water precisely because it is both life-giving and something from which they need God to save them. The surprising double aspect of water is captured in the New Testament in the ritual of baptism. Believers are symbolically submerged beneath the flood only to emerge in new life.
Even God incarnate was baptized by John in the River Jordan to “fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3), but when he asked a different John near the end of his life if he was really able to “be baptized with the baptism I am about to undergo” he wasn’t talking about going back to the Jordan, but to the cross. So water is again both death and life, both execution and resurrection—even for God himself.
My plan for the next several weeks is to go slowly through the key passages that involve the image of water, giving short reflections on those passages and building towards a comprehensive understanding of how the image functions. With over 2,000 references to water in the Bible, we are not going to look at them all but here is a sneak peek at some of the passages we will study:
Genesis 1:1-2—The abyss, the Spirit over the waters. This one is partially done.
Genesis 1:6-7—Separating the waters vertically. The “sky-dome” (raquia) is created. (See also Proverbs 8:28)
Genesis 1:9-10—Separating the waters horizontally. Dry ground appears.
Genesis 24, 29, and Exodus 2—The patriarchs meet their wives at wells.
Exodus 2—Moses is saved in an ark on the river. His name means “drawn from the water.”
Exodus 7—The Nile becomes the scene of the battle between God and Pharoah (the river of life becomes the river of death).
Exodus 14-15—The crossing of the Red Sea. (See also Isaiah 51:10)
Exodus 15—The bitter waters made sweet.
Exodus 17—The water from the rock. (See also Numbers 20)
Joshua 3—The crossing of the Jordan.
1 Kings 18:36-46—Elijah prays for rain after a long drought.
2 Kings 5:1-19—Namaan is healed in the River Jordan.
Isaiah 2:2—The nations will flow back to Eden like a river.
Ezekiel 47—The river of life flowing from the temple.
Jonah.
Psalm 1—The river of life appears.
Psalm 46:1-11—God’s people will not fear even if the mountains fall into the sea.
Psalms 18, 88, 107—Water as death and the sea of chaos.
Psalm 104—Creation retold.
Psalm 107—“Some went down to the sea in ships…”
Psalm 89:9-10, 74:13-14, 148:7, Job 41—More on sea monsters.
Matthew 3—Jesus’ Baptism (and similar passages).
Mark 4—Jesus calms the storm.
Mark 11:23—Jesus says the disciples will be able to throw mountains into the sea.
John 2—Jesus turns water into wine (this taps into the purification aspect of water that I’ve mostly left off of this list because there are too many references to it in the Pentateuch).
John 4—Jesus and the woman at the well. (Part 1 & Part 2) (Also, Isaac and Rebekah in Genesis 24, Jacob and Rachel in Genesis 29, and Moses and Zipporah in Exodus 2.)
John 5—The crippled man at the pool of Bethesda.
John 7:37, 38—Living water comes from Jesus
Matthew 7:25-27—Parable of the wise and foolish builders.
Matthew 8:32—The herd of pigs is drowned in the water.
Matthew 14—Peter walks on water.
John 13:5—Jesus washes his disciple’s feet.
Mark 10:37-40—Jesus’ second baptism.
John 19:34—Water from Jesus’ side.
Acts 10:47—Even Gentiles can be baptized.
Acts 27,28—Paul is shipwrecked.
Revelation 21:1—There is no sea in the new creation.
Revelation 22: 1-3—The river of life in the new creation.
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