Saturday, November 08, 2008

Healing of the Water

2 Kings 2:19-22 (NIV)

Healing of the Water

19 The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive."
20 "Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put salt in it." So they brought it to him.
21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what the LORD says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.' " 22 And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

Came across this passage when i was spending time with God the other day : )

To me, water signifies something that is very crucial for human being. Physically, 70% of human body is consisted of water. Spiritually, the water is one of the symbols of the Holy Spirit.

i get the following detailed explanation of the spiritual meaning of water from:

http://www.conservapedia.com/Symbols_of_the_Holy_Spirit

"The symbolism of water signifies the Holy Spirit's action in Baptism, since after the invocation of the Holy Spirit it becomes the efficacious sacramental sign of new birth: just as the gestation of our first birth took place in water, so the water of Baptism truly signifies that our birth into the divine life is given to us in the Holy Spirit. As "by one Spirit we were all baptized," so we are also "made to drink of one Spirit." Thus the Spirit is also personally the living water welling up from Christ crucified as its source and welling up in us to eternal life."

Therefore, from 2 Kings 2: 19b, the water is bad and the land is unproductive.

The hidden meaning to me is that there will be no life when the water is bad. How could one survive physically when there are no clean water for drinking? How will the believer be without Holy Spirit coming to us after the glorified of Jesus?

As for "the land is unproductive", land consisted of soil etc. And we know that the organics compound of soil on the earth is actually the same with the constitution of human skin or body. Scientific research has proven that. In the Bible, it also mentioned that God created man from the dust of the ground (soil in our term).

Genesis 2:7 (NIV)

7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

The unproductive land meaning a body that is not bearing spiritual fruit. Well, what is God's orchard (the fruit of the Spirit) then?

Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Apostle Paul wrote that when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, He will produce this kind of fruit in us.

"When a believer displays the fruit of the Spirit, it will affect others' lives supernaturally. There's one stipulation: the fruit must come from the right source. We can try to muster up all the self-control of a Weight Watchers model, the joy of a Walt Disney World employee or the patience of a librarian. But those virtues usually only last for a while." by Jennifer Abegg

In 2 Kings 2:20, it mentioned about the salt. And i was wondering what's the spiritual meaning of salt. It reminded me of a passage in Matthew 5. Also came to this passage last night when i did the devotion. As Pastor Prince always mentioned, the best way to explain the meaing of a bible verse is to let the Bible explains Itself.

Matthew 5:13-16 (NIV)

Salt and Light

13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

In the physical realm, what do we usually use the salt for? I think one of the most common usage of it is cooking. When we cook, we like to add some salt into it. Have you ever wondered why you did that? To make the dish tastes a bit better??

In the spiritual realm, what does it means? I used to have this question each time when i came across this part of the Bible. I get this detailed explanation from the following website on wikipedia.


The exact meaning of the expression salt of the earth is disputed, in part because salt had a wide number of uses in the ancient world. There are several different possibilities for the originally intended meaning of the salt metaphor:

1) Exodus, Ezekiel, and Kings present salt as a purifying agent.
2) Leviticus, Numbers, and Chronicles present it as a sign of God's covenant.
3)The most important use of salt was as a preservative and hence the most common interpretation of the metaphor is as asserting the duty to preserve the purity of the world.
4) In the Rabbinic literature of the period salt was a metaphor for wisdom.
5) Salt was a minor but essential ingredient in fertilizer and so a few scholars such as Gundry believe that earth should be translated as soil (i.e. salt of the soil), and hence the metaphor asserts that the audience should help the world grow and prosper.
6) One interpretation of salt of the earth is that it orders the audience to take part in the world rather than withdraw from it.
7) Among the ancient Hebrews salt...was used as a preservative, in seasoning food, and in all animal sacrifices. Lev. 2:13; Ezek. 43:24; Mark 9:49-50. So essential was it to the sacrificial ordinance that it was the symbol of the covenant made between God and His people in connection with that sacred performance. Lev. 2:13; Num. 18:19; 2 Chron. 13:5.

Another word that I would like to mention is the word "bowl" which appeared both in 2 Kings 2:20a and Matthew 5:15a. In the 2 Kings, the term "new bowl" is used. At first, i didn't pay much attention to the hidden meaning of it. It was not until i saw the same word in Matthew 5:15 - "Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house."

From here, we can see that a bowl has the function to cover the light of a lamp when something is being put under it. Bring this same meaning back to Old Testament in 2 Kings 2: 20 - "Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put salt in it." So they brought it to him.

However, when we put something in the bowl and not under it, it carries much different! Now the bowl is able to show the salt in it. In other word, it is no longer something that is hidden but something that is meant to be proclaimed to the people out there. But why must a new bowl and not an used or old one? A new bowl is usually clean. I think it signifies the meaning of a new life. Only a new life (after the spiritual rebirth) is able to carry the salt in it. God wants to use a clean vessel (washed by the blood of Christ Jesus) to carry the gospel.
In 2 Kings 2:21-22,
21 Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what the LORD says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.' " 22 And the water has remained wholesome to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.

It seems to me that the water (living water) signifies life here when we have Holy Spirit in us. And a person who has Holy Spirit in him/her also means that his/her life has been healed by Jesus. Meaning that the healing/answer is already provided for a broken life (all who are living in this fallen world). It is up to us to believe on the promises in the Bible and claim it to our circumstances as guides by the Holy Spirit. The death that mentioned in verse 21b also means that there would be no more spiritual death for believers in Christ. Just as how Christ Jesus conquered the physical death on the Cross.

In verse 22, it mentioned that the water remained wholesome. I believe it means that those who are in Christ has the ability to be made whole (meaning get healed spiritually, emotionally & physically - the tripartite of us) by Jesus Himself (the Greatest Physician).

Isn't that a good news? Would you like to have this new life from God too?


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