John 4:7, 9-10:  "There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.  Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, 'How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans'.   Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." 
 
In the ancient world, nothing was more precious for sustaining life than water.   Man, animals, and crops all depended on it.    A ready supply of good fresh water was a guarantee of a life and for prosperity.  Little water or bad water brought about poverty and death.   

In many areas of the ancient world, water, especially drinking water, could be  hard to come by, causing the inhabitants to go to great efforts to obtain it, to  store it, to preserve it,  and to keep it clean.  Fresh lakes,  streams, or fountains might be located  at  great distances.   Some seasons produced little or no rain.  And the  reservoirs or cisterns used to collect both rainwater and  transported water were prone to contamination and decay.    In hot climate areas, it was common for these water storage receptacles  to dry out, break down, crack and lose the precious water.

From Mary Fawley Maude:  "In India, the Hindoos go sometimes a great way to fetch water and then boil it that it may not be hurtful to travelers that are hot: and after this stand from morning till night in some great road where there is neither pit nor rivulet  and offer it in honour of their gods to be drunk by the passengers....hence a cup of water is a present  in the east of great value."  (Excerpt from the "Asiatic Miscellany -1818, quotation by Dr. Adam Clark.)  ("Scripture Manners and Customs", 10th edition,  p. 166-167.  Published 1862, London.)

From John Lewis Burckhardt:  "Here and in every other part of Nubia, the thirsty traveler finds at short distances, water jars placed by the roadside under a low roof.  Every villager pays a small monthly stipend to some person to fill these jars in the morning and towards evening.  The same custom prevails in Upper Egypt, but on a larger scale."  ("Travels in Nubia", p.54.  Published 1819, London.)

Jerusalem, the Holy City of Living Water
 
From Jean de Thevenot:  "I shall here make a little digression from my travel and observe what is to be seen (in) those quarters.  The first night you leave Acre, you lodge at Sour (Tyre), about halfway there is a tower near the sea where a casfare (toll) must be paid.  About an hour and a half before you come to Sour , a few steps from the seaside, you find a well of an octagon figure, about fifteen foot in diameter, which is full of water, that one may reach it with the hand, and (as they say), they have often attempted to sound the depth of it with several camel-loads of rope  but could never find the bottom.  It is taken to be the well of living waters mentioned in Canticles (Song of Solomon).  "("The Travels of Monsieur de Thevenot into the Levant p.220.  Published 1686, London.  Translated from French.)
 
From Richard Pococke:  "We came to the fountains which supplied the aqueducts of Tyre, they are called, as they informed me, Talious.  (There)  we found the great sheik of  these parts with a considerable company of attendants who had stopped there, but soon went away; it being usual for them to halt whenever they meet with a spring.  These fountains are a league and half southeast of Tyre  and are called the Fountains of Solomon  (so they are said (to be), tho' I know not on what foundation to have been made by him at the time when he cultivated an alliance with Hiram, King of Tyre to facilitate the building of the temple of Jerusalem.)   (The fountains) are supposed to be the well mentioned by him in the Canticles (Son of Solomon) "as a fountain of gardens, a well of living water, and streams of Lebanon".   ("A Description of the East and Some Other Countries",  Vol 2, Part 1,  p.82.  Published 1845, London.)​

From Edwin Sherman Wallace:  "Another of Solomon's great works was the procuring of an abundance of water for city and temple use.  It has been a continual wonder how Jerusalem was supplied with this most necessary commodity.  The "Virgin's Fountain " is the only living spring near, and unless its flow was considerably more copious than at present it would not suffice for the needs of very many of the residents of the city.   It is a matter of history, however, that Jerusalem never suffered from lack of water even during periods of drought or long protracted sieges."  (" Jerusalem the Holy", p.42.    Published 1898, New York.

 
Jacob's Well and Living Water
 
From Rev. Joseph Anderson:   "A traveler intending to pass from Jerusalem or any other city of Judah or Benjamin into Galilee; anyone looking on the map...will see that he must needs pass through Samaria . Journeying northwards from Jerusalem for thirty -five miles, he comes to a city of Samaria , which was at one time called Sychar, now Nablous (Nablus).   At the entrance of the valley which leads into the town, a little way off the road on the right is a well, called from time immemorial “ Jacob's Well."  ("Bible Light from Bible Lands",  p. 134-135.  Published 1856, New York.)
 
From Rev. Edward Robinson:  "June 14 - We inquired of the Samaritans respecting Jacob's well. They said they acknowledged the tradition and regarded it as having belonged to the patriarch. It lies at the mouth of the valley, near the south side ; and is the same which the Christians sometimes call Bir es - Sâmiriyeh , Well of the Samaritan woman ."  ("Biblical  Researches in Palestine and the Adjacent Region from 1838-1852", Vol 2, p.280, 283.  Published 1856, London.)
 
From Thomas Hartwell Horne:  "Jacob's Well is situated at a small distance from the town of Sychar an on the road to Jerusalem.  The rugged limestone mountain on the right is Gerizim, on which are scattered a few shrubs.  On its summit are considerable fragments of buildings, probably the foundations and remains of the ancient Samaritan temple built by Sanballat...Near the bottom of the mountain is distinctly seen the path which leads from Jerusalem to Shechem, or Naplous...The foreground is flat except just about the well…a dark-looking hole, around which some wild Arabs have collected, (and) who let their assistance ...in removing the large stone which closes the mouth of the well and protects it from dust.  The traveler is obliged to clamber down this hole in order to reach the water."   ("Landscape Illustrations of the Bible", Vol. 2,  Section:  Jacob's Well Near Naplous.  Published 1836, London.")
 
From Henry Maundrell:  "At about one third of an hour from Naplosa (Naplous or Nablus), we came to Jacob's Well; famous not only account of its author, but much more that memorable conference which our blessed Saviour here had with the woman of Samaria (John 4).   Over the well there stood formerly a large church, erected by that great and devout patroness of the Holy Land, the Empress Helena; but of this voracity of time, assisted by the hands of the Turks has left nothing but a few foundations remaining.  The well is covered at present with an old stone vault, into which you are let down through a very strait hole; and then removing a  broad flat stone, you discover the mouth of the well itself.  It is dug in a firm rock, and contains about three yards in diameter, and thirty-five depth; five of which we found full of water.  This confutes the story commonly told to travelers, who do not take the pains to examine the well, namely that is dry all year round except on the anniversary of that day on which our blessed Saviour sat upon it, and then it bubbles up with abundance of waters." ("A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter A.D. 1697", p.61-62.  Published 1703, Oxford.

Living Water is mentioned 5 times in the Bible.  Jer.2:13, John 4:10, and John 7:38.
Also Rev. 7:17  and John 4:11.  In the first 3 verses, Living Water is a symbolic name for God/Christ - the Giver of All Life. The Rev.  7:17 is the same symbolic term presented in a broader sense but still meaning the same thing.  In John 4:11, the Samaritan women is simply repeating Christ's words without knowledge of what she is saying. 

The most prominent passage concerning living water is found in John 4 and contains much symbolism.  The conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman takes place at Jacob's well, revered for giving forth some of the finest, sweetest, purest, living water available in the Holy Land.
​
In the introductory text, Jesus goes to the source of this superior life-giving water to make-known His even "greater living water".  By using this meaningful and compelling setting,  He gives an easy-to-understand yet irrefutable object lesson on how valuable HIs living water --His  Gift of Life-- truly is. 

​

Exodus 9:8:  "And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, Take to yourselves handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh."
 
Sprinkling is an ancient custom that goes back to very early times.  Performed in different ways for a variety of  reasons, sometimes the outcome was friendly, and sometimes it was  frightening.  

According to historical accounts,  many early cultures practiced a ritual of sprinkling: or the act of tossing and throwing a variety of substances into the air —or at themselves, or at each other, or at their houses, alters, shrines and temples. 

The most common substances sprinkled were blood, water (scented or unscented) , oil, ashes, dust, and perfumes; all of which were defused by using the fingers, shaking a container designed specifically for releasing liquids, or by dipping a hyssop branch into the substance and  shaking it.  The hyssop plant of scripture was believed to have grown branches 3' to  4' tall and often served as a  useful tool, such as a paintbrush or extension pole.
 
In the Bible, most instances of sprinkling are recorded with enough information to make the event understandable.  Yet, there are three instances where Bible  researchers believe that the act of sprinkling is taking place but there is not enough details given or additional historical information is needed in order to define it as such. 
 

Salting a Newborn
 
Ezekiel 16:4:   And as for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you. And you were not salted, nor swaddled at all.
 
In ancient times, a new baby was sprinkled with either salt or salt water, rubbed, and then washed until all the birth fluids were removed.
 
From Rev. Samuel Burder:  On translating Galen of Pergamon (130 AD -210 AD) from the Latin, "Sale modico insperso, cutis infantis densior, solidiorque redditur;" a little salt being sprinkled upon the infant, its skin is rendered more dense and solid."  ("Oriental Literature Applied to the Illustration of Sacred Scriptures", Vol. 2, p. 183.  Published, London 1822.)
 
From Mary Holderness:  "A Tatar child is swathed from head to foot with no other clothes than a few rags for the first two or three months, and, more than all, the scorbutic humours which almost invariably cover it from a very short time after its birth, make it, of all the infants I ever saw, the most disgusting and uninteresting.  (However) The Greeks in the Crimea preserve the custom of sprinkling a new-born infant with salt." ("Notes Relating to the Customs and Manners of the Crim Tartars", p.20. Published, London 1821.)


Gilding the Hair
 
2 Samuel 14:26:   And he (Absalom) sheared it, and he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, according to the king's weight.
 
From Josephus:  (Describing of the young horsemen who accompanied King Solomon's regal processions.) " The riders (of the royal adorned horses) also were a further ornament to them (the horses), being, in the first place, young men in the most delightful flower of their age, and being eminent for their largeness, and far taller than other men. They had also very long heads of hair hanging down and were clothed in garments of Tyrian purple. They had also dust of gold every day sprinkled on their hair, so that their heads sparkled with the reflection of the sun-beams from the gold."  ("Antiquities of the Jews', Ch. 7, par. 3.  Written, 93 AD;  First Published, 1544.)
 
From Dr. John Kitto:  "We shall find in it also in Solomon's Song, and confirmed by Josephus, who observes that the picked men who formed the guard of that magnificent monarch wore their hair in long flowing tresses, which they sprinkled every morning with gold dust (having first anointed it, of course), so that their heads glittered in the sunbeams, as reflected from the gold. If this were the custom a little earlier (in time), the weight of the unguents with which it (the hair) was saturated, and of the gold dust it contained, may somewhat lessen our surprise at the weight of Absalom's hair, though it must still have been extraordinary.  ("The Pictorial Bible being  the Old and New Testaments ",  Vol. 2, p. 219.  Published, London, 1866.)
 
From John Wesley:  "Weighed: Others understand this not of the weight, but of the price of his hair."  ("Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament ", 2 Samuel 14;26.  Written 1765, Edinburgh.)

​
 Kid Boiled in its Mother's Milk  
 
Deuteronomy 14:21:  For you are a holy people to Jehovah your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.
 
For centuries, this mandate to Israel has caused much debate among Bible scholars as to its meaning.  Some believe it to be an idiomatic phrase of the day, understood then but indecipherable now.  Others believe that it somehow relates to the Mosaic dietary laws.  Others think it may be an early humane law directed specifically towards the respect of animals in general.  A more plausible correlation can be drawn from an early common pagan practice.
 
From Dr. Ralph Cudworth (1617-1688):  (From a Karaite Jew comment on the Pentateuch,) "Thinking, that by this means, they were made acceptable to their gods and did procure a blessing by it...it was a custom of the ancient heathens, when they had gathered in all their fruits, to take a kid and boil it in the dam's milk; and then, in a magical way, to go about and besprinkle with it all their trees and fields and gardens and orchards;  thinking by this means they should make them fructify and bring forth the following year. ("The Works of Ralph Cudworth D.D. Containing 'The True Intellectual System of the Universe', Sermons, & etc." by Thomas Birch, M.A.F.R.S.,  Vol. 4, p. 241-242.  Published, Oxford D. A. Talboys  1829.)

​​While sprinkling in the Bible most often occurs in conjunction with a religious ceremony or worship ritual, it could also be performed for reasons of hospitality, grief, anger, medicine, hygiene, grooming, scenting, and magic.

​Scenting
From Proverbs 7:17:  "I have sprinkled my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon."
 

Hospitality
From Rev. Thomas Harmer:  "The tulip which resembles a cup.  Not however a cup for drinking, that appears not to have been his thought, but a vase designed to give out its contained fluids in drops, which kind of vessels are often used in the East, for the sprinkling those they would honor. ("Observations on Various Passages of Scriptures", Vol. 3, p.129. Compiled by Adam Clarke L.L.D. Published, Charlestown, 1817.)

From John Pinkerton:   "I saw… the Lord of the (Cairo) palace, who, beckoning to me to come..(and) making me sit down, (I was) attended (by) ten or twelve handsome young pages, all clad in scarlet, with crooked daggers and scimitars richly gilt.  Four of them came with a sheet of taffety (taffeta)  and covered me ; another held a golden incense with rich perfume, wherewith…(I was) a little smoked.  Next came two with sweet water, and besprinkled me ; after that, one brought a porcelain dish of coffee, which, when I had drank, another served up a draught of excellent sherbet."  ("A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels in all Parts of the World", Vol. 10, p.238.  Chapter: "A Voyage into the Levant by Henry Blount in 1634".  Published, London 1811.)


Magic
From Joseph Roberts:   "When the magicians pronounce an imprecation on an individual, a village, or a country, they take ashes of cows' dung (or from a common fire), and throw them in the air, saying to the objects of their displeasure, such a sickness, or such a curse, shall surely come upon you."  ("Oriental Illustrations of the Sacred Scriptures Collected from the Manners, Customs, Rites etc., of the Hindoos ", p. 65.  Published, London 1835.)
 
​
Grief
From Rev. James Freeman:  "Throwing dust at a person is an Oriental mode of expressing anger and contempt...There may, however, be some connection between this custom and the practice of persons in trouble putting dust on their own heads in token of grief.  Throwing dust at others may be a symbolic mode of wishing them such trouble and grief that they may feel like covering themselves with dust, as an expression of their sorrow."  ("Handbook of Bible Manners and Customs",  P. 146.  Published, New York 1902.  [First Published 1874])

​In the introductory text, God (through Moses and Aaron) is insulting Pharaoh in the worst way possible.  Sprinkling ashes towards heaven not only served as a public humiliation to the ruler of Egypt,  but also announced to him the extent of God's wrath and the grief he would come to for not obeying Gods will.