John 4:10 to Sirach 24:19-21; vs. Hebrews 1:3
John 4:10 to Sirach 24:19-21; vs. Hebrews 1:3
It is also possible that the reference of Jesus to “living water” was referring to Song of Solomon. Jesus said the following to a Samaritan woman whom He met at a well: … “If you only knew what God’s gift is and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink. He would have given you living water.” (John 4:10 God’s Word). We read the following in the Song of Solomon: You are a garden fountain, a well of living water, as refreshing as the streams from the Lebanon mountains. (Song of Solomon 4:15 NLT). Jesus may have been referring to Song of Solomon in His illustration of living water. Therefore, He would be quoting from the Song of Solomon as Holy Scripture.
Note that this quote is (in English) just two words, “living water,” and these two words alone are sufficient to be “quoting from the Song of Solomon as Holy Scripture.” The same two-word phrase actually appears elsewhere in the Bible, e.g. Jeremiah 2:13: “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water;” Jeremiah 17:13: “O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters;” Zechariah 14:8: “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.” Thus, a reference that could be to other Books is considered acceptable evidence of a Biblical reference to one book, in this case Song of Solomon.
Hebrews 1:3, on the other hand, is a much more striking quotation from the Book of Wisdom. It involves more words, and they are words that appear nowhere else, words that convey a concept difficult to understand but is, nevertheless, made the focus of a Christological hymn, etc.
In addition, Plumptre’s analysis of the entire Epistle to the Hebrews shows two dozen different word/phrase choices that seem to be taken from the Book of Wisdom, all of which meet this two-word standard for referencing, or even “quoting,” Scripture. Those quotes are used by Plumptre to show that “a comparison of the passages thus referred to will shew, I believe, that their weight in the scale of evidence is more than numerical; that they are, for the most part, words either characteristic themselves, or used in a characteristic sense; and that they thus tend to establish such a close affinity of thought and language as may best be explained by the hypothesis of identity of authorship.” Whatever you think of his crazy idea, it is immensely better proof that Wisdom is being alluded to than Song of Solomon.
Stewart’s article also tells us more about Song of Solomon:
Song of Solomon Was Read at the Passover. There is also evidence for the Song of Solomon. It was traditionally read at each Passover. This gives testimony to its importance among the people of Israel. Again, it is evidence of its divine inspiration.
Which is fascinating… and also completely irrelevant, since his topic was “Does the New Testament Quote the Old Testament as Authoritative Scripture?” Regardless, notice the elements involved: read at Passover = testimony to its importance among the people = evidence of its divine inspiration. Hebrews 1:3 is also evidence that references to the Book of Wisdom were being sung as a Christological hymn before the New Testament was even written—when the Old Testament was the only Scripture, when Christians were still going to the synagogues, etc.
In addition, Akiva (also spelled Akiba), a Rabbi of the second century, declared Sirach to be outside of the Jewish canon because it did not, in the idiom, “defile the hands.” Reading it in the synagogue caused one to forfeit any participation in the next life. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbi_Akiva:
… Akiva’s utterance reads, “He who reads aloud in the synagogue from books not belonging to the canon as if they were canonical,” etc. But he was not opposed to a private reading of the Apocrypha, as is evident from the fact that he himself makes frequent use of Sirach.
The existence of a prohibition implies a need to prohibit, i.e., that Jews were reading Sirach aloud in the Synagogue prior to the prohibition, which comes 100 years after Christ. So Sirach, too, would seem to meet the standard for canonicity set by the Song of Solomon.
In fact, let us go back and consider John 4:10’s allusion (allegedly to Song of Solomon) in full context:
10Jesus 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. 11The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? 12Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? 13Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
When 4:10-4:14 is read in context, it seems like a reply to Wisdom’s assertion in Sirach 24:19-21:
19Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits. 20For my memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than the honeycomb. 21They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty.
I.e., Jesus is the completeness of God’s revelation; he fulfills what could not be fulfilled before His Incarnation. That seems a much more direct reference and fulfillment than “You are a garden fountain, a well of living water, as refreshing as the streams from the Lebanon mountains” (Song of Solomon 4:15 NLT).
