p. 99 | Ho, Every One that Thirsteth

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Feb 18, 1886

"Ho, Every One that Thirsteth."

By Charles Seymour Robinson

WHEN I was in Beyrout, ten years ago, it happened that I was walking upon the street with my old friend, the Rev. Dr. Jessup. He called my attention to a strange-looking creature, having a skin bottle of great size slung across his shoulder. "Do you hear what the man is saying?" he asked. I turned to notice him more closely. He was wretchedly clad, and bowed down heavily with his burden; in his left hand he had a pair of what seemed like metal saucers, and these he clinked against each other like two shallow bells; and all the time, as he shuffled along over the stones, he muttered a curious jargon of sounds, apparently repeating the same syllables. I admitted that I heard the noises, but confessed I was painfully short of ideas.

Then the good missionary told me that what he was muttering in Arabic was a street-cry customary to all carriers of water in the Orient; indeed, he was saying exactly what Isaiah repeated at the opening of the fifty-fifth chapter: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!" and then right over again, with ceaseless iteration: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters!" Hence the prophet really repeats a street-cry in order to attract attention, and then turns the figure into a swift contrast, as if he should exclaim: "See yonder! hear that water-bearer. He offers you water at a price; I offer you milk and wine, and that without asking any price to be paid. Why will you waste your money on him, when you can have what is more valuable freely, and close at your hand?" And thus he turns the counsel adroitly to the gospel of faith and godly repentance, and the cup Christ brings for the thirst of the soul.—C. S. Robinson, D. D.