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Joh 7:38. Ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμέ, He that believeth on Me) To believe is not parallel to the verb, to thirst, but to the verb, to come; ch. Joh 6:35. To this refer the they that believe of the following verse.-καθὼς εἶπεν ἡ γραφή, as the Scripture hath said) Scripture hath many things as to the promise of the Holy Spirit, under the figure of water: Isa 12:3, “Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation;” Isa 55:13, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters-Incline your ear and come unto Me; hear, and your soul shall live;” Eze 47:1, etc., “Behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward;” Joh 7:9, “Every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live;” Joe 2:23, “Rejoice in the Lord your God; for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain;” which Jesus in this passage expresses in words adapted to the present occasion. But most especially pertinent to this passage is that one of Zec 14:8, ἐξελεύσεται ὕδωρ ζῶν ἐξ Ἱερουσαλήμ, κ.τ.λ., “Living waters shall go out from Jerusalem:” for that very chapter of Zechariah had been read in public, as the Haphtara [portion selected for the Lesson], on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles, which Jesus, when He had come in the middle of the time of the feast, on the last day of it repeats at Jerusalem. He had not been present at the reading on the first day: He had not been taught letters, Joh 7:15, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” therefore His quotation of the Lesson read ought to have had the more effect on His hearers.-κοιλίας, belly) בטן, the inmost recess, most capacious and most fruitful. The allusion is to the large jars in which, on the last day of that feast, water used to be borne from the fountain Siloah through the city to the sanctuary; for they had a large belly-like interior.-αὐτοῦ, His) Messiah’s. This is the fountain out of whose abundant flow believers receive, Joh 7:39.-ὕδατος ζῶντος) ὕδωρ ζῶν, Zech. as quoted above.