procession back up the steps and into the temple courtyard where thousands of people would be gathered to worship God. As the priests entered the courtyard, the people would break forth in singing the Hallel Psalms - the songs that begin and end with Hallelujah ("praise God"). As the people sang and worshiped God, the priests poured out the water on the pavement. As the water splashed on the big stones, everyone was reminded how God brought water out of the rock when their fathers were dying of thirst in the wilderness. They remembered how Moses took the rod and struck the rock according to the commandment of God, and how life-giving water came gushing out the rock. All this spectacle was to remind the Israelites of God's divine preservation of their fathers during their 40-year wilderness wandering. It was all very symbolic and very moving. Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, the priests did not make a procession to the pool of Siloam nor did they pour out water on the pavement. This too was significant, for it acknowledged that God had kept His promise to their fathers. He preserved them in the wilderness and brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey - a well-watered land where they no longer needed water to gush miraculously out of rocks. The activities of the eighth day proclaimed that God had fulfilled His promises in bringing the Israelites to their land.
procession back up the steps and into the temple courtyard where thousands of people would be gathered to worship God. As the priests entered the courtyard, the people would break forth in singing the Hallel Psalms - the songs that begin and end with Hallelujah ("praise God"). As the people sang and worshiped God, the priests poured out the water on the pavement. As the water splashed on the big stones, everyone was reminded how God brought water out of the rock when their fathers were dying of thirst in the wilderness. They remembered how Moses took the rod and struck the rock according to the commandment of God, and how life-giving water came gushing out the rock. All this spectacle was to remind the Israelites of God's divine preservation of their fathers during their 40-year wilderness wandering. It was all very symbolic and very moving. Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, the priests did not make a procession to the pool of Siloam nor did they pour out water on the pavement. This too was significant, for it acknowledged that God had kept His promise to their fathers. He preserved them in the wilderness and brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey - a well-watered land where they no longer needed water to gush miraculously out of rocks. The activities of the eighth day proclaimed that God had fulfilled His promises in bringing the Israelites to their land.