“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 2:13 KJV
Two Evils
God speaks through Jeremiah that His people have committed two evils. The first being to forsake or leave Him who is the FOUNTAIN of LIVING WATER, and the second being to dig for themselves cisterns, BROKEN cisterns that can hold no water.
Forsaking the Fountain
Strong's Definitions: מָקוֹרmâqôwr, maw-kore'; or מָקֹר mâqôr; from H6979; properly, something dug, i.e. a (general) source (of water, even when naturally flowing; also of tears, blood (by euphemism, of the female pudenda); figuratively, of happiness, wisdom, progeny):—fountain, issue, spring, well(-spring).
Fountain means something dug…meaning it was already dug out and we do not have to dig again. It also means source of, so if God is the source of this living water we can never run out if we stay with Him. Unlike with the wells of the ancient days, we don’t leave the location with our buckets full and take it back to our homes only to use up the water and have to come back the next day to refill it. We forsake or leave man made wells daily, but its evil to forsake the fountain of living waters. We are to stay at that source.
Digging for Ourselves
Considering the fact that the fountain is already dug, its senseless to dig up another source of water for ourselves…especially one that cant even hold the water that we are searching for. Would we ever naturally put in so much work to make something that doesn’t even achieve the goal we’re creating it to achieve? It reminds me of King Solomon’s famous phrase:
“all is vanity and grasping for the wind”
Ecclesiastes 1:14 NKJV
In vain we produce the sweat of the brow just to get to something that can’t give us a satisfying drink after all that hard work. We toil and toil, sweat, bleed and cry and when we want to refresh ourselves with the fruit of our labor there are no fruit. What is that broken cistern for you? Run away from it and run back to the fountain!
“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
John 7:38 KJV
Believe on the LORD, He is that fountain! & When you believe, that fountain springs out of you!
“Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.””
John 4:13-14 NKJV