Clay jars may hold treasures

The Dead Sea Scrolls were the most exciting archaeological find of the 20th century. These scrolls survived in sealed clay jars stored in caves in the dry climate of the Dead Sea.

St. Paul said that Christians should preserve and carry the gospel as if they were clay jars holding a treasure (2 Cor. 4:7). A clay pot is not worth much, but the treasure inside may be worth millions.

Abraham sent Eliezer to find a wife for his son Isaac in the far-off family.

At a well outside town, he was at a loss how to find the family and the bride. He prayed for guidance. Rebekkah came with her pitcher to draw water. Eliezer asked for a drink, and she gave water to him and his camels. The pitcher is mentioned nine times. God provided the right contact at the right moment, and Isaac got a wife.

God commanded Moses to fill a jar with manna and keep it in the Most Holy, so that future generations could remember how God fed his people in the wilderness for 40 years.

God used Gideon and 300 men to start victory over 135,000 Midianites (Judges 7). The Gideonites had a ram’s horn in one hand and a clay jar with a torch inside in the other hand. They surrounded the enemy at night, broke the jars, waved the torches, blew the horns, and shouted a war cry. The enemy fled in disarray, and Gideon mustered the whole army to finish the victory.

The prophet Elijah lodged with a widow whose bin of flower and jar of oil delivered enough for each day for three years. The prophet Elisha helped a poor widow to pay her debt by pouring oil from a jar, filling as many pots as she could borrow.

The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah compared God to a potter, and believers to clay, shaped by the potter (Is. 64:8; Jer. 18:6).

A Samaritan woman came with her pitcher to fetch water at Jacob’s Well. Jesus asked her for a drink. She was shocked that a Jewish man asked her for a drink. Jesus engaged her in a conversation that saved her and many in her town.

Jesus wanted the last evening with his disciples undisturbed. To keep the place secret, he sent two disciples to follow a man carrying a pitcher of water. Fetching water was women’s work; so, a man with a pitcher on the shoulder was easy to spot. His house was the place for Christ’s last Passover which became the Last Supper.

With death approaching, Jesus thirsted on the cross. He was given vinegar from a sponge dipped into a jar. His death paid for our sins; his resurrection guaranteed ours.

Jacob Van Zyl of Lethbridge is a retired counsellor and the author of several faith-based books.