Joshua 9:27 - "But Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to continue to this day, in the place which he should choose."

Today a boy considers it a great honor to be the "water boy" for his favorite team. He will extend great effort in making sure that he is on the playing field with his bucket whenever he is needed. But, for the ancients, this job carried no honor at all. In fact, because of the hard work involved, this job was frequently given as punishment.

Water was - and still is - a scarcity in the Orient and Eastern countries. We spoke earlier of the gardeners who had to carry water to make their flowers and vegetables grow. And this was a luxury, too. Water being piped into homes, as we so blithely take it for granted, was virtually unknown. Oh, it was clone; they knew the mechanics of it; but it was only for the most wealthy to be able to have this kind of luxury.

We are conditioned through movies to the sumptuous baths in Jerusalem and Caesarea and Tiberius, and they did exist. But they were for the very, very few and at a cost deprivation to the masses, who had to carry the very little water that they had.

We have many references to the village wells, which became the equivalent of the village store in our own earlier history. We know that water was carried from the well to the home at specified times. As I said, this was hard work, that involved pulling up the water, sometimes, when the level was low, from quite a distance, pouring it into goatskins, and then carrying it to the desired place. And there were many accidents that could befall the unwary and make the process a failure! And then the water carrier had to start all over again!

Even today, water carriers are needed. In spite of increased technology and methodology, there are many areas which have to be handled with hand methods. And anyone who has endured the cruel thirst of the desert knows the torture that this can be. We, with our hot and cold running water, our showers, our washing machines, and all the rest of the water-using devices that we take for granted, should look perhaps with a different eye at the meter reader the next time he comes around. In a sense, he’s our modern water carrier!