What did Jesus mean by 'cold water'' in Mtt 10:42?

Question

We read in Mtt 10:42( KJV):

And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

In the good old days when refrigerators had not been heard of, people had nature- friendly ways of keeping water cool. One of them was to use clay pots . In nations of warm climate, you still see water kept in mud pots for consumption of passersby. Water drawn from well directly under the sun, would taste inferior as compared to that stored in clay pots for a day or more. So, if a visiter came along thirsty, the household had two options: either to draw water from the well for him, or to offer a share of water in clay pot, kept for the household consumption. The choice depended on how important the visitor was to the household. Was Jesus refering to the water from the clay pot, when he said of cold water ? What is the take of Bible scholars ?

Answer 1

The predominant interpretation by commentators is the cup of cold water emphasizes the least amount of kindness, either because of the poor condition of the giver or the least amount of hospitality. This is even the case with commentators in the early centuries before refrigerators. None emphasize cold increasing the value of the water. In fact Jerome emphasized that it would take fuel to make the water hot. Thus, hot water had a higher value.

Commentaries

Points out hospitality even if poor:

rewarded (1 Kings 17:9–24; 2 Kings 4:8–37). A cup of water was the only gift the poorest person might have, but it would symbolize enough. Cold water was highly preferred for drinking (see comment on Rev 3:15–16). -- Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (Matt.10:40–42). InterVarsity Press.

JEROME. That none should say, I am poor and therefore cannot be hospitable, He takes away even this plea by the instance of a cup of cold water, given with good will. He says cold water, because in hot, poverty and lack of fuel might be pleaded. And whosoever shall give to drink to one of the least of these a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. -- Thomas Aquinas. (1841). Catena Aurea: Commentary on the Four Gospels, Collected out of the Works of the Fathers: St. Matthew (J. H. Newman, Ed.; Vol. 1, p. 402). John Henry Parker.

The interpretation of the ancient church correctly emphasizes that anyone, even the poor, can fulfill this condition. [references Jerome]. -- Luz, U. (2001). Matthew: a commentary (H. Koester, Ed.; p. 122). Augsburg.

Jesus rewards the smallest acts of kindness:

By way of amplification, he promises a reward to the very meanest offices of kindness, such as giving them a cup of cold water. He gives the name of little ones not only to those who occupy the lowest place, or are held in least estimation in the Church, but to all his disciples, whom the pride of the world tramples under foot. -- Calvin, J., & Pringle, W. (2010). Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke (Vol. 1, p. 477). Logos Bible Software.

A cup of cold water; i. e., the smallest favor, the least act of Christian charity.—His reward;—i. e., the reward meet and due to him. -- Lange, J. P., & Schaff, P. (2008). A commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Matthew (p. 200). Logos Bible Software.

To give a cup of cold freshly drawn water, the least courtesy demands, to the least disciple just because he is a disciple does not go unrewarded. -- Carson, D. A. (1984). Matthew. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8, p. 258). Zondervan Publishing House.

To give a cup of cold water is clearly intended to mark a very modest form of receiving. -- Nolland, J. (2005). The Gospel of Matthew: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 445). W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.

Answer 2

Here is my overly literal translation of Matt 10:42 -

And whoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones only a cup of cold in [the] name of a disciple, truly I say to you, [he] shall certainly not lose his reward.

Note that "water" is absent from the Greek entirely. Most versions add it as an interpretive translation.

The point appears to be clear - eastern etiquette and custom demanded that a thirsty person be given a drink - it was the least that anyone could do in a dry climate.

Now, generous people might provide much more such as bread, flavored drink or even a warm drink of soup or stew. However, a cold drink, easily prepared by simply fetching water, was the least demanded by social custom. Thus, Jesus is saying that anyone who does these simply, minor things will be suitably rewarded.

Viewed in another way, heavenly rewards will amplify the good works of anyone who does them - even little things will be greatly rewarded by Jesus. Indeed, Jesus says this in Matt 19:29 -

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

In the case of a cup of cold water, any such gift will apparently be rewarded with access to the "river of the water of life" in the next life. Rev 22:1.

Answer 3

What did Jesus mean by 'cold water' in Mtt 10:42

Understanding the verse in question requires understanding the context.
The story starts in Matthew 10:1

Matthew 10
verses 1 - 4 Jesus calls his disciples into a meeting and gives them very specific authority.

1 And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.

In verses 5 - 42 Jesus gives the twelve instructions.
Jesus tells them:

• 5 - 8 Where they should go and what they should do
• 9 - 10 What they should bring
• 11 - 15 How to respond based on how well received they are
• 16 - 25 They will be persecuted
• 26 - 33 Don't be afraid, God cares for you
• 34 - 36 The gospel will create enemies between those who accept it and those who don't
• 37 - 42 This section begins a series of statements that begin with "whoever"
• In 37 - 39 "whoever" gives us the priorities that Jesus expects of his followers. This series of "whoever" statements explains why the gospel brings division. For Jesus' followers the love of Jesus is to be greater than their love of mother, father, son daughter. for example;

37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

• In 40 - 42 there are two "whoever" statements and Jesus explains rewards from the greater to the lesser.
  -- Greatest - 40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. -- Less great - 41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, -- Less great - and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.
  -- Least great - 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”

In the midst of the persecution and the hostility of division anyone who's hospitality extends to the small gesture of "even a cup of cold water" even this small gesture will be remembered and rewarded by God.

Welcoming Jesus messengers from the greatest (the receiving of the Gospel) to the least (a cup of cold water) will be remembered and rewarded appropriately by God.

By "cold water" Jesus meant the smallest possible gesture of hospitality. In this case the smallest gesture of hospitality offered to Jesus' disciples.

Answer 4

I don't care if people dislike this - to reject something properly involves to know it.

Matthew 19:42 - - ποτίσῃ ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τούτων ποτήριον ψυχροῦ μόνον εἰς ὄνομα μαθητοῦ

The Petelia Gold Tablet

δίψηι δ’ εἰμὶ αὔη καὶ ἀπόλλυμαι. ἀλλὰ δότ’ αἶψα ψυχρὸν ὕδωρ προρέον τῆϛ Μνημοσύνηϛ ἀπὸ λίμνηϛ.’

I am parched with thirst and dying: quickly, give me the cool water flowing from Memory’s lake.’

So that's a gift of cold water as one of the symbolic stages in entering the afterlife in a mystery religion of pupils and teachers.

Robert Price discusses early Christianity's situation relative to the Graeco-Roman mystery religions in the history-of-ideas at length in https://archive.org/details/DeconstructingJesus/page/n159/mode/2up

The image had entered ancient education via Plato's Republic, and was more likely to have been familiar from popular usage than to be Jesus quoting the Petelia Gold Tablet, or the general sort of thing it was (which we don't know)

That suggests a reading where to drink the cold water is to remember. And the gift of cold water is an informational gift - perhaps quite akin to our modern popular image of 'the red pill and the blue pill' which always refers to the film the Matrix and never to Sigmund Freud's pleasure principle and reality principle.

It doesn't suggest it very strongly, but this is the sort of thing that should be noted in case other analogies of spiritual drinking are found to relate to discourse, or memory, etc.

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The word ψυχρὸϛ has a wide register for what a simple sensation it describes.

It's for cold things that etymologically have been blown on, relating it to ψυχή the soul or breath. There's a very close cognate ψυχὸϛ which gets a slightly different meaning in the lexicon (but that's probably just because lexicons of ancient languages are terrifyingly incomplete). There is also a verb ψυχω which combines blowing to cool with a wide range of other things like making something dry, or emotional coldness (Matthew 24:12), but not life being breathed into Adam (ἐνεφύσησεν) or the inspiration of the holy scripture (θεόπνευστος).

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At Jeremiah 6:7 a well keeps its water cool "ψύχει λάκκος ὕδωρ" (and thus Jerusalem keeps her evil fresh), which might be important to the OP's point.

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I find the inference from history appealing, but neither the simplex image Jesus describes nor its converses require the water to come from a clay jar, or imply that it has done, etc.

There is probably something else going on.

We might take the "only", together with the emotional coldness of Matthew 24:12, and together with some historic stranger-guest etiquette or desert cultural norm that giving a child water is the least someone can do. There is apparently a term for this: hachnasat orchim with modern customs that have dated back to antiquity, but I can only suggest it for further study.

The choice of ψυχρὸς rather than κρύος - which was probably more common and less confusible with ψυχή - probably is because we're in an analogy about someone coming to Jesus for salvation. There isn't enough to derive other information about the intended link though - beyond the obvious that it's vital and a gift.