Isaiah 12:2-6 is a portion of the song of the redeemed that began in verse 1.
The song originated in the 500’s to 400’s. It has elements of a song of thanksgiving. The passage focuses on eschatology. The day of the saving action of the Lord has also been a theme in the preceding chapters. It receives mention in 10:20; 10:27, 11:10 and 11:11, each of which reintroduces the content of the names of the three prophetic children. The first and last of these four predict Israel's restoration after exile using the image of the returning remnant. Thus, On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them [presumably Assyria], but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return (10:20). Further, on that day the Lord will extend the hand of the Lord yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of the people of the Lord from the many lands to which they have been scattered (11:11). 10:27 Further still, evoking an image of one carrying off spoil or being carried off captive, on that day, the Lord will remove the burden of the enemy from your shoulder, and the yoke of the enemy from their neck (10:27). Finally, recalling the promise of Immanuel, on that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples (11:10) Chapter 12 carries on this theme of the day of the Lord by portraying it as the day on which the people will speak their gratitude for the faithful saving help of the Lord.
2 Surely God is my salvation (yeshuati); I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God (Ya-YHWH)[1] is my strength and my might; the Lord has become my salvation (yeshua). 3 With joy, you will draw water from the wells of salvation (yeshua). This refers to the limitless possibility that Israel enjoyed when the time of salvation arises. "Salvation" occurs three times in verses 2-3. The image of "wells" or "springs of salvation," from which the people would draw water is an image unique to this passage. Because of Israel's dependence upon rainfall and underground springs for most of the water that kept them and their flocks alive, the comparison of the life-giving salvation of the Lord to an underground spring would be a powerful image. Psalm 116:13 has a similar image, although here it is only a "cup of salvation," again, the saving help of the Lord compared to water that sustains and nourishes. The image suggests water that saves, refreshes, cleanses, and strengthens God's people. Given the deep sin of the nation, the people would need to dig deep in repentance to tap into God's healing water, but the promise of God is that it is available to all who seek it. Most of us do not think much about where our water comes from these days. City dwellers twist a tap and do not think twice about the source until the bill comes. Rural folks may still draw their water from a well, but it is usually a well drilled by professionals. We have never felt the joy of a parched people who have labored for days, weeks or years to dig in dry earth and who finally find water deep in a hole. 4 In addition, you will say in that day: Give thanks to the Lord, call on the name of the Lord; make known the deeds of the Lord among the nations; proclaim that the name of the Lord is exalted. The themes of this verse have a close relationship with two psalms. The psalmist encourages the people to give thanks to the Lord, call on the name of the Lord, and make known the deeds of the Lord (105:1). The people are to praise the name of the Lord, for only the Lord is exalted (148:13). 5 Sing praises to the Lord, for the Lord has done gloriously; let all the earth know this.[2] This translation of the Hebrew makes it the responsibility of the people of the Lord to make sure the earth knows the glory of the Lord. Another less popular translation that does not correct the Hebrew text suggests that the earth already knows the wonderful things the Lord has done. Both are defensible but lead to quite separate ways of approaching this passage. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. The divine title emphasizes God's presence amid the people.
It can be so difficult to approach our lives with a spirit of gratitude. Suffering, frustration, and challenge, all occur here. We can experience such profound loss of family and friends that we wonder how we can go on. We can become incredibly bored with our lives. Should we wait until some future date, when we think everything will be better, before we give thanks?
Of course, we often get ourselves in trouble. We seek deliverance, healing, and direction in life from all the wrong places. For many of us, pleasure and materialism have become a well from which we have drunk. We listen to false teachers. They may satisfy us for a while. Yet, they become empty wells. We seek meaning and happiness while recognizing that the things we do often lead us further away.
Even if giving thanks, even if approaching life with gratitude requires courage today, it looks with faith toward what God is doing and with hope toward what God will do. We do not have to understand it all. What we can do is drink deeply from the satisfying well of living water the Lord has provided. Life does not become easy or smooth when we do this. We can discover, however, a satisfaction that we have not tied so closely to circumstances or how we feel.
In Jules Verne's 1864 novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth, a mad German scientist named Otto Lidenbrock decides to take a journey down through the mouth of a volcano into the Earth's core where he and his companions find a world filled with prehistoric dinosaurs, mastodons, and giant humans, among other things. It is an adventure story that continues to intrigue people in the 21st century. The 2008 movie version, starring Brendan Fraser, acts as a kind of sequel to the original book.
Of course, any elementary school science student knows that the story and all its adaptations are pure fiction. When you drill down deep into the Earth, you do not eventually pop up in China, and you do not find dinosaurs (unless you count their remains in the form of oil). The Earth's core is not a prehistoric wonderland. The core is a solid ball made up of an iron and nickel alloy that, according to seismologists, is as hot as the surface of the sun. A real journey to the center of the Earth would be a one-way trip to a barbecue of apocalyptic proportions.
Still, no one has ever drilled down that deep (3,959 miles) to see what is there. The closest humans have come is a hole drilled in the Soviet Union beginning in 1970 called the Kola Superdeep Borehole, which reached 12,261 meters (about 7.5 miles) -- a long way from the center of the Earth. Drilling that hole was all about pulling up core samples of rock for study.
Most human drilling is a lot shallower than that. We know about drilling for oil, of course, but the most common purpose for which humans dig deep is to find water. This is particularly important for those who live in the most arid parts of the world. Since the beginning of history, people have gone to great lengths to tap into underground sources of water, digging wells by hand without the benefit of modern drill rigs.
In rural Pakistan, for example, a group of villagers dug down 400 feet by hand before they tapped into an aquifer. Hitting 400 feet is nothing compared to the Kola Superdeep Borehole, but it is everything to these desert-dwelling people. It takes a camel and a long rope to draw the water out of such a deep well, and, while it is a slow process, every drop is precious. Check out the YouTube video referenced below which gives you a perspective of just how amazing a feat it is to dig a 400-foot well by hand.
The uncanny ability of the aboriginal inhabitants to find water in the desert astounded the first European explorers to venture into the Australian outback. Often, these water sources, known as "soakages," were under several feet of sand. The aborigines would find a promising spot and start digging. Several feet down, water would begin to seep into the bottom of the hole. What made this method so baffling to Europeans was that there was no marker on the surface indicating where to start digging. The aborigines just seemed to know where, in an expanse of unmarked sand, was the right spot. Some wondered if they had an innate ability to smell water. In 1962, a man named Donald Thomson published an account of time spent among the aborigines, during which he witnessed a sophisticated method of mapping, by which they passed on the survival secrets of one generation to the next. Designs carved into aboriginal wooden spear-throwers held the secret, combined with oral tradition:
"Just before we left, the old men recited to me the names of more than fifty waters -- wells, rock holes and clay pans ... this, in an area that the early explorers believed to be almost waterless. ... And on the eve of our going, Tjappanongo (Tjapanangka) produced spear-throwers, on the backs of which were designs deeply incised, more or less geometric in form. Sometimes with a stick, or with his finger, he would point to each well or rock hole in turn and recite its name, waiting for me to repeat it after him. Each time, the group of old men listened intently and grunted in approval -- 'Eh!' -- or repeated the name again and listened once more. This process continued with the name of each water until they were satisfied with my pronunciation. ... I realized that here was the most important discovery of the expedition ... what was really a map, highly conventionalized ... of the waters of the vast terrain over which the Bindibu hunted."[3]
Long before it became an entertainment and gambling mecca, Las Vegas, Nevada, people settled there because of its springs: a reliable source of drinking water in the center of a barren desert landscape. Those springs are now history. Far from being a source of water, the burgeoning Las Vegas metro area soaks up sparse water supplies from hundreds of miles away. Over 90 percent of Las Vegas' water supply comes from Lake Mead, the vast reservoir behind Hoover Dam. Water levels in Lake Mead have been falling for the last decade, even as new housing and commercial development has increased.
To dig the well, you will need to stop on your journey and start digging. To bring up its water, you will need to stop your journey and draw out the water. There is a Frank and Ernest cartoon that has the two of them riding on a road marked by an arrow, "Road to Success." But up ahead is another sign: "Be prepared to Stop." In a world that prizes bigness, we need the reminder that small is beautiful. In a world that worships speed, we need the reminder that slow is beautiful. Stop is beautiful. Sabbath is beautiful. There is an old proverb that goes like this:
Fear less; hope more
Eat less; chew more
Whine less; breathe more
Talk less; say more
Hate less; love more
And all good things will be yours.
First, we find when we go deep into the well of God's salvation God's strength, or the fact that God is trustworthy and will deliver us from fear. "Surely God is my salvation. I will trust in him and not be afraid for the LORD God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation" (v. 2). The exiles will one day know that God was with them all the time, no matter how bleak the circumstances might have looked. One of the Bible's most oft-repeated phrases is "do not be afraid." Our salvation does not come from our own efforts or by accident. It is God alone who saves us and stands by us in strength. Fear is not an option for those who trust in God and drill deep into his love.
Second, we discover a thankful heart. Twice in this passage the exiled but returning people of God offer thanks. "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name" (v. 4). Our response to the saving grace of God is thanksgiving. We remember always what God has done for us, and we "make his deeds known among the nations" (v. 4). Indeed, we should make known the deeds God has done in our own hearts and lives, telling others how thankful we are for God's grace, salvation, and strength in pulling us out of sin and into a new life. So often our prayers are all about what we want God to do. When we spend time thanking God, however, we begin to realize that God has already been at work in us long before we knew it. God continues to drill into our hearts with love until we see the light of grace. We offer thanks to God because we know we could never have done for ourselves what God has done for us.
I once saw George Foreman (around 2007) promoting his grill. He talked about his 1974 fight against Muhammed Ali. At the time, he wanted to have the fight out of revenge. He stresses now that he wanted to kill somebody in the ring. He did not know it at the time, but his loss turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him. In 1977, after a boxing loss, he had a near-death experience of being in Hell. He pled for God to help him. He eventually turned to his Bible, to the church as an ordained minister, and to a new way of life. I saw the young Robert Schuler promoting his new book. The interviewer asked about Thanksgiving. With all the extended family coming over, someone in the family will come with whom you just do not get along. What do you do then? His counsel was simple. This is Thanksgiving. Give thanks for them. After all, you are not going to change them, so give thanks. For a variety of reasons, thanksgiving is not always easy. What do we do then?
Even if giving thanks is difficult, give thanks anyway. A spirit of gratitude in life does not depend upon the circumstances of your life. As our Scripture says, “I will give thanks to you, O Lord.” The psalm ends with the encouragement to the reader, “Give thanks to the Lord.” The Bible often does this. It encourages people to give thanks. At some seasons in our lives, we need all the encouragement we can get to give thanks.
My wife and I watched (around 2007) the John Ford movie, The Grapes of Wrath, a 1940 movie concerning the depression of the 1930’s. It shows farmers in Oklahoma kicked off their land by banks and corporations. It also shows them traveling to the West, to California, with hope for a new life. Of course, within the perspective of the movie, that was the end of the story. Yet, what was the rest of the story? What the movie cannot show is that their children would, in the 1950’s, become those who purchased all those beach party songs. They went on to live their lives quite happily in sunny California. The movie does not have the perspective of the end to tell us the rest of the story. It can only end with some sadness, combined with the hope that something better will come along.
The modern praise song goes like this.
Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name when I’m found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name
Every blessing You pour out I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord still I will say
Blessed be the name of The Lord Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of The Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name
Blessed be Your name when the sun’s shining down on me
When the world’s all as it should be
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be Your name
on the road marked with suffering
Though there’s pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say, blessed be Your name
God does not lift us out of the trials and struggles of life. Rather, God gives us grace and confidence amid them. Every congregation goes through challenging times. Yet, what does God have prepared for us on the other side? We do not know. Yet, we will give thanks, even for the tough times.
Roy Campanella was a baseball player who was in a car accident that made it impossible for him to walk. During his physical recovery, he came across this statement of "A Creed for Those Who Have Suffered."
I asked God for strength, that I might achieve. I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked for health, that I might do great things. I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.
I asked for riches, that I might be happy. I was given poverty, that I might be wise.
I asked for power, that I might have the praise of people. I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life. I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing I asked for - but everything I had hoped for. Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered. I am, among people, most richly blessed!
It is time to stop. This is not like fast food, where we can drive up, get what we want, and move on. We need to stop. It is time to look at our lives once again, not in light of this day, or even this week, but in light of eternity. We can then stop long enough to draw water from the wells salvation. I will give thanks to you, O Lord.
Third, we discover the joy of worship. Coupled with thanksgiving, when we drill deep into God's salvation we also find a reason for worship. "Sing praises to the LORD for he has done gloriously, let this be known in all the earth. Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel" (v. 6). So often we think of worship as an event we go to or an obligation we endure. We "go to worship" in an external way, but real worship is something that bubbles up from inside us. Our baptism marks us as people who have found deep water, and we should not only come to worship each week anticipating the joy of being in God's presence, we should want to celebrate it every day. Our worship should reflect the joyous sounds of people who have hit a gusher of grace.
If you are going to draw water from a well, you will have to turn aside, stop, drop the bucket down, and draw the water up. You cannot have a fair race at the Indy 500 without the pace car. It circles the track slightly ahead of the others, with the responsibility of bringing the whole field up to speed and into the race. No one will reward the driver, but the race cannot start without him. I want to invite you to stop, to pray, and to wait.
Vaclav Havel, the last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic, suggests that our prosperity has led to disconnected lives. Though we are more capable of explaining our world rationally, we understand our lives less and less. We are missing that experience of the wholeness of life. We have lost a sense of reverence. We no longer know our place in the great scheme of things. We want to be happy. Yet, we have abandoned religion, the church, and God. For many, he says, life is unraveling.
There are many wells out there. You may look for happiness in wealth, in success, in family and friends, and yet that well will be empty. We look around us and all we see may be wilderness. Yet, we can go to another well. I would call this a personal, vital, and life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. We can let that bucket down deep into the water of salvation.
[1] Although the NRSV translates this divine name as "Lord God," the textual notes in most annotated Bibles indicate that the Hebrew phrase being rendered here is not the standard YHWH Elohim, but rather, Ya-YHWH, an unusual title. This seemingly awkward pairing of the tetragrammaton and its abbreviation has prompted translations throughout the ages, beginning with the Greek and Latin versions, to delete the abbreviated name as a suspected scribal error.
[2] The only other textual issue of any note is that there is a Ketiv-Qere in verse 5 regarding the word translated "be made known." The traditional reading (the Qere) corrects the form that is written (the Ketiv) from "this is known in all the earth" to "this is to be MADE known in all the earth." The difference in the Hebrew spelling is minor but the result of the change in meaning is significant. One assumes that the earth already knows what great things God has done. The other places upon Israel the burden of notifying the earth of the great deeds done for them by the Holy One of Israel who dwells in Zion. In this light, the message is clear - the people of the Lord must complete the fulfillment of prophecy by declaring the saving acts of the Lord to all the earth. There is, however, no such error here. What Isaiah is doing is quoting a verse from another, more ancient, Israelite song of thanksgiving and praise of God, Exodus 15:2, which begins "YA is my strength and my might." Psalm 118:14 also cites this exact verse, and both Isaiah and the psalmist preserve the archaic spelling, both of YHWH's name as well as the word "my might," or "my song" as other versions have it. The Hebrew of Exodus 15:2 does not add the first person ending, perhaps because this earlier form of Hebrew did not require it in that the suffix is present on the word meaning "my strength." It is a testimony to the reverence with which the Song of the Sea was treated that neither later writer was willing to add the single letter to their version that would have placed the first person ending where it would seem to have been required by later Hebrew. Isaiah is willing, however, to clarify for his later hearers that YA is indeed YHWH with whom they are familiar.
[3] --Donald F. Thomson, "The Bindibu Expedition: exploration among the desert Aborigines of Western Australia," The Geographical Journal, March 1962, cited in Wikipedia.com, "Soakage (source of water)": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soakage. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
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