Isaiah 12 is a song of the redeemed. The short chapter of Isaiah 12 is a psalm or hymn that summarizes the promises of God laid out in chapters 2-12 and offers a short form of praise to God for the salvation of his people. It 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 lean no more 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 scattered (11:11). Further still, evoking an image of one carrying off spoil or 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.
We begin with a brief superscription. 1You (masculine singular) will say in that day.The line is clearly intrusive (as most superscriptions are), addressed to an unnamed male instead of to the people of Judah as a whole or to the king and royal officials functioning pars pro toto. While it is true that the nation of Israel could be addressed using singular forms (e.g., Isaiah 2:6, where the “house of Jacob” is addressed in the singular), such usage is not common in this section of Isaiah. Whether the intended addressee is the king or the nation (or even the individual Judahite) is left unclear, which has allowed the hymn to continue to function long after its original historical impetus passed. The superscription is modeled on the recurring phrase “On (or “In,” as the Hebrew is the same) that day,” found just prior to this text (10:20; 11:10, 11). The verb forms and pronominal suffixes are two of the indicators that chapter 12 is a small pastiche of originally independent units that has been inserted into its present location with little editorial reworking.
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, and you comforted me. The theme here is joyous thankfulness, a pervasive theme in the OT, especially in the psalter (e.g., Psalms 9:1; 92:1; 105:1, etc.). The thankfulness of the speaker is usually, as here, in response to a prior act of mercy on the LORD’s part. In this case, the kindness was the supplanting of divine wrath with divine comfort (cf. also Psalm 85:3). It presupposes the Lord has already inflicted a time of judgment, but now it has passed. The beginning of this verse also recurs in 12:4. In fact, the theme of the whole chapter is the thanksgiving of a people who, regardless of their own provocative behavior, have cause to believe that the Lord will once again turn to save them on a future day that he will choose. 2 Surely God (El)[1] is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God (Ya-YHWH)[2] is my strength and my might; the Lord has become my salvation. By reaching deep into Israel’s literary and theological past in both instances, the poet is reinforcing a central theme in the Isaiah, which is that Israel’s hope and salvation lie not in present political alliances or in future military possibilities, but rather in the God who brought creation, Israel and the covenantal relationship into existence and has proven faithful from time immemorial. Isaiah’s use of the past is to remind his contemporaries that the God who acted then on Israel’s behalf can be trusted to act now and in the future on behalf of the chosen people.
3 With joy, you (plural form) will draw water from the wells of salvation. This verse is a phrase of profound poetic power, redolent of romance, happiness, comfort, and security. It is a snapshot of the history of salvation, or at the very least, the story of a satisfying relationship between loved ones. The verse is a picture of domestic tranquility. Here, in this home or place, is a deep sense of peace and fulfillment.
This refers to the limitless possibility that Israel enjoyed when the time of salvation arises. Here is a favorite literary device of the book of Isaiah. In addition to the use of the idiom here, the book also refers to an “abundance of salvation” (33:6), “the day of salvation” (49:8), the “helmet of salvation” (59:17) and “garments of salvation” (61:10). "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.[3] 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 remarkable things the Lord has done. Both are defensible but lead to quite diverse ways of approaching this passage. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion[4], the locus of both temporal and spiritual power in ancient Israel, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. The divine title emphasizes God's presence amid the people, using an expression found throughout the book of Isaiah (e.g., 1:4; 5:19, 24; 10:20, etc. — in all, 19 of the 25 occurrences of the expression in the OT). The designation emphasizes the lofty majesty and mystery of Israel’s God who nonetheless, out of divine grace and favor, deigns to dwell in Israel’s midst. It is this divine presence that will both save and prosper the chosen 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. Many in our culture are materialists by default. The water is what we today call “spirituality,” the hidden spring that bubbles up within human hearts and human societies. However, many people today hear the very word “spirituality” like travelers in a desert hearing news of an oasis. This is not surprising. The skepticism that we have been taught for the last two hundred years has given us a thin approach to our lives, making people ashamed to admit that they have had profound and powerful “religious” experiences. Where before they would have gone to church, said their prayers, worshipped in this way or that, and understood what they were doing as part of the warp and woof of the rest of life, the mood of the Western world since 1780s is different. You will be satisfied by the freedom and economic growth of this society, while religion will become a small subdepartment of ordinary life; it will be quite safe — harmless, in fact — with church life carefully separated off from everything else in the world. From this point of view, spirituality is a private hobby, an up-market version of daydreaming for those who like that kind of thing. At some point, and we do not when it might happen for us, the hidden springs erupt, our thin approach to life seems shallow, and life can never be the same again. “The hidden spring” of spirituality functions as the echo of a voice; as a signpost pointing away from the bleak landscape of modern secularism and toward the possibility that we humans are made for more than this.[5]
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.
The depth of one’s well is important. Depth is a metaphor for the spiritual wellness and health of the soul. If we apply this to our spiritual lives, going deep is something that we prefer to do. A shallow well is not what we are looking for. Shallow and wide is not good; deep and narrow is better. A deep, drilled well reaches water that is cool and pure, and it’s not likely to fail. Deep is better than shallow. To describe someone as shallow is not a compliment. Only children splash around in the shallow end of the pool. How do you know if you’re a shallow person? According to A Conscious Rethink blog, and other sources, you might be shallow if you:
think appearance is everything,
think status is more important than people,
bail on a commitment if something better comes along,
do a lot of trash-talking and gossiping,
are into your toys and stuff,
are super-into selfies,
are constantly seeking validation,
won’t commit unless you see how it benefits you,
have trouble dealing with serious stuff,
are into superficial things,
are materialistic,
don’t like listening and, in fact, you’re a terrible listener,
love the limelight, and
don’t know the meaning of “altruism.”
One blogger wrote: “You can remind a shallow person a dozen times that you have a deathly allergy to peanuts, and they will still offer you some peanuts each time they see you, followed by a ‘Right, OMG I forgot. Sorry! LOL’ response.”
This is a very cultural approach to narcissistic and childish behavior. Sometimes, we might think our spiritual life has run dry. The well is out of water. It is dried up. We have no more reserves. We are done. Experts say that the water level of a well depends on several factors:
the depth of the well,
the type of aquifer (confined or unconfined) that the well taps, and
the permeability and porosity of the underground rock.
While other factors exist, it’s worth noting that the water may be there, but we lack the pump or the proper bucket to bring the water to the surface, where our thirst can be quenched. From a government geological source: “A well is said to have gone dry when water levels drop below a pump intake.”
Often, the water is there, but the pump is not deep enough, or we have not enough rope on the bucket to get it down to water level. If our pump is deep enough, we are less likely to be affected by the emotional and spiritual weather that swirls around us. We will draw “with joy” from the well. It’s a well of salvation. There are a lot of metaphors to deal with here: water, well, pump, bucket, and rope. So, let us keep this simple: The Bible assures us that the water is there.
The promise here is that “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” The verse implies that we have the means to withdraw the water. When you have a well, plus water in the well and a means to withdraw the water from the well, you have joy!
Holy wells have been centers of piety for centuries in Ireland. That is, until they paved paradise and put up a parking lot. But some of these wells are still in existence. There are said to be around 3,000 holy wells in Ireland, including natural springs, elaborate stone monuments, sea caves and hidden sites in tunnels under some city and town streets. A holy well is a location where water issues from the earth and where the site is a focal point for supernatural divination. Holy wells are also thought to have the power to cure illness through ritual. They also are associated with the cursing of third parties, and/or the veneration of early Christian saints, pagan deities, or elements of nature. Hydrolatry (water worship) and water cults have existed in Ireland for hundreds and thousands of years. Through references in ancient manuscripts and stories from Irish mythology, we know that not only did holy wells exist at that time, but they were, and continue to be, especially important to the Irish. Many holy wells are located in areas of natural beauty, often in groves of trees, in hollows in the landscape, at the edge of waysides, or at points where borders and boundaries run or meet. Others are located hidden in darkness in mysterious underground tunnels, chambers, or caves, and others again at the edge of the sea, where the saltwater mixes with the fresh water twice each day. From at least the fifth century onward, Christian missionaries began to visit Ireland from overseas to commence the process of converting the resident populace to the new faith. In an effort to appease local sensibilities and give credence to the new belief system, existing centers of pagan devotion, particularly holy wells, were re-named and altered to better conform with Christian beliefs. In addition, folklore and legends surrounding these sacred sites were amended to attribute the supernatural origin or powers thought to exist there to a local saint or holy person.[6]
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."[7]
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.
What do we discover when we dig deep into God's well of salvation? This passage gives us some clues.
First, we discover God's grace. When we think we have hit rock bottom, we have found grace. "Though you were angry with me, your anger turned away and you comforted me" (v. 1).
God is always ready to forgive us, no matter what we have done. When we come to God with our sin and brokenness, when we confess our sins and turn away from them, God turns away anger and wrath and, instead, comforts us in the knowledge that we belong to God. Coming to the well of salvation will restore our relationship with God, and we can begin to look up and see light from the deep hole of sin we may have dug for ourselves. Confession and repentance turn our eyes upward. Most churches have a point in the worship service in which we have the opportunity to confess our sins. Some traditions lift up the practice of praying at the altar. We may need to drill deep into our brokenness in order to discover the refreshing, cleansing, and renewing forgiveness of God tht brings comfort.
Second, 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.
Third, we discover a thankful heart. Twice in this passage the exiled but returning people of God offer thanks. "You will say in that day: I will give thanks to you, O LORD" (v. 1). "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 that grace brings into our lives. 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. 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 rarely lifts 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.
Fourth, 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, but we should also 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] The Hebrew word 'el is the most common singular noun for God in the OT; the more common generic word for God, 'elohim, is a grammatical plural (of majesty) understood as a singular. 'el is the Hebrew version of the common Semitic word for “god/God,” and it reaches back to the earliest stages of that language group. The word is used in both Ugaritic and the OT as both a generic noun and the proper name of the head of divine beings (the Ugaritic pantheon and, in the OT, beings such as angels and the “heavenly host”). That this form of the name appears here in Isaiah is not surprising, as one of the characteristics of this biblical book is its use of ancient terms
[2] 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 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 of dittography (inadvertently writing a word twice).
[3] 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.
[4] The NRSV translation “royal” is an interpretation of the feminine singular participle of the Hebrew root yashav, which means to sit, dwell or abide. In this understanding, it is Zion (usually regarded as a feminine — as in “daughter Zion,” Isaiah 1:8; 10:32; 16:1; and many other places) that is sitting or dwelling as a royal figure. The interpretation of summoning the representative “inhabitant” of Zion to sing aloud is also defensible, as the Hebrew participle can be translated as “resident” or “inhabitant.”
[5] Inspired by N.T. Wright, Simply Christian (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006), 17-21.
[6] —“The ancient pre-Christian holy wells of Ireland,” The Irish Post, April 29, 2022.
[7] --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.
No comments:
Post a Comment